The Washington herald., 1922-01-17

ASSERTS FORD;
|: ASKS 4 new BASIS
Drops Fight on Jews and
Battles for Creative
3 Money" Standard.

TGold Is useless. except possibly
for decorative purposes. Money. to
be pf value. must be creative. Gold
is hot creative. hence Is not fair
basis Of value"
This u the theory upon which
Henry Ford is proceeding in a new
csrhpaisn he has just opened to put
American money on a new basis. He
has dropped his hght against the
International Jew" through the
Dekfeorn Independent. 50 that the
ntire'Scnergies of his publication
may be devoted to the money issue.
Heintends to reduce the price OF the
Independent
Eosd;s- new fight. which was re-
vesteds1n detail while he was in
Washington during the past few
days. fsbound up in the now famous
Muscle Shoals project. In other
words. the big reason behind his
desire to take over. the Muscle
Shoals work is to demonstrate that
his money scheme is sound. He
would apply II in financing the
shoals project
Ford Explains idea.
The idea. as explained by Ford.
is this.
II the government issued bonds
at IA per cent to complete the
. Muscle Shoals work IL would cost
s4o,ooo.000. plus the interest on
bonds. bringing the total cost to
100000. 900. Under his plan, how
ever. money invested at Muscle
Shoals would be creative money"
He would give employment. through
the products from the project. new
Industries would be started. giving
more employment. and the govern
ment would have a steadily increas-
ing income from leases, rentals, etc
With the start OF the project
Ford. consequently, under the Gre
ative money scheme would have the
government issue. $40. .000. 900 in say.
special so Muscle Shoals" bills.
These bills would have the same
. value as ordinary currency. Wages
would be paid with them and gen.
eral expenses in carrying on the
work would be similarly paid for
They would. in effect. be non-in-
terest paying. negotiable bonds
Ford would paw back the govern
ment at the rate OF about $3.50 900
year.
Would Apply II to Railroads.
TheA issue of special notes would
thus-oe completely retired within
less than forty years by these pay
ments. At the end OF the 100-year
period covered by Ford's agreement
he declares the government would
be in complete control of the entire
Muscle Shoals project without hav-
ing spent a cent either in principal
or interest The creative money
invested in the project would thus
pay itself back. according to Fords
theory.
Ford would carry his theory far
beyond Muscle Shoals. He would
apply 10 to the railroads. buying up
the holdings OF all stockholders
with creative money" that would
be issued. The value back of this
railroad money would be produc-
tive power OF the roads.
Being relieved Of their present
heavy payments for interest, Ford
argues. the roads would be able to
maEeSA improvements that cannot
now be made. and put the trans
portation systems of the country on
far higher level.
interest, in Ford's opinion, is the
millstoae about the neck of all
modsrn-sindustrial enterprises Too
many money lenders are drawing
interest or dividends. without con-
triorting to the work Of Industries.
he believes. His system OF issuing
currency on specific projects, with
the possibilities in the project serv-
ing as~the guarantee. Of the value
of the currency would. he declares,
eliminate the necessities of loans
Among other things Ford has q
complete plan in mind for the
building of twenty locks on the
Mississippi River which would. he
says make that stream great
highway of commerce and at the
same time furnish enough electric
ity hto light and furnish motive
powtr for the entire Mississippi
VALLEY.
This scheme he would also put
through under his financial scheme
Of creative money.
Compares Two Nations.
In sarguing that it is work pro-
duction and employment that make
for real money value. rather than
merely gold. Ford points to the
present conditions in the United
States and Germany.
The United States has most Of
the gold In the world. and has ap-
proxtmately 100000 unemployed.
and has been going through a Sc
rious financial depression. Ger
many, has no gold but Is perhaps
the busiest country in the world in
dustrially. Therefore, Ford be-
Iieves. gold has nothing TO do with
prosperity. Money is useless un-
less. it creates work. he argues
Gold In itself creates nothing, but
money based upon the energy OF
production which 1t represents will
create more energy and more pro-
duction and consequently more
money, he says.