Evening star., 1933-05-01
The Political Mill
Ry G. Gould L:ncols.


So far ~ the Congress Is concerned,
the question Of currency inhation has
been disposed Of. There Is to b In
hation. provided the President exer-
cises the wide powers given him in
the farm relief bill just passed the Sen
ate. It Is true that the House has still
to act upon this measure. That the
House viii pass the bill by 4 big vote
Is foresone conclusion. To all In
tents and purposes, the President is
empowered to expand the currency up
to Sc, 0O0, 900 900 or more, to adopt
free silver" policy and to accept frQm
our foreign debtor nations up to $780,
000,0 on the principal and interest
of their debts In silver, taking the sill
yer at value not in excess Of SO cents
an ounce.
| Whether President Roosevelt will
exercise these powers. or how many Of
them he will exercise, remains to be
seen. There seems no doubt, however,
that II he is convinced that large meas
ures Of imitation are necessary to raise
commodity prices In this country, there
will be imitation. II the recent con-
ferences ct the White House, between
the President and representatives of
Great Britain, France and Canada, de-
velOped anything, they developed the
fact that the drive Is on to increase
prices of commodities. Indeed, the main
object OF the coming World Conference
in London Is to bring about q rise in
the commodity prices, 50 that the pro-
ducers may receive more adequate
rcompense for their labor. Perhaps
it would be more correct to say that
this rise in the price Of commodities
Is the means to an end. rather than
the end itSelf-the end being q return
to prosperity.
President Roosevelt has urged upon
the Congress the need of controlled
Imitation OF the currency. The au-
thority which is now quickly to be
given him leaves the control in his
hands. 1t is tremendous power, and
II 1t Is used unwisely will do incalculable
harm. Some Of the infiation features
OF the bill, or at least one Of them, is
not opposed by the Republican die
hards who followed the lead of Sena-
tor Reed Of Pennsylvania against the
Thomas amendment. That is the pro-
| Roo0A W AiaSC tlN 1Cutld ncSclNc
banks buy Government securities in
the open market for the purpose Of is
suing greater amounts Of currency
against them.
The amendment offered by Senator
Hayden of Arizona, Democrat, to the
Thomas imitation amendment, raising
the AMOUNT of silver which the Presi-
dent may accept from the foreign
| debtor nations in payment Of their OBJ
legations to this country to 5000, ,00O,-
900. has more than one purpose. 1t is
calculated not only to make it easier for
the foreign governments to pay those
debts. but also and more particularly
to advance the market value of silver
itself. Such an advance would stimu-
late silver production and set thou
sands OF men to work in the mines OF
this country. Also it would make it
more possible for the great silver cur
rency countries of the world to pur-
chase American goods, including China
where the trace with the United States
already large, Is capable OF very great
! expansion.
The Hayden amendment would make
1t possible for the British and other
foreign nations more readily to meet
| EaS iltS VII tllCIi GlUlS " Vic
United STATES on June Is and also to
take care of the arrears due this coun-
/ try iicm December payments. Britain
has great store of silver and is owed
millions OF pounds by India which can
pay in silver. Other nations either
have silver or could go into the market
and buy 1t. This question Of June
debt payments is a tickliSh one. with
the World Economic Conference to open
in London June r. The failure of the
! foreign governments to meet this pay
ment would not create good feeling In
the United States. and the insistance
Of the payment of these debts in gold
by the United States is held to be an
! irritant in the foreign nations which
would not tend to increase co-opera-
! ton at the conference. Those oppo-
nents of reduction or scaling down of
debt payments, in the Senate, object
to the Hayden amendment on the
ground that it will let the foreign debt
ors of part of the debt they owe this
country. However when those debts
were incurred, the gold dollar was less
valuable than it is or has been in re-
cent days. Senator Hayden presented
| figures to the Senate showing that the
total June payments plus the default
ed December payments on the debts
amounted to sl94 073,22l and could BE-
covered by the silver payments.
Thomas w. Brahany, the Irish
! philosopher" speaking over the radio
/ on the topic of imitation. had this to say:
'"Oppochunty knocks ony wanst but
imitation mas been ct tn dure NANNY
times. Whin it came in '96 We handed
it tn full dinner pail an it wint on its
way rejycin. Now its here agin an
We have nothin' t offer but tn Imply
| gas tank. Maybe we'll have t give it
bed an bo-ord f'r a while but 1 don't
| think we'll injye it as reg'lar Iodger
ony hope we'll be sthrong enough t.
throw it out iv tn house whin tn time
comes an sind it back t Mexico or
R0o-sha or Wherever it is that it has
a per'mint home. Sometimes in
thinkin' iv it I'm ray-minded iv poor
Terry Malone whin he was found drunk
en- t side iv tn road b. Father
| Set me thrubbleS,' says Terry. 'Yis' :
says his Rivrince. an tn ony thin
ye forgot was L sthop dhrinkin,' says
An 50 they're at it in Washinton
hot an heavy. " ye let it in at ALL
| says Sin'tor Dave Reed. 'we'll all go on
q jag an wake UP tn next mornin
with headache an our pockets Imply.
Nv We don't let it in ysll have no use
f'r yeer pockets" says Slntor Joe Rob-
son. 1t ma-ans unbalancin' our
thrade' says Bert Smell. 1t ma-ans
balancin' our budget says Hinnry
Rainey. Wan man will tell -ye that
with tn comm iy imitation fifty cints
will be worth q dollar while another
will say dollar will be worth fifty
cints. Ivry farmers home is a hot bed
iv imitation says Sin'tor Tom Con-
nally Maybe so,' says Sintor Fess.
but We can't cool of tn house be put
tin tn thermometer in tn ice box
| An 50 it goes"
Repeal OF the eighteenth amendment
presses on While only two States have
actually SO far recorded themselves in
favor of ratification through action OF
State constitutional conventions as pro-
yided for in the resolution of Congress
submitting the question the Legislatures
| of "a States, JOuett ShouSc, pre- sident