982 
?»* RURAL NEW.YORKER 
July 30, 1921 
A Primer of Economics 
By John J. Dillon 
Part XXXV 
The Rural School 
Variations in the value of the dollar, of stable commodities for the time period 
due to conditions incident to the late covered. 
World War, are yet familiar to all. Two 
years after the armistice was signed, the 
value of our dollar in purchasing power 
was only about one-half its former value. 
If a man borrowed .$1,000 on a mortgage 
in 1914, and paid it off in 1920. the money 
lender would have received back in pur¬ 
chasing power only about one-half the 
purchasing power he parted with six 
years before. Now, in 1921, only one 
year later, the purchasing power of the 
dollar has increased to about 62 cents, ac¬ 
cording to the various estimates, so if 
the mortgage were paid off now, the 
lender would receive back 12 cents more 
in purchasing power than if paid a year 
ago. Likewise, if a mortgage debt were 
contracted in 1921 and continued until 
the dollar increased in purchasing power 
and attained the value it had in 1914, 
then the money lender would receive back 
double the purchasing power that he 
loaned in 1920, and also if a farmer paid 
his mortgage in 1921 from the proceeds 
of his products, he did so with about one- 
half of the purchasing power that the 
money was worth in 1914 or for some 
time previous. If he mortgaged the farm 
in 1921, and if the dollar continues to 
increase in value, he may be obliged to 
pay 100-cent dollars for the 50-cent dol¬ 
lars that he received in 1921. If a hired 
man put $500 in a savings bank in 1914, 
and drew it out in 1921, his money when 
drawn out would buy only about one-half 
the necessities or comforts that it would 
have bought in 1914. If he put the 
money into the bank in 1920 and took it 
out now, it would buy for him 25 per cent 
more than when he put it in a year ago. 
These illustrations a: ' sufficient to show 
that great hardships result from a fluctu¬ 
ating money standard. Few people real¬ 
ize that these sudden changes in prices 
result from fluctuations in the value of 
gold. If this were fully realized a dif¬ 
ferent standard of value would be sought 
and found. We have standardized the 
pound weight, the yard stick and the 
bushel measure. We know exactly what 
they are, but we have no exact standard 
of value. The dollar, 23.22 grains of gold, 
is not an exact standard of value. Some¬ 
times it is worth more, sometimes less. 
Hence, every time we receive money or 
part with it, we speculate in gold. It 
may be worth more or less the next time 
we buy or sell, but no one can know for 
certain whether it will be up or down. 
Is a stable standard of value impor¬ 
tant? 
If we were to take the average prices 
of say, 40 or 50 stable products in 1914. 
and call that 100 per cent, then if it 
were found that at another time the av¬ 
erage price of these 40 or 50 products 
were 10 per cent higher, the index num¬ 
ber would be 110, and it would indicate 
that gold had depreciated 10 per cent in 
value. Then, Mr. Fisher would increase 
the gold in the dollar 10 per cent, to make 
it equal the average value of the 40 
products. If the index number fell below 
100 , then the gold would be worth more, 
and he would reduce the amount of gold 
in the dollar to equal the average value 
of the products. He would not recoin 
gold at every change. lie would circulate 
no gold. All money would be in paper, 
and the gold, as now, would be held in the 
United State Treasury or in the banks 
for redemption purposes, but the amount 
of gold that would be received for a dol¬ 
lar or given to redeem a paper dollar 
would vary from time to time in sufficient 
proportions to make the average purchas¬ 
ing power of the dollar at all times the 
same. It would take more or less gold 
at different times to pay a debt, but the 
dollar would always buy the same aver¬ 
age quantity of the 40 products. If a 
farmer sold $1,000 worth of farm pro¬ 
ducts in 1914, and loaned the money on 
a farm mortgage to be paid back in 1.921, 
the proceeds of the mortgage, when paid, 
would buy back substantially an equal 
amount of the samp products. Due to 
the variations in the cost of production, 
The Great June Harvest— Education 
Couldn’t you give a rather close guess 
at a stranger’s occupation if he were to 
describe to you what he considered the 
most essential things in a young person’s 
education? I have an idea that we all 
unconsciously lay stress upon the things 
which we have found most useful, or 
which we have found that we most lack. 
TrouSifes of a Young Teacher 
TLetters of Ruth Kelsey, a rural school 
teacher, to her sister Anna.] 
Dear Sister: You did not need to 
worry about that paint’s being sent parcel 
post. It came through all/ right, much to- 
my sorrow. I can’t send you the money 
for that or for the first-aid kit. The taxes 
have_ not been collected yet, and as the 
English the foundation of a good educa¬ 
tion, and I quite agree with them; abso¬ 
lutely the bottom stone. But to get that 
training, isn’t at least an elementary 
course in Latin most helpful? As a boy 
I studied what they called English gram¬ 
mar in the district schools which I at¬ 
tended. About all that l can remember 
of it is the chanting of “I love: you love; 
he loves, etc., etc., and wondering what 
it all meant. If it taught love, all right; 
for there is no question that love is the 
greatest thing in the world; but there 
were living textbooks to teach us that 
far more effectually than any pencil- 
marked, dog’s-eared, loose-covered volume 
bound in paper boards could do. Not 
until I got into a well-conducted high 
school and commenced the study of ele¬ 
mentary Latin under a competent teacher 
did I get any inkling of what that old 
grammar was driving at. That probably 
wasn’t the fault of the grammar ; it was 
attempting a hard drive in my case; but 
what little I really learned of the con¬ 
struction of the English language I 
learned while reading the first four books 
of Ca?sar. At least so it has seemed to 
Starting for the Shiloh, N. J., School—A Fifteen-mile Trip 
he would get a little more of one, and me since. I have a warm place in my 
less of another, but the variation could heart for Julius Caesar; he is the one . 
