Fisher states on p. 95 that "other elements in the equation of exchange than money and commodities[339] cannot be transported from one place to another." And in the passage quoted above he maintains that price-levels in one country can influence price-levels in another country, or even price-levels in one city can influence price-levels in another city, only _via_ changes in money, in the second country or city. But other elements in the equation are _directly_ transferable, in fact. _Deposits_, _e. g._, in London, to the credit of New York bankers, may be transferred to Paris, directly, by _cable_ or by _letter_, and _prices_ are constantly being directly passed from one country or market to another by the same media. Let us suppose a strong case, to put our principle in relief. Assume an island, which produces a staple widely used, whose chief centre of production is outside the island. Assume that this staple, an agricultural product, rises greatly in price, owing to a blight, which promises to be permanent, in the main producing region. The blight does not affect the island, however. Let this product be the main product of our island, which we shall assume to be small. Let the island have communication with the outside world by boat only once in three months. Let it be, however, in constant communication by cable. Word comes by cable of the rise in the price in the staple. The staple at once rises in the island. No new money has come in to cause it. Will this be a rise in the price-level? Will there be compensating reductions in the prices of other things to leave the price-level unchanged? What prices can fall? Not the prices of goods that have been imported to the island, surely. They will rather tend to rise, because everybody on the island will feel richer than before, and will be disposed to buy more freely. Meanwhile, merchants and bankers on the island will be more ready to extend credit than before, so that they will be able to buy more freely. What else can fall? Not the prices of the land! Rather, the land will rise in price greatly, because the increased price of the staple, expected to be permanent, will promise bigger rents, and the price of the land, being a _capitalization_ of the annual rental, will rise very much more than anything else--it will rise to the extent of the capitalized price of the increase in the rents. Wages, likewise, will rise, since the price of the product of labor has risen. And the capital instruments in use in producing the staple will also rise, though not so much as land and wages, inasmuch as they can be brought in from outside at the end of three months. What is there that can fall--except, perhaps, such goods as are exclusively designed for the construction of poorhouses! A significant particular price rises--that is the first step; then, from causes familiar to all students of economics, other related prices rise; there is a general _sympathetic_ rise in prices, the _price-level_ has risen independently, from causes _outside the equation of exchange_. But now, can this rise sustain itself? Well, what can bring it down? When the ship comes, at the end of three months, it will bring in additional supplies of the articles of import, and they will go down to their old level. Will they go any lower than the old level? What is there to cause them to do so? The outside price-level should be higher now, rather than lower, since the _stock_ of the staple in question is reduced, and nothing else increased to compensate. Nor can any reason be assigned why other prices on the island: the staple in question, lands, wages, etc., should fall at all from the level they reached when the news first came.