The Story of Uncle Sam's Money by W. O. WoodsReview by: Carl E. AllenThe Accounting Review, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Dec., 1932), p. 308Published by: American Accounting AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/238193 .

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308 The Accounting Review

book leaves the reader with the impression that the accounting and the legal professions have no reason to be proud of their achievements, but that they have a wide field in which master minds will find plenty of work to be done.

ROBERT WEIDENHAMMER

The Story of Uncle Sam's Money. W. 0. Woods. (New York: The Gregg Publishing Company. 1932. Pp. xiv, 177.)

The author, Major Walter 0. Woods, Treasurer of the United States, gave a series of addresses in 1930-81 on the story of Uncle Sam's money. These addresses have been used as a basis for this book. The purpose of the volume evidently is to give to the general public in a concise and simple manner information concerning some of the transactions carried out by the Treasury Department, emphasiz- ing in particular the issue and redemption of money and bonds.

In the first two chapters a brief description is given of the general structure of the Treasury De- partment and of the methods used in accounting for, and the auditing of, receipts and disbursements.

The next seven chapters are devoted to a short history of various types of money that have been issued by the United States. This includes a de- scription of metal coins, gold and silver certificates, "greenbacks," national bank notes, federal reserve notes, and some obsolete and emergency currencies.

How the federal reserve banks cooperate with the Treasury Department is the subject matter of another chapter, being followed by a brief account of the process of bond redemption and of how error and fraud are prevented in safeguarding the currency and the bonds.

The various activities of the Treasury Depart- rnent other than those of the Treasury proper are very briefly described in another chapter. These activities include jurisdiction over internal revenue, customs, coast guard, federal buildings, public health, industrial alcohol, farm loans, and engraving and printing.

The federal budget and the financial operations of the national government are given scant and elementary attention in the last two chapters.

The book is clearly and simply written and con- tains several interesting pictures. The author has succeeded fairly well in his attempt to clarify for the layman the monetary operations carried on by the Treasury Department. The book, however, is of little value to one already informed on money problems.

CAL E. ALLzw

The Dual System of Stabilisation. Enlarged second edition. J. Taylor Peddie. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1931. Pp. xviii, 250, $5.00.) The implications of the "catchy" title help to sus-

tain the reader's interest to the last chapter wherein the author states his thesis "that commercial bank- ing must he separated from financial banking and

that the ratio at which banks may be permitted to expand financial credits should not exceed nine to one." There are a number of interesting suggestions for changing banking policy and monetary legisla- tion, but the statistical and historical evidence sub- mitted is chiefly that of Great Britain. Lengthy di- gressions are devoted to the author's diverse ideas concerning Great Britain's debt problem, taxation policy, and world position.

All of our present difficulties arise, in the au- thor's opinion, from the defects of the monetary system based on gold (p. 173). However, he derides the adoption of a currency managed with reference to the price level (pp. 131, 135, 220). He proposes, peculiarly, a domestic currency dominated by pro- ducers and not by banking policy (p. 145). Pro- ducers would fix their prices at cost plus an allow- ance for profit, antecedent to the granting of credits in the form of commercial bills based upon such production, and the quantity of currency therefore would fluctuate with the aggregate values of such production. Gold would be treated as a commodity to be used in settling international balances (p. 115), without maintaining a fixed price for the pur- chase and sale of gold (p. 117). Fluctuating central bank rediscount rates as a method of controlling credit volume would be abolished. In lieu thereof, central banks would be given the power to fix and vary the ratio permitted to banks between their deposits and cash. Somehow-and presumably con- tinually-the new monetary system would bring about increased production, higher wages, and lower prices, giving Great Britain a greater domestic prosperity and a stronger bargaining position in her export market. Few of the effects or repercus- sions of the proposals have been canvassed or stated. More particularly, the relationship of his proposals to business profits and resulting effects on business enterprise, business cycles, and the capitalistic sys- tem of economic control are ignored. None of the specific proposals for creating a new monetary world have been carried through to their logical or practical conclusions.

The author states that his "'Dual System of Stabilisation' is largely, if not wholly, in operation" under the provisions of the Federal Reserve Act (p. 227), except that he would have, as a method of credit control, (a) all member banks compelled to rediscount all eligible commercial bills (p. 225) and (b) member bank ratios of deposits to cash and reserves changeable by the central board in lieu of present fluctuating rediscount rates.

The book is typical of a large number of publica- tions appearing in periods of great economic dis- turbance. Such publications in our day threaten to become even more numerous than those produced in America during the gold and silver controversy before and after 1896, or those produced in England before and after the Bank Act of 1844. These books indicate the number of earnest persons interested in the problems of economic organization and dy- namics who possess a praiseworthy desire to im-

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