An invariable standard for the payment not be important, and his total exchange person in history for whose Gaul I have am afraid the pipe may drop down on us 
Some consider a thorough training in district has no- money on hand, I shall 
have to- wait until the end of this month 
anyway. If you write to me this week T 
wish you would .send me $10 so that I can 
have some resources in case of an emer¬ 
gency. 
Now, I want you to send me a boy’s 
blouse or shirt, dark blue, big enough for 
a six-year-old boy. That’s Bill Sample. 
I measured around his chest and it meas¬ 
ures 26 inches. The blouse will have to 
be larger than that, because he is so 
active he need-s lots of room. Send me 
two blouses. I forgot he was a twin. 
Ben would make himself and the whole 
school miserable if he didn’t have every¬ 
thing just like Bill’s. 
I suppose you are wondering why I am 
investing, or having you invest, in cloth¬ 
ing. That black paint is the cause. I 
tried to put it on one night after school 
and .painted about half of the blackboard. 
I left the paint on a little shelf. The 
brush was left in it. too. The next morn¬ 
ing as soon as I reached school Bill and 
Ben were there. Their mother sends them 
early to get them out of her way. While 
I was dusting Bill spied that ’brush stick¬ 
ing out of the paint can and promptly 
reached up to see what it was. You can 
guess the result. _ A little paint went on 
the floor, but Bill took the most of it. 
Such a mess 1 I cleaned off all the loose 
paint with the towel. Then I sent him 
home. Mrs. Sample arrived shortly after¬ 
ward and told me her ideas regarding my 
teaching. I kept the children so long 
after 4 o’clock that the older ones couldn’t 
help with the chores. Besides I wore 
them all out bringing so much water to 
the school to clean a room that had been 
cleaned thoroughly. To cap the climax, I 
was so careless in leaving paint around 
that I had spoiled a new blouse of Bill’s- 
and she couldn’t afford to buy clothes for 
me to destroy. Well, I was so astonished 
that I could scarcely say anything, but I 
did promise to buy a new blouse. I 
would have given her my whole month’s- 
salary (which I didn’t have) in order to- 
keep her still. 
Perhaps you better send two ties along 
with the ’blouses. 
Please send some more paint, too; not 
the kind you sent, though. That has a 
gloss and makes the board shine. I can’t 
use the part of the board I painted be¬ 
cause it glistens. Send me some black 
paint that does not shine. 
We have had a fire in the stove lately, 
and that has made me trouble. The wood 
is green. I don’t know whether that 
makes the stove smoke or whether the 
pipe needs cleaning. Isn’t it queer that 
they put the chimney at one end of the 
school and then set up the htove at the 
other end? That is what makes the pipe 
so long. I told Mr. Greene and he has 
promised to come and see what is the mat¬ 
ter. He hasn’t appeared yet. Our -phys¬ 
ical training exercises jar the floor, and I 
of credit accounts and credit instruments 
is most important, but no such standard 
has yet been found and adopted. 
Our other standards of weights and 
measures have been developed from crude 
beginnings; so has the unit of money up 
to its present but yet imperfect state. 
Many suggestions have been made to per¬ 
fect or improve the money standard. 
The double standard of gold and silver 
and the greenbacks are familiar examples. 
Others have sought to make labor a stand- 
value would be the same as at the time 
he invested in the mortgage. The hired 
man could withdraw his savings from the 
bank at any time, and have as much as 
he had at the time he made the deposit, 
and the value of the interest besides. 
profound respect. Greek has evidently 
struck the water and gone under, while 
Latin is walking the plank. Knowing 
nothing of Greek, I shall not miss it, but 
if I had a boy or a girl in school I am 
quite sure that. I should want his, or her. 
Under this rule the standard of value, course in English to include a little delv- 
in short, the dollar would be a certain 
portion of many different products. The 
dollar would always buy the same average 
amount of this composite mixture. 
This plan is not in principle as differ¬ 
ent from the labor standard of values as 
may at first appear. It really amounts to 
about the same thing in the end. In each 
case, some government agency would be 
ing into the Latin roots of our mother 
tongue. 
But, granting English, and I think that 
most of us will grant that, what next? 
There are two other important things 
that I should add, taught either in the 
schoolroom or in the home. First, I 
should teach a child to stand upon his 
feet before an audience of his fellows and 
some day. 
I don’t tell you much -about my teach¬ 
ing, because my other troubles are so nu¬ 
merous. We are not making rapid strides. 
