The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-02-03
By RODNEY BUTCHER AJHNA GAu.vlA.. NNyalaAw

Nl1A Service Writer
 Copyright 1033, NEA Service, Ine)
 Washington, Jun. 3--Tho effects of currency imitation appear to be unpredlotnblo.
 Germnny and Russia tried 1t with resultant chaos, Franco tried 1t and survived, nt the expense of millions of her citizens and to the enrichment of others. Great Brit hin went off tho gold standard and doesn't notice my great differenco.
 But England hasn't experienced innntion, since she didn't expand hor currency 0s was widely eS. peeted when sho was forced off gold nearly IS months ago. Shc seoms to hnvo no desire to return to gold In tho near future. No ono knows what would have happened if England had begun to print paper money.
 Our Own Experience.
 Currency imitation appears In our own history. Our forefathers be. gan to Issue paper money in 171B Continetnl currency, The money up by speeulators, often At less
 
 profit when it was later redemmed,
 Tho government nt war began to print greenbnelss in 1889 and is- sued about S460, ,000, 900 of them in two years. Tho lnhntion drove the greenbaek dollar down to 35 or 70 eonts in value. Debtors had love- ly time and Uncle Sam paid through tho nose, turning over government bonds for paper money and paying tho interest in gold. In 1885 tho goVernme ent be- gan to retire greonbaeks and deb. tors thereafter had to pay in good money. Since 1873 we have been on tho single gold standard.
 Russian currency was inflated during tho war and was worth only one.eighth Of It's face value when tho Bolsheviks took power. Soon there were qundrillions of rubles nfioat and meney was virtually worthless. Finally tho Russians stabilized their currency internally, where 1t Is now two to the dollar ns compared with widely fluetunt- ing but far lower values outside Russia.
 Imitation At Its Worst. Germany also inflated currency during the war instead of levying heavier taxes. Her expenses after ward drove her to imitation until the mark, ordinarily worth four to the dollar, stood nt co to tho dollar in May, 1921. Next year they were 1000 to the dollar. Printing marks became n goodssized industry, with numerous factories turning them out as rapidly as possible, until the mark actually went to 4,000,- 900, 900, 900 (trillions) to tho dollar. Wealth was sucked from tho creditor to the debtor class. sav- ings, pensions and insurance were wiped out. Mortgages, bonds and notes went up in smoke. Millions of persons were impoverished. The middle class was ruined. Germanys domestic debt disappeared since the | government could pay off its obli- gations without cost on terms that amounted to repudiation. Finally producers and merchants wouldn't sell anything for any amount of currency. So Germany cancelled all money and established the new rentenmark at four to the dollar. Lacking gold, she based this cur rency on the national agriculture and industry.
 France also failed to raise enough taxes to balance her bud- get and pay interest on the na- tional debt. Her reconstruction expenses were piling up. So she inflated by giving notes to the Bank of France, for which the bank returned bank notes to the l government.
 France Makes It Work. Up to a certain point she re- peated G e T m a ny's experience. ] Bondholders and other creditors held the bag and suffered. The domestic public debt was reduced to g shadow of its former self. But the French franc, beginning at 19 cents, never declined in val ue below two cents, and the gov- izing with revalued gold content cents.
 With her public and private debt vastly reduced, France proceeded to enjoy years of relative prosper ity. The index of her wholesale commodity prices is still higher than that of any other among a score of the chief countries, stand ing at 71.6 in tercs of the American dollar alongside 6S.7 for Germany. 62.6 for the United States and 46 for the United Kingdom.
 Able to avoid imitation of her currency, Britain since going off gold has enjoyed some of the boons promised by the infiation- ists in this country and has not experienced some of the others. England has checked deflatiOn of