The Washington times., 1933-12-04
Those Dear Dollars Are Depression Dollars.
w. R. Hearst Declares in Radio Address


"Where Is Our Money!" Mr. Hearst spoke the guest
of Mr. Merlin H. AylesoOorth president of the N.B.C.
He introduced to the Vat air audience By Mr. Don
E. Gilman N.BC. vice president IN charge Of operations
en- the West Mr.. Hearst spoke from San Simeon, Calf.
Complete tert folloaOs
MY friends am going to talk to you about world
NA finance and I feel little bit like the man who
was asked what the Einstein theory was. He said:
"Well! l never heard of that before, but if you
will sit down here minute will explain it to YOU
I am frank to admit that I may not know all
about this abstruse subject, but I am consoled by
the fact that great many world renowned ex-
perts appear to be in the same predlcament.
However, there are certain things which we all
, know.
We know that money is the medium of exchange.
We know that instead of exchanging one horse
for three suits of clothes ten cans of tomatoes,
and bottle for the baby, we exchange the horse
for so many dollars and with the dollars buy the
other things and when we want them.
We know that there must be enough money IN
circulation to enable such transactions to be per-
formed.
We know that the circulating medium is not
composed entirely of actual money.
WE know that as business and commerce have
w grown in nations and among nations there has
been added to actual money certain equivalents OF
money such as checks, drafts and bills of exchange:
These perform all the functions of money and
constitute vital part Of the circulating medium
III
proportion to the increase of world business, but
has in fact tended to decrease on account OF the
world demonetiZation of silver.
But we know that bank deposit currency, namely,
checks, drafts and bills of exchange, have increased
until they form, in periods of business activity,
nine -tenths of the circulating medium.
Therefore we observe, to sum up, that in times
of prosperity checks drafts and bills of exchange,
the equivalents of money constitute nine-tenths
of the circulating medium and actual money,
namely gold silver and government notes. only
one-tenth.
In times of depression, however, the checks and
drafts of business decrease drastlcally as busl-
ness transactions decrease.
And since these are immensely the larger part
of the circulating medium, this shrinkage obvl-
ously diminishes greatly the TOTAL circulating
medium.
The less circulating medium there is the scarcer
the unit of currency, namely the dollar, becomes.
NJ OW, my friends, the scarcer the dollar, the
4" dearer the dollar; and that means the more
you have to give up in produce or products or
property or labor in order to get these dear
dollars.
Dear dollars are obviously good for the people
who have them, and very bad for the people who
have to GET them.
The bankers and the money-lending and money
owning classes generally possess great part of
these dear dollars.
Ihey are largely locked up IN the vaults OF the
banks.
Moreover, when the bankers do not possess
them the Government has been supplying the dol
lars to them through the Reconstruction Finance
CORPORATION
In fact you have been paying taxes to give money
to the Government to give to the bankers.
But when you want to borrow money from the
bankers you have to give up your shirt-first
because the bankers will take nothing less and Sec
ond, because that is all you have left after your
taxes have been paid.
OF COURSE the bankers and the money-lend-
ing classes love dear dollars
FIRST, because they have them.
SECOND, because dear dollars buy more for
them.
THIRD, because when loans are paid the bank
ers get the dear dollars of depression in place of
the cheap dollars they loaned in times of prosperity
FOURTH, because if the loans are not paid the
bankers get the property.
Pretty soft for the bankers, you say.
Yes say |, but not so soft for the enterprising
classes who borrow to build up industry and to
md To +ho