Golden Age, June 21, 1933

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The Golden Age

A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE

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in this issue

CAUSES OF

WORLD FINANCIAL DISTRESS

NEWS BRIEFLY TOLD

GROWN-UP CRY-BABIES

A HEALTH PROGRAM

EARTH’S NEW RULER

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every other WEDNESDAY

five cents a copy one dollar a year Canada & Foreign 1.25

Vol. XIV-No. 359

June 21, 1933

1 1 " ।" ■ ■■ ii । 'i

CONTENTS

• • . — , .1 , . (Dxo..

LABOR AND ECONOMICS

POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN

Causes of World Financial

Distress.........579

Favors Government Ownership . 592

Unemployed in Picket Line . . . 592 Why Farmers Are in Revolt , . 593 Unemployment Ten More Years . 594 America in 1933 ....... 594

The Land of Grocery Orders . . 595

Bidding' in Sight of Noose . . . 595

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL

Around the Dial

Parochial Schools Reopened . . .

Murders in Five Years .... 594

Jubilee Law Urged for U. S. . .

Age of Chinese Civilization . . .

The Schoolbook Racket . . .

manufacturing and mining

Washington, Ind., Needs No Instill 593

Eugene’s Terrible Mistake . . . 594

Vast Beds of Lignite in Germany . 596

FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION

Mellon Sued for $220,000,000 . . 592

Bankers Locking Stable Door . . 595

Munition Orders in England . . 596

Vouched for Kreuger.....597

One Cent for the Unemployed . . 597

Untermyer's Tribute to

the Stock Exchange .... 602

The Shift to Potsdam .... 591

Wise Ones Admit Guessing . . . 592

U-Shaped Gun Barrels in Illinois 592

Achievements of Naval Conference 593

British Sympathy for Germany Gone 593 “Peace! Peace! and No Peace” . 594

What Did the Times Mean? . . . 596

AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY

Diversification in Colquitt County 593

The Farm Problem......597

SCIENCE AND INVENTION

Motor Fuel for 2c per Gallon . . 592

Peat to Coal in Three Months . . 596

Better Use for Aluminum . . . 597

HOME AND HEALTH

What Toledo Drinks.....594

Many More Radios in Use . . . 595

Introductory Health Program . 599

TRAVEL AND MISCELLANY

Water Cooled Religious Ardor . . 593

Great Prosperity in Palestine . . 595

Mutineers Imprisoned at Onrust . 596

Al Capone at Atlanta.....597

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

“The Church in Depression” . . 593

When Grown Men Play Cry-Baby 598

A Letter to Judge Rutherford . 602

Earth’s New Ruler.....603

Waited Too Long......006

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(The Golden Age

Volume XIV Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, June 21, 1933 Number 359

Causes of World Financial Distress By W. Sharples (England)

In Two Parts—Part 2

THE scrip issued had no value at the time (it was just a scrap of paper), but when the people have agreed to back this paper, then they have actually handed over everything they have to the State Department (which is run by the banks), and their trades, properties and wageearning capacities are mortgaged, in the case of the last war, for ever.

When the Government has to resort to such a trick it is because it is insolvent. Suppose a business man through a trade war loses his money and then offers to deduct a portion of his workpeople’s earnings each week until his creditors are paid, that would be just an illustration of what is done. But, you say, the workpeople would not stand for it! No, but the workpeople of the whole nation have to!

A Gilt-edged Investment

So, during the war the national debt increased tremendously and the people were called upon to be patriotic, and with this wine well drunk and the war well on, they were completely in the power of the money masters of the world. The security issued to them for the money they pledged themselves to find had no more value than the paper on which it was written. If they bought a house they would not be satisfied to see the deed: they would want to see the house too. If they invested in a cotton mill, they not only would want their scrip, but would want to see the mill itself and to know that it was a working concern, turning out the goods that were to be produced with the money borrowed. But not so with this war scrip. The goods it bought, which represented its value, are all gone, blown to the winds with shot and shell! Yet this paper is a “gilt-edged” investment. Wherein, then, does its value lie? All the time the war is on it has no value, and the longer the war continues the less likelihood there is of its ever having any value, for the war might end disastrously. Even if it ends favorably there are many difficulties to overcome before it is quite certain this is a security of first-class value, and that is why the change over is needed from politician to banker.

It is the bankers’ job to make permanent the specially created war securities and to see that this is done in such a way that the common peoples bear the burdens that have been occasioned by the "war. The issuing of ‘war scrip’ makes this possible in the following manner; and be it noted that the bankers always stand to gain by a transaction of this sort, for the reason that banks and financial houses are permanent in themselves. The same people are almost generally in control for a lifetime, and whatever ills come or go they are unaffected by the same, as long as banks and financial institutions stand. The war scrip is reckoned as though it had behind it the usual pre-war gold and securities. Its capital amount has gone, but this is ignored. To be honest with the people this fact should be made known, and then the only honest way for the capital sum to be recovered, namely, by profit made out of trade, could be discussed. But this would show that the banks and governments were bankrupt, and it would never do to admit that. Scrip of this nature is always dealt with through the banks, and interest paid out therefrom, so every war increases their prestige, power, and wealth, provided that after the war is over such taxation can be levied as will meet the demand for interest and sinking fund on all war scrip issued. If this can be arranged so that with the regularity and certainty that exists in times of peace the interest on the new security can be relied upon, then the “War Scrip” will have ceased to be a speculative investment and will have become a real “GiltEdge”. .

And that is not all. Nay, we should have missed the real point had we let the matter rest there. Here is a mystery revealed! Wien this has been accomplished, then a ‘scrap of paper’ backed by no tangible security will have become a living document, endorsed by the whole nation; and the capital sum which was once lost in the dust and clouds of war will again be alive and in perpetuity.

