The Washington times., 1935-01-18

was made to- m VIZ
ward settle In,v,. uan.v
ment, but now
we are piling up debt again-this
time for a war on depression"
Now the public debt exceeds the
World War debt, and it too has
been for unproductive purposes.
Qnsofar as paying" debts is
concerned, dams are like trenches,
and "slum clearance" like canton.
ments.)
There is no use in hoping
for sound money or business
prosperity until debts are settled.
And debts will not be settled as
long as the whole program is
one of borrowing and spending.
You don't have to be an econo-
mist to see that.
For example, the whole propa-
ganda to "remonetize silver" is
just a spending and debt-booSt.
ing scheme. In order to perform
the "remonetizing" miracle, it is
proposed that the Government
(Which means all of us, remem-
ber) should buy a huge amount
Of silver metal. That means
spending. In fact, it would
mean paying an exorbitant price
for overvalued silver. You can't
figure that as anything else but
an increase in our public debt.
Now as long as we go on
spending and increasing debt,
We cannot possibly reestablish a
sound money. You see, our debt
is so large that we can't pay it
at present prices. In other
words, prices have got to come
down and the purchasing power
OF the dollar come up, if the
Government is to pay it's debts.
Right now if our Government
were to put the gold dollar back
to the old basis, each dollar would
buy more. Then the Government
could cut its expenses, and become
solvent. Then it could begin really
to pay off its debts.
But instead of that, it is saying
that what it owes in past debts is
just so many paper dollars, and it
proposes to reduce its debt by
changing the size of the real dol
lar which stands back of the pa
per.
It has taken over billions of pri-
vate debts, and proposes to do the
same thing with them.
This whole scheme leads to
keeping debts frozen and piling up
more debts, so they can't be paid.
The ultimate recourse will be cut
ting the dollar in two, so that the
mass of debts will be settled in
small dollars. That is initiation.
It is much as if a farmer owed
100 bushels OF corn. He says he
can't pay, so he gets law passed
declaring bushel to be a peck.
Then he pays" in peck7sized
bushels.
But the Government is doing
this to our money, which affects
all Of us whether we are debtors
or creditors, or neither. It affects
all prices and living costs.
Furthermore, it affects the Gov.
ernment's solvency, raising it's ex.
penses and lowering its credit.
Thus the public debt is making
new high records every month.
It is folly to talk of Stabiliza-
ton of currency, either domestic
or International, as long as this
goes on.
Neither the pound nor the dol.
lar is going to be stabilized as
long as they are detached from
any Standard" such as gold.
Above all, no standard, gold
or other, is going to be possible
as long as debts remain unset
tied; while debts are not going
to be settled until they are liqui.
dated to an extent which will
allow a solvent position on the
part of both governments and
individuals.
Then we can at last start over
again. Then we can pay as we
60, and save enough to pay off
our debts in some real standard
money.
No shifting of private debt to
the public, and no money juggling
can solve the debt problem. Some
one has got to pay, and real pay
ment means real money.
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