The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-05-09
THURSDAY MAY 2 1888


liver since Adam was driven from the gar
l. ean WITH the injunction that By the sweat
ol his brow he must thenceforth earn his
bread mankind has been looking longingly for
another Eden. And in all the search from then
tn now 20 Edencsque mirage more enticing
has ever appeared than that which now SHIN
mers before the eyes Of The seventy-fourth
Congress OF the United States.
Printing press imitation! Make money BY
Just turning on motor and all good things
VIII follow How easy. how direct, how eftec-
tive What a panaceai
Just a couple Of billions. Of course. and then
stop only a spadeiul Of sand il the ocean
OF our national credit. says McAdoo. Good,
clean. new money. as good as any IN the world
without burdening taxpayers. or increasing the
national debt urges Brisbane.
Something for nothngl Perpetual motion!
How lovely it would be for all Of US if it were
only that simple.
But before we light up the hashish let's
observe the experience Of others who have
smoked the same seductive drug.
Germany. 1923: Writing Of his personal ex-
pcr.cnce there after the printing presses had
swung into high gear. William Philip Simms,
Scrpps Howard foreign editor. says: MY din
ner cost me four and a half trillion marks"
Had the mark been at par that meant one tril-
lion one hundred billion American dollars for
a meal
But the mark was not at par, for 30 paper
factories. 1873 printing offices and 1913 printing
machines had been working night and day
turning out money that was clean and new.
all right. but not good. So no wonder that the
one who waited on Mr.. Simms showed signs
OF displeasure when he received only a five
hundred billion mark tip.
France How the lure Of the same printing
press panacea took the French revolutionary
government over the cliff in another century
is thus described in an historical pamphlet.
In response to the demands of the infa-
tionists. the assembly in 1890 authorized the
issuance OF aSsignats to the amount of four
hundred million livres. CThen as now. note a
limited amoWt-just a spadeful Of sand) AT
the beginning the effect was to relieve the
treasury Of some of its burden and to stimu-
late trade. As soon as the assignats began to
circulate. however. they deprecated. The four
hundred millions were soon exhausted and
suance Of additional currency. Mirabeau. a
leading inffationist. advocated that currency be
issued equal to the amount Of the whole ma
tional debt and insisted that such action would
bring prosperity to the nation"
And so. as all history records. each dose was
larger than the one that went before. In five
years the price Of flour rose from 40 cents to
A. dollars translated in American coinage;
a pair OF shoes from 81 to $40. and all other
prices in proportion. So finally the pOpulace
Joined in burning the machinery with which
the aSSignatS had been printed.
Volumes have been written celebrating the
story OF the route that such ;liation takes.
and those two references are symbolic Of all
the rest Nothing approaches closer TO COM
plete chaos than a nation sucked into such
venture.
And yet. despite all the experiences of the
past. our Congress has approved a similar
ghastly experiment for us and only presi-
dental veto stands in the way.