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Show I r . - $ v- Nj 3 ill;,. Washington. It may be, and possibly Is, true that the bulk of our people pay little attention Gold Is to the fact that gold Fouring In Is pouring Into the United States In an unprecedented volume. I can understand under-stand how the wheat farmer of the plains country or the cotton farmer of the South or any other type of farmer can fail to become excited over the Influx of gold in the last five or six months. It appears to be a far cry from the grain fields or the cotton fields or the quarries or the small town to the heavy concentration of yellow metal to which the United States has been subjected. But the link nevertheless never-theless exists. It exists as surely and as definitely as night follows day and, therefore, it becomes a subject ia which all of us are vitally interested Since the beginning of September a widespread flight of capital from Europe Eu-rope has manifested itself In the shape of gold exports to the United States. Three or four hundred millions of dollars dol-lars In gold have landed here in that time. They bring the net inflow of gold for the year well above $1,000,-000.000. $1,000,-000.000. And, going a bit further, this addition plus another $1,000,000,000 places our gold stocks in excess of $9,400,000,000, or roughly $2,000,000,000 more than was held here when the dollar was devalued under President Roosevelt's Instructions. It seems Impossible to attribute this heavy and prolonged inflow to any single sin-gle cause. Immediately after devaluation devalu-ation of the dollar, there was a steady stream of yellow metal headed for the United States which was due almost entirely to a desire of American holders hold-ers of gold, temporarily stored abroad, to repatriate. But even In that case, there was a contributory factor to be considered. Monetary manipulation by the American government had a temporary tem-porary effect on our exports, Increasing Increas-ing them to some extent and It was Increasing the balance of payments due to this country. So, we find our policies that Is, policies of the Roosevelt administration ad-ministration responsible for the start of the Inflow. Later, another influence developed. Under the pressure of American monetary mone-tary policies, foreign powers found their allegiance to the gold standard severely strained. Silver purchases by the treasury had an effect. The combination com-bination was primarily responsible for the second rush of gold. Subsequently, the Italian-Ethiopian controversy began to take serious form and a new flood of gold to America developed. de-veloped. This was different than that which had immediately preceded It because be-cause this movement was related to International conditions of a political nature whereas the previous movement had resulted without relation to international inter-national strife In a military way but centered wholly upon American monetary mone-tary policies and their effect upon economic conditions abroad. Now, let us consider what can happen. hap-pen. Those acquainted with finance recognize In the ex-Wnat ex-Wnat lstence of a gigantic! Can Happen stock of gold the largest in American history and approximately 45 per cent of the entire world stock the existence exist-ence of a potential, If Indeed it Is not a probable, base for Inflation. There Is so much gold held by the American government, which holds virtually all of the gold stocks In this country, that no end of paper money can be issued against It. Those who believe in that type of currency policies say that It would be perfectly safe; that the government gov-ernment could pay off dollar for dollar or even more than a dollar for every paper dollar outstanding from the gold It holds. This school of thought Contends Con-tends that there Is actually a shortage of money in circulation and Insists that this Is one reason why the country has not recovered from the depression more rapidly than conditions show. Of course, a cold appraisal of that argument argu-ment catalogues It as the same old demand de-mand for Inflation of the currency and everyone knows what Inflation will d In the way of wrecking the person who works for wages or whose sole Income consists of a compensation delivered to him in the form of weekly, semimonthly, semi-monthly, or monthly pay checks. The size of that check never has and never will catch up with the Increase li prices which that Individual must pay to live. f Then, there Is another potential danger 1n this tremendous horde of gold. It Is In many ways similar to that which I have Just related. It Is, however, more of a psychological condition con-dition than the first. I refer to the attitude at-titude usually adopted by those who pull for Inflation when they see a government possessed of vast stores of precious metals. In this Instance, the tangent of Infl'i- tlonlst sentiment Is joined with the u u sponsors of the sil-Ve sil-Ve Want vor ,,., ,,., More Money' They see all of this gold anil sliver and lliey simply cannot resist tile opportunity oppor-tunity for continued howling. Their peochen UK their conversations are almost like a