In the face of what seems to be a really indeterminate statistical problem, I content myself with the theoretical conclusions in the text. Because I cannot find adequate grounds for confidence in the main source from which he has drawn his statistics, I refrain from a criticism of the theory and method underlying Professor J. M. Clark's ingenious effort to derive statistical laws for the elasticity of the arts demand for gold. (American Economic Review, Sept. 1913.)
[467] Cf. our chapter on "Economic Value," supra, and "Social Value," passim.
[468] F. A. Walker, International Bimet.
[469] See DeLaunay, The World's Gold, New York, 1908, p. 176. DeLaunay's figures indicate that the use of gold for gold leaf and plate is quantitatively a minor factor in the industrial consumption of gold. Jewelry and watch cases are the most important items.
[470] Capital prices of lands and securities might well be lower, if interest rates are markedly higher, and if land rents and "quasi-rents" suffer from higher wages and higher interest.
[471] Cf. chapter on "Dodo-Bones," supra.
[472] Among the writers who have treated this topic, I would mention especially Menger, "Geld," in Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften; Laughlin, Principles of Money; Scott, W. A., Money and Banking; Knies, Das Geld; Walker, F. A., Money and Political Economy; Conant, Principles of Money and Banking; Seligman, Principles of Economics; Johnson, J. F., Money and Currency; von Mises, L., Theorie des Geldes und der Umlaufsmittel; Helfferich, K., Das Geld; Simmel, Philosophie des Geldes; Davenport, H. J., Economics of Enterprise. The difference between the standard of value (common measure of values) function, and the medium of exchange function is particularly well illustrated by Scott, loc. cit., ch. 1. The legal functions of money are especially treated by Knapp, Staatliche Theorie des Geldes.
[473] For discussions of the idea of measuring values, and the dependence of this on the conception of value as an absolute quantity, a common or generic quality of wealth, see Knies, Das Geld, I, 113ff.; Kinley, Money, 61-62; Merriam, L. S., "Money as a Measure of Value," Annals of the American Academy, vol. IV; Carver, "The Concept of an Economic Quantity," Quart. Jour. of Econ., 1907; Laughlin, Principles of Money, 1903, pp. 14-16; Davenport, Value and Distribution, p. 181, n.; Anderson, Social Value, chs. 2 and 11, and "The Concept of Value Further Considered," Quart. Journal of Econ., 1915; Helfferich, Das Geld, 1903 ed., pp. 470-478; Scott, Money and Banking, ch. 1.
[474] See Scott, Money and Banking, ch. 3.
[475] A further reason for preferring "common measure of values" is that expression carries dearly the connotation of absolute values. "Relative values" cannot be "measured," Social Value, pp. 26-27.