BANKING AND THE PRESS

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21419, 11 March 1935, Page 7

BANKING AND THE PRESS

•f > riiz e&noß or : he Pi;r.ss Sir,—Tne fact that my letter on this fubjee'. honpeued to be the first pufs re jn the position of being able to reply. This is unfortunate, as far sbler letters than my own appeared in this correspondence. But after all, there is very little to reply to: there ias been very little in the nature of a Oi'hate. ! quite expected that you would be inundated with letters expressing complete confidence in the banks and in the banking system. No such letters appeared: surely this was a most ungenerous silence on the part d those who have received so great and numerous benefits irom the banks. Of those letters which did appear, fome. it seemed to me. went too far Jn their condemnation of the banking system, but most of them were _ m agreement with your own contention that on a subject of such importance it was highly desirable that the newspapers should be in a position to give the fullest and most accurate information possible, as well as the views held by all sections of the community. If I may touch on some of the points raised by your correspondents, I would like to say that T shared Mr Bray's disappointment with the tone of the article o f) the Monetary Committee appeared in your columns. Surely it was a matter for regret that this committee failed to find any means of improving the economic position of 1 he country. Yet we were informed, almost gleefully, that "Major Douglas had been shot "to pieces." This might Pass at a debate of undergraduates: It certainly lacked the dispassionate end authoritative character that one expects from a leading paper. There taust, however, be a fairly large piece Major Douslas left, for he was recently taking part in a series of British broadcasts in company wilh Dean Sir Nonnan Angell. Mr Winston Churchill, and < it hers, who were apParentlv unaware that he had been shot to pieces by the Hevor people of Kc.v Zealand, i am not a Dougiasite; I share a \er.v widespread belicl 'nat oer pre. em monetary system is to present-day requireStents. It is quite in vain that we look to banks for the improvements that ® re needed. ;<nd for this they are either to be praised nor blamed. They junction quiie well within certain 'nuts, a clear understanding of which ®.highly desirable. They have to administer a money system which is Ond-wide and can only be altered by i Scleral consent of all the parties volved. More or :i it depends on . ~ certain standard oil value; can k! 101 instance, I! is not liJS ra!)|ri enough expansion to AM J Vec ! u irernents of a new world. fW devices are in use to oftk as ,:,r a.s possible—the use tirn f U0?; ' of overdrafts, of equalisa°n funds, and , 0 , i)i: llU |. in the Jong chail 1 l! )roi « l;l up short by a golden 10 ijai| hs grant credit when i» is uc " xi - Oiereby stimulating W;„ 1 '"rther. aiul curtail it when tinitar* fhov s •*' dfclin(>. tliereby ofcni,'" 8 lhf ' The reason is, that H ] Jiink cc iil can only there is a reasonable failing ®'. being monetised later; f it fJi " 10 business making use ike v.. I %u ''"< J !ly into (lie hands of v erv k™ j ' r ' lc are thus in a PositpfWu P? s 'tion. and the funds de- '? as th ß h , rem ai 0 P''etty safe so long 'fetien ut not indulge in specu- : Ob thn J" 10 American banks, l-fte hand credit created by ' !lai ture n nment is of a different * « can on ' v b e monetised by ®^ axa tion, thereby hampering Wrou.jn" creating unemployment, «Tea*o x an d piling up debt. If it ■ Hleii(»^ ore than can be met 1 3 s then it is virtually makth»^T n or goods and services community and at the same

lime devaluing the currency. I therefore incline to the belief at present that some method should be found for keeping these two kinds of credit separate and distinct. It might then even be possible that we could meet a large part of our taxation by working overtime or getting rid of surplus stocks. But I doubt whether our Economic ills can be cured wholly from without, and in saying this I do not in the least disparage attempts in this direction. They are often animated by goodwill and disinterestedness. What is wanted is more goodwill, less of that greed and selfishness which defeats itself in the insane pursuit of money for its own sake. I happen to own a few very much depreciated bank shares myself; but I would gladly see them disappear altogether if this were necessary to bring in such an era of prosperity as is within our reach. And 1 imagine there are thousands of sniail investors who would willingly exrhange their scanty and precarious income for an assured old age pension in keeping with the resources of the country. I have not been able to refer to all the matters touched on by your correspondents. many of which were well worthy of consideration; but I have already trespassed too much on your valuable space.—Yours, etc.. CANDOUR. March 9, 1935. [This correspondence is now closed. —Ed., "The Press."]