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About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (July 29, 1923)
Franc Will Hit Toboggan, Claim of Authorities h* Drop Not Expected to Go Be low Value of German Mark —Inflation Loses Glimmer. By MARK SULLIVAN. New York, July 28.—I arrived on < Jennan soil (at the city of Cologne) in the morning. I handed my two bags out through the window (as is the custom in Europe) to a porter. Then I joined the porter at the door of the oar. He asked me "Where to?" I said: "To the Dorn hotel.” He said: "I will carry them.” So I took no taxi, but walked to the hotel, with the porter carrying the two bags. At the hotel I asked the clerk to change a piece of French money into German mark*. For a piece of paper French money (worth in American money about 60 cents) I got a wad of Ger man tqarks in bills of 5,000 and 10,000 denominations, so large it was an in convenience to stuff it in my pocket. Then I asked the clerk how much I should, pay the porter -who had car rted my two bags a distance the . equivalent of about two American ;,clty blocks. The clerk said: "Oh, give • him 5,000 or 10,000 marks." I gave i him 10,000 marks. Later in the. day, when I was getting my bearings •, about the value of German money, I learned that 10,000 marks is worth between 6 and 7 cents. In any large American city the reasonable cost of , that service would have been at least 25 cents, and in many cities 60 cents. Fontenelle Service for 4 Bits. Then I had breakfast. The bill was 33,000 marks. In the confusion at tending dealings in such large figures I could not make out for a moment whether it was 33,000 marks or 133, 000 marks. But it was 33,000, and that was the equivalent of about 19 cents. For that I had ham and eggs, chocolate, bread, butter and jam. The .hotel in which that happened was the leading one in Cologne—equivalent, let us say, to any of the Statler ho tels in Cleveland or Detroit, or the Fontenelle In Omaha, or the St. Francis in San Francisco or the < 'laypool in Indianapolis. My room with bath in this hotel, clean and frfcBh and well kept, as everything German is, cost me 80,000 marks a day, almost 50 cents. Oddly and perhaps characteristic of the two countries, the piece of Ger man money which is worth about half a cent, the 1,000-mark bill, iB made of more durable paper than the French bill that is worth 30 cents. The French paper money is the last word in flimsines*. It is printed on paper not much better than the beat American newsprint and In inks run ning strongly to pale blues and pale browns. Inks which seem to fade with use. Once, when William Allen White and I happened to be In Europe together, we engaged in a small financial transaction which ended in my owing him some money. As I handed him some of these vari colored French notes he said: "What is that Mutt and Jeff colored Sunday supplement stuff you are trying to pay your debt with?" Money More Artistic. And yet, while the flimsy paper of the French money may stiggest the American Sunday supplement, the ar tistic quality does not. The French money before It becomes faded and mussed up la really beautiful In de sign. The German notes, perhaps - < haracteristically, are less delicately beautiful, but quite durable. A Ger man 1.009-mark note, worth less than 1 cent, might last as long as an American dollar hill. The cynical say the French make their money beautiful to look at In order to divert the mind of the public from the dubiousness of Its essential value. The value of the French franc is under suspicion all the time. Near ly every sophisticated person expects to see the franc start on the down ward toboggan almost any time. They pick up the paper each morning and look for the current value of the franc, much as an American base ball fan looks to see whether his ^favorite team has held its own. Kver since last January nearly every Kuro pean hanker you spoke to said he couldn't see how the franc held up. It isn't that the French are print ing too much money, in the way Ger many has been doing. The French have not since the war ended inflated their paper currency unduly. But what the French have done Is to In flate their bond Issups (the equivalent of our Liberty bonds) enormously. The French government Spends each year much more money than it col lects in taxes, by at least about $200, 000,000 a year. Some say the deficit is much more, for it is not easy to follow all the Intricacies a national treasury is able to devise when it is spending more than it collects, and therefore has a motive for camouflag ing Us operations. In any event, in flating bond issues, which is the same as printing more credit francs, will have much the same result in the long run as printing tnore cur rency francs. France to Hit Toboggan. France Justifies fhat it is doing on the theory that when some of these bond Issues come due France will be getting money from Germany to