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Show Page 10 The Utah Independent January 2, 1975 Why Welfare The Paper That Dares To Take A Stand Staters Fear Private By REP. STEVE SYMMS (R.-ldah- Gold Ownership o) the 1930s; be comforted in holding title to your business and do not concern yourself that the state prescribes the manner in which you run it. Like the Germans, we lost our true freedom and true protection from government in 1932. In a show of true statesmanship, Congress has now resolved to right that wrong and to return a very important measure of freedom to the Following is a speech made by Rep. Symms to the House of Representatives on Nov . 20, 1974. Yesterday on the floor of the House, one of my colleagues Rep. Henry Gon- zales .) delivered a lesson in economics. He issued a clear warning, for those who cared to believe it, that the American people are about to be crucified on a cross of gold. He asked for delay in our newly restored right to own gold which is to go into effect January 1, 1975. The only cross we are about to be crucified on is that of the welfare state, if Congress takes the advice of my respected colleague from Texas. (D.-Tex- American people. Yet we were told yesterday that present laws will not protect the American citizens from trickery, from snake slick-steoil salesmen from the in the gold business who will gild lead bricks and pass them off as a bullion. We were warned that speculation was the sure ruin of our international monetary position. Speculation in gold is not an inherent evil. It is a symptom and a warning of a distorted, government-ravishe- d economy. You do not blame speculators for their efforts toward nor can you blame the inanimate object, gold, for conditions of confusion in the marketplace. The fault is with the inflationist, the politician who seeks constantly to make gold a scapegoat for the malfeasance of government and its monetary policy. It has been proposed that we not only delay gold ownership, but that we somehow weave a federal cocoon of around our unwary and protection helpless citizens through endless federal regulations when ownership finally does come. This makes about as much sense as outlawing the sale of bread for fear that so-call- Delay of our legal right to own gold is another shabby trick to prevent the owners of private property protection from their greedy government. The financial policy of any welfare state depends on the politicians' ability to deficit spend, confiscating wealth through the ravages of inflation. self-protectio- Only two things stand in the way of the kind of double-dig- it inflation we see an enlightened, enraged citizenry; and the right to own gold. Assured that their political rhetoric has confused and fooled the former, some politicians live in fear of exposure of their deeds an exposure which will surely come with the ownership of gold by our citizens. today Few of the government's actions in the past decade have been as important and inspiring in the fight for the economic freedom and stability of all Americans as the legali'za-tio- n of gold ownership. Money is the economic denominator for all economic transactions; it is ' a commodity which serves as a medium of exchange, universally accepted by all participants in an exchange economy as a payment for their goods and services. Throughout history, many such mediums existed, ranking from seashells to precious jewels. But as civilization advanced, the market weeded out the less valuable and useful commodities, usually settling on some metal as the basis of exchange. Metals were homogeneous and could be easily divided: every unit could be made like every other in both size and quality relatively easily. Furthermore, the market decided objectively, via the law of supply and demand, which metals were the most valuable, usually deciding on just one or two as the standard of value. Gold, because it was relatively scarce, virtually indestructible and possessed a wide range of artistic and functional uses, became this standard in most economies. It was easily coined, highly big-spendi- After Dec. 31 Americans may. for the first time since 1933. own gold bullion such as to be weighed during an inspection the bar being taken by Rep. John Conlan Knox. earlier Fort to Ms trip year (R.-Ari- individual depositors rarely desired to withdraw all their money at the same time, the banker needed to keep only a small fraction of his total gold deposits on hand as reserves. The rest could be lent out to enterprising men whom the banker deemed worthy: those men who would be able to pay the loan back with interest so that the banker could pay interest to his depositors and make a little profit for himself. The distinguishing feature of this system from that of the present day was that, although most transactions were made with paper currency, this paper currency was readily redeemable for a specific amount of gold or silver. tawing the ownership of gold in 1933. His real reason was far more insidious: The gold standard was entirely incompatible with any form of chronic government deficit spending, so essential to Roosevelt's gargantuan welfare schemes. The welfare state is nothing more than a mechanism by which the govern- - The American government began destroying the gold standard in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve