War-time financial problems

228 THE CURRENCY REPORT

bitterness on the part of the working classes, who
very naturally thought that the consequent rise in
prices was due to the machinations of unscrupulous
capitalists who were exploiting them. It is even
possible that the historian of a century hence may
ascribe to this cause the beginning of the end of our
present economic system, based on the private
ownership of capital, for it is very evident that we
have not yet seen the end of the harvest that this
bitterness and discontent are producing.

A less important but still very objectionable
consequence of the flood of currency and credit that
the Government has poured out to fill a gap in its
war finance is the encouragement that it has given
to a host of monetary quacks who believe that all
the financial ills of the world can be saved if only you
give it enough money to handle, oblivious of the
effect on prices of mere multiplication of claims to
goods without a corresponding increase in the volume
of goods. These enthusiasts have seen that during
war a Government can produce money as fast as it
likes, and since they think that producing money
makes every one happy they propose to adopt this
simple method for paying off war debt, restarting
trade and generally creating a monetary millennium.
How far their nostrums are likely to be adopted, no
one can yet say, but some of the utterances of our
rulers make one shudder.

Into this atmosphere of quackery and delusion
the report of the Committee on Currency and Foreign
Exchanges breathes a refreshing blast of sound
common sense. Everybody ought to read it. It