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James N. Thomson Paul J. Thomson Marshall Ballard John W. Fan z "Vic e -President Editor Business Manager 3Jtem> Qitibxtne MORNING EVENING SUNDAY NEW ORLEANS •In Any Advertising ampwgn In The ^ m n ' s Largest City January 1 3 , 1939. Mr. Marriner S. Eccles, Chairman Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D, C. Dear Mr. Eceles: I have no doubt that the enclosed clipping from an Omaha newspaper contains a distortion of something you recently said. I missed the statement of yours to which it refers. I wish you would have someone airmail me a brief account of the terms you used on the phase of this subject treated in the enclos. ed editorial. With best wishes, m b Marshall B a l l a r d , E d i t o r . ly the need of improving the conteqt/JHw4' Quality of those given— Ind heroi£ shortening of their ^ngth. •ha World-Herald: , chairman of the Federal %fA,a Board has corrected tht from Virginia. Senator l»yrd worries about mounting de> because, he thinks, "som« 6i must be paid." Sharply Mr. brands this as a "curious notion, based on a fundamental misunderstanding of our capitalist economy. Because, he points out, if we ever tried to pay our debts the whole country would go broke and general economic paralysis would result. Paying debts, he continues, either public or private, is deflationary and makes us hard up. Prosperity, on the other hand, accompanies goIng deeper into debt. So there is really not a thing to fret about. The heavier your debts the more prosperous you are. If you try to pay them paralysis overcomes you. It seems to follow that the easy way to make every man a king is to double and quadruple his debts, with federal, state and local governments doing likewise. If this simple explanation of fundamental New Deal economics doesn't make Senator Byrd shut his mouth he's hopeless. What the Virginian needs to do is to borrow a million dollars at once, declare a moratorium, and live in luxury for the rest of hig life. i, January 17, 1939- Mr. Marshall Ballard, Editor, Item-Tribune, New Orleans, Louisiana. Dear Mr. Ballard: In accordance with the request in your letter of January 13th, I am sending you by airmail under separate cover copies of my recent letter to Senator Byrd of Virginia and my preceding address in New York which was the subject of an attack by him. The clipping attached to your letter refers to this general subject. Permit me to reciprocate your best wishes. .Sincerely yours, M. b. Eccles, Chairman. ET:b 0 | • \
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