The Washington times., 1935-05-02

Lewis nancy much the same
as buying cotton or wheat. 1t is
just case of bidding up and
maintaining the market for silver
as long as there is money to
spend for the purpose.
The $1.29 figure is merely an
American tradition. 1t is hang.
over from the "16 to y days of
Organism. There used to be 1922
grains of pure gold in the stand.
ard gold dollar, which meant that
gold was worth $20.67 an ounce.
One-sixteenth of $2O.67 is S1.29,
Thus, at $129 per ounce, silver
would be quoted in dollars at 16
times the old price of gold.
OF course, now that gold is
priced at $35 al ounce (meaning
that there are only about 1873
grains of gold in our present
mythical standard dollar, silver
would have to rise to nearly $2.19
to give the 16 to / ratio.
AS to the reasons for the New
Deal policy, they are numerous.
Back of it lie the following ele'
mentS:
Some sincere monetary cranks
believe that all we need is Mas
money, regardless of qua 4.
They want silver added to god,
so as to provide a greater guam.
tity of metal as the basis for our
currency.
There are also many sincere
inflationists who want prices
raised by any means, and who
figure that injecting silver into
our currency will help to get this
result.
One brand of inflationists con.
sists of spectators, both in Wall
Street and outside, who want a
speculative ride so that they can
profit by trading. Of course,
these spectators cannot be sin.
cere. They are selfish.
Then there are the silver pro.
ducers. They want silver prices
raised, so that their earnings will
be increased. Of course, they
favor Government purchases Of
silver at high prices.
Finally, there is a sort of po.
litical cult which inherits the
slogans of free silver" and "l6
to l." This is like vegetarianism
or nudism-just a fad or faith.
would say that the chief
practical influences guiding
the Presidents policy are:
~ POlitics-the desire to buy
the votes of the Senators from
the silver States.
~ The desire to cheaper or
depreciate the dollar, so as to
produce a more effective infla.
ton.
You see, the purchasing power
of our paper dollars has not de-
clined as much as the gold dollar
was devalued. Put in another
way, the average of commodity
prices has not risen as much as
the price of gold was marked up
by the President.
He seized the nations gold, and
then marked up its paper price,
Then he had his treasurer "write
up" a profit on the transaction,
("smilingly" called a nest egg,
But that paper profit written"
up by the New Deal Administra
ton can be realized only by &C
tually forcing the value of paper
dollars down, and thus making the
prices of other commodities rise
as much as gold has been marked
up.
The silver buying is an attempt
to depreciate the paper dollar.
When silver is bought, it is the
same as selling dollars. Thus.
you see, the higher they bid up
silver, the cheaper they sell
dollars.
/ will add that a silver "nest
egg" is being laid. Over a bill
lion ounces of silver is to be
bought. II an average price of
around 20 cents is paid by the
Treasury, and it turns the stuff
into dollars at the rate of $1.29,
it will SmilingIy write up many
millions of profit"
The whole thing is just a means
of cheapening our currency and
of robbing those who have savings
or small fixed incomes for the
optical purposes of the New Deal.
CLOTH MART DULL