The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1920-02-20
DEFLATioN WOULD SPELL DIS.
ASTER

The above is the caption appearing
in leading article in the Baltimore
Manufacturers Record of January
29th.
The well-known editor on financial
affairs, says:
Farmers and laboring people are
getting a fairer pay today than ever
before in the history of the country.
There is more widespread prosperity
than this or any other country has
ever enjoyed Manufacturers and
their employees are more prosperous,
merchants are making more money,
are enjoying hitherto unknown pros
perity which is lifting them from the
slough of despond in which they have
existed for generations.
| Further along he says
THE situation is entirely unlike
anything in the past. 1t is entirely
possible for the Federal Reserve Board
to duplicate the panic of 1873, and by
somewhat similar methods, but a
panic brought on at the present time
through deflation would be very diff
cult panic from that which caused such
disaster in '73 1t seems incompre-
hensible that financiers cannot under
stand that, as the war was fought on
high wages and initiation, any attempt
to lessen the initiation, any attempt
this country for some years to come
would prove disastrous to the nation
and to every interest in it. Deflati0n
would spell to the disaster, and the
Federal Reserve Board and all other
banking interests which have thought
of deflation as the road to betterment
of the nations condition may rest as
sured that it would be a straight high
way down to ruin.
ton of the league of nations covenant
we are glad that we are in perfect
agreement with the editor of the
Record that deflation of the currency
would mean disaster.
In our issue of January 10th in a
leading editorial article this paper
made the following observations
which it may not be out of place 70
reproduce:
1T will be remembered at least by
many of us that just after the civil
war money was abundant, values were
in proportion, and the country was on
a high wave of prosperity.
THE redundancy of money and cor.
responding values of all forms of prop
ETY. in the north gave birth to mil.
lionaires in plenty, farm lands and
farm products commanded a higher
price than was ever throught possible,
and miners and manufacturers grew
opulent.
In the south, Confederate money
and Confederate bonds and all state
bonds we're repudiated and the ne.
groes were emancipated, but cotton
was commanding fabulous prices
which partly reimbursed the losses
fer the reputation of money and
bonds and for the abolition of the
slaves.
But somehow or other the redun
dancy of money did not satisfy the
financiers and cry was inaugurated
for the resumption of specie pay
ments, as cry is now being heard
for the "deflation of the currency
"Good old, misguided Horace Greedy
continued to exrostulate through the
columns of his newspaper, the New
York Tribune, which was a power in
those days, that the way to resume
is to resume
Finally the resumption act was
passed by congress which quickly
brought on the severest money crisis
the country has ever known and poy
erty and want soon followed in its
footsteps.
Again we have redundancy OF
money. the banks are oyerflowing
and the pockets of most ordinary
people are bullying with the coin of
the realm, because the highest prices
ever known for farm products and the
labor of ones hands are being obtain.
ed.
Because of this PLETHORA of money
the cry is already being heard for de
flation.
Why?
Let it be remembered that all
forms of money, paper, silver, nickel
copper, are all on parity with gold,
and will buy as much in the markets
dollar for dollar as gold.
AS compared with gold there has
been no depreciation Of the currency.
So why deflation