Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1935-01-17
THE NATIONAL
GOVERNMENT
By CONG. JOHN PAUL KvALE

Magic and fantastic as it may at
first sound, the House heard with
deep interest and with thoughtful at
tention a carefully studied plan pro-
posed by Rep. Goldsborough of Mary
Land, by which the whole national
debt would be wiped clean, future in
terest payments on government bonds
to the tune of about round billion
a year made unnecessary, depositors
in all banks closed at least since the
beginning of the year 1880 will be re-
paid in FULL and most impressive
of all-the strangle hold of the or
ganized banking powers Of the nation
will be broken, once and for all, as
far as government credit is concerned.
To make it the more unbelievable,
this tremendous series of reforms is
to be accomplished without a cent of
cost to the American taxpayer, says
the author of the proposal And he
has the well-deserved reputation of
being one of the most reliable and
one of the soundest students of our
banking, currency and credit system
upon whom we can call
The bill proposes a central bank
to which the federal government can
go when it needs to finance or to
refinance it's Indebtedness for any ex-
penditures. Bonds already out would
be paid in currency-non-inte
bearing and circulating-and future
obligations necessitated by usual or
unusual expenses would be financed
by the new federal bank, without
bonding and calling for interest pay
ments that private bankers have been
able to demand as they liked. It
would be built upon the gold reserves
now held in the treasury, and would
expand it's credit operations exactly
after the manner Of the private bank
ing systems today.
1t brings into the open a fact that
for some reason has been carefully
subdued in the press and on the
stump in the past by most politicians
and statesmen, that is, the fact that
the banking clique do exercise a pow
er over the government, no matter
what party may be in power, of die
tating what economic or political
plans may or may not be advanced.
They have done it, and are doing il,
by the most simple expedient of
threatening to stay out of the field
of competitors when the next refund
ing or refinancing operation is put
forward by the treasury. Thus they
are able to threaten to reduce the
market price of bonds by demanding
higher interest rates on the new Sc
curities, thereby bringing unsteadi-
ness to the federal bond market and
consequently to industrial securities,
and establishing uncertainty in the
market and the weakening-so they
claim-of the government credit.
The writer has secured at his own
expense a number of copies of the
Goldsborough speech, and will be
happy to send it to interested parties
on request 1t is worth studying and
goes to the very heart of the New
ity. Apparently, however, the ad-
ministration itself through its author
lied leaders is unable to take a di-
rect hand in this fight, which prom
ises to be one of the biggest which
the present Congress has to face. But
the press and the leaders are strictly
hands-off for the present. That does
not worry Congressman GOldsborough,
nor Senator Cutting, nor the others
who are in this to a finish. Already
the old wall Street" and the Tn
ternational Bankers" and the other
similar phrases are being taken off
the shelves and busted for action.
A bill that aroused much interest
in the last Congress, but failed, is
being revived 1t is the Shipstead
bill to secure formula which would
bring the agricultural dollars pur-
chasing power up to equal that of in
dustry's purchasing power. Senator
Shipstead has honored the writer by
asking him to introduce it in the
House, and for his reason, interest
ingly:
The Senator piloted the bill, after
he had introduced it, through the
Senate Agriculture committee by
unanimous vote, and then through the
Senate by unanimous vote again. 1t
came in due course to the House, was