amplitude per annum, or the path of its travel. A vibration indicated by the line A-B is of much more value, whether expressed negatively or positively, than a vibration indicated by the line C-D. (See Figure 2, page 129.)
Now, to get down to figures: During the years 1914–1919, taking troughs and peaks, prices varied roughly as follows:
| Year | Index Number | Increase per year |
| 1913 | 100 | 0% |
| 1914 | 100 | 0% |
| 1915 | 101 | 1% |
| 1916 | 124 | 23% |
| 1917 | 176 | 52% |
| 1918 | 196 | 20% |
| 1919 | 212 | 16%[1] |
This indicates an average variation over 6 years of 18.66% per annum,[2] or 1.55% per month, so that, while our dollar-wealth per capita grows beyond our wildest hopes, we find it very difficult to pay the milkman;[3] and the true underlying significance, is that the controllers of goods and services were asserting their temporary power over the holders of money, while the unincumbered owners of land were sitting back and rather enjoying the whole wretched performance, just as we enjoyed the spectacle of the first thrilling advance of the Russians upon Germany, or the Italians into Austria. We had all the thrills and none of the hazard.
We were treating the controllers of gold, and their unsophisticated satellites, the holders of dollars, more and more rudely every month; but unfortunately, at the same time, we were doing great injustice to many innocent followers—savings-bank depositors, insurance-policy holders, retired workers and pensioners. This episode appears to disprove the con-
- ↑ “Wholesale Prices 1890 to 1919,” U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. July, 1920, page 15.
- ↑ See page 198.
- ↑ According to the Bureau of Economic Research, the per capita income of 1918 was $586, but its purchasing power was only 372 dollars of the 1913 brand. “Income of the United States,” page 76. Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1921.