meet them. If ever the expectation of France getting large sums of money from Germany should come to seem vain, or if it should come to be recog nized as an expectation long deferred, in that event the French franc will start toward the same end as the Ger man mark. There is no reason why It should go so far. It ought not, in the N^orst eventually, go more than a fraction as far as the mark. But a good many well-informed per sons expect it to go a part of the way. Also, when any currency starts on the downward path It is apt to de velop greater momentum than the original conditions warranted. At each stage in the downward path the temptation of the government an! of some commercial interests is lo give it another shove. At each stage the hard thing is to stabilize, or try to go backward; the easy thing and the tempting thing is to inflate some more. So long as the inflation is continu ing and active it is, to considerable elements of the population, a Joy ride. To the savers of the country, those who have life insurance policies, de posits in savings banks, bonds, mort gages and the like—to ull these cur rency inflation is a tragedy, because it deprives them of everything they have. But to the spenders of a coun try Inflation is a joy ride. And, inas much as the spenders are usually more numerous than the savers, In flation Is generally popular until the end comes. It always makes business active, because at such a time the thing to do with money’ is to spend it, buy something with it. Don’t put it in the bank, for it shrivels up over night. Don't let it stay in your pocket a minute longer than it takc-s you to get to a shop and buy some thing. For that reason during infla tion business is always actiyp. It is a frightfully unhealthy activity, but the persons who realize that are not commonly many In number. Depends on Savers. To the reckless and to the shrewd who manage to snatch real profit out of it, as well as to the thoughtless who for a brief while think It Is profitable—to such Inflation may seem like something magic. But there's no real magic In it. All it means is that you take all the money the savers among the people have got together over a period of genera tions and you divide it up among the spenders. Essentially* that is what Inflation is. The spenders ,spend it, acd then it's gone. As soon as it is gone there is nothing to do but begin at the bot tom and start once more on the alow and painful business of living on what you earn. The temperamental savers among the people start once more their habit of living on a ILttle less than they earn. Out of what they save the country must slowly build up again that store of ac cumulated savings on \v alch the civilization of any country must re„t That Is, roughly, what Inflation is For purposes of brevity It is stated In generalizations, to which s, more exact statement would make some qualifications. When it Is said that everything the savers have is taken away from them the reference is only to those savers who have put their savings in banks, in life insurance, in annuities, in bonds and mortgages. There is one type of saver who in the beginning seems not to be affected so disastrously. The saver who has put bis money In tyouses. buildings and land seems Something New $100 and up| In Schmoller » & Mueller Phonographs We have just received a carload of CONSOLE model PHONOGRAPHS, our own make, in Colonial, Qheen Anne, Italian, Louis XIV, William and Mary and Adams designs. Five Dollars Down Sends One to Your Home Your choice is limited only by the amount you desire to pay, but there is sure to be one in this big shipment you will want for your own. Remember, Schmoller & Mueller sweet-toned Console Phonographs are being sold in every state in the Union and are FULLY GUARANTEED, they are sold direct from factory to home, so you have a saving of $100 or more when you purchase from us. See these wonderful values and compare them elsewhere. Your old phono graph accepted as a substantial part payment, and convenient terms arranged on the balance. IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE OF OMAHA WRITE FOR PRICES AND TERMS * U14-Ifr B Dodie St." -- Ora/Aa at firsi not only to he immune fixmi the disasters of inflation, but actually to be a beneficiary of it. As the value of the unit of currency goes down the quoted value of the land goes up If there is a mortgage on the land it rnn be'paid off v\ith a song But toward the end of the process the owner of houses and lands ceases to be immune. In Cologne the other day a house was sold whicli 10 year* ago was worth $15,000 in American money. The sale price the other day was the equivalent of $681 in Ameri can money. Germany is now at the point where the tragedy of inflation is finally catching up witli every ele ment of the population except the comparatively small number of the shrewd who have put their profit into dollars and hidden them away