Evening star., 1933-11-23
FISHER SUPPORTS
ROOSEVELT PLAN
Says He Seeks Sterilization
Without Relation to Gold
or Foreign Exchange.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
PHILADELPHIA, November %.
Prof. Irving Fisher Of Yale University
last night said that the monetary
stantial1y right
He spoke at a meeting of the Ameri-
can Academy of Political and Social
Science. along with Senator Elmer
Thomas of Oklahoma. The Senator
said he was "as much opposed Is in
f1ation-the improper. excessive and
over-issue of either currency or credit
as any money changer in Wall Street."
Much interest was aroused by the
presence at the meeting of James P.
Walburg, who was financial adviser
to the American delegation at the World
Economic Conference and who since
has conferred occasionally in an un-
official capacity with the administration.
Prof. Fisher declared that the core of
President Roosevelt's monetary policy
is contained in his address to the Lon
don Economic Conference july 3, in
which the President said:
The United States of America seeks
| the kind of dollar which a generation
hence will have the same purchasing
power and debt-paying power as the
dollar we hope to attain in the near
future
Centered in Sterilization.
Prof. Fisher said the central point
Of this policy is stabilization, but not
stabiliZation relative TO gold nor in
terms of foreign exchange"
There is no mystery at all about the
Presidents objectives," he said. But
to the great public, or to 999 people
out of 1000 of them. who have never
hitherto given a thought to the subject,
the President seems to be talking a
strange, new language These people
need to have their eyes opened. Just
now most of their leaders are as blind
as they"
Referring to the resignation of DR..
o. M. w. Sprague as Treasury adviser
because of disapproval of the Roose-
velt monetary policy, Prof Fisher said :
1t must be confessed that he is sincere
and able though not an authority COM
parable to Warren on gold in relation
to prices. Warren is DR.. George F..
Warren of Cornell University, who has
been mentioned in some quarters as
Spragues Successcr)
Already what he (Sprague) predicts
would not happen. has happened; rise
IN the price level and the same has
been experienced wherever the same
principles have been applied. 1t only
takes a little thought to see that the
number of dollars of gold in the coun-
try can be increased to any desired
extent by reducing the gold content
without adding to the gold stock"
Dollar Declared Rubber.
Declaring that the depression was
due Ito the fact that our dollar has
been rubber in purchasing power" Prof
Fisher said that persons who know this
VIII not hesitate to choose a dollar
which Is rubber in weight If those
who want the old flxed-weight dollar
were to have their way we would some
DAY have another devastating depres-
sion like this. With a dollar fixed in
purchasing power and rubber in weight,
such depressions will be thing of the
past"
Concluding that the Presidents mon
etary policy is right, Prof Fisher said
ne cared little as to the specific means.
! can understand that bankers care
much" he said. They want the Gov
eminent to keep out and leave the
whole field to them. with all the profits,
too. Self-interest. resentment and lack
OF understanding of the price level and
ltS relation to money and banking
nave set them in general against the
President. The days of Andrew Jack
son are back again"
Defended by Senator Thomas.
Senator Thomas. in his address. said
propaganda is now being broadcast by
a small group, suggesting to those not
familiar with the intricacies of our
money system, tlft any effort to cheap
en- the dollar will result In 'greenbacks'
or printing press money and that the
United States is threatened with a rep
etition of the German and Russian
systems of imitation.
Let me assure you positively that
there is absolutely no justification for
such inspired propaganda.
The value of money depends upon
the law of supply and demand; hence,
the purchasing power of the dollar in
the main depends upon the quantity
of real dollars-gold. silver and cur
rency notes-in circulation.
Il contend" he said, that the same
economic law that controls the price or
value of commodities. such as wheat,
corn and cotton, also controls the value
or the purchasing power of money"