Usually capital is first subscribed and then made to bear interest. Here the position is reversed. The people's agreement to make the necessary sacrifices to pay the interest makes a lost capital sum again a reality.

Now, the bank in peace time has a fixed standard of value by which it regulates the issue and circulation of money. During the war this standard ceased to exist. After the war the process of adjustment which will reduce securities issued and money borrowed into line with pre-war standards has to be gradually brought about. To effect this, curtailment of the credit which has been expanded to allow the increased production necessary to carry on the war is resorted to. Why should this be necessary? Take the position in England.

Eight Thousand Million Pounds in Paper

As the goods bought for war purposes in England had disappeared after the war, there was in existence a matter of nearly eight thousand million pounds’ worth more of paper security and only approximately the same amount of money as before the war. The ratio between money and security was therefore just this much wrong, and, if the ratio is to come back to prewar standards, then other securities must be sacrificed and this new scrip must take their place. And when an equivalent amount of trade and other securities has been lost, then Government scrip will have attained its rightful place. Or so think the bankers, and so think the governments; for both are tied to this war scrip, and if they are to continue it cannot be allowed to fail.

As the shutting down of trading concerns throws people out of work, these pay the price not only in cash as they lose their wages, but in suffering and want, privation and hardship, such as they would not endure a moment did they know the cause. Of course, the position of trade has assumed graver proportions than the banks intended, but this only serves to reveal still more clearly their foolish lack of understanding and the hardness of their hearts. It is devilish, this process of readjustment, and its real author is Satan, the prince of devils.

The curtailment of credit means the curtailment of trade; thus come business losses which end in bankruptcy. Two things follow this: securities become defunct, thereby increasing the ratio of money to securities that remain; and what money is realized and remains during this process of liquidation seeks “safety first”, and naturally Government scrip is the most popular investment. Thus is pre-war balance restored, and the bank chuckles behind closed doors.

To put the matter another way: All profit originally comes from trade. War stimulates this and tremendous profits are made. But as fast as money is made it is needed to be spent on the war. It could not be taken out of industry, for that must be kept going ding, dong, making war supplies. So Government bonds are issued, and these roughly represent the nation’s trading profits, though sometimes in advance. The actual cash these ought to bring in being needed for industry, special arrangements are made to anticipate the cash passing into the hands of those who have to find the money needed to carry on the war. Book entries are made by the banks which swell their assets on the one side, as the specially created securities are reckoned as ‘gilt-edged’, though the banks know, of course, that it is make-believe, and the ledger is balanced as the huge sums needed are paid out in the same way, by cheques, of course. Actually the money does not at any time exist, just as there is no value in the security on the asset side. When the war is over and demand for war goods ceases, then the banks begin their policy of restoring the pre-war standard. As businesses close down through lack of credit owners have to part with war scrip, which always remains; and these find their way into the pockets of the rich and influential, the financiers and the bankers, who effect the exchange from falling trading securities to these new government certainties in the aforementioned manner.

Bankers the Only Certain Gainers

The only certain gainers are these same astute bankers. The people who buy in the first place seldom have the scrip in their possession when the change is completed (hence the ease with which the bankers keep the people ignorant) ; and do not let it be forgotten that the governments stand behind the banks until the scrip is entirely redeemed. The whole weight of the law is in this way on the side of oppression and fraudulent misrepresentation.

Of course, the writer knows that if the banks’ policy were not thus put into operation it would mean their extinction, for of necessity since its issue they have always held the greater part of this scrip, against which much of their deposits has been loaned, and also for their own account; and its depreciation by twenty percent would have been enough to make them all bankrupt. As a matter of fact, this depreciation did actually take place, and, in 1921-22, all banks were threatened with collapse. One eminent banker in London said to the writer personally, ‘We are all ready to throw up our hands; we are done.’ But the papei’ rallied again as money left industry in the manner described and sought what the people thought to be sanctuary in these scraps of paper. If a scrap of paper started the world conflagration by being torn up, then other scraps were printed that carried it on, and in both cases there was camouflage and serious violation of the people’s trust. Thus did the bankers entrench themselves again as masters of the world.

Bankers Double Their Income

Now, what has been described is bad enough, but these moneyed barons made a further astute move. Not content with putting the burden of eight thousand million pounds onto the traders and the common people, they have further thought to enrich themselves by using the money crisis they have created to practically double the income of their class. Before the war gilt-edged security could command a matter of only two and a half percent interest, and now we see that it has been the bankers’ policy to restore everything to pre-war level except the rate of interest on investments. These have been for years stabilized around five percent. In addition, therefore, to being compelled to pay the capital sum aforementioned, the people have been made to double this in terms of comparison with pre-war values. In other words, five percent interest on eight thousand million is the same as two and a half percent on sixteen thousand millions. So, by making the people pay twice the rate of interest, the capital sum has been doubled and the war debt is paid twice over by somebody. And once over goes into some other body's pocket.

Now, fourteen years after the war ended and because it is apparent that they have squeezed the traders like a lemon until there is nothing left, the Government has begun to reduce the rate of interest on investments by means of conversion loans; and at last it would seem to the people that those who have enjoyed such marvelous prosperity are really having to toe the line and pay their share by having a reduced income. Little does anyone know the wily schemes of financiers if they think this. For as soon as ever it is seen that such a course is to be adopted, and before the general public is aware, these men sell out of the stock that is to be converted and buy other Government bonds which bear at the moment less interest. This looks madness to the man in the street, but the financiers know a thing or two. They well understand that as soon as the rate of interest is reduced for the stock which is to be converted all other lower-interest-bearing bonds will jump in capital value until they get back at one operation all they lose on reduced interest. It is the public that will bear the loss; and the more innocent these people are, the worse they will fare.

