The Freeman 1968 - 2

THE FREEMAN JANUARY 1968
Vol. 18, No. 1
Itt" A successful saleslady explains the "'" The equality, stability, security we
advantages of great expectations seek from government, declares Law-
............p.3 rence Fertig, may mean an end to
progress p. 35
~ On the other hand, suggests
Rochester University's President "'" Anthony Reinach tells why we
Wallis, so-called apathetic students must expect to be taxed by inflation
often are more constructive than until we learn to curb deficit spending
those who act thoughtlessly and irre- by govern ments p. 38
sponsibly p. 5
"'" If social security is as sound as
~ Puppeteering with other people's government actuaries proclaim, why
lives is a dangerous game for every- should anyone be forced to buy it?
one involved, counsels Leonard Read ............ p.46
........... ,p. 14
", How would John Quincy Adams "'" Professor Merrill delves into as-
pects of freedom of the press often
rate in the political polls were he to
neglected by pUblicity-seeking minori-
stand for office today? p. 18 ties p. 48
"'" William Henry Chamberlin exam-
ines the vital link between liberty and "'" From Britain comes word that
property and shows that one is mean- overprotection of consumers can de-
ingless without the other .......... p. 20 stroy freedom of choice p. 54
"'" Another facet of freedom, explains """ Rickenbacker by "Captain Eddie"

Admiral Moreell, involves the variety fills the Reviewer's Notebook .... p. 57
that spices our lives p. 26
V- You Are Extraordinary by Roger
", They've discovered in Norway that Williams is beyond the ordinary and
"politics is other people's money" highly commended by George Roche
............ p. 29 ............ p. 60
"'" When asked by some young Turks "'" And Norman Ream finds the fund-
to explain the case for democracy, amentals of free enterprise well set
Milton Mater finds the key in local forth by James Evans in The Glorious
government p. 31 Quest p. 63
Anyone wishing to communicate with authors may send

first-class mail in care of THE FREEMAN for forwarding.
JANU,ARY 1968 Vol. 18, No.1
LEONARD E. READ President, Foundation for

Economic Education
PAUL L. POIROT Managing Editor
THE FREEMAN is published monthly by the

Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., a non-
political, nonprofit, educational champion of private
property, the free market, the profit and loss system,
and limited government, founded in 1946, with offices
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Copyright, 1968, The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. Printed in

U.S.A. Additional copies, postpaid, to one address: Single copy, 50 cents;
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Any current article will be supplied in reprint form upon sufficient de-
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any article from this issue, providing customary credit is given, except
"Politics Is Other People's Money," and "Progress Means Change."
JOAN WILKE
IF YOU'RE FAMILIAR with English folly, the simple and complex, the
detective stories, you know that limited and limitless.
"hello" is much more than a salu- It allows for disappointments
tation. It's a surprise! and failures as well as success.
It's what every good English Everyone benefits freely (and
detective says when he stumbles willingly!) from success when it
upon a previously overlooked, won- happens, but no one is forced to
derful, important,. delightful little share another's failure unless all
clue that is sure to unravel the futures are bound up through a
whole mystery. collective. So freedom magnifies
That's why "hello" is such a and spreads success and minimizes
fine greeting - whether to a stran- and confines failure. Collectivism
ger or an old friend. It's the ex- does just the opposite.
pectation of discovery. The an- Freedom offers no pat answers
ticipation of some new and won- to pat problems because it always
derful revelation ... or some new anticipates some new discovery or
meaning in something long fa- variation.
miliar. Collectivism proudly asserts it
Freedom is the only philosophy has the answers, and concretizes
that treats life realistically - as a them into laws, thereby perpetu-
mystery that will unravel surprise ating the old and obstructing the
by surprise. new.
Only freedom can accommodate Freedom treats life as a proc-
the day-to-day surprises that arise ess, not a thing. A continuous hap-
from truth and error, wisdom and pening, not something that hap-
Miss Wilke is an advertising writer. pened. So it is an invitation to life,
3
4 'THE FREEMAN January
not an encroachment on it. It is a Freedom is nourished by expec-

beckoning, not a coercive force. It tation.
recognizes life as a series of be- Collectivism cannot survive
ginnings. without fears . . . real or imagi-
All forms of materialistic col- nary . . . grouped together and
lectivism treat life as though it's therefore exchanged' and exagger-
over, in the sense that it is pre- ated in such hand-holding gath-
dictable. It is so preoccupied with erings as unions and pressure
the present that it rejects the groups or any combination formed
past and considers the future a for the force that will allay its
projection of the present. fears.
It worships "change" but, being The future is determined large-
oriented to the current situation, ly by the choice individuals make
considers change simply a rear- between expecting the best or the
rangement of existing conditions, worst.
intellectually contrived and polit- Whereas fear paralyzes, expec-
ically manipulated. It never an- tation energizes.
ticipates real change ... only repe-
tition of existing conditions. The most remarkable person I
In limiting life to its own pre- know . . . and the freest . . . al-
dictions, it necessarily brings ways seems to have this air of
about the conditions it predicted, anticipation about him. When he
since life only repeats itself when comes through a door or around a
restricted. corner, he has the manner of
Freedom recognizes that life's one who has heard a firecracker
secrets already exist and lie un- go off and has come to see what
discovered, waiting to be stum- the celebration is all about. He's
bled upon in a series of delighted in a state of perpetual "hello!"
"hellos." Collectivism drearily lim- With his attitude, I doubt that
its itself to the idea that what is he's ever disappointed, because he
discovered is what exists, so it me- 'would see the most ordinary thing
chanically distributes the accumu- with extraordinary delight.
lated surprises of the past with- His attitude strikes me as that
out allowing for the continuing which is most appropriate for a
surprise of new discovery. free man. ~
W. ALLEN WALLIS
ONE of the special privileges of a An illustration: About a decade

university president is the oppor- ago, I read accounts of nearly a
tunity to hear, or to hear about, a hundred commencement speeches
large number of speeches on aca- given that June. They were given
demic subjects or directed to aca- in different parts of the country
demic audiences. by different kinds of speakers at
Sometimes a group of things different kinds of institutions.
has a pattern that is not revealed Through all this diversity that is
by anyone of the things alone. one of the glories of American
Thus, an animated sign in Times higher education ran one binding
Square may be interesting or in- thread to which even the most in-
formative in ways that would nev- dividualistic commencement speak-
er be suspected by watching just a ers conformed. Every speaker ad-
single one of its bulbs blinking vised the graduates to be noncon-
on and off. So also with speeches. formists. Some came close to rec-
A group of speeches on similar ommending that the Federal gov-
occasions (perhaps award din- ernment establish standards of
ners), or a group of speeches by nonconformity, and that conform-
similar speakers (university presi- ity to those standards be enforced
dents, for example), or a group by the Bureau of Standards or
of speeches to similar audiences even by a new Bureau of Non-
(businessmen, possibly), may be standards.
far more illuminating than any Had I not surveyed the whole
one speech alone. set of speeches, I would not have
Allen Wallis is President of the University of realized what a group of con-
Rochester. This article is from his address of
September 21, 1967, before the National Con- f ormists - parrots, almost - those
ference of Christians and Jews in New York
City. commencement speakers were. To
5
6 THE FREEMAN January
conform to his own advice to be immediate purpose of being re-

a nonconformist, a speaker would ported or reproduced," arranging
have had to urge the graduates them "for the convenience of the
to be conformists. reporting or reproducing media"
and measuring their success by
Mischievous Madness how widely they were reported.
Last spring I noticed an inter- As President Perkins of Cornell
esting similarity among a good put it, "our communications sys-
many commencement addresses, tems . . . are sometimes inclined
though I did not document it sta- to forget the distinction between
tistically. Many speakers made the distributing news and manufac-
point that the students who have turing it."
disrupted or attempted to disrupt Having pointed out that the dis-
universities or have focussed at- orderly students are a negligible
tention on themselves off-campus minority to whom the journalists
are only a tiny fraction - under give too much attention, last
5 per cent - of all students. spring's typical commencement
Often this point was accom- speaker proceeded to devote most
panied by criticism of the press of his talk to those same students.
for giving disproportionate atten- There was variety in the explana-
tion to the tiny minority - an in- tions, evaluations, and prognosti-
teresting approach to journalism, cations offered by the speakers.
which seems to imply that on the Nearly every speaker, however,
day of a spectacular airplane made an assertion to the effect
crash those who were safely on that when all is said and done,
other planes, or not flying at all, it is a fine, noble, inspiring thing
should get almost all the space in that today's young people are "con-
the newspapers. cerned" and "committed," not "ap-
One or two speeches that I athetic" like earlier generations
heard or read last spring did make of students.
the valid point about news cov- I have no doubt that you have
erage that most of the student all heard this assertion. In fact,
events reported had no independ- I have little doubt that many of
ent existence in the real world you have asserted it yourselves.
but were only what Daniel Boor- Even if you have not heard it
stin has called "pseudo-events." applied to students, surely you
That is, the events came about have heard it applied to ministers.
only because "someone planned, I disagree with that assertion.
planted, or incited" them "for the In fact - to quote from a source
1968 COMMITMENT, CONCERN, AND APATHY 7
particularly appropriate at this claiming that today's activist stu-

National Conference of Christians dents and ministers are concerned
and Jews, namely the book of the and committed, rather than apa-
Old Testament called Ecclesiastes, thetic, is summarized in two lines
the thirteenth verse of the tenth of a poem by Thomas Hood:
chapter - this "talk is mischievous
Evil is wrought by want of
madness." I intend to devote the Thought
rest of my time with you this As well as want of Heart.
evening to explaining why I dis-
agree. The problems about which the
activist students and ministers
Minor and Major Objections believe themselves to be concerned
First, I will dismiss a couple of and committed are war, poverty,
objections that, while valid, do injustice, and limitations of free-
not seem to me weighty. The first dom. These are problems about
objection is that the assertion is which others have been and are
patronizing and belittling. (This concerned, to the amelioration of
is even more true when it is ap- which others have been and are
plied to ministers than when it is committed. No sure paths to uni-
applied to students.) It is the versal peace, prosperity, justice,
kind of statement one makes about and freedom have been discovered.
a child who, being unable to steer But a large amount of informa-
his bicycle or even to balance it, tion, analysis, experience, and wis-
destroys a flower bed, knocks down dom about these problems has been
an old lady carrying a bag of accumulated and recorded through
eggs, and skins his own knees and the ages.
elbows. "Isn't the little tyke cute! Rush Rhees Library, on the
He means so well and tries so George Eastman Quadrangle at
hard. Ho,v admirable that the the University of Rochester, bears
small fellow is so concerned about on either side of its main portals
his bicycle - so committed to it, two inscriptions from which gen-
too!" erations of students have drawn
The second insubstantial obj ec- inspiration. The inscription to the
tion is that it is at best grasping left of the library doors reads:
at straws to base hope for a whole Here is the history of human ig-
generation on a group which is norance, error, superstition, folly,
conceded to be a negligible frac- war, and waste, recorded by human
tion of that generation. intelligence for the admonition of
My more serious objection to wiser ages still to come.
The other inscription reads: haps; not sufficient progress, sure-

Here is the history of man's hun- ly; but enough progress over long
ger for truth, goodness, and beauty, enough periods to demonstrate
leading him slowly on through flesh that it can happen.
to spirit, from bondage to freedom, That social change can occur is
from war to peace. far more obvious than that man
Inside that library, as inside can bring about social change, or
thousands of libraries all over guide it in desirable directions.
America, much can be learned There is a great chasm, often
about ignorance, error, supersti- overlooked, between demonstrating
tion, folly, war, and waste; and that things can change and dem-
much can be learned about truth, onstrating that things can be
goodness, beauty, the human spir- changed. The weather is a good
it, freedom, and peace. example; we all know it can
There are, to be sure, important change, but we all know that so
things that cannot be learned in far it cannot be changed. Even
libraries, or elsewhere in univer- if it were proved that things can
sities. Some of them can be learned be changed, we would be a long
only on battlefields, in hospitals, way from proving that we can
in slums, in artists' studios, in change things in desirable ways,
factories, banks, and stores, or or even that we can specify what
from the experience of life itself; changes would be desirable.
and some important truths cannot But we are not totally ignorant
be grasped at all in youth. But in and helpless: The social sciences,
our libraries and elsewhere in our especially economics, do contain
colleges and universities much bodies of tested knowledge that
knowledge and wisdom can be are substantial, even though in-
acquired that is not likely to be adequate for what we would like
acquired elsewhere. to accomplish. There is much to
be learned from the social and
Problems Merit More Study behavioral sciences, from history,
War, poverty, injustice, and lim- and from philosophy that will en-
itations of freedom are enor- hance the effectiveness of anyone
mously complex problems. Yet the concerned about social problems
history of the past decade, the and committed to their ameliora-
past generation, the past century, tion. Certainly there is far more
and longer shows that progress to be learned than can be assim-
has occurred on all these problems ilated in the four years of college.
- not uninterrupted progress, per- A person truly concerned about
social problems and committed to vated by apathy. Student activists

improving society would, if he have opportunities to study and
were so fortunate as to attend to learn, yet they are too apa-
college, devote all his time and thetic toward their responsibilities
all his energy during those years to humanity to make the personal
to utilizing the college's academic effort and sacrifice necessary to
resources - preparing himself to take full advantage of their op-
make his most effective contribu- portunities. Their contribution to
tion. .Jose Ortega has made the social problems too often will be
point in these words: like the contribution of those who
cared for George Washington in
It is easy to say and even to think
his final illness, and are said to
that you are resolved upon son1e-
thing; but it is extremely difficult to
have bled him to death with
be resolved in the true sense. leeches.
For this means resolving upon all An illustration of an important
the things which are necessary as failure to understand social phe-
intermediate steps; it means, for one nomena is found in the explana-
thing, providing [y Jourselves with tions widely given for the current
the qualities that are requisite for turmoil among a few of our Negro
the undertaking. Anything short of fellow-citizens. A common expla-
this is no real resolution, it is siInply nation is that it is due to despera-
wishing. . . . It is not so easy to tion at their sad circumstances.
maintain that sort of fire which is Often it is even implied that their
both critical and creative, that in-
circumstances are worsening. In
c.andescence so supplied with thermal
fact, of course, their circumstances
energy that it will not be cooled when
the two coldest things in the world
have been improving for a quarter
come to lodge within it: cool logic of a century at a rate which no
and an iron will. The vulgar, false, one but a wishful-thinker would
impotent sort of passion shrinks in have ventured to predict 25 years
terror from the proximity of reflec- ago.
tive thought, for it senses that at Furthermore, improvement is a
such a chilly contact it will be frozen more likely cause of such turmoil
out of existence . . . High creative than is desperation. On this point,
passion . . . is fire supported with Eric Hoffer wrote more than 15
the constancy of clear understanding years ago:
and a caln1 will.
Discontent is likely to be highest
What passes for commitment when n1isery is bearable; when con-
and concern too often is simply ditions have so improved that an
ignorance and arrogance, aggra- ideal state seems almost within
reach. A grievance is most poignant are affected by our minimum wage

when almost redressed. De Tocque- laws. A disproportionately large
ville in his researches into the state number of the few who are af-
of society in France before the revo- fected are Negroes. Some of the
lution was struck by the discovery Negroes who are affected are re-
that "in no one of the periods which ceiving higher wages than they
have followed the Revolution of 1789
otherwise would. Many, however,
has the national prosperity of France
are unemployed because of the
augmented more rapidly than it did
in the twenty years preceding that minimum wage laws.
event." He is forced to conclude that Among the effects of minimum
"the French found their position the wage laws that are harmful to
more intolerable the better it be- Negroes is a tendency to induce
came.". . . It is not actual suffering an artificial degree of automation,
but the taste of better things which thereby transferring employment
excites people to revolt. from, for example, low-paid ele-
vator operators to the high-paid
I trust that it is not necessary engineers and craftsmen who
for me to point out that I am not make, install, and maintain auto-
suggesting that Negroes are suffi- matic elevators. In some cases,
ciently well-off, or that nothing minimum wages force up product
should be done for them, any more prices, inducing consumers to shift
than a physician who asserts that some of their purchasing away
a diagnosis is incorrect needs to from those products, thereby re-
point out that he admits the pa- ducing employment. As a matter
tient's illness and favors treating of fact, some economists have
it if there is a suitable treatment. pointed out that properly designed
An erroneous diagnosis, in social maximum limits to wages would
as in medical matters, can lead to be more helpful to. Negroes than
treatment that is worse than use- minima, because maxima could in-
less. duce whites to leave the regulated
employment.
Legislated Unemployment Even those who support mini-
An example of the evil that mum wage laws in a mistaken
"can be wrought by want of belief that they help the poor seem
thought" is the minimum wage to have a vague, uneasy feeling
law, which is as anti-Negro in its that their argument has limita-
effects as its advocates are pro- tions. Otherwise, why do they not
Negro in their intentions. Very urge a minimum wage of, say, $3
few workers in the United States per hour? Surely they cannot be-
lieve that at $1.50 per hour-about niary motives are satisfied in a

$3,000 per year - a man could si.mple way, by money, and money
support a family of even average is all alike. Nonpecuniary motives
size in New York City, or that include what we call taste and
$6,000 per year would lead to dec- preference when we approve, or
adent luxury. Perhaps they sense discrimination and prejudice when
that at a $3 minimum too many we disapprove. A man who is not
incomes would be not $6,000 but motivated by purely pecuniary
zero. considerations may hire a beau-
tiful secretary instead of an ugly
Self-Interest Serves Others, Too
one who is an equally good worker
Economists who have studied and gets the same wage. That
discrimination have concluded would show taste. He may also hire
generally that the greater the de- a white secretary instead of a
gree to which an economy is gov- Negro who is her equal. That
erned by pecuniary motives alone, would show discrimination.
the better off will be those who To the extent that the employer
are discriminated against. Armen is susceptible to pecuniary consid-
Alchian and Reuben Kessel con- erations, the nonpreferred worker
clude that "strong, unrestrained can tempt him by a lower wage
profit incentives serve the inter- rate, or by greater efficiency, and
ests of the relatively unpopular, thus gain employment. Then the
unorthodox, and individualistic employer finds his unit costs lower
members of society," and they re- than his competitors'. Being now
mark that there is "an inconsist- in a position to increase his total
ency in the views of those who profit by tempting customers away
argue that profit incentives bring from his competitors by offering
out the worst in people and at the the customers a share of the sav-
same time believe that discrimina- ing in unit costs, and being a man
tion in terms of race, creed, or governed by pecuniary motives, he
color is socially undesirable." does so. With the increased busi-
Many will find this conclusion ness, he employs more people, nat-
so repugnant that they will simply urally looking to the nonpreferred
refuse to think about it enough group for them.
to risk finding truth in it. To Unfortunately for this first em-
those who are curious about the ployer of the nonpreferred work-
analysis, I will offer a hint. ers, but fortunately for them, the
People's motives are both pecu- other employers eventually find
niary and nonpecuniary. Pecu- that they must hire nonpreferred
workers or see their businesses irresponsible if he is not thor-

wither away. The resulting com- oughly familiar with this kind of
petition from other employers bids analysis, and with much, much
up the wages of the nonpreferred, more. Otherwise, with the best of
and eventually the first employer intentions, he is likely to find
no longer has an advantage. When himself in the same category as
things settle down in the industry, those who applied leeches to
the nonpreferred group will have George Washington. Having mis-
more jobs and higher wages; the calculated the effect of the mini-
consumers will be paying no more mum wage laws, he will advocate
and perhaps a little less; and the them in good faith. Then when he
employers' profits will be about the sees the Negro unemployment
same as before, though they will that results, he will diagnose its
have suffered temporary financial cause incorrectly, and quite prob-
penalties to the extent that they ably advocate remedies for it that
delayed in hiring the nonpre- cause still further harm.
ferred.
The Role of Education
The other employers do, how-
ever, have a way to protect them- Universities constitute our
selves against the first employer's greatest resource in the age-long
starting all this. They can get a struggle for peace, prosperity,
law passed setting a minimum justice, and freedom. Their proper
wage, so that the nonpreferred and effective use is in accumulat-
workers are not allowed to offer ing knowledge and wisdom and
the first employer a pecuniary in- passing it on. Those who are truly
centive to hire them. In that case, concerned about their fellow man,
the first employer will be guided and truly committed to reform-
by nonpecuniary considerations in ing society, will devote their years
deciding which workers to hire. in college to study and reflection,
He might still hire the nonpre- just as the budding physician de-
ferred, motivated by charity, tol- votes his time in medical school
erance, or his opinions about so- to study instead of to answering
cial welfare; but if it were usual ambulance calls.
for people to behave that way, A business executive cannot
the whole problem of discrimina- cope with the problems of his
tion would not have come up. company with anything less than
At any rate, anyone committed the best and most advanced edu-
and concerned about the welfare cation, nor without years of ap-
of minority groups is exceedingly prenticeship and constant re-ed-
ucation and study. A physicist ready knows and has already tried
cannot make contributions that as do those who would be execu-
are meaningful and worthwhile tives or physicists or physicians.
without prolonged dedication to The activists are the students
research, study, and training at who are truly apathetic. It is
the highest levels of current among the students so often called
knowledge. It takes eight to ten apathetic that we find those who
years of education before the are truly concerned and truly com-
medical internist is prepared to mitted. It is to this great major-
open his own office. ity of truly concerned and truly
Yet, the problems of business, committed students, of whom the
the m.ysteries of the nucleus, and public rarely hears during their
the ailments of the body are sim- college years - unquestionably the
ple when compared to the prob- finest people (as well as the braini-
lems of war, poverty, injustice, est) that we have ever had in our
and limitations of freedom. colleges - that we may confidently
If there are to be activists and look for future leaders who have,
others who purport to have an- in Ortega's words, "high creative
swers to social problems, let them passion ... with the constancy of
spend at least as much time and clear understanding and a calm
effort in learning what man al- will." ~
S ources of Quotations
Daniel Boorstin (1962), The sion of the University, pages 40-4I.
Image, p. 1I. Eric Hoffer (1951), The True Be-
Thomas Hood (1845), The Lady's lievers, section 22.
Dreatn, line 95. Armen A. Alchian and Reuben A.
John R. Slater (1930), Inscrip- Kessel (1962), "Conlpetition, Monop-
tions for Rush Rhees Library, East- oly, and the Pursuit of Money," in
man Quadrangle, University of Aspects of Labor Economics, A Re-
Rochester. port of the National Bureau of Eco-
Jose Ortega y Gasset (1930), Mis- nomic Research, pages 174 and 175.
S01ne References on the Economics of Discrimination

Gary S. Becker (1957), The Eco- isnl and Discrimination," Chap. 7 in
nornics of Disc}imination. his Capitalism and FJ'ced01n.
Alchian and Kessel (1962), see Harold Demsetz (1965), "Minori-
under qUQtations. ties in the Market Place," North
Milton Friedman (1962), "Capital- Carolina Law Rcvicw.
Puppeieers
LEONARD E. READ
WE THINK of a puppeteer as an Unworthy of admiration are the

unseen person who manipulates pseudo puppeteers, among us by
and sometimes supplies voices for the millions. These persons, for
small figures of people or animals the most part, have no demon-
on a miniature stage. strated competency to give form
Puppetry goes back to at least and beauty even to inanimate ob-
500 B.C. The art, often highly de- jects. Yet, undaunted, they pro-
veloped, has occupied and enter- ceed to impose their notions of
tained millions of people all over form and beauty on other human
this earth. beings. They dangle and pull the
A first-rate puppeteer excites strings, not of inanimate little fig-
our admiration. His is a singular ures, but of living individuals. And
skill made manifest through small, they'll throw in the dialogue at no
inanimate, man-created charac- extra charge!
ters. The uniqueness portrayed Pseudo puppeteering is easy to
by the small figures is transmitted identify but to refer to a person
to them by the God-created char- as a pseudo puppeteer may be the
acter, the puppeteer. And we mar- truth one day and a falsehood the
vel at what is seen and heard pre- next. .The explanation for this
cisely as we stand in awe of variation is that pseudo puppeteer-
inanimate paint and canvas given ing is the 'luill to power over oth-
form and beauty by a God-created ers, an urge that rises and falls.
Raphael. On occasion an individual's will
14
1968 PSEUDO PUPPETEERS 15
to power lies dormant; at times are inferior intellectually to those
it rages. In some persons it rages who are the objects of this regi-
most of the time; in others it rar- mentation ?1
ely flares up. But none of us seems "Just a minute, Sir! Are you
to be wholly immune to the urge, claiming that a wealthy plantation
convinced as we are of our own owner, when dictating the activi-
goodness: "Why can't you be like ties of his slaves, was manifesting
m.e?" Unfortunately, there is a bit a greater blindness than theirs?
of the pseudo puppeteer in every- That the same can be said of the
one who cares at all about what great Plato and his slaves? That
goes on around him. Stalin, when relegating a Musco-
vite to dishwashing, regardless of
Ruled by Inferiors how lowly that fellow may have
My hypothesis is that this ten- been, was nonetheless his inferior?
dency or nagging proclivity-the "Why, if your hypothesis is
will to power over others - in valid, the business leader who
whomever it shows forth, is no serves on the Board of the local
more than an unconscious, non- chamber of commerce and votes
rational assertion of ignorance or, for the hometown plaza at the ex-
to be more charitabl~, a blindness pense of taxpayers all over the na-
as to the nature of a human be- tion is displaying an ignorance
ing, regardless of how lowly his greater than the millions whose
position on life's totem pole. In pittances gratify his wishes. This
brief, I am suggesting that those would even be true of the clergy-
who would pull the strings of other man who preaches or the academi-
human beings are-by virtue of cian who teaches this doctrine.
this fact alone, if for no other- You can't possibly mean all of
mentally and morally unfitted to this !"
the task. The pseudo puppeteer, Incredible as it seems, this is
when putting on his act, is intel- precisely what I mean!
lectually inferior, not superior, to Such charges cannot be leveled
his human puppets. against the true puppeteer, the
"Do you mean to suggest, Mr. one who controls man-created, in-
Read, that the head of state or his animate objects. His ignorance
appointees, when dictating wages, could not possibly match that of
hours, rents, prices, and other his wholly unintelligent and life-
terms and conditions relating to
1 Livelihood is an extension of life.
the peaceful and nondestructive The control of another's livelihood is
aspects of ownership and trade, thus the control of another's life.
less marionettes. But it is possible ing his act, is inferior even to this
for the greatest intellect ever born lowly fellow.
to have a blind spot, an area of This slave is a human being! He
ignorance more pronounced than is neither inanimate nor animal.
to be found in a slave. Examined physically, genetically,
Think about this pseudo pup- chemically, atomistically, there is
peteer. Regardless of how great nothing to distinguish him from
his attainments relative to the rest Booker T . Washington. Or from
of us, he really knows next to your own ancestors a short while
nothing. This is especially. true if ago. Doubtless, his brain is as
he is unaware of how little he large as yours and has as many
knows. No living person has more nerve cells.
than a superficial knowledge of I am only trying to establish the
himself; he knows even less about point that this slave is as much a
his intimate acquaintances; and human being as you or I; like us,
still less about those he does not he is endowed with unrealized po-
know. tentialities. To say that his poten-
tialities have not as yet been real-
Each Manis Emergence
ized to the same degree as yours
Depends Upon Himself and mine and, therefore, he would
Consider next the individual, be better off were he our puppet,
anyone of the several billion hu- is to assume not only that we have
man beings who, in one way or it made but, far worse, that there
another, dangles as a marionette is no such thing as human prog-
to the pleasure ,of the pseudo pup- ress, emergence, evolution.
peteers. The realization of potentialities
While all of us, in varying de- is man's purpose; this is human
grees, are victims of puppeteer- destiny. And the human being, as
ing, let us not pose a Socrates or complex in one stage of develop-
some other brilliant notable in the men t a san 0 the r, c an g 1" ow,
role of puppet; that would make it emerge, "hatch," only as he is free
too easy to prove the inferiority to do so. The developmental forces
of the puppeteer. Instead, let us and mechanisms-the soul, psyche,
take someone far down the scale call the generative processes what
in our rating systeITIS, a Negro you will-are within him, and his
slave, for instance-no schooling, germinal forces are not to be
unable to read or write or even found in any other person. It is
to talk intelligibly. My claim is stressing the obvious to insist
that any puppeteer, when perform- that I cannot manage these forces
1968 PSEUDO PUPPETEERS 17
in you, for you are unique, extra- Resistance to puppeteering might

ordinary, and unlike me in every increase with the realization that
respect. 2 This claim can safely be most of us are being used as pup-
generalized. pets. What self-respecting person
I am not the Creator. Failing to wants to be someone else's mari-
realize that no one of us can mas- onette?
termind the creative release and And the whole nonsensical re-
growth of another is an utter lationship would evaporate were
blindness. And no matter how enough of us (1) to evaluate prop-
slight the intellectual attainments erly the uniqueness of the individ-
of the manipulated human being, ual, (2) to understand that the
the ignorance of the pseudo germinal forces for individual
puppeteer, when puppeteering, is growth are exclusively self-pos-
greater than that of the puppet. sessed, and (3) to appreciate that
The puppet, no matter how dim his these forces can do their work
glimmer, sees more than can a only when free to function, not
blind puppeteer. when on either end of a string or
Is there any remedy for man a chain.
imposing his will by force on other
men? Can we curb this puppeteer- Whenever any of us feel the
puppet relationship? puppeteering urge coming on, we
Pseudo puppeteering might di- should heed the counsel, "Mind
minish with a realization that it your own business." And when-
is nothing more than an assertion ever we sense that others are us-
of ignorance. This is a shunned, ing us as puppets, we should make
not a sought-after, category. it plain that we are not of the
slave mentality by simply demon-
2 See You Are Extraordinary by
Roger J. Williams (New York: Random strating that we can think and
House, Inc., 1967). speak for ourselves. ~
John
Quincy
Adams
1767-1848
ROBERT M. THORNTON
Bettmann Archive
IN 1831 John Quincy Adams, age fectly clear to his constituents that
64, was elected to the House of he would be his own man in Wash-
Representative from his district in ington, not a mere errand boy or
Massachusetts. His lifelong politi- mouthpiece for any party or sec-
cal motto-never to seek office and tion. This, evidently, was good
never to refuse one-explains his enough for the farmers of Plym-
willingness to serve the public in outh, because Adams was re-
this relatively minor position for elected every term until his death
a man who had been a U. S. Sen- in office in 1848.
ator, Minister in The Netherlands, The independent stand of John
Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Lon- Quincy Adams contrasts sharply
don, Secretary of State in the Ad- with the promises of many of to-
ministration of James Monroe, day's candidates and officeholders
and President of the United States, to be guided almost exclusively by
1825-1829. But he made it per- the majority-or the strong and
vocal minority that gives the im-
Mr. Thornton is a businessman in Covington,
Kentucky. pression of being a majority. The
18
1968 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 19
politician of today is concerned of all a man of integrity; a ma-
not with doing what he believes is chine can "count noses."
right but with doing what the When comparing the politicians
majority of those who elected him of today with John Quincy Adams,
want him to do, be it right or we must recognize the idea im-
wrong. Consequently, he devotes plicitin each position. The politi-
much of his time to nose-counting cal leaders in our time believe, or
instead of hard thinking and pray- in return for votes pretend to be-
erful meditation. lieve, the voice of the people is the
The most successful political voice of God-vox populi, vox dei.
leaders of the future will not nec- Men like John Quincy Adams, on
essarily be men of intelligence, the other hand, do not believe such
wisdom, experience, knowledge, nonsense. Nor do they believe that
honor, character, and integrity. any party or nation has a monop-
Rather, they will be the men-or oly on the truth. Truth is not
women-with the most sophisti- found by the expedient of count-
cated polling and computing sys- ing noses. Very often the maj ority
tern; the man, that is, who before can be dead wrong; it is a few
committing himself on any ques- wise individuals-the natural aris-
tion, can quickly and accurately tocracy - who lead them on the
determine the majority opinion right path away from disaster.
among his constituents. There is We need men in office like John
no room in such a situation for a Quincy Adams who believe their
John Quincy Adams with his broad duty is always to seek what is
experience, wide learning, and right, whose allegiance is not to a
strong character. In fact, the sit- party or section or nation but to
uation calls for no man at all, least the Truth. ~
Essential Justice
FOR THERE is but one essential justice which cements society, and
one law which establishes this justice. This law is right reason,
which is the true rule of all commandments and prohibitions.
Whoever neglects this law, whether written or unwritten, is
necessarily unjust and wicked.
CICERO, De Legibus
ONE AND INSEPARABLE
WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN
Two FAMILIAR left-wing cliches number of causes, drought, trans-

