Page:Stabilizing the dollar, Fisher, 1920.djvu/53

Rh composite or index number of goods have been drawn, notably in the colony of Massachusetts, to safeguard the pay of soldiers and, in the present war, to safeguard wages.

3. Correcting the Money Unit Itself, as in the "gold exchange standard," has been adopted to prevent fluctuations in international exchange. During the Great War prohibition of gold imports or exports was sometimes adopted, the purpose being, in part at least, to prevent undue inflation or contraction.

4. Conclusion. There is, thus, precedent for each of the elements of the proposal. The only innovation is combining these previously tested elements into one complete whole.

1. Some of the Chief Index Numbers Current include six for the United States, two for Canada, four for Great Britain, one for France.

2. Some of the Chief Writings on the Principles of Index Numbers include those of Jevons, Edgeworth, Walsh, Knibbs, Fisher, and Mitchell.

3. Remote Anticipations of the Plan to Stabilize the Dollar include bimetallism, symmetallism, the gold exchange standard, paper money régimes, and the tabular standard.

4. Direct Anticipations, being substantially plans identical in concept with that of this book, have been made as early as 1824 by John Rooke, and during the last era of falling prices by Simon Newcomb, Alfred Marshall, Aneurin Williams, J. Allen Smith, and D. J. Tinnes as well as by several others mentioned in the Preface, who have not published their views.

5. Recent Writings on Stabilizing the Dollar are cited.