anaheim-gazette 1933-04-27

THE ANAHEIM GAZETTE HENRY KUCHEL, Editor and Publisher ESTABLISHED 1870 ISSUED EVERY THURSDAY SUBSCRIPTION PER YEAR ... $2.00 SIX MONTHS ... $1.00 Entered at the Anaheim, California Postoffice as second-class matter. STABILIZE THE DOLLAR Wild fluctuations in the value of the dollar, as represented in its purchasing power, are the direct result of our worshipping at the feet of the God of Gold. For many years we pinned our faith on the bright yellow metal, making our world revolve around it. We priced everything in relation to gold, when, actually, gold is one of our least valuable minerals. We followed a gold standard policy as blind as worship of white elephants in India, as unbending and false as the Puritans' persecution of witches, as sensible as politicians kotowing to the "sacred cows" of bureaucracy. On one hand we watched the 1926 dollar go down in value until in 1929 it bought two-thirds of what it did three years before; then we watched it climb in value until in 1933 it buys three times what it did four years previously. Inequities of debts also change proportionately. The man who borrowed in 1926 and paid in 1929 made a third on the value of his investment through change in purchase price of the dollar. If he borrowed $5,000 in 1929, and paid in early 1933 money, he lost $3,000 on the deal by the reverse of the process. The first was a debtors' paradise, the latter a creditors' heydey. Why should not trading and bartering, whether through the medium of exchange or in actuality, be stabilized? In the old days if a farmer borrowed three pigs and agreed to return four a year later, he did just that; under manipulations of the gold standard wherein certain financial jugglers on Wall street get a corner on the metal, he would have returned two pigs in the first instance cited above, and nine pigs in the latter case. Thus, by changing the value of the gold dollar, every person who buys a dozen oranges or a suit of clothes, is forced to gamble with his wealth. reverse of the process. The first was a debtors' paradise, the latter a creditors' heydey. Why should not trading and bartering, whether through the medium of exchange or in actuality, be stabilized? In the old days if a farmer borrowed three pigs and agreed to return four a year later, he did just that; under manipulations of the gold standard wherein certain financial jugglers on Wall street get a corner on the metal, he would have returned two pigs in the first instance cited above, and nine pigs in the latter case. Thus, by changing the value of the gold dollar, every person who buys a dozen oranges or a suit of clothes, is forced to gamble with his wealth. What we need is a stabilized medium of exchange. Going off the gold standard undoubtedly will help the debtor, will return many men to work because it will enable people, through cheapening of the dollar, to earn more money through which to buy more goods, thus reacting favorably throughout our entire financial structure. If President Roosevelt is able to keep inflation under control (nobody else ever did in the history of our nation) we will see the dollar return to a more normal purchasing value. He is reversing the process which caused hundreds of thousands of Uncle Sam's cousins to lose their homes and farms through foreclosure, thousands of business men to lose their establishments by bankruptcy proceedings because customers had fewer dollars to spend. Incidentally, going off the gold standard gives this nation a trump card in the economic council game to be played in June. This move, though desirable, is only a temporary expedient. The true goal, we believe, is stabilization of the American dollar. From past experiences we cannot achieve this purpose by adopting a gold standard alone, nor fixed bi-metalism, because prices of silver and gold on the world markets fluctuate. Adoption of a certain ratio of silver to gold is as false as adoption of a certain price for gold alone. Both are inflexible, and fail to meet the needs of the times. The inflexible gold policy of the United States during the past four years wrecked the internal price structure giving nations who had gone off the gold standard from 30 to 60 per cent advantage in our own markets, despite our widely denounced nationalistic Smoot-Hawley tariff wall. The federal reserve, controlled by private bankers through national legislation, was expected to regulate credit, and hence the value of the dollar, by its rediscount policy. Being privately controlled, it operates for the interests of the big money bosses, and for several years now Wall streeters have made more money through deflation than through normal trade, by beating down the values of the peoples' holdings in the great corporations. The federal reserve system failed in its crucial test because it is founded upon the wrong premise, that of control by those who profit most. The only way the dollar can be stabilized permanently, so it will purchase relatively as much this year as next, is through establishment of a central board of control empowered to vary from day to day, if need be, the price ratio between gold and silver, or any other medium of exchange that might be adopted. Members of this board, like supreme court judges, should be appointed for life, be far removed from political skullduggery, and impeachable only for the same causes and in the same way as our highest