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Foreword;
This rather lengthy letter is based on the following proverb
of Confucius;- MTis better to light one small candle thpn to curse
the darkness"•
Charles K.Chilberg.
I assure you I am not seeking notoriety or personal gain. My life began on
an Illinois farm 70 years ago. I came west at the age IB in search of a
more suitable climate; threatened with lung trouble. T?ss in the catering
trade most of the time,but never lost my personal interest in the problems
ofl the common mass of humanity. Naturally, I did not grow ''rich'1: I am truly
glad I did not. Riches create social blindness.



Portland,14,Oregon,Feb.1st.,1945.
1410-S.E.Belmont St.
Mr.Marriner Eccles,
Chr.of the Board,
Fed.Res.Banks,
Washington,D.G .
Dear Mr.Eccles;
You may remember
the last time I wrote you
when I introduced the subject,-'’Our untenable position rs chief
creditor of the world? contending that our virt u a l ^ self-suffic­
iency, as it pertains to basic raw materials and money of recognized
value,was the source of the dilemma. That was before we became in­
volved in the present war. Successive events hpve sustained that
thesis I believe you will agree. Hence this letter.
You were quoted at length in a recent issue of the R.R.Brotherhood1s
paper LABOR. According to the quotes you insisted that our populace
would not suffer material want while clearly understanding bur abil­
ity to produce material abundance; not an exact quote,but it covers
the main point.
Let us get one point straight;- that our relative economic posit­
ion compared with Britain’s finds us at one pole and J.B. at the
other. The industrial British Isles,the heart of the Empire,are in
the same economic plight as the Axis powers; They must expand fore­
ign trade or sink to insignificant proportions. That means that ex­
ploitation of weaker peoples must continue so long as they cling to
bur price and profit system.lt means further that it is to their in­
terests to keep such backward nations from becoming self-sufficient
through the avenue of advanced technology. They would attempt to
hold back the dynamic tide of scientific évolution. Of course it is
futile, but man has persisted in doing some very childish things.
Why do I pester you with my logic? Simply because you are at the
head of our* banking structure and past experience has proved that
bankers are not a very broad minded group*.They have profited from
inflation and deflation while each cycle grew progressively more
"distructrrveof^he masses. They fail to grasp the fact that they are
digging their own graves as well as ours. Foreign trade based on
money advantage leads directly to war. Ambrose Bierce-Devil»s Dic­
tionary- defines "peace" as a period of cheating between two periods
of fighting*I believe you will agree with that definition.
We,of the U.S.A. and Soviet Russia are the only nations in pos­
session of sufficient basic resources. Thus it becomes easy for the
two to say,-"let us have peace on earth and goodwill towtrd all men” .
That is comparable to a farmer who owns a rich,productive valley
farm and admonishes his hill-billy neighbors to keep out of his gra­
nary. In case they don’t obey orders he has the "law1' on his side ;he
can fill them with buckshot and enjoy immunity from prosecution.At
least he will not be convicted of murder in case he kills one.
That analogy leads to this question; Are we going to join forces
with Britain and force,by military might or arbitrary law, the hill­
billy nations to live in poverty and like it? If we do we will run
headon into conflict with the Russian communists. If F.D.R. thinks
he can play one against the other and lead the world down the Primrose
path of peace he is even more childish than his enemies have claimed.
Our trouble would come from Britain,not Russia. If we compete with
them in the world markets for materials we do not require(because of
our virtual self-sufficiency) they would be justified in resenting
such practice. They do so to survive and we do it iror money profit
which God,and even bankers, aught to know we do not need since we
now possess a major part of the world's gold supply.
We insist on controling the Latin American markets,?nd if we succeed
in such control we will hurt them rather than help them? they know
this fact and some have the courage to say so.