college yell : "We want more money," the more money which they desire being nothing more nor less than currency run off in the printing presses of Hie great bureau of engraving engrav-ing and printing in Washington. Whether it is the first or the second type of inflation that Is demanded, weather It is the printing press money or the money issued against gold as security, the results are the same. It is to be remembered in this connection that none of us can obtain gold from the treasury. The Roosevelt administration adminis-tration demanded of and obtained from congress legislation which definitely prohibited payment of gold for monetary mone-tary use by the treasury under any circumstance's cir-cumstance's except for the settlement of balances owed foreign nations. But that fact has not deferred demands by inflationists. They are calling and will continue to call for more paper money, and with every call the prices you pay for commodities are bound to Increase that is, they will increase until or unless there is a release of gold again for circulation as money. So, It Is quite apparent that as long as this influx of gold continues and as long as other nations are harassed by monetary manipulation in the United States, we are continually threatened with a "business boom" which Is nothing noth-ing less than inflation of credit. The real danger confronting this country, then, lies in that direction. Summarized, Summar-ized, the threat is this: if that Inflationist Infla-tionist "business boom" gets started, no power on earth is able or will be able to stop it. The next and final step after that Is complete destruction of our currency, and medium of exchange. Political developments In the last few weeks have been completely dominated by the splurge of ac-Stirred ac-Stirred by ti'vlty on the part Hoover of former President Herbert Hoover. His pot shots at the New Deal in several speeches have agitated the Democrats much more than they are willing to admit and, notwithstanding assertions of satisfaction, they have thrown a new fear Into the laps of the Roosevelt New Dealers. But, If the Hoover speeches have excited ex-cited the New Dealers and the conservative con-servative Democrats, they have almost precipitated a riot among the Republicans Repub-licans of whom he must be said to be, at least, the titular leader. The bulk of the Republicans look npon Mr. Hoover, because of these recent speeches, as a potential Republican nominee for the Presidency against Mr. Roosevelt next year. They look upon him, further, as an Individual who Is likely to disrupt plans that contemplate contem-plate reconciliation, a love feast, among the various factions of the Republican Re-publican party. They have been struggling strug-gling to lay a base for this love feast and because of the Intense hatred that some of their number have for Mr. Hoover, his activity has opened this breach again, made It a blood-red wound. Political observers and commentators have shown all manner of excitement because Mr. Hoover has made no statement state-ment whether he will or will not be a candidate for the Republican nomination. nomina-tion. In plain words, they have been trying valiantly to conduct a campaign cam-paign that will smoke out Mr. Hoover and make him say whether he is or is not a candidate. All of the efforts to find out what Mr. Hoover proposes to do have failed and will continue to fail, even with the underground work of the New Deal, to bring from him a statement as to his purposes. He will nnnonnce them In his, own good time and his statement will be definite when It Is made. Personally, from all of the information informa-tion I have been able to assemble, I do not believe that Mr. Hoover has any intention of seeking the nomination. nomina-tion. I am convinced his purpose Is directed wholly and completely to on end : he fears the New Deal and he Is trying with nil of the power thnt he possesses to acquaint the country with his views which are obviously In opposition oppo-sition to the theories and policies and experiments of the New Deal. From sources which I consider to be faithful, faith-ful, because they always have been accurate heretofore, it Is apparent to me that Mr. Hoover desires to lend his help In acquainting the country with the things In the New Deal wlileh he regards as dangerous to our nation's well being and that beyond such a purpose pur-pose he Is content to enjoy life as a fisherman and vacationist. But there Is another phase of this situation which seems to me to warrant war-rant consideration. While some of the and Ilooverlles have been denouncing him, even calling him names under their breath, Mr. Hoover has done the Republican party a big favor. By bit attacks on the New Deal ; by his condemnation con-demnation of the things In it Which be regards as certain to be destructive-In destructive-In short, by his activity which many construe con-strue as a campaign for the nomination, nomina-tion, he has made the Republicans conscious con-scious or the Job they have to do. He has awakened them and has put llghi into them which three or lour short months n:;o did not exist. (. W n N.....,,,.r IT jIop |