jurists. The economic board would sit constantly, keeping the relative value of the dollar stabilized. Its duties would include preventing a wild orgy of credit, or monetary expansion or contraction, through its power of regulating the value of the dollar. It should have dictatorial powers over the banking struc- prohibiting the sale repeal of the eighteen The voters want to intoxicating; in fact, stricken out of the city wrote the amendment in declaring for best must rule supreme. Eyes in its avowed purpose as boycotting of mercury of the majority of organized effort. As we please. But when to justified criticism. The true solution to use intoxicating liquefied spent the same effort farther in its avowed ACCO For a long time theret al of Wall street hailed in the background of ed and made loans to come under any sort o or state. Mysterious bible. After nearly four reckoning. One year into the House of Mo committee from the into the financial str with less than a million where the institution to evade state and na citizen that the giant control and regulated when the senate took. Word from New York ports turned over the Whether or not the pr seems to know, but t volved that neither he This is one of the trick ties. Because of this imperative. Were there would be no nee will purchase relatively as much this year as next, is through establishment of a central board of control empowered to vary from day to day, if need be, the price ratio between gold and silver, or any other medium of exchange that might be adopted. Members of this board, like supreme court judges, should be appointed for life, be far removed from political skullduggery, and impeachable only for the same causes and in the same way as our highest jurists. The economic board would sit constantly, keeping the relative value of the dollar stabilized. Its duties would include preventing a wild orgy of credit, or monetary expansion or contraction, through its power of regulating the value of the dollar. It should have dictatorial powers over the banking structure of the nation, be charged with the responsibility of directing a sound financial policy for the federal government, and giving public warning whenever any group, whether governmental or private, threatened to go off on a financial spree that would leave us with a headache and an aftermath of heartaches. Its primary duty, however, would be social—prevention of widespread distress to millions of people by making their income more certain, their expenses more stable, their feeling of independence more secure. CIVILIAN WARRIORS The first thing to do for President Roosevelt’s forestry recruits is to train them in mosquito fighting. THE NARROW VIEW The only reason we have four per cent beer back is because the people of California and the United States demand it. President Roosevelt, responsive to the wishes of the people, sponsored the legislation which quickly enabled beer to be sold in those states which, by repealing their dry enforcement laws, want it. California last fall overwhelmingly repealed the Wright act and by nearly as large a majority adopted a controlling measure. The vote showed beyond a question of a doubt that the vast majority of people in the state want beer. Advent of legal beer again, of course, must be a hard blow to certain individuals and organizations which fought for prohibition. But when prohibition was adopted the drys asked the wets to help give the dry laws a reasonable chance of success. Certain narrow-minded wets flaunted dry laws, but the majority of the people were with the prohibitionists, resulting in more stringent laws during the past decade. Popular opinion now declares prohibition a failure; every real test at the polls show from a two-to-one, to a four-to-one majority in favor of repealing ordinances. The Modern Miracle By Albert T. Reid CHATTLE MORTGAGE AMERICAN FARMER PRODUCING WHAT WE EAT FOR LESS THAN COST BY GOLLY! I DON'T SEE HOW HE KEeps UP URGENT NEED FOR FARM RELIEP Editorial Highlights prohibiting the sale of the new legalized beer, and directing repeal of the eighteenth amendment. The voters want temperance. They believe the new beer is not intoxicating; in fact, many want the entire eighteenth amendment stricken out of the constitution. Since the will of the majority wrote the amendment into the constitution, the will of the majority in declaring for beer, or even in seeking repeal of all dry laws, must rule supreme. Efforts of the minority to defeat the majority on its avowed purpose only aggravate the issue. Such instances has boycotting of merchants because they are meeting the demands of the majority of their customers for beer are unworthy of organized effort. As individuals we have the right to trade where we please. But when a group sponsors a boycott it opens itself to justified criticism. The true solution of temperance is in educating the people not to use intoxicating liquor. If the group that talks of boycotting spent the same effort in promoting real temperance it would get farther in its avowed objectives, and cause less hard feelings. ACCOUNTABLE ONLY TO GOD For a long time there has been a suspicion that J. P. Morgan at all of Wall street have been accountable only to God. They were on the background of all principal financial dealings, they arranged and made loans to foreign countries, they did not appear to come under any sort of regulation, whether