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Show MILLARD COUNTY CHRONICLE Dlta Utah. Thurs. July 11. 1957. GIVING OUR WORLD THE Once Over By Dick Morrison DEBT AND DOMINATION Among the most pressing prob lems confronting our world loaay are those arising from the threat of over-DODUlation from the in creasing pressure of population on natural resources; and those on ginating In the money system under un-der which we live the system which gives us an endless, ever- mounting burden of Interest-oear-ing debt as the only alternative to depression and stagnation . The population question has been pretty clearly explained by a number num-ber of writers. From Thomas Mal-thus Mal-thus on down to the author of Our Plundered Planet, keen minds have examined this question in a com-etent com-etent manner They have exposed the threat for what it is, with clear logic, for all who want to see. The money question has been treated less clearly; there have no contamination of milk or meat only a 7 day wait between application and harvesting or pasturing long lasting residual effectiveness easy to apply-low cost-quick kill 6ET HEPTACHLOR NOWI Vodak Tractor & SERVICE DELTA, UTAH nil 5 ill inn.!. mm Hi t 11 mm f i i ,- iU- ! I for those wTso enjoy straight whiskey best, there is no finer quality than Belmont JTRAlSHTjOUREtJH BELMONT DISTILLING COMPANY t LAWFENCEBUR8. INDIANA f been more false teachings propounded, pro-pounded, and hypocritical self-interest has done much to create con fusion on this many-sided issue. As a matter of fact, acceptance of certain fallacies atout money has led a good many people to deny the obvious truth In the theory of Malthus, because they have come to believe that continuous contin-uous expansion, presumably without with-out any end anywhere, is essential essent-ial to prosperity. But this is something some-thing that se,ems true only because our existing money system works in certain ways. It is not true in the absolute sense. Regarding my criticism of the monpv and banking system, there are two things I want to explain at the outset First, I am criticizing the system, not the people who are engaged in the banking business. There is ah-snintPlv ah-snintPlv nothine personal in my criticisms, particularly as they would apply to the owners and operators of such small-town banks as serve our county. The business they are conducting is ,of course, legitimate and legal in every way. it is an essential business, and one with which the people of the com munity could not well dispense. But reeardless of the essential ity of banking service in the com munity, the fact remains that in its national and International as pects there are things about bank ing as it is now organized tnai are sinister beyond the imaginings of most people. Second, the banking business U legitimately subject to analysis and criticism because, in its nature, nat-ure, it operates as a franchised monopoly. Certain kinds of enter-orise. enter-orise. because of their necessarily monopolistic nature, must be op erated as franchised public utilities on a non-comretitive basis, under government regulation, and these being different from free, competitive compet-itive enterDrises. are rightfully sub ject to public scrutiny as to every aspect of their operation that ai- fects the people they serve, rower comDanies. telephone companies, railroads, more in the past than in the present because they now are pretty competitive with other form OH transportation are among these. And so are the banks. As monopolistic, franchised en terprises in the nature of public utilities, our banks have Deen granted a strange power in special privilege, the power to create money. And this power has ramifications ram-ifications so far-reaching, so fantastic fan-tastic in their implications, that they extend far beyond any indi vidual relationship between the banker and his customer who takes out a loan. Matter of fact, if banks were limited simply t the ordinary ordin-ary business of acting, as borrowers borrow-ers and lenders ,as custodians of the funds of their depositors, and of rendering such other service as they now render, or might care to render, minus that power to create money, I would have no criticism of them at all. True, In that situation sit-uation they would be deprived of the income they now receive as Interest In-terest on the money they create, but they might be able to make up for this by charging their customers cus-tomers for the various services they now render without charge. Whether Whet-her they could do this or not, however, how-ever, is beside the point and Is of no direct concern to me. What is of concern now, Is an examination of the effects which bank created money have on our economic system sys-tem on the lives, security and welfare of all of