The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1933-05-29
Final Step

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prised by the announcement that
President Roosevelt wishes to legally
abandon the gold standard.
Before he took office such step
would have been q Today sensation
and regarded by many as calamity.
Those who hold that view now are
not very vociferous about it. The ma
ton took the declaration in its stride.
Last October. In his speech at Dies
Moines, President Hoover said Ameri-
ca had been only 10 days away from
being forced off the gold standard. He
mentioned the fact (since proved to
be untrue) almost with bated breath
as just about the worst thing that
could have happened to US.
Yet his successor, with no posi-
bility Of being forced off the gold
standard, recommends that we VOL
unfairly leave gold to its fate.
We have come a long way under
President Roosevelt and we may ex-
pect to go farther, but nothing DEM
onstrates how far we have travelled
on the road OF the new deal than the
equaninity with which this latest
blast against old ideas was received
by the people. It may be that they
never were 50 thoroughly sold on the
gold standard after all.
The step was. in a way, a foregone
conclusion. When the government
placed an embargo on gold and refus-
ed to pay, in gold, interest on its bonds
held by foreigners, it was apparent
that we were, in fact, off the gold
standard. Internally the same effect
vas manifest when the government
,alled in gold coin and gold certifi-
Gates. No one cared about that. be-
cause men who examined greenback
to see if it was q gold or silver certi-
ficate were few and far between. The
country went right on doing business
as usual. The only question was how
to get hold OF the dollar, not whether
1t was good after it had been obtain
ed.
Whatever gold-standard enthusiasts
think Of it, it is manifest that we now
are embarking on an era Of managed
currency" The idea back Of this is
that money should be based on tangt-
bic wealth, not on a metal which is
valuable only because of its scarcity,
Under the new deal' as it pertains
to currency we shall see emerging
from this drastic step what is called
commodity money.
Behind it will be wealth in a form
to which we have become accustomed.
Land and its products and the pro-
ducts Of labor comprise the things
which people, eat, wear and use. They
are wealth in the only form in which
wealth can be used other than for in
vestment purposes. They are the
things which contribute to the we'll
being OF a nation and they are about
to be given recognition.
This situation is by no means new
In the worlds history. On the con-
trary. it takes us back to the funda-
mental ideas regarding wealth which
prevailed In pastoral days. AS mem
toned In series Of pictorial articles
published recently by The Tribune.
money has had many different forms
In the known history OF man and one
OF the earliest was the possession Of
goods.
Cattle were coin in Abraham's time.
Debts could be paid in wheat or in
nagons Of wine. The craftsmen Of
that time exchanged their labor for
these things and the other uecessaries
Of Life. Modern craftsmen, after the
experiences Of the last three years.
also are willing to do 50. We shall give
the new system = trial willingly
enough. Il it makes possible the rapid
interchange Of goods for other goods
or for labor everyone will be salts
fled.
That Is the goal which the presi-
dent has set for his administration
and one which all Of us, rich and Door
alike. share. When we reach it there
will be no. more Of what we rather
quantity call depression" Under
wise leadership we may yet learn to
make use Of the natural resources
which God gave US for the greatest
good Of the greatest number.
The Liberian Crisis
Add to the crises about which all