Always, these men have the money with which to carry out their operations. Only this past year (1932), in November, in three hours and a quarter a sum of three hundred million pounds was raised for just such an operation. There is plenty of money available, but such control is exercised that only certain favored ones can trade, and only then in the buying and selling of money!

The Buying and Selling of Money

Now from this point of view it is easy to be seen that the war did not impoverish the nations. On the contrary, after the post-war boom the world was far richer than ever before in history. Money had been created faster than at any other time, indeed without any precedent whatever. It is obvious that when a government owes any money it owes it to somebody or other and whatever sum is created increases the world’s wealth to this extent. The war cost the nations concerned in it at least fifty thousand million pounds. This much extra wealth, then, was created during four and a half years; and it was a permanent increase of the world’s wealth, as, being Government security, it had to remain, no matter what else was sacrificed.

As the rate of interest was practically doubled, the world after the great war was richer by a reckoned capital sum of one hundred thousand million pounds. That is why the world trade boomed while this money was left in circulation during the three years after the war was over. And that is why also stocks and shares and Government bonds boomed together with other gilt-edged stocks when credit was taken from industry after these three years, and why they continue to boom even now. The financiers are buying and selling the money created during the war. It is a trade after their own heart, without risk except the risk of revolution, and they think the military can look after that. Let us take another look at England, merry England, where “happy days are here again”(?).

The total wealth of England is reckoned at thirty thousand million pounds. At least one-third of this huge sum was made during the war: first of all, by trading when everybody profiteered all they could, and, afterwards, turning that wealth into good fat Government scrip by the financiers’ coup herein described. The whole of this colossal sum brought an income of 3,120 millions to Britain in the year 1930. This included all money earned and unearned, including wages, salaries and unearned incomes. The workers and wage-earners, out of this fabulous amount, drew the magnificent sum of 176 millions. The rentier, interests and salaried classes took the rest, namely, 2,944 millions. In order that we may see the matter more clearly, the following table is set out:

Who Gets the Money?

Official figures

All people who draw any

money whatever in Eng

land, whether income, salary or wages, number .... 14,080,000

Out of this number, those

who get 55 shillings

weekly, or less, number..... 11,880,000

Those who get over 55 shil

lings weekly number ........ 2,150,000

The 11,880,000 workers get

for one year’s work

(1930) .................. £175,448,000

The 2,150,000, all other

classes, draw for one

year the balance, namely, £2,944,449,789

When these figures are reduced to a weekly average the following is the startling result:

£ s d

All wage-earners under

55 shillings weekly average.............. 5 8 weekly

All who draw over 55 shil

lings weekly average .. 26 5 4 weekly

That is the reason why there is need for the “dole”, as it is wrongly and wickedly termed. The amount of this in 1930 was about £120,000,000. With this added, it means the workers received an average of nine shillings and sevenpence per week with which to feed and clothe themselves and their families. That this is not enough does not need any proving, and is the reason why the rates of all towns have to be raised until the towns are nearly bankrupt, in order to give poor law relief in addition to the dole to eke out the scanty store of the poor. Then a Labor government is deserted by its prime minister and his henchmen so that a National (?) government might try to find a way to make these nearly twelve million workers see the need to give up some of their nine shillings and sevenpence per week so that “equality of sacrifice” might be maintained as those who have £26/5/4 per week are called upon to pay their share.

While we are on figures here are some more staggering statistics:

In 1920 England’s workers drew in wages .......... £949,000,000

This was boom year-1

In 1920 England’s rentier, salaried and income classes drew............£2,400,000,000

Also boom year!

Each year since there has been a tremendous drop in the amount received by the workers; but note the other classes!

In 1930 England's workers drew in wages .......... £175,448,000

World depression!

In 1930 England’s salaried, rentier and income classes drew........... £2,949,000,000

World depression (?)!

A child can see from these figures that the workers now draw less than one-fifth of the wages paid in 1920, and the other classes draw £549,000,000 more than they got in 1920.

Further, when in 1920 the moneyed classes had 2,400 million pounds to spend, the prices of all commodities were tremendously high. Now we are on a lower level. It is safe to say that the same money today will buy at least twice as much as it bought then. This reduction in the cost of living has been used as a strong lever to get the workers to submit to lower wages, and so in common fairness all other peoples, whether rentier, salaried or income-receiving classes would surely also be receiving less. But now we have seen that these actually have more than they ever had before; more money, yet prices of commodities less than half, and the rate of interest double what it was before the war.

What more can they want, except the moon? Surely they have reason to thank their god Lucifer they are not as other men!

Thus we have two classes clearly made manifest: those who have, and those who have not; those who have never had enough, and those who have not always had too much. And this is England, the land of “hope and glory”! or is it “dope and tory”?

There is therefore a marvelous prosperity on the one hand as the rich get ever richer, and the most abject poverty on the other as the poor get ever poorer. Whence is all this tending? and how long will it be before “The end is come” ? Even now we have a world crisis of the first magnitude. Why is this, if there is more monetary wealth than ever? and what does the present crisis portend? Let us consider these questions under the caption “Prosperity’s Ghost”; for it is a fact that the prosperity thus gained is just a ghost, and nothing more. Already it is vanishing even more quickly than it came, and soon, very soon, it will be no more.

Prosperity’s Ghost

In 1927 an eminent British statesman said, “We are prospering”; “The standard is four points higher than in 1920, and this in spite of the fact that we have a million unemployed!” Now, the staple trades were all badly hit. Cotton, steel, coal, engineering, these were all in a very bad way. What, then, did he mean? Clearly, that luxury trades were booming, stock exchange business was booming, government securities were soaring. It was the feast before the fall.

