THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1933. CURRENCY STABILISATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21986, 22 June 1933, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1933. CURRENCY STABILISATION

In an attempt to march breast forward to currency stabilisation, never doubting clouds will break, the World Economic Conference has not thus far distinguished itself. It has been recognised that agreement in respect of at least temporary stabilisation represents a necessary* 1 achievement on the part of the Conference preliminary to its dealing with other questions upon which it must formulate a policy. The cannot thrust into the background the objective of the restoration of an effective international monetary standard. The immediate aim of the monetary policy, Mr Neville Chamberlain said in the course of the general discussion last week, should be stabilisation of the currency, M. Daladier also put the matter tersely when he expressed a conviction that “it is first necessary to put an end to the war of money and its instability, and give commercial exchange an indispensable guarantee of monetary security.” Another important question demanding the attention of the Conference is that of tariffs, but it is sufficiently apparent that any attempt to reach agreement on this problem would be premature while there is no guarantee as to the relationship between the pound and the dollar. As The Times has observed, the restoration of international trade is out of the question until the matter of exchange stabilisation has been tackled. By the same journal it has been

suggested that jin agreement to keep the British,- French, and American exchanges within specified limits might be possible if certain measures were taken to control the dollar. Clearly while the exchanges are subject to sudden and sharp fluctuations there can be no confidence on the part of business people in entering into commitments. But is control of the dollar agreeable to the American mind? Thus far the Conference seems to have made little headway in its approach to the question of currency stabilisation. Something like a hitch appears to have arisen owing to President Roosevelt’s disinclination to endorse the temporary plan, which has been described as not so much even de facto stabilisation as an attempt to confine the instability of the dollar and the pound within certain elastic limits. Rather plaintively the American delegates have given expression to their dissatisfaction at their lack of knowledge concerning what is in President Roosevelt’s mind. The attitude manifested by Mr Roosevelt no doubt reflects the difficulties which he is experiencing in an attempt to compromise between his country’s policy of isolation and a policy of co-operation with other nations in a general effort to deal with a world-wide malady. A policy of self-sufficiency, prompted by a desire to protect American trade, cannot be easily reconciled with one of co-operation and helpfulness in settling the world’s monetary and economic difficulties. One at least of the American delegates summed up the position frankly when he said that the Conference has shown that the American delegates must soon decide between a nationalist and an international policy. It is at this rather delicate juncture that President Roosevelt’s personal economic adviser, Professor Moley, is taking ship for London, apparently with the object of making an important contribution to the discussion of the temporary currency stabilisation proposals. Professor Moley, of Columbia University, has been identified in his own country as the chief of what has been picturesquely dubbed the Roosevelt “ brain trust,” concerning the members and the activities of which, and “ the rending of official Washington asunder by the advent of the professoriat,” a writer in the Chicago Tribune has offered some amusing comment. His picture is one of all Washington going to school to the professors, learning all about political science and economics, and of the “brain trust” completely overshadowing the Cabinet. Whatever the truth of the matter, it is certainly an engaging theory that has been circulated crediting the President with having a private coterie of professoradvisers, accustomed to assemble in more or less secret sessions at which, amid an atmosphere of profundity and mystery, the great problems of State are pondered and miraculously solved. The fact remains that Mr Roosevelt is sending to London Professor Moley, reputed to be his closest adviser, to whose influence rightly or wrongly has been ascribed the decision to take the country off the gold standard, the inflation policy, and the course the American - Government is pursuing in regard to war debts, stabilisation of currency and other matters that will be discussed by the Woi’ld Economic Conference. All things considered, the American delegates will possibly view the Professor’s coming with more relief than chagrin.