@head1 Page ## John Zube, 7 Oxley St., Berrima, NSW 2577, Australia 13 Dec. 89/Piet1312.89 Dear Piet, I have received at least 3 mailings from you : 1.) Undated, mailed Nov. 13, 89 : Letter, photocopy from : The Role of Money - by ?, with Bibliography, indicating a Gesellian text, Draz: Forest Decline Equals Human Decline & Soil Remineralization - A Network Newsletter, 2.) A note, with $ 3 cheque for catalog on microfiche, dated 14 Nov. 89, 3.) Letter, undated, with order, 7 exchange fiche & $ 20 cheque. After your contacted me by phone, 16 Nov. 89, I sent you some leaflets & PP 868 ( my catalog - on fiche, as much of it as fit on one ) and PP 707 & 708. I hope that they arrived in the meantime. Firstly, I want to apologize for not having replied before. In the second half of November I had one of my rare visits from my son David, from Western Australia, on the way to his trip to the U.S. Then during the last fortnight I had to visit a very sick friend in Brisbane. Gesell's theories were often discussed by Ulrich von Beckerath and Professor Heinrich Rittershausen, whose essays & letters, mostly in German, I partly reproduced reproduced in PP 428-466 and in separate book titles, in English, German and French, to the extent that they were so far available to me. This series is contents listed but not yet alphabetically indexed. I will try to get all the remaining material from the Berlin heir of B. next year, in my 4th attempt. In PP 9-11 Gesell is referred to on pages 1, 32, 34, 59, 140, 142ff, 165/6 & under "hoarding" I reproduced a German book-length refutation of Gesell but can't think of the author's name at present - and do not have the time to look through all of the long monetary freedom listing. This author is not familiar with monetary freedom ideas, either. ( It is Faerber's book, contained in PP 804, enclosed with my compliments. I remembered it when I came to the end of this letter.) Among Gesellians only Paul Nagel, in "Geld und Boden" ( Money and Land ) and Karl Walker, in several writings, were, to my knowledge, at the same time advocates of monetary freedom. The latter's writings are still copyrighted and Paul Nagel's book is, probably, too. I have 2 books criticizing Social Credit and may film them one day. Marbara G. Meyers on Soddy, Gesell and Social Credit ( 1940) is unknown to me. Do you think it worth filming or is she just another central banking or monetary despotism advocate - like most Gesellians are, too? Monetary freedom advocates would welcome Gesellian experiments - without any privileges and monopolies and without any coercion, i.e. without central banking and legal tender and with quite voluntary participation by individuals and volunteer groups. Woergl's experiment was reviewed by Beckerath in one of his 3 books ( PP 9-11, pp140,142ff, 165/66. I do agree with that evaluation. Taxfoundation was more effective than the stamp-money aspect. I have also recently included some more titles on this experiment - but they are not yet alphabetically listed. Gesell's system, like any other system or ism, is fit ONLY FOR VOLUNTEERS. Even the best possible system and the association of its advocates are not entitled to enforced membership and obedience and individuals should be free to secede from them and to establish exterritorial and autonomous alternatives for themselves, at their own risk and expense. This idea is likely to replace, sooner or later, all territorial and centralized coercion, which inevitably wrongs, harms and suppresses many minorities and sometimes majorities. At the same time it would eliminate nuclear targets, powers and motives for nuclear war. The MONETARY FREEDOM NETWORK of Germany, publishing a newsletter and some brochures, was started by people who initially were Gesellians and enemies of interest but expanded their horizons by reading some of Beckerath's and Rittershausen's writings and are now in the forefront, at least in Germany, of monetary freedom efforts. See my monetary freedom listing in PP 868. I do possess Jeffry Mark : The Modern Idolatry, in a somewhat worm-bitten edition by Libertarian Social Institute, Bombay, India, no date. So far I did not feel inclined to microfilm it - because, from my point of view, it is full of errors and prejudices. However, if you were to cover my filming costs, with ca. $ 40, then I would bother to bring this title out, too and you could get from me 50 duplicates of this title or of any mixture of my titles. You see from this that you can get LMP fiche for less than $ 1 each. Most likely, I will be able to include quite a few more monetary freedom pages with this title in the same fiche. No charge for that. I would be tempted but will probably not take the time to reply to his work point by point. That would better be done in encyclopaedic form, covering most of the errors and prejudices on the subject, as represented in hundreds to thousands of titles. While one person could make a start, he could carry such a project only so far. But if he compiled his entries e.g. on an IBM