international, national or state. Mysterious House of Morgan edicts were the bankers'IBLE. After nearly four years of depression there comes a day of reckoning. One year ago, even six months ago, an investigation into the House of Morgan was thought impossible. But now a committee from the United States senate is empowered to look into the financial structure of the private banks where nobody with less than a million dollar checking account is welcomed, and where the institution is run on the order of a private club in order to evade state and national banking laws. Hopes of the average citizen that the giant financial octupus would be brought under control and regulated in the same way as our national banks rose when the senate took its bold action. Word from New York informs us that House of Morgan experts turned over the books of the concern to the investigators. Whether or not the private bankers keep two sets of books nobody seems to know, but the set turned over to the probers is so involved that neither head nor tail of the entries can be discovered. This is one of the tricks of the “big boys” to cover up their activities. Because of this, a thorough investigation is all the more imperative. Were the dealings of private bankers on the square here would be no need for such tricky, involved bookkeeping, Editorial Highlights THE WAY BACK TO PROSPERITY The governments, and notoriously the federal government, have gone on the theory that their expenditures are untouchable. The costs of the federal government, indeed, have continued to mount. It has been impossible to collect as much money each year as the government has spent, with the result that the unbalanced portion has been borrowed. This has had the effect of raising doubts about the stability of the nation's money and its treasury and has led to violent gold movements, injurious both in America and abroad. The demand of the business community for a balanced budget has been met not by the reduction of expenditures but by the increase in tax rates and the imposition of new taxes. In the end, therefore, our governments have created not more hope of profit, and therefore a basis of recovery, but the certainty of further reductions in profit and therefore increased stagnation. This policy of idiocy must be ended before the depression will begin to yield. Business men hold that the cause of the depression is excessive taxation and the cure is a slashing of taxation with a budget balanced on the reduced revenue. That is a mature judgment, based upon years of battling against declining profits and the steady attrition of reserves and inventory values. The stubborn refusal of politicians to heed the advice of precisely the men who are in a position to know most about what is impeding progress is the most striking phenomenon of our times.—Chicago Tribune. LAUGH THIS OFF The Four Marxs Brothers have incorporated What are they going to do, issue laughing stock. ALCOHOL AND MUSIC A Chicago physician says alcohol is full of musical vibrations, phenomena noticed particularly between the hours of 1 and 4 A.M.—Rochester Times-Union. ANOTHER FORGOTTEN MAN The forgotten man is the waiter who used to be remembered after the meal. —Dayton Daily News. KEEP THE CASH AT HOME Word from New York informs us that House of Morgan experts turned over the books of the concern to the investigators. Whether or not the private bankers keep two sets of books nobody seems to know, but the set turned over to the probers is so involved that neither head nor tail of the entries can be discovered. This is one of the tricks of the "big boys" to cover up their activities. Because of this, a thorough investigation is all the more imperative. Were the dealings of private bankers on the square there would be no need for such tricky, involved bookkeeping, CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CAMPS Financial returns of civilian conservation camps by which President Roosevelt plans to place 250,000 men to work at a dollar a day may be one of the least benefits. These men are being enlisted almost entirely in the centers of population. Many of the men undoubtedly never before were privileged to hike over mountains, breath deeply of fresh mountain air, inhale the ingorating odor of pine trees, and build up their bodies in the way nature intended. After a few months living out-of-doors the men enlisted in the conservation camps will see life in a different light. Steady plodding along the streets of our cities in search of work has left discouragement, broken hopes, shattered dreams. The complicated and feverish intensity of modern industrial life, which places the almighty dollar on a pedestal way above the right of the average man to earn a steady income, hangs like a heavy fog over the lives of those victimized by depression, shutting out the sunlight of hope, throwing a cold blanket over normal functions of the home, and distorting the viewpoint. Out in the fresh air where they can enjoy plenty of wholesome food and learn to like hard work, this army of 250,000 civilians will learn anew that we have just as much as ever to live for, though not quite as much to live with, as in previous years. KNOW YOUR SCHOOLS Citizens of California this week are encouraged to get better acquainted with their public school system, renew contact with their educators, review the actual working out of our ideals of public instruction, and