78-11-B2
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1978
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Rome[edit]
Transcript[edit]I've been going over some ancient history and surprising myself at how modern it really is in spite of the years that have passed. I'll be right back. Back in 1939 an amateur historian, H.J. Haskell, Washington correspondent for the Kansas City Star wrote a book called "The New Deal in Old Rome." The idea for the book came to him when he and his wife are touring Europe in pre-World War II days. They drove over a Roman-built bridge in southern France that towered 165 feet in the air. It was also an aqueduct and almost 2000 years after its construction that aqueduct is still carrying water. Haskell wondered how a civilization that could build such wonders could simply disappear into the dustbin of history and thus a book was born. Rome with a population of about 1 million, received 250 million gallons of water a day through 11 great aqueducts for its several hundred swimming pools, 856 public baths and 13,000 fountains. Even though there was no printing press, books were plentiful and Rome alone numbered 28 public libraries. Roman houses had indoor plumbing with flush toilets. We can envy a little the Roman postal system that extended north into Europe and south to Egypt and guaranteed safe delivery. Roman justice made possible such things as commercial contracts, property laws, marriage and divorce, wills, trusts, etc. We've inherited something, not necessarily the best of Rome. Quintus, younger brother of Cicero, didn't think his brother was a tough enough politician so he wrote a handbook to guide him. He said that quote, "A flattering manner wrong in other walks of life was indispensable in seeking public office." Unquote. and he urged that if possible one should attempt to get a scandal started against an opponent. But it was in the growth of government intervention that we should find a warning. They set interest rates, devalued the currency, created a wheat subsidy and then dumped wheat on the market. There were extensive public works like our New Deal WPA, a welfare system and food stamps. Believe it or not they had a depression and created a home loan corporation, an agricultural adjustment administration which plowed under half the grapes to stop overproduction of wine and their basic coin the denarius sank lower and lower in purchasing power. They, of course didn't have printing press money but they increased the money supply by adding copper to the silver in the denarius. It went from 94 percent silver to only two one hundredths of one percent in Rome's final days. They even tried wage and price controls with capital punishment for violators, but even then they didn't work as they don't work now. By that time, government in Rome had brought commerce and industry to a halt with confiscatory taxation and a network of regulations. In his closing lines, Haskell did not attempt to draw a parallel as to the safe limits of modern government spending but he did say, "It is possible to involve destructive taxation with the dangers of inflation." Unquote. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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