Evening Star Newspaper, March 9, 1932, Page 11

THE kyoaiau Diagr, Put the Ghost Dollars back to work Our greatest army of unemployed is an army of ghosts . . . ghost dollars . . . those dollars with which most of the world’s business is transacted, and which, for lack of a better term, we call “Credit.” Perhaps we should not call them “ghost dollars,” for though they have no physical existence, though we never see them nor jingle them in our pockets, they are real. They are our greatest source of individual and National wealth. It was with ghost dollars that we built our homes, created our industrial em- Let’s remember that a dollar, locked away, is only a dollar . . . no more, and no less. Now let’s see what that dollar hecomes when it is deposited in a sound bank. The bank loans the dollar to some business man to buy materials or to meet payrolls. It withholds 15% required by law to maintain legal reserves, which ensure that your dollar will be ready for you if you want it before the bank has collected the loan. The one to whom the borrower pays the 85 cents which the bank loaned from your pires and achieved our National supremacy. ghost dollars are unavailable that we suf- fer from what we term “depression”; and not until those same ghost dollars are put back to work shall we be able to recon- struct the fabric of our economic organi- zation. We cannof begin this undertak- ing, intelligently, until we understand the functions and the possibilities of these phantom dollars. They are immaterial as Faith ... intangible as Hope, and yet, like Faith and Hope. they possess the power to move mountains, or to lift from our necks the galling yoke of Depression. Around the burial place of every hoarded dollar cluster at least five such ghosts . . . five dollars’ worth of Credit, without which businss, as we know it, cannot exist. $1,500,000,000 hoarded away from circulation today deny employ- ment to upward of $7,500,000.000 of these powerful ghost dollars. Because they are idle, we have 7,000,000 men and women walking the streets or standing in bread lines. The plow rusts in the furrow, the ship swings idly at anchor and the spider spins his web across the factory door. Let’s put those phantom dollars back to work by restoring to normal circulation the $1,500,000,000 we have mistakenly hoarded away. Let’s put our money where it will bring interest to us, employ- ment to others and prosperity to the Nation. It is because too many ¥ Go to Any Bank and Buy United States Certificates of Indebtedness $50 8100 $500 Redeemable on 60-Day Notice . . . 2% Interest You don’t have to be a depositor—every banker @ has enlisted his services in this campaign. President Hoover’s Citizens’ Reconstruction Organization District of Columbia Branch NEWBOLD NOYES, Chairman A ’;fllln v]l!lll’lll ” A wall h P. Tumult; Qiarenc aofl"‘i Lova's Wit w R Harry King S ol V. Pl Frederica. Delano on 37FM Bowte Joshua Evans E A e W. W. Everette rankiin H. Bl Frank J. Hogan Wm. J. Flather A°C s C. H. Pope Bishop James E. Presman e Joumia Fyans, . . C. Glover, Jr. Rnlnh floldlmn lu ll’ E C_Graham H r old Dr Gilbert Grosvenor 5 Adl ms Iflllr fi Buwnur P RTINS Eugen Jonn Hays Hammond Dr é\ncm.r Christie John H. B o0, G Havenner Raish W Coleman .lennln" SlerI H Kauffmann Joseph D. Kaufman Rev. T. E. Berry Mrs. 3k Ameiis Gude 3 Ly 801 W, Balliger !ow-ra V. Berty Russeil P. Preeman Lawell uuum I ln lmnn ;s e Dr. Abr am’ Jon es mm-n o Kay O ARion Stepnan Thorpe Arthur B Marks Corcoran Thom David Lawrence Aubrey Taylor PRESIDENTS OF CITIZENS’ ASSOCTATIONS Donald Chamberlin Joseph . Oliver s J. Battle Maj Geo. O Totten Dr chunceA Weaver Herbert L._Brook: Herma Geo. C. Rnnnn" owles Jullnh l( Uh Towis Myron R. Walker Keeler L. Scott 8 l Blll-fl.nlhlll Jnhlah lel’"nld Jr. . J._Cleary 5. Drigge: Josepn L S Ehk Ammel wou E"B‘” r u:n Sy & e Hev Anhnr' Chichester 8" lu.h dollar, re-deposits the money. Again it is loaned, less the 159, reserve demandegl by law and sound banking prac- tice. In less than one month that dollar has purchased materials or paid wages to the amount of more than $6. It has sur- rounded itself with five ghost dollars which have been creating prosperity for the Nation while your dollar has been earning a month’s interest for you. Re- verse this process by taking a dollar out of circulation and you make it impossible for someone to pay $5 in wages or to pur- chase an equivalent amount of merchan- dise. Multiply that dollar by 1,500,000,000 and it requires no financial expert to read in the result the reason for our present shortage of credit. Put that $1,500,000,000 back into circula- tion, and we shall immediately establish credit to the amount of $7,500,000,000 or more. We shall create a purchasing power greater than that of all the money our country possesses. Let’s not forget that the chief value of money is the credit which it represents. Our National wealth is approximately $400,000,000,000, while our total in gold, silver and currency is under $6,000,000.000, or less than 2%. Releasing our hoarded dollars will put credit within reach of all who are entitled to credit. Credit will reestablish pay rolls, stabilize commodity prices, start the wheels of industry turning and banish the depression to the limbo of unpleasant memories. The solution to our problem is in our own hands. What are we going to do about it?