| Show THE HIGH COST OF CHEAP MONEY widows and orphans among chief losers from unsound currency E E E AGGER CITES experience speculators rather than investors and producers win from I 1 currency depreciation the losses and costs borne by the government and the people of at the united states from unsound money experiments from colonial times down doubtless total more than our staggering world war appropriations it Is 3 declared by B E E agger agbor an authority on economics in the journal ot of the american bankers association so cheap money he says saya Is very costly since frenzied finance speculation and business disaster have invariably followed la in the wake waka of unsound currency he cites cite historical experience showing that widows and orphans were among tho the chief sufferers 1 new genta genora rations tiona of adults like children have to learn over and over again that when fl laying with fire ono one runs the risk of 0 being burned mr agger says saya indulging currency heresies her esies constitutes such ana adult playing with fire A glance over our own historical experience would demonstrate on this to the most ardent easy money advocate but such advocates are usually those to whom history la bunk soft money advocates seek profit unfortunately those who are willing to kindle the kind of conflagration involved in soft money experimentation are not the only ones hurt indeed they may extort an advantage for themselves but the record is 15 all too clear concerning the mass masa at 0 people heavy losses injustice disorganized production and numerous other evils are inevitable unsound money projects impose heavy costs on oil the government itself the first effect affect of at cheap money Is to raise prices mounting prices mean that to meet its needs the gover government must appropriate always larger sums again dallying with unsound money weakens the governments credit prospective bond buyers become hesitant when currency depreciation Is 13 threatened because thero there la ia danger of agitation toward the payment ol of government obligations in th thi cheaper money rather than in specie any such weakening of government go credit means lower prices received tor for bonds consequently greater burdens on the treasury assuming that la in the end sound principles triumph tho the indulgences of the unsound currency days leave further costs to be ba met it if paper money has been issued it must be redeemed it a government government bo be unwilling to stoop to repudiation it must raise much more in taxes to pay for or the paper money than it received at the time of issue the total effect of paper issues in increasing the cost of the civil war la Is a estimated a t mated at about mr agger says continuing t much more serious than the costs costa of unsound currency to the govern ment are the heavy direct and andl costs coats imposed upon the people our productive system is controlled through prices and the upset of prices caused by a depreciating currency in ter feres with the proper harmonizing ot of the dif different terent lines of production price changes are not instantaneously or uniformly effected throughout the whole system th the result of an in flat movement Is a stimulation of speculation and over investment io id some lines with inadequate develop me ment t in other lines the period ol of speculation seems a period of prosper ity but how false aud and unsound is such prosperity Is disclosed in the stress and agony of the inevitable period ol of liquidation which nemesis like tol fol lows on the heels of the boom wealth unfairly rc mr agger then describes the distressing effects of an unsound money on eh the distribution of at wealth among classes and individuals cheapening money through inflationary expedit enta la Is a gigantic fraud upon the creditor classes at as against debtors all those dependent on fixed incomes or receiving specified sums in terms ol of money are penalized when tho the purchasing power of money Is depressed ad la in like manner the stockholder profits at the expense ot of the boad bondholder holder a tact fact which implies lelles a reward to th UM more speculatively inclined at the ex pense pause of the conservative advancing prices cause discontent ind and give rise to agitation and unrest unreal among those incomes cannot promptly be adjusted to meet maat higher buying aring coats strikes aro tom fomented a and ad production la Is curtailed everybody b ody shares in tasse burdens lack of 0 stability in money also alao undermines and weakens habits of thrift A cor realon erosion of the moral integrity of 0 th the people lit Is inevitable tAble 1 Is and A desire io gala fain by speculation rather than to era earst it I 1 livelihood TO by productive and useful labor causes a marked deterioration la in pap azar lar habla icat character 4 |
