The present issue of money generally does not coincide with the need per capita, and consequently it cannot satisfy all the needs of the working classes. The issue of currency must correspond with the increase in population, and children must be reckoned as consumers from the day of their birth. The revision of the issue of currency is an essential problem for the whole world.
You know that gold currency was detrimental to the governments that accepted it, for it could not satisfy the requirements for money, since we took as much gold as possible out of circulation.
We must issue a currency based on the value of the working power, whether it be of paper or wood. We will issue money in proportion to the normal demands of every subject, adding a certain amount at every birth and decreasing it with every death.
Every department (the French administrative divisions),[6]every district, will be in charge of its own accounts.
To avoid any delay in paying government expenses, the terms of such payments will be decreed by order of the sovereign; this will eliminate any favoritism of the ministry (of finance)[7]over any other department to the detriment of the others.
The budget of revenues and the budget of expenditure will be placed side by side, in order that they may always be compared with each other.
We will present plans for the reform of theGoyfinancial institutions and of their principles, as planned by us, in such a manner that nobody will be frightened. We will demonstrate the need of reform by the disorderly twaddle produced by the financial disorganization of theGoys. We will show that the first reason for this confusion lies in the drafting of rough estimates for the budget, which increases from year to year. This annual budget is with great difficulty made to last during the first half of the year; then a revised budget is demanded and the funds thus allotted are spent in the next three months, after which a supplementary budget is called for and all this is wound up by a liquidation budget. As the budget of the following year is based on the total expenditure of the preceding year, the divergence from the normal reaches fifty per cent annually, so that the annual budget trebles every ten years. Owing to such a procedure, resulting from the carelessness of theGoygovernments, their treasuries became empty. The period of loans followed and used up the remainder and brought all theGoystates to bankruptcy.
You can well understand that such a management of financial affairs as we induced theGoysto pursue cannot be adopted by us.
Every loan proves the impotency of the government and its failure to understand its own rights. Loans, like the sword of Damocles, hang above the heads of the rulers, who instead of placing temporary taxes on their subjects, stretch forth their hands and beg the charity of our bankers. Foreign loans are leeches, which can never be removed from the governmental body until they either fall off themselves or the government itself manages to get rid of them. But theGoygovernments instead of throwing them off increase their number, so that these governments must inevitably perish through self-inflicted loss of blood.
Indeed, what is a loan, especially a foreign loan, if not a leech? A loan is the issuance of government obligations which involve the liability to pay interest in proportion to the sum borrowed. If the loan pays five per cent, then in twenty years the government has unnecessarily paid in interest an amount equal to the principal sum borrowed. In forty years it has paid twice; in sixty years it has trebled the sum, while the loan still remains an unpaid debt.
From this calculation it is evident that under the system of universal taxation the government takes the last penny from the poor taxpayers in the form of taxes in order to pay interest to foreign capitalists, from whom the money was borrowed, instead of collecting these same pennies for its needs free from all interest.
So long as the loans were domestic, theGoysonly shifted the money from the pockets of the poor into those of the rich; but when we bribed the proper persons to make the loans foreign, then national riches poured into our hands and all theGoysbegan to pay us the tribute of subjects.
The carelessness of the reigningGoysin statemanship, the corruption of their ministers, the ignorance of other officials of financial problems, has forced their countries into debt to our banks to such an extent that they can never pay off their debts. It should be realized, however, that we have gone to great pains in order to bring about such a state of affairs.
Impediments to the circulation of money will not be allowed by us, and therefore there will be no government bonds, except one per cent bonds, so that the payment of interest should not deliver the power of the state to the sucking of leeches. The right of issuing bonds will be exclusively granted to industrial corporations, which will easily pay the interest out of their profits. The government, however, does not derive profit on borrowed money as these corporations do, since the state borrows money for expenditure and not for production.
Industrial bonds will also be bought by the government, which instead of being, as at present, the payer of tribute on loans, will become a sound creditor. Such a measure will prevent stagnation in the circulation of money, as well as indolence and laziness, which were useful to us so long as theGoysremained independent, but are not wanted by us in our government.
How apparent is the shortsightedness of the purely bestial brains of theGoys! It manifested itself when they borrowed money for at interest. It did not occur to theGoysthat, at any rate, this money, with the additional interest on it, would have to be taken from the resources of the country and paid to us. Would it not have been more simple to take the needed money from their own people?
This proves the genius of our distinguished mind, for we were able to present the question of loans to them in such a light that they saw in loans an advantage for themselves.
Our estimates, which we will produce when the time comes, will be based on the experience of centuries, on all those experiments which were conducted by us at the expense of theGoygovernments; our estimates will prove to be clear and definite, and will obviously demonstrate the advantage of our new system. They will end all those abuses which made it possible for us to master theGoys, but which cannot be permitted in our reign.
We will so organize the accounting system that neither the sovereign himself nor the most humble clerk will be able to deflect the smallest sum from its destination or direct it into a different channel from that indicated in our original financial plan.
