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EDWABD B. BENJAMIN 1050 C O N S T A N C E S T E E E T N EW OBLEANS December 16, 1944 The Honorable Marriner S. Eccles Chairman, Federal Reserve System 20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Washington, D. C. My dear Mr. Eccles: We have had some previous correspondence in connection with my writing, "Program for Plenty” , appearing in August, 1943, SURVEY GRAPHIC. Enclosed is copy of a one page letter to Mr. Byrnes that I hope you can find time to read. It stresses what appears to be a very serious flaw in the whole of our post-war planning. I believe this flaw can and should be remedied, and will welcome any comment from you in the matter. With all good wishes, I am Very sincerely yours, E D W A R D B. B E N J A M IN 1050 C O N S T A N C E STREET N e w O r l e a n s . L ,a . December 13 > 1944 The Honorable James P.Byrnes Mo b i l is a t i o n Dire ct or The ^hite House Washington, D. C* K y dear ‘fr. Byrnes: Co nn e c te d with a nur-tber of substantial inte>^ ts, X am ne ce ss ari ly concerned s b o u X ' t S S N p o s t - w c r o plook. All the welter of pla nnin interna ti ona l fields, se following respects! ? e have made no rea, what extent our pa^pr^warstforaes1 with full emiûoy/jmt, wourcK pr oductive capacaiy. the national and ficient in the t to d e ter mi ne to pur ch a s in g power, e to match our Co mp etent a u t h o r i s e s ther^/have assured ae it is possible ju*4«^hox\jfrg& I y ^ ff^gsible to develop a picture of posy^ftT^^nsump^biNQii^oased upon a given stage of n a t i o n X / employment. We o u M t to havelt his information. It is all very well JUar v a r i o u ^ O f f i c i a l s to sound off to the effect that w V ^ Q ^ n n o t ^ « e p our people employed, after the war, wi th ou t J^jsjii'ng to large exports, but this is by no means certain, and it is fo olish for us to alarm needlessly ourselves, our allies, and our neighbors. My own statistical studies leati rae to believe that we can absorb the great bulk of our output in the post-w ar era. I earnestly recommend a c o m pr eh en si ve stati st ic al study along the lines m e nt io ne d above and will be v er y glad indeed to di scuss this further w it h you, if you desire it. Very truly yours, December ¿9» 1944* Mr. Edward B. Benjamin, 1050 Constance Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. Dear Mr. Benjamin: In the temporary absence of the Chairman, I am acknowledging your letter of December 16 en closing a copy of your one-page letter to Mr. Byrnes. Mr. Eccles will, I know, be interested in the points you raise, and in the meantime I am passing your letter along to our economic staff for their consideration. We have attempted to visualize what a gross national product of 170 billion dollars at 1943 prices would mean in terms of goods and services, and the round number estimates appear on page 3 of the attached reprint of an address which Mr. Eccles recently gave before the National Industrial Conference Board. Sincerely yours, Elliott ¿hurston, Special assistant to the Chairman. Enclosure ET:b E D W A R D B. B E N J A M I N 1050 C O N S T A N C E S T E E E T N EW OELEANS January 4> 1945 Mr. Elliott Thurston Special Assistant to Mr. Eccles Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Washington 25, D.C. Dear Mr. Thurston: I am obliged for your letter of December 29th and the copy of Mr. Eccles address, which had already come to my attention. Notwithstanding the magnitude of the figures involved it appears to me that on a high national income basis our national consuming power will approximately equal our capacity for production, provided we have some previous knowledge of demand for consumer's and pro ducer's goods, plus some oversight and engineering of production.
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