Seventh: That an analysis of these margins will show that they can be constructively diminished but that, regrettable as it is, the prosecution of profiteers will not do it.
Eighth: That the problem must be solved, if our agriculture is to be maintained and if the balance between agriculture and general industry is to be preserved so as to prevent our becoming dependent upon imports for food, with a train of industrial and national dangers.
Present Prices Due to Inflation and Shortage in World Production
Our war inflation does not lie so much in our increased gold and currency. Our currency per capita has increased by perhaps 25 or 30 per cent, but, compared to European practice of currency inflations of 200 to 800 per cent, our conduct has been
provident indeed. This is not, however, the real area of inflation. It lies in the expansion of our bank credits. If we exclude the savings bank as not being credit institutions in the ordinary sense, and if we compile the commercial bank deposits, we still no doubt gather in some real savings, but nevertheless the figures show a considerable color of inflation somewhere. No one need think we have gotten so suddenly rich as the money complexion of these figures might indicate. At the outset it should be emphasized that all figures of this kind are subject to dispute and interpretation; but, after all such deductions, the indication of tendencies remains.
| Year | Bank Deposit Total | Per Cent Change from 1913 |
| 1913 | 11,390,918,596 | 100.0 |
| 1914 | 11,974,760,593 | 105.1 |
| 1915 | 12,282,097,638 | 107.8 |
| 1916 | 15,398,090,701 | 135.2 |
| 1917 | 18,444,103,496 | 161.9 |
| 1918 | 20,425,067,839 | 179.3 |
| 1919 | 24,971,784,000 | 219.2 |
It will be accepted at once that the volume of bank deposits must grow with increased commodity production and therefore we may roughly examine into this as well. If we combine the tonnage productivity of agriculture, metals, coal, salt, cement, lumber and the quar
ries, we shall cover the great bulk of our products. These figures also must be taken as merely indicating the tendencies of the times.
| Year | Production in Tons | Per Cent Change from 1913 |
| 1913 | 1,081,293,417 | 100.0 |
| 1914 | 1,019,018,207 | 94.2 |
| 1915 | 1,073,472,988 | 99.3 |
| 1916 | 1,162,489,530 | 107.5 |
| 1917 | 1,241,173,806 | 114.8 |
| 1918 | 1,247,787,883 | 115.4 |
| 1919 | 1,117,181,233 | 103.3 |
If we attach the index of prices during these periods and compare them with the per cent variation in commodity production and bank deposits, we have the following interesting parallels: