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Show WHAT SCRIP LACKS THXRI exist logical reason for th Incubating Incubat-ing of th mtny tnd varied tchtmat for Issuing Is-suing scrip for um at amargtney money. It rest in th fact that, whllt thr hat been tn amaiinf amount of talk about cause of th depression, effect of th depression tnd remedy for th depression, de-pression, nothing hat to ftr resulted except talk and still more talk. Th congress Is absolutely th only agency of government which could hav( don anything about It AU money of whatever kind mutt bo creatur of th supreme government. govern-ment. Unlets it Is, it can hav no pen-mantnt valu. Even its temporary vtlu Is doubtful . from th moment it leaves th printing press. WhU congrtu hss been diUydalylnf and s-tendlng s-tendlng its ear to hear what th International bankers think of til and tundry matters discussed dis-cussed under th capltol dome, the people in various va-rious section of th country hav been driven to think about and to propose outlandish schemes to get tomethlng to us for money. So, very naturally, they come to look upon printing presses as their salvation. Example are plentiful wher they hav been th doom of frenzied peoples instesd of leading them out of th chaos that wss engulfing them. W do not want even an emergency tubttltut for money adopted In hast to b repented of at leisure. ' Th peril I" scrip program exists chiefly in th fact that it is asy to be deluded into thinking think-ing It sound. A piece of printed paper ultimately radeamabl in a dollar in lawful money it offered of-fered in payment for dollar's worth of goods or Mrviot. As It passes from one person to another an-other stamp bought from the government or the issuing and redeeming agency is affixed to it, to ntitl It to b used as a money tubttltut. until th number of stamps afflxd qual 1 plus a fixed amount, say an additional 20 cant in J -cent units. Th additional amount is to psy for th cost of Issuing th mony tubttltut Itt overhead coat On each transaction there appears to be a lots or discount of S cents. This is, in reality, a form of tax Spread among -all who use the scrip. The "money" valu of th scrip Is actually IS cents. .'When It to finally redeemed, the last user receive re-ceive a dollar for It after having affixed th 1-'eant 1-'eant gtamp, to h get his 98 cent out of. it, which I what it was "worth" whan he received H. Th accumulated SO cent In ttamps pays forth for-th cost of printing th "money" and th cost of getting up th machtnary to redeem it Th redemption re-demption dollar grows out of th rest of the stamps. It all sounds vry simpl. . What scrip lacks, however, to a sound thoret-ical thoret-ical or practical economic foundation. Economist and practical Students of depressions ar agreed that cheaper money, more of it, higher prices, ' increased employment and stimulated trad must all oome out of whatever schema to adopted. A 11.20 dollar to not cheaper money and exchanging exchang-ing It for 91 In goods or services to not raiting . th price level. So acrip, in theory at least, to tackling tha depression with the cart ahead of . th hone. Dear money and low price in combination com-bination had a big thar in bringing on th d-preation. d-preation. Scrip to, dear money and will force prices down 2 per cent on every transaction in , which it to employed. It it, then, in any sense, likely to be helpful in this emergency! The very plausible arguments in itt favor hav beguiled mtny to tpprov of it when it hat been explained bv thoee who may have been beguiled themselves by the simplicity of the tcheme. Before any ecrlp plan gains further momentum and, before it may be unqualifiedly un-qualifiedly indorsed or condemned, it thould be aubjected to tests that go far beyond acceptance, in a moment of fremy or despair, because it toamt to hav a (host of a chance of being helpful. ' |