Page:Stabilizing the dollar, Fisher, 1920.djvu/94

40 for if this level doubles, the purchasing power of the dollar is halved, and vice versa.

Figure 10 shows both. The upper curve shows the variations in the price level and the lower curve

shows the opposite variations in the purchasing power of the dollar. That is, the upper curve shows the changes of commodities expressed in terms of gold dollars and the lower curve shows the changes in the gold dollar expressed in terms of commodities; while the middle and horizontal line shows the constancy of the price of gold in terms of gold.

As the lower curve in Figure 10 shows, the purchasing power of the dollar over other things in general has fluctuated widely. If the war period were added,