Evening star., 1933-01-24
The Old Skeleton Revealed.

SehaLOG Wneeler mas TOT MS Dill Tor
the free coinage Of silver, 1t . ratio
Of Is to l, IN the shape of an amend
ment to the Glass bill and the Senate
will probably vote on it today. There
is little prospect Of anything save de-
cisive defeat for this revival of an is
sue that the American people have 50
thoroughly repudiated, but such Demo-
Gratis IS Senator Glass must neverthe-
less feel keen embarrassment at seeing
an old family skeleton dragged out of
the closet so eafly in the game. And
it Is to be hoped, for the good of the
country, that the Senate's vote to down
the Is to ghost will be by such large
margin that the atmosphere will for
the moment be cleared Of the currency
imitation talk with which at present it
is surchafged
Senator Wheeler wants the Senate to
make 4121a grains of silver worth one
dollar. Four hundred and eighty grains
of silver, or an ounce, are now worth
about twenty-fi five cents. Under the legis-
lative m4ndate which he asks from the
Senate the value" of silver would be
increased more than sfour times and,
according to his reasoning and the rea-
soning CT some of the other silver Sen
ators, this remarkable utterance of
Presto! Change!" would cure most of
mans mortal ills within a period Of
time variously estimated from forty
hours to forty days
This and other infiationary schemes
for debasing the currency have been
dogging the short session of Congress,
but few have taken them seriously be-
cause Of the certain knowledge that II,
by any chance. one Of them should pass
both Houses the veto by President Hoo
yer would stand. Senator Wheelers
offer of his 16-to-1 proposal as an
amendment to the Glass bill Il probably
made in the nature Of an experiment.
the results of which will be watched
with extraordinary interest in order to
March 4. Should the vote in the SEN
ate against the Wheeler amendment be
large enough, the country will breathe
easier. For, when a favored candidate
for the next speakership of the House
is giving out interviews on the merits
of debasing the Nations currency and
there are more inflationary schemes in
Congress than anybody can shake .
stick at, the matter Is serious. The
Senate's vote today may indicate
whether the Senate Is going to be the
vents the almost certain disaster threat
ened by the innationary proposals. or
whether 1t Is apt to join an infationary
landslide. President-elect Roosevelt
stands for sound money" but Is prob
ably reserving . statement Of his specific
views of such currency imitation meas
ures as have been introduced until after
his Inauguration, when they will have
more weight.
Secretary Mills sound discussion in
yesterdays Star Of the dangers and
false theories of the various currency
inflatlonary schemes was valuable, for
In this statement he sought to point
out the difference between the infia-
ton Of credit, or. more properly, max
ing credit available, and the outright
schemes of initiating the currency by
free coinage of silver or speeding up
the printing press. Apparently a con-
fusion exists in some Of the best minds
because of an unfortunate failure to see
the difference. between making credit
available and making cheap dollars
available. The latter scheme will in
the end be defeated. The danger Is
that its defeat will not come until the
Nation has been persuaded to under
take an experiment that invariably
brings ruin and disaster in its wake.