Evening star., 1935-10-03
THOMAS ASSA|LS
POLICY ON SILVER
Brands Administration Pro-
gram Failure and Threat
ems to Leave Bloc.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, October 3.-Senator
Elmer Thomas, Democrat, Of Okla
imitation forces, last night fiatly char
acterized the administration silver
policy as a failure" and forecast his
desertion from the Western silver bloc
unless a definite stand is taken foI
monetization of silver.
Coupled with his warning OF a COLI
lapse of the silver purchasing program,
Senator Thomas announced the de-
termination of throwing his full sup
port behind the congressional bonus
bloc as an alternative method Of
achieving higher commodity price
levels and a measure of imitation.
He intimated a show down" on
Government silver policy would come
at Salt Lake City october II, when a
special Senate Committee headed by
Senator Key Pittman Of Nevada,
nominal leader of the silver group
meets to investigate Treasury silver
policies. Thomas is a member of thi,
committee.
Sees Passage OF Bonus.
Aside from the bonus, Senator
Thomas asserted the only reasonable
alternative" to reconciliation of silver
as an infiationary program was that
OF managed currency like that now
employed in Great Britain"
On the question of the bonus
Thomas made direct reference to tn,
forthcoming presidential elections
elemental political psychology" and
the size Of the bonus forces in predict.
ing passage Of measure authorizing
immediate payment.
II the President vetoes the bonus
he said. we can and will, in my opin.
ion pass it over his veto.
No power under Heaven can stot
a bonus bill-any bonus bill-frors
passing at the next session of Con,
gress in January"
Diverging briefly from his principa
toplc-higher price levels through in,
creased money in circulation-Thomai
| predicted an economic boom" without
precedent next January when the Law
outlaWing gold clause suits become,
/ effective.
Things are infinitely better now
he said, but think We are on tn,
verge Of an unprecedented boom be,
ginning next year"
Cites Court Ruling.
His reaso-s Rad their inception ii
the Supre-.e Court decision on thu
gold clause = evil and governmental
contracts. Tae court, he said. held NJ
damage could be awarded unless dam.
age 70 the holder of the bond hao
oeen shown. In the light of this
Thomas asserted the administration
had not been able to cheaper" tn,
dollar at home without incurrinl
damage possibilities.
When the new law becomes e9ec,
tive in January" he added, 1T will
outlaw all damage actions and give
the Government a free hand in cheap.
enlng money. When that time comes
you will see the dollar slump-not tot
much, hope"
Thomas, en- route through here "a
Salt Lake City, said he planned Il
stop of at Detroit on his way West te
discuss" matters with Father Charlie,
E. Coughlin, the radio priest" OF
Royal Oak, Mich.
Il want to talk with him on somt
OF his ideas" Thomas said crypticaily
declining to expand on this sopic
You know he starts soon on a veal
Of broadcasts, and perhaps I can nell
him."
Confers With Baruch.
Thomas disclosed that while in New
York he had discussed silver matterl
with bankers and financial leaders
among them Bernard NJ. Baruch.
None of them took issue with
me- was his only comment.
1ntlmatlon Of a break with the
silver leaders at Salt Lake City wai
made when Thomas said a report on
questionnaireS sent out by the com.
mittee may conflict" with a report
he expects to make on questionnairea
he has circularized personally.
I am going to lay down the prop,
osltlon," he said, that unless theI
remonetize silver have no further
interest in the program. 1t will be
failure and the administration must
be responsible.
There's going to be a change oi
administrations-if not now, somi
day. In all probability the new ad,
/ miniStration would reverse the present
/ silver program. The first thing would
be that domestic miners, now on
subsidy, would be placed on thu
world price. The next order would
be to stop buying and the price would
Swoop down. AS a result, all the sill,
yer We already have on hand would
be held at loss.
| I'm not going to be a party Il
that. I'm getting out while the gettinI
is good. I'm going to place the re-
sponsibility on the Western Senator's
so far as can.
My whole incentive is to raise thu
price level-to get more money int
circulation.
But If we can't have a metallu
base for our currency, we must hav
managed currency. We must rais
prices"
Senator Thomas said that by re,
monetizing silver, he meant forcini
the price from the current 65 cent
an ounce to S129 an ounce, which
would make a silver dollar worth ont
dollar. The imitation resulting. HI
estimated, would be approXimatelI
one-half billion dollars.
Its a mistake" he asserted, "tI
pay high prices for silver to be used
only as token money. We might JUS
as we'll mint an attractive coppei
dollar worth about cents"