1931 DEPRESSION ERA LETTERS - MASSACHUSETTS & U.S. POLITICS & ECONOMY for Sale

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1931 DEPRESSION ERA LETTERS - MASSACHUSETTS & U.S. POLITICS & ECONOMY For Sale

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1931 DEPRESSION ERA LETTERS - MASSACHUSETTS & U.S. POLITICS & ECONOMY:
$35.00

We are offering two letters from Edmund J. Burke, a Chestnut Hill [Newton], Massachusetts resident, about political and economic conditions of both the state of Massachusetts and on the National level, during the Great Depression. [In our research, we found that Edmund J. Burke was a shoe manufacturer in Haverhill, Lynn and Beverly]1.)Typewritten copy of a letter dated Nov. 1, 1931, that he had sent to the editor of the Boston Herald, and which had been published in the Nov. 4 issue of the Herald. In his letter, Burke refers to a letter from George R. Nutter, a known lawyer, that had been published in the Herald, in which Nutter pointed out that although the population of Massachusetts had increased by 10%, the taxes collected had increased by 60%, and the state's debt had increased by 50% [obviously meaning the state was spending way more than they were collecting]. We have sometimes paraphrased what he wrote for the sake of brevity and clarity.
Burke disagrees with Nutter's solution to the problem which was to install a Commission to determine what and how communities may spend and borrow, "implying that they are "super men" (who do not exist) and would only add to the bureaucracy". Burke believes that the property owners of the state, rather than being taxed, should pay money directly to the "people" of the community in which they live; and that the community would more prudently decide how the money was spent to meet the needs of the community without overspending [and we assume he also meant rather than sometimes finding its way into the pockets of politicians]. Burke says that this would stop the confiscation of property for non-payment of taxes that were way too high. He says this method would follow the natural law of economics and not be at the mercy of the reckless spending of the government.
Burke explains how this would be accomplished:"The community would collect its own natural revenue of "ground rent" [he does not refer to it as taxes but likens it to the payment of rent] for the privilege of owning property in the "Commonwealth" of Massachusetts". He explains that a "Commonwealth" literally meant that all the portion of earth and its natural resources were the property of the whole people of the state, "and therefore, each and every holder of title to a portion of it should pay to the people an annual rent, and they would be forever exempt from having a single cent's worth of his or her private property confiscated for taxes". This unique and unconventional method of managing the economics of communities seems to make sense, and maybe he was right, but it almost sounds too good to be true, and as often is the case, logical solutions to complex problems can have unforeseen "chinks in the armor". In any event, we're pretty sure this system has never been put into practice.
2.) Letter dated Jan. 21, 1932, to Mrs. E. N. Vallandingham, who was on a trip around the world, and the envelope addressed to her, with postmarks of New Haven, CT and Genoa, Italy; and a stamp of Bankers Trust Co., Paris, indicating they had received the letter in Paris and had forwarded the letter to Mrs. Vallandigham at the Majestic Savoy Hotel, Genes [Genoa], Italy - see Bankers Trust forwarding label. Burke wrote "Things political and economic suit me not at all, nothing is done that should be done except three temporary palliatives [a medical term for medicine that relieves symptoms without dealing with the cause of the condition], the moratorium of June, the Credit Corp. of October, and the more extensive National Credit Corp. about to be enacted, all of which Mr. Hoover [President Herbert Hoover] was finally prevailed upon to suggest by important bankers and businessmen. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff, the worse of all tariff abominations, and which Mr. Hoover signed in June 1930, against the written and spoken protest of over 1,000 economists, has reduced our imports and exports by more than 50% each, and by its retaliations and example followed by other countries, paralyzed international trade and jeopardized the possibility of payment of interest and principal of the billions loaned by this country to Europe...... The financiers' and experts' suggestions for ending the "depression" involve enormous public expenditures and are complicated by socialistic, communistic, bureaucratic futilities and absurdities". Burke admits that the newspapers had recently gotten better at printing alternative solutions, such as the letter from him to the Boston Herald which he had enclosed with his letter to her [this copy we are offering is that copy that he sent to her]