Evening star., 1936-02-13
Text of Hoover's Speech
Continued From sixth Page.)

efaDie loans. That Is only about 10
per cent of what the new mechanics
will accomplish. That increase will
be about up to $l4,000, ,000, 600. less
recoverable loans and plus large losses
on guaranteed mortgages. The Ma
tional debt now bids fair to rise to
o minimum of $35, ,000, ,000. 900.
I note in the budget message Presi-
dent Roosevelt said, the finances of
the Government are in better condi-
tion than at any time in the past
seven years." You may remember the
uneasiness of the decimal point which
mentioned some months ago. 1t has
moved steadily to the left.
The New Deal could also report, las
q part OF our fiscal policies we have
set UP managed credit under the
political seizure of the Federal Reserve
system. We have set up managed
currency under political control OF
the value of the dollar. We have
abandoned the gold standard. We
have repudiated Government obliga-
tions. We have made vast purchases
Of foreign silver at double the price
of 1888 We are glad to say we have
now enough foreign silver to plate
all the spoons in the world"
Soon after assuming office three
years ago President Roosevelt COM
mented upon my partial failure to
persuade q Democratic Congress to
balance the budget. He said sternly:
TOO often in recent history liberal
governments have been wrecked on
the rocks of loose fiscal policies. We
must avoid this danger"
Those rocks are now looming up
out of this fog. The Nation has been
steered into the dangerous channels
Of borrowing these vast deficits from
the banks, by huge cycle of bank
credit imitation. That is printing
press credit. The charts of all his
tory show this channel leads to cur
rency imitation. Every democracy
which entered these straits has been
sunk.
Fears Explosive Forces Of
Imitation Already Generated.
The explosive forces of imitation
are already being generated. That
Is easily proved. The average prices
of industrial common stocks today
are UP to the level of 1926. But in
1926 there were no unemployed; today
there are 100000 unemployed. In
1926 our foreign trade was flourish
ing; today it is demoralized. In 1926
our budget was balanced, our cur
rency was stable; today the budget
Is the worst unbalanced in history,
the currency has its foundation In
the will of one man.
The average price of industrial
stocks has been restored to 1926. but
have the real incomes of farmers and
labor been restored to 1926?
We may we'll explore a little fur
ther as to what all this confusion Of
national finances means to the aver
age man or woman. These currency
and credit policies have driven men
all over the Nation into a scramble
of buying equities to protect them
selves. These policies have made a
paradise for the speculator. He lives
by shrewd anticipation in a land of
confusion. Millions have been made
in the stock market.
Millions have been made by foreign
spectators in silver. At the same
time millions of Americans are tramp
ing the streets looking for work.
Speculation drains employment, it
does not make it. Having opened the
channels of greed, rightly the Presi-
dent may be worried over the greedy.
But worse than all that, out of
these devaluation and imitation policies
the cost of living inevitably and in
exorably rises. The average man and
his housewife will find these policies
in every package they buy. They will
find them in the decreased purchas-
ing power of their insurance policy
and their savings. Did it ever occur
to American wage earners that the
devaluation was cut in wages? Some
European statesmen were frank
enough to say it when they did it.
And on top of that someody has to
pay for this spending. Both We and
our children will pay for these follies
of our generation even if our liberal
government escapes wreck upon the
rocks of these loose fiscal policies.
Does that point the average man to
a finer, better, happier life?"
Americans Have Right
to Know Future Steps.
The American people have a right to
know and to know now what steps the
President proposes to clean up this
budget and money confusion. Unless
this confusion can be quickly dissolved
it will lead to one Of the great
tragedies of all humanity-inf1ation.
The fourth battalion of confusion is
the administration of relief. Under
that guise great sociological expert
ments have been undertaken. The
Government has gone into private
business on huge scale. These enter
prises have created a million con-
fusions and fears. Relief run from
Washington and not from home has
resulted in billions of waste spread
over every town and county.
1t has impaired self-reliance and
DUJIl lllu1Nloudlo dllo AL IOCd1
government The poison of politics is
mixed in the bread of the helpless.
The New Deal is optimistic that with
relief under political control from
Washington its dependents can be per-
suaded in their vote. But the ballot
box is secret and the conscience of
the average American man and woman
may not be confused.
The New Deal is not confused in
politics. National planning has been a
success in that field. But 1t is moral
confusion of every ideal Of American
government. For so years 1t has been
an aspiration of America that our
Government officials should be re-
moved from the political spoils system.
The selection by merit through the