Page:David Atkins - The Economics of Freedom (1924).pdf/295

 exist, or to real property which does exist. This, however, is also unlikely since the education that comes from ownership of property (in spite of the unequally distributed tax-burden that rests upon it) will cause us to realize that we are all dependent upon our closely interwoven social structure.

The third avenue we may take is repudiation of onerous obligations by lurching and unmeasured inflation; that is, we shall attempt, by special and unrelated legislation, to deal with each symptom which harms some politically well-organized group more for a moment than the other symptoms hurt the rest of us. The anxious politician, fearful of losing votes, will irreverently ignore the refrain “Deflate and ye shall be saved.” Behind our political tactics in dodging possible revolution by inflation, we shall find much of the impetus of war, and many of its evil effects. Salvation will be arranged for in terms of dollars, and denied in terms of goods. A new temporary aristocracy will emerge from the confusion following this maneuver, but it cannot look for secure tenure, owing to the need of the demagogue for a daily victim to throw to the wolves.

This modern method of meeting pressure is the one most likely to be employed, unless in the interval we take some conscious steps in the direction of making our unit of value representative of value. Repudiation, by legislative process, of the domination of the so-called gold-dollar will be doggedly fought against, not only by such financial interests as find themselves, for the time being, in a position of control, but also by all who have taken so-called “gold” dollars for their goods and real property, with a belief that “deflation” was really a gentlemen’s agreement and the order of the day. These linked interests will have an army of zealous supporters,—small landlords who live upon their rents, retired workers who are depending upon modest investments, the retail buyer of bonds, and a host of others who will be driven into the present financial strongholds by snobbishness, by self-interest, or by sheer dependency on their financial betters. In addition to these there will be many thoughtful economists who see clearly that the apparent prosperity which follows this type of inflation is not