Page:David Atkins - The Economics of Freedom (1924).pdf/144

 debtors that the new territory acquired by them during the days of their borrowing will not be effectively closed to us by tariffs and prior concessions. Otherwise, the United States taxpayer provides for the fences and the gamekeeper, and the alien imperialist enjoys the hunting. This situation is perhaps a delicate one since in the name of “freedom” we have already preëmpted some preserves of our own.

The third sophisticated consideration is whether with their obligations to the United States taxpayer generously cancelled, our foreign debtors are not promptly going to be encouraged to incur new private obligations to less sentimental money lenders in exchange for the huge stock of gold now resting idly in United States Government vaults, to the embarrassment of its international owners, thus serving a double end by putting it to very profitable exterior use and assisting “deflation” at home, incidentally redoubling the taxpayers’ burden.

To leave in our domestic system certificates of value to the extent of $10,093,275,393, and then waive our call on the so-called value itself, is painful enough to contemplate, since this would dilute the value of every dollar now in the savings banks; but to open the way to the profitable export of our focus of value is much more painful to most of us, though not necessarily to its private owners. However, it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good, even under a system that bases “value” and the individual freedom so obviously involved, upon a small and active pea to be found, at times, under one of many shells.

If we have the courage to base taxation upon the control of value instead of upon need and activity, and then claim our full heritage of the measurable value which results, we could afford to be generous and cancel all indebtedness. (And we could also afford to remind our debtors that we were under the impression that the World War was being fought for freedom—not for Mandate C.)

Because we do not recognize and lay claim to our full