Evening star., 1934-02-02

Although Uncle Sam has a new
theme song-"The Old Gold Dollar
Amt What She Used to Beau
thorities seem agreed that the effect
on the life and pocketbook of the
average man will be slow and slight
He'll have just as much money in the
bank and change in his pockets as he
generally has. and his cash will con-
tinue to accomplish what it ordinarily
does In other words. as far as the
everyday existence of the plain peo-
pie Is concerned, President Roose-
velt's proclamation Of 5906-cent
dollar means about as much as a
Thanksgiving proclamation. 1t marks
history-making epoch in the Ma
tons financial history. 1t is a revo-
lutionary departure in the realm of
foreign exchange. 1t may provoke an
international currency war. 1t is a
big thing for professional spectators
in gold But for the common run of
the citizenry the importance of a de-
valued dollar will be negligible, at
least for the indefinite future.
1t seems difficult, even for people
who really comprehend the new gold
deal, to interpret it to mere folks in
understandable language. This OBJ
server asked an economist who has
recently produced . couple Of popu-
lar treatises on money to unravel the
mystery This is what he supplies:
1T is doubtful whether the average
individual will be able to detect. even
with q microscope, any effect Of the
new monetary law upon his life even
two or three months from now. If he
looks closely enough. he will probably
find that prices of the various things
he buys have risen q little, and may
also discover that jobs are slightly
more plentiful, though this latter
point may be attributable to other
causes than the gold act. II 1t re-
suits from the gold act, the cause will
be the greater certainty business men
now have regarding the value Of
money in terms Of gold"
George Leslie Harrison. governor of
the New York Federal Reserve Bank,
who will direct the buying and selling
Of gold. foreign exchange and Govern
ment securities under the Roosevelt
money program. is another man who
has scaled the dizzy heights of ma
tional high finance while still COM
paratively young. He has just turned
~. He Is q native of California, a
bachelor, a graduate Of Western High
School in Washington and. after TAX
ing his A. B. at Yale, received q law
degree at Harvard in 1913. His first
job was as legal secretary to Associate
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes of the
United States Supreme Court in
1884. Since then Mr.. Harrison has
feen continuously connected with the
Federal Reserve System. He began as
assistant general counsel of the board
and became governor of the New York
bank in 1923. Mr. Harrison took time
out from Federal Reserve duties dur
ing the war to serve as q captain In
the American Red Cross overseas.
DR.. Paul M. Pearson, Governor of
the Virgin Islands, has arrived in
Washington on q rum mission. The
Virgins need . special act of Con-
gress to revive their rum industry,
which was dealt a deadly blow by the
eighteenth amendment. Gov. Pear
son. a Hoover appointee, is a Repub-
lican holdover whose job seems safe.
There is no dearth of deserving DEM
ocrats with designs on 1t, but the
swarthmore Quaker college professor
apparently is strongly intrenched at