Evening star., 1933-11-23
Warburg Denounces Roosevelt
Misconceptions on Currency
Uno Nfcial Economic Advisor to President Hits Soon
rolled Initiation n'-Banker Disagrees With Views
of Senator Thomas and Prof. Fisher
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
PHILADELPHIA, November 23.-Pres-
ident Roosevelt's monetary goals of con-
trolled imitation and a dollar of con-
slant purchasing power have new but
reluctant" opponent in James P. War
burg, VINO has been looked upon as un-
official economic advisor to the Chief
Executive.
In a surprise address at the American
Academy of Political Science, the New
York banker expressed doubt last night
that such dollar Is possible, and said
he did not believe there Is any such
thing as controlled imitation"
What 1 reluctantly oppose" he told
an audience that jammed the gilded
ball room of the Bellevue Stratford
Hotel. ARE some of the methods by
which he (the President) seeks to at
tain his goal, some of the misconcep-
tions that seem to becloud his purpose
and the disregard of the accumulated
experience of centuries manifested by
all too many of his advisors"
Resigns as Advisor.
BY his unexpected stand, Warburg,
!! who was financial advisor to the Amerl-
can delegation to the World Economic
Conference, aligned himself with Dr.
o. M. w. Sprague. recently resigned
special advisor to the Treasury, who has
embarked on campaign to arouse pub
lie sentiment against the adminiStra-
tion's monetary program.
Warburg also revealed for the first
time that he had resigned from the
delegation to the Economic Conference
after receipts of the Presidents mes
sage espousing a dollar of fixed pur-
chasing power.
He kept his resignation secret, he said,
still hopeful of being able to convince
the President that it would be mistake
to continue his policy OF monetary un-
certainty and experimentation"
Continuing his attack, Warburg de-
clared he is opposed to controlled IN
f1ation even if, contrary to history, II
does not become uncontrolled" and ne
asserted it is up to the latent ma
jority to let the President know that
| the American people are ready to face
, whatever suffering there may be IN
slow, orderly process of recovery
Disagrees With Others.
Warburg also disagreed with the
monetary views of Prof. Irving Flsher
of Yale University and United States
Senator Elmer Thomas of Oklahoma
both of whom spoke at the same meet
ing.
Fisher termed the Presidents policy
with regard to currency substantially
right" adding that the core OF that
policy is contained in Roosevelt's mes
sage to the Economic Conference al
London. in which he said:
THE United States seeks the kind OF
a dollar which a generation hence Will
have the same purchasing power and
debt-paying power as the dollar we nope
to attain in the near future. :.
Senator Thomas expressed hlmsell
"as much opposed to inf1ation-the I'M.
nroper, excessive and overissue OF
either currency or credit as any money
changer in Wall Street"
Defending the gold standard. SUP,
iect to modernization. Warpurg salo
he could not picture the savings OF the
people flowing through the Norman
financial banking and investment StruC-
ture .'on the basis OF currency WlliS,, !,
it will take generations TO unoerstaIiu.
You cannot trust what you caiiiio'
understand" he added.
AFT has been said here tonight and
manv times before that those who !eei
as I do offer nothing constructive,
When YOU are running rapidly In the
wrong direction you have TO stop pc
fore you can run with equal speed IN
the right direction. That is why IL
necessary to concentrate on pointing
ont the error of our present ways ou'
I for one do not stop there.
IT believe that the announced m
tention to arrest depression and 10 prlng
about revaluation in terms OF goi1
of all the currencies now off gold Will
nroye more of stimulus to business
revival than any amount OF planned
regulation and control.
Fears Excessive Spending.
I do not oppose the use OF Gov
ernment funds to relieve distress or TO
Stimulate intelligently che natural
sources of employment, but when the
Government sets out to speno more
money than it can repay by bearaDle
taxation it sets out to render void
whatever constructive action II may
otherwise have taken.
Il do not share the view OF those
who think that we have crossed the
bridge already, but I do think that we
are perilously near the point where
retreat will become impossible:
The banker asserted depreciation OF
the currency hurts every one who is
more creditor than debtor and aldS
only those who are preponderantly
debtors. If imitation breaks away from
control it ruins all alike"
All wage earners would be hurt be
cause the purchasing power of their
wages is reduced faster than their
wages are increased" he said. He
added that in the case of the farmers
he had been authoritatively informed
that so per cent were free of MORTGAGES
and 25 per cent more had mortgage
debts of less than quarter OF the
value OF their properties.
Cites Other Experiences.
He cited the experiences OF other
countries which had tried to control