System which, through its 12 regional offices, could supply member banks with paper currency not backed by any commodity whatsoever. Noting that mild recessions had taken place in the past whenever banks reached their lending limits, determined by the extents of their gold reserves, the Fed decided that if money could be made available at the right time, recession need never be experienced again. The fact that the Fed could not reliably predict when this money would be needed was proven over and over again throughout the 20th Century, but its most spectacular failure was its first. Rapid credit expansion led to the and wild Roaring Twenties speculation in the stock market, culminating in its infamous crash in 1929 along with the crash of the American so-call- ng is being perpetrated by their own government. gold its value. It did have drawbacks, however. For example, large payments were difficult to execute. The development of a banking system thus became a logical extension was of the gold exchange economy-g- old deposited in banks in exchange for bank notes or currency representative of and specifically tied to a specific amount of gold. The currency and banking system of .the United States rested on these basic premises until early in the 20th Century. Individual owners of gold were induced, by payments of interest, to deposit their gold in a bank, against which they could write checks. Because n, In calling for gold ownership. did not hear a corresponding call from the peomple for protection from ftaud. for indeed the greatest fraud of all inflation Only two things stand in the way of the kind of double-digi- t we see today an enlightened, enraged citizenry, and the right to own portable, and universally recognized tor z.) rs ed ed and world economies. With typical statist logic, the Roosevelt Administration argued that it was the gold standard that precipitated the 1929 crash and subsequent economic collapse. But we had been ofT a true gold standard since 1913 it was the paper printed by the government not backed by gold which led to the worldwide economic debacle. This was Roosevelt's excuse for out- - ment confiscates the wealth of its productive citizens in border ,to support the nonproductive and the incompetent. Some of this confiscation can be done directly through taxation but must of it, in order to remain politically acceptable, has to be carried out by less obvious means by deficit spending. Since paper money was made by law unconnected to any commodity whatsoever, administrations like Roosevelt's and Johnson's could print dollar bills until doomsday and back them with nothing but worthless bureaucratic promises. It is the lack of a commodity standard today that encourages deficit spending, leading to double digit inflation, explosive interest -- rates, and economy-deadenin- g uncertainty. The statists' antagonism to the gold standard is certainly understandable and must be understood: Gold's existence at the base of a currency effectively, destroys the statists, most underhanded, hidden weapons in the confiscation of an individual's earnings deficit spending. Gold stands as a protector of man's property rights, his economic security and, as a consequence, his freedom. It h that a effort is now being made to assure the Ameri- is amusing last-ditc- can people they have had the right to own gold all along; that they are apparently without need of the kind of gold ownership provision which passed this body earlier this year. Presumably, because we are allowed the freedom to purchase gold jewelry and coin, we have no further economic incentive to get our hands on the real stuff. It is the old half a loaf' rhetoric that comforted the German businessman in some company will try to pass off foam rubber loaves on the public. Certainly there are adequate laws on the books prohibiting the kind of business fraud which each of these cases would represent. This attitude of throwing out the baby in order to avoid diaper rash is nothing but a smokescreen to hide the real objections which certain politicians have to gold ownership. Freedom is the only protection our people wish from this Congress. The American people are neither gullible or stupid. In calling for gold ownership, I did not hear a corresponding call from the people for protection from fraud, for indeed the greatest fraud of all is being perpetrated by their own government. Nor did they ask to be protected from investment mistakes. The wisdom of the Congress in this area has come across all too often as outright coercion. so-call- ed We fought long and hard for the simple return of a basic, constitutional right which is our only protection against the legalized counterfeiting practiced by this government. We are asking only to make honest men of this Congress and its agents downtown, fend we ask only to make free and independent agents of our citizens. I had no idea until yesterday that the welfare state lived in such fear of a free market. It is an encouraging thing to me. It tells me that the work I have dedicated to restoring a free market is not in vain and is, in fact, the only true course to freedom and individual responsibility. The American people will not be crucified on a cross of gold. The only people crucified by the right to own gold are the deficit spenders. |