January 31, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



165 



The fourth column contains the records 

 of my international index number which 

 is simply the average of the three preceding 

 numbers for each year. It is interesting to 

 note that American prices, commencing in 

 1902, advanced much more rapidly than 

 did the price levels of foreign countries, but 

 in the years 1911 and 1912 the margin of 

 difference was considerably reduced. 



TABLE SHOWING INDEX NUMBERS OP THE UNITED 

 STATES, ENGLAND AND FRANCE 



We are led by our system of comparative 

 measurements of the changing cost of liv- 

 ing to the conclusion that world-wide 

 causes are primarily responsible for the 

 prolonged advance in the cost of living. 

 It is probable that accurate statistics would 

 show for India, China, the Argentine, in 

 fact for all countries of the world which 

 are connected by commercial relations, 

 quite similar conditions. My international 

 index number for 1912 shows an advance 

 of 46 per cent, over the low year 1896, in 

 comparison with 59 per cent, for the United 



'Average based on first ten months. 



States, 40 per cent, for England and 43 per 

 cent, for France. It should be noted that 

 the United States numbers have advanced 

 considerably more than the index numbers 

 of foreign countries. But we should re- 

 member that commodities "other than" 

 food advanced 49 per cent, in the United 

 States, which is on a parity with the ad- 

 vances of all commodities for England and 

 France. 



TABLE AFEOSDIKG COMPARISONS OF li 

 AND 1880 AND 1912 



AND 1912, 



United States, foods 83 



United States, other than foods 49 

 United States, all groups .... 59 



England, all groups 40 



France, all groups 43 



7 



— 15 



— 6 



— 3 



The extraordinary advance occurs in the 

 food group of the United States, and it is 

 quite possible that this represents several 

 causes, some of which are technical, some 

 of which are national and some are con- 

 nected with the chain of sequences pro- 

 duced by an increasing production of gold. 

 It is plain that international causes are at 

 work. Dui-ing sixteen years following 

 1880, world prices fell, and during sixteen 

 years following 1896, world prices rose. It 

 is interesting to note that independent 

 computations show that after thirty-two 

 years prices in the United States and in 

 England have recovered very nearly the 

 entire amount of the decline which reached 

 the low point in 1896, and that now world 

 prices are upon an approximate parity with 

 those of 1880. 



An excellent opportunity is afforded the 

 recently appointed Industrial Commission 

 to determine the rates of wages prevailing 



