Words & Music

Some say
that inflation is desirable.

Some say
that inflation is deplorable.

Some say
that inflation is deplorable
but inevitable.

The way to avoid inflation
is to tighten the burden
of money-borrowers
without robbing the money-lenders.

And the way
to lighten the burden
of money-borrowers
with robbing the money-lenders
is to pass two laws:
one law making immediately illegal
all interest on money lent
and another law
obligating the money-borrowers
to pay one per cent of the debt
every year
during a period
of a hundred years.

When people save money
that means money is invested.

Money invested
increases production.

Increased production
brings a surplus in production.

A surplus in production
brings unemployment.

Unemployment
brings a slump in business.

A slump in business
brings more unemployment.

More unemployment
brings a depression.

A depression
brings more depression.

More depression
brings red agitation.

Red agitation
brings red revolution.

When John Calvin
legalized money-lending at interest,
he made the bank account
the standard of values.

When the bank account
became the standard of values,
people ceased to produce for use
and began to produce for profits.

When people began to produce for profits
they became
wealth-producing maniacs.

When people became wealth-producing maniacs
they produced too much wealth.

When people found out
that they had produced too much wealth
they went on an orgy
of wealth-destruction
and destroyed
ten million lives besides.

Because John Calvin
legalized money-lending at interest,
the State has legalized
money-lending at interest.

Because the State has legalized
money-lending at interest,
home owners
have mortgaged their farms;
institutions
have mortgaged their buildings;
congregations
have mortgaged their churches;
cities, counties, States
and Federal Government
have mortgaged their budgets.

So people find themselves
in all kinds of financial difficulties
because the State
has legalized money-lending at interest
in spite of the teachings
of the Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church.

The Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church
forbade lending money at interest.

Lending at interest
was called usury
by the Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church.

Usurers were not considered
to be gentlemen
when people used to listen
to the Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church.

When people used to listen
to the Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church
they could not see anything gentle
in trying to live
on the sweat of somebody else’s brow
by lending money at interest.

Christ says: “The dollar you have
is the dollar you give.”

The Banker says: “The dollar you have
is the dollar you keep.”

Christ says: “You cannot serve two masters,
God and Mammon.”

“‘You cannot.’ And all our education consists
in trying to find out how we can,”
says Robert Louis Stevenson.

“The poor are the true children of the Church”,
says Bossuet.

“Modern society
has made the bank account
the standard of values”,
says Charles Peguy.

After the World War
people tried to believe
that a New Era
had dawned upon the world.

People thought
that they had found a solution
to the problem
of mass-distribution.

People thought
that the time had come
for the two-car garage,
a chicken in every pot,
and a sign “To Let”
in front of every poor-house.

And everybody
wanted to cash in
on the future prosperity.

So stock promoters got busy
and stocked people with stocks
till they got stuck.

As President Wilson said,
the World War
was a commercial war.

But a commercial war
had to be idealized,
so it was called
a War for Democracy.

But the War for Democracy
did not bring Democracy:
it brought
Bolshevism in Russia,
Fascism in Italy,
Nazism in Germany.

The Laissez-Faire Economists
told everybody
that competition
is the life of trade
and that it is a case
of survival of the fittest.

So since 1800
looking for markets
has engaged men’s activities.

And since trade follows the flag
industral nations
have also become
imperialst nations.

The fight for markets
between two industrial nations,
England and Germany,
was the main cause
of the World War.

With the discovery of steam
the factory system
made its appearance.

To take drudgery out of the home
was suppose to be
the aim of the manufacturer.

So the guildsman
left his shop
and went to the factory.

But the profit-making manufacturer
found it more profitable
to employ women
than to employ men.

So the women left the home
and went to the factory.

Soon the children
followed the women
into the factory.

So the men have to stay at home
while women and children
work in the factory.