The Llano colonist. [volume] (Llano, Calif.) 191?-1937, 1922-03-18

list issue Of Soviet Russia has a second
installment Of Leon Trotsky's Chang
Cd World Conditions. which tells Of
the conditions in Europe. and the next
installment is to speak of the u. S.
Virtually his term means the same
that Capitalism if disintegrating.
A system that has evolved out Of
Feudalism and has gradually grown
into its present form, and of later years
taken on rapid maturity in the
growth Of corporation power and the
evolution Of big combines and monop-
olies that now control governments and
is entrenched in great financial power
cannot Be epected to fall suddenly
without desperate fight for its life,
except indeed It Be BY the revolution
airy method it has taken on in Russia.
or BY openly confessed bankruptcy by
the road Of Reputation. which will
force revolution upon a starving and
economically Frustrated world. We
have long had the maxim, Large bod
les move slowly" but astronomy shows
us they can and do move rapidly.
AS long as the inflated credits and
enormous issues of paper money can
be sustained, the present system will
continue to exist even with the present
disrupted state Of international trade
purchasing power Of their labor and
home; but there is one ominous fact
that cannot Be ignored or successfully
denied and that is, that the markets Of
the sale Of the surplus products have
for the last 40 to so years been clos
ing TO international trade by the hith-
ertc industrially undeveloped states
developing their own industries and
consuming their own raw materials;
and hence they cease to export the
former volume or any great surplus
Of raw materials. A study of import
and export statistics will show that
their import totals have been kept up
by the importing of machinery to de-
velop their own industries. As a ma
lion ceases to find purchasers for its
manufactured surplus, the industries
that produce that surplus must lam
guish and close down or in order to de-
crease the price in the competition on
! closing market there is an organized
campaign to reduce wages to lower
levels. This naturally decreases the
power Of their labor and .
surtails home consumption and more ,
closing down follows and increasing
Unemployment You cannot make a
blanket longer by cutting off piece
1t the top and sewing it on the bottom.
And on the top of all this has come
devastating world war that has sad
He'd the nations with war debts whose
interest has been defaulted or prac-
ically forced REPUTATION. And
5urther yet. to carry on there has
oeen issued billions of paper money
hat is deprecated in International Ex-
,hange until International trade has
,een made difficult and impractical, or
f carried on, means ultimate loss. If
his is not disintegration. please give
a name.
In all Of the history Of the world ne
rer has there been such a wholesale
nfIation Of credits. debts. and indebt-
.dness The great Mississippi Bub-
ii" that collapsed and produced dis
ress and financial disruption was not
i any time an approach to present
Conditions. These debts can never be
,aid, it is physically impossible. In
act the Republication Of even the inter
st on these war debts is practical Re-
'udiation Of Capital and Interest. The
proposal to cancel" these debts, born
f the necessity shows plainly that it
, recognized and admitted that they,
an never be paid. Some Of the mar
ions have debts that exceed their ma
ional wealth. Il
0n the eve OF the war Germanys
ational wealth was estimated at US
illions Of gold marks. The present
,erman national wealth, despite the
act that she has not suffered the
,hoIesale destruction Of her industries
$ did Belgium and northern France.
estimated at 100 billion gold marks,
lille her Indebtedness has risen to
SO billion gold marks, and in addition
) all this, she is called upon to pay
II indemnify Of l32 billion gold marks.
hould the Allied powers foreclose at
ie point Of the bayonet, all the ma
onal wealth Of Germany down to the
Iothing Of the people would not pay
If this is not hopeless bankruptcy
lease give 1t name.
Austria as state IS only name
nd practically no longer exists. The
ar debts Of Italy alone are three
Il