ABSTRACT
The criticism of Messrs Wissler and Comer, in The Annalist of May 13, involves partly questions of definition and partly questions of statistics, causation and purpose. The extreme “commodity” theorists find causation on the demand side of the equation, in an existing “volume of trade” which gives rise to the needs of business to finance the marketing of existing quantities of commodities at existing prices. Publicity and moral suasion in the form of published forecasts of financial authorities and private conversations with bankers as to the prospects of markets and business. The Federal Reserve bankers do not engage in published forecasts, since changes in their rediscount rates and open market operations, where they take the initiative, speak more loudly than words. But they are continually in conference with member bankers and business men, who are, of course, eager to know what they think and are going to do.