A nation’s wealth can never be reckoned in terms of money. For example: All the vaults in the banks can be full of gold and securities, but if crops do not grow and fruit were to wither on the trees, if the world became depleted of its raw materials and men’s work on the land became unproductive, then the world not only would be very poor, but would starve and die. Now, because there is a superabundance of all nature’s products, it is not recognized that the prosperity amongst the wealthy is only a sham, nothing more tangible than a ghost, and that in reality the world is as poor as though nature’s gifts were stinted and miserly. The fact of the matter is that when goods in superabundance are controlled by an obsolete system that cannot distribute them, it would be better if they were not in existence; for then the world would recognize equality of sacrifice to be a necessity, whereas its so-called “statesmen” cannot now see that equality of distribution is equally necessary.

Men used to be tortured, in the days of the Inquisition, by being chained up within sight of food and allowed to starve; and who cannot see that this is going on even now? Only there is now this difference: men are chained within the system. But they can break out into madness, with terrible results. But we digress.

Mammon is the god of all the nations, but the one to spin the wheel and keep the gamble going is Satan; and as ‘Mistress of the World’, especially this last century, clearly England has been his chosen nation. What is the use of England’s having an income of 3,200 millions, which is equal to twenty-six shillings and sixpence per head per week, when six out of every seven persons receive a matter of only about three shillings per week? They can spend only what they have! Now trade increases only in proportion as goods, nature’s products either in raw materials, foods, or manufactured wares, are distributed amongst the people. So the actual trade subscribed to by the bulk of the population is very small indeed. Whatever circulation of goods there is over the insignificant sum earned by the workers comes from the spending power of the other sixth of the population, and if the rich once get supplied with all they need or think they do, and the common people’s earnings are so restricted that they just have to go without things, then demand must cease and trade come to a standstill. As soon, then, as production becomes in excess of demand, and no matter how low wages and prices have previously fallen, the distribution of foodstuffs and raw materials and the manufacture and transport of goods gradually lessen. This naturally leads to a withdrawal of capital from these dying trades and this in turn seeks new avenues of usury in luxury trades or government bonds. It is not just that the rich are losing their wealth, but they begin to seek new avenues of investment, and the tendency is for capital to find usefulness in those branches of monetary activity outlined above, and these begin to boom entirely as a result of this available extra cash or credit. The wealthy, losing confidence in trade, use their surplus to buy stocks and shares and these are the things the banks like to see booming. Money turns over quicker this way than any other and financiers make their money out of this turnover in large measure. The turnover of the London clearing house for the year 1931 was thirty-four thousand million pounds (£34,000,000,000). This is four thousand million more than boom year, 1920. Yet trade is dead!

A Surplus of Money Everywhere

That there is a surplus of money everywhere which cannot or does not find a useful service is evident to anyone; for notice the way every government loan or other important loan is oversubscribed in a few hours. Almost without exception all money thus required is oversubscribed ten times or more. So stock exchanges boom and money is turned over in a mad whirl as securities are traded in instead of goods. The gambling fever takes possession of the minds of the people and the hope is inspired that these might reap where naught has been sown. Financiers begin to promote companies, and anything is good enough to gamble with if it has a short record of prosperity. Tobacco or other promising shares are bought, and if the company happens to be paying a dividend of, say twenty-five percent, the value of the share is pushed up until the actual dividend received is somewhere in the neighborhood of gilt-edged-security level. Luxury trades of all kinds follow suit, and little by little everything that has any commercial promise in the view of the financiers is pushed up in share value on the stock market until all are in the region of standard interest-bearing securities.

In this way the money wealth of the country increases at the same time as trade in the common necessities of life decreases. Thus money leaves the staple trades, for these are dying, and seeks new life and greater usury elsewhere.

It multiplies here also until the point of saturation is reached, and in a ver}’ few years the same conditions obtain in trade in securities as did in the necessities of life; for the law of supply and demand is inexorable and demand will cease when confidence fails.

Now, when this happens, everybody wants to sell and there are no buyers; and when there are no buyers, then there is no bottom to the market. It matters not whether there are no buyers because there is no money, or whether because of lack of confidence, the result is the same, and when capital has left industry to trade instead in securities, then when confidence in these is disturbed there is no alternative investment for money, and so hoarding begins.

Not having courage or wisdom to see that there is nothing for them to do to rectify matters other than to give up that which they have robbed the people of and restore the trade of the world in goods, and being entirely selfish, which selfishness has been aggravated by their own course of conduct until it has become branded into them as with a hot iron, they go from folly to blood-guiltiness as they seek to still further reduce the standard of living for the people in a vain effort to maintain their own position.

Once having begun, lack of confidence spreads like wildfire. Banks and financial institutions become fearful. Credit is further restricted, which only tends to make things worse, and money, by which alone the boom was made possible, becomes so tight that panic conditions prevail. The banks then realize that something drastic must be done. They cannot very well immediately reverse the policy of credit restriction, for this would but show that they knew perfectly well the cause of the rot and would brand them as rogues. So they endeavor by loans among themselves, international loans, etc., etc., to bear the strain which has been measurably self-imposed; and of necessity every such loan increases the burden and strain unless trade revives, and trade cannot revive until the people have money to spend, and people cannot have money to spend until trade revives.

How the Workers Get Help (?)

So, to help the workers wages are cut again, and to give confidence at home and abroad men and women are knocked off the dole; and then patriotic newspapers print the news that unemployment is decreasing.

Oh, you wise men of the world, what wisdom is in you? Truly like the owl sitting on her perch, you look wise, but this is your wisdom seemingly!

