GOLD AND THE A.A.A.

The decision of the Supreme Court in the gold cases that was hailed by senators and professors as correct, may turn out not to be an unmitigated blessing to the Administration. Orders so swamped the grain exchanges in Kansas City and Chicago that they were forced to close and before the decision was an hour old cotton had risen a dollar a bale. Thus, while the monoyists of the brain trust ranks were preening themselves on having been successfully rationalized, those gentlemen in the government, who are seeking to increase our exports as an aid to recovery, mourned privately.

Cotton, for instance, has been selling in the American market, by reason of A.A.A. help, at twelve cents a pound. The European market thinks six is enough. Secretary Wallace has been trying to get the foreign market to take more cotton. With the price of cotton up what has become of the chances of increasing our exports of cotton?

Similarly there is the matter of the processing taxes. They are levied on what is called parity prices. If the parity price is reached no more processing taxes can be exacted.

All this will undoubtedly bring a demand from some sources for further devaluation of the dollar. Forty dollars an ounce has already been suggested instead of the present price of thirty-five dollars. So that besides increasing the already too numerous internal inconsistencies of Administration policy, the recent decisions may conceivably end in a vicious circle involving further depreciation of the currency.