in New York or elsewhere. And it is doubtful if even that small class will be able to hold on to all their gains. Living Cost Cheaper. Germany Is the one country in Eu rope, so _ far as the present writer lias traveled, where the cost of living is conspicuously low. In France and in England the cost of living—to a traveleh-*fcertainly—is as high as in America. Doubtless to those who know tile country well enough to be able to practice economy and in the country districts distant from the large cities the cost of living in Eng land and France may he some little less than It is under corresponding conditions in America. But, broadly speaking, no American need go to France or England with the expecta tion of living less expensively than he ran under corresponding conditions in America, But in Germany, as I said in the be ginning. the cost of living is conspic uously lotf. It won't stay so low as it now is. It appears to be a law of the conditions accompanying currency in flation that when the value of the mark is going down rapidly it takes some time for the cost of living to ad just itself, and so long as the descent of the mark continues the cost of liv ing is low. But wo soon as the ipark reaches whatever is be its end and so soon as the currency is stabilized on a new basis the cost of living will go up somewhat. But even after that has happened the cost of living in Germany will still be low, relatively to America. So long as the mark is reaching lower quotations each suceeding day it takes longer for the merchant and the worker to fix a new price for his product than it lakes for the mtirk to make a new low quotation. That Is why, so long as rapid depredation is in progress the quoted prices of goods in stores are low. That is why wages fixed on a weekly or monthly basis are low and why the cost of living generally Is low. Just so soon as the end of inflation arrives, as it must soon arrive in Germany, the cost of living will adjust itself to a perma nent basis. Low Standard to Continue. In Germany for a generation or more to come the cost of living will be low. It will be low because the slandaffT of living will Lie low. It will be especially low if Germany is made to pay large reparations. W'hat-, ever reparations Germany pays must he paid in the long run by the work era. One is impressed again and again with how small, after all, Is the num her who even seem to get an advan tage out of inflation. There was a time when the workers of Gejmany. through the sheer intoxication of high figures—the unaccustomed hand ling of thousands of marks—thought there was a happy magic in It all. Hut long ago the workers began to feel the real effects. When I pay a porter the equivalent of 7 cents for half an hour's work It may seem a low cost of living to me, but one wonders what the porter and all the other wage earners must think about their cost of living. In Cologne a young British army officer told me the wages of his maid of all work for the month of June was 6U.OOO marks. That was the equival ent of about 40 cents a month. It was a low cost of living for the em ployer. but one wonders how the other party to the transaction gets along. If by any malevolent'chance we should have any suggestion of cheap money in America in the presi dential campaign next year, if we should be threatened by infection from these European countries, one hopes the wage worker will not be fooled. In the congressional campaign In New Jersey last fall Congressman Acker,-in running for re-election, had an impressive device for demonstrat ing from the platform the fallacy of cheap money. He had a letter sent from Russia to America. The Rus sian sender In paying the postage on the letter had to use so many ruble stamps that they were folded together like accordeon pleating. Congressman Acker used to take one end of the big sheet of ruble stamps and get some one standing 10 feet away to hold the other. The use of so many rubles to pay the postage on a single letter was reinforced in its lesson on the true essence of what inflation does by the fact that the inclosed letter was an appeal for help from a Russian who could not get enough to eat. (Copyright 1*2I> New Plan Inaugurated to Cut Freight Losses A new plan of supervision which is designed to eliminate much of the freight loss and damage claims on the Hock Island railroad has Just been put into effect by W. T. Dickin son, general solicitor for that rail road. Among the features of the plan will he the distribution of text books to all trainmen and agents with respect to proper handling of freight in transit. A soiled clothesline can be wrapped around the washboard and thoroughly scrubbed with a brush and hot *oap suds. Omaha Contractor Works Three Jobs Construction on an addition, to the KcliulUo Baking company plant at t'200 Leavenworth street is to start Monday. The American Construction com pany of Omaha, of which \V. JBhyd Jones is