that are too often allowed to pass portation breakdowns after years
unexamined and unrefuted are of fierce civil war, and last, but by
that freedom under capitalism is no means least, the Soviet system
freedom to starve and that human of so-called war communism. Un-
rights are superior to property der this system the value of money
rights. The implications are that was virtually abolished; the gov-
people are most likely to go hun- ernment requisitioned all the peas-
gry under a system of free enter- ants' "surplus" produce and, in
prise and private ownership and theory, gave him what he needed
that there is a basic antagonism in clothing, machinery, and manu-
between human rights and prop- factured goods. But this theory
erty rights. Both assumptions are was seldom translated into fact;
completely false and misleading. what actually happened was that
Where have the great famines armed requisitioning bands
of the twentieth century occurred? scoured the villages, confiscating
There have been two in the Soviet any food stocks they found and
Union, each costing millions of gi,:ing nothing in return. Under
human lives, in 1921-22 and in these circumstances there was an
1932-33. Capitalism obviously can- understandable unwillingness of
not be blamed for either of these. the peasant to raise more than he
The first was the product of a required for his own subsistence.
Mr. Chamberlin is a skilled observer and re-
At least the Soviet Government
porter of economic and political conditions at admitted the fact of this famine
home and abroad. In addition to writing a
number of books, he has lectured widely and and welcomed foreign aid from
is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal
and numerous magazines. the American Relief Agency, head-
20
1968 LIBERTY AND PROPERTY: ONE AND INSEPARABLE 21
ed by Herbert Hoover, and various Industrial Ta; Mahals
foreign religious and charitable Famine has also occurred in re-
organizations. Its responsibility cent years in communist China
for the second great famine, in and in India. In India, socialist
1932-33, is far more unmistakable state planning led to systematic
and undivided. This famine, which neglect of agriculture in favor of
devastated what are normally the building. big new factories, which
most fertile areas of European a prominent Indian economist, B.
Russia, the Ukraine, and the North R. Shenoy, has called "industrial
Caucasus, was primarily political Taj Mahals," out of proportion to
in character. the needs and absorption capaci-
Stalin was bringing all possible ties of the country. There can be
pressure to force the peasants to no serious suggestion that capital-
give up their individual holdings ism is responsible for starvation
and accept regimentation in so- in India. For the disastrous fam-
called collective farms, where they ines that have occurred in the So-
were completely under state con- viet Union, China, and India there
trol as regards what they should is no parallel in any country with
plant, how much they must sur- an economy based on private prop-
render to the government, what erty relations.
prices they should receive. Weath- There is an intermediate phase
er conditions had been unfavor- between the stark horror of dow~
able and the peasants' will to pro- right famine, with thousands of
duce had been paralyzed. Yields human beings perishing from lack
were naturally low and I still re- of food and the diseases that mal-
call, from a trip in rural areas, nutrition always brings, and the
the striking number of weeds in contented satisfaction of needs en-
the collective farm fields. The So- joyed by shoppers in an American
viet authorities easily could have supermarket. In this phase people
coped with the food shortage by are not acutely hungry but are
drawing on reserve stocks or im- condemned to a drab, unappetizing
porting food from abroad. Instead, diet, either because of rationing
heavy requisitions were imposed or because foodstuffs which they
and the peasants were left to may desire are not available in the
starve, as several millions of them stores. This is the present situa-
did. Foreign relief was not per- tion in Russia and in the commu-
mitted; honest reporting of the nist-ruled areas of Central and
famine, its background and causes, Eastern Europe. There has been
was not permitted. nothing of the kind in the strong-
holds of free enterprise and pri- occupation, without external coer-

vate property, in North America cion. And to travel freely to for-
and Western Europe-at least, not eign countries, and, if one chooses,
since Great Britain got rid of ra- to quit one's native country for
tioning, prolonged by Labor gov- residence in another. And to be se-
ernments after it had been cure against having letters opened
dropped on the continent and fi- and telephone conversations re-
nally abolished by the Conserva- ported by snooping government
tives in the fifties. agents. And to give up a job, or to
So much for the old wheeze change jobs without let or hin-
about "freedom to starve" under drance. And to publish newspapers
free enterprise. It is the over- and books, operate radio broad-
whelming testimony of experience casts, and generally communicate
that anyone who wishes to eat as with one's fellows without official
much as he wishes and as wide a censorship.
variety of foods as he wishes Call the roll of this list of ele-
should stay away from communist mentary human rights and liber-
and socialist states. ties and examine how it stands up
under various social and economic
Property Rights Are Human Rights systems. No form of government
And the supposed antithesis be- or society is perfect; but by and
tween "human" rights and "prop- large the above mentioned liber-
erty" rights is quite nonexistent. ties are pretty well observed in
For the right to own property and countries where the rights of pri-
use it in lawful ways is a very vate property are most scrupulous-
basic human right and when this ly respected. Most or all are disre-
right disappears, others also garded under any form of dicta-
swiftly vanish. What are, after all, torship. But the denial of every
basic human freedoms? Security one of these human rights is most
against arbitrary arrest, imprison- complete, systematic, and irrevo-
ment, and execution is surely cable under the dictatorships
prominent on the list. So is the which have gone furthest in abol-
right, through an uncoerced vote, ishing the right to own and utilize
to exercise some share of control private property.
in government decisions. And the The regimes that are now in
right to state one's views, in power in the Soviet Union, in
speech or writing, as an individual mainland China, and in Cuba grew
or in association with others. And out of revolutions that took place
to choose one's form of work and under differing circumstances and
against differing national back- limited powers of arrest, sentence,
grounds. But all these tyrannies, and execution. This agency has
as also those in East Germany, several times changed its name
Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and has operated sometimes more
Romania, Yugoslavia, and Albania, ruthlessly than at others; but it
have one negative trait in com- remains the ultimate. sanction of
mon. They recognize for the in- Soviet dictatorship.
dividual no right which the state Voting became a farce, with
may not arbitrarily withhold or only one set of candidates, hand-
deny. picked by the ruling Communist
Liberty is the first casualty Party, to vote for. Fifty years
after the wholesale nationaliza- after the inauguration of the
tion and confiscation of property. communist system there is not
This rule has been proven so often one organ of opinion in the Soviet
under so many circumstances in Union that is free from state cen-
so many countries with such var- sorship and control. No meetings
ied backgrounds that there can be may be held, no clubs or societies
no reasonable doubt as to its uni- formed, without official approval.
versal application. To leave the country for travel
abroad, a right casually exercised
The Communist Purge every year by millions of Ameri-
Russia fifty years ago was the cans and West Europeans, is for
scene of the most thoroughgoing the Soviet citizen a rarely granted
smashing of property rights ever privilege. Foreigners resident in
witnessed. Land, factories, mines, Moscow have long become accus-
banks, houses, stores, every imag- tomed to receiving letters which
inable form of tangible property, have quite obviously been opened.
was taken over by the state. Such Foreign embassies take every pre-
intangibles as stocks and bonds caution against the constant bug-
automatically became worthless, ging of conversation within their
and this was also true as regards walls and no Russian in his right
the prerevolutionary currency. mind speaks freely over the tele-
And along with this process phone.
went the systematic destruction of Forced labor has been a prom-
all the human rights and liberties inent feature of the Soviet system,
that had been solemnly affirmed varying from the barbarous cru-
after the overthrow of the czarist elty of concentration camps where
regime a few months before. A millions of men and women were
secret police was set up with un- overworked and underfed in the
Arctic climate of Northern Russia ligious and political persecution

and Northern Siberia, to the and proscriptions, reached its
milder constraint put upon uni- great compromise in the estab-
versity graduates in medicine, en- lishment of constitutional mon-
gineering, and teaching to accept archy under William III in 1688,
assignment to remote localities for the greatest exponent of the new
two years after graduation. And mood was the political scientist
this same pattern of recognizing and philosopher, John Locke. By
no inherent rights of the citizen, nature broad-minded and tolerant,
of treating him merely as a tool Locke worked out a theoretical
and chattel of an all-powerful scheme well calculated to satisfy
state, has reappeared in China and a people sick of the excesses of
in Castro's Cuba. During the last royal despotism, on one side, and
decade bitter hostility has de- of Puritan rule, embodied in
veloped between the Soviet and Cromwell's personal dictatorship,
Chinese communist regimes. There on the other.
have been instances of more or Locke, whose thought influenced
less suppressed friction between the Founding Fathers of the
Moscow and its east European American Republic as much as
satellites. Fidel Castro as the first the leaders of his native England,
totalitarian ruler in Latin Ameri- strongly vindicated the rights of
ca has not operated under the the indivi dual citizen as against
same conditions, human and ma- the state. For the old-fashioned
terial, as Lenin, Stalin, and Mao theory of an anointed king ruling
Tse-tung. by divine right he substituted the
And communism takes on diff- conception of society as a body
ering national colorations, de- of individuals living together for
pending on the people on whom it mutual convenience and confer-
is imposed. All the more signifi- ring on government only certain
cant, therefore, is the universal limited and specifically defined
common trait of every communist powers. He emphasized the "nat-
regime, in Europe, in Asia, in ural right of life, liberty, and
Latin America. This is the denial property," properly regarding all
of every basic individual liberty three as closely associated. It was
for the individual. perhaps an accident that the Dec-
laration of Independence did not
Locke: "Life, Liberty, and Property" restate Locke's formula, substi-
When England, after half a cen- tuting for property the rather
tury of turmoil, civil war, re- meaningless phrase: "pursuit of
happiness." Property, in Locke's to the archives of history and no

opinion, is "the great and chief longer constitute a threat. The
end of men's uniting into com- principal threat to freedom now
monwealths." is the adoption of measures that
Progress in guarantied individ- in some countries have led and
ual liberty has marched side by in others might lead to the mod-
side with assured guaranties of ern-style demagogic dictatorship,
the right of the individual to ac- which, in the name of abolishing
cumulate and enjoy property. exploitation, sets up a superstate
Great principles of ordered liberty with unrivaled powers for ex-
were symbolized in John Hamp- ploiting its subjects and invari-
den's resistance to the payment ably strikes down every other
of "ship money," a tax imposed freedom as a sequel to eliminating
for a phony purpose by the ar- economic freedom.
bitrary power of King Charles I, The surest brake on the tend-
and in the actions of Hampden's ency of government to exceed its
successors, the rebellious colonists, proper functions and degenerate
in refusing to pay taxes on stamps into tyranny is a strong proper-
and tea levied without American tied middle class. It was the
representation by the British Par- emergence of such a class that
liament. sounded the death knell of abso-
It was because men like Hamp- lutist monarchs and feudal bar-
den were prepared to stand up ons. The destruction of such a
for their rights (including their class is the invariable first objec-
property rights) that England un- tive of the totalitarian communist
til recent times was a lightly taxed revolution that exploits discon-
country. And, of course, the content, justified or unj ustified, in
flicts over the stamp and tea taxes order to set up a tyranny far
were the overture to the estab- worse than anything against
lishment of the American Re- which it rebelled.
public. One may paraphrase a famous
oratorical climax of Daniel Web-
Eternal Vigilance ster, himself a stout defender of
Freedom in all its forms, in- economic freedom, and sum up as
cluding not least economic free- follows the lesson to be drawn
dom, must always be defended, al- from all historical experience, past
though the enemy changes with and present:
changing times. Absolute kings Liberty and Property. One and
and emperors have disappeared in- Inseparable. Now and Forever. ~
To Be Different
-and Free
BEN MOREELL
EACH of us begins life with cer- tance to the progress and well-
tain inherited physical, mental, being of mankind that it must
and moral characteristics, some of surely be Divinely authored! "The
which are as unique as one's fin- God who gave us life gave us
gerprints.. As we grow older, the liberty at the same time," Jeffer-
variations at birth are expanded son observed. I would presume to
by differences in environment, add, "And He made us all differ-
education, training, associations, ent, each one from every other
and experiences, and by the influ- one."
ence of our studies, meditations, With such a powerful force
and such Divine guidance as we acting to induce diverse judg-
are able to invoke. These diversi- ments, it is truly remarkable that
ties bring about differences in ma- we can achieve pragmatic working
terial possessions and in the status agreement on most of the crucial
achieved in the professions, the issues which confront our nation.
arts, and other areas of human en- We do so only as we develop a
deavor. broad tolerance for the opinions
All this is the natural resultant of others, a tolerance essential for
of the law of human variation, a arriving at workable solutions
law of such transcendent impor- which attract the support of pub-
From remarks by Admiral Moreell among
lic opinion.
friends gathered on his seventy-fifth birthday, Alexander Hamilton advanced
in 1967, "to rejoice in his rich and full years
of service to God and Country." this thought in a plea for ratifi-
1968 TO BE DIFFERENT - AND FREE 27
cation of the Constitution. He may use his dollars as ballots to

wrote, in the first Federalist promote those goods and services
Paper, "So numerous, indeed, and which satisfy his wants best. This
so powerful are the causes which is the essence of the world's most
serve to give a false bias to the productive economy, our own free
judgment, that we see . . . wise market system, which offers in-
and good men on the wrong as centives to venture, rewards for
well as on the right side of ques- success, and penalties for failure,
tions of the first magnitude to so- all commensurate with the values
ciety. This circumstance, if duly delivered to the market place as
attended to, would furnish a les- these are determined by willing
son of moderation to those who buyers and willing sellers.
are ever so much persuaded of To deprive a person of his
their being in the right in any rights is to violate a natural law.
controversy." This will call forth its own penal-
It is in light of the foregoing ties, as does defiance of any natu-
that, over the years, I have tried ral law, moral or physical. If I
earnestly, but not always with jump from a high building, I am
success, to avoid impugning the defying the law of gravity; and
motives, the patriotism, or the in- I am penalized. In like manner,
tegrity of those with whom I have when we defy the law of human
differed on important questions.... variation by trying to equalize the
social, economic, or cultural status
Freedom of Choice Essential to of individuals by resort to the co-
Individual Growth and Development
ercive force of government, thus
In order that each person might restricting free choice and im-
have full scope for the develop- peding creative energies, we suffer
ment and use of his talents, he the penalties.
must have maximum freedom of A corollary is that there is no
choice which should be limited moral sanction for any man to im-
only by the requirement that he pair the rights of his posterity.
may not thereby impair the free- Just as he may not sell them into
doms of any other person. This re- slavery, so may he not deprive
quires a free market for goods, them of their economic or politi-
services, and ideas into which gov- cal freedom. Jefferson held that
ernment would intrude only to the act of deferring payment on
perform the functions allocated to the public debt, thus imposing this
it specifically by the Constitution. burden on future generations, is
Under this system, each person tantamount to enslaving them....
Inner Restraints - The American tradition holds

Law and Order that a free society is possible only
In 1776, George Mason wrote if it consists, predominantly, of
this statement into the Virginia spiritually conscious, self-disci-
Declaration of Rights: plined individuals. This is evident
in both the Declaration of Inde-
No free government or the bless- pendence and the Constitution.
ings of liberty can be preserved to
The framers of those documents
any people but by a firm adherence
to justice, moderation, temperance,
believed they were transcribing
frugality, and virtue, and by fre- "the laws of Nature and of Na-
quent recurrence to fundamental ture's God." The supremacy of
principles. the Constitution was believed to
stem from its correspondence to a
What principles did he have in law superior to the will of human
mind? They were, broadly speak- rulers.
ing, religious principles; not the
doctrines and creeds which set off Utopian Lures
one group from another but rath- In recent decades we have
er the belief in a just and merciful veered away from that design for
God which they share. It was a a great and devout nation, whose
basic American principle to sep- basic tenet was an economically
arate church and state, not be- independent citizenry, supporting
cause of any hostility to religion; and controlling a government
quite the contrary. The state was which is the servant of the people,
to be secular in order that religion not their master! Instead, we have
might be free to teach our people moved sharply toward the seduc-
the inner restraints of self-disci- tive idea of a socialist "utopia,"
pline. The latter, in turn, would which reverses the American pat-
reduce or eliminate those infringe- tern, enslaving the people by hav-
ments on individual rights which ing the government support them!
so often accompany forceful meas- This is the same false "utopia"
ures taken by government to es- from which many of our people, or
tablish and maintain public order. their forebears, escaped in order
Edmund Burke said: to seek freedom and opportunity
Society cannot exist unless a con- in America!
trolling power on the will and appe- To know the ailment is the first
tite is placed somewhere; and the step toward finding the cure. We
less there is within, the more there can escape from our current con-
must be of it without. fusion; but it will not be by politi-
1968 TO BE DIFFERENT - AND FREE 29
cal legerdemain. Rather, it will be What the world expects from
by a rehabilitation of those spir- America is that she keep alive, in
itual and moral values which made human history, a fraternal recogni-
our nation great! tion of the dignity of man . . . the
terrestrial hope of men in the Gospel!
America and Moral Leadership We can provide that moral lead-
I am no prophet of doom. While ership if each of us will dedicate
I hold that disaster lies ahead un- himself to "justice, moderation,
less we change course, I believe temperance, frugality, and virtue,
that the world is now on the and frequent recurrence to funda-
threshold of what could be such a mental principles." This task must
dynamic expansion of spiritual be undertaken by each one, acting
understanding and material pro- individually. Our success will then
ductivity as to tax the capacities be evidenced by the wise actions
of all mankind! The world looks of our elected lawmakers-and by
to America for moral leadership. those who execute the laws they
The great French philosopher, enact. This is the way we can
Jacques Maritain, said: make our liberty secure! ~
OTHER
PEOPLE'S
MONEY
ONE of the shorter definitions we
know is precisely this: politics is
other people's money.
We quote it here as an aid to
OLE-JACOB HOFF
voters who, their senses numbed
by party propaganda and the
promises of politicians, are start-
This article by co-editor Ole-Jacob Hoff is ing to wonder just what a demo-
from the September 23, 1967 issue of the
Norwegian weekly, Farmand, published by cratic election is about. Because,
Dr. Trygve J. B. Hoff. dear voter, this, like most other
While written with a view to the current
local elections in Norway, its content may elections, is concerned with one
apply to other countries and other elections
Elswell. thing and one thing only - your
money, and who is to spend it- the authorities intervened as ex-

you or the politicians. tremely expensive middlemen.
Every party has its magic form- Admittedly, the politician's lot
ula designed to convince you, the is not an easy one: in a modern
voter, of the wonders that will be democracy like Norway politicians
wrought with your money, if only are compelled to bid at auction for
that particular party's politicians public support. This explains why
are empowered to conjure with it. they strive to outbid one another,
"Planning and Controls" are what and frequently make promises
the Labour Party wants, while they are unable to redeem.
"Rural Development" is the uni- Don't let them confuse you, dear
versal incantation intoned by them voter. Their magic formulas are
all. But - as voters will already no more effective in the rarefied
ha ve percei ved - these catch atmosphere of political promises
phrases are rehashes of the age- than they are at the earthly level
old assertion that by investing of private enterprise. The real
your money via a multitude of point at issue is to what extent
bureaucrats you will benefit more you are willing to put yourself
than if you invest it yourself. under the tutelage of the authori-
Is the politicians' claim j usti- ties.
tied? Obviously it is not. Neither Nevertheless-listen carefully to
is it true. The high standard of what the politicians have to say.
living presently enjoyed by the If you happen to hear of someone
Norwegian people has not been who, instead of wanting to do con-
brought about by the efforts of juring tricks with your money, is
politicians or the government. It prepared to take a chance on you
is attributable solely to the profit- - private citizen and taxpayer, the
able activities of private businessman politicians and authorities
men. What is more, such benefits live on (and off) - then, but only
as have accrued to the people of then, you may heed the dictates of
Norway would probably have been your heart and reason:
far greater had not the state and Vote for him. ~
The Duty of Private Judgment

FOR NOTHING is more incongruous than for an ad~
vocate of lilb'@'1'ty to tyrannize over his neighbors.
JONATHAN MAYHEW
TheRo~
MILTON H. MATER
SINCE the Committee for Eco- small, yet to hope for a govern-
nomic Development released its ment to become more perfect and
highly critical report on local gov- "responsive" just because it is
ernments in July, 1966, and sug- large, is to fly in the face of our
gested that the existing 80,000 own current experience with the
local governments in the United confusing blandness of the over-
States be reduced by at least 80 powering bureaucracy which char-
per cent, the cry for consolidating acterizes our oversized and ever-
small local governments into larger expanding Federal government.
units has reached new heights. The attack on local government
Even the U.S. Chamber of Com- has become so much a part of
merce has come out for eliminat- modern intellectual life that even
ing local governments on the basis th e conservati ve Wall Street
of greater efficiency. Journal in an "inverted think"
Of course, I do not mean to de- editorial on July 27, 1967, blames
fend inefficiency or corruption in too much local government for the
any government, no matter how race riots of the summer of 1967.
Milton H. Mater is the managing-owner ofa
"This sorry situation," the edi-
small manufacturing plant in Corvallis, Ore- torial says, Hof course reflects a
gon. He is a Colonel in the U. S. Army Re-
serve assigned to Research and Development breakdown in America's system of
during his annual two-week Active Duty
Tours. government. Local governments,
31
close to the people, are supposed television. Each mayor controls

to be alert and responsive to their the programs for the expenditure
needs. What has gone wrong?" of millions of dollars of city, state,
-As if the big city governments and Federal funds, with hardly a
of Detroit, Newark, and New by-your-Ieave from his city coun-
York, where the racial conflict was cil. Each city council member rep-
most violent and destructive, could resents several hundred thousand
be called "local governments" ! people-not 2,500! Does such a city
Later in the editorial, a ques- government even faintly represent
tionable "average" statistic is in- an "average" of one government
troduced to prove the point: for 2,500 people? What kind of
rapport can the people feel with a
One sizable difficulty is that there government so distant, so unrep-
are simply too many local govern-
resentative and-because of the ex-
ments, an average of one for every
travagant election promises and
2,500 Americans. Most of these units
are so small that they cannot hope claims of the big city politicians-
to apply modern methods to current so lacking in credibility?
and future responsibilities.
Democracy in Turkey
If indeed every 2,500 citizens in The political pressure and edi-
Detroit were represented in the torials for more dilution of local
government, I doubt that the riots control and for the removal of gov-
would have occurred. The govern- ernment still further from the
ment would have been too respon- people who must pay for it, bring
sive to local control to permit such to mind a thought-provoking in-
a breakdown of law .and order. cident which occurred in 1962
Where in the modern United when I was taking my two weeks
States have we had a riot in a of Active Duty as an Army Re-
town of 2,500 or less that hasn't serve Officer. I was assigned to
been caused by an influx of out- an installation at Redstone Ar-
side agitators? senal at Huntsville, Alabama. Dur-
Rather than one government for ing this time I was fortunate
every 2,500 people, the millions in enough to share an apartment in
New York, Newark, and Detroit the Bachelor Officer's Quarters
have only a handful of represen- with a young Turkish Officer who
tatives, in governments dominated was with a group attending
by a strong, politically powerful classes on our American missiles.
mayor who shapes the flow of city After a week of breakfast chats
news to newspapers, radio, and during which he learned that I
1968 THE ROOTS OF DEMOCRACY 33
was an American businessman which sprang nearly full grown
during the other 50 weeks of the from our English heritage. I
year, he became quite informally thought of the "Mayflower Com-
friendly and discussed Turkish pact" and our own sturdy New
political problems which were in England and Eastern Colonial ex-
a particularly hectic state at that perience and the states which grew
time. out of it. What kind of demo-
One evening Gursel came in cratic heritage did the Turks have,
with two of his Turkish friends I wondered?
and asked if they could speak with "Let me ask you some questions
me seriously for a little while. about the political life of your
These were well-educated men and, country outside of your great cit-
I gathered, members of important ies," I began. "How do you govern
Turkish families with connections yourselves in your small provin-
in government and industry. When cial towns and villages? For in-
I nodded, he asked me quite stance, are your policemen local
bluntly, "How can we make democ- men, hired and paid for by the
racy work in Turkey?" town ?"
The question took me aback. The answer was, "No. They are
How could I, an American, with sent to the town from Ankara, the
practically no knowledge of his capital of Turkey."
country, advise him on a vitally "What about your judges?" I
important subject such as this? asked. "Are they elected by the
I knew from previous conversa- local citizens of a town or of a
tions that he was looking for some geographical area like our coun-
new formula of parliamentary ty ?" (I showed them the county
representation that would prevent boundaries on an Alabama road-
the turmoil which periodically map.)
shook the very foundations of the The answer was, "Oh no, no,
Turkish political system. I had no no!"
advice or comments on parliamen- I then asked, "How are your tax
tary democracy which I felt would collectors appointed? Are they
be helpful. elected by the people of the vil-
However, as I sat back and pon- lage ?"
dered my ans\ver, the thought This was an even more shocking
came to me to find out just how thought. "Oh no," they answered,
deep the roots of Turkish democ- "they are sent from Ankara. If
racy went. I mused over the be- they were elected by the people
ginnings of our own democracy of the village they could never
collect any taxes. The people would and start what we call a "grass
not pay them. They would have roots" movement toward local con-
no respect for them." trol.
Freedom to Vote IIYes l l The Case for Home Rule
It turned out that the same was I think of my discussion with

true for all officials whom we re- these earnest young Turks when I
gard as essentially local people, read of the C.E.D. report calling
elected by their peers to carry out for the abolishment of our county
the laws of the land. It also units in favor of consolidated
turned out that the only semblance supragovernmental units; I think
of democracy which they had was of it when I read of proposals in
a vote for the President and a vote my own state of Oregon to permit
for a representative in parliament the Governor to appoint judges
who was chosen for them by a po- rather than elect them on a local
litical party and whose election level; it is brought to mind when
was by some kind of proportional I contemplate the activities of the
representation system, so that the Internal Revenue Service which
people hardly knew who their own sends mysterious men from one
parliamentary representative was. area of the United States to other
I then explained to them how far-off areas, to make sure that
our towns and counties operate on we send our money to Washing-
a strong local control basis. I ex- ton for local redistribution by
plained that democracy existed on other faceless men - men empow-
the principle of electing officials at ered to haul us, under arrest by
the lowest level, as well as at the nonlocal law officers, into tax
highest, and then giving these lo- courts ruled over by judges for
cal officials even more respect and whom we never voted.
cooperation than we give to a Fed- Are we moving closer to the un-
erally appointed official from a dis- workable Turkish system of non-
tant capital. local government?
I suggested that they spend I am concerned over whether or
some of their time in the United not our democracy can stand up
States visiting small-town city under these assaults on local self-
halls and county courthouses to ob- rule by prestigious groups who
serve how our democracy works. seem to confuse bigness with effi-
Perhaps they could take these ciency and efficiency with democ-
American ideals of local democracy. If we permit these assaults
racy back to Turkey with them to succeed, can our democracy
1968 THE ROOTS OF DEMOCRACY 35
truly exist in workable form with- an invitation to a computerized,

out a strong commitment in the dehumanized rule by faceless tech-
minds and hearts of our people- nicians who would see nothing but
and can such a commitment be "improved efficiency" in a George
maintained when the people are Orwellian "big brother is watch-
moved still further away from con- ing you" type of society!
trol of their government? A re-
cent news story told of a national As for me, I'd rather pay in
poll which disclosed that only 54 money for the bumbling ineffi-
per cent of the people questioned ciency of our overlapping, respon-
knew who their congressman was. sive local governments close to
If our town and county "units" home than pay in loss of freedom
are trimmed down by 80 per cent, to some far off, "highly efficient
as has been suggested, these computer" to which I would be
"units" would be even fewer and just another punch card to be used
further away from us than our or discarded - for the "good of the
435 congressmen are today. What State." ~
A TRIP ABROAD for discussions with

economists from various parts of
the world (as well as some inci-
dental sight-seeing and research)
CHANGE has a therapeutic value. It acts as

