Evening star., 1935-06-23
Continued From First page.)

value Of savings that win strike most
cruelty those, like the veterans, who
seen. to be temporarily benefited" 9
And yet on May II. 1888, you signed
the Thomas imitation act, which au-
thorizes and makes possible o three
way imitation Of the currency beside
which the Patman imitation Is drop
in the bucket. And on June 10, 1884
you signed O silver bill which compels
slow but relentless imitation.
In that veto message you pointed
out the sinister dangers Of recurring
deficits. You said this:
Solely from the point Of view Of
the good credit Of the United States
the complete failure Of the Congress
to provide additional taxes for an
additional expenditure OF this magni-
tude would in itself and by itself alone
warrant disapproval Of this measure
And yet we have had for the past
two years the most stupendous deficits
In the history Of the world, financed
by every imaginable device except tax
alton, even including the forcible seiz.
ure Of gold coin in private hands.
Expenditures AssaiIed.
In that veto message you said this:
"The final whereas clause, stating
that spending the money Is the most
effective means Of Fastening recovery
is SO Ill considered that little comment
Is necessary"
And yet there has been for two
years past o record Of reckless ex-
penditures Of Government money
without parallel in history. In futile
attempt to prime the pump" Of pri-
vate business. In the bottomleSS pit
of c. w. A., p. w. A., T. v. A. and,
In part, F. z. r. A, there have been
sunk the billions now represented by
the increase in Government debt. And
between now and 1897 there Is to be
spent the incredible sum Of $4.800,-
OOO, 900, Of which about $4 600, ,000, ,000
Is pure deficit. This Is to be spent
In work relief" but, whatever the
plans for relief and whatever the
plans for spending, at least half OF
this vast sum will be pure pump
priming."
In that splendid veto message at
tacking imitation you overlooked two
other types of imitation already stead
lily undermining the currency of this
country for many months past. You
attacked paper money imitation with
out mercy, but you failed to refer to
two other kinds quite as destructive
One is imitation through silver pur-
chaseS.
Currency Can't Be Described.
Recently the Secretary Of the Treas
ury went on the radio to defend the
monetary policies Of the administra-
ton. He discussed our monetary sys-
tenn, but I noted that he did not
name it or describe it. He couldn't
No man in the world can name or
describe the strange thing our cur
rency has become. It Is supposed
to be based on gold, but there is only
paper. The Secretary has some
where referred to 1t as gold bullion
standard. But you have down there
In Washington weird hybrid mixture
of gold and silver of f1uctuating value,
locked up in the vaults.
Although the gold dollars in that
mixture weigh ass grains, you now
call SO per cent Of each one q dollar
Although the silver dollars in that
mixture are worth about half dol
lar, you call each one q standard
dollar. And this sterilized and un-
certain mixture Is by law the base
of our money system. All our paper
money is legal tender, although some
Of 1t represents one thing, some
another. No other nation in history
ever had any such goulash as this
for a currency.
Day after day, secretly, we buy
capriciouS amounts Of silver and bury
it In the vaults, for what purpose nc
one knows. And every day we pump
into the currency a lot of silver
certificates. But each one represents
useless lump Of silver not worth
q dollar or redeemable in q dollars
worth Of anything. At yesterdays
value a silver certificate represented
about SIS cents worth of silver. What
1t will be worth tomorrow is q guess
And every single certificate going into
circulation Is debased fat money, and
every one represents that much in
flation.
Measure Of 1878 Cited.
In 1878 the silver bloc, which has
been gnawing away in Congress from
1873 to 1885, jammed through over
the Presidents veto q measure just a
little like the one in our day, though
far less evil. Some years later this
measure wrecked the finances Of the
country and another President forced
frightened Congress to repeal it. But
the damage had been done.
The other kind Of imitation Is the
most subtly dangerous Of all. It Is
the imitation through bank deposits
which has been steadily mounting
since early In 1888. The Government
sells bonds to the banks, the Gov
eminent spends the money, and the
money goes back to the banks as de-
posits. The banks may then borrow
from the Federal Reserve Banks on
their bonds. The Reserve banks may
also buy bonds on their own aud use
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