Now, Mr.Socles, do not accept this essay as evidence of antipathy
toward you. Par from that. I believe that you are one of the few
bankers who can face facts even when they hurt. I believe further, that
you can r^flily understand that we must not put undue faith in the premis
that we can better our own social structure by a vast extension of for­
eign trade. Of course, we will do some exchanging of commodities,and we
should stand ready to instruct all backward nations who manifest a des­
ire to improve their technology and thereby be in a better position to
help themselves; But we should never be guilty of trying to force our
way of life upon people who do not admire our particular way. We might
be wrong. In fact,the deplorable health statistics,and our crime records
and the appalling num^ber of mental oases should awaken our people to
something that remotely resembles rational economic thinking.
We are so definitely interdependent,here at home,-not on a world-wide
scale,- that we simply must begin to think in terms of WE inst^ft of MS.
We have manifested a willingness to ration our SCARCITY; Are vie not
4
big enough to ration our material PLENTY?
As you stated in the address quoted in!’LABOR"; The people know how
abundantly able we are to provide a much higher standard of healthful
living than now exists. This can never come to fruition while we cling
to an economy of SCARCITY and controlled price designed to create ind­
ividual fortunes.
The perpetuity of the economy of SCARCITY means accelerated domestic
conflict,and carried into the field of world a f f a i r s leads directly to
the next war,and the next war will beyond reasonable doubt lead to the
general use of poison gas,and that means the end of what we call civ­
ilization;- the white man*s kind. "The bird of time is on the wing,and
has but a little way to fly” . Is there any way to break through the
intricate web of confusion.called CONGRESS?
If our Labor leaders could only understand that winning strikes and
a few cents per hour in wage/ Increases is not the answer there would 4?«
some hope from that quarter; but to date they have not given us much
encouragement. Two wrongs were never known to '’make a right”. Mon­
opolistic Bnterprise and monopolistic La,bor are diametrically opposed
to the general welfare. Unfortunately every office seeker is obliged
to cater to the wishes of one: or the other.
Perhaps the maligned Technocrats really have something of value to
offer our confused populace. You may have reed v/hat the Encyclopedia
Americana has to say about their program. Here is exact quote.
"Whatever the future of Technocracy,one must fairly say that it is
the only program of social and economic reconstruction which is in com­
plete intellectual and technical accord with the age in which we livo".
Note the two words ONLY and COMPLETE; they are too all-inclusive to
cast aside without serious investigation and consideration.
No writer has contributed so much to rational thinking as did Thorstein
Veblen. Despite the condemnation by the Vested Interests his seversl
books are again /being read by serious thinkers. His Engineers and the
Price System may yet rock the antiquated economic method to its very
foundations. In case you havn*t read it,and some of the others, may
I suggest that you do not delay.
Those 60 million jobs that both Dewey and P.D. promised will prove to
be the-most childish ’’campaign oratory” if we expect to create a better
America by doctoring up the old economy of PRICE and Scarcity. With 98;(!
of the energy in our country coming from artificial power how does any
informed man expect 60 million workers to earn their living "by the
sweat of their brows"? Especially when said machines are controlled by
monopolistic interests- Big Business and a couple of BIG unions?
We MUST prepare to retire the un-needed elderly folks om a adequate
monthly paycheck; oblige the young folks to contribute their share of
remunerative work; assure them a PAIR return for their contribution.
Vie know "idleness is the devisl’s workshop". We had far better trust
the elders to idleness than our energetic youngsters. That feeble Social
Security act is a step in the right direction;but there is an inherent
weakness it that "plan". It is merely an expedient,not a cure.
Sincerely yours, Charles K.Chilberg.







February 8, 194-5•

Mr, C h a rle s K. G h ilb e r g ,
1410 S.' E . Selmont S t r e e t ,
P o rtla n d 14, Oregon.
D ear M r. u a i lb e r g :
T h is i s t o thank you T or y ou r e x c e p t io n a lly i n t e r e s t ­
in g and th o u g h tfu l l e t t e r o f Febru ary 1 .
I am im pressed by
what you have t o sa y and th e way in which;you say i t , an<£ in,
g e n e r a l 1 th in k you and I would be in agreem ent.
a s one who has spent most o f h is a d u lt l i f e i n .t h e
banking b u s in e s s , I would not a g re e t h a t bankers have p r o f i t e d
from i n f l a t i o n o r d e f l a t i o n , however. Down through th e y e a r s ,
ban kin g has not been th e p r o f i t a b l e e n t e r p r is e t h a t . i s
g e n e r a lly supposed, and no n a tio n has suoh a bad re c o rd o f
bank f a i l u r e s as o u rs .

I t o ccu rred t o me th a t you might p o s s ib ly be in ­
t e r e s t e d in s e e in g th e t e x t o f my repent speech, to. which
yov
re fe r.
I have marked on page 6 a re fe r e n c e t o what seems
t o iue a w h o lly m istaken id e a t h a t p r o s p e r it y a t home depends
on f o r e i g n t r a d e .
I b e lie v e th a t f o r e i g n t r a d e depends
p r im a r ily on p r o s p e r it y a t home. I was p a r t i c u l a r l y stru c k
by your apt statem ent th at we have m an ifested a w illin g n e s s
t o r a t io n s c a r c it y and th a t we should be & ig enough, t o r a t io n
our m a t e r ia l p le n t y .
L e t me a l s o thank you f o r t h e e n c lo s u r e s , in c lu d in g
your paragrap h on f r e e e n t e r p r is e and th e g ra p h ic i l l u s t r a t i o n
o f th e advan tages o f c o o p e ra tio n .
S in c e r e ly y o u rs ,

M. S . E c c le s ,
Chairman.

Enclosure

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