a kind of brainwash - not, of
course, the kind that Governor
Romney talks about. Distance
from the U.S. gives one perspec-
LA WRENCE FERTIG tive on events and trends, which
is sorely needed in this hectic
world.
We all know that the U.S. has a
very advanced technology and a
Mr. Fertig is an ecot1omic columnist. This vigorous enterprise system, but
article appears by permission of Columbia
Features, Inc. only by talking to foreign observ-
ers can we grasp the great respect, nent Dr. L.udwig von Mises and
amounting almost to awe, with by Dr. Friedrich Hayek (who rep-
which they regard the sheer dy- resent the "Austrian" school of
namism of the American economy. thought) gives pre-eminence to
The fact of American dynamism the millions of individual decisions
is more forcibly impressed as one which create "disequilibrium," or
travels about Europe and observes change.
how business is done. Although They emphasize change and
American methods are often imi- movement in the economy as the
tated' the tremendous drive which important ingredient. "Equilib-
characterizes American operations rium" is, to be sure, a theoreti-
is largely lacking. cal objective, but this delicate bal-
This contrast is noted by Euro- ance is shattered in a dynamic
pean economists. They express tre- economy the instant it is reached.
mendous confidence in the eco- The Mises theory, as Kirzner ex-
nomic future of the U.S. Despite plains it, points to the fact that
sensational stories in the foreign individuals are always "seeking
press about race riots in our ma- out the best course of action, ven-
jor cities, shrewd Europeans un- turing, exploring, innovating,
derstand that our political struc- searching. They are constantly test-
ture is quite solid. Anyway, they ing the nature of the constraints
ask, if one is not to trust invest- which circumscribe them." It is
ments in the U.S., where in the this questing and dynamism which
world is it possible to commit changes the relationship of eco-
capital funds with safety? nomic factors every day and every
hour. Old methods and old busi-
Equilibrium Is Unstable nesses often die in the process and
The dynamism of the American new ones are created. The late
economy was brought to mind by Professor Joseph Schumpeter of
a brilliant theoretical paper de- Harvard aptly called this process
livered at the Mont Pelerin So- "creative destruction."
ciety conference at Vichy, France,
Restraints That Destroy
by Professor Israel Kirzner of
New York University. The point Governments are always seeking
he made was that economic analy- to create some kind of equilibrium
sis, until recently, always stressed by imposing restraints on people's
the importance of "equilibrium" actions - restrictions which they
- the balance of economic forces. believe will give the desired re-
But the idea accented by the emi- sult. They order wage-price con-
1968 THE ROOTS OF DEM OCRACY 37
troIs, investment controls, ex- In this month [October, 1967J

change controls, etc., etc., in an at- the U. S. economy is trying to ad-
tempt to achieve their objective. just - as it has been trying for
But these government controls are many months - to a new set of
like the weight of a dead hand. conditions. It is adjusting to one
Individuals always try to find of the strongest infusions of
ways of circumventing govern- money and credit into the eco-
ment regulations which place the nomic bloodstream that has ever
free market in a strait jacket. The occurred in so short a time. The
free market permits human in- immediate consequence of this in-
ventiveness and energy to express flation is becoming evident in ex-
itself, and any attempt to control panded activity and higher prices.
these creative factors is self-de- The long-term consequence is an-
feating and harmful. other matter. It may not be so
One way in which governments pleasant.
seek to achieve their objective is
by monetary manipulation. In the "You are a very powerful, dy-
main, this means inflation. Under namic nation," said a distinguished
certain depressed conditions and European economist to me during
for a time, such a policy seems to the conference at Vichy. "But you
be successful. As the inflation do foolish things, especially in
continues, a new equilibrium is monetary and fiscal policies." Then
reached at some higher level of in- he paused, and thoughtfully said,
dustrial activity. Then the forces "But you probably can continue
of change undermine the new bal- such actions quite a time to come.
ance. When necessary adj ustments They may not be fatal now. But
begin to take place, governments it is tragic to see a nation as rich
try to preserve the old balance, and powerful as yours sapping its
and this leads to a new inflation. strength and undermining its
Thus, the inflationary process be- foundations. In the long run, such
comes perpetual and so does the policies have always been disas-
depreciation of paper money. trous." ~
Civil Liberty
I WOULD CHOOSE to call civil liberty that power over their own
actions which the members of the state reserve to themselves,
and which their officers must not infringe.
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY
Dem.and
Deposit
In f I a t ion .... ANTHONY M. REINACH
SUPPOSE that yours is a small com- dicrous that citizens, in respect t<
munity which, before automobiles, their money, passively permi1
would have been referred to as a their Federal government to vic
"one-horse" town. Today it might timize them by essentially thE
be called a "one-gasoline-station" same fraud as described above. ThE
town. Its government is centered fact that. this fraud, monetary in
in a mayor who has promised to flation, will uncontestably perpe
render generous services on a par- trate more injustice in the nex1
simonious budget. Actually, the decade than did the Spanish In
mayor seems to be achieving his quisition at its height suggesb
contradictory objectives. In truth, that there are precious few indio
however, he has prevailed upon the viduals who really understane
proprietor of the town's only gas- monetary inflation.
oline station to mix his gas with Technologically, money ha~
water and share with the town taken three basic forms: commod
government the profits generated ity, paper, and checking accoun1
by the dilution. The exposure of funds. Collaterally, monetary in
this knavery triggers a campaign flation has evolved from coin de
to justify it as "government policy basement, to printing press, to thE
in the interest of the people." N ot- creation of spurious demand de
withstanding, I suspect that right- posits. Because demand deposib
eous indignation will still be are the monetary tools employee
aroused in even the town's most in over 90 per cent of America'~
benign citizens. financial transactions, it is demanc
Although such knavery is, of inflation that is destined to makE
course, ludicrous, it is just as lu- history's most notorious swindle~
Mr. Reinach, an occasional contributor to THE look like Tootsie Roll thefts b)
FREEMAN, is a New York businessman, free-
lance writer, and monetary economist. comparison.
38
1968 DEMAND DEPOSIT INFLATION 39
Recipe for Inflation You. And have my wife throw me

To understand how demand de- out?
posit inflation works, imagine Samuel. So what do you propose?
yourself in the role of a drug- You. Here's my plan. From now
store owner. The name of your on, you will function not only as
drugstore is Fiscal Pharmacy, and a clerk, but also as the private
you operate it with one employee, banker for Fiscal Pharmacy.
Samuel. You wish to remodel your Samuel. But I haven't got $10,000.
store at a cost of $10,000, but all You. You won't need it. In fact,
your funds are being used for you won't need any of it.
other purposes and you have al- Samuel. No?
ready stretched your credit to just You. No. Here's $10,000 worth of
about the last penny. It seems that bonds on Fiscal Pharmacy and a
you will have to abandon, or at checkbook for "The Samuel Trust
least postpone, your remodeling Company." Your bank now owns
program. But then you get an the bonds, so please pay for them
idea! by issuing a $10,000 check to
You go to your local printer and Fiscal Pharmacy.
instruct him to print up $10,000
worth of 30-year bonds on Fiscal Having deposited this check
Pharmacy, to yield 3 112 per cent. with a conventional bank-conven-
In addition, you instruct your tional, that is, except for its
printer to make up a checkbook naivety - you now have the where-
for "The Samuel Trust Company." \vithal for your remodeling pro-
A few days later, armed with the gram.
freshly printed bonds and check- The funds you subsequently
book, you summon Samuel to in- transfer to your contractor will
form him of a proprietary position soon be transferred by him to
with which you are about to re- his own creditors and others, and
ward him for his loyalty: so forth. Thus begins the process
by which the $10,000 you and Sam-
You. I have decided to remodel uel conspired to create become
Fiscal Pharmacy. It will take diffused throughout America's en-
$10,000. tire commercial banking system.
Samuel. That's a lot of potatoes. However, the atomized dispersion
You. Yes, and I haven't been able of that $10,000 will in no way
to raise the first dollar. diminish its impact on the nation's
Samuel. Maybe you should cut money supply.
your personal living expenses. Because banks are permitted by
law to lend out roughly 80 per the Federal budget which, let us
cent of their deposits, and because suppose, is $150 billion. To raise
banks, since World War II, have this money, the government can
been vigorously lending out virtu- tax, borrow, or inflate. Let us
ally every dollar allowed by law, further suppose that the govern-
an additional $8,000 (80 per cent ment taxes $100 billion and bor-
of $10,000) of loans - or invest- rows $40 billion, still leaving it
ments in credit instruments, which $10 billion short. At this point,
is the same thing-will be prompt- were my drugstore analogy pro-
ly made. cedurally accurate, the U. S. Treas-
These new loans will be prompt- ury would enter in the role of
ly returned to the banking system Fiscal Pharmacy's owner, and the
as new demand deposits and will, Federal Reserve would enter in
in turn, enable the banks to lend the role of Samuel, Fiscal Phar-
out another $6,400 (80 per cent macy's private banker:
of $8,000), which will likewise be
deposited and generate the addi- Treasury. Our expenses this year
tional lending of $5,120, et cetera, are $150 billion.
et cetera, et cetera. The result will Fed. That's a lot of potatoes.
be $40,000 of derivative demand Treasury. We were able to tax
deposits spawned from the initial only $100 billion.
bogus $10,000 demand deposit, for Fed. Maybe you should raise taxes
a grand total of $50,000. by 50 per cent.
Treasury. And get voted out of
The Government Procedure
office?
That Triggers Inflation
Fed. Well, how much were you
Fictitious? Yes. Fantastic? No. able to borrow?
With one major modification, the Treasury. $40 billion.
conspiratorial procedure by which Fed. That still leaves you $10 bil-
you and Samuel created the initial lion short.
bogus $10,000 is essentially the Treasury. Yes, so here's $10 bil-
same procedure by which govern- lion worth of bonds. Please issue
ment triggers monetary inflation. a check in payment for them.
How such money mushrooms into
five times its original amount is If the actual procedure were
not even privileged information; this brazen, the naked chicanery
indeed, it is publicized by the of monetary inflation would be too
government itself. fully exposed. Consequently, the
Monetary inflation begins with Treasury rarely sells government
bonds directly to the Fed. Instead, Open Market Operations
the Treasury simply notifies the Open market operations are sim-
Fed when it has unsold bonds. ply the buying and selling of gov-
The Fed, in turn, starts buying ernment bonds by the Fed. One
government bonds in the open side of the open market operation
market with the exclusive purpose coin has already been demon-
of creating the very market-place strated - the buying of govern-
climate required by the Treasury ment bonds to help the Treasury
to liquidate its sticky inventory. sell its own. In theory, after the
The final result, of course, is the Treasury is rid of its bonds, the
same as if the Treasury had sold Fed turns around and starts mer-
the bonds directly to the Fed in chandizing its own recent pur-
the first place. In fact, the net chases. In practice, regrettably,
result may be even more infla- the Treasury is rarely without
tionary; it is quite possible that bonds for sale, at least these days.
the Fed might have to buy $11 As a result, the Fed's ownership
billion worth of bonds in the mar- of government bonds has increased
ket to enable the Treasury to dis- from $26 billion to $48 billion on
pose of $10 billion. the past 7 years, and that is the
The Fed claims to have three launching pad destined to rocket
weapons of direct control over prices in the forthcoming decade.
monetary inflation. But this claim
would be valid only under circum-
stances which would make the
weapons unnecessary: (a) when
the government is balancing its
budget, or (b) when the govern-
ment, having failed to balance its 50
budget, is willing to sell its bonds V
on a free market basis. When 40 f
neither situation prevails, the ./
V /
Fed's alleged weapons are ren-
dered impotent and simply serve
as disguises for monetary infla-
30
20
V- ~ --
tion. Those three weapons are:
1. Open Market Operations 10
2. Reserve Requirements
3. Discount Rate (or Rediscount
Rate) 1960 1962 1964 1966
Reserve Requirements "under-reserved" (has more than

Tend Toward Zero 80 per cent of its demand deposits
As already stated, banks are out on loan, which is the same as
permitted by law to lend out having less than 20 per cent of
roughly 80 per cent of their de- its demand deposits available for
posits. The figure today is nearer deposit with the Fed), it has a
85 per cent but 80 per cent illus- choice of either borrowing from
trates the point and is easy to the Fed or liquidating some of
figure. The difference between 80 its loans. In theory, the second
per cent and 100 - 20 per cent- course of action will counter in
is, correspondingly, the figure com- flation whereas borrowing from
monly used as the average reserve the Fed will not. Therefore, tc
requirement for the three cate- carry the theory further, raisin~
gories of commerical banks which the discount rate will discouragE
are members of the Federal Re- borrowing and thereby counter in
serve System. This means that flation, and lowering the discoun1
these member banks must deposit rate will encourage borrowin~
with the Fed 20 per cent of their and thereby stimulate inflation
total demand deposits. By raising Ironically, this theory more ofter
reserve requirements, the Fed than not operates in reverse
would deter part or all the infla- Prompted by a costly discoun1
tionary impact threatened by its rate to counter inflation througr
government bond purchases. This, the liquidation of loans, commer
however, would "tighten money", cial banks usually begin by sellin~
which would cause higher interest some of their government bonds
rates, and would thereby make it This, in turn, will cause conster
more difficult for the subsequent nation in U.S. Treasury circles
sales of government bonds at "fav- which will instigate telephone call~
orable" rates of interest. As a to the Fed, which will triggel
result, reserve requirements for open market purchases, which wi!
city banks have not been raised add more fuel to the inflationar~
in over 15 years. (On November fire than was initially withdrawl
24, 1960, the reserve require- by raising the discount rate. FOl
ment for country banks was raised this reason, the discount rate i~
from 11 to 12 per cent.) useless as a weapon to combat in
The discount rate is the interest flation.
rate member banks must pay the Prime Commercial Paper i~
Fed for borrowing money from it. America's most valued interest
When a bank becomes temporarily bearing credit instrument, and ib
interest rates are the most sensi- combat the last generation's stock
tive to shifts in financial senti- market boom.
ment. Since World War I, there Over the years, the Fed also has
have been 24 trend reversals in the enlisted gold to minify the threat
Federal Reserve discount rate. of inflation. Until the early 1960's:
Without exception, these trend re- "Gold [was] the basis of Reserve
versals were preceded by trend re- Bank credit because ... the power
versals in Commercial Paper in- of the Reserve Banks to create
terest rates. In other words, and money through adding to their de-
notwithstanding the lofty pro- posits or issuing Federal Reserve
nouncements of "positive con- notes is limited by the require-
structive action" that attended ment of a 25 per cent reserve in
many of these 24 trend reversals, gold certificates against both kinds
the Federal Reserve discount rate of liabilities. That is to say, the
for half a century has been tag- total of Federal Reserve notes and
ging after the Prime Commercial deposits must not exceed four
Paper rate like an obedient puppy. tiInes the amount of gold certifi-
cates held by the Reserve Banks.
Change in Discount Rate Thus, the ultimate limit on Fed-
A Powerless Weapon eral Reserve credit expansion is
Twice, in 1926 and again in set by gold." Yet, on the preced-
1927, when stock market specula- ing page in the same publication,
tion rather than monetary infla- the Fed confesses that when cir-
tion was the object of "summit" cumstances in 1945 "threatened to
control, the Fed reversed the dis- impinge upon the Federal Re-
count rate trend by reducing it serve's freedom of policy action ... ,
half a percentage point. In total Congress deemed it wise to reduce
disregard of prior reductions in the reserve requirement of the Re-
Commercial Paper rates, an entire serve Banks from 40 per cent for
generation of monetary intellectu- Federal Reserve notes and 35 per
als has been placing part of the cent for deposits to 25 per cent for
blame for the subsequent stock each kind ofliability."l
market boom and bust on one or In 1963, Dean Russell concluded:
both of those two discount rate "Whenever the technical cutoff re-
reductions. Even the Fed's own lationship between gold and 'mon-
documents make it abundantly ev- ey' has been approached in the
ident that the discount rate is just
1 The Federal Reserve System, Pur-
as powerless to combat the current poses and Functions, 3rd edition, sixth
generation's inflation as it was to printing, 1959, pp. 96 and 97.
44 THE FREEMAN Januar1J
past, Congress has modified it-and 1965, would have been [down to]
will unquestionably do so in the $1.0 billion."3
future, even to the point of abol-
Monetary and Other factors
ishing the technical requirement
AHect/mpad ~ ~na~on
altogether."2 Was Dean being a
prophet, or just a realist? There are many minor monetar)
Or perhaps Dean was simply factors constantly influencing thE
taking the Fed at its word for, by impact of inflation. One of thE
1963, it was no longer terming more important is the conversior
"gold the basis of Reserve Bank of demand deposits into cash, anc
credit ", but was saying in- vice versa. For example, the with
stead: " reserves in gold con- drawal of $100 from your checkin!1
stitute a statutory base for Re- account not only immediately reo
serve Bank power to create Fed- duces demand deposits by $100
eral Reserve credit." Then, two but also ultimately extinguishe~
years later, came the dismantling an additional $400 of derivativE
of that "statutory base": "The law demand deposits. Consequently
determining the minimum hold- money is customarily "tight" jus1
ings of gold certificates required before Christmas-when the de
as reserves against the Federal mand for cash is at its height.
Reserve Banks' liabilities was There are also many "non-mone
changed on March 3, 1965. The tary" factors constantly influenc
Reserve Banks are no longer re- ing the impact of inflation. ThE
quired to hold 25 per cent reserves standard here is productivity
against their deposit liabilities, Thus, the most aggravating factol
but they are still required to hold is war, and the most moderatin!1
gold certificates equal to at least factors are technological advance~
25 per cent of their note liabili- and industrial expansion. Labol
ties." Was Dean's predicted rea- strikes, because they curb pro
son correct, that "the technical duction, aggravate the impact oj
cutoff relationship between gold inflation. Labor contracts that reo
and 'money' (was being) ap- sult in the curtailment of labor
proached"? Letting the Fed speak saving devices also aggravate thE
for itself: "If the change had not impact of inflation, but labor con
been made, the amount of 'free' tracts that merely call for the es
gold certificates on March 31,
3 The Federal Reserve System, Pur
2 Dean Russell, "Money, Banking, poses and Functions, 5th edition, Is
Debt and Inflation," unpublished paper, printing, 1963; 2nd printing, 1965; pp
1963. 165 and 175.
calation of wages do not. A popu- most money velocity increases are

lation increase of productive attended by and generate even
citizens moderates inflation's im- greater production increases.
pact, but a population increase of Far more crucial than the fac-
nonproductive citizens or a popu- tors influencing the impact of in-
lation decrease of productive citi- flation are and will be its wither-
zens aggravates it. England's ing consequences on American
"brain drain" must aggravate the life. Historically, every nation
impact of that nation's inflation, whose government resorted to
but will moderate the impact of monetary inflation suffered un-
America's inflation to the extent remitting demotions of its "gen-
that we inherit those "brains." eral welfare." Nor has any
The flight of capital to foreign government ever abandoned an
countries is an aggravating factor entrenched policy of monetary in-
whereas the influx of foreign capi- flation. Therefore, barring the rev-
tal is a moderating factor. In a ocation of the lessons of history,
related vein, a so-called "favor- one need not be a prophet to chart
able balance of trade" is an ag- America's economic future.
gravating factor whereas an "un- For 2,500 years, man has been
favorable balance of trade" has a given but two grim choices in re-
moderating effect. spect to his money: "managed"
and "convertible gold standard."
Assessing the Consequences Chronic monetary inflation goes
Some factors which seem to coun- with a "managed" money system
ter the impact of inflation actually just as chronic money panics go
intensify it, and vice versa. For with a "convertible gold standard"
example, credit and price controls, money system. The 19 or more
inflation's two most inevitable money panics that afflicted Amer-
corollaries after rising prices, put ica in her 170 "convertible gold
sand in the gears of production. standard" years negate "converti-
Both, thereby, intensify the im- ble gold standard" money as a ra-
pact of inflation. On the other tional alternative to "managed"
hand, increases in the velocity of money. The only remaining alter-
money (its change-of-hands fre- native is free enterprise money.
quency) are inflationary in theory, This, of course, would require the
but, in reality, counter the impact elimination of government from
of inflation. The reason is that the money business. ~
Reprints available, 10 cents each.

PAUL L. POIROT
WHEN CHARLES STEVENSON ques- Apparently, the 24 (out of 25)

tioned "How Secure Is Your So- members of the House Ways and
cial Security?" in the October, Means Committee who signed the
1967, Reader's Digest, he might report on H.R. 12080 felt the same
have anticipated official response. way. And so did other congress-
Wilbur J. Cohen, Under Secretary men, as indicated by the over-
of Health, Education, and Welfare, whelming 415-3 House approval
promptly obliged in the Congres- of the bill. All of this, implies
sl:onal Record of September 27, Mr. Cohen, attests to the "actu-
1967. arial soundness" of the social se-
What Mr. Stevenson could curity program. The political pulse
scarcely have predicted is that has been measured by experts and
Washington's answer would sub- a taxpayer revolt is not antici-
stantiate the view that "social se- pated. So, social security is as
curity insurance is in trouble." sound as the dollar, if that's any
Not that Mr. Cohen said so direct- consolation to anyone over 30 who
ly, but what he said leads to that has seen the dollar lose 60 per
sad conclusion. cent of its purchasing power with-
In co-sponsoring the Social Se- in his lifetime.
curity Amendments of 1967 in the To the complaint that the social
House, Congressman John W. security program puts a squeeze
Byrnes had testified: on the young, Mr. Cohen replies
that it is not so: "Young workers
I personally do not feel that the as a group will get social security
burdens imposed by this bill are protection worth 20 to 25 per
greater than the taxpayers will be cent more than they will pay in
willing to pay. After all, today's tax- social security contributions."
payer is tomorrow's beneficiary. What Mr. Cohen fails to men-
1968 WHY WORRY'! 47
tion is that the "20 to 25 per cent ually has reached the point of no
more" is a possibility only be- return and has failed. That the so-
cause he has not counted the cial security program has survived
matching half of the social secur- for 30 years in the United States
ity "contributions" employers are may be explained by the fact that
compelled to pay. Even so, with new entrants are continuously
just his own half of the tax, a drafted, with no dropouts allowed.
young worker could have bought Each taxpayer is drafted into the
a government bond that yields a program for the duration of his
33lf3 per cent return in about productive and taxable lifetime.
seven years, or put his money in Mr. Cohen is quite right, of
a savings account at 414 per cent, course, when he says that a com-
where it would double in dollars pulsory social security program of
every 1672 years. The harsh fact this type, with prior claim to every-
is that a young worker can hope one's future earnings, does not need
to get back from social security and should not be expected to build
about 40 per cent fewer actual up $350 billion or more of reserves.
dollars than he and his employer And he adds, "The 350 billion re-
paid into it on his account. His ferred to is the amount that would
tax dollars are spent as received be needed - if social security were
and earn no interest for him at a private, voluntary insurance pro..
all. gram - to payoff all obligations on
When Mr. Cohen says, "Young the assumption that there would be
workers could not buy compar- no new entrants into the system."
able insurance protection from In other words, the $350 billion
private insurance companies ... ," referred to is that part of the ob-
the reason ought to be plain: It's ligations to those presently covered
against the law to operate a pri- by social security which will have
vate insurance company that way. to be paid by those "joining" later.
Not that the chain-letter fraud of That makes it reasonably clear why
paying off early entries from the new entrants could not be counted
contributions of latter-day-suckers on if they had any choice in the
hasn't been tried by Ponzi and matter. The "soundness" of social
numerous other schemers. But, so security rests upon its compulsory
far as is known, every so-called in- nature. Anyone who endorses com-
surance company that has tried to pulsion as the best policy, despite
operate without reserves -levying Mr. Cohen's assurances, well might
against remaining policyholders to worry about what will happen to
payoff each current claim - event- him in his old age. ~
A GROWING ASSORTMENT of indi- law at George Washington Uni-
viduals in the United States, versity, has proposed (Harvard
strange as it may seem calling Law Review, June, 1967) an inter-
themselves liberals or libertarians, pretation of the First Amendment
are insisting that not enough view- 'which imposes upon the press an
points and opinions are making affirmative responsibility to pub-
their way into the American press. lish minority views, and he would,
They are convinced that minority for example, support legislation
opinions are not getting their fair \vhich would force newspapers to
and proper hearing, and they feel print letters-to-the-editor from
that if the country's newspapers minorities. Professor Barron is
will not act responsibly in this area, rather typical of the new breed
they should be forced to do so. of "press directors" acting in the
Many of them, spouting the plati- name of social responsibility.
tudes of the Hutchins Commission If one looks at this complex is-
Report of 1947, advocate judicial sue as having to do only with as-
and legislative stimulants to their suring minority opinions a fair
kind of pluralistic press. hearing, it is little wonder that
One of this number, Jerome A. a proposal like Professor Barron's
Barron, an associate professor of would be considered salutary and
Dr. Merrill is Professor of Journalism at the
long overdue.
University of Missouri. This, however, is not where the
AQ
1968 ACCESS TO THE PRESS: WHO DECIDES? 49
problem ends. If such a proposal the press" is not the same thing as
were taken seriously by enough "freedom of information." It is
powerful people in the United obvious that the press can have
States to bring it into practice, freedom to print anything it de-
a whole bag of new troubles would sires without making available to
be opened to plague the person the reader everything it has avail-
concerned about protecting the able to print. Its freedom, in other
free press. Even as "freedom of the words, imposes an implicit restric-
press" implies to many the free- tion on the reader's freedom to
dom to be heard-a freedom for the have access to every bit of infor-
consumer, we must not forget that mation or point of view.
it also implies the freedom to print Looking at it in this way, it is
or not to print-a freedom for the not difficult to see that press free-
publisher. dom does not imply freedom of in-
The First Amendment provides formation. The latter term refers
that the government will not pass to the right of the reader to have
any laws which abridge press free- all material available for reading,
dom. Although press freedom is while the former term denotes the
not defined in the Bill of Rights, right of the publisher to publish
an explicit concern with not pass- or not to publish without external
ing laws which might diminish compulsion.
press freedom appears to be quite
clear. When any group-even gov- The Publisher's Freedom
ernment seeking to remedy certain "Freedom of the press" ob-
ills which it believes it detects- viously means many things. Its
tells a publisher what he must meaning is determined by the par-
print, it is taking upon itself an ticular context and by the par-
omnipotence and paternalism which ticular person using it. The pub-
is not far removed from authori- lisher, for example, stresses the
tarianism. It is restricting press freedom of the press concept,
freedom in the name of freedom 'while the reader, seeking in vain
to read. The next step is to tell for his viewpoint or orientation in
the publisher what he shall not certain newspapers, stresses the
print. freedom of information concept.
This paradox (in confusing The government official who at-
press freedom with freedom to tempts to keep certain information
read) is one of the chief causes from press has his own definition:
for the continuing controversy. the newspaper has a right to print
It is my belief that "freedom of something if it can get it-a kind
50 THE FREEMAN Januar1:J
of "freedom to print" but not nec- of course, for they see it as toe
essarily a "freedom to get" con- narrow. They should be reminded:
cept. however, that the First Amend
Perhaps we try to make the ment covers their territory of in
term "freedom of the press" cover terest also with its provisions oj
too much-to include all the above free speech, free assembly, freE
concepts and others besides. If we religious worship, and the like.
were to understand it narrowly, But where, someone will ask, if:
in the sense clearly indicated by the right of people to read and tc
its syntax, we would emphasize hear? If "freedom of the press"
the press and its freedom to deter- implies the right of the people tc
mine what it will and will not read what they want to read,
print and to make this determina- "freedom of speech" must alsc
tion without interference. This imply the right of the people tc
would appear to be at the heart listen to what they want to listen
of the term, and those who talk of to. Since there is "freedom of
readers' opinions and viewpoints speech," I therefore have a "right"
being ignored or understressed to have available to my ears all
would seem to be referring to viewpoints from all possible mi-
something other than "freedom of norities. ...A\.bsurd! How can any-
the press." one seriously believe that one kind
I like to think about press free- of freedom assumes another kind
dom as freedom belonging to the of right?
press. Other types of freedom are
important, too, but let us stick to Rule by Minority
the press's freedom when we are The vision of a better journalis-
talking about "press freedom." tic world through coercive publish-
The press alone, in this view, ing rests mainly on the assump-
would be in the position of deter- tion that important minority view-
mining what it would or would not points are not being made known
print. The press would have no in the United States, and that this
prior restrictions on its editorial is deleterious to a democratic so-
prerogatives; this would be press ciety. Although this main premise
freedom. is not systematically challenged in
Those who favor an interpreta- this article, it seems incumbent on
tion of the First Amendment that those who advocate controlled ac-
protects "freedom of information" cess to name some of the impor-
or some right of the people "to tant minority positions that are
know" will not like this definition, not being publicized by the Amer-
ican press. The assumption ap- siders to be his right of editorial
pears to be always floating around self-determination.
that the American public is not Few sincere and concerned per-
getting to kno,v about important sons would quarrel with the po-
information and ideas of the ut- sition that "the good to society"
most importance. The press, of or "social responsibility" are laud-
course, is generally the villain. I able concepts which should be
have the feeling, contrary to the served by the press. However,
above assumption, that most Amer- trouble comes when these theoret-
icans get far more from their ical concepts are applied to the
newspapers and magazines than actual workings of the press in so-
they want. ciety. The what of the concept
The person who is concerned presents considerable difficulty:
about what is not in the press does What, for instance, is the best
not appear to be primarily con- way to do the most good to society,
cerned about the freedom of the and what is the best way to be so-
press; rather he seems disturbed cially responsible? There are many
that every possible bit of infor- who would feel very strongly that
mation is not available everywhere forcing minority opinions (espe-
for everybody. His concern, while cially "certain" ones) into a news-
perhaps "noble" in itself, is fabu- paper would be very harmful to
lously unrealistic and naive~ In ad- the "social good," and that this
dition, this person must certainly would be the epitome of social ir-
recognize that his position is po- responsibility.
tentially authoritarian, just as the
existing freedom of the press to Who Shall Decide?
discriminate (which he bemoans) The how of the concept adds
is potentially restrictive. further complications. How will
decisions be made about what shall
The Good to Society or shall not be printed? What
vs. Social Responsibility \vould be a rational manner of
He who would compel publica- making such determinations if we
tion justifies his position by using are to take them out of the hands
terms such as "social responsibil- of individual publishers and edi-
ity of the press" and "the reader's tors? A Federal court? A Federal
inherent right to know." He, in o1nbudsman? An FPA (Federal
other words, puts what he con- Press Agency) organized on the
siders the good to society above lines of the Federal Communica-
\vhat the individual publisher con- tions Commission?
52 THE FREEMAN Januar~
From among all the "minority" Beyond this, there is anothel

positions in a given community or rather perplexing and closely reo
in the nation, which ones would lated problem. What emphash
have a "right" to be published and should various minority views reo
which ones would not? Which ceive in the press, or even in II
spokesman for anyone "minority" single newspaper? Would this bE
would be published as representa- decided by the proportion of thE
tive of the whole minority? Or total population which the "mi
would all of them - or many of nority" under consideration com
them - be published, since un- prises? Would it be decided on thE
doubtedly there is a pluralism in basis of the "worth" or "intrinsic
minority opinions even on a sin- value to society" of the viewpoin1
gle issue? These are basic and im- espoused? If so, how would suer.
portant questions-questions which worth be ascertained? Would i1
would certainly plague the author- be decided on the basis of thE
ity which would have to make such economic or political pressurE
decisions. which a particular "minority'
Minority viewpoints 'which one group might bring to bear on thE
authoritative body would deem power structure? One is temptec
valuable and thus worthy of publi- to suspect that this would proba
cation might, to another authori- bly be the case.
tative body that is equally sincere
and perspicacious, seem inane, ir- What View Shall Prevail?
rational, or otherwise lacking in This brings us to another ques
value. Undoubtedly, even among tion. To some it may not appeal
the stanchest advocates of minor- to be important, but it certainh
ity rights, there is preference for would cry out very quickly fOl
S01ne minorities over others. Some an answer under a coercive-print
persons, for instance, would find ing system. This is the question oj
the views of the Congress of defining a "minority" group or l
Racial Equality more to their lik- "minority" viewpoint. Just wha~
ing than, say, those of the John is a minority in the sense of seri
Birch Society or the Ku Klux ously considering the forced pub
Klan. Presumably, if persons with lication of its opinions or posi
such preferences were members of tions? Just as the majority i:
the determining body, the minor- composed of many minorities
ity views of the latter two "mi- there are minorities within mi
nority" groups would find it rather norities. How does one determinl
difficult to get "equal" treatment. which of these minorities shoul<
be heard? Or are they all to be In conclusion, it seems safe to
heard with equal force? Or, said say that a forced-publishing sys-
in another way, just how do we tem will take root only when our
get at the minority opinion? society has proceeded much farther
Many persons will reply that along the road toward Orwell's
these are unin1portant and theo- 1984, wherein a paternalistic and
retical questions that should not omnipotent Power Structure
be permitted to interfere with the makes our individual decisions for
serious consideration of a forced- us. And, even then in that wonder-
publication system. Sure, they will land of equality where all opinions
say, there 'will be problems and will blend deliciously into one big
weaknesses, but let us not be reac- View-Ste\v, I wouldn't be surprised
tionary; let us push on in spite of if there is not at least one "mi-
obstacles tov/ard aNew J ournal- nority" fretting away some\vhere
ism in which all opinions receive on the sidelines - misunderstood
equal and just airing and no mi- and fighting fiercely to get a
nority group can feel slighted by greater voice in social affairs. But,
the treatment it receives in the then, perhaps it \von't really mat-
press. This is a beautiful and ter since 111inorities will not exist
idealistic aim, indeed, but one and there will only be one surpris-
which only the most detached and ingly harmonious and fair majority
naive person could possibly en- babbling its one message in a num-
vision as being achieved. ber of interesting ways. ~
To Speak, or Not
THIS is true liberty, when free-born men,

