Letters To The Editor

In 1946, I took a trip by ship to Shanghai, China at the pleasure of the U.S. Navy. We sailed out of the Pacific into the East China Sea, then into the mouth of the Yangtze River, past hundreds of sunken ships. Shortly, we turned left to proceed up the Haungpu River towards the city of Shanghai. You could not miss the feeling that you were on the other side of the world.

Anchoring midstream, we were ready for shore leave to see this strange and ancient country. Pulling on our clean and pressed uniforms, we clamored down into liberty boats to motor over to the wharf. Our officers had given us orders on where to and not to go, plus a city map of town.

The first place we headed for was the bank where we could change our U.S. dollars into Chinese yuan. With one U.S. dollar, we could receive bills from one up to 1000 yuan and still have bills left over. We actually had to wait a few minutes for the 500 yuan note as they had run out but were printing new ones. Each bank had their own printing press and those 500 yuan notes were wet with ink when we got them. The exchange rate when we arrived was 2,000 yuan to one U.S. dollar. When we headed back to the states 7-10 days later, it was 3,000 to one.

Back to the states in August, discharged and ready to try college. One evening at the movies, when the news reel came on, they showed a Chinese laborer taking his weekly pay home in a wheelbarrow, stacked high above the top rim with bundles of tied yuan. So inflation was rampant in China with their money almost worthless.

In the early 1900s, the U.S. dollar was worth one dollar against all the other nations monies. Today because of our continual printing of bills, they are worth less than five cents of the 1900 dollar. Does it shock you that we have allowed our money to follow the fate of 1940s China? Where did it all go? How about all the social programs, and the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, plus Iraq 1 and 2. Then don