ON 



YAKIATIONS IN THE VALUE OF THE MONETAKY STANDARD. 185 



out bias, according to no better principle tban accessibility of record, 

 as by a careful attention to weighting. On tbis head the Committee may 

 refer to the above paper of Mr. Bdgeworth, which seems conclusive on 

 the subject. 



3. Practically the Committee would recommend the use of a weighted 

 index-number of some kind, as, on the whole, commanding more con- 

 fidence. But they feel bound to point out that the scientific evidence is 

 in favour of the kind of index-number used by Professor Jevons — provided 

 there is a large number of articles — as not insufficient for the purpose in 

 hand. Nothing is more remarkable in the comparisons of the recent 

 index-numbers than the correspondence of the curves of general course 

 of prices indicated. K weighted index-number, in one aspect, is almost 

 an unnecessary precaution to secure accuracy, though, on the whole, the 

 Committee recommend it. 



4. The Committee have had before them a suggestion for a new index- 

 number, which might be used for some official and private purposes, based 

 on the practical considerations referred to, and making use of the best 

 wholesale prices, while having regard to the ultimate standard of de-» 

 siderata. The nature and object of this index-number is explained in 

 the accompanying memorandum, which has the general approval of the 

 Committee, though they do not consider it necessary here to go into all the 

 details. The object is to provide something for which it would be possible 

 to obtain and publish official prices, and by reference to which contracts 

 could be made, and it is submitted for discussion and future reference. 



5. It would be most desirable to supplement any such index-number 

 by a good statistical account from time to time of the aggregate income 

 of the people and the relative numbers and aggregates of incomes of 

 different amounts. In some index-numbers in past times the wage of a 

 day-labourer is inserted as one of the articles. This may have been 

 correct enough for some purposes, and in the circumstances would not 

 prevent the index-number from indicating the general changes in the 

 value of money in the periods compared. But the more useful method 

 would seem to be to distinguish between the human unit in production 

 and the thing produced. Among the most important comparisons for which 

 such figures are used at all are the effectiveness of labour at different 

 times and places, and the command of the labourer or other earner over the 

 amounts produced ; and these comparisons can only be made when an 

 independent standard of the production and consumption of the labourer 

 is set up, with which his earnings may be compared. No argument is 

 needed to show that, along with index-numbers as to prices of commo- 

 dities, there should be an endeavour to ascertain the aggregate earnings 

 of a community and the distribution of the earnings so as to show on the 

 one side the command over commodities which different classes possess — 

 the real as distinguished from the nominal incomes — and on the other 

 side the relative effectiveness of the labour of a community at different 

 times or of one community compared with another. 



The matters referred to them not being fully exhausted, the Committee 

 would recommend their reappointment, with a view especially to con- 

 sidering the question of an official index-number or numbers for future 

 use in contracts, and what are the chief points to be looked at in the 

 necessary enactments, both for obtaining the necessary price data and for 

 settling forms in which contracts may be expressed. 



