Evening star., 1934-08-11
American People Should Go to Great
Money Cranks'' for Economic Wisdom
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star:
Mr.. Alden A. Potter, in q letter to
The Star, tells us that our money
system must be socialized for the
benefit Of all. He describes the In
evitable inef1ciency Of bank credit and
is duly amazed at the fact that this
bright country still puts up with such
an archaic circulating medium.
He does not seem to be aware that
hundreds Of original thinkers have
preceded him. True, many of them
were, and are, uneducated money
cranks." But scarcely one of them
could be called unenlightenedl That
wouldn't be fair, in view of the proved
failure of every bucket of alphabetical
soup to induce the slightest appear
ance of normal business activity;
whereas everything is tried but the
one thing which can possibly do any
good, huge emission of new primary
money, to provide q purchasing pow
er not instantly spoiled and hindered
by that private tax on exchanges, u
interest for money.
Mr.. Potter makes the case need
lessly complex, which is q crime few
money reformers commit. They leave
vagueness, confusion and gaseousness
to their orthodox opponents of the
old monetary school, who invariably
prefer higher mathematics to terse,
clear logic. Among leading money
reformers there is no beating about
the bush with regard to the nature of
interest, as q wholly unearned incre-
ment, an absurd, needless, govern
mental injustice, source of all ma jor
and minor CRAFTS. There Is no uncer-
tainty of expression upon the imme-
diate need for billions Of new primary
cash tokens. preferably anchored to
land or public utilities, or created by
monetization of all Federal bonds, In
order to Offset the hideous scarcity Of
legal tender which automatically en-
genders bank credit and usury.
y
Mr.. Potter avoids the obvious con-
clusion toward which all his argu-
ments tend-legal tender expansion.
He evidently fears being classed as
lower than q Dillinger-an 'infia-
tionist!" He calls rent, interest and
profits the emoluments Of private
property. They are so at present,
but only profits, of the three, is an
ethical and just emolument. How can
these three be so blithely linked to-
gether without even a thought of
differentiation Interest is entirely
unearned; ground rent Is entirely
unearned; but profits, on the other
hand. by and large, are more than
earned. Why? Simply because they
must first pay their respects to the
unearned increments of interest and
rent. Profits are q proprietor's
salary and are usually infinitesimal,
or nonresident. or 'in the red" be-
cause Of the gouging charges OF in
terest, rent and swollen public taxes.
Do I make this clear enough for
Socialist and Tory alike? How could I
make 1t any clearer?
II Is q terrible indictment against
our educated" classes that they study
only academic economies. Just a speck
Of intellectual fairness would send
them to the Library Of Congress and
other exhaustive book collections,
where, under the subject of Money
and the Currency Question, they should
discover that there are literally scores
Of pamphlets, brochures and larger
volumes by heterodox monetary
geniuses such as Benjamin Franklin.
that wise, well-balanced. estimable
ar-sighted, 100 per cent American
was money crank-Lindbergh. ST.,
the very great father Of q great son:
Peter Cooper, lover Of men; Loucks,