War Cycles, Peace Cycles

By Clif Droke

Richard Hoskins dropped a bomb on the literary world in 1985 with the
publication of his book, "War Cycles, Peace Cycles." The book was so 
poignant and controversial that references to it were made in nearly every 
major newspaper from coast to coast at the time, and its message was 
vilified especially by the banking community. Efforts at first lambasting, 
then later suppressing this work (when it became evident that the public was 
intrigued by its message) were the order of the day when the book first 
shocked readers in the mid 1980s. 

Since that time the book has undergone 
numerous printings, with the last print run in 1991 being snapped up by a 
large, unidentified consortium which took the books off the market. Repeated 
attempts by this writer at locating a copy of this seminal work came up 
short every time until recently. Much to my surprise and delight I 
discovered that another print run was made of Hoskins' classic book in 2000, 
the first re-publication in nearly a decade. I read every page voraciously 
and loved every morsel. I felt compelled to share this information with 
Gold-Eagle readers since no other book I've encountered comes close to 
isolating the root of our modern-day economic problems than this one, and 
none offer more practical and effective solutions than Hoskins.

According to Hoskins, every major war, financial panic, economic depression, 
and famine in recorded history can be traced to the insidious influence of 
usury banking. Moreover, these devastating events recur with cyclical 
regularity that can be charted and predicted. While natural, geo-cosmic 
influences may account in part for these cyclical occurrences, Hoskins 
maintains that they are mostly attributable to central banking influences. 
Starting with this premise, Hoskins takes the reader on a journey that winds 
its way through nearly 4,000 years of history to our present day all within 
the short space of 300 pages. All along the way the presence of usury 
banking makes its appearance.

For instance, Hoskins points out that history records the first known use of 
credit-or IOUs-is created from nothing is found in the ancient ruins of 
Babylon and perfected by the priests of Baal. The whole concept of usury, or 
of lending money with interest, invented at that time remains unchanged 
today. Hoskins boils it down to lending 10 talents of money and demanding 
payment of 11 talents when there are only 10 talents in circulation. Usury 
contracts drawn up then stated that the borrower was to pay his debt in 
"talents" only, but the problem is and always has been that the central 
bank-created money supply is always finite while compound interest is 
theoretically infinite. Little has changed since then, Hoskins says, as 
today's high priests of finance are the world's central banks sitting in 
their temples of mammon, the modern progeny of the money-lending priests of 
Baal.

Hoskins refers continually to the ancient common law prohibition against 
usury while painting his sordid picture of the history of the effects of 
usury upon any given nation. He catalogs an extensive list of biblical 
references that strictly condemn the lending (or borrowing) of money at 
interest: "Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother." (Deuteronomy 
23:19); "He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall 
gather it for him that will pity the poor." (Proverbs 28:8); "The borrower 
is servant to the lender." (Proverbs 22:7); "Owe no man anything but to love 
one another." (Romans 13:8). Had people throughout history heeded these 
warnings about avoiding taking on debt with interest attached to it, untold 
wars, revolutions, conquests, famines, and financial panics could have been 
averted, Hoskins contends.

One of the first consequences of a usury-based financial system, according 
to Hoskins, is heavy taxation. Hoskins contends that "The only thing that 
has kept the usury system operating through the ages is taxation." The only 
time heavy taxation is not needed is when there is no usury system." This is 
done to keep the money supply moving and to prevent severe inflations and 
deflations due to hoarding or over-printing.

The next consequence of having a usury system is war, says Hoskins. This is 
the first phase of the "War Cycle, Peace Cycle" which the book is titled 
after. According to Hoskins, "hot" wars are typically fought near the trough 
of the War/Peace Cycle and are waged only as a desperation measure to 
stimulate an economy suffering from the effects of deflation (a consequence 
of usury). They tend to have the effect of providing a short-term stimulus 
to the economy since new money has to be borrowed into existence in order to 
fight the expensive battles and industry is provided an excuse to begin 
operating at full capacity again. This is followed by a "peace" phase of 
non-aggression, completing an idealized cycle of approximately 50 years from 
trough to trough. Hoskins identifies his War/Peace Cycle with the 50-year 
"Jubilee Cycle" mentioned in the biblical book of Leviticus. Without the 
plague of debt with compound interest attached, there could be no "War/Peace 
Cycle," says Hoskins.

Another consequence of having a debt/usury-based monetary system according 
to Hoskins is a declining birth rate. When typical 6% interest rates begin 
compounding debt over time, due to the lack of enough money to pay the 
existing debts, the debt-plagued native population of a given country stops 
reproducing due to the heavy cost of living. This in turn leads to the 
influx of immigration of foreign peoples. Hoskins states that mass 
immigration is an absolute necessity for any usury-based system since new 
money must always be borrowed into existence and the money system was 
continue to operate at all costs. Immigrants represent new, debt-free 
borrowers and bank customers.