get inspiration from the contagious enthusiasm of the school children. While public schools week is planned for the specific purpose of bringing our public schools and the public closer together for the benefit of both, we might well give critical, though friendly and constructive, study to the problems of education. THIS WEEK IN WASHINGTON Beer is back and the first day's sales are said to have netted the Federal government and the various state and local taxing units about ten million dollars, which is a lot of money. Some brewers sent President Roosevelt a few cases of beer which arrived at the White House just after midnight on the day when its sale was legal. The President gave the beer to various friends and that was that. What is worrying the wets is that Mr. Roosevelt has not said anything about the repeal of the 18th amendment. The President's friends reply that there isn't anything for him to say. The repeal amendment is now up to the states, and most of them have arranged or are arranging for conventions at which either to ratify it or turn it down. It is hardly likely that Mr. Roosevelt will use his influence one way or the other. Invitations to Nations The really important development in Washington is the invitation by the President to the heads of eleven other nations to come to Washington to see him, or to send somebody, in order to talk over the world economic situation and get ready for the World Economic Conference, which is to be held in London in July. Ramsey MacDonald, Prime Minister of Great Britain, was the first to accept. All of the other nations are sending their best men. The President plans to talk to each of them separately, get them to agree to something to which they will stick when the conference is called, in the hope that some line of action can be arrived at which will start commodity prices moving upward, stabilize the world's currencies and move the wheels of international trade again. This is not an altruistic project to save the world. The President is undertaking something for the sake of the United States first and the world at large in consequence. Whatever we put in the pot he expects us to get back with something besides. The old foreign trade policy of the United States has functioning here more strongly than at Geneva. It seems likely that more immediate and tangible results may follow these conferences than have followed the League's action for in this case the United States has, the whip hand and can apply economic pressure to make the other nations come to reasonable terms. Must Have New Revenues That there will be some new forms of Federal taxes to make up the vast sums which are to be spent in the various projects for relieving the domestic situation seems as certain as tomorrow's sunrise. Nobody knows yet what form these new taxes will take. The original idea of the Administration of lending money based on Federal credit only to self-liquidating public works seems to have been abandoned. There is not enough of that sort of work to be done to go very far in putting all the unemployed back to work. With the plans for farm relief, home-mortgage relief, unemployment relief, bank deposit insurance and all of the other enterprises which must be financed against the credit of the United States it is estimated that from five to ten thousand million dollars of credit will be required. The balancing of the budget is the first step toward making the Government's credit good, so that it can go to the public and borrow the necessary funds for these other projects on bond issues. Money, Men and Plans In Congress there is a powerful group which believes that budget-balancing, international agreements, public works bond issues, railroad, banking and utility reorganization, farm relief and everything else will accomplish nothing unless there is inflation of the currency. The project to reduce the amount of gold in the dollar is the latest scheme to this end. It is not regarded here as meeting the President's approval. PROSPERITY and notoriously the have gone on the manditures are unof the federal have continued to impossible to colreach year as the with the result import has been and the effect of the stability of the treasury and has elements, injurious abroad. The decommunity for a been met not by manditures but by ies and the imponent, based upon against declining attrition of revalues. The stublans to heed the men who are in just about what is the most striking times.—Chicago Time for Reciprocity The need for this reciprocity on our part is inescapable. For even if we could trade our war debt claims for a lowering of foreign tariffs on our exports, without reciprocal action on our part we would get nowhere. For, as the President's advisers point out, there is no earthly way for other nations to pay for our goods unless they can sell us their goods. Wise observers here say that the policy of "economic nationalism" has been definitely scrapped by the invitations to Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, China, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Canada to talk over international economies at Washington. Some go so far as to suggest that the League of Nations will be something to which they will stick when the conference is called, in the hope that some line of action can be arrived at which will start commodity prices moving upward, stabilize the world's currencies and move