Omaha daily bee., 1919-12-18
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How to Settle the Question.

Omaha, Dec. 15.-T0 the Editor or
The Bee: Responding solely to the
rule of supply and demand. silver
has acquired position in the COM
mercial world which brings 1t on a
parity with gold; in other words,
bimetallism" promises to be re-es-
tablished regardless of the wishes of
Wall street and the monometallist.
The rapid advance in silver quota
tons have startled the financial
world and the fact that silver dol
lar is worth more in bullion than it
is in coin will result In the final
withdrawal OF silver from circulation
and 1t will be as scarce in the trans
action Of business as is gold.
Disturbance of exchange rates on
international money transactions is
natural and direct outcome of the
war; principally this Is due to the
enormous increase in government
credits and the business world Is un-
able to readjust its operations on the
present gold standard basis.
This government must resort to
some expedient Of recoinage and to
do this we must remove the old
standards Of value which were es-
tablished by an act of the British
Parliament in the year Of 1902 and
adopted by the United States gov
eminent in the year 1920; otherwise
in order to maintain the old stand
ard we must increase taxation prac-
tically double the present levy.
The fundamental object Of taxa
ton Is not to impose a burden or
penalty on the taxpayers; rather the
opposite, to secure funds by means
Of which the government may be
enabled to extend to the taxpayers
those benefits which they could not
do so well, If at all, secure for them
selves. Consequently any program
Of taxation should be administered
with utmost sympathy and consider
alton and with the least possible dis
turbance Of the taxpayers normal
activities. Already taxes have been
levied upon the people until these
burdens cannot be carried by the
common people and to tax industry
further means to curtail the output,
lessen the production and thereby in
crease the cost Of living.
Nations as we'll as individuals
must pay their debts. Today the
United States Of America is the only
solvent going concern In the world,
and 1t Is carrying bonded indebt-
edness Of practically $4,000, 100000,
VI q pIlHClpdl sum VI pGtc AoA ooSA
person In the United States. The
interest levied pro rata would be
$1375 a year.
The first duty this government
owes its people is to begin paying
it's debts and get back to doing bust
ness as soon as possible on hard
cash basis, which Is sure cure for
the economic ills Of the nation. But
how can this be brought about?
First, the United States congress
should adopt a measure for protect
ing the United States treasury re-
serves and reducing taxation. This
can be done by adopting a "bimetal-
lie" monetary system. call In all me-
tallic specie and reissue gold and
silver coins in one-half Of the pres
ent size. With the surplus from re-
coinage let this money be applied to
retire a portion of the present bond
issue. Then adopt standard for
gold at SABA per ounce and value
for silver of $3.50 per ounce. Such
an act Of the government will re-
lieve the burdens OF taxation and
will greatly stimulate the mining In
dustry of the nation; will pour more
wealth into the Golfers of the treas
ury; labor will be employed at a
wage that will do away with strikes
and the opportunity will be offered
to every person in the United States
to receive employmnt.> The reduc-
ing Of the size of the American dol
lar will give a dollar purchasing
power equal to its value and will en-
able the United States as nation
to expand its industry and commerce
and in this manner we will have
solved the question Of the high cost
of living. ROY M. HARROP.