When trade is booming after the war because of money circulating freely you set about to stop it by restricting credit. You then begin to advertise to ask people to buy more with less money! This failing, you must needs begin to economize and thus make the people who have money to spend stop their purchasing goods. You then say trade is bad because goods are too dear, and so you cut the people’s wages again to make them cheaper. Then you suddenly find trade is bad because prices are too low! and so you set about to raise these by artificial means, just to show how’ wise you were to say prices were too high. If you want to compete with the Japs, cut wages. If you want to gain Indian trade, cut wages. Of course the Japs will cut too, and then? Oh, cut again, and again, and again. Then, having got wages down as low as ever, you, when you still find the Japs are cheaper yet, then ask the good folk at home to patriotically spend the money they don’t get, and, if everything else fails, advertise, advertise!

Are not the banks bulging with cash? Then why don’t the people spend? Are not the warehouses bursting with goods? Then why don’t the people buy? Are the folk not hungry? Then why don’t they eat? Are the cows not giving milk? Then why not drink milk? Is there not coal in the ground, and miners out of work, and people wanting fires? Then why not------? But

then, you see, the wise men say, the system’s all right; we mean for it to stay!

So here at last we find that the prosperity enjoyed since 1921 when the “great” British statesman said “we are prospering”, has been like a ghost train. Setting off well laden it left Industry, in 1921, for Luxury town. Its occupants were gay and merry and they gambled and thought it great fun. A bought shares from B and sold to C, who sold to A to sell to B; and the £ from A became 21 to B, 22 to C, and 23 to A, who sold to B for 24, and C then swore he’d give no more.

But just then the train stopped at Newly Rich station, and in there came a Mr. D. This dud he bought instead of C and sold in turn to Mr. E, and twenty-four and six, you see, became twenty-six and four, believe me; and at every station the train did stop, and the bidding grew fierce and the wine did pop; and all on board their fortunes did make.

And it now does appear there is the Devil to pay; for he drives the train, and there’s only one way to satisfy him. For how to buy money and be honest too might be known to the Devil, but not to me or you; and one thing is sure (is the Devil aware?), the ghost train he drives has got past e’en despair; it’s heading straight into the pit smoke and flame, of the Devil’s own making. So jump off again, all you who are on; let him drive in great state to his eternal home!

Retribution

It is now virtually impossible to avoid world bankruptcy. If the drunken captain of a ship at sea first starts shifting the cargo, then decides to bring it up on deck, and finally runs into a violent storm, it is not to be expected that a frantic last-minute effort will avail to keep the ship afloat; and “Christendom’s” ship of state with its cargo of gold and silver is just in that precarious condition today. Instead of the well ordered cargo’s acting as ballast to keep the ship afloat and weather any storm, gold has ceased to be other than a menace on board. In 1925, with the revival of the gold standard, the ballast was brought from the hold, to be sported with and admired on deck, where it was in full view of all, and the shifting of this cargo from one country to another as gold is sent back and to amongst the nations is just such evidence of the folly of her financial captains. The ship is rolling badly now; what will it do when the storm breaks? And even a child can see the gathering clouds.

At the beginning of this article we suggested that money could serve a legitimate and useful purpose purely as a measure of value and means of exchange. When people wish to reduce goods to a value that will enable them to obtain other useful commodities, then it could scarcely be done more easily than by measuring according to a fixed standard their value in money and reducing them thereto.

But there must be a fixed value world wide, and under the present system that is impossible. Money should never be allowed to trade in money; neither should it ever bear interest. The proper amount of human labor should always have a monetary value, but money should never be able to buy labor. The present system has got this matter completely twisted round, because Satan instituted the system for the express purpose of binding the peoples and keeping them in control.

So wealth, invested as it is in unproductive securities, almost the whole of which could well be dropped into the sea and would never' be missed, is an illusive bubble that will presently burst and vanish into the air. The things the peoples need and the getting of which would bring trade in abundance, namely, houses, food, clothing, electric light and power, and efficient sanitation, hygiene and transport, are neglected and allowed to die, and in their place is erected the god Mammon.

Money is gravitating towards stocks, shares, and fixed-interest-bearing securities that are considered safe though unproductive, and this state of things was engineered by the bankers and financiers of the world.

The devilish policy of these men has been to entrench themselves as earth’s rulers, Satan’s own scheme from the beginning, and so all who thus deliberately do are his children and do his will. Thus it is easy to see the why and wherefore of present conditions. Money is plentiful enough, but restricted as to circulation, and those in control are prosperous and powerful enough to dictate to governments. Their only fear is as to whether they can put over the load occasioned by the last war so that the people will bear it, and their fear is well grounded, for it is the day of reckoning and what is now done in a corner must be shouted from the housetops and the people shall know the truth.

The Earth Calls for Vengeance

The earth calls for vengeance on those who spill the blood of their fellow men, as well in peace-time as in war, by the slow and terrible torture of mind and body that is caused by starvation and semi-starvation in the midst of plenty, and this to gratify a wicked and lustful pride of rulership; and although Satan is primarily responsible, all others share this responsibility in accordance with the measure of support they continue to give the system after they can so easily see its wickedness.

It is the day of vengeance, and because it is Jehovah to whom vengeance rightfully belongs and who is the Judge, it will be absolutely just. For all must see and understand that ‘justice is the foundation of His throne’.

“Christendom” has sown to the god Mammon, and the rulers must now reap the fruitage from that sowing. As they have chosen to serve and worship money before Jehovah, they shall eat of the fruit of their own way. Money they have made their god; let it now deliver them. Their great and wise men have lauded to the skies their puny efforts to erect a system of world financial control; it shall now eat them up and make their folly manifest. The people have been bound by the devilish system of money and been made its slaves. Jehovah will now bind the rulers with it, and cause this very thing to enslave and subdue those who have misused its power so long.