the people. It is so nearly absolutely true that for practical purposes It is fair to say that every dollar of the money in circulation today originated origi-nated and came into existence when somebody borrowed money from a bank. This means that our circulating medium Is made up of all the debts owed to the banks, by individuals, corporations, and eovernment units. It is also true, that the need for circulating money In our business system bears no relationship, directly, dir-ectly, to the aggregate needs of borrowers for bank credit. So here we find defect number one In the system. Currency, is brought into existence and paid into circulation (and, when the loans are paid off, retired from circulation), according to the needs of borrowers ( which bear no relationship to the currency-needs of the system in general). Now, at times, by pure coincidence, coinci-dence, the amount of money thus placed in circulation will actually come close to meeting tne neeas nf tho business system. ' At such times, as in the early years of the Elsenhower administration, me value of the dollar will remain fairly stable, and this being so, "confidence" grows ana Dusiness thrives But at other times, the tminm nf currency meaning debt in circulation will get out of line with the needs of the business cctom nnd the eeneral price level will move up or down. At such times, we have what we Know as a boom or a depression, of varying degrees of severity. Thi tendency of the volume oi mnnv tn fret out of line with the needs oO the business system might not be so bad as so far oui-lined oui-lined though it is an evil for which there is no justification. wnt it u nn evil worse coniouna- ed by another destructive tenden-of tenden-of periods of expansion and contraction of the currency to nnrt feed upon themselves. started in motion, a spiral of inflation tends to grow and expand beyond reason; a spiral or aena-tion aena-tion to behave in like manner. An uncontrolled spiral of deflation of progressive reduction of the amount of money in circulation mac tho cause of the depression. Set in motion by the stock market crash of 1929 which, unoer a nrnnerlv managed system oi money would have begun and end ed where it belonged, in me siou ,v,o,i,,t this sniral o uncontrol led deflation continued until all of the banks were closed in Marcn, of 1933. . . vniinwinp that, nothing short oi the tremendous expansion of the fo-wai Arht was effective in re- .icr tho vnlume of circulating medium to the point where busi ness became solvent and proper-ous proper-ous again. So we can see that the "natural workings" of the money system led inevitably to the rise of stat-ism stat-ism Big Government with all of its attendant evils. horo ncain. the relationsrup of cause and effect proved confusing confus-ing to the minds of countless peo-i peo-i nvA thov hnvo concluded, err- yic, mm . oneously, that Big Government is a good thing of itself. They have failed to see that tne gooa, m prosperity, came from private enterprise once the volume of circulating medium was ,oKtm-erf and that this, in turn, was only a by-product of the ex pansion of the Big uovernmeai and its Big Debt. e ,o mav nut down the ten- iJU " " I dency to build up Big Government with all Its attendant evus unu (vmtrols as defect number two in our money and banking system. Then, again, as an incwenwi hnvlner to do business under this system of using debt in the form of bank credit as me not mn'Q -lrculfttlne medium, we can see that today the annual in terest on the federal debt is over $7 billion dollars twice as much .a tho whole cost of operating the government in Hoover's day-while day-while the total of all interest payments, pay-ments, private, corporate, and government, comes to some $27 billion a year. Nearly all of this the cost to the nation of "bank credit", directly and in directly. Quite a price for a nation to pay to a private franchised group for writing figures on pieces of paper, isn't It? Back in 1932, the whole national income was some $40 billion, for comparison. So put it down as defect number three that the existing system in effect gives the bankers the power to levy Interest charges against the nation's economy at a rate, as of now, of some $27 billion a year, the total always growing, and with no top in sight! Yes, yes, I know it's true that we are free people, and nobody is compelled to borrow money. But I know it is true, too, that if every-a every-a serious effort to pay off his debts, the whole economic system would collapse, the majority major-ity of people would be bankrupt, and all of the banks would be closed as in 1933. Debt isn't forced on any individual, but it is, in effect, forced upon the people as a whole. How much money is needed in circulation, anyway? What is the criterion, and who is