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The Inflation Problem
EXTENSION
OP
or
REMARKS
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD.
2/28/51
HON. HARRY L. TOWE
TATE
OF NEW J EH SET
IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES
Monday,
February
26jJ£St
M r . T O W E . M r . Speaker, I ask u n a n i m o u s c o n s e n t t o Insert in t h e A p p e n d i x
o f the RECORD a letter received f r o m m y
constituent, M r . R e m s e n B r i n c k e r h o f f , ,
of E n g l e w o o d , N. J . r
FkuluaSpY 0, 105U 4
H o n . HABRT L ; TOWE,
House of
Representatives,
, Washington, 0 . C.
DEAR Mn. Tows': I am writing ta one of
your constituent* regarding ^the manner In
which the President and Secretary of the*
Treasury are stimulating inflation by blackjacking the Federal Reserve Board, a body
created by Congress. This -Board waa established b y Congress to curb inflation (and deflation when It exists) by taking measures
t o control the money supply. Alter all, what
Is Inflation but an increase In tho amount of
money In relation t o the goods and services
It can buy,
Simply the old principle of
supply and demand.
It Is not.-a rise In prices any more than
a temperature of 103 Is the grippe. Those
are but the resulting symptoms ol the basic
disease. And t o think that it can be cured
by freezing prices is Just about as likely to
succced as,trying to cur* t pneumonia by
packing the patient with Ice to cool him off.
The basic fallacy is the same—attacking the
symptoms and not the cause.
But not satisfied with that, they are going
one step further and making the patient
even sicker by continuing to force more
germs-into him—or /nore .dollars Into circulation. At the same tune they hcg-tle the
doctor "(Federal Reserve Board) who wants
to try to eliminate the overbalance of pneumonia virus that makes the patient Bick.
It Is like fighting fire with gasoline.
I hope you see the vicious circle. 2ft: an
economy already containing & numbet of
inflationary forces, such as the large national
debt and the war emergency, this administration policy of pouring more money -into
circulation "to peg the price of low-interest
(cheap money for the Government) bohds,
create* a continuous additional inflationary
force,
inevitable result for an increase
of money supply occurs—prices rise. Then
the President screams politically about war
profiteers, puts Ice packs (ceilings) on tho
patient in an alleged effort t o cure the disease he has creatcd, disregards the doctor's
advice, and tells him to" be a nice fellow
and cooperate, und then asks us to dig down
in our pockets in terms of increased taxes
to pay for the rising costs he has by his and
the Treasury's policy created. In the meantime his policies continues and the same spiral or vicious Circle goes on. He must realize
this subconsciously, because he Is already
anticipating a further tax rise to pay for it
in June. •
„ 4
t
Let** see the Congress put the trained
doctor . (Federal Reserve Board). whom it
created for this" very purpose,' back in his
job in place of the medicine man who la
usurping it. before the patient becomes permanently injured.
. Yours respectfully,
1
.j
REMSEN BKINCKERHOTT,
169]
T h e r e being n o o b j e c t i o n , thejresolu
t i o n w a s r e f e r r e d t o t h e C o m m i t t e e , oi
B a n k i n g and Currency, anc} ordored-ti
be printed in the RECORDJ a£ f o l l o w s : >*
RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY Tint BOABD o r D i f t s c
TORS o r NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE C O : AT ,
MEETING HELD ON JANUAIY
1951; v
-
"Be it resolved, That.'the directors of th
National life insurance ^ Co.;' C^nrgcd wit!
the administration of tho'Yunds iff mqr{5 tiiai
200.000" policyholders located lii;efefy; St^t
of the union, vte^f with jflrnve gone or n th
operation of' inflationary'
th
t h r e a t s fyrthpr.logs of ourch^lnfifpewer o
the dollar. Infl&tiqn d c f r t ^ t f t e n b r m y c
Just rewards for their prudence &nd. effor}
stifles initiative, Impost .ft njdden caplts
levy, and threatens to
the- America
system and heritage w1hlCh>tih.Ve produce
the highest standard of living th® WOfld hfl
ever known. We
urge^o
in behalf of this comj}£$i^ A policyholder
and their ben eficlaries,;to^tafcfe cognizance c
the gravity of the situation wlthoyt/furthc
delay and to initiate effective mcftiauTes, sue
as further credit control, tho. elimination c
unnecessary Federal spending,:and*review c
the Federal tax program In order tordeprlv
inflationary forces of their potential befor
further harm Is done to the Nation's peoplt
and be it further
.