The sword was used also to bind the system on the people, and so, fittingly, the sword also binds it on their rulers.

In absolute justice the results of the war were such that first it broke the money power' by the sword, and then it bound the monetary system round the necks of the rulers and slowly they are being strangled with it; and there is no escape, for it is easy to see they cannot change the system, but must perish with it.

If all had been agreed they might have made a better show, but all are selfish and think their policy best, and they will cut one another’s throat to get any advantage they can see, and they do not know that ‘Jehovah has set every man’s hand against his neighbor’s’. Do they not see the danger? Yea, verily; but to them finance is the only savior. They well know that to let it go will mean the loss of everything they love so well. It is the power they love. They own the W'orld, it is tied to them by securities of one sort or another, and they will cling to these things even though ‘the end is come’; and before they go down Jehovah would have all the world know that these who have power are like Pharaoh of old.

Corn is being burned to provide fuel for trains, yet people are starving. Coffee is burnt rather than sold cheaply, in order to keep up prices for financiers. The bankers want cotton to be buried in the ground because there is too much for them to finance profitably! Rubber is burned, fish thrown back into the sea, vegetables and fruit allowed to rot; all this because ‘the system cannot cope with plenty for all’. And even when companies make much profit, note the foolish statements made (we quote from the annual report) : “At the annual meeting of the Sun Insurance Office in London Sir Win. Goschen proposed a dividend of twenty-five shillings and eightpence a share, and then warned the receivers that strict economy was necessary.” At the same meeting Mr. E. T.

Hargreaves hoped “that by this time next year we might not have the number of ‘parasites’ that are at present drawing the dole”.

The Power of Evil

Now these things are done in “Christian” England; and in other so-called “Christian” lands the same things are done. They all together represent the power of evil, though they masquerade in sheep’s clothing. After the war these all had an opportunity to see the results of their wrong-doing and to repent, but they hardened their hearts. “Christendom” sits as queen over the nations, and she has drunk deep from the ‘golden cup’ and given to all nationalities; therefore they are mad. Consider again the following :

Silver was demonetized in 1873; with what results, we have seen. It brought great gain to this country because she kept a different standard, namely, gold. “Christendom” owns the gold mines; hence the standard. But how foolishly she has dealt -with the relationship of silver to gold since the war! As soon as her “wise men” thought that things were stable enough (following the war) to bear the strain of a return to the gold standard she instituted again this wonder-working ‘savior’, and thereby added yet other nails to her coffin. For what foolishness was this? Her wise men seem to have reasoned that ‘beforetime it worked so well, and why not again?’ But this time God’s judgment must be met: they must ‘eat of the fruit of their own way’.

The gold standard was in operation from 1925 until 1931, nearly seven years. Common sense would have reasoned that times were so different. When this system worked in favor of our financiers it was because all the world wanted our goods and we had a monopoly of manufacture. At that time these men thought that the world could pay, and pay it did, and silver was demonetized to make it possible for our financiers to reap an extra harvest without even our own manufacturers’ being aware of their astute move. Compelling the foreigner first to buy our gold before he could have our goods made him pay twice for every purchase, and the first payment went into the coffers of the bankers. That is how England became “the world’s banker”; for the wealth this brought was fabulous!

But this worked only when our goods were needed by the foreigner, and in 1925 they were not needed at all. All nations had, during the war and just afterwards, become more or less industrialized, and machinery had simplified and multiplied and become almost foolproof. Other nations could now make their own goods, and everywhere our competitors increased. Where once we looked for markets and monopolized them everybody else looked now, and they began to undersell us, too. Why was this possible? Again we answer, “It was Nemesis.”

By introducing again the gold standard in 1925 we automatically began to lower the price of silver and thus increased the ability of the foreigner to produce at less cost than ourselves. A child should have seen this, let alone men of such vast experience in world finance as controlled money in England. For did not the raising of the gold standard in 1873 result in just the same depreciation of silver? Did it not sag, and sag again, for twenty years? Fools! Can you not see that this is the very reason that these foreigners have been able to send their goods into our own country, and we are full to overflowing with their shoddy goods in just retribution for our dumping on their shores for so many years the rubbishy goods we sent there? Now we are going to stop them by means of a tariff and so they will join the economic muddle, but this will not make us able to make goods any cheaper so as to compete again for world trade. The Japs can live in a tent; our workers could not live without a roof over their heads, and wTarmth and clothing, for a single month. The Japs can live off a handful of rice, which they can grow’; wfliereas, even if our workers would be reduced thus far, we must import the food we need and thus provide some trade for the foreigner. What folly it all is! and it is too late to alter anything. “Christendom” must drink that which Jehovah pours into the cup of His indignation. God sent machines to lighten men’s burdens, and financiers turned them into a whip for the peoples’ backs in order to get fabulously rich. Now7 these same machines have become men’s masters. The world is full of machines and some must be destroyed; but who will give way? They are multiplying the production of goods faster than the system can consume the output, and, because nations under the guise of patriotism are entirely selfish, each in turn speeds the machines and lengthens the hours. The heathen nations have now the W’hole of “Christendom’s” markets from which to buy machines, and each “Christian” nation is a competitor for their orders. As their wages and standard of living are so much less than ours, they can undercut our prices as long as undercutting is necessary. With our machines and cheap silver, with labor obtainable at absolutely starvation rates; with our nation carrying the tremendous burden of war debts which we cannot escape, and our businesses ruined by the bankers monetary policy, these heathen nations have stepped into our trade shoes. With them it is ‘Produce, produce’; and we are their markets as once they were ours.

