Gold Standard
<p><em>Scientific Outlook</em> (1931) by Bertrand Russell, page 203:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Credit has become an immense force controlling the economic life of all advanced communities, but although its principles are fairly well understood by experts, political difficulties stand in the way of the right utilization of these principles, and the barbaric practice of depending upon actual gold is still a cause of much misery. In this, as in other respects, economic forces and technical requirements demand world-wide organization, but the forces of nationalism present obstacles, and cause people to endure avoidable sufferings patiently because of the pleasure they derive from the thought that foreigners are suffering even more.</p>