The principle of index numbers is applied in a variety of ways to the adjustment of industrial problems arising from price fluctuations, though it is not yet generally accepted by business men as a practical solution. The government from time to time publishes the fluctuations in prices as shown by index numbers, and very often, as in the case of fixing wages, employs it to adjust unfair conditions. It has been seriously proposed by some that the national government undertake, by changing the size of the gold dollar, to keep prices at exactly the same level. So far the proposal has appeared to officials and business men as impracticable, though none denies the need of some plan whereby incomes might be protected against price fluctuation.