Our markets do not need finding: they are there for the nations to take when they will. They see the way we captured these, and go one better. “Christendom” has clearly shown the heathen that we are not all brethren, but that there are two distinct classes. They know now that by years of intensive training under oppression the common peoples have assumed the position of under dog, and these think there is an inferiority complex required of them by nature, and patiently they bear the great burdens they carry. Because of our so-called “Christianity” it is not possible for our big bankers and financiers to openly advocate slavery at home, and so there is a smoke screen of respectability thrown over conditions because of religion and this does prevent really devilish practices’ being openly put into operation. The heathen have no such disadvantage; so they can go one better. They examine our methods, seize upon their weak places, and put into operation a more nearly perfect machine-like system which does not even need some little provision for the poor; for no one will cry aloud at the horrors of slavery in heathendom.

England's Market Gone

So with the knowledge that cheap goods, produced by machinery and the poorest-paid labor, especially if credit can be given, can be sold in the world’s markets, they have got to work, and they have been, still are, and will continue producing goods at prices with which we can never hope to compete; and if we did not supply them with the machinery and credit some other nation would. For “Christian” nations manifest they are truly of one spirit, but it is the spirit of Satan, ultra-selfishness. They will take advantage of one another in any and every way to gain trade or other profit, and they have agreed to the principle of competition, and under this heading everything is fair in the trade Avar. Pride, oppression, legalized fraud, lies and murder (the latter called “Avar” for preference), they AA’ill countenance all these so long as one standard is kept by all, namely, 20/- in the pound; for this is Mammon’s standard to which all are expected to subscribe. If a man gambles and loses his money, there is nothing Avrong Avith this if another gamble enables him to pay. If, hoAvever, the policy of financiers in restricting credit forces anyone into bankruptcy, even though there might be no blame attached to the bankrupt, yet he is looked upon Avith scorn and shame and at best is pitied for a foolish lack of business acumen. The time has come to tear off this mask and let the Avorld knoAV the truth. Surely all can see that it is only Avhen those in authority and poAver can utilize their power to squeeze other people in order to meet Avar liabilities that nations will keep even their OAvn standard. To show that even the monetary standard is not noAv kept by those who have poAver so to do, Ave find all the countries of “Christendom”, and some of the heathen, too, unable or unwilling to pay their debtors. England cannot pay, so she says (it’s a lie, of course; for her rich men could, if they Avere so desirous of keeping their integrity, easily find the money among them to pay off America), and she beseeches America to accept installments, in order to squeeze the money out of her poor nationals. France cannot pay anything to England, though she can go on buying gold until her vaults are full Avith it. Much good it Avill do her by and by. Germany is like a squeezed orange; there is nothing left for anyone to suck. She cannot pay, and never Avill be able to pay, Avhat is claimed from her. America could have wiped out all her war debts, forgiven the nations what they OAved, and she Avould have made such a Avorld gesture as would have stamped her for ever as the land of liberty and freedom she claims to be. But what a sorry spectacle she has cut! With her vaults bursting Avith gold, her country reeling from too much money, she has capered about like a drunken man crying, “We must have more monish—hie; monish th’ thing.”

But Avhile all these debts could have been Aviped out, that Avould have enabled the people to see Avhat Avealth the financiers and bankers had and Iioav easily they could, Avhen it Avas needed, supply the money to any amount; and these men Avere afraid, and probably rightly so, that people Avould begin to demand money for public services that would eventually take the power out of the financiers’ hands. Who cannot see that if only one hundred million of money were invested at five percent compound interest (and this is common enough in practice) in a matter of fifty years it would have grown to a thousand million, in a hundred years to ten thousand million, and in a hundred and fifty years it would have paid for the war twice over by accumulating one hundred thousand million pounds.

Of course, everybody knows it is impossible to use the money, or rather, shall we say, to save the money, in this way. There would be no possibility of investing such a sum, for it would smash all banks and businesses. Then that proves conclusively that the present system is unworkable and cannot support the demands of the new world. Away with such a monster! It compels the people to keep the idle rich on a five percent basis of interest, yet will not use this same rate to pay off the burden of the war. England has agreed to pay America so much money that the eight hundred and odd millions we owed to her will expand to well over two thousand millions by the time it is paid. The rich amongst the nations must have and give the pound of flesh; but it is the poor man’s flesh all the time.

Conclusion

There is no escape for “Christendom” from the storm that all can see on the not far distant horizon. The world is rapidly changing. Countries that were once purely agricultural are fast becoming self-supporting industrially. With what significance Jeremiah says, in chapter forty-nine, verse fourteen, “I have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men.” The heathen do not need to come as a literal army; they can strangle us in our trade and cut us off from being a nation by withholding from us their products. What foolishness to talk of our blockading any country with our ships 1 The very food the sailors need has to come from some foreign part or other. How long will it be ere the heathen realize their weakness is due entirely to their own faction fights. Then they will combine in truth to put an end for ever to any domination from the west. Meantime things march forward as the Word of God has foretold.

Russia depended for her manufactured goods upon her imports until after the war; but in the last twelve years, what a difference! She now clothes as well as feeds herself, and each year increasingly exports her surplus and enters the world’s markets. With immense mineral and other resources, a population that has to work to live, the best machinery she can first buy and then make, and with electric power increasing every year, she has become a menace to “Christendom’s” trade. Already she has reached the point where, as a preliminary to giving out orders for machinery, she demands and receives promise of all the blue prints relative to the orders placed so that she will have plans to make her own next time. At this present time all electric power plant is being made by Metropolitan Vickers on Russian soil under a five-year contract, and on the above terms. Hereafter, exit British electric corporations in Russia. She realizes her growing power, and, extending her successful five-year plan, which, in spite of capitalist countries’ denials, has been a great success, for a further five years, states that at the end of that time she will have taken the lead in all world commerce and will thereafter be able to make all her own machinery. Thus she is freeing herself from our civilization, save the word. Until now she has provided a market for “Christendom”, but this is rapidly to cease and we become her market instead. Now her exports will be her surplus, and these can be sold at any price they will fetch, much or little; and if she has cheap goods to sell, then we can be sure buyers will find a way to have them in due time.

