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PHONE

137O

THOMPSON CONSTRUCTION CO.
ENGINEERS AND
CONTRACTORS 1
JOHN S. THOMPSON

8 SOUTH 4 T H ST

HUDSON. N. Y.

Jan.2,1939
Mr. Marriner S.Eccles, Chairman,
Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System,
Washington,D.C.

Dear Sir,
I am taking the liberty of writing you to express my appreciation of the reasonable presentation of
some of the nation's problems as set forth in your letter
of Dec. 22 addressed to Senator Harry F.Byrd, and as published in the New York Tribune on Dec. 26th. It is a pleasure
to read a discussion of these problems based on reason,
rather than the usual emotional appeal •
I wonder if problems of this type cannot be more
easily solved, if the technical diagnosis of the problem is
divorced from the cure. In other words, if the mechanical
side of our economic structure were to be definitely described,
and I believe it can be, then half of our present day disagreements could be eliminated, and the work of those who
propose to apply corrections to the economic system, would
be made much simpler*
For instance, v/hen the quantity of money in the
country, i.e. cash on hand and bank deposits, is a constant
over a period of time; total money expended during that period
is always equal to total money received* Under these conditions
the sum of all cash books in the country would balance perfectly; and if the question of budget balancing is being considered as the relation between money received and money expended, then the sum of all budgets ( of government, business,
and individuaTs ) in the natlon7 will always balance to a penny»
In the event that the amount of money changes, due to
foreign or domestic action, then the amount of surplus or
deficit in the sum of all cash books, is exactly equal to the
amount of change.
This point should be familiar to any poker player*
I am sorry if I have intruded, but the mathematics of
our economic system is exceedingly interesting and clear to me«



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January 5, 1939-

Mr. John S. Thompson,
Thompson Construction ^o.,
8 Sooth 4ttr Street,
Hudson, New York.
Dear Mr. Thompaon:
This is to thank you for your
letter of January 2d with reference to my
recent reply to Senator Byrd of Virginia.
I was interested to note your,,
discussion of what you refer to as the
mathematics of the economic system, and I
wanted you to know that I appreciated your
courtesy in writing to me.
Sincerely yours,

M. S. Eccles,
Chairman.

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