"Resolved, That the secretrfy.ortfie com
prmy be directed to send certified" copies c
this resolution to President Harry 'S. Tru
man: Secretary of the Treasury John V
Snyder; Director o r Defenstf .Mobllizatio
Charles . E.' Wilson: Economi4s6tabilizatio
Director' Eric Johnston; Cbr^rmap, Of th
Board of Governors of the Federal- Resen
System Thomas B. WcCabc; Sctiat'ors Georg
D. Aiken and Ralph E. Flanders, ot Vermort
, Senator Kenneth McKattcr, chairman of th
• Senate Appropriation;-;!Committee; Senate
• Burnet R; Maybank; chairman" of the Senat
Committee on Banking add Currency; Sen
at-or Walter .F. George, chaltm^n of th
Ecnate Finance Committee; Representatl*
Winston' I* Prouty; Representative. Clarenc
Cannon, Chairman of tljft, Hoyae Qammltte
on Appropriations;, R r i ^ s ^ t a U v * Bren
Spence, chairman of t | t c ^ i $ s e Commits
CJn Banking and
.R$preaejitath
R. L. Doughton. chalnnan at tiic Jrlbuso Com
mittee on Ways and ^Icant; *|tn{t'..Lee }
Emerson, Governor of tjWstntcjbf Vermont.
I hereby certify that the above is'a trtl
copy of a resolution adopted by the board c
directors of National ijtfjfrlnsurance Co. at.
meeting held, at tbfrjbom* office >iu iMonf
pclier, Vt.t on^Tuttftey,
imry^SO, 4D51. ;
I
or
ra^^^TOncs^RF^cfc^ftok
* a
a i r c c ^ f c i L . p * u s z f t f p i ^ QHIO t
v
M r . BRfTCKER. " Mr. p ^ i i r n V r p r e
sent f o r R f t r ^ p r f a t ^ r ^ e r t ^ c ^ ' a n d p r i n t
Ins in;thc$1scofm d
b;
the c i t y ^ i H c U ^ f ^ W ^ ^ ^ r o r i i o , li
r e w d tojha jprppc#;e<i m c i ^ s & t o U a x e
>nd
o t wtwnui|aiy>xpiendi
'tures. t ' W ' i s - ' t . a i
*
Si' -1 r ;
• There
resolu
tion was referred to t h e Committee o)
• A p p r o p r i a t i o n s a n d ordered t 0 M p r l n t e <
INFLATION—RESOLUTION OF BOARD 6 P
DIRECTORS OP NATIONAL U t E INSUR'rfv: Resolution4&3 1
' '
ANCE CO., MONTFEtiTER, VT.
; .licsolntion urging,the Sahatf a n i House c
,M?pn^*$uitlyes of..the t/tJnitecLSStates,.i;
Mr. F L A N D E R S / ^ ,Mr. t President* I
consideration' of; tl^j proposed in
p r e s e n t f o r appropriate r e f e r e n c e ^ r e s o *
creasp in taxes, to r^qtilrei^qjviiiiH&ry ei
Jution a d o p t e d b y the board o f directors
- ^-'pefldltures to be r«duce(f to tbe end tha
o f t h e National lAfe Insttf&ttce'Co.V o ? s v ^'altnoncBKential Govcrnmentrjiervices sha3
Montpelitfr,-Vt., a t
* m e c t i n g ; h e t d 6 n > - : ba:jftUml6ated^^
: : '^ • * _. ^
J a n u a r y 30, 1 9 5 1 / r e l a t i r i i i O Inflation; , >.i Wh<;rea» fn fVie* opinion of this councl
a n d I ask unanlijmUs c o n s e n t t h a t It fce
numerous activities are engaged in "by th
printed i n t h e RECORD.
Federal Government and its agencies whlc!
@FedFRASER