Having to advise the public, n1ay speak free,
Which he who can, and will, deserves high praise;
Who neither can nor will, n1ay hold his peace;
What can be juster in a State than this?
EURIPIDES, The Suppliants
GEORGE WINDER
"CAVEAT EMPTOR" is a principle of will decide many legal action~

law older than Christianity. It again before paternal government~
came to us from ancient Rome and throw it into the discard along
must have been in common use long with much else that belongs essen
before Justinian prepared his fa- tially to a people trained to be reo
mous code. sponsible for their own actions.
I first realized its importance In this Australian case somE
many years ago in Australia when young ex-service men had rented 2
I heard it expounded by a country threshing machine and undertaker
Magistrate. It seemed a long way contracts to thresh wheat. The mao
from Rome to that tiny, sun-baked chine had not worked satisfactoril)
town in the Australian back coun- and had finally broken down
try; but the Magistrate decided Whereupon, the young men suec
the case and quoted the same Latin the owner for the loss they hac
tag with the same confidence his sustained by reason of the defec
counterpart might have shown two tive machine. There was much sym
thousand years ago in ancient pathy for the young men, and mosi
Rome. people in the little town thoughi
Caveat emptor - let the buyer they were bound to win their case
beware - has terminated the hopes They told the Magistrate how ir
of many thousands of litigants and good faith they had rented this mao
chine to do a job of threshing fOl
Mr. Winder, formerly a Solicitor of the Su-
which it had been built, but it hac
preme Court in New Zealand. is now farming let them down. To their surprise
in England. He has written widely on law,
agriculture, and economics. the Magistrate, although most sym
1968 CAVEAT EMPTOR 55
pathetic, pronounced the fatal which its judgments are formed.
words "Caveat emptor," of which In this case it has evolved a rule
they had never heard, and gave the which throws responsibility upon
case to the defendant. the buyer. It casts on him the
The good people who had lis- responsibility of looking after his
tened to the case were inclined to own interest, and any man who
agree that "the law was an ass" cannot do this is unlikely to suc-
and to hope that they might never ceed in a society where business
be subj ect to court action. is to be done under contracts free-
Eventually, it appeared that the ly entered. He must see that the
law was right. The thresher had goods he buys or hires are suit-
been used with a very powerful able for the purposes for which
engine entirely unsuited for the he procures them, for it is not
job and this had caused the break- the duty of the seller or owner
down. This fact had not been to do so.
known to the Magistrate but, by If a man, after having accepted
accepting the principle, "Caveat an article, could plead before the
emptor," he had reached the right courts that it was not up to his
verdict. The young men should expectations and require that it
have known that the thresher be suitably replaced, then thou-
would not work with such an en- sands of transactions would never
gine and should not have hired be completed and the work of the
it. Having done so, they were not courts would be endless.
entitled to claim damages against Although the law must be
the owner when the machine failed bound by certain rules, it tries
them. wherever it can to make them as
just as possible. "Caveat emptor"
The Rule of Law does not apply when there is the
For just such occasions the law, least misrepresentation involved in
over a period of more than two a contract, or if, as in the case
thousand years, has evolved the quoted, the owner of the thresh-
rule "Caveat emptor"; and if we ing machine had definitely stated
but think of it, this rule in the that it was strong enough to be
vast majority of cases applies used with such an engine. In such
with justice. an event, the responsibility for
The Court cannot find out ex- proper performance would be his
actly the rights and wrongs of and the Courts \vould enforce
every case that comes before it judgment against him accordingly.
but must have definite rules on One of the troublesome areas
56 THE FREEMAN
for applying the rule of "Caveat an inch of the diameter at whicl

emptor" concerns the sale of goods they are marked for sale. In thE
which come into the market in chill of the morning as he harvest:
weights or quantities not easily his cauliflower for market, thE
ascertained. In the case of drinks grower must measure each hea(
and packaged goods, the makers accurately and see that it exactl~
have long been compelled to de- satisfies the statutory require
scribe with accuracy the contents ments. It will no longer be left t(
of their containers, and fines are the customer to determine thai
inflicted on those who do not. they are of the weight, size, ane
Doubt often arises about fruits freshness required. If the selle)
and vegetables which come onto does the job carefully, he may mis~
the market bagged or in crates; the day's market and thus thE
but in most Western nations the bloom of freshness the customel
rule of "Caveat emptor" still ap- seeks in cauliflower.
plies. Most wholesalers have a rep- It might be thought that thE
utation to uphold and will see to customers could rely on the repu-
it that their goods are of a uni- tation of the sellers to give them
form quality that buyers may a fair deal or could examine the
trust. Sellers whose goods are produce themselves before they
defective also gain a reputation bought; but apparently the peo-
and their goods are discounted ple of the future are not to be
accordingly. credited with that amount of in-
telligence.
What Is a Cabbage?
The ancient rule of law, "Ca-
It appears that in Britain this is veat emptor," goes back into the
to be changed. The Labor Govern- dim past of history. This is a suf-
ment recently enlployed numerous ficient reason for a socialist gov-
men who, after being trained, will ernment, which believes in ad-
be placed in every 'wholesale market vancement but not in tradition,
to see that fruits and vegetables to think that such laws are ob-
arrive in measured weights and solete.
size and in uniform crates so that "Caveat emptor" belongs to the
the buyer will no longer have to be- "bad old days" when men were
ware. The responsibility will be presun1ed to be self-responsible.
taken from him by government in- Such a rule may be expected to
spection. disappear as individuality dimin-
For example, cauliflower heads ishes and the state comes to be
must measure within a fraction of held responsible for everything. ~
A REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK JOHN CHAMBERLAIN
"CAPTAIN EDDIE"
Rickenbacker (Prentice-Hall, age. He came from the wrong side

$7.95), the autobiography of Ed- of the tracks, he was left father-
die - or Edward V. - Rickenback- less at the age of thirteen, he was
er, has been hailed as a modern a school dropout, he spoke Ger-
Alger story. Though Eddie, who man at home and had an atrocious
never went to high school (indeed, English accent, he was a member
he never finished the seventh of a gang that specialized in
grade), was certainly a poor boy breaking globes on gas-burning
who made good, the Alger descrip- street lights, and his first full-
tion doesn't quite fill the bill. In time job was with a glass factory
the Alger stories, as I remember that worked him from six in the
them, luck was as important as evening till six in the morning in
pluck, and there was usually some complete defiance of the child la-
kindly benefactor present to push bor laws. If the crude "environ-
a willing boy along. Captain Ed- mental" theory which stresses the
die certainly had more than his societal impact on children were
share of the luck when it came to true, Eddie would surely have
outwitting death on automobile taken to crime. But in his case the
race tracks, in the skies, or on the "family" - which can provide its
sea. But he never married the own environment even in a slum-
boss's daughter, and in his vari- prevailed.
ous professional careers he had to His father, a Swiss German
fight for every last break he ever who had emigrated to Columbus,
got. Ohio, was a scrabbler who saved
Eddie's book makes mincemeat enough out of working as a rail-
of practically every shibboleth road laborer to buy a small lot on
that governs our Great Society which he built his own house.
57
58 THE FREEMAN
There was no electricity in the ed a course with the Internationa

house, no running water, and the Correspondence School in mechan
only heat came from the kitchen ical engineering. He discovere<
stove. Eddie's mother, a Swiss of that a man named Lee Frayel
French origin, "vas devoutly re- was actually making horseles:
ligious. The father corrected Ed- carriages right in Columbus
die's youthful gang escapades When Frayer turned him dowl
with the switch; the mother sent for a job, he slipped into thl
him at kindergarten age into the Frayer shop the next morning an<
backyard to plant potato eyes. swept it clean as a token of wha-
There was nothing permissive he could do if he were hired
about life in the Rickenbacker Frayer broke down and hired him
household, but Eddie's six broth- Lee Frayer deserves a spot h
ers and sisters made things happy industrial history, for he was thl
and interesting. Eddie looks back first man to make an Americal
on his grammar school days with car with a left-hand drive. HI
nostalgia, even though he was liked to race, and he soon hac
called "Dutchy" and "Kraut" and Eddie sitting beside him as hi:
had to fight his way into school in mechanic. Eddie proved to have ~
the morning and out again in the sixth sense about engine perform
afternoon. ance, and it wasn't long before hI
\vas racing himself. This was thl
His Start in Auto Racing
automotive pioneer's way of prac
Eddie went to work in 1904 to tieing public relations to increasl
help support the family. He had a sales. Eddie saw good men killed
hankering to understand any ma- and he had dangerous skiddin~
chinery that was related to trans- accidents himself; his car rolle(
portation. The times were propi- over three times on one occasion
tious, for the Wright brothers tossing him about under the cow
had flown their first plane the and dislocating his collarbone.
year before, and Henry Ford had
just started the Ford Motor Com- World War I Ace
pany. Eddie kept changing his His miraculous escapes as :
jobs until he had landed one with racing driver led him to believl
a garage. He sneaked an electric that Somebody Upstairs was pro
car out one night to get the hang tecting him, saving him for soml
of driving. Realizing there was unique destiny. When World Wa:
more to mechanics and electricity I broke out, Eddie just had tl
than simple repair work, he start- become an aviator. His luck tool
1968 "CAPTAIN EDDIE" 59
him to France despite the story Characteristically, he refused to
spread in England that he was a declare himself a bankrupt. On
German spy, a Prussian nobleman his reputation he raised the $700,-
who was really the Baron Edward 000 that was needed to get control
Von Rickenbacher. A lie about his of the Indianapolis Speedway.
age got him into primary flying Evidently the old excuse for
school. He picked up pointers horse racing - that it "improves
from the famous French-Ameri- the breed" - actually holds true
can Rauol Lufbery of the Lafay- when it is adapted to automobile
ette Escadrille, and he made his racing. Eddie's experience as the
first flight over the German lines Speedway's entrepreneur con-
in an unarmed plane before he vinced him that the grueling five
had had any gunnery training. hundred miles of the Indianapolis
Eventually, the Americans were Memorial Day race "are equal to
provided with guns, and Eddie one hundred thousand or more
developed the aerial marksman- miles of ordinary driving on the
ship that made him the "ace of highways and byways of Amer-
aces," with twenty-six "kills" to ica." It would require ten or fif-
his credit. teen years of routine testing, he
Eddie's wartime reputation was says, to equal the job done on the
his only capital when he came Speedway in one day. Thus, with-
home in 1919, but it was good out the Indianapolis race, "your
enough to land him in the auto- new automobile would be no bet-
lTIobile manufacturing business as ter in many ways than a ten-to-
vice-president and director of fifteen-year-old car." The newer
sales of the Rickenbacker Motor disc brake, the hydraulic shock
Company. The firm's product was absorber, and the low-slung frame
of Eddie's own designs, but he all came out of the Indianapolis
went broke trying to establish the race, and so did the thirty-thou-
superiority of four-wheel brakes. sand-mile rubber tire.
The prevalent theory in the mid-
dle nineteen twenties was that Eastern Airlines and World War"
four-wheel brakes would cause a Eddie couldn't compete as an
car to skid rather than grip the automotive designer and manu-
road. Eddie lived to see the four- facturer against General Motors,
wheel braking system accepted, Ford, and Chrysler, but Detroit's
but by then he was out of the loss here was the airline busi-
automobile manufacturing business's gain. As the genius who
ness with a debt of $250,000. put Eastern Air Lines together in
60 THE FREEMAN Januarl
the thirties, Eddie proved to his who aspires to understand thl

own satisfaction that it is pos- first two-thirds of the twentietl
sible to run an airline profitably century will have to consult it. ~
without continuing government
subsidy. As the leading air trans- . ~ YOU ARE EXTRAORDINARY
portation man in the nation, Ed- by Roger J. Williams (New York
die still had Somebody Upstairs Random House, 1967), 242 pp
looking after him. He survived a $5.95. (Copies also available fror
F.E.E.)
terrible crash near Atlanta,
Georgia, in 1941. A year or so Reviewed by George Charle
later he took off on a wartime Roche III
mission over the Pacific. His "IN OUR CROWDED WORLD is civilj
plane missed its Canton Island zation moving ahead toward th
stop, ran out of gas, and had to be time when tombstones can b
ditched in a lonely stretch of sea mass-produced on an assembly lin
that was beyond SOS radio reach - all bearing the same epitaph?
of any American station.
The story that Eddie tells about HERE LIE THE REMAINS OF j
his twenty-four-day ordeal on a NORMALIZED STATISTIC"

rubber life raft, with only a cap- Dr. Roger J. Williams, professo
tured sea gull, a rubbery shark, of biochemistry at the Universit
and a few fish to eat and an oc- of Texas and a distinguished rE
casional bit of drinking water search scientist with a long recor
from a rain squall, is one of the of scientific achievement and pre
classic true adventure sagas of fessional recognition, thus framE
the century. Eddie, who had faced a question of increasing concer
death before, knew how to nerve to all thoughtful men in the mi(
his fellow castaways to the point twentieth century. The answ
of wanting to live until help came. which Dr. Williams provides i
Again Somebody Upstairs was You Are Extraordinary is rea:
with Eddie. Six out of seven sur- suring: "If you are concern
vived the twenty-four days, and about the real and lasting signi1
when they were finally rescued, cance of individuals, if it all seen
there wasn't an atheist among hopeless and you are pessimist
them. about the 'inevitable trend' towal
Eddie's book is pleasurable as doing away with individuals,
sheer narrative. It is also bone have good news for you from tl
and marrow of our automotive scientific front. There is no
and aviation history, and everyone abundant evidence - I have assell
1968 OTHER BOOKS 61
bled a conclusive assortment in Dr. Williams approaches the
this book - that on our arrival as subject of the individual's mind in
newborn babies each of us brings a variety of ways. His chapter on
along a host of highly distinctive the differences among individual
inborn characteristics. This raises nervous systems is not only an ex-
us to such a level that we as indi- cellent demonstration of his thesis
viduals cannot be averaged with but is a highly interesting collec-
other people. Inborn individuality tion of scientific information con-
is a highly significant factor in all cerning what makes you and me
our lives - as inescapable as the tick. In addition to his neurolog-
fact that we are human. Individu- ical evidence, the author also
ality can never be obliterated." stresses the wide differences in
personal preference displayed by
Our Distinctive Minds individuals in virtually every as-
You Are Extraordinary is not pect of their lives. He takes time
only heartening news for those to give graphic examples concern-
who value the individual; it is also ing the varying amounts and pat-
fascinating reading. In terms com- terns of sleep, exercise, and sport
prehensible to any layman, the au- required by individuals.
thor brings to light a wealth of One of the most penetrating of
information and speculation con- the author's demonstrations of in-
cerning the rare and widely differ- dividual difference is the connec-
ing facets displayed by individual tion which he makes between sen-
human beings. "If normal facial sory perception and the interpre-
features varied as much as gastric tation of that sensory information
juices do, some of our noses would made by the individual's brain. Dr.
be about the size of navy beans Williams emphasizes that not only
while others would be the size of do our senses provide us with dif-
twenty-pound watermelons." The ferent information from individ-
reader is taken on a tour of human ual to individual, but that the
physiology to demonstrate how really distinctive part of human
different from our fellows each of perception lies in the widely vary-
us actually is. These tremendous ing interpretation which the indi-
physiological differences, the au- vidual's brain places upon the sen-
thor goes on to show, still are sory information which it receives.
small when compared with the You Are Extraordinary makes
most important phase of individu- hash of the "statistical average"
ality: the highly distinctive mind approach to the "Science of Man."
each of us possesses. He points out that all too much of
modern social thought is premised point out that attempts to divorCE

upon an "average" man who in individual difference from thE
fact has never existed. Why do so- study of man have been hopelessly
cial sciences persist in generaliz- unscientific, since the findings 01
ing about "man," when in fact modern science actually indicatE
only men, only individuals, make the widest possible individual dif
up society? Dr. Williams has a ferences among men. Removin~
devastating answer: "One of the the reins of control from the handf
underlying reasons why 'man' is of the social planner, Dr. Williamf
of great interest to academic peo- poses the question of social prog
ple - more so than to those who ress in truly meaningful terms
deal in a more practical way with "Each of us is born with distinc
people - is the desire to develop tive equipment - more equipmen'
generalizations. This, to many, is than we learn to use. Each of UI
the equivalent of developing a has the responsibility of living hi:
science. Students of society have own life, and making the best USf
tended to envy the physical,chem- of the equipment he has. Everyon(
ical, and biological sciences be- can accept as a challenge his OW]
cause of the marvelous progress individuality and the freedom wit]
that has been made in these areas. which he is endowed. With wha
These sciences have been eminent- we have,how can we do the most?:
ly successful in establishing gen- How indeed can man "do th
eralizations; it is but natural that most"? The author of You Ar
social science should emulate them, Extraordina'ry insists that me:
and try also to develop generaliza- can hope to understand their sc
tions. What generalization could ciety only as they come to undel
be more attractive as a starter stand the real people who make j
than 'All men are alike.' It seems up. He indicts modern educatio
to be in line with the Declaration for attempting to train people i
of Independence, and to foster uniform patterns, frequently wit
brotherhood." irreparable damage to the indivic
ual and a loss to society of that ir
A Scientific View of Man dividual's productive and creath
In the mistaken attempt to make capacity. He indicts the group aI
the social sciences more "scien- proach to human beings as one c
ti fic," concepts of heredity and in- the great barriers to improve
dividuality have been excluded. race relations, making the exce
Now, at last, a distinguished sci- lent point that a man cannot t
entist himself comes forward to viewed as an individual unless };
1968 OTHER BOOKS 63
is considered apart from the at- No prisoner of scientism, Dr.
tributes of race. Williams calls for an enlargement
of science to deal with "beauty,
The Individual in Society love, and religious worship." As a
In area after area of what are scientist, the author barely enters
today regarded as "social prob- the area of political economy. He
lems," Dr. Williams directs a pene- does, however, point the way for a
trating analysis which emphasizes scientific view of the individual
the importance of the individual if which will add a new and vital di-
society is to function: "The need mension to the political, economic,
that society has for individuals is and moral case for freedom ~
most real; it encompasses every
part of life and will continue as ~ THE GLORIOUS QUEST, by
long as society lasts. There are James R. Evans (Chicago, Chas.
thousands of kinds of day-to-day Hallberg & Co., 1967), 127 pp.,
jobs as well as more inspiring ones $4.95.
that need to be done, and a multi-
tude of special gifts must be Reviewed by Norman S. Ream
possessed by individuals if these WHEN a city fire department held
jobs are to be done well...." a disaster drill, which included
You Are Extraordinary thus evacuating a large office building,
stresses both the physiological and the fire chief was asked about the
psychological importance of the results. He replied, "We emptied
concept of individuality and specu- the place in six minutes. We
lates upon the revolutionary im- thought that was pretty good, but
pact of such a new scientific doc- at five o'clock when the quitting
trine for virtually all fields of hu- bell rang everyone got out in three
man endeavor. Dr. Williams in- minutes."
sists that these ideas will revolu- Freedom versus coercion! Illus-
tionize psychology, philosophy, and trations of how the former out-
most other disciplines touching produces the latter are available
upon social organization. He holds on all sides, but innumerable peo-
forth the exciting promise that ple who assent to the idea with
great vistas of further discoveries their lips continually deny it with
still lie ahead, once men fully ap- their deeds. That, of course, is
preciate that the study of the in- why we must continually use rea-
dividual is the proper key, the only son, persuasion, and example to
key, to a meaningful study of man- make our case.
kind and its problems. The Glorious Quest offers us
seven principles by which to judge by another young businessman.

an economic system. These prin- Those ideas led him into a vast
ciples are aimed at measuring reading program which finally
every idea on the basis of whether culminated in the present book.
it encourages the utilization of
free creative human energy. Here is an excellent introduction
Ideas, even false ideas, as Rich- to the free enterprise philosophy
ard Weaver pointed out some based un sound fundamental ideas
years ago, do have consequences; drawn from many sources. Radio
and the ideas which encourage commentator Paul Harvey has
men to display the highest stand- suggested that the seven princi-
ards of moral and ethical behavior ples laid down in the book provide
are those ideas which create an an excellent standard against
environment demanding individual '\vhich every aspiring politician
responsibility. The Glorious Quest and lawmaker should measure
is a living commentary on what himself. Beyond that, however,
ideas can do. The author, a young they provide a measurement by
businessman, was himself capti- which each citizen can measure
vated by ideas shared with him his own political and social ideas.
~
HANDSOME BLUE LEATHERLE)

12-ROD
FREEMAN BINDERS
$2.50 each
Order from: THE FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, INC

IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK 10533
VOLUME 18, NO. 2 FEBRUARY 1968
"" It takes no great seer, believes '" Even the few black sheep among
Ralph Bradford, to know the destina- them, reflects Mrs. Oliver, are cause
tion of the politico-welfare ticket for pride in the achievements of our
Americans are buying p. 67 ancestors p. 101
", A man of integrity in British pol- '" William Henry Chamberlin draws
itics warns against the sacrifice of from experiences in his home state of
principle for a short-term gain .... p. 75 "Taxachusetts" to identify today's for-
gotten man p. 105
II' That great economic progress can
occur despite governmental interven- "" A successful businessman shows
tions does not mean, warns Leonard how sovereignty applies in the fields
Read, that the one is caused by the of business and politics p. 112
other p. 77
'" The Electoral College may not be
II' A college senior explains how, one perfect, but there are reasons why it
welfare program leads to another in should not be lightly abandoned
the process of "political escalation" ................ p.114
............ p.81
'" Dean Lipton examines the old labor
", From the David Babson letter comes theory of value from a helpful new
a sharp comparjson between govern- angle p. 118
ment and private business opera-
'" John Chamberlain sees eye to eye
tions p. 83
with David McCord Wright's The
II' And Admiral Moreell explains why Trouble with Marx p. 123
"political charity" is a contradiction
Reviewer Robert Thornton com-
JIll'
in terms . ... p. 88
mends And Even If You Do by Joseph
"" Dr. Kuehnelt-Leddihn scholarly Wood Krutch and C. Northcote Par-
traces the roots of leftism in the an- kinson's Left Luggage, a caustic his-
nals of Christendom p. 89 tory of British Socialism p. 126

first-class maif in care of THE FREEMAN for forwarding.
A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF IDEAS ON LIBERTY

Economic Education
PAULL. POIROT Managing Editor
T H E.F R E E MAN is published monthly by the

Foundation. for Economic Education, Inc., a non-
7230.
vited in any amount-$5.00 to $10,OOO-as the means

"The Practical Liberal," "Government vs. Private Operation," and
"Sovereignty."
DES1\NA1\ON:,-
RALPH BRADFORD
TODAY we are writing the ticket In politics, in economics, in

to the future. We have been doing fiscal affairs, in law enforcement,
that all our lives, to be sure. Each in crime detection, in the attitude
generation does. But now it is a of our nation toward the rest of
new ticket, and calls for passage the world - in all this, and also
over strange and dangerous roads in the fundamental matter of per-
not traveled by us before. sonal morality, we have been writ-
The course of our history, the ing, and continue to write, a ticket
prosperity and welfare of our peo- that is in sharp contradiction of-
ple, the stability of our economy, our experience, a reversal of our
the safety of our savings, and, in long-held convictions, and a denial
the long run, the survival of our of the principles of government
political and personal freedom- which, with varying degrees of
all these are wrapped up in the faithfulness and failure, we have
decisions being made by the Amer- professed and tried to live by.
icans who live today. That is the Of late years we have seen old
ticket we are writing - the ticket landmarks of safety and beacons
to the future. of stability disappear. At a time
of unprecedented economic activ-
Mr. Bradford is well known as a writer,
speaker, and business organization consultant.
ity, with our combined energies
He now lives in Ocala, Florida. producing nationally at an all-time
67
68 THE FREEMAN February
high, we are plagued with debt quence so long as the purchaser

and with a continued shrinking now receives six times as many
of our personal assets, due in large dollars for his labor or other
measure to mismanagement of our services.!
national finances. Suppose we see if we can state
this spend-and-borrow theory in
Theories of the New School the simple terms of a certain fam-
It is fair to say at this point ily man, John Doe. As a junior
that not everyone will agree with industrial executive, he has a
that appraisal. There is a con- pretty good salary, Ii ves well, and
siderable school of economists, saves some money. But if the fam-
especially of the academic order, ily becomes extravagant, and John
who see little wrong with the begins to spend more than he
statist course we have been pur- takes in, what happens? Nothing
suing. These hopeful scholars feel at all, for a year or two, because
secure because the Gross National his credit is good and he can bor-
Product is double the amount of row to cover his deficit. But after
our debt; and they also postulate a while the word gets around that
that in order to provide employ- the Does are "living beyond their
ment (which some of them mis- means" - and credit begins to get
takenly assume to be the reason tighter. Before long, it is denied
for industrial and commercial en- altogether. Holders of notes close
terprise) the economy must be in. The car is repossessed. When
kept at what they call "high veloc- John defaults on his house pay-
ity," and that very extensive ments for several months, the
spending by the "public sector" holder of the mortgage has no
(i.e., the government) is neces- choice but to foreclose. In a short
sary to attain and maintain that time the Does are bankrupt, if not
velocity. destitute.
Actually (they say), it doesn't 1 In "What's Going on Here 1" in the
matter whether our staggering November 1967 FREEMAN, I showed that
national debt is ever paid, so long this argument is fallacious, because the
GNP does not belong to the government
as there is high employment, and but to the people and cannot, without
so long as .the dollars paid in seizure, be hypothecated to secure the
debt. The increase-in-number-of-dollars
wages and salaries increase in the theory takes no account of what infla-
same ratio as the cost of living. tion has done to all bonds, insurance,
This means that if an item form- pensions, annuities, and other fixed-
income investments which the average
erly sold at a dollar and now costs person has made in an effort to provide
six, the increase is of no conse- for his own security.
1968 TICKET TO THE FUTURE 69
Isn't that the way things would provide employment. The financ-
eventually work out for such an ing of such debts is simply part
improvident family? And can yon of the cost of doing business. If
figure out how it could be other- these great capitalistic enterprises
wise? can go along with more or less
Ah, but the devotees of deficit permanent debts in the interest of
financing look with scorn on any production and profit, why criti-
such homely analogy. They say cize the Federal government for
the two things have no relation doing the same thing in order to
to each other. The creditof an provide services and security for
individual is necessarily limited the people?
by his ability to earn and pay;
but the government, being sov- Some Vital Differences
ereign, can go on spending indefi- All this ignores two fundamen-
nitely' without regard to its tal differences between such cor-
income. It is immune to such porations and the government.
things as garnishments and. other The first difference is that even
legal attachments. Nobody can the biggest corporation in the
foreclose on the United States. The country could not obtain such
government can't go bankrupt. loans if the lenders did not know
For one thing, look at its re- that the corporation possessed
sources - over two and a half tril- the assets to secure them and
lion dollars worth of them. Maybe would be able on demand or at
three trillion!2 And besides, it has maturity to pay them off. The
the power to issue more money government, on the other hand,
whenever needed. does not have such collateral as-
The proper analogy, they say, sets. All the talk of its multitril-
is that of the huge corporation- lion dollar resources is so much
anyone of a dozen that come wishful thinking. Those assets be-
quickly to mind. These gigantic long to the people, not to the gov-
outfits are always in debt. They ernment; and they can be properly
borrow hundreds of millions of cited as offsets to the debt only if
dollars on which to operate. They and when the government is pre-
never intend to get out of debt. pared to seize them without com-
By their vast borrowings they are pensation to their owners.
able to turn out their products, The other difference is that such
make a profit, pay dividends, and borrowings of corporations do not
2 By this, they mean all the wealth of
affect the value of our money.
this country. Borrowings and lendings among
corporate enterprises, like most of Inflation in Two Countries

those among individuals, are sim- Let us take two examples of how
ply part of the economic process this works, in one case mildly, in
of production and exchange. If a the other devastatingly. Twenty
lender (probably a bank or other years ago Richard Roe bought
large corporate structure) is fool- some U. S. Government "E"
ish enough to loan a manufactur- Bonds. Each hundred dollar bond
ing company more than the latter cost $75.00 and matured in ten
can repay, the worst that can hap- years at face value. At maturity,
pen is that the debtor company bond holders were urged to leave
may be thrown into bankruptcy, the bonds at interest, and Mr. Roe
with loss to its creditors and in- did so. Today each bond is worth
vestors, transitional unemploy- $140.00, a pa.per profit of $65.00
ment' for some of its workers, and on the original $75.00 investment.
with perhaps some adverse but This looks pretty impressive, until
not devastating impact upon the you figure what has happened to
economy. It win be a disaster to the dollar. Recent government
those involved, but it will not figures reveal that the value of
cause inflation or otherwise lessen the dollar has shrunk by one-third
or destroy the value of our money. in the past 20 years. So, the $75.00
The government, on the other investment, after 20 years, is
hand, by its borrowings creates worth only $93.33 in terms of
credit which in turn becomes the those original dollars.
basis for more borrowings. This The other example is from
can be kept within manageable Argentina. I first visited that in-
bounds only if the government teresting country - so like our
demonstrates that it can and will own in many respects - in 1947.
payoff its creditors (the holders At that time the peso was fairly
of its bonds) without first cheap- strong at 4 to the dollar. Peron
ening their money and thus re- was in power, but the country had
ducing or destroying the value of not yet really begun to feel the
their bonds. When this is not done, impact of his big-spend, every-
more and more money is printed, thing-for-the-descamisados pro-
metal coinage is debased, excess gram. Four years later I returned,
dollars help create demand for and in that short time the peso
more goods, prices rise-and all had shrunk 80 per cent - down to
fixed-income investments are 20 to the dollar. And today? It is
either seriously impaired in value now quoted at 350 to the dollar-
or are wiped out altogether. a dollar which also has shrunk
by one-third in the same period. and contrary to all humanexperi-

