THE STANDARD OF VALUE 
for example, as the capitalist holds, were in commodity units 
(coms) the government would have no power by inflation or 
otherwise to destroy the accumulated wealth of the individual 
unless he were foolish enough to hoard dollars. All govern- 
ments of countries which are heavily in debt naturally favor a 
decline of the value of the money unit because this decline 
carries with it a reduction of the tax burden. Our national 
debt of $20,000,000,000 or more with the dollar now at two- 
thirds of its pre-war value, is no greater burden for the nation 
to carry than $13,000,000,000 would have been before the 
phenomenal shrinkage of the purchasing power of the dollar. 
If all things were managed fairly, every one should be earning a 
number of dollars inversely proportional to the purchasing power 
of the dollar. The use of the com would bring this about. For 
the capitalist, however, who finds his bonds and other securities 
shrinking in value, there has been no general relief. His sacrifice 
has been real and he must expect no protection so long as he sub- 
mits to the prevailing custom. He, too, however, would 
hereafter get protection, as already stated, if some plan were 
adopted of expressing value in terms of commodity units. The 
banker would continue to deal in money as he does today except, 
however, that he would have recourse to the more stable unit of 
value, the com, when he lends money for a period of such dura- 
tion that the value of the money unit may materially change 
before the loan becomes due.* 
Rents, salaries and wages could be specified in coms instead 
of in dollars. In the case of the government employees whose 
prospective compensation in dollars must be forecast for a year, 
means would have to be found if this compensation be expressed 
In coms to make the tax levy adequate. The money equivalent 
of the commodity unit during the quarter preceding the fixing 
* As an example of how this may be done it may be noted that the employees of 
the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co. are now being paid on a scale of wages con- 
trolled by a Commodity Index Number and that the Rand Cardex Companies have 
recently issued securities in the form of stabilized bonds, under the terms of which 
the commodity index number will determine the number of dollars per annum 
which the money invested in the bond will earn. 
281