The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-06-29
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

TINE congress which closed recently passed
Il more important legislation on monetary
matters than any other congress in the twen-
/ tieth century, if not in the whole period since
the Civil war. The devaluation of the dollar,
the extensive silver legislation and the like are
illustrative.
Yet it would be bold man who would claim
| that we are any further from the perennial
monetary muddle than we were last December.
Our monetary muddle is two-fold one.
In the first place, the monetary enthusiasts
obscure the really vital problem of money name
ly how to get enough of it, of whatever kind,
into the hands of the masses SO that they can
purchase goods in large enough quantities to
maintain prosperity.
BY laying primary stress upon the value
rather upon the distribution of money such econ
omists and pubicists hamper clear thinking and
delay economic reconstruction.
In the second place, we have a monetary
muddle in the form of the inability Of the great
est experts to agree upon even the more ele-
mentary issues connected with monetary prob
lens.
These fundamental Emergencies among mon
etary experts never were brought out better
than in a symposium on the meaning of money
conducted by the Consumers Guild of America
| This organization drew up a QUESTIONABLE
dealing with a few of the more basic and fur
damental facts about the nature of money the
| results of imitation, the possibility of the COM
ulOQlly UOlIdT ana Une ike. IueTe were no T1CK
questions, nor did the queries touch upon any
thing particularly obscure or irrelevant.
THEN the QUESTIONABLE was sent to the
l. eighteen men in the modern world whom
Professor Irving Fisher had named as those
really competent to discuss the question of
money. Some eight of these gentlemen, in
Guiding Professor Fisher himself responded in
full to the QUESTIONABLE. The results have
been gathered in an interesting document Cir
culated by the guild.
Inasmuch as the QUESTIONABLE related
primarily to essentials and rudiments in the
field Of money, one might have expected con-
siderable uniformity of opinion from these
eight specialists. In reality there was an
amazing divergence of viewpoint and convic-
tionS their part. As the guild editors well
summarize the results:
I'VE doubt whether anything ever has been
produced that permits of such easy appraisal
of the sum of world knowledge on a most
critical subject Two conclusions are in
escapable:
q. There is no understanding of the mean
ing of money in prevalent theory or practice
in monetary policy.
80. The lack of such understanding produces
a distorted notion on the part that money
plays in the whole economic system.
1.-The contributing authorities are not merely
would-be authorities They are distinguished
students Of world renoWn selected by veteran
if not the dean of mOnetary-economists who
has for forty years mingled with and studied
the thoughts of his contemporaries
"TTHESE men, in turn, with the possible eX-
Il ception of the banker, studied the writings
of the classical economists, and therefore their
words represent the most accredited thought OF
the past and the present. We have tasted the
old wine and the new, and the kick of compre-
hension is lacking in both"
These disappointing results from the worlds
monetary experts need not be regarded as any
reflection upon the integrity or intelligence OF
the participants 1t is simply an illustration OF
the paralyzing influence exerted by the stereo-
types of antiquated economic theory upon even
first rate minds.
But this symposium certainly lnolcaUeS CIle
need for a searching denomination OF the
whole field of monetary science. Unless some
one really masters the facts and theories and
can agree upon what these are, there can be no
true brain trust in the monetary and hnanclai
realm.
In the meantime, it will be we'll to concen-
trate our attention upon the consumer and his
purchasing power:
1.-THE normal movement of pure blood is vital
to health but no circulatory system will set a
broken bone or straghten twisted spine. We
may have perfect money system and still nave
maldstribution of wealth. When we seek the
source of all purchasing power we find 1T in the
consumer When we seek the basis Of all credit
we find it in the consumer.