Inflation Considered Dangerous Business For the Workers
Tyler, August
By August Tyler Inflation Considered Dangerous Business For the Workers (Concluded from last week) IN his recent article on Inflation, 1 Comrade Lewis tells us just how to inflate. He offers two...
...The new picture is a big improvement, but it still doesn't do you justice...
...Storm center itself of many* bitter struggles during which its existence was threatened by red-baiters, the Band School wss quick to offer the expelled students an opportunity to continue their education...
...The more the Federal Reserve banks have to pay for bonds held by bankers and speculators, the more Federal Reserve notes they have to issue, the greater the amount of the inflation and the greater the burden on the backs of the poor...
...It is therefore never able to cover its expenditure, and is ever and again obliged to resort to the printing press...
...What is more, three speculators will be enriched mainly at the expense of the worker...
...He didn't know about the Russian book, but said they would try do something about it through the Amtorg people...
...Afain, it la a Socialist job to fight for a tax that will get at Morgans millions...
...while he gazed open-mouthed at the giraffe...
...Kautsky—Economic Doctrines of Karl Marx...
...D. H. Cole...
...It will be inter-esting to see what success they'll ! have...
...These bonds will, of course, not be held by workers...
...You have stood up for freedom of thought, freedom of assemblage and freedom of organisation—in short, for the adulthood and citizenship of American College students...
...By Gertrude Weil Klein And Just How Will We Get Back to Prosperity...
...It is a duty we owe to the school...
...Here are the southern cotton mill owners, apparently meekly sumitting to measures which, if they had come as union demands, would have raised an immediate and horrified cry of "revolution...
...The last point is important "Money which circulates fast hss more influence upon prices than money which circulates slowly...
...The Federal Reserve bank will be instructed to buy these bonds from banks and individuals...
...I greatly regret my inability to make a worthwhile contribution to so worthy a cause...
...They will be held bp the worst element in the capitalist class —the mosey speculator...
...but every other lickspittle politician, his cousins and his aunts, was somehow'taken care of...
...This means still greater speed, and still greater speed, until the entire monetary system falls in a dizzy swoon of necessarily uncontrollable inflation...
...According to J- M. Mathieson, chairman of the organization committee, the campaign is already meeting with encouraging success...
...st • The "Handbook of the Soviet Union" now being prepared in Russia will be published here in the fall by a publishing house which uses non-union labor—the John Day Company, which also published President Roosevelt's "Looking forward...
...It should be called a "Banker's Plan for Inflation...
...The attempt failed, but it cost the school over $90,000 in defense and other expenditures to maintain itself...
...The Rand School has been throughout its history a haven for students and instructors who have rebelled against the conservatism of our colleges and universities...
...We can control the amount of currency and that is alL We csn no' control with any accuracy either production or speed of circulation...
...I feel like the small boy at the zoo who said, "There ain't no such animal...
...Who is going to buy all these high-priced goods that our busy factories are going to turn out...
...There are three factors that determine the price level...
...He suggests that the Federal Reserve banks should buy up these newly floated government bonds from the government directly, from banks, and from individuals who own them, and that the Federal Reserve banks issue paper money on them...
...All of them are lining up in complete surrender to a summary commandeering of a large share of their potential profits...
...Under capitalism only one of these three factors—currency, velocity, and productivity—can be controlled...
...Secondly, as prices go up so does the cost of government...
...Roosevelt...
...Enclosed please find my mite—* and it is but a mite...
...A Class of Bondholder...
...Controlled" Inflation Many comrades talk of "controlled inflation...
...Thanks to the influence these money changers have in the high places, thanks to their virtual monopoly of banking, and thanks to the inflation that will already have set in, these speculators will be able to squeeze the Federal Reserve banka to their heart's content...
...Comrade Lewis probably does not realize that his scheme mskes the banker the virtual broker between the government and the Federal Reserve in a very lucrative deal...
...If they couldn't buy in sufficient quantities to keep things going with their i peak wages of 1928, why will they , be able to do better now ? The increases in wages that will go into effect are increases over pauper levels...
...I.A.M...
