RISING PRICES AND THE PUBLIC 573 



To be sure, the growth of extravagance can easily be exaggerated. 

 It must be admitted that the rising prices have also the effect of lead- 

 ing to certain economies. Many families have undoubtedly made 

 proper adjustments in their expenses and savings all the time as prices 

 have been moving upward. Also, even in the ordinary household, the 

 resentment against constantly climbing charges has unquestionably 

 resulted in many more frugal uses and cheaper food substitutions. 

 For example, now with butter at 40 cents a pound and eggs at 35 cents 

 a dozen, the various cake and other pastry recipes call for little more 

 than half of these ingredients compared with fifteen years ago, when 

 they were bought for less than half their present prices. Now, when 

 desirable cuts of meat cost from 20 to 30 cents or more a pound, people 

 are turning more and more to cereal and vegetable foods — probably 

 with physiological as well as financial advantage. Other similar 

 savings might easily be cited. 



But, while such economies have undoubtedly been made, often even 

 painful ones, the paradox which we have been discussing has not been 

 necessarily avoided. Too often these economies are counterbalanced 

 by extravagances in other directions. What is saved on butter and 

 eggs and meat is more- than offset by moving pictures, nifty clothes, an 

 automobile, or what not. Probably very few people have completely 

 escaped the lure of living higher than their real income affords. How 

 impossible, or at least how hard, it is even for the most prudent to 

 know, and all the time to live as if knowing, that the dollar is not 

 always a dollar! 



Speculation and extravagance are closely related manias. Their 

 worst feature is that they fasten themselves rather firmly upon the 

 people. We can study their effects and their causes, but we do not 

 know very well how to remove them. They will abide with us probably 

 a long time after prices have reached their high point or have begun to 

 swing downward, or after other causes have subsided. Customs and 

 social standards change slowly. 



In conclusion, the writer would admit that many causes have prob- 

 ably contributed to the growth of speculation and extravagance in 

 recent years. He does not believe that the rising prices have been the 

 sole cause. But he is convinced that in the ways pointed out they have 

 been a powerful factor in fostering these social evils. 



As a practical matter for the public at large, everything possible 

 should be done to prevent any considerable change in the price level — 

 either upward or downward. So far as possible, the dollar should 

 always be a dollar; its value should be a fixed, absolute, unchanging 

 thing. If not, the evils are bound to appear as they have been stated. 