the wheels of international trade again. This is not an altruistic project to save the world. The President is undertaking something for the sake of the United States first and the world at large in consequence. Whatever we put in the pot he expects us to get back with something besides. The old foreign trade policy of the United States has been definitely scrapped. No longer will the effort be to open foreign markets to our goods while barring foreign goods by means of high tariffs. That is certain. So when the President starts to persuade other countries to lower their tariff barriers he must have in mind that such a program can succeed only if we rearrange our tariffs to permit the sale of foreign goods in this country. Money, Men and Plans In Congress there is a powerful group which believes that budget-balancing, international agreements, public works bond issues, railroad, banking and utility reorganization, farm relief and everything else will accomplish nothing unless there is inflation of the currency. The project to reduce the amount of gold in the dollar is the latest scheme to this end. It is not regarded here as meeting the President's approval. It seems more likely that some sort of a silver purchase program by international agreement may be decided upon. Many members of both houses see salvation only in broadening the bases of employment by means of the five-day six-hour week, at higher pay. Some others hold that there must be an actual redistribution of capital through a capital levy, income tax changes or a simple confiscation of capital and income above certain figures. And when it comes to international agreements, there are more different ideas than there are members of Congress. The insistence that Europe must pay her war debts in full is not so vociferous as a few months ago. The President hears a bedlam of advice daily. So far it does not seem to worry him. There are all sorts of people urging him to "go on the air" and urge all debtors and creditors to sit down together and agree on a general reduction of debts. There are others by the hundreds urging him to adopt some wild scheme or other. But the President keeps working away at the blue prints of what his intimates say, is a definite, integrated plan, to be adopted step by step. Sunday School Lesson by Rev. Charles E. Dunn. JESUS REBUKES SELF-SEEKING Mark 9:30-50 Golden Text: Romans 13:10 All of us crave popularity. It is human to seek recognition. But it is foolish to scramble for it. The disciples, in their quarrel as to who was the greatest, and therefore entitled to the honors of rank and precedence, form a sorry picture. Jesus, with characteristic directness, at once plunged to the root of the whole issue. Greatness, He insisted, is not the fruit of the aggressive seizure of power, but of its renunciation. "If any one wishes to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." This means that the humble, obscure workman behind the scenes, an unheralded hero never in the limelight, never respond- Then the Master gave a concrete demonstration of this principle. Taking a little child, He placed him in their midst, embraced him, and then uttered those memorable words, "Whoever for my sake receives one such young child as this, receives me." That child, with its trustful eyes so full of wonder, its innocence, its beauty, its simple faith, unspoiled by the sordid, selfish brutalities of our blighted world, both rebuked the grasping disciples, and gave them a needed lesson. Was Jesus mistaken in His glorification of the child? No indeed. Havelock Ellis maintains that the average man of genius, both in physique and temperament, is child-like. "The progress of our race," he says "has been a progress in youthfulness." I am struggling today with an attack of laryngitis. It occurs to me that my readers may be interested. You may get an attack, you know. The larynx is the "vocal box" where the sounds of the voice are moulded into words. The "itis" signifies inflammation of the vocal cords. The first symptom is hoarseness, and is very pronounced. Not much pain, necessarily, at first. Pain indicates a more violent attack — see the doctor at once. My voice today sounds like that of an old hen with a grain of corn lodged in her wind-pipe! It is weakening, sickening, disgusting. My work as a physician, takes me out in all sorts of weather, and is most all hours. There is much exposure—we call it that—and you must guard against it. What am I doing for this distressing condition? Well, I have my neck wrap- ped with woolen—with turpentine and oil of eucalyptus equal parts sopped on the cloth. The vapor from this does good. I keep the neck warm on the outside. I keep my feet extra warm. I take antiseptic such as Aspirin — and those containing a small per cent of formaldehyde — and let them dissolve in my mouth — five or six times a day. Of course, I attend to the regular function, good food, plenty of water, and take the best care of myself that I can. It has been most severe weather, and the climate in my state is trocherous; besides, some of these things are communicable — we must not forget that. I admit that it takes courage to endure such attacks and remain on foot and at work. The patient who does as he should do, will go to bed, call his physician — and get well in half the time. Bear in mind that laryngitis may be a very dangerous condition. Better attend to it early.