Evening star., 1935-11-17


city-upon which civilization al
ways degenerates-in the place Of
economic plenty. upon which
America has grown great. 1t is the
more abundant life-without bacon.
One of the wheel-horses of the
national planning"-that is the
N. r. A.-was thought to have been
killed by the Supreme Court. That
decision has not yet been claimed
as part of the new national plan
ming" although every day men are
getting jobs because Of it. But We
are now promised a resurrection of
this dead. The price of it was and
will be in every household budget.
Projects Declared
OF Remote Worth.
The new national planning" is
building vast projects-perhaps
useful to our grandchildren. We
have to pay the cost of interest and
maintenance until they come of
age. This is also the New Deal
door by which the Government
rushes into business in competi-
ton with its own citizens. The
citizen loses because he cannot
compete with Government book
keeping and the pipe line into the
Treasury. Few of these projects
were even mentioned after blank
checks we're drawn by Congress.
This method Of planning avoids
exhaustion from congressional de-
bate-and takes the limit of
spending.
The new national planning" Of
relief shifted its administration
from local and State authorities to
political bureaucracy central
lied at Washington. That has re-
suited not only in stupendous
waste, but in the creation of a great
group of permanent dependents. 1t
has added nothing to the security
and care of those deserving in dis
tress except-expense. And we are
destroying the self-respect and the
responsibility of self-government
by turning the Treasury into a
national grab bag. Our national
ideals get little of a lift from the
general attitude, If we don't get
ours some one else will
The new national planning" Of
taxes, currency, credit and busi-
ness has raised and will continue
to raise the cost of living to the
farm housewife, the workers house.
wife and all other housewives. It
is a deduction from economic and
social security of the poor-it
is not a more abundant life. It
erodes the purchasing power Of
wages. It gives birth to strikes and
inflames class conflict. During the
depression years of the last admin
istration the loss of man days from
strikes and lockouts averaged about
100000 per year. During this ad-
ministration it has averaged loss
of about 100000 man days per
year. These gigantic losses appear
in the workers budget, not in the
Treasury.
"Repudiation of Covenants"
Seen In Fiscal Policy.
The new economic planning"
has included reputation Of Gov
ernment covenants, which raises
somber questions of Government
morals and honor. In any event
it devalued the dollar by Al per
cent. It gave us the gift Of man
aged currency" AS potent devices
for destroying confidence these
have merit. Through politically
managed credit it has brought us
to the threshold of devastating
imitation. The stock market is al
ready peeking into that Bluebeard's
cave.
In the few minutes of this adj
dress I shall explore a little fur
ther into the price and conse-
quences Of these monetary and
credit policies.
There is the folly of buying for
eign silver. I could at least see
some reason for spending 10 to Is
million a year to subsidize employ
ment in our Western silver mines
by buying their product at a profit
able price. But what earthly rea-
son we have for buying vast
amounts Of foreign silver will take
generations Of politicians to ex-
plain. If we are to have managed
currency, we do not require any
metallic base. There is in fact no
metallic base today. If there were,
you could exchange currency for
gold. If we want a metallic base,
the Government already has So
1000, 900 of gold and only S..
60o, 1000, 900 Of currency in circula-
ton.
Thus It would seem that we have
plenty of metallic base for the cur
rency when we have nearly $1.8O
in gold for every dollar Of currency.
That leaves plenty over to pay
international balances. Yet we de-
liberately bid up the price OF for
eign silver by so per cent. Then we
proceed to buy vast quantities OF
that commodity, for which we have
no earthly use, at enormous profits
to foreigners. Upon that folly we
have already spent about $780,
100000 and under the new "econ-
onny planning" we are to spend
about $1,000, 100000 more. The
siphon runs either through the
taxpayers pocket q imitation. You