Insuring Your Insurance; A. V. Call

We have believed that prosperity could not long con tinue under a system whereby one man reaped what an other had sown; that it could not be increased by wars, trade barriers, artificial or natural famines, high taxes, restraints of trade or production, special-privilege legisla tion, currency debasement-the very obstacles to progress against which our forefathers tried to protect us when they set up our Constitution and form of government. The trust that our policyholders have in us depends on a confidence that when we repay our obligations in dol lars, those dollars will have a commensurate exchange value for something else. It is our unwritten, but never theless moral, obligation to do all we can to repay value with value. But we must now frankly face the fact that· our own government has become predatory. As long as we had a [ 173 ] government which performed the functions of protecting us against those who would seek to take our money or possessions without compensation, this tendency to take advantage of the belongings of others was held in check.

But now that our government itself has become predatory, a good part of this protection has vanished. If we include the foreign aid grants with the costs of preparation for future wars, then almost one-half of our 40-odd billion dollar budget is being spent presumably to fight off foreign collectivist threats to our security, our liberty, and our way of life. And yet a vast part of the rest of it is being spent right here at home to promote steps which are leading us inexorably toward exactly the same kind of collectivism-the same fallacies, the same delusions. The life insurance companies of America have 78 million policyholders. What eHorts have we made, let us ask ourselves, to convey to them any idea of the damage the something-for-nothing policies of government have done to their savings and to their future? It seems to me that the only hope for our economic salvation must lie in a determined expansion of an infor mational program. This is a good time to start. We must all of us turn salesmen for this, the most important sales campaign we have ever conducted. We must be fighters in the most important war we have ever fought-a war once again for American independence.

[174 ] INFLATION t'J 5..A. JJarper INFLATION can be prevented. Failure to do so is purely and simply a matter of negligence. Inflation is a trick done with money. Suppose that the government were to provide vending machines all over the country where persons could deposit each dollar they now have and get two in return, by merely pressing a button. If everyone were to use this gadget, each person could then pay twice as much as before for everything he buys. That would be inflation in a clear and simple form. People could, of course, put away some of this new money in "a sock" or otherwise hide it from circulation and use. But with this inflation gadget operating, there would be less incentive than before to keep the money in hiding, because it would become worth less and less with passing time. So the hoarding of money isn~t likely to solve the present inflation.problem, if it persists.