ABSTRACT

Since most creditors are relatively rich and most debtors relatively poor, it might appear that this result of rising prices would tend towards a more even apportionment of wealth. And so no doubt it would if the rise of prices had been equally applicable to all sorts of goods and services. But it has not. The prices of some classes of commodities have risen much more than those of others. As regards the consumable or final commodities upon which the greater part of most incomes is expended, the most necessary classes of commodities have been subjected to the highest rises of price. The prices of the foods, fuel and shelter, upon which the workers spend the largest proportion of their incomes, have risen more than the prices of most articles of comfort or luxury which figure largely in the expenditure of the wealthier classes.