Economist at Fayetteville, Arkansas
It was a windy afternoon
At story-telling time.
Old Kaspar shut the windows tight
and poured a rum-and-lime,
While Peterkin and Wilhelmine
Looked at the colorvision screen.
They saw a pier where armored trucks
Were stopping at the slips
And dumping loads of yellow bars
Beside the foreign ships,
Where men with solid wooden crates
Were standing by the loading gates.
"Now tell us what it’s all about!"
The little children cried.
"It is the Gold-Disposal Plan,"
Old Kaspar soon replied.
"The Federal Treasury has sold
A few more tons of surplus gold."
"Did we get paid for all that gold?"
Asked little Wilhelmine.
"The buyers paid," Old Kaspar sighed,
"In dollars long and green.
But since they live in foreign lands
We put the dollars in their hands."
"Would Uncle Sam sell bars of gold
To simple folks like us?"
"If we lived overseas he would,
With no delay or fuss.
But selling gold to people here
Would wreck the Money System, dear."
H.P.B. Jenkins
H. P. B. JENKINS, 1902-1963. Following active service in the European Theater during World War II, Dr. Harry Jenkins taught Economics in the College of Business AdÂministration at the University of Arkansas. Many will best remember him as author of the "Old Kasper" communiques, carried continuously in THE FREEMAN since February 1959.
Dr. Jenkins was stricken and died while walking home from graduation ceremonies on the campus, January 26, 1963.