War-time financial problems

x CONTENTS

XVI

THE CURRENCY REPORT PAGB

Currency Policy during the War—Its Disastrous Medievalism—
The Report of the Cunliffe Committee—A Blast of Common
Sense—The Condemnation of our War Finance—Inflation
and the Rise in Prices—The Figures of the Present Position
—The Break in the Old Relation between Legal Tender and
Gold—How to restore it—Stop Borrowing and reduce the
Floating Debt—Return to the Old System—The Committee's
Sane Conservatism—A Sound Currency vital to National
Recovery...... . 227

XVII

MEETING THE WAR BILL

The Total War Debt—What are our Loans to the Allies
worth ?—Other Uncertain Items—The Prospects of making
Germany pay—The Right Way to regard the Debt—Our
Capital largely intact—A Reform of the Income Tax—The
Debt to America—The Levy on Capital and other Schemes—
The only Real Aids to Recovery , , . . . 243

XVIII

THE REGULATION OF THE CURRENCY
Macaulay on Depreciated Currency—Its Evils To-day—The Plight
of the Rentier—Mr Goodenough's Suggestion—Sir Edward
Holden's Criticisms of the Currency Committee—His Scheme
of Reform—Two Departments or One in the Bank of Eng-
land ?—Not a Vital Question—The Ratio of Notes to Gold—
Objections to a Hard-and-fast Ratio—The Limit on Note
Issues—The Federal Reserve Act and American Optimism—
Currency and Commercial Paper—A Central Gold Reserve
with Central Control.......261

XIX

TIGHTENING THE FETTERS OF FINANCE
The New Meaning of Licence—The Question of Capital Issues—
Text of the Treasury Regulations—Their Scope and Effect—
The Position of the Stock Exchange—Wider Issues at Stake—
Should Capital be set Free ?—The Arguments for and against
—•Perils of an Excessive Caution—The New Committee and
its Terms of Reference—The Absurdity of prohibiting Share-
splitting—The Storm in the House of Commons—Dis-
appearance of the Retrospective Clause—A Sample of
Bureaucratic Stupidity , , , . . . .277

XX

MONEY OR GOODS?

"Boundless Wealth"—Money and the Volume of Trade—The
Quantity Theory—The Gold Standard—How is the Volume
of Paper to be regulated ?—Mr Kitson's Ideal . . . 293

INDEX..........305