Many of the children do not have books. 
I asked them to bring money so that I 
could send for more books. A few 
brought the money; others said they 
would but they didn’t; some said they 
couldn’t afford to -buy books every year. 
I have ordered the books just the same, 
and sent my own money for them. Per¬ 
haps the parents will pay for them when 
they actually see the books. I also sent 
for drawing paper and busy work for the 
. rt ttoU „ rpv, ovmc 6 uiciuuicui, agency wuuiu oe ieec oerore an audience or ms ieiiows and pupils. The trustee says the district nev* 
aiu or vaiue. me proposition was to necessary to determine the average wages express his thoughts orallv. And I should er ' bu F s things for the pupils to use up. 
substitute an hour’s labor for 23.22 grains of labor, and to regulate the volume of keep on teaching it until he could express When the parents see what pretty things 
of gold or a dollar. Gold and silver currency in one case, or to determine the such thoughts as he had as well on his th ? children make out of the supplies they 
would then be no longer used as money, 
and all money, except possibly fractions 
of a dollar, would be paper issued direct 
by the Federal Government. A commis¬ 
sion would be created to increase or de¬ 
crease the volume of money, to keep a 
average cost of commodities and to regu¬ 
late -the amount of gold in the dollar in 
the other case. Except for speculation, 
the cost of commodities is principally 
regulated by the cost of labor, and chang¬ 
ing the amount of gold in a dollar would 
feet and before an audience as he could 
express them anywhere. The ability to 
do that I consider one of the greatest 
assets in one’s equipment for life. How 
many nobodies get somewhere simply be- 
.... ______ - cause of the possession of a natural gift r . , 
increase or decrease the volume of money, of speech, and how many splendid some- mother. Lovingly, 
A perfect commodity standard of value bodies miss half the influence which they 
dollar at par with an hour’s labor. If seems impossible to get, because the cost might exert if they could only place their 
labor was worth more, the volume of I ,r « du ction of any commodity varies ideas before others in a pleasing manner! 
w fioin time to time, and what we need is Next, I should teach a child of mine to 
money vould be decieased, if less, the an invariable standard. The merit of recognize faces and remember names, 
volume of money would be increased. This Mr. Fisher’s standard is that the average This can undoubtedly best be done in the 
suggestion has not received very serious • variation < in a large number of commodi- home. Funny sort of education, you say 
will doubtless be willing for the district 
to pay for them. 
I am going to have a Thanksgiving pro¬ 
gram—but, best of all, I am coming home 
Thanksgiving Day. Won’t that be glori¬ 
ous? I want ice cream for dinner. Tell 
butet. 
The Rural School! 
What do the rural schools of New York 
need? Money. Where from? Much 
more largely from the State than haa 
attention, but it indicates the tendenev ties wou d *?c le * s the variation of Well, what ability do you covet more? ever been had. The rural schools can 
. i ^i- . ._ f „ui . i. i ,t one commodity alone, like gold, but there And what ability would be of greater never be what they ought to be until the 
to look tor a moie stable standard than would be some variation even in the av- service to you as you walk to and fro State realizes its duty, and great oppor- 
we find in gold. 
What other changes have been pro¬ 
posed ? 
The most promising suggestion has 
come from Prof. Irving Fisher of Yale 
University. He proposes to stabilize the 
value of the gold dollar by making its gold 
content vary from time to time, accord¬ 
ing to the varying average prices of sta- 
erage of many commodities, and therefore over the earth? It is no small thing to 
the index standard would not be_ perfect, be able to take a man’s hand and call 
though it would seem to be an improve- him by name when you meet him. There 
meat on any one commodity alone, as a is subtle flattery in it that will carry one 
standard of value. The recent erratic a long way in the esteem of his fellows, 
fluctuations in the value of money and It is honest flattery, too; no one need be 
the disturbed financial conditions of the ashamed to use it. This ability, like the 
country emphasize the weakness of a ability to talk well, is a natural gift to 
standard of varying value, and the sug- some, but it may be acquired by those 
gestion to standardize the dollar by modi- who do not possess it naturally if their 
tunity, to develop the potential citizen¬ 
ship found in little schools throughout the 
State. See what California has done, by 
initiative vote of the people! Taxed itself 
to give $30 a year per pupil, State funds, 
to the elementary and high schools of the 
State. The money is devoted wholly to 
teachers’ salaries. The fund, some $16,- 
000 ,000. is not divided evenly over the 
State. The poorer schools get the larger 
<11 TVT.^vrln r.fc- ft. A, i. T. . , - ~ t -i J VV UD UV HU L JJCUbdCfcO U 11 tl till cliij I L LII tl 1 kl let bC. L lit? ]1UU I Cl OLllUUlrt get IdlgVT 
! oifi 0,1 • l 1 e market, as re- tying the amount of gold in the money parents are wise enough to recognize its share. The rich State of New York should 
Ji 1 umt ; m accordance with the official index value and patient enough to teach it per- get under the rural schools. It is tho 
tne aierage vanations with the prices numbers, is receiving serious attention. sistently from childhood up, m. b. d. State’s problem. datus c. smith. 
