The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1923-05-20
Initiation of
Mark Ruins
" e L III q II y
Trickery by Government and
''Industrialists" Causes Peo-
pie to Lose Faith in
Settlement.
Example Is Set for U. S.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.


London, May 19.-The purpose
of the present article is to tell just
what happens to a nation and a peo-
pie whose unit of currency goes
through the experience that is called
.'inslation." The purpose is to tell it
In terms of the experience of Ger,
many and the mark. Not only will it
be of interest as a narrative of what
has actually happened in Germany. It
viii also have some value as an ex-
ample in the light of occasional hints
hints which the writer cannot help
feeling are sinister-of what some
persons would be willing to bring
about at home in America. To get the
analogy it will merely be necessary
to imagine what has happened to
the mark in Germany as happening
10 the doller in America.
Before the war the value Of the
German mark was. roughly 25 cents.
Today it is worth so little you can
call it anything you wish-for con
venience, say one one hundredth Of
a cent.
To a degree. an inhnitesimal and
comparatively harmless degree, some
think like this has happened to our
dollar. for the dollar which was worth
100 cents in 1914 is worth today,
measuring in purchasing power.
about 60 cents. To the degree that
this has happened In America It has
not been a matter of deliberate cur
reney imitation. but chiefly a matter
of credit imitation, a thing that ac-
companied the issuing of bonds to
pay for the war and was largely un-
avodable. If there should be any
body in America WHO would like this
depreciation Of the dollar to go fur
iher S lu flFigks -, x.ft of thing
IL good Tor nation. the present mar
rative OF what ajopr eciation has done
-sests1~ 5eJp1e of Germany will be en-
tightening.
Il. :. Menaeed
America IS not wholly immune from
the possibility Of being inflated from
Europe by the views of what seems
specifically to be alluring in defla-
tion. We have among us at least
few of the kind Of people who think
initiation is good thing. Without
attempting to make, or even to hint,
what would probably be as unpleas-
ant a prediction as it would be pos
sible to make about our future, It
may be said that among the dangers
of the campaign Of next year is the
possibility that somebody may arise
with a cheap money panacea. Indeed.
a phrase that one Of our presidential
aspirants let drop some months ago
has already pointed in that direction.
Let us take the German people,
class by class.
For convenience. take first the class
that had money in the savings banks.
Those Of the German people who
saved their money and put it In the
savings banks. and in the other Ger
man equivalents of savings banks. are
precisely like those Of our own people
who do the same sort Of thing. This
el.ss Of people is the salt Of every
nation-the workers who make it
practice to spend a little less than
they earn: who. every Saturday night,
take some part Of their pay and put
ii In the savings bank as a protection
against sickness or old age, or for
the education Of their children.
This class Of people In Germany has
been robbed Of everything they had.
Thrift Of No Avail
Before the war--and even during
the war. because deflation did not
begin until near the close Of the war
a good. Woodworking German work
man could pile mp his savings mark
by mark. and look forward to the
flme when he should have in the
savings bank, let us say. 1000 marks,
and the interest from that sum would
keep him adequately during his old
age. Today that 10000 marks would
hardly buy him a single meal. He IS
on the world, he has no provision for
the future, he is bewldered! lie was
taught that thrift was n virtue, and
now he finds that some mysterious
mower which he does not understand,
some malevolent agency of the gov
ernment or business. or both com
bined. has made all his savings Of no
avail.
Take next the class Of people who
carry life insurance. This class IN
Germany is precisely Ike the same
class ut home-men with a care for
the future and for their families. Year
by year they paid their premiums in
the full confidence that when they
should come to die they would leave
behind them enough to save their
wives and children from immediate
want. They were as confident oi
the security OF their life insurance,
as sure the money would be there to
take care Of their families, as they
were Of death itself But now they
find that after paying 25-eent pieces
to the insurance companies all their
lives, their families will get back
pieces Of paper worth less than a
hundredth OF a cent. You can imagine
the sense OF outrage and dazed he
wilderment with which these people
contemplate their present position
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