Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 17.pdf/658

 GOVERNMENTAL REGULATION OF PRICES

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GOVERNMENTAL REGULATION OF PRICES BY EUGENE THAT every commodity has a just price, that there is some amount of money for which it is fair and right that the owner of the commodity should exchange it, was a doctrine quite generally held by writers of the Middle Ages on economic questions. This just price is not the arbitrary demand of an extortionate dealer driving a hard bargain, nor the sacrifice by one in extrem ity of his property for an insignificant sum. The just price is the common estimate of what the article is worth, what it is fair and right to give for it under ordinary circum stances. The modern doctrine of price is essentially the same; the normal or natural price of a thing is its value as fixed in the course of free competition, and that is determined by common estimation. Com mon estimation, formerly and now, is the true exponent of the normal or just price. The modern economist differs from the mediaeval ecnomist as to the best means of bringing out this common estimate. The former relies upon competition free from disturbing causes, as efficient; the latter believed that it was possible to bring com mon estimation into operation beforehand, and by the consultation of experts, to estimate the right price, and having ascer tained what the true price should be, to enforce it in all dealings. It was the influence of this doctrine, the condemnation by Christianity of avarice and greed of gain, and the enforcement by the ecclesiastical courts of canons against such sins, that is accountable in part for the many attempts, especially in England, and to some extent in this country, to estab lish by law, as a matter of public policy, and to relieve from economic disturbances, this just price. In view of what seems to be a growing tendency in recent years towards paternal istic legislation which has for its purpose,

A. GILMORE not only the fixing of prices and the pre vention of their manipulation, but also the regulation of hours of labor and the condi tions under which private business shall be carried on, it will be of interest to notice some of the earlier English and American statutes having similar purposes. The enu meration is not exhaustive, and is given merely to show how far the state has gone in its attempts to fix by law the prices in purely private businesses. It is not in tended to draw from the failure of all this legislation to accomplish its purposes any argument against the futility of govern mental interference in such matters. Closely related to the statutes fixing the prices of labor and commodities, and forming an essential part of governmental industrial regulation, are those ancient and modern statutes prohibiting, engrossing, regrating, and forestalling. No attempt is made to give an account of this legislation. It will be found that, by reason of the intimate relation between wages, the price of com modities, and the hours of labor, these three matters are frequently dealt with in the same statute. The occasion for the first important legis lation by Parliament on the subject of prices, arose from the ravages of the terrible Black Death which devastated England in 1348-49, although prior to that time there was much regulation to be found in the customs of the manors and the ordinances of the guilds in the towns. There were the Assizes of Bread, of Ale, and of Cloth, by which the price and quality of these articles were fixed with considerable certaintyThe year 1349 marks approximately the beginning of the attempts by the central government to prescribe prices and wages. The first statute, known as the Statute of Labourers, was passed in this year, 23 Edw. III. The occasion and purpose is best

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