It is impossible to govern without a definite plan. Traveling along a definite road with an indefinite supply of provisions destroys heroes and knights.
TheGoyrulers, to whom we once gave advice to neglect governmental duties for grandiose receptions, etiquette, and pleasures, only concealed our rule. The accounts of the powerful favorites who replaced the sovereign were drawn up by our agents, and they always satisfied the shallow minds by promises that in the future there would be savings and improvements. Savings from what? From new taxes? This might have been asked but was not asked by those who read our reports and plans. You know to what their carelessness has led them, what financial disorganization they have reached in spite of the wonderful diligence of their people.
I will add one more detail regarding domestic loans in addition to the report which I made at the last meeting. I will not speak any more of foreign loans, for they filled our coffers with the national money of theGoys. There will be no foreigners in our government, nobody outside.
We profited by the corruption of the administrators and by the negligence of the rulers in receiving sums that weredoubled, trebled, and even more, loaning theGoygovernments money which in reality was not needed by the states at all. Who could do the same with regard to us? Therefore, I will only set forth details in regard to domestic loans.
In announcing such a loan, the governments open a subscription to their bonds. To make them accessible to all, they vary the denomination from one hundred to thousands, and the first subscribers are allowed to buy below face value. The following day the price is artificially raised on the pretext that everybody hurried to buy the bonds. In a few more days there is a pretense that the treasury is filled and that it is not known what to do with the money, which has been oversubscribed. (What was the use of taking it?) The subscription is evidently considerably in excess of the amount asked for. Therein lies the effect, for it is thus demonstrated that the public has confidence in the government obligations.
But after the comedy has been played the fact of the debt appears, and it is usually a heavy one. In order to pay the interest, new loans have to be issued, which do not liquidate but increase the original debt. Then when the borrowing capacity of the government has been exhausted, it becomes necessary to meet the interest on the loan—not the loan itself—by new taxes. These taxes are nothing but a debit used to cover a debit.
Then comes the period of conversions, but these only decrease the payment of interest while they do not annul the debts. Moreover, they cannot be made without the consent of the bondholders. When a conversion is advertised, an offer is made to return the money to those who are not willing to convert their bonds. If everybody were to demand his money, the government would be caught in its own net and would be unable to return all the money. Fortunately, theGoysubjects, ignorant of financial affairs, always preferred to suffer a fall in the value of their securities and a reduction of interest to the risk of new investments; thus, they have given these governments more than one opportunity of throwing off a deficit of several millions. At present, with the existence of foreign loans, theGoyscannot play such tricks, for they know that we would demand all the money back.
Thus, an avowed bankruptcy will be the best proof of the lack of common interest between the people and their government.
I direct your express attention to the above circumstance, as also to the following: At present all domestic loans are consolidated into so-called floating debts; in other words, into those whose terms of payment are more or less close at hand. Such debts consist of money placed in savings banks. Being at the disposal of the government, for a considerable length of time, these funds vanish in the payment of interest on foreign loans, and they are replaced by an equal amount of government securities.The latter cover all the deficits in the government treasuries of theGoys.
When we mount the throne of the universe, such financial expedients, being detrimental to our interests, will vanish. We will also destroy all stock exchanges, for we will not allow the prestige of our authority to be shaken by the shifting of the prices of our securities. We will fix the full price of their value legally without any possibility of its fluctuation. (A rise leads to a fall, and this was precisely what we did to theGoystocks and bonds at the beginning.)
We will replace the stock exchanges by great government credit institutions, whose functions will be to tax commercial values according to governmental plans. These institutions will be in a position to throw daily on the market 500,000,000 shares of industrial stocks, or to buy up a like amount. Thus all industrial enterprises will become dependent upon us. You can well imagine what power that will give us.
In all that I have hitherto reported to you I have carefully tried to show you a true picture of the mystery of present events, as also of those of the past, which all flow into the stream of great events, the results of which will be seen in the near future. I have exposed our secret plans which govern our relations with theGoys, as well as our financial policy. There remains but little to add.
We hold in our hands the greatest modern power—gold. In the course of two days we can get it from our treasuries in any desired quantity.
Is there any more need for us to prove that our rule is decreed by God? Do we not prove by such wealth that all theevil which we were forced to do during so many centuries has served in the end to true happiness—to the restoration of order? Although by means of violence, order will nevertheless be established. We will be able to prove that we are benefactors, who have brought true welfare and individual freedom to the tortured world, insuring at the same time the possibility of enjoying peace, quiet, and dignity of relationships, upon the sole condition, of course, that obedience to the laws established by us is practiced. We will also make it clear that freedom does not mean license and in doing whatever people please, no more than dignity and power imply the right to propound destructive doctrines, like freedom of conscience, equality, and similar things. Individual freedom by no means imports the right of disturbing oneself and others, disgracing oneself by making ridiculous speeches in disorderly gatherings, and implies that true liberty means individual inviolability through an honest and strict obedience to social laws; that moreover, human dignity implies the conception of one’s rights as well as the idea of legal inhibitions which prohibit fantastic dreams about theEgo.
