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Show Voice of the People INFLATION AND NATIONAL BANKIICI'TCY Jiy Hortt'iise Hunt Deniber Simkins in the R. of Rs., for May, 19, 1935 says: "In-riation "In-riation is insidious and devastating. devastat-ing. It stealthily creeps upon those whom it helps. "It cunningly enmeshes those whom it ruins. It craftily lulls into false security those whom it destroys. "It is a greater plunder than war. In .fact, inflation is the hideous hid-eous off spring of war,, born to I spread the desolution, waste and plight initiated by its sire." This fact is due to the conditions it arises n the every day lfe of people by makng hgher prces and lower wages. .toj ssauisnq diaiJ Xeui uoiie'jui a while but it would eventually bring about another depression. It is used to blind people to the fact j that there isn't much money in circulation. It makes it appear as if there is really more money than there is. When the government introduces introdu-ces some new plan they expect it to be for the common benefit of the people. Inflation does not do this. It benefits the people who already have a sizeable income, such as large o-wners of common stocks. Inflation has been tried in the past and the results were disaster-ous disaster-ous because inflation increases the costs of living. Dr. John Dewey states, in the Literary Digest October 7, 1933: "As four per cent of the people own nearly four-fifths of the wealth of the nation, the ultimate benefit of inflation will go the land speculators; monopilizers of natural, na-tural, resources and holders of stocks, rather than the farmers and other producers, on behalf of whom it is urged." "The basic causes of out depression de-pression is the maldistribution of the national income. Inflation would be the last thing to drive the middle classes into effective economic and political action." This harms most laborers because be-cause with inflation comes an increase in-crease in prices with only a small, if any, advance in their wages. Inflation favors the debtors but be comes a great expense to creditors. cred-itors. The present burden of indebtedness indebt-edness bears most heavily on the farmer, the owner of real estate, and the common laborer. If the price of farm products were to be raised so would the price of products pro-ducts which, the farmers have to buy. And benefit for the real estate es-tate business would be speculative, specula-tive, because it would be impossible impossi-ble to raise rents promptly enough ' to increase operating profits to any great extent. The common laborer labor-er pays more .for the products he uses while his wages are hardly raised at all. If inflation were to be undertaken under-taken by new Federal Reserve Bank notes there would be nothing noth-ing to prevent them from amounting amount-ing to $40,000,000,000. But these are not redeemable in gold, and it would not be any help unless un-less these bank notes could be issued is-sued in volumes ana do this without with-out displacing other money and credits already in use These notes would have to be paid out to bank depositors. If it were used to pay out to bank customers cus-tomers against their deposits no increase in buying power would result. Inflation through expension of currency encourages speculation. In the Literary Digest of June 17, 1933, Benjamine M. Anderson Ander-son denies that we really need more money in circulation. He insists in-sists that inflation is an invitation to speculation rather than to sound business activity and he will not admit that there is such a thing as controlled inflation. Dember Simpkins, R. of Rs., May, 19 3 5, states. "Inflation has never been controlled. It may be arrested as in France before becoming be-coming completely ruinous. Investors In-vestors there were able to salvage j 20 cents on the dollar. Never j however, has man been able to de- j vise a method of averting infla-j tions direct effects." When a country needs some ar-1 tificial way of carrying on its rev-1 enues it must have it immediately. immediat-ely. Inflation waits for a year alter Lucre hu: been an expansion o the monetary base and an increase in-crease in currency doesn't com; for some years later. D. W. Ellsworth, Current History, His-tory, April, 19 3 3, "Once started on its insane course inflation becomes be-comes a wild monster powerful enough to wreck the best monetary mone-tary system ever devised by man, driving all kinds of business enterprises en-terprises to destruction and business busi-ness men to despair." Rents rise to great heights during dur-ing inflation, investments turn into in-to radical speculation and bonds which have been high will suddenly sudden-ly fall in value. Common . stocks are beneficial in inflation but other forms of property are useless. |