Yet another result of a usury system is the complete slavery at some point 
when the knaves cannot pay their debts. Hoskins maintains that every 
instance of slavery abolition in recorded history can be traced to the 
influence of a banking systems which must keep the money system circulating 
at all costs. Hence, slaves are abolished whenever the economy begins to 
contract and fresh new borrowers are needed to get the wheels of commerce 
rolling again. Writes Hoskins, "I have never encountered a case in history 
where slaves were freed en masse for humanitarian reasons. First usury 
causes high prices (inflation), then heavy debts, a landless people, lower 
birth rates and declining population, and finally immigration of new peoples 
needed to borrow money into existence and pay taxes, or slaves are 
emancipated to achieve the same object." As Hoskins relates, a debt-free 
potential borrower is of far greater value than a heavily indebted native 
citizen.

Hoskins' grasp of economic history is astounding. The reader is treated to 
many nuggets of his wisdom and he presents amazingly simple, yet profound, 
solutions to modern economic problems based on his learning. Perhaps the 
most profound chapter in his book is the chapter entitled "Tallies & 
T-Bills." Hoskins takes the reader back to the year 1100 A.D. when Henry I, 
fourth son of William the Conqueror, ascended the throne of England. Finding 
the treasury empty and his needs great, he cast about for a source of 
income.

Having wise advisors he soon hit on a plan. The plan, with a few 
refinements, remained in effect for the next 726 years and is so simple and 
workable that it can be reinstated tomorrow. He issued "tallies."

Quoting Hoskins at length, he writes: "A tally was a stock about nine inches 
or so long with each of the four sides about ½ inch wide. On two of the 
sides, the value of the "tally" was carved into the wood. On the other two 
sides, the amount was printed in ink.

"The tally was then split in half lengthwise. One half remained in the 
treasury and the other half was given to soldiers for their pay, to farmers 
for wheat, to armorers for armor, and to laborers for their labor.

"At tax time, taxpayers were required to bring in one half of a tally to pay 
their taxes. Woe unto the man who did not have the required number of tally 
sticks. As a consequence, these intrinsically worthless sticks of wood were 
in great demand. Gold and silver coins were fine if you traveled abroad for 
a crusade or something, but at home if you did not have your tax-tally at 
tax time-you were done.

"Upon receipt of a tally the treasurer would immediately match the presented 
half with the half stored in the treasury. They had to tally-which is what 
gave it the name. Counterfeiters lost their heads! Actually, it was 
practically impossible to counterfeit a tally. The wood grain had to 
match-the notches had to match-and the ink inscriptions had to match. This 
could only come about if both pieces came from the same split tally stick.

"There you have it! An inexhaustible source of revenue for the government. 
The means were available to make tallies as long as there were trees. There 
was a demand as long as the government required the tallies for taxes. The 
system flourished as long as tax-evaders and counterfeiters were punished, 
and they always were. For 726 years the system flourished."

Hoskins points out that government "tally" money and "usury" money cannot 
exist side by side. Tally-money makes usury-money look bad because it stays 
constant, while usury-money expands and contracts. The advent of usury-money 
spelled the death of the tally. The process began with the Bank of England 
being chartered in 1694 and continues today with the Federal Reserve banking 
system.

Writes Hoskins, "The government has the right to make money. It can do so 
whenever it chooses. In the United States the government has authorized the 
Treasury to create Treasury Bills. These bills are created out of thin air, 
but they are no less real than the wooden tallies of our ancestors. The 
government doesn't need to borrow money from the banks of the Federal 
Reserve and have a debt of over a trillion dollars. It can make money 
instead. All it has to do is MAKE T-Bill tallies in denominations of $1, $5, 
$10, $20 $50, $100, and $1000. Then it can spend them for needed government 
services, and tax them out of circulation again. Our ancestors did it for 
almost three-fourths of a thousand years."

Hoskins presents a modified system of the tally system in his book as a 
model to help relieve beleaguered towns and municipalities during times of 
economic depression when no money is available in the Fed-controlled 
economic system. He advises the printing of localized "scrip" for use as a 
monetary medium for payments of goods and services and taxes. With careful 
planning and organization, he maintains this plan can be put into effect 
with only minimal costs. He documents several instances in recent history 
when such systems were used effectively.

He also provides excellent words of advice for the individual or family 
suffering under the burden of crushing debts. His advice on this subject is 
worth the price of the book alone.

In 1985, Hoskins' book announced that South Africa, at that time the warmest 
friend the U.S. had in Africa, would be turned into an enemy. This occurred 
one year later. The book projected that the Arab oil-producing world would 
be the next war target-for different economic reasons. This prediction, too, 
has come to pass. Massive bank consolidations were predicted, reducing the 
total number worldwide. Open immigration was envisioned as a practical 
economic necessity. Now, every locality has its immigration problems. Other 
things have not yet come to pass-things like widespread municipal bond 
failures, a massive stock market collapse, widespread famine, a crackdown on 
dissidents, rampant civil disobedience, a religious revival, and an invasion 
of America by foreign armies. Logically, these things should also come in 
time. If they do, America will be very, very different from what it is 
today.

We deeply recommend "War Cycles, Peace Cycles" to any serious student of 
economic history as well as to the concerned individual who wants to learn 
more about why things are the way they are today and what can be done to 
assuage our problems. No library should be without a copy. The book is 
available from most online bookstores.

NOTE: This article is originally published at this website:

http://www.gold-eagle.com/gold_digest_02/droke022602.html

AND at this website also:
http://www.slavenewworld.ca/index.php/war-news/36-war-news/699-war-cycles-peace-cycles-money-usury-and-the-predetermination-of-conflict