The peso is now worth less than ence, we of all earth's people shall
one per cent of its former purchas- escape the day of reckoning?
ing value. Now suppose Ricardo
Hernandez had saved some money A National Guilt Complex
and twenty years ago had bought Our confusion about matters
an Argentine bond with a face financial is on a par with our un-
value of 400 pesos ($100.00 at certainties concerning other things
that time). It has now matured. that are now being written into
He cashes it, and he gets his 400 that ticket to the future. We talk
pesos, all right - but they are about that future rather hopefully
worth in current dollars only at times, but without actually re-
$1.14! Of his 400 pesos, 397 have lating it to the present. We ignore
been wiped out by inflation. (because we do not understand)
This problem of inflation and the inexorable laws of cause and
its dangers is one of the ghastly effect. Partly as a result of this,
unrealities of our present situa,;, we seem to have no firm sense of
tion - not the inflation itself, our national destiny, nor even a
which is already at work and clearly defined idea of what we
creeping more and more danger- want our country to be. Participa-
ously high, but the generaf inertia tion in two world wars and two
with which it is regarded, the "police actions" has taught us
bland .and blind indifference to little. We are still fascinated with
the destruction of values, both the idea that it is our mission to
financial and moral. At high gov- "save" the world. We also suffer
ernment levels, in many academic from a kind of guilt complex, en-
circles, among certain businessmen gendered, no doubt, by the cease-
and even some bankers the doc- less propaganda of highly-placed
trine of the bigger-and-bigger- leftists, who equate material suc-
and-never-to-be-paid debt is being cess with social wickedness.
accepted as normal and natural Mea culpa - God forgive me, I
and necessary. am guilty! Of what? Well, I am a
Thus, we write the ticket to the citizen of a rich and powerful
future by denying the dictates of country. Moreover, by dint of
common sense and the experience luck and some foresight, I myself
of history. Nobody has yet given am not a candidate for public re-
n1e a satisfactory ans,ver to this lief. Therefore, I'm guilty, and
question: by what logic do we as- ought also to do penance. Our na-
sume that somehow, miraculously, tion, too, is guilty, for the same
reason, and must do penance. And at Harvard?) to decide what por-

since universal flagellation is im- tion of our earnings should be
practicable, the way to absolution spent for our own subsistence,
is to slice off large portions of our comfort, pleasure, development,
wealth through taxation and hand and security, and how much
it over to certain "underprivi- should be taken away from us to
leged" or "emerging" nations. be expended on public improve-
They mayor may not deserve it. ments and facilities, and espe-
In all likelihood most of it will go cially on things of esthetic value
into the pockets of the upstart ad- (as determined by whom ? A lib-
venturers who are running most eral elite, maybe?) He would, of
of those nations; and in any event course, do all this by compulsion
it is a safe bet that they hate us, of law, because he understands
and will continue to do so. But no that the average person, not know-
matter. Weare rich and they are ing what is good for him, will re-
not; therefore, we owe them a sist such a program. Yet, so weak
handout -a ten- or forty- or two- is our understanding of the mean-
hundred-million-dollar handout! ing of freedom, that many who
We also suffer, domestically, would on principle strongly op-
from a species of moral and eco- pose these pa.rticular exactions,
nomic schizophrenia. For genera- will not hesitate to invoke com-
tions we have taught and been pulsion to force you and me and
taught that it is a worthy thing to others to pay for their favorite
work hard and save money, partly political nostrums!
for the sake of accomplishment,
partly as a hedge against the Hidden Consequences
hazards of old age. Now. we are It would seem, however, that
not so sure, and our uncertainty these Galbraithian proposals are
is being articulated by some highly somewhat more than slightly ex
placed "liberal" spokesmen. Just post facto. For over 30 years we
now a well-known professor. at a have been subjecting ourselves to
leading university, who also just such a bleeding process by
writes books and dabbles in poli- electing persons and parties com-
tics (and who represents a con- mitted to essentially the same
siderable body of "liberal" opin- kind. of Big Brotherism, except
ion) is worried because the coun- that we have seldom understood
try is too affluent. He wants a until too late that Big Brother
new industrial system. He wants may distribute largesse, but that
a few wise men in Washington (or he also collects taxes to cover the
outlay - and that he demands as well as the morals and the dis-
obedience! For light on this phase cipline of family life? Was it the
of our aberration it is helpful to long-continued propaganda of in-
talk with some of the "benefi- fluential socialists in the political,
ciaries" of slum clearance proj- educational, and religious fields?
ects, or with farmers who are Why does a nation of intelligent
"aided" under allotment pro- people drift into and persist in a
grams, or with stockholders in policy of general self-deception
motel properties that have been leading to self-destruction? Who
by-passed by Federally financed knows? Some blame attaches to
highways. Despite all disillusion- all those conditions and circum-
ment, Big Brotherism still has it~ stances, .no doubt; but it should
devotees, who believe firmly that be assessed finally against all of
there is nothing wrong with the us - against every person who un-
country or the world that seven, derstands the blessings - and the
fifteen, or sixty billion American demands - of freedom, but who
dollars won't cure! In the furious sells out for advantage, or ex-
annual debates in Congress on the pediency, or who "goes along"
national Budget (which nine times because he just doesn't care, or
out of ten is a deficit one) there because he doesn't understand that
has seldom been a year when the he, too, is writing the ticket to
termination of a few worse-than- the future.
useless foreign aid grants would
A Heritage of Disaster
not have balanced the books. Yet,
we have continued, under both ma- If, as we profess, we want for
jor political parties, to pour out our children a society that nur-
billions, often to our avowed ene- tures freedom, we shall have to
mies, or to states that do not even begin now' to think and talk in
pretend to be our friends - states terms of freedom, rather than in
that criticize and ridicule us at the shackling cliches of statism,
every opportunity, and that would for the one concept utterly ne-
not stand with us for a moment gates the other. We cannot think
in any showdown with the com- and act t.oday as collectivists and
munist powers. expect to avoid tomorrow the
Confusion? Say rather, lack of mounting tyrannies of rampant
direction. Somewhere along the bureaucracy and supergovernment-
line we got off the track. Was it alism. It is useless to talk hope-
occasioned by the permissiveness fully of a golden future, with
that seems to dominate education everybody happy and prosperous
in a great society, if by our deci- one is opposing real economic

sions now we are undermining the progress. as well as social better-
only foundations upon which such ment.
a future can be based. Such questions, and their im-
Some of our collectivists are plication that solvency is an enemy
most probably men of evil pur- to progress, are without founda-
pose, linked more or less directly tion. There is no precedent in hu-
to a world conspiracy that would man experience to warrant the
destroy us. But they are few, and assumption that a permanent gov-
would be impotent. in their de- .ernmental debt is a prerequisite
signs, were they not upheld, with for economic growth. On the con-
good intent and clear conscience, trary, it works the other way
by a much larger number who are around. (Ask the British.) Bank,.
people of good will and charitable, ruptcy has never been a safe
if mistaken, attitude. What the foundation for either material or
conspirators think is no concern social progress. Lessening or de-
of ours, in this article or at any stroying the value of a nation's
time. They know their goal, and money in order to liquidate its
will not be deterred from its debt without seeming to repudi-
wicked accomplishment. But the ate it - this has always brought
others, the men and women of disaster rather than prosperity.
fuzzy good will, should reflect (as The best way to make an econ-
a starter) that if inflation is not omy secure is to safeguard the
stopped by the exercise, finally, of national credit and preserve the
fiscal prudence, and is allowed to value of its currency. The best
reach avalanche velocity (as it has way to encourage a "high velocity"
done in many countries, both an- economy is to maintain conditions
ciently and of late) then the first under which men can create and
to suffer loss and want and desti- venture without fear of being
tution will be the people of small penalized either through excessive
means and limited income, over taxation or the debasement of
whose status certain types of poli- their money. The surest way to
ticians and left-wing "philoso- bring on a "static" economy is to
phers" now shed tears. deny those conditions.
At about this point, some ad- Yet, that is what we are doing.
herent of collectivism and compul- This is the ticket we are writing
sion is due to rise up and demand - the ticket to the future.
whether one is aware that by such How far will it take us?
advocacy of prudence and solvency And to what destination? ~
The Practical Liberal
I ASSUME that in this context "lib- go on affirming it, which includes
eralism" means the use or advo- explaining and defining its mean-
cacy of market processes to de- ing and the manner in which it
termine the application of effort works in practice.
and resources, wherever the ob- In most actual societies there
jects in view are economic in exist institutions and laws which
character. are inconsistent with this principle
The definition embraces more - ranging from nationalized in-
than may at first sight appear, dustries to specific controls on
because the market process re- hire purchase [buying on credit].
quires private ownership, includ- The nonpolitician can and must
ing private ownership of capital, denounce these. The politician,
and is inconsistent with arbitrary meaning thereby a person who is
interference with, or specific reg- or, by the nature of his situation,
ulation of, the economic choices of may in the future be, in political
the citizen. authority, must in the first place
The way to affirm this principle not approve them. This is the
is, quite simply, to affirm it, and great essential.
go on affirming it, and be seen to In politics it is frequently
neither possible, nor necessary, questioned and apparently unques-

nor even right, to volunteer the tionable, it has suddenly in the
truth. What never is right or nec- last two years become possible for
essary is to speak untruth; that practicing politicians to denounce
is, to make statements inconsist- them publicly, even though we still
ent with one's belief and opinion. shrink from practical proposals
It may be, and often is, unavoid- of a radical character to reverse
able to tolerate and even admin- them. Both parts of the .opera-
ister institutions and .laws repug- tion, however, are unavailable for
nant to liberalism. A liberal does those who have admitted these
not have to refuse office as Minis- principles in the past, whether ex
ter of Power on grounds that he animo or with mental reservations.
will then be responsible for na- There is thus a division of
tionalized power industries. What function between the politicians
he may not do is to show approval (as defined) and the nonpoliti-
of the principle or speak or be- cians. The politician may, and
have in such a way as implies such often does, have to take a view
approval. upon what is "politically practic-
So long as we do not estop our- able," though only for the immedi-
selves by express or implicit ap- ate future; he must beware of the
proval of what we do not believe vulgar error" of supposing that
in, it remains possible to contem- there are acts or propositions
plate an alternative in theory, and which are permanently, necessar-
to bring forward proposals for ily, and inherently "politically im-
change in practice, when the op- practicable." On the other hand,
portunity is propitious. the nonpolitician has no business
One can never know when op- at all with judging what is "polit-
portunity will ripen. Frequently, ically practicable." He has neither
it does so for reasons which are competence, responsibility, nor
fortuitous or even undiscoverable. motivation for doing so. It is a
The opportunity, however, cannot tragedy, though one not infre-
be taken when it comes if the quently enacted, when the non-
principle has meanwhile been con- politicians withhold opinions, af-
ceded to one's opponents. Two firmations, or arguments, because
cases in recent British politics are they fancy them "politically im-
subsidized and controlled house- practicable," and thus make it
rents and the legal privileges of difficult, if not impossible, for the
trade unions. After decades in politicians to espouse and act upon
which both principles were un- them. ~
LEONARD E. READ
PROGRESS and regress occurring bring about economic well-being.

simultaneously! The paradox of increasing pros-
A modern Dickens might well perity with more extensive inter-
describe ours as "the best of times ventions is not new. In The His-
. . . the worst of times." Our tory of England (1839) 1, Lord
standard of Ii ving soars as oppor- Macaulay observed: "It has often
tunities for employment multiply been found that profuse expendi-
in pace with the quantity and tures, heavy taxation, absurd
quality of goods and services avail- commercial restrictions, corrupt
able. Yet, at the same time, we tribunals, disastrous wars, sedi-
experience on an unprecedented tions, persecutions, conflagrations,
scale the reckless waste of work inundations, have not been able to
stoppages, political controls, and destroy capital so fast as the ex-
other restraints upon freedom. ertions of private citizens have
This is the great anomaly, so been able to create it."
pronounced on both counts and so Brazilian entrepreneurs have
hand-in-hand that many persons another way of explaining their
believe the destructive actions are simultaneous progress and re-
really causing the creative out- gress : "We get things done while
burst! This is perfectly illustrated the politicians sleep."
when, on hearing a criticism of If the notion that regressive
the growing governmental inter- measures cause the progress be-
ventionism, many Americans re- comes a firm and general convic-
ply, "We've never' had it so good." tion then, assuredly, the regressive
Such mistaken correlation will per- forces will overtake, consume, and
sist unless we understand and ex- eventually destroy the progressive
plain why depredation cannot 1 See Chapter 3.
77
forces. For example, should we be- cialization which Adam Smith un-
come convinced that a minimum derstood and explained so admir-
wage law is a means of raising ably, a new concept of wealth came
wages and then base all facets of into being. Instead of idle inven-
the economy on similar illusions, tories possessed by feudal dukes
the American miracle will have and lords of the manor, wealth in
ended. So, it is of the utmost im- the form of useful goods and serv-
portance that we dissect this an- ices spread to the masses whose
omaly and divest it of its mystery. skills were needed to activate and
The explanation is quite simple : operate the tools of industry. So
exchange has been multiplying marked has been this change that
more rapidly than restraints on today's American laborer is
exchange. Consistent with this an- wealthier in the variety of things
swer is the fact that authoritari- he enj oys than the legendary
anism, so far, has lagged behind Midas, Croesus, or any medieval
the release of creative energy; king.
bureaucratic dictation has failed However, a shift from a near
to keep pace with entrepreneurial self-subsistence economy - forag-
ingenuity; capital has been formed ing and the like - to a specialized
faster than destroyed; citizens in economy presupposes not only the
pursuing their own interests have accumulation of savings andcapi-
accomplished much while the polit- tal but also freedom to exchange.
ical gods have been sleeping. Were a people to specialize and
not exchange, there would be no
Changing Patterns of Wealth: wealth; indeed, all would perish.
Speeializationand Trade As the absence of exchange results
A systematic understanding of in poverty, so does the prolifera-
the importance of specialization tion of willing exchanges result in
and trade (exchange) is of recent increased wealth.
origin. That wealth increases through
Prior to the time of Adam the process of willing exchange is
Smith's Wealth of Nations, less understandable once we apprehend
than 200 years ago, wealth was the subjective nature of gain. 2 To
concentrated in few hands and was illustrate: I produce shoes; you
reckoned mostly in inventories: produce sweaters. If I cannot sell
precious metals, jewels, slaves, my shoes, and if you cannot sell
acres of land, size of manor or 2 For a more detailed explanation of
the subjective theory of value see "Free-
castle, and so on. dom's Theory of Value." THE FREEMAN,
Then, with the advent of spe- October, 1967.
1968 THE GREAT ANOMALY 79
your sweaters, is it likely that But the regress has not-to date,
either of us would keep on produc- anyway-kept .pace with the prog-
ing these things? SO,without ex- ress. In this fact lies the explana-
change, there would. be no further tion of the great anomaly.
increase in wealth. But, should we
willingly exchange, each gains. I The Source of Progress
value the sweater more than the It is doubtful if anyone can
shoes, and you value the shoes more than casually account for the
more than the sweater-two in- explosion in exchanges. Quickened
creases in value, as each of us transportation and communication
judges value. '\Vere this not the -some of it at the speed of light-
case, there would be no willing ex- ning-assuredly plays an impor-
change between us, no increase in tant role. Inventiveness, resulting
wealth, no further production. in fantastic technological break-
Clearly, willing exchange is the throughs, must be included. Per-
key to increased wealth and in- haps questionable motivations
creased production. have had a hand in the phenomen-
Willing exchanges are incalcu- on; for instance, a raging passion
lably more numerous now than in for material affluence, as if this
the days of Adam Smith, even were the highest object of life.
than in the days of my grand- While too complex to pursue, some
parents. This is apparent to any of the restraints-obstacles-have
observant person. But what most doubtless generated the ingenuity
of us overlook is the enormous to hurdle them and, thus, have ac-
proliferation of exchanges dur- counted partially for the progress.
ing the past three or four decades; Necessity is, on occasion, the
the increase takes on the nature mother of invention. However, my
of an explosion. Try to reckon the purpose here is only to set forth
number of exchanges you engage a fact; I haven't the effrontery to
in daily; they are so numerous attempt a complete explanation
that you are scarcely conscious of for the exchange explosion.
them. This is our economic prog- Nor am I bold enough to posit
ress. all that lies at the root of our re-
During this period of exploding gress. Why does authoritarianism
exchanges, we have also witnessed grow? Why do so many wish to
governmental intervention in the lord it over the rest of us, that is,
market, restrictions on willing ex- why do they behave as gods, not
changes literally by the thousands. as men ? We may never know; we
This is our regress. can only reflect as has Lionel Tril-
ling : "We must beware of the dan- ably certain: we should bring
gers that lie in our most gener- sharply into question the absurd
ous wishes: Some paradox of our notion that the regressive forces
nature leads uS,when once we are the cause of our progress. Fail-
have made our fellow men the ob- ure to do this may soon result in
jects of our enlightened interest, the end of progress. There are
to go on to make them the objects signs of this! At the very least,
of our pity, then of our wisdom, let us be aware that such progress
ultimately of our coercion."3 as we have achieved is in spite of
But of one thing I feel reason- and not because of the regress.
s Quoted in The American Scholar, Thus,we may see through the
Autumn, 1965. great anomaly! ~
The Division of Labor

IT IS the great multiplication of the productions of all the dif-
ferent arts, in consequence of the division of labor, which occa-
sions, in a well-governed society, that universal opulence which
extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people. Every workman
has a great quantity of his own work to dispose of beyond what
he himself has occasion for; and every other workman being
exactly in the same situation, he is enabled to exchange a great
quantity of his own goods for a great quantity, or, what comes
to the same thing, for the price of a great quantity of theirs. He
supplies them abundantly with what they have occasion for, and
they accommodate him as amply with what he has occasion for,
and a general plenty diffuses itself through all the different
, ranks of the society.
ADAM SMITH, The Wealth of Nations
THE THEORY OF
Political
Escalation
WALTER J. WESSELS
THE "MAJORITY WILL" or "consen- which one adversary attacks an-

sus" is a smoke screen for many other, provoking a counterattack
of the false theories and harmful of greater ferocity, and so on un-
practices of the welfare state. The til both are involved beyond their
majority rarely favors any par- expectations. The process is simi-
ticular feature, let alone the wel- lar in the political sphere. Each
fare program as a whole. But group seeks its own gain through
somewhere in the program indi- government taxation and spend-
viduals or small groups may find ing at the expense of others. But
something appealing to their spe- the others, in turn, seek similar
cial interest. And the combination gains, and so on until the net
of special interests forms the "ma- effect is detrimental to everyone
jority will." But rarely is any involved. Perhaps no particular
group concerned about the over- group would have triggered the
all effect of the entire program, to process had the result been fore-
which all groups might well be seen - the political escalation that
opposed. Each sees only the tiny leads to self-destruction.
fraction that seems to favor its In the free market of open com-
own interest. petition, each individual may know
The result of such pursuit of and weigh the benefits and costs
special interests might be referred to him of a particular action or
to as "political escalation." Esca- choice. But when government in-
lation of a war is the process by tervenes to separate the benefits
Mr. Wessels is a senior majoring in Econ-
from the costs, the relationship is
omics at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. blurred for the individual. Others
81
share the costs of the benefit he course of action, somewhat like

derives, and there is no clear cor- unilateral action for peace when
relation between his own tax bill military escalation is rampant.
and the benefits he has sought. But if there is to be political de-
How much higher or lower will escalation from the increasing
his taxes be if he personally seeks burdens of the welfare state,
or rejects a given benefit? The someone will have to make that
temptation always is to seek the break. And if he will stand firmly
personal benefit for which all tax- on principle for the right of the
payers are obliged to help pay. So individual to live for his own sake,
it is that everyone has his special eventually he may find support
lobby in Congress for his own pet from others disillusioned by the
project, while there is little if false promises and mounting costs
any organized and effective oppo- of socialism. As their numbers in-
sition to the over-all burden of crease, a time will come when
taxes. Thus, we get "government some candidate for political office
by pressure groups." has the courage to campaign for
This process of political escala- a tax reduction that is soundly
tion tends to feed upon itself if based on the elimination of gov-
government intervention is not ernment give-away programs.
opposed. Not only are those who Political escalation is a process
seek to gain at others' expense of self-destruction. To seek some-
benefited and encouraged; those thing-for-nothing from others
who want no part of "something- makes bums of those who try it
for-nothing" are punished with and also victimizes those who
heavier taxation. Thus, the proc- would assume their own responsi-
ess is pushed both by those who bilities. It thus behooves every
actively seek government aid and responsible person to unalterably
by those who merely seek compen- oppose all the programs of the
sation for their heavy tax burden. welfare state and the political
Unilateral self -responsibility escalation by which mankind is
may seem a lonely and unpopular led to destruction. ~
Unfit to Serve
THE MAN who is aware of his inability to stand competition
scorns "this mad competitive system." He who is unfit to serve
his fellow' citizens wants to rule them.
LUDWIG VON MISES, Bureaucracy
Government VS. Private
Operation
DAVID L. BABSON
IT HAS become the fashion - especially among politicians, union bosses,

and businessmen - to call more and more on the government for action.
The extent to which its share of the economy has mushroomed over the
years is shown below:
FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY

Employment 0/(1 of Total Expenditures % of Gross
Year (Millions) Employment (Billions) National Product
Current 11.7 15.7% $243 30.8%
1963 9.5 13.8 171 29.2
1960 8.5 12.8 137 27.2
1955 6.9 11.0 99 24.8
1947 5.5 9.5 44 18.7
1940 4.2 8.8 18 18.4
1935 3.5 8.2 13 18.4
1929 3.1 6.4 10 9.8
Note that the public share of close to one-third of total economic

employment has been rising faster activity against less than one-
since 1947 than it did during New tenth in 1929. Our Federal gov-
Deal days. Also observe that 15.7 ernment is the biggest employer,
per cent of all workers (one out borrower, lender, and spender in
of six) are now on public payrolls the world. One out of nearly every
compared with 6.4 per cent (one three dollars of personal and busi-
out of sixteen) in 1929. ness income now goes to a tax
The preceding table shows that collector somewhere.
the public sector now accounts for Particularly disturbing is the
fact that this speed-up in public
This article is reprinted by permission from spending has been taking place
the November 16, 1967, "Investment Coun-
sel" letter of David L. Babson and Company,
during a period of record economic
Inc., of Boston. prosperity. In the past decade,
nondefense outlays in the Federal the communications field - the

budget have shot up by $37 billion U. S. Post Office and American
or nearly 150 per cent while those Telephone & Telegraph. It is in-
of state and local entities have teresting to observe how these two
gone up another $59 billion or 135 organizations have affected us as
per cent. consumers and taxpayers over the
Just in the past four years, total years. As a starting point let us
Federal expenditures have jumped take a look at the trend of postal
$44 billion, or by nearly two- rates since the early 1930's:
fifths. Of this amount, $25 billion
or more than one-half has been FIRST CLASS POSTAGE, I-oz. LETTER
for nondefense activities. It seems Regular Air Mail

incredible, but this increase in Proposed 6 10
civilian outlays is over twice as 1963 5 8
much as the U. S. government paid 1958 4 7
out for all purposes in any year 1957 3 6
prior to World War II. 1947 3 5
1933 3 6
Moreover, Washington is con-
1932 2 5
stantly pressing, or being urged,
into new fields - education, hospi- In recent years various public
tal care, credit, housing. Problems commissions, congressional com-
that are essentially local in nature mittees, and the White House have
- such as mass transit, traffic, investigated and criticized the "in-
urban decay - are now being flationary" pricing policies of pri-
passed on to Federal bureaus. So vate business. Yet, it is a matter
the public sector grows and grows. of record that during the past ten
A question that puzzles us is years, while the cost of living has
why anyone should think that such gone up about 20 per cent and the
spheres of activity can be con- industrial price index has in-
ducted more effectively under pUb- creased 7 per cent, the Post Office
lic than private management. Does has hiked its rates by 65 per cent
anyone conceive that Federal ad- to 100 per cent.
ministrators have greater talents Now let's see how prices of the
than private business managers or privately-operated telephone sys-
local civic leaders? tem have fared over the past
A good illustration of the strik- thirty years. The rates for three-
ing differences in public vs. pri- minute toll calls between Boston
vate management is afforded by a and other major cities are shown
comparison of the two giants of below:
1968 GOVERNMENT VS. PRIVATE OPERATION 85
STATION-TO-STATION TOLL RATES FROM BOSTON*

New York Chicago San Francisco
Year Day Night Day Night Day Night
Current $0.75 $0.55 $1.40 $0.70 $1.75 $1.00
1963 0.75 0.55 1.50 1.20 2.25 1.75
1955 0.75 0.55 1.60 1.30 2.50 2.00
1947 0.75 0.45 1.65 1.25 2.50 2.00
1939 0.80 0.50 2.50 1.50 6.75 4.50
1932 1.00 0.60 3.25 1.75 9.50 5.75
% Decline
1932-1967 -25% -8% -57% -60% - 82()!o -83%
*Excludes Federal excise taxes
Reduced tariffs for calls made regular mail over the same period.
after 12 P.M. went into effect this Thus, it is obvious that as con-
month as follows: Chicago, 60; sumers we have fared much bet-
San Francisco, 75. While toll ter pricewise with the privately-
rates have declined substantially operated organization than with
over the years, the cost of local the publicly-run one. This is large-
telephone service has been trend- ly a reflection of the degree to
ing upward. But even here, the which each of the two systems has
rise since 1932 has been less than been able to lift its efficiency or
half that of the consumer price in- "productivity." Here again, the
dex and only one-third as much as public operation makes an unfa-
the increase in postal charges for vorable comparison:
EMPLOYEES VOLUME HANDLED PER EMPLOYEE

(In Thousands) Pieces Daily Con- (1930 = 100)
Year P.O. Bell Co. of Mail versations P.O. Bell Co.
1966 675.4 650.8 75.6 Bil. 295.7 Mil. 136 225
1963 587.2 571.4 67.9 " 251.4 " 140 218
1962 588.5 563.9 66.5 " 242.4 " 137 214
1961 582.4 566.6 64.9 " 226.4 " 135 199
1957 521.2 640.9 59.1 " 188.3 " 137 146
1950 500.6 523.3 45.1 " 140.8 " 109 134
1940 353.2 275.3 27.7 " 79.3 " 95 141
1930 339.5 318.1 27.9 " 64.0 " 100 100
% Increase
1930-1966 + 99% +105% +171% +362% +36% +125%
Note that over the past 36 years highways, business mail from
the postal service has managed to New York frequently fails to ar-
increase the number of pieces of rive here until the second day-
mail handled per employee by 36 even though it is less than an
per cent, but the Bell System takes hour's flight and a five-hour train
care of well over twice as many or truck trip. In contrast, a dial
conversations per worker as it did connection to almost any station
then. Since 1957, the P. O. has in the country takes but a few
added employees slightly faster seconds - a fraction of the time it
than its volume has grown, where- did thirty years ago.
as the rising efficiency of the Bell Now what effect have these two
System has permitted it to handle systems had upon us as taxpay-
three-fifths more traffic with only ers? The following table shows
1 per cent more help. the postal deficit and the taxes
Quality of service is, of course, paid by the Bell Telephone Com-
much harder to measure than cost. panies, both annually and on a
But even without benefit of sta- cumulative basis.
tistics, it is apparent that postal Public operation makes a strik-
service has been going downhill ingly poor showing here. Even
for years despite the sharp in- though as consumers we pay much
crease in its rates. In the early higher postal rates than ever be-
part of the period under review fore, we are even worse off as tax-
we received two daily postal de- payers. We now contribute nearly
liveries at home, four at the of- one billion dollars a year to make
fice. Now we are supposed to get up the deficit between postal re-
one at home and three at the ceipts and expenses, or fifteen
office. times as much as when the letter
Despite fast planes and express rate was only 2 cents.
DEFICIT OF POST OFFICE DEPT. TAXES PAID BY BELL COMPANIES

(Millions) (Millions)
Year Annual Cumulative from 1932 Annual Cumulative from 1932
1966 $943 $12,843 $2,718 $30,045
1963 819 10,454 2,246 22,301
1961 826 8,860 1,972 17,952
1958 891 6,832 1,483 12,442
1950 545 2,233 499 4,472
1940 41 687 185 1,090
1935 66 428 94 352
1968 GOVERNMENT VS. PRIVATE OPERATION 87 s
In contrast, note that while the crease in AT&T's dividend rate

