Show t 0 a i P r t d M washington the governments silver policy again is attracting attention several 1 stiver silver things have question caused it first among these things is the matter of rising prices for foods and other necessaries of life but attention seems to have centered on the silver question again as a result of the Treas newly arranged agreement to trade some of its gold for some of the chinese silver probably the silver question is not as widely discussed as it might be because it is a complex subject and there are not too many people who understand it and its implications I 1 cannot refrain at this time however from recalling that when the silver act of 1934 was passed I 1 wrote in these columns a prediction that the country sooner or later would regret that legislation I 1 repeat the statement now and I 1 do not believe it will be long until the average citizen will recognize what the silver policy is doing to most of us I 1 mean by that it will not be long until mr john Q public will understand that the silver policy has a lot to do with the high prices he is paying for his pound of bacon his slice of beefsteak or a thousand and one items that he buys at the grocery store he will feel it too when he seeks to buy a new suit of clothes or a new pair of shoes there can be no argument about it the affect of inflation brought about by a perfectly ridiculous silver policy is upon us early in july the chinese minister of finance visited washington and called personally at the treasury to express the appreciation of the chinese government for the satisfactory is conclusion of negotiations that enable the chinese to give the american treasury silver for gold it was the usual diplomatic courtesy at the same time however the visit of the chinese minister served to awaken america to the fact that the treasury has been going along buying silver from foreign countries in order to maintain an arbitrary price which the washington administration contended should be bd the world price for silver this price is forty five cents an ounce and it is a most profitable price for silver producers in mexico and canada and some other foreign countries it is not as profitable however as the price the treasury pays to american producers which is seventy seven and one half cents an ounce but one may ask what has this thing to do with the cost of beefsteak ham and eggs or shoes I 1 hope I 1 may be able to explain it as I 1 have watched the picture unfold and to explain it in a manner that those unacquainted with high finance may see the thing in its true light 0 0 first of all the policy of the administration that has brought billions of gold into how it the treasury to be works stored as so much dead weight has resulted in many thousands of shares of stock in american corporations po rations or their bonds being bought by foreigners who gave gold in payment president roosevelt early in his administration insisted that gold should not be in circulation as money consequently the treasury has so much gold that it has had to build separate storehouses to protect it now we are sending some of that gold to china in trade for chinas cainas silver I 1 think most everyone will agree that the silver is just as useless because we have no need for it in our currency structure people do not want to carry silver dollars around in their pockets assuming that the exchange was simply an even trade of two objects neither of which was usable to us one probably could dismiss the matter with a wave of the hand regrettably such is not the case the additional silver frankly is adding to our troubles because of the silver act of 1934 which permits the treasury to issue currency silver one dollar bills against it so instead of being sterilized and stored away in vaults the silver accession results in a prompt increase in the amount of currency in circulation that action tends to increase the excess reserve unused money of the banking system As this money becomes available for circulation cu lation its value necessarily and obviously is cheapened or to say it another way the things you buy with money become of greater value because it takes more of these pieces of currency to buy the same quantity of food or clothes or shoes 0 authorities will disagree with the above statement to the extent that some c ian all a kinds of cur will rency have not disagree been elpa expanded which means e a n s inflated by the issuing of silver certificates that is true but we must be realistic and recognize that a silver certificate occupies exactly I 1 the same place in our currency structure as does a bill that is backed by gold or one that I 1 is 9 I 1 is j sued by the federal reserve banks therefore it seems to me to be a I 1 fair statement to say that the whole currency structure is tainted by this deluge of silver certificates now and heretofore coming from the treasury and it is equally a fact that prices of every kind are going to increase exactly in accordance or in ratio with the new money that is put out from the treasury I 1 do not know how long it will be until the voters wake up to the necessity for repeal of the silver act it probably will not be long before there is a wave of public indignation against the policy if the average person realizes that the program is actually a tax upon the american public surely if the silver policy were labeled tax to support the silver program the attitude of the country would change overnight that really should be the name of the silver act of 1934 because that is its effect the tax results from the fact that the treasury is paying foreign producers as well as american producers prices for silver that are higher than the value of the silver warrants this means that any article of silver that you buy in a store costs you more than it would it if silver producers abroad and in the united states were not being subsidized the additional dit ional cost is a tax on every buyer just as much as though you had paid the tax directly into the treasury it may be interesting to know that the treasury has issued nearly eight hundred million in silver certificates in addition something like seven million silver dollars have been coined and these still remain in the package in which they were wrapped at the mints besides all these there is silver bullion that cost piled up in the treasury silver certificates can be issued against this the silver act of 1934 provided that the treasury could buy one dollars worth of silver to three dollars worth of gold for what is called eserre yi serve purposes on the basis of Z the gold now held the treasury can buy under that law a total of in silver at the present time treasury records show we have silver reserves amounting to around these figures show or ought to show how much inflation lies ahead how much higher prices may go unless something is done to restore a sound currency policy in the united states some democrats who are not too friendly with postmaster general jim farley along 1 1 just good with the republic clean fun cans in congress are having fun these days with the democratic national committee they are also succeeding it appears in making president Roosevel ts political seat uncomfortably warm nothing will come of it except that the subject will flu fill many newspaper columns of attack and defense as the politicians shoot back and forth to review the situation it should be recalled that the democratic national committee found itself in debt to the tune of about at the end of the 1936 campaign campaign some bright mind in the democratic national committee conceived the idea of selling democratic campaign handbooks to corporations at per book or more as a means of raising money to make the book attractive a single sheet bearing the autograph of franklin delano roosevelt was inserted hundreds of corporations were solicited and hundreds bought the books theoretic theoretically aUy because of the autograph of the president mr roosevelt stated he did not kno know he was autographing the blank sheets tor for the purpose for which they were used republican leader snell of new york introduced a resolution in the house of representatives proposing an investigation of the sale of these books to corporations he contended that it was a violation of the corrupt practices act mr snell remained determined however and sought to harrass the new deal further by asking attorney general cummings for an official opinion at the same time he read on the floor of the house a long list of corporations who had bought the souvenirs of the 1936 campaign together with a list of prices they had paid these facts cut deeply into the democrats who are seeking to protect chairman farley and the democratic national co committee wiggled and squirmed nevertheless mr snell may as well have butted his head against a stone wa wall I 1 since he got no further than representative rayburn the house Demo democratic democrate crati ic leader would have gotten if mr snell had been majority instead oi of minority leader 0 western newspaper union |