Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-07-19
NewDeal Internationalism
By BENJAMIN DeCASSERES


to be prosperous after this war.
second national desire-a necessary condi-
tion indeed, OF our general prosperty-wlsh--ls
that we shall have sound currency.
But who has commanded us to guarantee
prosperity and a sound currency to all the nations
of the earth, as the Keynes-Morgentha monetary
conference of "A nations at Breton Woods, n. H.,
seems set on doing?
1t seems that Lord Keynes of the British
treasury has actually found out in some occult
manner that we Americans have indicated our
intention of Saving the world" from another
collapse.
In the international monetary fund debate In
the House of Lords on May o. 1914, Lord Keynes
said:
"A proper share of responsibility for main
tanning equilibrium in the balance of international
payments is squarey placed on the creditor cOun-
tries. This is one of the major improvements in
the new plan. The Americans, who are the most
likely to he affected by this, have OF THEIR
OWN FREE WILL and honest purpose offered
us far-reaching formula of protection against
a recurrence of the main cause of defiatiOn dur
ing the interwar years, namely the drainage of
reserves out of the rest of the world to pay
country which was Obstinately borrowing and
exporting on scale immensely greater than it
was lending and importing
WHERE and when did Americans of "their
w own free will come forward with "a far.
|
Did Congress pass such a resolution?
Did the American people 'Of their own free
will" ever vote on it?
Maybe Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau
is the American people?
And maybe he isn't
Milford Keynes ought to tell us more OF what
he knows about our "free will"
Maybe it means transporting the contents OF
the u. S. treasury to the vaults OF the Bank OF
England.
Lord Keynes also says that the "respOnsi-
bility' for maintaining an equilibrium in the
balance of international credits is placed squarely
ION the creditor countries
Then he blandly - and syly-avers that
Americans are most likely to be affected by this
general passing the buck" to us, for we will GER
tainly be the creditor nation par excellence after
this war.
Note again, please the slick way in which
Lord Keynes tried to convey the impression to his
felloW-lo lords that the American people a whole
had freely willed" to carry the whole burden of
a postwar international pool and all the other
addenda trimmings and founces that exist in the
back of the head Of such profoundly learned
international financial expert as Lord Keynes.
CONTRAST the cunning innuendoes of Lord
~ Keynes Of the British treasury with these
fortnight words on postwar prosperity IN
America from the pen Of an American DR.. Har
ley LutZ professor OF public finance OF princeton
University, in the tax review:
Instead of all the talking and planning that
is now heard about how to save or to restore and
stimulate the enterprise system after the war.
short and simple formula is offered here as being
all that is necessary. This formula, addressed to
every citizen, is as follows
IF you want to make dollar by any honest
means you are free to try and if YOU succeed you
may keep it.
I'm the writer's opinion. this is all that is
needed to restore the spirit of enterprise and to
make the enterprise system work we'll The for.
mula involves sweeping away all of the govern
mental restrictions and regulations except those
necessary to assure that honest means are used
There is real American pioneering free will
in that and none of Lord Keynes mythical inter.
national free will on the part of Americans
who have no existence outside Of New Deal inner
SanctumS
No IN yUNuuu1 L4AIEAll