Post Office Department has drained lifts its annual shareholder pay-
off $13 billion from our tax rev- ments to $1,295 million vs. $248
enues since 1932, the Bell Com- million in 1950 and $39 million
panies have, over the same period, in 1930. These disbursements cre-
put $30 billion into public coffers ate personal income taxes that
through tax payments. And this help finance the postal deficit.
figure does not include the many
billions in excise taxes paid by Altogether the contrast in the
Bell customers ($753 million in results of these two organizations
1966 alone). is a striking one. We wish some
Moreover, the Bell Companies of those who are preaching the
have millions of stockholders- bigger "public service" doctrine
American Telephone itself has 3.1 would go a little slower in down-
million, including colleges, church- grading the system whose merits
es, and other institutions as well are so clearly shown by the above
as individuals. This week's in- comparisons. ~
Government in R,tsiness
IT IS NOT the business of governments to go into business, and

when they do, they do not do it well. Their proneness to display,
and their comparative indifference to costs, markets, or innova-
tion, lead them to dissipate the energies of their peoples in spec-
tacular and comparatively unproductive ventures.
Many economically fastidious governments, for ideological or
political reasons, mind the business of their citizens to a degree
that cuts down energy in both national and international circuits.
The efforts of "welfare" governments, in particular, to protect
certain interests and discourage others, often work against the
prosperity of both their own and other nations.
H A RO L D F L E MIN G, States, Contra(ts and Progr(','!s
abused, as has actually occurred.
They. were never intended to give
"carte blanche" to government to
do what it pleased with the peo-
ple's property, under the pretext
that it is "promoting the general
or Selfish? welfare."
Interest In discussions of "political
charity" we often hear explana-
tions of the debilitating effects of
unearned benefits on the recip-
BEN MOREELL
ients, who usually know that the
quid pro quo they are obligated to
deliver are their votes at the next
"POLITICAL CHARITY" is a contra- election. But we seldom hear dis-
diction in terms. "Charity" in the cussions of what happens to the
biblical sense means "love." "Polit- person who might have been a
ical charity" is coercive. It forces voluntary donor, if left free to
people to "do good" (as defined by choose, but who is now forcibly
political administrators) under deprived of his money which will
threat of punishment for failure be distributed by political admin-
to comply. istrators, largely to achieve polit-
The great sums donated volun- ical objectives. He becomes bitter;
tarily to church and charitable in- and he hates - not only the pol-
stitutions each year show that, if iticians but the poor who have
left free to make their own provided the vehicle for the poli-
choices, our people need not be ticians' thievery, in many in-
coerced to "love thy neighbor." stances through no fault of their
The "general welfare" clauses own.
in the Preamble of the Constitu- It has been said that venal poli-
tion, and in paragraph 1 of Article ticians have a vested interest in
I, Section 8, have been grossly maintaining the poor in a state of
misinterpreted and abused. In the poverty. For, if the poor should
Federalist POIpers, Madison made become affluent, the politician
clear the intent of those clauses. would be deprived of a plausible
He was replying to a charge that reason for appropriating huge
the clauses could and would be sums of tax monies for "wars on
poverty" which will be conducted
Excerpts from a recent letter to a friend by
Admiral Ben Moreell. under his "command"! ~
{The Roots of
LEFTISM
d.n ChristendoIn
{ERIK VON KUEHNELT-LEDDIHN
THE TITLE of this essay perhaps Left, especially Catholics who rep-
requires some specification. By resent such a large share of the
"Christendom" we mean the body Christian world.
of authentic Christians who accept
the fundamental tenets of the Left and Right
Christian Faith: the Holy Trinity, In our Western civilization,
the divinity of Christ which it originally inspired by Christianity,
implies, salvation through the Re- "left" has a pejorative implication.
deemer, the immortality of the soul "Left" and "wrong" are the op-
and, needless to say, the message posites of "right." Already in an-
of the Bible. It might conceivably tiquity the left implied misfortune.
be argued that Christendom ex- The New Testament says that on
tends beyond the community of Judgment Day the Just will be on
baptized believers; the Christian the right, the Damned on the left
Faith has its "fellow travelers," of the Lord. In French gauche
persons who wholeheartedly accept (like linkisch in German) means
the basic Christian ethos without clumsy, awkward (for which the
subscribing to its concrete tenets. French have another word : mala-
However, we are here primarily droit-bad-to-the-right). In Ital-
concerned with the strange phe- ian, sinistro means left, dark, and
nomenon of Christians of the also mishap, accident. Damnation
Dr. Kuehnelt-Leddihn is a European scholar,
seems to fascinate the Left. "Rise
linguist, world traveler, and lecturer. Of his Ye, Damned of the Earth" are the
many published works, the best known in
America is his book, Liberty or Equality? opening words of the "Interna-
tional." "Right," on the other tivism, state omnipotence, social-

hand, has a positive connotation ism, materialism, and absolutism,
everywhere. It also stands for the whether of a democratic or mo-
Latin ius, for rightness, rectitude, narchic order. (Absolute mon-
justice, honesty, correctness - in archy, as Ludwig von Gerlach
German, Recht, Rechtlichkeit, Ger- said, is "the revolution from
echtigkeit, Redlichkeit, Richtig- above.")
keit.
Leftism, Chronolatry, and Manichaeism
In politics the Left was first
identified with the opposition but How, then, did it happen that
later, in ideological parlance, it Leftism made such deep inroads
assumed a more definite meaning. into Christian thinking, be it pri-
In our highly confused civiliza- vate or official? Is it not obvious
tion the semantic chaos has pro- at first glance that Leftism and
duced such statements as: "We re- Christianity are poles apart? Yet,
ject communism and Nazism which the unfortunate and seemingly
are very much alike. Extreme impossible synthesis has occurred
right and extreme left are almost and this for good reasons. Lead-
identical. No wonder - extremes ing among these is chronolatry,
always meet." Communism and the worship of the spirit of the
Nazism are indeed very much alike times, the desire to be "up to date"
but only becG\use they both belong and thus also to take the wind out
to the extreme Left. Extremes, of the sails of the enemies of
needless to say, never meet. Hot Christianity. Yet, the end can
and cold, big and small obviously never sanctify the means (a prin-
never meet, nor do they become ciple the Jesuits never promulgat-
alike or identical. ed) and the task of Christianity
The Rightist ideal postulates (or the Church) is certainly not
that everybody has his own proper to assimilate herself to trends and
rights, Ulpian's suum cuique - fashions but, rather, to inspire
which does not imply equality, or and to form them. This is surely
sameness or identity, but plurality the reason why the term aggior-
and diversity. The true Right namento (updating) has been
stands for freedom, personality, quietly dropped by Rome in favor
decentralization, local rights, the of rinovamento (renewal) and res-
principle of subsidiarity, free en- SOU1~cement (going back to the
terprise, spirituality, mixed gov- sources). "If you can't lick them,
ernment; the Left for centraliza- join them" may be a maxim ap-
tion, equality and identity, collec- propriate for rough-and-tumble
1968 THE ROOTS OF LEFTISM IN CHRISTENDOM 91
politics but not for the Church the Catholic Church only) and favors
Lord has founded on the Rock to asceticism for all, not only for a
last through the ages. select few with a specific vocation.
Chronolatry, however, is not the The idea that wealth (or power)
only explanation for the Leftist automatically enslaves is definitely
escalation inside the Church. Very Manichaean. The fact that a rich
definite misinterpretations and man can attain inner freedom
misreadings of the New Testament from his riches (and be a pauper
are at work, theories using errors in spirit), while a poor man might
for very specific purposes, wrong desperately crave and even im-
and distorted views concerning the morally try to acquire property,
entire development of Christian- is hardly envisaged.
ity and, finally, the curious phe-
nomenon I have called nwnasticism Who Was Christ?
(as an "ism"), the dangerous sec- In the early Middle Ages much
ularization of the monastic con- was made of the concept of Christ
cept. (See my essay "EI Monasti- the King though his feast was
cismo" in Revista de Occ,idente, only decreed by Pius XI. Repre-
Madrid, November, 1965.) Some sentations of Christ on the Cross,
of these notions can be traced in tri umphant and wearing a royal
early church history, but most of crown, disappeared ,vith the High
them are of a more recent date; Middle Ages and the rise of the
they are Medieval or even modern. new mendicant orders (Francis-
Ancient Christianity was men- cans and Dominicans). rivaling the
aced by Manichaeism, a dualistic Benedictines and Augustinians.
concept of pagan origin which con- At that time a low-class and low-
sidered only the spiritual world brow image of the origins of
as God's creation and the material Christianity became popular. Yet,
one as the Devil's. This heresy had Christ ,vas definitely not the son
not only temporary but also last- of a humble carpenter, his disci-
ing effects. Through the Bogo- ples not naive and uneducated fish-
miles and Patarines it fathered erman, nor did he found a religion
the Albigensian heresy, one of the for the slaves and outcasts of the
most terrifying aberrations of decaying Roman Empire. This ver-
Christianity, and reappeared, sion, however, became more and
strongly modified, as Jansenism. It more widespread as time \vent on,
constitutes, perhaps, a permanent and reached its climax in our age.
intellectual temptation for Chris- As a matter of fact, one finds it,
tianity (by no means for the with minor adaptations, in the
Bolshaya Sovyetskaya Entsiklo- Child Jesus, they found him not

pediya. It would be interesting to in a stable -as art will have it-
know just when the final break- but "in the house of Joseph" who
through of this imagery occurred, must have owned real estate in
but it is not yet to be found (in Bethlehem; otherwise, he would
such a concrete manner) in either not have been compelled to return
the Renaissance or Baroque pe- from Nazareth to David's town.
riod. (Whether the family was poor or
The hard facts are quite differ- not is sociologically an unimpor-
ent. In the eyes of the Jews Christ tant question; wealth and "nobil-
was a natural pretender to the ity," especially in the Holy Land,
Judaic throne since he was of were, and still are, separate at-
royal blood, a descendant of King tributes.)
David. Joseph is addressed as Christ moved much among the
"Son of David" by the Angel Ga- wealthy; he brought no message
briel and the prominence given to for a new social order (he exhort-
the pedigree of Jesus underlines ed us to be charitable, not to en-
this fact. Hence, also, the repeated gage in social engineering). His
emphasis on the part of Christ disciples were by no means "hum-
that his kingdom was not of this ble folk," but minor entrepreneurs
world; hence, also, the not so iron- like Peter, or first-rate intellectu-
ical inscription "King of the als like John. One need only study
Jews" on the Cross which appar- the names and backgrounds of the
ently had terminated the drama. Saints in the Roman Missal to dis-
From Biblical accounts it is also cover that a very large percentage
evident that his mother belonged, (a majority even) belonged to the
at least partly, to a priestly higher and highest ranks of Ro-
(Aaronite) family since Elizabeth man society. Neither were the
was her cousin or aunt. Thus, early Church Fathers "proletar-
Christ's family background is ians" or mental simpletons; they
highly aristocratic; and whether were people of certain means and,
Joseph was a carpenter is a very above all, original thinkers. Chris-
moot question. Techn6n could just tianity came to the Roman Empire
as well be translated as "archi- through the Jewish communities
tect" or "building contractor." 'who had socially superior con-
Christ's birth in a stable was ac- tacts, largely with the world of
cidental (a Prince, too, could be commerce and politics. There is
born in a gas station). And when nothing to indicate that the urban
the Magi came to worship the proletariate was particularly
drawn to Christianity; we know ence" while, on the other hand,

for certain that the peasantry op- men and women in orders have
posed it assiduously. preached the monastic way of life
to those "in the world."
/I Monasticism"
It should not be overlooked
The rise of the mendicant or- either that, quite accidentally, of
ders in the Middle Ages put pov- course, the monastery is the pre-
erty, so to say, into the limelight. figuration of several "modern" in-
Nevertheless, we have to bear in stitutions: the boarding school,
mind that this new trend had the barracks, the factory, and, in
nothing to do with the modern cry a sense, the hospital. The monas-
for "social justice" which certain- tery stands for discipline, collec-
ly does not praise indigence but tive work, identical clothing, strict
wants to abolish it by expropriat- schedules (a keen sense of time),
ing the wealthy. Still, monasti- subordination of the personality
cism, gaining ground in the High to the community, all, however, on
Middle Ages, had interesting and the basis of a voluntary decision.
lasting psychological effects. The An element of coercion, on the
observation of St. Thomas that other hand, dominates all secular,
"corruption of good is the worst pseudo monasteries. The monk is
evil" can indeed be applied to the relieved of all material anxieties
"image" of the monastery. and worries to give him the free-
Now, it must be borne in mind dom he needs for his spiritual ad-
that the monastery consists of men venture. Material security within
or women with a very special and an order, however, is never an
rather rare vocation. They make a end in itself. We all have heard the
true sacrifice of their God-given following quip: "Where can a man
liberty to their Creator whom they be sure of his daily bread, a roof
are willing to serve in an exclu- over his head, employment, spirit-
sive way. The vows of poverty, ual and mental care, peace from
obedience, and chastity, which in the other sex, and a decent funer-
Catholic theology figure as Coun- al? In a monastery or in jail!"
sels of Perfection (or Evangelical The difference between the two,
Counsels), are the very premises however, lies primarily in the
of monastic life. At all times there presence or absence of free choice.
have been people who, though not And this di.fference is all-impor-
themselves members of an order, tant.
have envied the monks and nuns Before we go one step further,
their "secure and peaceful exist- we ought to recall that the medi-
eval monastery had a strong and tic roots of capitalism still stands
far-reaching radiation. The monk, (especially after the publication
Joachim de Floris, originally a of Alfred Mtiller-Armack's work
Cistercian, developed a socialist, on the subject), it is equally true
utopian, visionary theory accord- that the Reformation - in its es-
ing to which all men and women sence a revolt against Humanism
would finally become monks and and the hedonism of the Renais-
nuns. He was the harbinger of sance - ushered in an age of so-
more radical and voluntary collec- briety, team spirit, puritanism,
tivistic ideologies to come. But at state omnipotence, and punctual-
an even earlier stage the Irish ity. (The foundations of the Swiss
monks, swarming all over the Con- watch industry were laid by Hu-
tinent, had begun to inject monas- guenot refugees from France.)
tic ideals into the Catholic Church In the meantime, the Catholic
at large. (One can read more about \vorld (to this day far more in-
this in A. Mirgeler's Ruckblick auf debted to Renaissance and Ba-
das Abendliindische Christentum, roque than to the Middle Ages)
Mainz, 1961.) Their rigorism left developed nonmonastic orders: the
its imprint on the Catholic Church Jesuits, the Salesians, the Re-
which adopted many monastic demptorists. To devout followers of
ideas and institutions for the Reformed doctrines, Catholic no-
laity and the secular clergy. Celi- tions appeared individualistic and
bacy for the priesthood was one heathenish. Yet, all through the
of these. fifteenth, sixteenth, and seven-
teenth centuries in the northwest
Effects of the Reformation
of Europe, untold radical sects
The Reformation, initiated by arose which combined distorted
Martin Luther, a friar of the Or- Christian doctrines with notions
der of Augustinian Hermits, re- of extreme social reform. Equal-
sulted in what Alexander Rlistow ity, collectivism, the enforced
called "the socialization of the mon- sharing of earthly goods, an iron
astery." The ex-Dominican Sebas- discipline, and totalitarian meas-
tian Franck remarked in the early ures provided them with the dy-
sixteenth century that it would namics of aggression. The Tabor-
be wrong to assume that he had ites, Adamites, Anabaptists, Dig-
escaped the monastery; in fact, gers, and Levellers are the best
monastic ideas were spreading in known among them.
every direction. And though Max At a later period the utopian
Weber's thesis about the Calvinis- socialists in France as well as in
England and the United States higher appeal naturally cannot

established communities of a dis- stop or diminish the enormous
tinctly monastic character. And crime rate of the Soviet Union.
wherever Marxian socialism was Conversely, one encounters dedi-
transformed into a living reality, cated Christians who, though in a
monastic forms inevitably made very theoretical manner, have a
their appearance. When, during moral admiration for the Soviet
my last stay in the Soviet Union, System. They are apt to remark
I was asked about my reactions, that "if the communists only were
I used to reply that this creation to admit religion and let their sys-
of Marx, Lenin, and Stalin seemed tem be baptized - it would be per-
to me essentially a "godless mon- fect; it would be ideaL" Needless
astery" upon whose population to say that people arguing in these
the Counsels of Perfection were terms are an easy target for So-
imposed: poverty, obedience, and, viet propaganda. They only need
though not chastity, at least a to be persuaded (and usually they
puritanical life. It is certainly no are subconsciously happy to hear
coincidence that communist par- and to accept the Glad Message)
ties proliferated in countries that there is no religious persecu-
where monastic ideals and tradition in the USSR and, therefore,
tions are well rooted: Russia, opposition against the system is
China, Italy, France, and Greece. really baseless. ("After all, the
Soviets only apply the American
The Procommunist Nostalgia principle of separation of State
Christian ethical ideals are con- and Church! Just a little further
stantly proclaimed, taught, and liberalization and everything will
propagandized by the Soviets. As be all right!")
a matter of fact, from billboards, Such reasoning, however, is en-
television screens, loudspeakers, tirely wrong. The "godless mon-
magazine covers, and newspapers astery" with a tyrannical, atheis-
the people are subjected to a con- tic abbot is a bad enough carica-
stant barrage of Christian moral- ture of the original Christian in-
izing. They are exhorted to be- stitution; but a religious commu-
have like Christians, but not to nism - in other words, a coercive
adhere to Christian religions - all monastery with vocationless (in
of which creates a dichotomy of many cases married) monks and
mind not sufficiently realized by nuns, born into it - would be ut-
Western analysts of the USSR. terly diabolic. At the bottom of
All this dull preaching without a all these erroneous and perverted
vistas lies a great deal of Rous- and, though in an entirely secu-

seau's optimism. From Calvin's lar way, the many communist ex-
pessimism people have switched perimental communities in nine-
blindly to Rousseau's optimism teenth century America. None of
concerning human nature. This ,vhich means, however, that the
truly "Genevan" tragedy, affect- original, manifestly religious mon-
ing all Western civilization, re- astery does not have its legitimate
minds one of Pascal's word that place in Christendom, not only in
man is neither beast nor angel the Catholic and Eastern Ortho-
and that he who wants to make dox, but also in the Anglican and
him forcibly an angel will turn Reformed context, as illustrated
him into a beast. And while we by the tremendous success of the
are quoting, we might also recall Presbyterian monastery of Taize
that Romano Guardini (in Das in France.
Ende der N euzeit, Wiirzburg,
1950) said that while the Chris- Christian Masochism
tian is bound, he must be bound Certainly not all "drives" to-
in freedom. ward Leftism within Christianity
It is precisely the "monastic are due to purely endogenous
heresy" w'ithin the Catholic forces and internal misinterpreta-
Church during such a large part tions. .Very often we encounter
of her second millennium that combined errors-extraneous ideas
fostered the spirit of coercion. It being given "religious" backing,
has now decidedly come to an end- a natural result of the desire to
ecclesiastically at least. But we be "in the swim," to ride the wave
can see Catholics (and other of the future. Little is it realized
Christians) who have transferred that these notions earn not the
their monastic fixations to worldly admiration but the utter contempt
ideologies. And here lies a truly of the secular world, above all of
internal, psychological root of the Marxist forces to whom these
Christian leftism which derives often desperate efforts to agree
false inspirations either from real with or borrow shamelessly from
monasticism or from its "sociali- their ideologies are nothing but
zation" in the Reformation period. confirmations of their own
Under Calvin and Farrell the city theories. (We are also apt to ap-
of Geneva (so well described by plaud prematurely the smallest
Kampschulte) was no less a mon- indication of an apparent readi-
astery than was Massachusetts at ness to compromise in the course
the time of the Puritan settlement of the Soviet Union's opportun-
istic policies, Lenin's zigzagnaya trade unions, UN Secretaries,

politika.) specific psychiatric schools,
Christendom is in the grip of "emerging nations" and their "na-
a terrible fear that we might have tional-socialist" bosses?
missed the bus - as, indeed, we In these questions and state-
usually do. In trying desperately ments we perceive a whole maze of
to keep up with the times, to run misunderstandings, old, die-hard
after them, we Christians shall legends and basic misconceptions,
always resemble the dog who most of them originating with
barks up a tree after the cat is the critics of Christianity. As
gone. We then have made fools of "wrong but clear ideas," they have
ourselves and pay the fine for hav- succeeded in worrying ecclesias-
ing disregarded Chesterton's warn- tics of all denominations to the
ing: "The Church is the only thing point where they meekly accepted
which protects us from the de- them and now they are deeply
grading servitude of becoming a influencing even top leaders in
Child of our Times." To take up their policymaking.
immediately every modern fad,
would destroy Christianity in no Cliches Examined
time at all. Let us have a closer look at
Leftist ideas trying to "tie in" these items. The Church's par-
with genuinely Christian thought tiality for the rich is an already
have thus plagued us for some petrified legend securely em-
time: Why did the Church not bedded in the modern mind to the
give her full support to the French extent that it is hardly discussed.
Revolution? Why not to democ- If one demanded supporting evi-
racy? Why not to socialism? Why dence, this would cause surprise
has the Church always sided with and indignation - followed by en-
the rich? Are not all men equal- raged silence. True, there are a
at least in the eyes of God? Is it few rich countries where the
not understandable that the Church is, let us say, at ease fi-
Church has lost the working class? nancially (though usually up to
When the Church was powerful, her ears in debt). Given her enor-
she used the secular arm to im- mous commitments, however, the
pose her will on the poor and the Church nowhere can be called
exploited. Would she not be wise really rich, and in many countries
to ally herself with the "rising she is incredibly indigent. Most
powers," to "ride the wave of the contributions come from middle-
future" by allying herself with income and poor people. (The very
wealthy, plagued by a bad con- In a number of countries a fierce

science, more often than not maso- competition in social demagoguery
chistically support leftist causes.) is raging between Marxists and
The priesthood is rarely recruited Christians, a strange battle in
from the ranks of the well-to-do; which the opponents keep quoting
in fact, three of the last six Popes each other. A brilliant, unsigned
had lower-class backgrounds. article in the (London) Catholic
In the ministry of the Reforma- weekly, The Tablet (July 23, 1966),
tion Churches, too, men who can pointed out that the old, now so
claim an upper crust origin are heavily condemned triumphalism
exceedingly rare. In most coun- in the Catholic Church has been
tries contacts between the clergy replaced by a new mood based on
on one side and high finance or the Social Gospel. But the Church,
big business .on the other are al- being a newcomer at this game,
most nonexistent. will hardly score.
Still, we are haunted by this ubiq-
uitous pseudo commonplace which The New Mythology
has never been properly examined, There may be remote and back-
never confirmed, and yet creates ward areas where social reform is
needless nightmares in the minds utterly necessary and would really
of churchmen, high and low, some raise the general level of living.
good theologians, some amateur In an address to the Vienna
sociologists, but in most cases men Katholikentag in 1952 Pius XII
of an abysmal ignorance about the called "deproletarization" through
laws of economics. To talk eco- social reforms a closed matter ex-
nomics without moral principles cept in isolated retarded regions.
and soundly based psychology is Contrary to a popular belief, Latin
as disastrous as the claptrap of America is not one of these; the
theologians without economic problem there is the lack of a
training who pontificate vocifer- work ethos (what the Spaniards
ously on economic matters and call La gana de trabajar) , as Pro-
thereby unwittingly become dema- fessor Frederick B. Pike (Notre
gogues bombinantes in vacuo. Col- Dame) clearly proved in his essay
laboration between the theologians in the July, 1964, issue of the
and biologists leaves much to be Review of Politics. (This excellent
desired, but even rarer is the in- article presents in a new light the
tellectual exchange between theo- dangers, the suicidal consequences
logians and economists, the result of a political commitment to the
being "Social Romanticism." Left on the part of the Church.)
In Latin America the social pyra- a political factor if the Jews had
mid has a very broad base but remained as poor as the gypsies.
shrinks suddenly, ending in a (Who cared in 1933 whether the
thin needle. (See also my Latein- Jews had been collectively guilty
amerika - Geschichte eines Schei- of the Crucifixion?) There are
terns? Osnabriick, 1967). The cu- theologians who know very well
bic content of this needle is so that radical social engineering (in
small that its "redistribution," Latin America, for instance)
while doing away with envy, would would be "for the birds," yet
not improve the lot of the indi- they are ready to advocate it be-
gent but hardly laborious masses. cause it might eliminate or at
Their natural virtues, as Profes- least diminish envy. And envy is
sor Pike points out, were never bad, very bad. To one of these
sufficiently cultivated by the Cath- men I replied with a parable:
olic .Church. In Germany even, Isabel and Heloise are sisters,
where the social pyramid is far Isabel is a beauty, Heloise an ugly
better equilibrated, an income duckling who cries into her pillow
ceiling of 1,000 DM (250 dollars) every night. Should one take a
per month and an equal distri- knife and disfigure Isabel? The
bution of the "jackpot" would, in good theologian raised his hands
1956, have yielded an extra 3.5 in horror.
cents a day for each poor citizen. Looking back at the questions
Similar experiments in Peru or we asked earlier, it certainly seems
Bolivia would be even less en- that the Church could hardly have
couraging. sided with the French Revolution,
It is significant, however, that ,vith de Sade, Danton, Robes-
the churches today very rarely pierre, Marat, and Saint-Just
preach against envy which, after amidst the forest of guillotines.
all, has been the dynamic force N or with democracy, a regime of
in every totalitarian movement numbers, of equality and majority
for the last 200 years. By 1917 rule, whereas justice and equity
large landownership in Russia might well be on the side of un-
had dwindled (partly thanks to popular minorities. Nor should
P. Stolypin's reforms) to a pro- Christianity's rejection of Marx-
visional 22 per cent of the arable ism be construed as partiality to-
land, yet in the civil war the ward the rich; Marxism made a
peasants largely supported the frontal attack on all religions
Red Army. In Germany anti-Sem- since it stands for materialism
itism would never have become and against spirituality. The
Church had no choice whatsoever. are also spiritually unequal. Ac-

l\1:arxism, moreover, advocated the cording to Christian doctrine
dictatorship of the proletariat in there is no equality either on
an omnipotent state. Every Church earth or in Heaven. (Possibly it
instinctively dislikes the omnip- exists in Hell, though.) Liberty,
otent State (regardless of what freedom, figures in the New Test-
a few ecclesiastic opportunists ament, equality never. Here we
might have said in public). The clearly observe an intrusion of
Church never used the State but political thought into theology.
was always - especially during the Weare not equal in the eyes of
Middle Ages - overshadowed by God. If Judas Iscariot and St.
it. Her "power" was always a John were equals, the Church
"lunar" derivative from a "solar" could close shop. The trick of in-
government. Canossa? It ended troducing adverbial equality will
with Pope Gregory's bitter death not do either. We have equally
in exile, to be followed much later immortal souls as we might
by the Babylonian captivity in equally have bank accounts, but
Avignon. The Church was always they are certainly not alike. Of
"poor and without means." (St. course, who is superior to whom,
Augustine). And did she really God only knows.
lose the workers or was not, One of Christianity's main prob-
rather, the working class a brand- lems is to maintain an equilibrium
new element crystallizing outside between the temporal and the
her orbit? Are not the 2,000 years spiritual. A pure, otherworldly
of church history a continued, spirituality might lead to great
desperate, yet miraculously not difficulties and make us lose touch
fatal battle for survival? with everyday life. Christianity as
a geocentric faith devoted to
The New Temptation chronolatry and the quest for
Today Leftism is the great popularity would altogether cease
tempter approaching the Church to be Christianity. This particular
from the outside while various temptation of our times, the gros-
errors are proliferating inside sest and at the same time subtlest
her. In our strictly nonpluralistic of them all, has not presented it-
age, menaced by the Great Leftist self quite so directly since the day
Conformities, sameness and equal- when Satan offered to Christ all
ity are the favorite battlecries. the treasures and kingdoms of
Yet, people are unequal not only this earth. ~
physically and intellectually. They Reprints available, 1 O~ each.
God Bless Our Ancestors
REBEKAH DEAL OLIVER
HISTORY is the record of things the ages, qualified by the degree of

done by men, or their failure to each man's freedom, his heredity,
do them; the response to each act environment, geography, religion,
or its absence, by other men; and ambition, needs, conscience, and
the impact of these accumulating other pressures which have always
responses on future generations of separated the individual from the
men, all individuals, each in his masses. That which has deter-
own time. mined the character of each per-
Though the fruits of one's time son has been his response to the
can be stolen or taxed, time itself circumstances of his life and the
cannot be taken from one to give use he has made of the time al-
to another; and no matter how lotted him, that measure of being
many are using time, no one is de- plucked from eternity for him
prived because of another's use. alone.
Within the span of each one's life Being human, we think of time
he has all the time there is. prosaically as "my time" or "my
However, what is done with this lifetime." And indeed, the accom-
freely given and equally distribut- plishments of history are the ac-
ed commodity is an individual cumulation of the thoughts and
matter. This has been true through acts of individual lives. The pro-
Mrs. Oliver is a Kansas housewife "mostly in- gress of civilization has developed
terested in husband, children, grandchildren,
the nation, community, neighbors, and friends." from the discoveries, the inven-
101
tions, the research, and the in- Keeping the Record

