Evening star., 1933-09-21
An Other States and Canada.
Member Of the Associated Press.
Lessons in Experience.

Lessons in Experience.
An Associated Press dispatch from
New York points out that while the
governments in Washington and IN
Paris are both facing demands for in
fation of the currency. there is one
marked and significant difference in the
source of such pressure.
In Washington the pressure Is being
exerted mainly by certain spokesmen
for the agrarian element, who claim 10
speak also in behalf of all the people,
especially the debtors" In France the
people are so much opposed to imitation
that the government. which might be
tempted to consider such steps. dares
not try it. French public opinion, says
the dispatch, "is so bitterly opposed to
it that the present government would
undoubtedly fall If it tried such a step,
unless it convinced the public there was
no other alternative"
Convincing a public that has been
burnt once by imitation that there Is
no further alternative would be q tre-
mendous and doubtfully successful un-
dertaking. For the Frenchman knows
about imitation from experience, and
against this background of personal ex-
perience there is no glamour in the pat
ter about cheapening the currency.
The postwar imitation in France, which
deprecated the franc by eighty per
cent. Is still fresh in the Frenchman's
mind. THAT imitation" the dispatch
continues, while wiping out much Of
the internal debt of the country, also
provided terrifying experience.
Frenchmen saw eighty per cent Of their
savings wiped out. They are deter
mined that there shall be no further
imitation"
It should not be necessary for Amer
ican public opinion to be similarly
nodded by personal experience. There
has been no direct monetary imitation
in this country in the past half century,
but there are lessons on every hand
which should and do appeal to sensible
Americans who now support the Presi-
dent in his stand against the fat
money inflationary schemes demanded
and threatened. Secretary Wallace,
speaking in Chicago yesterday. billed
himself again as believer in CON
trolled Observation-Disclosures that may
be. But he sought to make plain his
position, which is that without certain
steps which are being attempted now
in the way Of control of production, and
later steps which may be attempted
toward adjusting tariff barriers and
otherwise influencing the development
of foreign trade, imitation, price fixing
and the like would only end in failure.
1t needs no great imagination to COM
prehend the real calamity that would
accompany the crash after flight in
direct currency debasement.
In the United States, as in France,
it would pull down everybody. includ-
ing those farmers who are so blindly
demanding now that money be arti-
ficially cheapened to raise the prices
Of the things they sell-and also the
things they buy. The wage Garner. the
salaried worker, the insurance policy
holder, the man with money in a saw
ings bank, the holder Of q mortgage
or other bond, the endowed schools
and other institutions are some
Of the creditors" who would be ruined
to satisfy the demands of the printing
press enthusiasts that something be
done"
Something, Of course, is being done,
and on scale that has never been
attempted before. The N R. A. expert
ment is approaching the point where 1t
should begin to show real results in re-
employment. The Agricultural Adjust
ment Administration is working night
and day to lift prices by control OF
production. There are, certainly, en-
couraging signs in the fact that en-
ployment has increased by more than
two millions of wage earners since last
March, that the general level of prices
has moved up sixteen per cent and
agricultural prices forty per cent since
last March. The drive is on FOR the
extension of credit, the opening Of
closed banks, the increase Of purchasing
power. Are all gains that have been
made, and the future gains anticipated
by continued effort along the same lines,
to be cast aside in favor Of shameless
and dangerous debasement of the
currency?
1t has been said, and with much
truth, that success in the battle against
the depression depends in large meas
ure upon support of the President. He
has had that support in unparalleled
degree. He needs it more than ever to
resist the unreasonable demands Of
those who are now insisting that he