PLAN FOR PERMANENT PEACE: The Bank of Nations

The sub-title would lead one to expect a book of more limited appeal than is actually the case. Actually, I think this should be challenging reading for anyone concerned in the status of the world after this war is over, a book to read in connection with Streit's Union Now With Britain, and with Wriston's Prepare for Peace. Of the three books, Strait's plan is a broader gauged blue print for a federal union of the English speaking world. Heymann's plan stems from the imperative need for an economic association. And Wriston's book almost avoids the question of any form of union, but deals chiefly with preparedness for the peace conference before the time is upon us....So much for brief comparison, to help you place the books for your customers. Heymann speaks from the point of view of lifelong experience in the field of finance, from intimate knowledge of the procedure under the Weimar Republic and recognition of the basic causes of the last war and the present war. His plan for a ""Bank of Nations"" is closely linked with federal world authority and an international labor office. He urges consideration of internal economic health, of universal property-life insurance, of a creative credit system, of an international medium of exchange, of the extension of short term credits to trade, of the creation of promissory notes for long-term investment, all as part of the mechanism of international economic association. He sees ultimately a United States of the World, a sort of social capitalism. And he sees in the project of the Hemisphere Bank a step towards his Bank of Nations. There are elements that will cause violent discussion and disagreement; some of his aims are too optimistic; but much of what he says is food for thought and a program for action.