spirations of these lives. Music One often hears it said that the
must be composed before it can be important thing is what you are,
sung; a building, a bridge, a road not who your ancestors were.
must be designed before it is built; Nevertheless, people have always
a voyage must first be charted; thought it necessary to record for
and strategy employed before a posterity the past and passing
battle. And, though any modern family history. When immigrants
production is usually completed came to this country, from the
through the joint efforts of many, Mayflower Company on, they con-
still each effort is an individual tinued to keep records. In the theo-
one. While there is time, each per- cratic New England colonies the
son lives his life and makes his government and church records
contribution, whatever it may be, were usually the same. A man
to history. could not vote unless he was a
There are some people in this church member. When he was ac-
world, in this country, with the cepted as a church member, he was
power of government, or claiming known as a freeman, not before;
to represent the corporate church, and the record was kept. Detailed
or articulate with some assumed records of town meetings were
authority, who keep busy telling us made and in places where these
'what to do - or not to do. Where are extant data can be found about
we are not coerced either by the otherwise unknown early Ameri-
threat of force or by the mental cans.
gymnastics of authoritarian prop- These records reveal more than
agandists, we may do as we please. mere names, dates, and places.
Taking these exceptions into con- They reveal the character of the
sideration, each person's time is people-the rich, bare bones of our
his own, as God-given as the other heritage. These ancestors were a
rights claimed by our forefathers religious people and they took time
in the Declaration of Independ- to actively practice their religion.
ence. Time to invest according to Ingrained in their blood from old
one's judgment and conscience; Scottish Covenanters, French
time in which to play, to work; Huguenots, German Palatines,
time to waste, throw away, give English Puritans, and William
away; time in which to be glad, to Penn's Quakers, to name a few,
be sad; time to build, to tear they founded their lives and their
down; time to think, to choose, and institutions upon religion. Church
to act. records made note of each mem-
1968 GOD BLESS OUR ANCESTORS 103
ber's activities; the church was church, had trouble keeping up
the center of the community and with the frontier. Higher educa-
took second place in their lives tion also must have gotten its
only to the family. As settlement early boost from the fact that col-
moved westward, the church fol- leges were needed to train preach-
lowed as fast as it could, but did ers and lawyers.
not retain quite the authority it
had in the contained settlements American Traditions
of the eastern seaboard; the min- and Their Preservation
istry could not keep up with the Our ancestors were a political
rapid expansion of the country. people. Wherever they settled, in-
Many localities depended entirely deed even in the caravan, they set
upon the circuit rider and their up a form of government. Before
own family devotions for their leaving their ship, the Mayflower
spiritual guidance. Company set up a compact. So,
Acquisition of land and person- from the beginning in this coun-
al property was the aim of the try every man was jealous of his
American settler. Materialistic? right to his "say" and of his vote.
Perhaps, but from the dawn of They ran for office, high and low;
civilization, ownership had been and as the United States became
the requisite of freedom. The set- an independent nation, they were
tler was jealous of his possessions jealous of the rights' guaranteed
and land boundaries. Early records them by the United States Con-
abound in lawsuits over what stitution. They built court houses
might seem trivial matters today. and worked to have each territory
Some historians criticize the Pur- quickly admitted to the Union.
itans for their emphasis on proper- They were constructive, building
ty, work, and frugality; but with- what was needed to make and ex-
out this industry and the incentive pand a great nation. Bred into
for it the Massachusetts Bay col- their bones, Americans have taken
onies would never have survived. their political rights for granted,
Their recourse to law instead of sometimes overlooking that they
to other means of action is no must be guarded against infringe-
doubt also responsible for the fact ment.
that law and order prevailed Our ancestors were patriotic.
throughout many times of stress Until the present generation,
in the early days of this country Americans have never failed to
and eventually won out in the west answer with enthusiasm their
where the law, as well as the country's call to arms in time of
war. Their flag and their country mutually helpful to one another
was their stronghold against tyr- and none were allowed to suffer
anny. Freedom was worth dying want, though welfare as practiced
for. today would have left them
Our ancestors were family men. shocked, scandalized, and insult-
They took their women with them ed. Charity was for the church and
when they went to conquer the individuals and, later, also for
wilderness, and they raised large private and publicly supported
families to populate it. For their voluntary organizations. Govern-
welfare they fought the Indian, ment was contained within its
the wild beast, the elements - any Constitutional purposes of main-
enemy; they worked hard at all taining the peace and of protect-
things to provide a better living, ing the country from its enemies.
a worth-while life - churches, Of course, there were some
roads, schools, law, order, good black sheep, scoundrels, horse
government. The aged were a part thieves, atheists, cowards, and
of the family group and the young traitors scattered among the
learned tolerance, kindness, and proud, the industrious, the law
the art of sharing - and the re- abiding, the God-fearing, and the
,vards of love. Our ancestors were patriotic. Yet those failures stand
socially conscious. A stated reason out so lonesomely among the mul-
for the Jamestown expedition was titude of the stalwart that we can
the conversion of the heathen In- include them when we say with
dian. One hundred and fifty years grateful hearts, "God bless our
ago they started supporting for- ancestors and the way they spent
eign missionaries. Neighbors were the time allotted them." ~
Regular Government
1 WISH, sir, for a regular government, in order to secure and
protect those honest citizens who have been distinguished - I
mean the industrious farmer and planter. I wish them to be
protected in the enjoyment of their honestly and industriously
acquired property. I wish commerce to be fully protected and
encouraged, that the people may have an opportunity of dispos-
ing of their crops at market, and of procuring such supplies as
they may be in want of. I presume that there can be no political
happiness, unless industry be cherished and protected,. and prop-
erty secured.
EDMU NO PENDLETON (Speech before the Virginia Convention
to consider adoption of the Constitution)
The
Forgotten
Man
"WEALTH comes only from pro- Graham Sumner, a professor at

duction, and all that the wran- Yale, is the first use of the ex-
gling grabbers, loafers, and job- pression, "Forgotten Man," which
bers get to deal with comes from Franklin D. Roosevelt employed
somebody's toil and sacrifice. Who, in a much more demagogic context
then, is he who provides it all? fifty years later. What Sumner
The Forgotten Man. . . . delving had to say on this subject looms
away in patient industry, sup- larger as prophecy than as a de-
porting his family, casting his scription of the economist's own
vote, supporting the church and time. For in 1883 there was no
the school ... but he is the only Federal income tax; the United
one for whom there is no provi- States had not assumed military
sion in the great scramble and the and economic burdens all around
big divide. Such is the Forgotten the world and Big Government, in
Man. He works, he votes, gen- the sinister modern sense, with
erally he prays-but he always its enormous demands on the re-
pays. . . . All the burdens fall on 'sources of the taxpayers, did not
him, or on her, for the Forgotten exist.
Man is not seldom a woman." If Sumner were alive, he would
This 1883 declaration by econ- probably be the first to recognize
omist and sociologist William that the plight of his Forgotten
Man is far worse today than it
porter of economic and political conditions at
,vas when he first used the ex-
number of books, he has lectured widely and
pression. Here a little definition
and numerous magazines. is in order. The Forgotten Man
105
106 THE J.1-'REEMAN February
is the rare and discouraged breed eratic nightmare of "social secur-

of citizen who wants to pay his ity" and let him provide for his
own way in the world, without own rent, medical care, and re-
benefit of .any crutches in the way tirement needs. But this is a vain
of government aid. desire, as the steady and growing
He receives no handouts, but is compulsory deductions from his
required to help finance innumer- income prove. No matter how dili-
able handouts to others, at home gent he may be in his work or
and abroad. Rapacious tax col- profession, tax laws, especially on
lectors, Federal, state, local, al- the Federal level, are calculated
ways have their hands in his to frustrate his effort to build up
pockets. He is saddled with an a competence for his old age and
ever-increasing load of exactions, his family. One need only think
a load that, if present trends are of the steeply graduated charac-
not sharply reversed, will one day ter of the Federal income tax and
break his back, with incalculable of such inequities as the double
consequences for American society taxation (as individual and as
and economy. He is a producer, corporation income) of earnings
not a consumer of so-called social from dividends. Many states, in
security. The Forgotten Man does their income taxation, have copied
not riot or demonstrate or strike. the method of steep graduation.
As his principal exploiters are The witty and perceptive
bureaucrats at various levels, French economist, Frederic Bas-
armed with the authority of gov- tiat, defined the state as "the
ernmental power, he could not, great fiction, by which everyone
unless he were willing to go to jail, hopes to live at the expense of
employ the strike we.apon so be- everyone else." Today there might
loved of industrial workers or- be a substitute definition: "an
ganized in monopolistic unions, of engine for pillaging the thrifty
teachers, "welfare" dispensers, for the supposed benefit of the
even, incredible as it sounds, of thriftless." And the worst, for the
"welfare" recipients. Forgotten Man, is probably still
to come. The present raids on his
Forget the Controls
pocketbook and gouges at his bank
The Forgotten Man only wishes account, onerous though they are,
that the state would forget him would seem mild in retrospect if
to the extent of permitting him such schemes for dividing up the
to contract out of its cumbersome, wealth as the guaranteed annual
incredibly mismanaged bureau- income, the so-called negative in-
1968 THE FORGOTTEN MAN 107
come tax, or the various proposals for the raising of additional funds
for paying tens of billions of through a sales tax, decidedly
"compensation" to a certain ethnic preferable, from the individual
group in the population should go taxpayer's standpoint, to the in-
into effect. troduction of a graduated income
tax. Volpe fought off such pro-
Direct and Indirect Taxes posals and was vindicated in a ref-
The Forgotten Man is caught erendum and by a smashing ma-
between the hammer of inexorably jority when he ran last year for
rising taxation (with state and re-election.
local grabs outpacing the Federal) Many of the people who sup-
and the anvil of visible inflation. ported Volpe on the referendum
As a concrete example of the con- and at the polls helieved that he
tinuous encroachments of state would be satisfied with tapping
and local tax authorities on the one important new source of rev-
earnings and savings of citizens, enue. They were also attracted by
consider the situation in the state the frequent assertion, during the
'where I live, the Commonwealth campaign for the sales tax, that
of Massachusetts, widely rechris- its enactment would make it pos-
tened Taxachusetts by its dis- sible to reduce the extremely high
gruntled taxpayers. rates of personal property tax
Corruption, mismanagement, throughout the state. ("Taxachu-
and extravagance are old charac- setts" is a leader among states in
teristics of the state administra- this form of exaction.)
tion, especially under such notori- On both counts they have heen
ous political bosses as the twice- sorely disappointed. Volpe has
jailed James Michael Curley, proved himself only a politician,
amusingly portrayed as "Skeff- after all, with the politician's un-
ington" in Edwin O'Connor's controllable yen for spending tax-
novel, Tthe Last Hurrah. The re- payers' money. Safely re-elected
gime of a more recent Governor, for a four year term, he has come
Foster Furcolo, produced a rich to the legislature with a request
crop of scandals. for about $100 million dollars in
Matters seemed to take a turn additional revenue, to be financed
for the better with the election of through increases of the already
a businessman, John A. Volpe, as high rates of state income tax.
Governor. There was substantial This burden is aggravated for
support for Volpe among the ha- anyone with investment savings
rassed taxpayers when he pressed because income from investment
is taxed at about two and a half through property taxes that have
times the rate levied on salaries risen, not fallen, since the enact-
and wages. ment of the state sales tax. It does
Instead of the sales tax as an not stand alone; the same pattern,
alternative to higher income taxes, ,vith differing details, may be ob-
Massachusetts taxpayers are hit served throughout the nation.
fore and aft by increases in both.
They have also been hit amid- The Meek Inherit Burdens
ships. The promised reduction in Part of the blame for the steady
the rate of property tax has chipping away and erosion of the
proved a cruel hoax, at least in taxpayers' income and standard of
Cambridge, the town where I live, living rests with the undue meek-
and in some other communities as ness of the Forgotten Man. He is
well. A cabal in the Cambridge a law-abiding citizen and his im-
city council ousted an admirable pulse, on getting an increased bill
city manager who had combined from the tax collector, is to pay
efficient administration with a up without even marching to city
stable tax rate and installed a hall and hanging the mayor and
successor who could not restrain members of the council in effigy.
his eagerness to pile up the bur- Indeed, it is a problem for a
den on Cambridge home owners. psychologist why organized union
Whereas the former city manager groups will sometimes commit
had kept the tax rate unchanged every crime in the book, assault
\vithout a share in the receipts of and battery, willful destruction of
the sales tax, which had not gone property, mayhem, even murder,
into effect during his administra- in order to extort a higher income
tion, his successor pushed through while the taxpayer meekly accepts
tax increases of 6 per cent and dose after dose of diminished in-
15 per cent, while also enjoying come. The latter is surely a more
the increment of a share in the serious grievance and one wonders
proceeds of the sales tax. what explosion would follow if an
So "Taxachusetts" runs true to employer proposed the same work
form, and its unfortunate tax- at reduced wages. That is what
payers and home owners get three the state, through one agency or
simultaneous solar plexus blows, another, is continually imposing
through the sales tax, the increase on the Forgotten Man, the taxpay-
in income tax (unless sufficient er whom the politician despises as
pressure can be brought on the a cow to be milked dry, a sheeI
legislature to vote this down), and to be shorn.
How different was the reaction taxpayers in states and communi-

of early Americans to the imposi- ties would organize and study
tion of what seem, in comparison with microscopic closeness the
with the present exactions, quite spending records of elected offi-
trivial taxes on tea and stamps! cials and legislators.
One of the grievances of the colo- Then they could punish at the
nists against King George III is polls every executive, every admin-
phrased as follows in the old-fash- istrator, every legislator on the
ioned, grave, and dignified lan- Federal, state, or local level who
guage of the Declaration of In- is identified with unnecessary high
dependence: spending programs that involve
higher taxes. Let them develop an
He has erected a multitude of new elephant's memory and permanent-
Offices, and sent hither swarms of
ly blacklist every man and woman
Officers to harass our People and eat
in public office who has been in the
out their substance.
habit of raiding their pocketbooks
There is enough lawless violence with impunity. Let this strategy
in the United States now, without be applied consistently, ruthlessly,
recommending violent extralegal implacably, and the politician's in-
forms of protest to the oppressed, stinct for self-preservation will
pillaged, and exploited taxpayers. come into operation and bring
Besides, the Forgotten Man, as about a sudden saving vision of
described by Sumner, is a sober, the virtues of public economy.
responsible citizen with a high re- Unless the Forgotten Men who
gard for public order. However, never get any government hand-
there are eminently legal forms outs but finance a good many to
of protest and resistance which others, who are providers but not
have not been called into effect as consumers of security, take some
often as they should have been. measures of financial self-defense
and self-preservation, unless pres-
"Don't Tread on Me" ent trends toward reckless spend-
One obvious reason why taxing at Federal, state, and local
payers are treated with contempt levels are checked, the taxpayer,
by free-spending politicians, eager more heavily loaded than any
to buy this or that bloc of votes camel in a caravan, will find that
at the price of other people's mon- he has no more earnings, or sav-
ey, is that they are completely un- ings, to be taxed away.
organized. A very healthy change The Forgotten Man, who is so
would come over the picture if old-fashioned as to believe in the
merit of thrift, is hard hit by in- resultant government spending

flation. During the nineteenth and inflation to forestall unem-
century the United States dollar, ployment. Another cause of the
although it experienced ups and rising cost of living and another
downs in purchasing power, re- blow at the taxpayer's pocketbook
mained basically stable, buying is the elaborate system devised for
approximately as much in 1900 paying farmers more for produc-
as in 1800. This is emphatically ing less, or producing nothing at
not true as regards America's all.
currency in the twentieth century; Another obvious cause of in-
and the end of this story is not flation is the persistent refusal of
yet. In very recent experience, either the legislative branch or the
items large and small, newspapers, executive branch of the Federal
concert tickets, shoeshines, hair- government, despite much lip serv-
cuts, doctors' charges, hospital ice to the ideal, to make any seri-
costs, food, furniture, have been 0us attempt to practice economy
changing in cost more or less in public spending. Most private
rapidly, and always in one direc- individuals could cheerfully spend
tion, upward. a good deal more than they earn,
The result has been very much but are obliged to adjust their
that of clipping the coinage, a spending to their incomes.
favorite inflationary device in the
Middle Ages. Holders of bank- Unbounded Government
books and insurance policies have The root cause of many of our
seen the real value of their hold- difficulties is that public admin-
ings shrink. This development is istration, at the Federal, state, and
not surprising, because politics municipal level, is under no such
has more and more dominated fi- restraint. All too often public
nancial policy, and all political budgets are framed on the basis
pressures are inflationary. of spending without limit, and
Legislation giving privileged making up the difference by in-
status to trade unions has taken flationary borrowing or by dip-
the risk out of striking. (Has any- ping into the pocket of the tax-
one heard of a maj or strike lost in payer for a new grab.
recent years?) As might have been That the high cost of govern-
expected, some unions have abused ment is a matter of concern not
this new-found power to extort only to the well-to-do but to people
wage settlements quite out of line in the lower brackets is evident
with increased productivity, with from an item recently published in
the San Francisco Examiner. A Americans, who stand for integral

part-time typist, Mrs. Helen Burch, freedom and realize that economic
submitted the following break- freedom is not the least important
down of her earnings and taxes element in this ideal, came out for
for the years 1958 and 1966: abolishing the graduated element
1958 1966 in the Federal income tax, for
Salary (gross) $2,521 $3,414 dropping the minimum wage and
Real property taxes 340 681 for making participation in social
Income tax withheld 102 521
Social security security optional. And they gave
tax withheld 56 144 cogent, detailed reasons for each
Total taxes 498 1,346 of these stands.
Salary (net) 2,023 2,068
They characterized taxing of
Considering the decline in the income at different rates as a vi-
purchasing power of the dollar, olation of the laws of justice and
Mrs. Burch has evidently been "an economic attack on the initia-
running fast without even being tive of individuals to use their own
able to stay in the same place. income as capital for maximization
Even worse is the plight of elderly of future income and a penalty on
retired persons who cannot report those who are industrious and
a gain in gross salary. able." They rightly see in the
minimum wage "a major cause of
Reversing the Trend
unemployment among the young,
The plight of the Forgotten Man especially among minority groups."
,,,ho would like to stand on his And they show that a 22-year-old
own feet economically is bleak to- worker, earning $6,600 or more
day and will be bleaker tomorrow, will have paid the government
unless the merry-go-round of ever- $63,894 in social security taxes by
higher public spending and ever- the time he is 65 and could earn a
higher taxation can be stopped or much higher income than his so-
thrown into reverse. Perhaps there cial security pittance by investing
is consolation in the thought that, this sum with normal prudence.
when an evil becomes intolerable, The evils of excessive and ever-
reform, brought on by public in- increasing appropriation of the
dignation, cannot be far away. fruits of individual labor by the
There is also cause for encour- state and of inflation have reached
agement in the eminently sound crisis proportions. If the Forgot-
economic resolutions adopted at the ten Man does not wish to become
recent congress of Young Amer- the Extinct Man, he should bestir
icans for Freedom. These young himself for remedial action. ~
Dream as shown by independent,
enterprising people attending to
their own welfare and success.
Sovereignty Your attachment to this com-
pany is cemented in mutually ac-
cepted rules binding both our com-
mon affairs.
We don't withhold your income
taxes. We don't pay your govern-
WILLIAM PENN PATRICK ment pension and medicare taxes.
We don't provide you with sick
leave or paid vacations. You do
SOVEREIGNTY is a very important these things for yourselves as you
word to us in H oliday Magic. The choose.
word is often misunderstood or You don't punch our time cards,
forgotten completely by many of give us mileage records, expense
us today. vouchers, or daily reports.
In our business, sovereignty With us you have independence,
means being separate, yet at- mutual assistance, and an un-
tracted to one another by mutual limited opportunity to go as far
interests. as your talents, lubricated by your
We are separate and sovereign own sweat, will take you.
business people. We are, as I once Who's more interested in your
called it, "independent contrac- security, you or us? Who's best
tors." able to provide that security, you
Measure your independence or us? Sovereignty is a political
against the salaried employee of idea as well. The idea of local
any company. Compare your "home-rule" government grew out
growth, your income, and your op- of the concept of original interest,
portunitieswith their "security." personal liberty, and private
Would you like to be limited to ownership of property.
a salaried security and menial Original interest is within you,
mediocrity? I doubt it. since no one is as equally and
Our method of marketing proves vitally concerned about your wel-
the reality of the American fare and security as yourself. It
Mr. Patrick is Chairman of the Board of
stands to reason that you, or those
Holiday Magic Cosmetics, Inc., uniquely or- you personally delegate, select, and
ganized as a system of "independent contrac-
tors!' This article is from his column in the pay, will best care for that which
November-December 1967 issue of the com-
pany magazine, The Wand. you own, earn, and desire.
112
1968 SOVEREIGNTY 113
Somehow, the notion has crept their plan. They stifle and impede
into our thinking that one who progress as well as human free-
lives farthest from our town cares dom. They are opposed to the
more for it than you. In addition, average man having personal sov-
it is thought today that some ap- ereignty. They oppose business
pointed bureaucrat several thou- sovereignty and local government
sands of miles away is more con- sovereignty as a result.
cerned about your personal wel- America's founders proved them
fare than yourself. wrong. Holiday Magic, as a busi-
How can anyone believe that ness on the front lines of the mar-
some nameless, faceless, civil ket, has proved them wrong in the
servant has more compassion and modern comnlercial world, too.
interest, knowhow, and intelli- When you see or hear me stand-
gence, when it comes to our own ing up for some political or pro-
interests, than we do ourselves? fessional ideal, you should have
I expressed my feelings on this no doubts as to my motives.
subject in my Happiness andSuc-
cess through Principle. Of course, My firm desire is to see that
my views run contrary to the "ac- Holiday Magic remains a sover-
cepted" view of brotherhood be- eign and prosperous company.
tween the ruled and the rulers, To do that, I should be willing
but so does reality. to stand and defend our rights to
Those who believe the desire be a sovereign and free people.
for self-improvement and material To insure that right, you and I
betterment is selfishness and should be willing to stand and de-
wrong are the ones who seek the fend, and declare, our nation's
power of government as a moral right of sovereignty in a hostile
material equalizer, and the ones world, and our state's right of
who ultimately discourage prog- sovereignty under our great Con-
ress and new ideas. stitution.
I believe that, once man hurdles Only when these things are
the obstacles of inborn ignorance, done can you, and your children,
his legitimate self-interest is the feel secure in your efforts, your
finest. motivating force for his pursuit of prosperity and security,
own and mankind's progressive and the freedom to own that
material and spiritual benefit. . which you earn and save.
Self-appointed superior people Sovereignty is a meaningful
bleed for mankind and seek power word to us and to the whole of
to control everyone according to mankind. ~_
Zealous reformet's of governmental institutions tend to forget
that sound underlying ideas are basic to liberty. How a president
is elected - who shall rule - matter much less than to under-
stand why the power of government should be l'imited in the
interests of man and society. With that distinction in 1nind, a
student at Brown University here cautions against hasty aboli-
tion of the Electoral College.
IN DEFENSE OF THE
COLLEGE
ROGER DONWAY
A BAND of phoenix-like reformers volved in abolishing, modifying, or

will soon rise up, as they quadren- maintaining the Electoral College.
nially do, to advocate the abolition The process of electing a President
of the Electoral College. In a series is not a democratic one, but there
of background articles, journalis no evidence that it was int~nded
ists will calculate the possible to be democratic, and I can think
courses of post-election havoc in of no compelling reason why it
1968. Editorialists will fill space ought to be so.
supporting programs of amend- On the other hand, I cannot see
ment. Civics teachers will ridicule that the College is, like the Bill of
the antique institution. And the Rights, one of those Constitutional
word "undemocratic" and the bulwarks against democracy on
phrase "one man, one vote" will be which our liberty vitally depends.
heard in every corner. The choice of the majority or plu-
Although unimpressed by cur- rality has usually also been the
rent arguments, I am not ada- electoral winner. And in those few
mantly opposed to such a Consti- instances where he was not so,
tutional reform. There' is, to my there is no evidence that the coun-
knowledge, no natural right in- try was being saved from dema-
114
1968 IN DEFENSE OF THE COLLEGE 115
gogy by the intervention of wiser matic turn of the American mind,
and calmer electors. we habitually give too little
The whole question really seems thought to precedent on the delu-
to be one only of efficiency or con- sive premise that our actions will
venience, and the College is -cer- never amount to a real change. It
tainly less than perfect by that is against this that I propose my
standard. But since those argu- first caution. However, it is only a
ments showing the advantages of caution. If the change is badly
reform are, I assume, fairly well needed, by all means acknowledge
known (a recent poll showed 65 the precedent, and then reform.
per cent of the people in favor of But there is another caution I
abolishing the College outright), wish to point out, one much more
what I would like to suggest here immediate in impact and explosive
are some of the less often men- in effect: we know how our pres-
tioned considerations against re- ent system works, weare familiar
forming the College. with it, our political thinking is
based around it, and it holds few-
Caution Commended
er surprises than a new one would.
The first, most obvious caution The reformers may like to call the
is that it would mean amending Electoral College "vestigial," but
the Constitution in a very basic it is far from it. True, the electors
way, and simply in terms of prece- themselves are not vital political
dent we ought to hesitate over entities, but the influence of the
that. If it is only for a matter of electoral structure is nonetheless
efficiency, better perhaps to leave pervasive.
it alone. Already we amend too To see what might happen after
easily. I would venture that most a reform, consider the proposal
Americans did not hear of the last for the direct election of the Presi-
two amendments until they were dent. This is both, the simplest
passed, if then. Even worse, an method in practice and the ideal
overamended Constitution becomes behind most of the suggested
a target for replacement, a possi- changes. Actually, direct election
bility as frightening as it is for- ,vould have many drawbacks other
tunately remote. than those I wish to raise and for
Of course, the reformers will cry that reason few people actually ad-
that this sort of objection could vocate it. However, the observa-
be brought against any change at tions drawn against it here are
all,and that is perfectly true; it also, I believe, applicable to most
could and it should. With the prag- of the usual modifications of di-
rect election which are being have grown accustomed to think-

urged. ing that the populous states should
Recall that direct elections are have more say than the less popu-
won by pluralities, the difference lous states in nominating and
of votes between the .winner and electing a President. At the con-
the loser. All other statistics are ventions, for example, the parties
merely interesting. This is not are careful to consider the wishes
true of the present system. Cur- of the larger states' delegations,
rently, to be elected, a candidate knowing that if a candidate is
must win not one, but several elec- pleasing to these large blocs of
tions, some combination out of electoral votes, he is that much
fifty, the value of each being de- more likely to be elected. Less pop-
termined by the number of peo- ulous states get comparatively
ple in the state. short shrift. Of course, the justice
Clearly, the theory behind di- of such a system may be debated
rect election is much simpler. It by, say, New Yorkers and Ala-
maintains that the President is bamans, but it is currently con-
elected by the nation and that the sidered "fair" in political thinking
person chosen by a plurality on that New York should be more in-
election day to be President, fluential.
oug ht to be President. Again, during the election, the
The electoral thesis is more candidates are most likely to adopt
complex. It says that the nation is views pleasing to the people in the
composed of states and that it is populous states, and thus, ulti..
these who choose the President, mately, the President is likely to
each state being more or less in- reflect the political philosophy
fluential in relation to its popula- prevalent in these states.
tion. To determine the voice of a Under a system of direct elec-
state, an election is held and a tion this would almost certainly be
plurality rules. changed, for such elections, as I
said, are won on pluralities. Thus
Pluralities vs. Totals the influential states would be
Now, know it or not and like it those which could deliver the larg-
or not, the electoral thesis has est pluralities to a candidate, pop-
shaped our political ideas in many ulation being irrelevant. A state
basic ways. And the institution of with six million voters and an un-
direct elections would 'radically certain plurality, becomes worth
alter these patterns of thought. less than a state- with a million
Under the present system, we voters and a plurality of 300,000,
1968 IN DEFENSE OF THE COLLEGE 117
and so do the views of its voters. as valuable as Wisconsin, it would

