Gold and the Gold Standard

Prefatory Note

At the end of the war, this world will be confronted with the problem of rehabilitating its monetary systems and of thereby bringing order out of the monetary chaos that has been created. Many different kinds of monetary standards will have their advocates, and the debate will be a vigorous one in terms of both light and heat. Early discussions of the problem should contribute to the formation of an intelligent public opinion. It is with the thought of making such a contribution that this book is being written.

Prominent among the contenders for first position in the world’s monetary systems of the early postwar future will be the gold standard, which, though badly battered and bruised, can still claim, by reason of its past record, to be the heir apparent.

The discussion that follows attempts to explain briefly the origin and history of gold money and of the gold standard, the fundamental principles of the gold standard, its defects and merits, and to outline a plan for a future international gold standard.

In the preparation of this book I have received aid from many friends—too many to mention by name in a brief prefatory note. I must, however, make exception by expressing my particular gratitude to Dr. Louis C. West and Professor Philip K. Hitti, of Princeton, for their valuable suggestions concerning the money of ancient times, and to my son Professor Donald L. Kemmerer, of the University of Illinois, and Professor Oskar Morgenstern, of Princeton, both of whom read the entire manuscript and gave me many useful criticisms and suggestions, most of which I have adopted.

EDWIN WALTER KEMMERER.

PRINCETON, N. J.,
October, 1944.