The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-04-15
M.

TN spite of all that has been done to provide
Il work, stabilize the banking situation, and
hberate credit we are not paying our debts In
stead, we are trying to ease or postpone them in
one way or another, which only tends to reduce
income, decrease buying power, and lower wages.
1t all goes back to the unreasonably high
price of the dollar as measured by work or COM
modify values. The average American has to do
about twice as much or sell twice as much to get
an ounce of gold as he did four years ago.
The result is that an incalculable number of
citizens and corporations find it impossible to
pay the interest on what they owe much less
anything on account
The substitution of public for private loans,
the lowering of interest rates, and the establish
ment of moratoria will not and can not solve
the problem. Wages and prices must be brought
back if the American people are going to pay
anything like what they owe.
Facing similar situation, other governments
arbitrarily have cheapened money-England by
going off the gold standard France by stabilizing
the franc at cents, Germany by starting the
printing press and so on.
NUR government has clung to the idea that
~ the same thing could be accomplished with
far less confusion by depending private enter
prise to force wages and prices up.
In pursuance of this idea, it has authorized
enormous credits for the benefit of private enter
prise, letting the budget go unbalanced increasing
the public debt, and creating situation where
higher taxes are inevitable
Meanwhile, the cheaper money OF other
countries enables them to produce goods at less
cost and undersell us in most markets.
We can destroy this competition at home by
boosting tariffs and keeping foreign goods out,
but we can not destroy it abroad. Other coun-
tries slowly are taking our markets away from
us, and they will continue to do this as long as
the dollar remains SO high in comparison to the
pound, the franc, the IRA, the mark, and the
kronen
Imitation still is the most practical remedy
and the easiest way to bring it about is by
changing the gold content of the dollar, which
can be done simply by authorizing the govern
ment to pay greater number Of dollars for an
ounce of gold than is called for by the prevailing
standard.
A IL right, you say, but what about those GER
n tihcates, bonds mortgages, and notes which
promise payment in gold of given weight and
flneness?
Well, we just hand over the gold and then
tell people that they can't keep it, but must sell
it back TO the government at the prescribed
price.
That protects everybody against loss against
boarding and against money jam which slowly
is robbing the American people of their power to
pay or regain their foreign trade
Existing conditions are rooted in the fact that
gold is out Of line with the value Of work and
other commodities ano that people can not get
it except by exchanging double portion of labor
or goods
That is not only unfair, but dangerous be-
cause of its effect on business and debt. It is
not just for the government to permit such q
burden to be imposed on tradesinan or toier
when it can be lghtened and distributed more
eQuitably by q legitimate exercise Of govern
mental power.