...But If "people expect prices to rise sharply, this means that they anticipate that the longer they keep their money in their hands the leas it will be worth in terms of money...
...THE twenty students expelled from the College of the City of New York have been offered an educational haven by the Rand School of Social Science, 7 East 15th Street, with an invitation to utilize every facility of the Socialist institution of learning, A number of them promptly accepted the offer...
...A bond issue is a loan which must eventually be {aid back by the government...
...Ed.] Six Expelled C.C.N.Y...
...Is Organizing Tool and Die Trade CHICAGO.—A drive to unionise the tool and die industry 100 per cent in Chicago has been launched by the International Association of Machinists...
...These are the reasons: First, inflation eauaea a rise hi prices...
...Ferguson, Governor of Texas, another very active lady, was the only one Mrs...
...Even with a $10 minimum wage for an unskilled cotton mill operative, and corresponding minimums in other industries, and even if, at a generous estimate, five million people go back to work, well still be trying to reach our grand total by adding apples and oranges, and the answer, so far as I can see, makes spinach...
...Roosevelt couldn't, find time to be photographed with (do we detect a feline accident...
...One of them suddenly glances up from his digging and with a look of utter consternation turns to his fellow worker...
...A couple of miners are digging away in their nice quiet mine...
...First, the amount of currency...
...I DON'T mind confessing that this Industrial Recovery Act has me blocked off—and just after I've mastered inflation, too...
...The velocity of circulation is thus increased...
...At least I think I have, but please don't press me...
...We invite you to come hare, to make use of any facilities which we have to offer...
...Thanks, Gertrude...
...Jntil it pays back this loan it must pay interest on it...
...secondly, the amount of goods produced...
...Under cover of the depression, Mathieson said, "open shop" bosses have smashed labor standards in their plants until many tool and diemakers are now working under sweatshop conditions...
...Gosh, all sakes," says he, "here comes Mrs...
...There was a swell cartoon about her in the New Yorker a week or two ago...
...With every drop in my veins I trust your urgent appeal for financial aid will strike prompt snd deep root in the heart of those the school has served with such superb courage, splendid ability, with unwavering loyalty and fidelity through these many years of its existence—and this includes every Socialist in particular and the working class in general...
...Comrade Lewis offers a second plan for inflation...
...They are therefore anxious to use it at once in buying things which will become more valuable as the value of money declines...
...In this wild orgy, the only onea who benefit are the speculators, who like the war profiteers, derive delight in practicing usury and extortion upon the inebrious mob...
...Though this state of intoxication may bring aa artificial happfeeai to some, after the spree coasts the katsenjammar...
...nothing to get so optimistic about...
...On the staff of the Rand School were and still are educators who, themselves, were ostracised for their radical views...
...It is impossible under our capitalist economy to "control inflation...
...The Franca wars correct when they said: "After the printing press, the guillotine...
...Without looking at the pictures it makes me dixxyl On her recent transcontinental flight the lady was out at every stop, day or night, standing for photographs by the hour, being interviewed, talking over the radio...
...With all kind personal regards and with all good wishes that the school will soon be free from all encumbrance and with comradely greetings to all the staff...
...At the same time, however, the State destroys its own sources of revenue, aa the taxes and duties are paid to it ia money that la continuously depreciating...
...The end of JafL ttoa is usually marked by eredtt stringency sail numerous Bankruptcies...
...They will be able to realize an exorbitant profit on their investment...
...wo owe it to those who have so faithfully and fearlessly carried on its Tory important work in the face of tremendous odds...
...Comrades, friends and sympathisers must not rest until sufficient funds are contributed, not only to meet immediate demands, but until ample means are on hand to keep the school functioning at its beet without being harrassed...
...Sending his contribution Comrade Debs wrote: "It is with very much regret that I learn that the Rand School ia so pressed for funds with which to meet obligations long overdue...
...Thii would prevent a tax upon the workers and also forestall ever-increasing governmental indebtedness...
...He offers two methods...
...Anxious to find out what this is I read the works of Kemmerer, Withers, Hawthrey, Kinley, Foster, Catehings, Jevonj, 81khter, Anderson, Marx, Kautsky, Robertson, Caseell, Cole, Rogers, and Chandler...