China has the same tale to tell. Once she took tremendous quantities of British goods; now there is an ever dwindling trade. She has her eye on Russia too, and, lo, she has produced a ten-year plan. During this time she hopes to industrialize the whole of her country, and because we are desperate for orders we shall, in spite of the known facts, do exactly for her as we have done for Russia. We shall sell all the machinery she requires, send her men and lend her money to make the rod that will beat our own backs. We cannot complain: Jehovah is allowing the heathen to do unto us as we have done unto them, in order that these might see, and we also might understand, that righteous retribution will be meted out to all; and China is one of the silver countries and pays her labor with this metal, and she will make goods more cheaply than even Russia can. Already “Christendom"’ sees her trade vanishing. Wait until China's internal strife is over. Then the sparks will fly!

Brute Force in India

In India the British reign is ending. For a hundred years we have made India one of our chief markets, and kept it to ourselves with a proper British rule. A viceroy of regal mien, and more than regal splendor, was backed by a judicial system that forced respect and awe. These were supported by red-coated soldiers and officers of no mean attire, with all the necessary civilized war accouterments. Further, they were blessed by “the virtuous and womanly bishops and episcopals-’, who helped to make religious confusion worse confounded, a veritable Babel, as it was perceived that differing castes and beliefs could help to keep the people in subjection to British rule far more easily than bullets and swords. All this has come to the end. India awakes from her torpor, her senses no longer dulled by British dope. Recognizing the trade power weapon to be the surest way to strike a blow for freedom, she encourages home production and manufacture and boycotts British goods, and because her legitimate demands are not recognized she tries to protest in a peaceful way. Ghandi hates violence, but is a man of principle from which he will not depart. He is not to be allowed to even peacefully make his protest. And in order that the world shall see what Great Britain’s governors really are, Jehovah allows Britain to assert her old power and thus show the world it is, and ever has been, the sword. And force is being applied to try to kill the peaceful protest of India’s masses. Thus the sheep’s clothing falls off and the wolf is seen. How foolish to think an enlightened India can be again subjugated! but how stupidly British !

Now these three countries compose half the population of the world. When they cease to take British goods, then her chief markets are lost; and they have ceased already except for negligible quantities, and this will cease ere long. Already Russia is exporting, and the others will do the same; and where will they send their goods? Again facts show that we have become their market, and this will increase as their

ability to manufacture grows; and they need not be paid in money: it need only be a matter of arrangement with other countries and barter can soon replace the present obsolete system. Already it has been tried and proved a success. Sweden is taking Egyptian cotton and sending machinery as barter. Germany is exchanging artificial manures for the same cotton. Hungary is treating with Lancashire for cotton and offering pigs in exchange. South America exchanges coffee for airplanes. And where is the power of the bankers to stop it? Aha! Their day is come! ’tis a time to laugh: the biter is bitten, and the wound is deep; the lifeblood of trade is flowing from the financiers’ grasp. Let them go on buying and selling their loved securities and living in the house built upon sand. The banks never made trade: it was the other way round; and without trade they cannot exist. While trade passes through their countinghouses they have its life in their hands. Keep it away, and they in turn will cease to live. Just now they juggle with their bits of paper and promises, and oft repeat, to still their fear, “All is well!’’ But they cannot continue unless trade revives; and trade is dead. So dawns the day Jehovah foretold, “Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is upon the whole multitude thereof”; and in the minds of some there is thought of war. If only Russia could be conquered again, perhaps the Japs ----; but they hardly dare; and if perchance they do, there are yet better weapons than tanks and shells. Let us name a few.

What if Russia or some other hard-pressed foe of capitalism should choose to make real silver coins, exactly like our own you know, millions of half dollars, not clumsy forgeries (because that is unnecessary, silver is so cheap), but perfect coins, and dump them with their goods. Would people accept them in payment for service and goods, or print a few hundred millions of good pound notes and send their airplanes over London town? Would the people pick them up and burn them, or would the hard-pressed business men, the out-of-works and, for that matter, the in-works too, gather up the spoil ?

Methinks that guns are obsolete, and poison gas is not so quick as this new way would be, to make the nations want to lick their sores and sears.

Maybe we’ll see.

It would be a much better way than blowing one another up with bombs; for then indeed those who make wars would pay for them.

Come Near, Ye Nations, to Hear!

In these days, when there is so much "talk” of disarmament, it is well to remember Jehovah’s words spoken against the nations that have armed to the teeth while claiming to be His people: 'Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people; for the indignation of Jehovah is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies. He has given them to the slaughter; He has utterly destroyed them.’

This clearly proves that nations will not be allowed to disarm themselves. They have trusted in their arms and mocked at Jehovah, calling Him a 'bloody war God’; therefore in vindicating His name He is going to destroy them; and preparation for this vindication work we see working up to the great climax.

Is it not plain that now the world trade is tottering to its fall? But while this is true, once again 'Nero is fiddling whilst Rome burns’, and those who have power and wealth are so blind that they go on with their mad schemes of getting rich quick, playing with the securities and money they love so well. And the only sure trade that is left to the world is the trade in armaments, munitions, men of war, airplanes, guns and accouterments of war. And again in just retribution their very preparation for war must go on. And this is disastrous, for it is sapping the life of all nations.

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