to be the Judge? Those are questions which backers of the existing banking system often ask, sometimes deliberately deli-berately to confuse the issue; and sometimes through their own ignorance. The answer is that enough money is needed In circulation to keep the general, average price level fairly stable. This does not mean the price level should be controlled, directly. On the contrary, con-trary, the fluctuations of the price level, In the free markets, should be used as a guide, indicating whether the money supply is too high or too low. Our American economic system has been a continuously expanding system, from the start disregarding disregar-ding those periodic depressions which forced contractions due to fiscal upsets. And this means that it has required a continously expanding ex-panding money supply, if an honest hon-est dollar, as reflected in a stable average price level was to be maintained. So put it down that as long as our system expands, it needs expansion of the circulating medium in proportion. But now, call to mind the fact that expansion of our currency can only be brought about short of reform of the money and banking system through the expansion of debt. It becomes clear, now, why an ever-mounting total of Interest-bearing Interest-bearing debt is the price we must pay to the bankers for prosperity! prosper-ity! Call this defect number four in our money system. Today, as Senator Byrd has pointed poin-ted out, the total of all outstanding outstand-ing debt is equal to the total value of all the tangible wealth of the nation. But under our money system, sys-tem, how could it be otherwise? The Federal Reserve System, in effect, gave the banks a perpetual, interest - bearing mortgage, upon all the tangible wealth of the nation, na-tion, and Its future growth. Our economic system can't grow without with-out a corresponding expansion of debt. For it to try to do so would bring continuously falling prices, a situation which in turn brings economic stagnation because it makes it impossible for businessmen business-men in general to meet their commitments. com-mitments. So, as fast as the system expands, the total of debt expands, and the banks collect interest upon the newly created wealth. But they didn't create that wealth, and they don't deserve this interest. Individual initiative created the wealth. So we see ourselves laboring under a system of endless debt and government domination. Until 1929, private borrowings kept enough money in circulation to meet business needs. After the crash, banks found it Impossible to USDA ttslt how no conJaminotion f milk or meat when cowi or ftd Heprachlor-freoftd hay. Hoy is soft to feed jut! 7 day$ offer applying Heprochlor, the only widely recommended rec-ommended 'hopper insecticide you can use within 15 days of harvest! GET Ijlccdij firctterj DELTA UTAH G THESE WOMEN! By d'Alessio I A I LAJTia w I 1 I L CHOPUS 'Hello Shankman, Males, Battel and Bean? Take codicil!" lend much on any security othef than government bonds pieces of paper on which the government prints figures in green and black ink and this situation led to tho transfer of effective control of a large part of the nation's wealth from the banks to the government. What, then, happened to the in- dustrlpus little people who produce, pro-duce, in private enterprise, all of '.'ie count'css Items which peopla need and use in their dally Uvlng? Why, in effect, they found their freedom, and their right to private property and to individual respoa- Continued on next page . . .the only widely recommended grasshopper grass-hopper insecticide that can be used vithin 1 5 days of pasturing or harvesting ! NO CONTAMINATION OF MILK OR MEAT USDA tests show no contamination of ruilk when cows are fed Hepta-chlor-treated hay! SHORTER WAITING PERIOD You can pasture or harvest just 7 days after using Heptachlor! LONG LASTING Heptachlor kills grasshoppers quickly after application and also provides residual protection for two to three weeks or more. HIWU'W.MWSti' H II li m mi i j-,. , . n n m JMinW U) , m ,Ujmm j, jui I f; i'A Wrftt' """'- i , m jimii m 'r' " mnmn "" T:irTII1.. : ... ..,.. . m T.. 1T fMalrtTfi ,...Ti1Tntt. r U niiM. H , - ' " - yjiur you aeciae to hold on to your ar mAAM4 m l fBiH vrui, 1 1 icirvu iuro you nderstand this: It will never be worth more than it Is right now. That's why ou owe it to yourself to learn why mid-year Is an especially smart time to go over to Olds. UJ W 7 u rv n ow. . . with the best months of '57 ahoad... Idsmobllo's "88" offers you more big-car value for surprisingly little moro mnnnw - - - - J a hat's moro. frnrlifioriii . v ' w..v..j iudio VulUO W means lowest-cosdriving in tho long run! ' : - . .jjj..rS.,v,,,,., f I Snrr lay Night IVnY MAKES SflSf o NATIONAL FARM SAFETY WEEK JULY 21-27 |