From the Pen of Thomas Edison

[peristaltor]

If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good, makes the bill good also. . . . Both are promises to pay, but one fattens the usurers and the other helps the people. If the currency issued by the Government was no good, then the bonds would be no good either. It is a terrible situation when

Comments

[richie73]

I agree with that. When I read progressive political writing from the time of the gilded age, the great depression or the new deal, I'm always amazed at the clarity of thought and the frankness of speech. Back then, things could be said clearly that today even alluding to places you firmly outside the mainstream political discourse. The Roosevelt state of the union piece I posted in my journal the other day is a great example. I wish Obama possessed a fraction of this clarity, or the courage to express it.

[peristaltor]

I just read that post. Nicely put. I doubt, though, Pres. Obama could deliver a speech like that. Roosevelt touched on well-known -- meaning well-publicized -- facts of post-Crash America that simply are not as well-known today simply because they are not well-publicized. Our modern media has been co-opted by monied interests that can completely quash debate.

If you haven't already, I recommend Secrets of Oz, that video I posted a few entries ago. William Jennings Bryan makes FDR look as inept at public speaking as modern speakers like Obama and Blair make Bush, Jr. Bryan recorded some of his Cross of Gold speech for Edison disc, apparently, years after he made it. Bryan's got a wonderful old-time vocal resonance so popular in stage actors before the age of film, and uses a complexity of prose absent from the matter-of-fact speakers today. He must have had that crowd captivated.

[alobar]

> Finding this quote gives further credence to my suspicion
> that far more people thought about and understood our monetary system
> in the past than do today.

The Secret of Oz video you posted sure opened my eyes to that!