Our power will be glorious because it will be mighty; it will rule and guide, and not helplessly crawl after leaders and orators, shouting insane words which they call great principles, and which in reality are simply Utopian. Our power will lead to order, which, in turn, brings happiness to the people. The prestige of this power will excite mystical adoration, and the peoples will bow before it. True power does not yield to any right, even be it that of God. None will dare approach it in order to deprive it even of an atom of its might.
To teach the people obedience they must be taught modesty, and to accomplish this the production of luxuries must be limited. We will thus improve customs, demoralized by rivalry, resulting from luxury.
We will restore handicraft, which will undermine the private capital of manufacturers. This is necessary, because big manufacturers often influence, although not always consciously, the thoughts of the people against the government.
A people, practicing handicraft, does not know what unemployment means, and this makes them cling to existing conditions and consequently to the power of authority. Unemployment is most dangerous for a government. It will have finished its work for us as soon as authority falls into our hands.
Drunkenness will also be forbidden by law and will be punishable as a crime against human decency, for man becomes bestial under the influence of alcohol.
Once more I state, that people obey blindly only the hand that is strong and entirely independent of them, in which they see a sword of defense and a stronghold against the blows of social misfortune. Why should the sovereign have an angel’s heart? They want to see in him the personification of might and power.
The sovereign who will replace the present existing governments, dragging along their existence in the midst of a society demoralized by us, which denies even the power of God and from whose midst rises on all sides the flames of anarchy, must primarily undertake to extinguish this all-consuming fire. Therefore, he must destroy such a society, if necessary drown it in its own blood, in order to resurrect it as a well-organized army, which consciously struggles against the infection of any anarchy affecting the state organism.
He, God’s elect, is chosen from above for the purpose of crushing the insane forces that are moved by instinct and not by intellect, by bestiality and not by humanitarianism. These forces are now triumphant, and assume the form of robberies and all kinds of violence exercised in the name of liberty and of right. They have destroyed all social order, so as to establish the throne of the King of Israel; but their rôle will be ended with his coming into power. Then it will be necessary to sweep them from his path, on which not a twig or an impediment shall remain.
Then we will say to the peoples: Pray to God and bow before him who bears the mark of predestination, to whom God Himself showed His Star, so that none but He Himself should free you from all sinful forces and from evil.
Now I shall refer to the manner in which we will strengthen the dynastic roots of King David so as to cause this dynasty to endure until the last day. This method will consist chiefly of the same principles which enabled our Wise Men to conserve their power to cope with universal problems and to guide the education of the thoughts of humanity at large.
A few members of the seed of David will train the sovereigns and their successors, who will be selected not by right of inheritance, but according to their personal ability. To them the deep political mysteries and the plan of our rule will be confided, but in such a wise manner that nobody will know these secrets. The aim of this method is to prove to all that power will not be given to the uninitiated in the mysteries of political art.
Only such people will be taught how to apply the above mentioned plans in practice, by comparing them with the experiences of many centuries, and only they will be initiated in the conclusions drawn from all the observations of political, economic, and social movements and sciences; in short, only they will know the true spirit of the laws, irrevocably established by nature for the purpose of regulating human relationship.
Direct descendants of the sovereign will often be prevented from inheriting the throne if, during the period of their study, they show signs of frivolity, lenience, or other tendencies detrimental to authority, which would make them incapable of government and dangerous to the prestige of the Crown.
Only those of an undoubtedly able and firm, even cruel character, will receive the reins of government from our Wise Men.
In case of illness, loss of will-power, or any other form of inefficiency, the sovereigns will be compelled to hand over the reins of government to new and able hands.
The sovereign’s immediate plan of action and its application in the future will be unknown even to the so-called closest advisers.
Only the sovereign and his three sponsors will know the future.
In the person of the sovereign, with his immovable will overhimself and humanity, all will recognize Fate itself with her mysterious paths. Nobody will know the aims of the sovereign when he issues his orders, and thus nobody will dare oppose him.
Naturally the mental capacity of the sovereign must be equal to the plan of rule herein contained. For this reason he will not mount the throne before a test of his mind is made by the above mentioned Wise Men.
To make people know and love their sovereign, it is necessary that he should address the people in public places, thus establishing harmony between the two forces, now separated from each other by mutual terror. This terror was necessary for us until the time came to make both forces fall under our influence.
The King of Israel must not be influenced by his passions, especially by sensuality. No particular element of his nature must have the upper hand and rule over his mind. Sensuality, more than anything else, upsets mental ability and clearness of vision by deflecting thought to the worst and most bestial side of human nature.
The Pillar of the Universe in the person of the World Ruler, sprung from the sacred seed of David, must sacrifice all personal desires for the benefit of his people.
Our sovereign must be irreproachable.