Influence of Credit on Prices 



43 



^ Summarizing the data for the three groups of commodities for 

 the three countries, England, Germany, and the United States, it 

 is found that on the average minerals and metals are the first to 

 rise in price ; the decline begins with textiles ; the greatest spread 

 of prices is in food products. 



Table XLVI 

 Minimum Points of Prices by Ranks 



Afaximum Points of Prices 



England 



Germany 



United States. 



Total 



Rank .... 



7 

 2>^ 



7 

 2J^ 



Spread of Prices 



England 



Germany 



United States , 



Total 

 Rank 



The general impression made' by these figures is that food 

 prices are a cause rather than an effect of crises ; and that pro- 

 motion of a line of production, such as textiles, tends to 

 cause prices in that line to fall earlier than other prices and to 

 recover again only after other prices have recovered; and again 

 that the prices that fluctuate most are not those that fall last and 

 rise first, hut, on the contrary, those that fall first and rise last. 

 On the whole, textiles show this tendency more than minerals. 



83 



