Tea at Trianon: Congressman McFadden's 1933 Speech

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Congressman McFadden's 1933 Speech

On the Federal Reserve Corporation.

Quotations from several speeches made on the Floor of the House of Representatives by the Honorable Louis T. McFadden of Pennsylvania. Mr. McFadden, due to his having served as Chairman of the Banking and Currency Committee for more than 10 years, was the best posted man on these matters in America and was in a position to speak with authority of the vast ramifications of this gigantic private credit monopoly. As Representative of a State which was among the first to declare its freedom from foreign money tyrants it is fitting that Pennsylvania, the cradle of liberty, be again given the credit for producing a son that was not afraid to hurl defiance in the face of the money-bund. Whereas Mr. McFadden was elected to the high office on both the Democratic and Republican tickets, there can be no accusation of partisanship lodged against him. Because these speeches are set out in full in the Congressional Record, they carry weight that no amount of condemnation on the part of private individuals could hope to carry.

The North Coast said...: Thank you very much for this post and for the link to Congressman McFadden's speech. Mr. McFadden's remarks are even truer today than they were in our first Great Depression, and they will continue to resonate as we continue over the cliff to complete ruin in our current depression, which is nowhere near being over.

I recommend reading "The Creature From Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve" by G. Edward Griffin, which tells the detailed story of the formation of the Fed and its destructive policies over the past 97 years. You will probably have to buy the book if you want to read it at leisure and absorb it thoroughly, because it is long and detailed, and there is so much demand for it at local libraries that I could not renew it, even though Chicago's library system has dozens of copies. So I'm caving in and buying a copy for my own.

Nothing I've read leaves me with any doubt that the Federal Reserve is one of the most destructive institutions ever to be sponsored by our government, and that we will need to find a way to completely dismantle it if we are ever again to have an honest, free, productive economy, and economic opportunity for anyone not born into the bankster class.; October 28, 2010 at 6:13:00 AM EDT
Julygirl said...: Still true today. Same can be said of 'Fannie Mae' and Freddie Mac'.; October 28, 2010 at 8:34:00 AM EDT
The North Coast said...: The same can be said of EVERY government agency and policy designed to spur "growth" (read debt and inflation), or to disguise losses, waste, and inefficiency- or just plain obsolescence- in any particular industry or field.

I'd like to fade the HUD, the FHA, the GSEs such as Fannie, Freddie, and Ginnie. They have done nothing but destroy our central cities (FHA redlining in the 50s and 60s), promote sprawl development,and push the cost of housing not only beyond the working poor, but the lower-middle class as well... and that was before they worked in concert to create a global debt-bubble that is plunging us all into depression, made of debt that can never, ever be paid back.

Then we can sunset the DOT- thanks for a 5.7M mile highway system that forces people into suburbs and cars, and prodigious energy waste.

And then the rest of the giant hairball of subsidies, incentives, and other Corporate Welfare that skews our markets, creates perverse incentives that generate incredible wastes of resources and human energy and talent, and kills new, developing industries that could produce things we will badly need in the future, to support that which is obsolete and wasteful.

We need some regulation but only that which pertains directly to health, safety, and protection against theft and fraud. Unfortunately, our authorities have done more to promote fraud and malfeasance than any private entity, no matter how corrupt and criminal.; October 28, 2010 at 6:32:00 PM EDT