The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15
By CIAS. r. SHAEFFER,
Financial Editor.


dollar, the pound sterling, the franc,
mark, lire or ,ruble, is the greatest
present-day world evil, according to
DR.. Frank A. Wolff. physicist of the
Bureau of Standards, who. arrives at
this conclusion after calm and
lengthy deliberation of the stabiliza-
ton of the purchasing power OF
money.
place the money power. in the
hands of combination of a few IN
dividuals,', he says, land they, by
expanding or contracting the cur
rency, may initiate or reduce at
pleasure. and by purchasing when
at the greatest depression, and sell
ing at the greatest elevation, may
command the whole property and in
dustry of the community and control
its fiscal operation. The banking
system concentrates this power in
the hands of those who control It.
Never was an engine invented better
calculated to place the destinies of
the many in the hands of the few,
or less favorable to that equality
and independence which lies at the
bottom of our free institutions.
SUGGESTS REMEDY.
The situation into which the coun.
try has permitted itself to drift
through the lack of remedial legisla-
ton, says DIR. Wolff, calls for three
procedures:
1. The impartial determination by
a competent commission of all the
facts relating to the mechanism
whereby the. purchasing power of
money may be manipulated.
2. The ascertainment of the bene-
fIcfaries and the victims OF such. con-
troll.
8. The finding of remedy which
will restore equilibrium when such
equilibrium has been displaced.
This duty clearly devolves upon
Congress, according to DR.. Wolff,
who calls attention to the fact
that Congress is empowered by
Section 8, Article of the Con
stitution ITO coin money, regulate
the value thereof, and of foreign
coin and fix the standard OF
weights and measures.
Congress prerogative in this re-
spert has almost been ignored. DR..
Wolff charges. Our law-maklng
limited itself, insofar as regulating
the value thereof is concerned, 10
fixing the weight and fineness OF
composition of coins, whether god,
silver, nickel or copper.
USES FICTITIOUS VALUE.
1T, does not recognize that this
merely fixed the value of such
coin in terms of the number of
grains of gold in the dollar, which
Is not an expression of real value,
valtie in terms of commodities.
I'm recent years. said DIR. Wolff,
''olir whole banking system las
been reorganized under the Fed
eral Reserve Act, which created
system dominated by the private
financial and banking interests of
the country. They were intrusted
with the power of issuing parer
mohey and creating bank credits
and were thereby placed in the
position of imposing upon the
American people a species Of
economic servitude made possible
by ,,the control of the purchasing
po4ter of money through credit In
flation on the one hand and credit
deflation on the other.
First, with regard to the era OF
Initiation extending from our entry
into the world war until the arms
tjce, The prices of certain basic
commodities, such as steel. copper,
wheat, ETC., were fixed, and these
in jturn fixed automatically price
levels of other commodities in the
same commodity groups, thus
bringing about a general rise ir
price levels.
Similarly, labor sought to sus-
tain it's prewar living standards,
but only in the case of strongly
organized workers situated in
strong tactical position could they
compel their wages to keep step
with the increasing price levels:
or in other words. the deprecated
purchasing power of the dollar.
SYSTEMATIC EXTORTION.
1t thus came about that at the
time of the armistice the nomin lllv
increased return to the farmer and
TO the worker had been distracted
from him. in whole or in oart,
through the subtle power of taking
away his apparent gain and gen
orally more by paying him in dol
lars Of correspondingly less value.
After the armistice came the
real orgy of initiation. which began
a. soon as it was announced that
the harness would be taken off Of
business Price levels shot up
ward, while at the same time tie
Government assured the nation
that 1t was doing everything pos
Rjble TO reduce the cost of living
The result of both the initiation
and deflation resulted in $40, 600, 700
900 being transferred from one set
Of pockets to another during the
period of initiation and $50, 900 0O0.-
Don during the period of deflation. !"
The neglect on the part Of Con.
gress to provide adequate legisia.
ton to combat this evil, an esti-
mated loss OF 81 for every dollar
Of n salaried mans annual pay.
has been suffered since June so.
1914. when the cost of living first
started TO rise. MIR. Wolff de.
cIared.
WOULD STABILIZE DOLLAR.
Ia the opinion Of DR.. Wolff, a
solution TO this grave difficulty can
be found without recourse to yary.
ing the number of grains of gold
behind the dollar by regulation OF
the total volume of circulation OF
both currency and bank credit
principally through regulation OF
the volume of money of account
which plays a role nine times as
important as currency itself, ir
proportion to the volume OF pro
duction--that is. TO the actual re
= quirements of business on a stabiI
ICED dollar basis. This, he claims
would haUa the fYRrfhar adr f.,r v<