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EZRA POUND 223
" 'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to
our liberties than standing armies.'—Thomas Jefferson.
" 'I have two great enemies, the southern army in front of me and
the financial institutions in the rear. Of the two, the one in the
rear is the greatest enemy.'—Abraham Lincoln.
" 'The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace
and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic
than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than
bureaucracy; it denounces as public enemies all who question its
methods, or throw light upon its crimes.'—William Jennings
Bryan."
March 25, 1943:
"The true basis of credit consists in the abundance of nature
and the responsibility of the whole people.
"A knowledge of the world that we were born into is requisite
for the understanding of the events subsequent to our births. A
deliberate attempt, as I believe, has been made to blot out the
historic record. And that attempt I propose to combat. I have in
fact been combatting it for some time, as did my grandfather
before me. And my talks on the radio will eventually have to be
judged by their contents. Neither the medium of diffusion nor the
merits or defects of my exposition can be the final basis of
judgment. The contents will have to serve as their basis.
"I have taken up one point after another, one bit of evidence
after another, trying to explain the facts in the simplest possible
terms, trying to catch and hold the attention of the individual
hearer. Wars in old times were made to get slaves. The modern
implement of imposing slavery is debt. I repeat that. The modern
implement of imposing slavery is debt.
"Usury is an instrument for increasing debt, and for keeping
the debtor in debt perpetually or at least for the longest possible
period. And it is hypocrisy to prattle of liberty unless the liberty
includes the freedom to keep out of debt. There are ample records
available from the 'Agitations of New Tables,' 'Tabulas Novas,'
the new account books in the time of Caesar, down to the present.
The auditor or reader who wants to understand these things cannot