compatible computer and included such contributions by others and refilmed the lot occasionally, as it would grow via collaborators, a worthwhile encyclopaedia of this kind, supplementing one that concentrated on the positive statements, could soon result. Presently, I am still involved in keyboarding in and sorting some positive statements on free banking ideas and techniques. Over many river valleys, not dammed up, remineralization took place over geological periods quite regularly, via flooding and it is also continuing via wind-transported deposits. How energy efficient are grinding mills to produce rock powder as fertilizer? If transport costs can be covered by the extra growths achieved, then numerous deep deposits of fertile soil could be transported where needed. In China some such deposits are supposed to be hundreds of meters deep. Why grind the stuff up if that has already be done by "mother" nature" A "sensible" currency is not so important as freedom to offer or accept either sensible or less rational or even foolish currency. In the absence of legal tender the good money will drive out the bad. Draz's article on Forest Decline Equals Human Decline, contains some exaggerations, although basically he does have a strong point. One does not have to attempt to exlain all or many happenings and developments merely from a single factor, as he attempts to do, ignoring many diverse theories on the same subject. That the people advocating alternatives are not free of errors, either, can be concluded simply from the fact of them so frequently contracting each other, e.g. on "natural" health, exercise, diets etc., while they continue, at least in economics and especially regarding money, capital, property and profits, with many of the ancient errors. Genuine ecological knowledge, not merely flawed folklore and peasant tradition, is rather new. Moreover, technology can help us to overcome ancient and modern wrong practices much easier than was ever possible before. The choice of money is not necessarily or rightly a community decision, either, but, rather, one of voluntary payment communities, of which there can be several in any local community. Whether non-denominational or in standardized tokens will be used, that, too, is a matter of opinion and voluntary practice. No one has any RIGHT to make prescriptions for others in this respect but individual trading partners my, in their contacts, prefer one or the others. Free choice of doctors for ALL ills! Tycoons or sacrifices are not needed to introduce a new value standard or clearing or note-issue system - just freedom from legal and juricical prohibitions and from ignorance on these matters is required, among a minimum number of initial local participants. Then surplusses or profits could be achieved very soon. Free money needs subsidies no more than free trade does. I have not yet read but just browsed through your fiche : Aids and Cancer Cured... The author should have been mentioned on the title strip, as well as the reductin rate, the fact that it is one of one (1/1) and the publishing date and the number of pages involved. How come you are short of them? They can be run off automatically by a micrographic service bureau at a cost of 28 cents for each of 100 ( Sydney prices ). The automatic production of a single one takes only 2-6 seconds. Several pamphlets like this one could have been included on a single fiche. At 48 x reduction and A 4 sized, 435 A 4 pages could have been included on a single fiche and would still be legible, since the text is mainly typed in large type. Occasional pages of smaller print could often be enlarged, on some extra pages, to save over-all by using larger reduction rates which make more pages per fiche possible. At 42 x, 325 pages would have been possible, at 36x , 147pp, at 29x, 126pp and at 24 x, U.S. library standard ( mostly exceeded e.g. by their catalog fiche ), 98pp. Check prices and services of other micrographic agencies by phone or visit them personally and make some long term special cash deals with them for your output, if it is going to be considerable. I would like a good photocopy of the Aids and Cancer Cured text, for inclusion of these few pages in one of my other fiche. I am not really interested in carrying a fiche that offers only as few pages. Insofar, it is good that you have sent me only 7 of this edition. George Steele's INDIVIDUALIST JOURNAL contains much similar material. It is also being filmed by me. Many micrographic agencies set a minimum charge for a job. Otherwise, the original filming of a mere 37 pages, at my agency, would bring them only 37x6 cents = $ 2.22, plus a titling charge of $ 2.50. If you ordered not just a few but at least 100 duplicates, this comes here for me to $ 28. Thus, if you ordered at least 200 duplicates, you might come to exceed their minimum charge. Otherwise, go for agencies that do not charge a minimum price and assure them that you will use their services for your future editions. The wanted fiche are enclosed. PIOT, John.