U.S. MONEY POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 302, 22 December 1933, Page 8

U.S. MONEY POLICY.

PUZZLED EXPERTS.

THE PRESIDENT'S INTENTIONS

■WILL HE WAIT FOR CONGRESS?

(By PAUL MALLON.)

WASHINGTON, November 12.

The inner coterie of soothsayers have Mr. Roosevelt's money policy all figured out. As they see it, the President is proving to be his own best financial adviser. They think he has looked just a little further ahead at the situation than the muddled experts who swarm about him. These seers are betting their money that the President will not do anything important about the currency before Congress meets. Then he will be able to play each congressional money faction against the other and get the soundest solution out of all of them. They do not guarantee that prediction, but' they can now see, for the first time, how it would be wise and sensible. It is such a simple solution that the smart boys wonder why they never thought of it. The inflationists have been agitaing for one course. The devaluationists have been demanding another. The silver bloc has been pulling for its pet theories. And the alarmists have been running around crying about what Congress would do iwhen it convenes. Any course Mr. Roosevelt might choose now would put him on the defence against Congress. He might have trouble holding the political bulls in line if he tries to take them by the horns. If he keeps a rein on them he can guide them. Personal Plans. These expectations have calmed down the mose sensible agitators here. They have begun to recall that patience is a virtue. Also that headlong plunging will sooner or later bring you to a stone wall. Heads-up strategy may get Von around it. Mr. Roosevelt's own personal plans for the'next two months have not been announced, but they tend to confirm the expectations of the soothsayers. He expects to spend two weeks in the South during the latter part of this month. He probably will go to Hyde Park for a week or ten days at Christmas time. That means he may be in AVashington only half the time between now and when Congress meets in January. The President's home at Hyde Park is a perfect hideaway. No President has ever had one quite like it. The Press remains at? his office in Poughkeepsie, five miles from his house. Annoying people, including Government officials, cannot get near him. Similarly he can call in as many men as lie wants to see privately without having his probable intentions spread all over the country. For instance, ha could have Milo Reno or John D. Rockefeller in for lunch and no one won! 1 be the wiser. That is why he likes Hyde Park so much. The Silver Agitators. The silver agitators have been h:'. the last few days. They passed the t: i around in Wall Street on Monday tin'. a 00 or 80-cent silver price was comhr; shortly. The trouble with their tips is that all of them have been wrong in the past. The flow of news on that subject indcates very clearly that there is considerable speculation in the silver market, and certain interests are encouraging it with rumours, probably for their own private gain. They have cried wolf to often that even if they had a good tip, no one would believe it. Those closest to the British debt negotiations say the effects to be expected from failure are being highly exaggerated. The insiders knew from the first that agreement was almost but of the question, in view c; existing international monetary conditions. The time was not ripe. Both British officials and our own authorities realise I it. That is why the British sent over Sir Frederick Leith-Ross instead of one ofttv 3l v 3 Cabinet members. Consequently, the disappointment higher up is not nearly so keen as surface reports suggest. Stock Market Jokes. Senators on the stock market committee double up in laughter when they tell the one about the two burglars who broke into a New York City home. The two enterprising flashlight men contemplated a big haul, because the "house was massive. They worked themselves up to the door of the safe. There they found they were in the home of a certain securities banker. They read his name on the safe. They recalled his Senate testimony about how he sold bonds in the mad days of 1929. They dropped their flashlights and ran, thus managing to escape without losing a cent of their own money. A newsman walked into the office of the best Governmental financial adviser i few days ago and asked. "Mr. So and So, if Mr. Roosevelt gave you complete control of currency to-morrow, what would you do ?" The answer came back fast: "I'd' •esign." Political Ear. An ex-Congressman made a speech at i farmers' gathering in New England a tew days ago. When he concluded, a ball, thin plough sage, who looked a lot ike Coolidge, came up to the platform m dwanted to know what the Congressnan really thought about Roosevelt. The Congressman hemmed on the one hand md hawed on the other, finally passing t off by asking the farmer what he thought of Roosevelt. The farmer pulled lis chin mid answered, in a shar ; > Coolidge tempo: "I think he plays by ;ar." At the time the remark did not strike ;he Congressman as particularly n-illiant. He laughed and said:' "Well, naybe you are right." But coming backin the train to Washington, the phrase cept ringing through his mind. He :xplored its ramifications, and the more ie thought of it, the more he liked it. He hinks that the farmer probably made ;he best speech of the evening. Of course ie is a Republican.—(N.A.N.A.)