MAKING PEOPLE SPEND

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 227, 7 September 1933, Page 7

MAKING PEOPLE SPEND

DOLLAR CURRENCY NOTES. . DWINDLING VALUE PLAN. WASHINGTON, Aug. 30. The reason why President Roosevelt has appointed Professor Arthur Dahlberg to be head of his “Brains Trust” in succession to Professor Moley, is said to be that Professor Dahlberg has a new idea. This is to issue currency notes of a different colour for each month for forcing people to spend their money quickly and so cure all America’s economic ills. Professor Dahlberg is a member of the Social Science Research Council, and his new policy, it is claimed, spells the doom of every evil in the economic system—depression, hoarding, deficits, taxation and general misery. He proposes to make the people spend money by taxing money—that is, by a tax on bank deposits and currency. The professor suggests issuing a new batch of currency each month, the currency of the preceding month to be worth less at the banks and stores. By changing the colours of the dollar notes storekeepers will know whether they are worth 98 cents or 89. If the note is old and frayed it may bo worth only 50 cents. A lengthy report submitted by Professor Dahlberg to Mr. Roosevelt claims the samo result for his plan as a shortening of hours. It will force huge incomes into circulation, he says, and divert them to those willing to spend. “I expect a little opposition to my plan,” says the professor. “It catches economic experts and reactionaries napping. I can thing of no reasonable argument against it.” Mr. Roosevelt made it clear that he intended to back Mr. Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, after the world parley debacle, and gave a hint that Professor Moley could not hope for advancement in the Cabinet. The offer of a handsome salary by Mr. Vincent Astor, the head of the United States branch of the Astor family, settled Professor Moley’s doubts.