president, has the contract for the addition which will cost 130,. HOO and will include a new storage warehouse, platforms and ovens. The American Construction com pany also ha* a contract for an oil , cellar and storage warehouse at Ot tumwa, In . for tne Burlington rail road. The same Omaha firm bus just completed building the searchlight tower for the Postoffk-e department at the new air mall field at Fort Crook. The American Bible society has circulated 1,987,326 Blbies in China. The volumes are In 16 languages and dialects of the country and in eight foreign tongues. ^bonpon,€)d6en&€a Advance Showing of Fall Millinery $7.50 $10 $12.50 CHARMING new creations that are predestined to be favored by the miss, matron or the most stylish lady for early wear. Authentic styles in satin, taffeta, duvetyne, Lyons and Panne velvet and the newest combinations in the very newest colors. Fourth Floor Coupon ,€>f!6en & Co. August Fur Sale Begins Monday, July 30 Savings of 20% to 331% Why Buy Furs in August? Because ■ The first garments of the season are always made of the softest, primest skins. They are worked slowly and carefully before the rush is on. Early showings contain models that are not du plicated later. New fur styles call for a tremendous number of pelts, causing prices to advance every day. And ■ you further obtain the benefit of special August terms and privileges. Hudson Seal Coats $395 Luxury as well as warmth is personified in these superfine crea tions. Novel designs in the collars and cuffs of Kolinsky, Viatka or Nat ural Squirrel, Marten (skunk) and self. 40 to 50-inch lengths. ♦ . - Terms of the Sale Any garment may be se lected on payment of Vi Deposit and the balance to b«‘ paid November 1. You _ take no risk. Free stor age will be provided on any garment you select until you are ready to wear it. / Hudson Seal Coats $275 The fine quality of skins in these luxurious Hudson Seal (dyed muskrat) coats make them one of our big features. Collars and new Bishop cuffs of finest marten (skunk.) 45-inch models, beautifully lined. Small Furs and Chokers Natural Mink, $15.00. Baum Marten, $22.50. Stone Marten, $24.50. Brown Foxes, $24.50. Hudson Hay Sable, $45. Natural Squirrel, $10.00. Stone Marten Opossum, $8.50. Natural Muskrat Coats $125 Finest dark skins are strikingly effective in these novel creations in this most popular fur. Attractively lined 45 to 48-inch models. Sealine Coats $165 Six styles to select from in the finest quality of Soaline (dyed coney.) Striking models in 48 to 50-inch lengths. Fur Shop—Third Floor French Seal Coats $125 Stunning models of French Seal (dyed coney) in novel reverse stripes with panel sides. Four styles to select from in 45 to 50-inch models. Caracul Coats $450 Beige Caracul Coats in wrap around style, with squirrel collar and wide Jenny sleeve. Very lux urious. 48-inch length. Scotch Mole Coats $395 Ultra-smart models in IK and 50-inch length with novel side closing with ornament fastening. Collar and cuffs of fine Taupe Fox. Tompson ,€>d6en& Co. Final Clearance J 50 Silk Dresses $25.00 Greatly Reduced Lovely afternoon frocks and sport dresses, distinc tive in styling and beautifully ornamented. All have been much higher priced and while they are late spring and summer frocks, they are the type and color to be worn the year arOUnd. Third Floor Silk Hose Vi Price White Silk Hose With Embroidered Clocks All of our finest white silk hose with hand-embroi dered clocks in bright sweater shades at one half price. Women’s White Silk Hose With Handsome Lace Motifs All of our white silk hose with handsome re productions of hand-made Belgian lace motifs at one-half price. Exquisite hosiery for the bride. . Infants' and Children's half and Three-Quarter Hose V2 Price Main Floor | Wash Goods Reduced Zephyr Ginghams 29c a yard Renfrew and other good brands in pretty checks, broken plaids and plain shades, 32-inch. Dotted Marquisette 39c a yard An excellent quality in sheer white marqui sette for curtains, 36 inches wide. Cretonne 39c a yard Attractive small patterns suitable for aprons, applique work or comforts. 36 inches wide. Second Floor — ■ .. , Sale of Footwear Pumps and Oxfords Now $6.95 Smart styles for street or dress, including black and / Month I End I ISALCsjf Drown Kid oxfords with welt soles and military heels. Strap slippers in brown kid, patent, brown and black suede; also patent pumps with sand quarters. Novelty Footwear $7.95 Cutout sandals in the newest colorings—red. tan. green and gray trimmed with patent. Mota Floor Handbags Reduced 20% Leather and Silk Bags his reduction applies to all handbags over $3.50. Included are hand-tooled leather bags in the soft, shades of brown. Beaver calf in brown and gray. Black pin seal and patent leather bags.' Silk bags in brown, tan or black and a few silk beaded bags in tan and gray. M... FI#or Ml purchases charged during this sale will appear on September 1 statements.