...Those dabblers in phrases rem lad me of the unfortunate girl who, when cursed with the unexpected baby, explained: "But it is only such a little one...
...It means more unemployment and greater disaster...
...Or else she's just a couple of hyper-thyrolds...
...During the past several years I have been in anything but health and as a consequence have been able to do but little work...
...thirdly, the speed with which the currency circulates...
...Maybe I'm just getting-green-mouldy with envy, but this ubiquitous lady, it seems to me, is impossible...
...There ia a humorous aspect t* the statements of those who talk of inflation, knowing well its evils, but talk of "controlled inflation,* meaning "not too much of it" They know it is a sin, but by slipping in the meaningless catch word— "controlled''—they hope to make it only a "little sin...
...Nor are the other industries making any audible protests...
...The government which has already gone diasy by drinking of that seemingly pleasant intoxicant—inflation—begins to imbibe more recklessly...
...I finally decided that there is no such thing as "eon-trolled inflation...
...In their invitation to the expelled students, Algernon Lee, President, and William E. Bohn, Educational Director, said, "While we regret the injustice to which you have you on the fine spirit which you have shown during the entire series of incidents...
...The original inflation proves inadequate...
...Eleanor on the Air" and "Eleanor in the Air," "Eleanor at Camp" and ""Eleanor at College...
...Encyclopedia of Social Science...
...It is a catch phrase, to eaUh votes...
...Encyclopedia •f Social" Science...
...The explana- ____________ tion probably ¦ Jtt/t the .-psw^V owners of in- dustry expect M | such a sub- ¦ rW f^H ¦tantia] rise ¦ »™^B I i n commodity ^ "^m^ml prices ind HHH such a trs- HfiL.-i mendous in- 9B^| crease ink M I I orders that |smaV ' their increased costs will be 3. W. Klein covered, with a healthy margin of profit besides...
...It is imperative that each end all of these some to the rescue t* this hour of peril...
...Boys Accept Rand School Offer Theodore Debs Adds Aid and Good Cheer to Drive to Save School and People's House...
...And, extreme intestinal something-or-other is what I get from reading the newspapers these past few months...
...and above all, we owe it to ourselves...
...and the effect of the increased velocity is to, make prices rise still faster...
...There must be individual effort, collective effort, and all should contribute as generously as his or her means permit To do othervitt can only be regarded as an act of base ingratitude...
...Comrade Lewis' article is called a "Labor Plan for Inflation...
...The existence of the school was threatened before, in 1920, when the notorious Lusk Committee raided the building, and later sought to close it under the infamous Lusk laws...
...First, he suggests the floating of a government bond issue with rediscount pri\ ileges...
...Theodore Debs Aids Bertha H. Mailly, chairman of the Rand School drive, has received an inspiring tetter from Theodore Debs, brother of the lets beloved Gene Debs...
...President Roosevelt's book, he said, was printed under "particularly terrible" conditions in a plant in Rahway, New Jersey...
...It is a fairly well accepted fact that "inflation breeds inflation.'* And what at first looks controlled is soon uncontrolled...
...The boys who accepted the off— are Herman Benson, Harold Goldstein, Henry Hirschberg, Louis Horowitz, George H. Schottenfeld, Philip Treibiteh...
...This will increase the indebtedness of the government and make future inflation an increased probability...
...How this can possibly come to pass is more than we can unravel...
...Such a plan not only has the dangers of ordinary inflation...
...Cole...
...Being a regular old snoop about such things I called up the Printers' Union and spoke to one of the officers...
...He has, probably unwittingly, devised an excellent plan to enrich speculators and bankers, all under the guise of s "Labor Plan" for inflation...
...If prices increase faster than the circulatory media, the treasury may find that every inflationary attempt to balance Its budget Unds to create a greater deficit...
...This plan has additional evils...
...At the very best, the great majority of the workers will be getting little more than a subsistence level income...
...The Rand School is now in the midst of a campaign to raise $17,-000 to prevent foreclosure of its building...
...It becomes now a natural horn* for you...
...There just isn't any escaping the Eleanor series...
Vol. 15 • June 1933 • No. 25