To take an example, imagine have been worth twice as much.
that the election of 1960 had been This situation, the reformers
a direct election. The power bases tell us, would make elections more
of the candidates would have been rational.
considerably different. Georgia Such dramatic shifts in power
would have been worth four times would not be lost on the political
as much as Texas to the Demo- rulers of small but one-sided
cratic candidate, whereas under states, particularly in the South.
the electoral system it was worth And their new influence, for bet-
one-half. Louisiana would have ter or worse, would be greatly felt
been twenty times as valuable as at the conventions. Whether or not
Illinois instead of one-third. Rhode they should have such power is a
Island would have weighed about different question. The fact is that
equally with Pennsylvania instead they do not now have it, and an
of being one-eighth as important. effect of instituting direct elec-
tions would be to give it to them.
For the Republicans, Kansas But this is only one example of
would have been more than five the revolutions hidden in abolish-
times as valuable as California, ing the "vestigial" institution.
instead of being worth one-fourth And it is the sort of alteration we
of it. Instead of being about equal, ought at least to be expecting and
Indiana would have been five times not discovering too late. Until we
more important than Virginia. In- can be sure of the cost then, let us
stead of Nebraska being one-half keep the College. ~
Self-Reliance
THE WEAKNESSES of the many make the leader possible - and
the man who craves disciples and wants followers is always
more or less of a charlatan. The man of genuine worth and
insight wants to be himself; and he wants others to be them-
selves, also. Discipleship is a degenerating process to all parties
concerned. People who are able to do their own thinking should
not allow others to do it for them.
ELBERT HUBBARD
DOES LABOR CREATE CAPITAL?
DEAN LIPTON
FOR MORE than a century, the Smith and Jones are equally gooc
Marxists have loudly contended workers, industrious, competent
that capital is the product of and dependable. Brown pays eacl
former labor. Nor was this idea of them two hundred dollars ~
original with Karl Marx. The clas- week. Smith spends all his wages:
sical economists had pointed it but Jones, planning to go int,o busi
out much earlier,-'and in an often- ness for himself some day, savef
misquoted statement, Abraham twenty-five dollars each week.
Lincoln had said that before there Two facts are apparent. Smitr.
could be capital, there had to be works as hard as does Jones and if
labor. as competent and dependable; hif
However, Lincoln - an advocate labor adds to production every bi1
of free capitalism, if there ever as much as does Jones'. However
was one - and the classical econ- he has done nothing to help J one~
omists differed from Marx and his create his capital. If Smith hac
followers on whose labor created worked twice as hard, he stH
capital. According to Marx, every- would have done no more to in
one's labor created capital. But crease Jones' capital than if hE
Lincoln and the classicists knew had not worked at all. Employe!
that capital came about only as Brown, of course, might profii
someone saved from the fruits of from the labor of both men and
his labor. might convert such profits to cap-
How this works in the practical ital.
world may be demonstrated by The great Austrian economisi
two workingmen named Smith Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk put ii
and J ones employed by Brown. into a brilliant equation: "Indus-
Mr. Lipton of San Francisco has been a news- try plus savings equals capitaL"
paperman and Army Historian whose articles Bohm-Bawerk pointed out thai
have appeared in numerous magazines.
118
1968 DOES LABOR CREATE CAPITAL? 119
the creation of capital is never duce little more than their remote
accidental as it wouid have to be ancestors did.
if it were the product of all labor, Capital, often .in the form of
but comes always from the free machinery, is what makes the
choice of an individual - his de- difference between a lower and
cision that a part of his wage higher rate of productivity. There-
should be put aside and invested as fore, there can be no sound ethical
capital. reason for the increased product
For many generations, the eco- going to the man operating the
nomic thinking of countless peo- machine. A stronger ethical case
ple - not all of them Marxists- could be made for it to go solely
has been tainted by the concept to the man who invented the ma-
that labor collectively creates cap- chine. When Marx developed his
ital. The ethical as well as the theory of surplus value, he must
economic basis for Marx's theory have known this; yet he chose to
of surplus value rests on this idea. ignore it. The entire moral basis
So do the wage-price beliefs proof Marxian Socialism rests on the
mulgated by American and Euro- concept that capital is the collec-
pean labor unions. This "surplus tive creation of labor.
value" idea accounts for the in-
sistent demands of union leaders The Fads Deny the Theory
that any increase in productivity The economic reasoning behind
be given to union members in the "surplus value" is also unsound.
form of higher wages. Obviously, If there were any validity to it,
if capital were created simply by the businessman with the largest
laboring, all the products of in- labor force would always make
dustry and commerce should be- the highest profit. Labor-saving
long to labor. machinery would be a drug on the
But, the theory will not stand market, since no businessman
scrutiny. Proof of it would have would want to displace a profit-
to show that man's native, inherent generating worker.
ability to produce has increased A few years ago two great
over the centuries. Marx himself daily newspapers in San Francisco
knew better. He devoted pages to merged after operating at an an-
demonstrate how industrial pro- nual loss of a million dollars each.
ductivity increased only as the If the theory of "surplus value"
result of technological advances. were valid, their large, separate
Men who still work at the handi- work forces should have generated
craft stage of development pro- profits rather than losses. A pri-
120 THE FREEMAN Februar
mary reason for their merger was cial system remained cluttere
to avoid uneconomic labor costs. with feudal trappings. Mill an
This also accounts for the rapid Marx observed the conditions i
rise of automation. High wages factory centers such as Londo
are an inducement to savers to in- and Manchester, and tried to dE
vest in machinery while low wages rive from these limited observ~
tend to keep it out of use. Com- tions some universal economi
petition among employers obliges truths.
them to automate as fast as they
can and to pay wages as high as Edward Gibbon Wakefield
they can to attract their needed A young contemporary of J ame
work forces. The facts of good Mill, and a close friend of his SOl
business practice simply refute John Stuart Mill, was Edwar
the theory of "surplus value" at Gibbon Wakefield. Wakefield at
every turn. proached the capitalist movemel1
Like many of his other theories, with a different point of vie'
"surplus value" was not original from that of James Mill and Mar}
with Marx. Similar ideas were and history confirms the accurac
floating around in the nineteenth of his conclusions.
century. For instance, James Mill An unfortunate personal mH
(the father of John Stuart Mill) adventure caused Wakefield's reI:
wrote in his Elements of Political utation to be downgraded in hi
Economy, "profits of stock depend own time, and today his work i
upon wages; rise as wages fall, known .only to specialists in cc
and fall as wages rise." This was lonial history. However, Wakefiel l
in 1826, more than forty years was more than a narrow specialis1
before the first volume of Marx's His polemical writings were cel
Capital was published. It contra- tainly the equal of Disraeli's an
dicted the whole history of capi- Cobden's; and in a wide range 0
talist development; and the ques- economic and social fields, Wake
tion is: Why were thinking men field possessed a brilliant, power
like James Mill and Karl Marx so ful, and perceptive mind. Yet, ex
wrong? cept for John Stuart Mill, mos
The answer should be apparent of the so-called intellectual lead
to anyone familiar with the Eng- ers of Wakefield's time dismissel
land of early-and-middle nine- him as of little importance.
teenth century. Its primitive in- Wakefield knew the England 0
dustrialism was grafted on a the nineteenth century as well a
merC'antilist economy and its so- did James Mill and Marx, but h
1968 DOES LABOR CREATE CAPITAL? 121
also knew that conditions there element of production, namely, the
were not applicable to the rest of field in which capital and labor are
the world. His economic investiga.- employed." What was necessary to
tions were broader than those of sustain both high wages and high
any other man of his time. They profits? Wakefield's answer, "the
ranged from the United States proper utilization of productive
and Canada to western Europe to facilities in relationship to land."
Australia. He set forth his ideas It is obvious from his usage of
on wages and profits in a .book, the word "land" that he meant it
England and America, published to cover all other factors of pro-
seven years after James Mill's duction in general.
Elements of Political Economy
and more than thirty years before Consumers Determine Proper, Use
the first volume of Marx's Capital. Under free market conditions,
In one bold stroke, Wakefield de- this is the way it is accomplished.
molished every existing theory of Land, labor, and capital are
wages and profit, including David brought into use because of the
Ricardo's wage-fund theory. demand by consumers for certain
Where Marx would contend that products. When the needs and
the rich could grow richer only as wants of consumers change, then
the poor became poorer, Wakefield the producers' requirements must
insisted that high wages and high also change. Otherwise, those fail-
profits went together. He pointed ures go out of business, and other
out that in England where profits businesses take their place. The
were comparatively low, wages free market makes possible a rich
were also low, and in the United and variegated supply of goods
States where profits were high, because the businessmen who op-
wages were also comparably high- erate in it must meet the desires
er. Marx predicted that capitalism of consumers; and as consumers
would destroy the middle class. develop new wants business quickly
Wakefield predicted that the mid- seizes the opportunity to meet
dle class would flourish under cap- them. There is, therefore, a nat-
italism. Marx based the validity ural allocation of land, labor, and
of his ideas - as Bohm-Bawerk capital following the needs and
took great pains to point out - on wants of the market place.
exchange value~ Wakefield wrote, The only other way to allocate
"economists in treating of the a nation's resources is through
production and distribution of government edict, workers being
wealth have overlooked the chief told when and where they can
122 THE FREEMAN Februar1
work, and equipment and material a market for the product, unles:
being controlled by bureaucratic people want it enough to pay fOJ
decisions. Wherever this has been it. Secondly, the inventor mus'
tried, it has produced limited com- ordinarily be financed for man~
modities of a dreary and monoto- years, sometimes for most of hi:
nousuniformity. life, before his invention bear:
Increased productivity - mak- fruit. So the people who finance
ing possible both higher wages him are entitled to a part of wha1
and higher profits - depends upon the product brings in sale to othel
original ideas frequently devel- people. Finally, the high promise
oped as machinery- the product of capitalism is an ever-increasin~
of an inventor's genius, not a standard of living. So part of thi~
worker's skill. In the abstract, the increased productivity and sale~
idea-man, the inventor would seem must be returned to all of thE
to be entitled to all the increased people.
productivity. He is the one ir- Improved standards of living fOl
replaceable link in the productive all will be possible only when in
chain. Both investors and workers creased technology permits a morE
exist in great numbers. Inventive widespread lowering of prices in
genius does not. stead of heralding an automatic
But there are a number of increase in wages to union memo
things wrong ,vith this analysis. bers. In the end, it is the con
First, it must be realized that no sumer who determines both the
matter how brilliant the idea, it returns upon capital and the
will profit no one unless there is wages of labor. ~
Consumers Control Production
With full competition A thousand commissions,

And freedom of trade, Working daytime and night,
Each dollar, as spent, Could not guide production
Votes what shall be made. So nearly aright.
WILLFORD I. KING, Economics in Rhyme
I'LL NEVER FORGET the shock I ex- Marxist anaiysis is intellectual

perienced when, some thirty-five hokum." But when he is through
years ago, I heard Isabel Paterson with his devastating exposure of
say with magisterial scorn, "Marx the fallacies that hide behind the
was a fool." The depression was Marxist-Leninist jargon - he calls
then at its lowest point, capitalism it "scraping off the gobbledygook"
was staggering all over the world, - the Paterson ex cathedra verdict
and the "Russian experiment," stands: Marx was a fool.
with its Five-Year Plan, had not The usual approach of those who
yet been exposed as a hollow fail- seek to discredit Marx is to tackle
ure. So how could Marx be re- him on the labor theory of value.
garded as a fool when some of his But Professor Wright, after doff-
most cherished predictions seemed ing his cap to Bohm-Bawerk and
about to come true? the Austrian school for their work
Nevertheless, Isabel Paterson in showing that value is a subjec-
was right; Marx was a fool. In his tive concept which must be quanti-
The Trouble with Marx (Arling- fied in the market, goes on to con-
ton House, with an introduction sider the "overall outline of the
by Gottfried Haberler, $5.00) , l\Iarxian system." He reduces the
David McCord Wright doesn't economic and political elements of
quite put it that way. He limits Marxism to the solemn labels that
himself to saying that Marxism is have so bemused our world: "eco-
"scientifically mistaken," that it is nomic determinism," "the class
"an extremely plausible combina- struggle," "surplus value," "the
tion of all the most widely spread industrial reserve army," "the fall-
mistakes of nineteenth century ing rate of profit," "increasing
culture," and that "the basic misery of the proletariat," "with-
124 THE FREEMAN FebruarJd
ering away of the state," and so wives shall a man have? Should
forth and so on. But the labels, as adultery be punished? What abou1
Wright shows, are not true abstrac- idiots who persist in driving or
tions from reality. They distort a the wrong side of the road? If B
world in which things are not "de- man has typhoid, should he bE
termined." To give truth to the quarantined? And what abou1
labels, one would first have to writers who dissent from prevail-
change the human species into an ing standards? If they advocatE
animal that never was on land or assassination, and try to act UpOIJ
sea. their advocacy, should they bE
jailed?
People-Control
The questions can be multiplied
Taking hold of Marxism at the endlessly. But they all terminate iIJ
utopian end, Wright begins his the same place: a "power of sup-
critique by riddling the idea that pression" must be located some-
the state can ever "wither away." where in society or what LeniIJ
Lenin thought that, with the abo- called the "elementary condition~
lition of classes and private prop- of social existence" will be re-
erty, government would be reduced placed by primitive anarchy. III
to th"e "administration of things." which case, of course, there will b
But it is not private property or no "things" - man-made goods a~
the existence of classes that makes distinct from the roots and herb~
a state - i.e., a "power of suppres- that may be found in nature - tc
sion"-necessary. Government must "administer."
be something more than the "ad-
ministration of things" for the Poverty Can Be Avoided
simple reason that men disagree. Since the state can't "wither
Under Communism a Trotsky will away," the "dictatorship of thE
want to push one program, a Stalin proletariat" must hang on as long
another. The virtue of capitalism as Marxists are in control of hu-
is that it permits men to satisfy TIlan effort. But the fact that
differing wants in the market place Marxism can't bring utopia to thi~
without killing each other. But un- earth does not in itself vitiate it
der Communism the wants of the as econQmic or social analysis of
administrators are sovereign "what is." '\Vright goes on to show
whether the nonadministrators that the qualitative improvement
like it or not. Moreover, there are of such things as machine tools,
all the noneconomic desires of dif- chemical processes, the use of fer-
fering men to consider. How many tilizers in agriculture, the manage-
1968 "MARX WAS A FOOL" 125
ment of business, and the speeding warehouses, and when mistakes ac-
of transportation and communica- cumulate with too great a frequen-
tions, all serve to increase the cy a political explosion can follow.
product of the individual labor
hour, which means that there is Class Contradictions
more to be shared between the Professor Wright eschews per-
worker, the foreman, the stock- sonalities in his book, for, as he
holder, and the company president. puts it, his aim is to discuss the
Because of this very obvious truth and usefulness "as science"
fact, the "inevitability" of the (/f the ideas of Marx and Lenin.
"falling rate of profit" simply From this standpoint, he says, the
evaporates. And because there is private life of Marx "is as relevant
no necessitous iron chain of as a psychoanalysis of Euclid
events, the "class struggle" can be would be to the truth of plane ge-
confined within relatively peace- ometry." Nevertheless, he does
ful limits if not abolished. Since consider it relevant to his argu-
capitalism is inherently expansive ment to point out that Marx, En-
as long as qualitative improvement gels, and Lenin were all of bour-
in its machinery is a possibility, geois origin. Their philosophies
the "industrial reserve army" is were not "conditioned" by their
no sword of Damocles. In good economic station in life. Marx was
times it tends to give way to full the son of a lawyer, Engels of a
employment. And the "increasing well-to-do manufacturer, Lenin of
misery of the proletariat" is sta- a district school superintendent.
tistically refuted by the climb in Their "alienation" derived not
the Gross National Product. from economic causes but from
Professor Wright is not a prop- psychological dissatisfactions that
agandist, and he therefore admits had nothing to do with "class."
that the market economy is not Marx encountered anti-Semitism
perfect. Not all businesses suc- in Berlin when he nloved to that
ceed, and the very fact that entre- city from the Rhineland to study
preneurs lack X-ray eyes means law, but this did not turn him into
that discontinuities must appear a pro-S~mite. Indeed, he lived to
from time to time. When a series say many nasty things about his
of misj udgments about the future own race. He proJected his spirit-
occurs, depression is possible. But ual malaise upon history. And he
the point is that communist com- spent the latter years of his life
missars don't have X-ray eyes, trying in vain to assemble objec-
either. Their mistakes go to the tive evidence to validate the things
126 THE FREEMAN
that he had laid down as "law" in the human condition. "Gan anyone
the first volume of his Das Kapital. deny," he asks, "that for at leas1
Professor Wright thinks that a hundred years we have beeI1
"the frantic reading and little prejudiced in favor of everythin~
writing of Marx's later years rep- -including economic determinism
resent the typical behavior of a mechanistic behaviorism and rela-
man deeply worried about the va- tivism - which reduces the staturE
lidity of his own arguments and of man until he ceases to be mar
frantically trying to buttress them at all in any sense former human
before he dared publication." Well, ism would recognize." So moderr
as Isabel Paterson might have man suffers "from the sense 0:
said, it is the mark of a fool that helpless futility when he thinks oj
he persists in throwing good mon- what he is - or has been persuadec
ey after bad. Wright is too polite to believe himself to be." Btl'
to say that Marx himself was a paradoxically, in his role as tech
fraud. It is enough for him to say nologist, man suffers "from delu
that the Marxist system is fraudu- sions of grandeur when he think:
lent when it is presented as a sci- of what he can do."
ence. ~ To escape from his predicament
man should remember that h
~ AND EVEN IF YOU DO by "needs not only to know but als '
Joseph Wood Krutch (New York: to wonder and to love," as KrutcJ
William Morrow & Co., 1967) puts it. He will, perhaps, be les
341 pp., $6.50.
cocky about his powers over natur
Reviewed by Robert M. Thornton when in the expression of wonde
THE READERS of Dr. Krutch's he recognizes himself as a cre2
earlier collection of essays, If You ture of a reality that far tran~
Don't Mind My Saying So, will cends his finite comprehensior
appreciate the title of this new But the fact that he is capable 0
book-not to mention the contents these emotions should remind hin
which range from opinion polls, too, that man is neither machin
utopias, and Descartes to the im- nor animal.
portance of the seed to civiliza- Krutch is wonderful tonic fa
tion, legs, and the weight of water those who despair. Though yo
colder than 39 Fahrenheit. may lose hope for the world, h
Krutch has written much about writes, you need not lose hope i
literature, drama, and nature, but yourself. Do not say, "I will d
for forty years he has been deeply what everybody else does becau~
interested in human nature and there is no use trying to be an~
1968 OTHER BOOKS 127
thing but rotten in a rotten 'so- is more to be caught than taught,
ciety." If necessary, be a lonely the bait offered by Joseph Wood
candle .which can throw its beams Krutch is most alluring. ~
far in a darkling world. This is
not only best for society but also ~ LEFT LUGGAGE, A Caustic His-
the best and happiest course for tory of British Socialism from
the individual. If the world is Marx to Wilson by C. Northcote
hopeless, it is "wiser to see what Parkinson (Boston: Houghton
one can do ahout oneself than to Mifflin Company, 1967), $4.95,
give up all hope of that also." 236 pp.
Krutch offers an excellent cor- Reviewed by Robert M. Thornton
rective for those who renounce
personal integrity or personal hap.. FRANKLY, this book is dry reading
piness and insist that our duty in parts, for even the witty for-
is to think primarily in terms of mulator of "Parkinson's Law"
what can be done for society. "I cannot make British socialism an
came into this world," said entertaining or inspiring subject.
Thoreau, "not primarily to make Dullness may be one of the rea-
it better but to live in it, be it sons for socialism's failure. All it
good or bad." There is something now promises people, says Par-
to be said for those who do their kinson, is a classless society in
best even though they do not see which economic security is guar-
at the moment just what practical anteed by the state; where no one
good it is going to do for the com- is to have anything that all can-
mon man. After all, writes Krutch, not have. A socialist society also
"the medieval monk did perform dries up the sources of idealism,
a service. Neither the God he and idealism is necessary to a
served nor the learning he pre- healthy, dynamic society. Men
served counted for much in the have been willing to lay down
world from which he retired. But their lives for God or the emperor,
he did exemplify in himself vir- for their regiment or for the flag,
tues that might otherwise have but you cannot expect such sac-
ceased to exist entirely, and he rificeon behalf of a higher stand-
did preserve learning that without ard of living.
him would have been lost." A generation ago Robert A.
Krutch never forces himself on Taft offered a similar criticism of
his readers but, in his gentle way, a society too much concerned with
he prods one to do his own think- things: "Before our system can
ing. If, as Opitz says, philosophy claim success, it must not only
create a people with a higher wor;k, foresight, patience, thrift,

standard of living, but a people and ambition. Then, as Joseph
with a higher standard of char- Wood Krutch has observed, about
acter - character that must in- the only thing to strive for in
clude religious faith, morality, ed- such a society is power. The class-
ucated intelligence, self-restraint, less society produces only the bu-
and an ingrained demand for reaucrat, the nonindividual casti-
justice and unselfishness. . . . We gated by Parkinson in earlier
cannot hope to achieve salvation books. But the good society needs
by worshiping the god of the such uncommon men and women,
standard of living." as Parkinson himself pointed out
In 1944, F.A. Hayek dedicated a couple of years ago in A Law
a book. to "The Socialists of All unto Themsel1Jes (Boston, 1966).
Parties," and warned his English Without pathfinders and innova-
friends that central planning is tors in the arts and in science as
the road to serfdom. Parkinson, well as in business and industry a
quoting liberally from Herbert society will stagnate. To discour-
Spencer's The Man vs. the State, age the outstanding individuals
tells us again that socialism and and attempt to reduce them to the
freedom are incompatible. For level of the great majority is to
those who have the eyes to see hurt everyone.
and the ears to hear we have a
recital of England's collectivist Socialism, concludes Parkinson,
experiences to warn us again of is intellectually bankrupt. The
the dangers in our present trend thought has been put more thor-
toward statism. oughly and profoundly by Mises,
Another fatal error of socialism Hayek, and Ropke. But it doesn't
is its insistence that no one be hurt to add another volume to the
allowed to enjoy the advantages of growing stack of books which de-
birth, upbringing, environment, molish socialist theory and prac-
intelligence, determination, hard tice. ~
the
Freeman
in this issue
VOLUME 18, NO.3 MARCH 1968
Y" Despite the heavy opposition they older and the newer forms of govern-
face, Henry Hazlitt suggests several mental intervention in human affairs
areas where libertarians, working to- ............ p. 166
gether, may succeed .p. 131
"" Dean Paul Adams of Roberts Wes-
Y" And from Australia comes the help- leyan College traces many of our
ful clue that reaching for the unat- pressing problems to a departure
tainable often leads to success from the moral premise upon which
........... p. 143 the nation was founded p. 170
"" Not in open competition, but ~ The case for freedom is further
through strikes and other forms of substantiated by Dr. H. B. Phillips
violence are the real price wars waged who formerly headed the Department
............ p. 144 of Mathematics at M.I.T p. 179
Y" Professor Clarence Carson opens a Y" A businessman from Guatemala of-
new series describing the rise and fall fers some sobering reflections on the
of England as a world power, this problems of any New Society p. 182
chapter. covering the long centuries
prior to the flowering of freedom y'"Dr. Howard Kershner explains how
............ p. 147 capitalization cures poverty .... p. 185
Y" A man of steel implores his col-

Y John Chamberlain critically ex
leagues to look to the market instead amines Eliot Janeway's The Econom-
ics of Crisis: War, Politics, and the
of "protectionism" for relief from
Dollar p. lS6
problems plaguing the industry
............ p. 158 ~ A Pride of Prejudices by The Wall
Street Journal's editor, Vermont Roy-
Y" Jasper Crane shares the experi- ster, is highly commended by review-
ences of a lifetime working with tools er Thornton p. 189
and discovering their value to man
............ p. 160 Y' And Gordon Bleil looks to the ani-
mal kingdom with Konrad Lorenz On
~ Dr. Sennholz examines the short- Aggression and Robert Ardrey on The
run and long-run consequences of the Territorial Imperative p. 190


Economic Education

7230.
vited in any amount-$5.00 to $10,O,OO-as the means

"The Rise and Fall of England."
TASK confronting
the
LIBERTARIANS
HENRY HAZLITT
FROM TIME to time over the last than the particular answer. So
thirty years, after I have talked here I want to write about the
or written about some new restric- task now confronting all liber-
tion on human liberty in the econ- tarians considered collectively.
omic field, some new attack on pri- This task has become tremen-
vate enterprise, I have been asked dous, and seems to grow greater
in person or received a letter ask- every day. A few nations that
ing, "What can I do" - to fight the have already gone completely com-
inflationist or socialist trend? munist, like Soviet Russia and its
Other writers or lecturers, I find, satellites, try, as a result of sad
are often asked the same question. experience, to draw back a little
The answer is seldom an easy from complete centralization, and
one. For it depends on the circum- experiment with one or two
stances and ability of the ques- quasi-capitalistic techniques; but
tioner - who may be a business- the world's prevailing drift - in
man, a housewife, a student, in- more than 100 out of the 107 na-
formed or not, intelligent or not, tions and mini-nations that are
articulate or not. And the answer no\v members of the International
must vary with these presumed l\fonetary Fund - is in the direc-
circumstances. tion of increasing socialism and
The general answer is easier controls.
The task of the tiny minority
Mr. Hazlitt is the well-known economic and that is trying to combat this so-
financial analyst, columnist, lecturer, and au-
thor of numerous books. cialistic drift seems nearly hope-
1~1
132 THE FREEMAN March
less. The war must be fought on permanent employees in the Fed-

a thousand fronts, and the true eral government now number
libertarians are grossly outnum- about 2,615,000.
bered on practically all these And we know, to take a few
fronts. specific examples, that of these
In a thousand fields the welfar- bureaucrats 15,400 administer the
ists, statists, socialists, and inter- programs of the Department of
ventionists are daily driving for Housing and Urban Development,
more restrictions on individual 100,000 the programs (including
liberty; and the libertarians must Social Security) of the Depart-
combat them. But few of us in- ment of Health, Education, and
dividually have the time, energy, Welfare, and 154,000 the programs
and special knowledge to be able of the Veterans Administration.
to do this in more than a handful If we want to look at the rate
of subjects. at which parts of this bureauc-
One of our gravest problems is racy have been growing, let us
that we find ourselves confront- take the Department of Agricul-
ing armies of bureaucrats already ture. In 1929, before the U. S.
controlling us, and with a vested government started crop controls
interest in keeping and expanding and price supports on an exten-
the controls they were hired to sive scale, there were 24,000 em-
enforce. ployees in that Department. To-
day, counting part-time workers,
A Growing Bureaucracy
there are 120,000, five times as
Let me try to give you some many, all of them with a vital
idea of the size and extent of this economic interest - to wit, their
bureaucracy in the United States. own jobs - in proving that the
The Hoover Commission found in particular controls they were hired
1954 that the Federal government to formulate and enforce should
embraced no fewer than 2,133 dif- be continued and expanded.
ferent functioning agencies, bu- What chance does the individual
reaus, departments, and divisions. businessman, the occasional dis-
I do not know what the exact interested professor of economics,
count would be today, but the or columnist or editorial writer,
known multiplicity of Great So- have in arguing against the poli-
ciety agencies would justify our cies and actions of this 120,000-
rounding out that figure at least man army, even if he has had time
to 2,200. to learn the detailed facts of a
We do know that the full-time particular issue? His criticisms
1968 THE TASK CONFRONTING LIBERTARIANS 133
are either ignored or drowned out armies of government economists,
in the organized counterstate- statisticians, and administrators to
ments. answer him, the lone disinterested
This is only one example out of critic, who hopes to have his criti-
scores. A few of us may suspect cism heard and respected by other
that there is much unjustified or disinterested and thoughtful peo-
foolish expenditure in the U. S. ple, finds himself compelled tv
Social Security program, or that keep up with appalling mountains
the unfunded liabilities already of detail.
undertaken by the program (one
authoritative estimate of these Too Many Cases to Follow
exceeds a trillion dollars) may The National Labor Relations
prove to be unpayable without a Board, for example, hands down
gross monetary inflation. A hand- hundreds of decisions every year
ful of us may suspect that the in passing on "unfair" labor prac-
whole principle of compulsory gov- tices. In the fiscal year 1967 it
ernment old age and survivor's in- passed on 803 cases "contested as
surance is open to question. But to the law and the facts." Most of
there are nearly 100,000 full-time these decisions are strongly biased
permanent employees in the De- in favor of the labor unions;
partment of Health, Education, many of them pervert the inten-
and Welfare to dismiss all, such tion of the Taft-Hartley Act that
fears as foolish, and to insist that they ostensibly enforce; and in
we are still not doing nearly some of them the board arrogates
enough for our older citizens, our to itself powers that go far be-
sick, and our widows and orphans. yond those granted by the act. The
And then there are the millions texts of many of these decisions
of those who are already on the are very long in . their statement
receiving end of these payments, of facts or alleged facts and of the
who have come to consider them Board's conclusions. Yet how is
as an earned right, who of course the individual economist or editor
find them inadequate, and who-are to keep abreast of the decisions
outraged at the slightest sugges- and to comment informedly and
tion of a critical re-examination of intelligently on those that involve
the subject. The political pressure an important principle or public
for constant extension and in- interest?
crease of these benefits is almost Or take again such major agen-
irresistible. cies as the Federal Trade Com-
And even if there weren't whole mission, the Securities and Ex-
change Commission, the Internal Kingsport strike, and the public

Revenue Service, the Interstate lessons to be learned from them.
Commerce Commission, the Food Professor Martin Anderson has
and Drug Administration, the specialized in the follies of urban
Federal Communications Commis- renewal programs. But how many
sion. All these agencies engage in are there among us libertarians
quasi -legislative, quasi - judicial, who are willing to - or have the
and administrative functions. time to - do this specialized and
They issue rules and regulations, microscopic but indispensable re-
grant licenses, issue cease-and- search?
desist orders, award damages, and In July, 1967, the Federal Com-
compel individuals and corpora- munications Commission handed
tions to do or refrain from many down an extremely harmful de-
things. They often combine the cision ordering the American Tele-
functions of legislators, prosecu- phone & Telegraph Company to
tors, judges, juries, and bureau- lower its interstate rates - which
crats. Their decisions are not al- were already 20 per cent lower
ways based solely on existing law; than in 1940, though the general
and yet when they inflict injury price level since that time had
on corporations or individuals, or gone up 163 per cent. In order to
deprive them of constitutional lib- write a single editorial or column
erties and legal rights, appeal to on this (and to feel confident he
the courts is often difficult, costly, had his facts straight) , a conscien-
or impossible. tious journalist had to study,
Once again, how can the indi- among other material, the text of
vidual economist, student of gov- the decision. That decision con-
ernment, journa.list, or anyone insisted of 114 single-spaced type-
terested in defending or preserv- written pages.
ing liberty, hope to keep abreast
of this Niagara of decisions, regu- ... and Schemes for Reform
lations, and administrative laws? We libertarians have our work
He may sometimes consider. him- cut out for us.
self lucky to be able to master in In order to indicate further the
many months the facts concern- dimensions of this work, it is not
ing even one of these decisions. merely the organized bureaucracy
Professor Sylvester Petro of that the libertarian has to an-
New York University has written swer; it is the individual private
a full book on the Kohler strike zealots. A day never passes with-
and another full book on the out some ardent reformer or
group of reformers suggesting vincingly dispute the proponents
some new government interven- of statist schemes for public hous-
tion, some new statist scheme to ing, farm subsidies, increased re-
fill some alleged "need" or relieve lief, bigger social security bene-
some alleged distress. They ac- fits, bigger medicare, guaranteed
company their scheme by citing incomes, bigger government spend-
statistics that supposedly prove ing, bigger taxation, especially
the need or the distress that they more progressive income taxation,
want the taxpayers to relieve. So higher tariffs or import quotas,
it comes about that the reputed restrictions or penalties on for-
"experts" on relief, unemployment eign investment and foreign
insurance, social security, medi- travel, price controls, wage con-
care, subsidized housing, foreign trols, rent controls, interest rate
aid, and the like are precisely the controls, more laws for so-called
people who are advocating more "consumer protection," and still
relief, unemployment insurance, tighter regulations and restric-
social security, medicare, subsi- tions on business everywhere.
dized housing, foreign aid, and all This means, among other things,
the rest. that libertarians must form and
Let us come to some of the les- maintain organizations not only
sons we must draw from all this. to promote their broad principles
- as does, for example, the Foun-
Specialists for the Defense dation for Economic Education-
We libertarians cannot content but to promote these principles in
ourselves merely with repeating special fields. I am thinking, for
pious generalities about ,liberty, example, of such excellent exist-
free enterprise, and limited gov- ing specialized organizations as
ernment. To assert and repeat the Citizens Foreign Aid Commit-
these general principles is abso- tee, the Economists' National
lutely necessary, of course, either Committee on Monetary Policy,
as prologue or conclusion. But if the Tax Foundation, and so on. I
we hope to be individually or col- am happy to report the very re-
lectively effective, we must indi- cent formation of Americans for
vidually master a great deal of de- Effective Law Enforcement.
tailed knowledge, and make our- We need not fear that too many
selves specialists in one or two of these specialized organizations
lines, so that we can show how our will be formed. The real danger is
libertarian principles apply in spe- the opposite. The private libertar-
cial fields, and so that we can con- ian organizations in the United
States are probably outnumbered has been too timid to state its own
ten to one by communist, socialist, case effectively. And the automo-
statist, and other left-wing or- bile makers, attacked by a single
ganizations that have shown them- zealot for turning out cars "Un-
selves to be only too effective. safe at Any Speed," handled the
And I am sorry to report that matter with an incredible com-
almost none of the old-line busi- bination of neglect and ineptitude
ness associations that I am ac- that brought down on their heads
quainted with are as effective as legislation harmful not only to the
they could be. It is not merely industry but to the driving public.
that they have been timorous or
silent where they should have The Timidity of Businessmen
spoken out, or even that they have It is impossible to tell today
unwisely compromised. Recently, where the growing anti-business
for fear of being called ultracon- sentiment in Washington, plus the
servative or reactionary, they itch for more government control,
have been supporting measures is going to strike next. Only with-
harmful to the very interests they in the last few months Congress,
were formed to protect. Several with little debate, allowed itself to
of them, for example, have come be. stampeded into a dubious ex-
out in favor of the Administra- tension of Federal power over in-
tion's proposed tax increase on trastate meat sales. When this
corporations, because they were article appears, or shortly after,
afraid to say that the Administra- Congress may have passed a Fed-
tion ought rather to slash its pro- eral "truth-in-Iending" law, forc-
fligate welfare spending. ing lenders to calculate and state
The sad fact is that today most interest rates the way Federal
of the heads of big businesses in bureaucrats want them calculated
America have become so confused and stated. There is also pending
or intimidated that, so far from an Administration bill in which
carrying the argument to the government bureaucrats are to
enemy, they fail to defend them- prescribe "standards" telling just
selves adequately even when at- how surgical devices like bone pins
tacked. The pharmaceutical indus- and catheters and even artificial
try, subjected since 1962 to a dis- eyes are to be made.
criminatory law that applies ques- And a few weeks ago the Presi-
tionable and dangerous legal prin- dent suddenly announced that he
ciples that the government has not "vas prohibiting American busi-
yet dared to apply in other fields, ness from making further direct
investments in Europe, that he ernmental actions or laws of which
was restricting them elsewhere, businessmen stand in fear are ac-
and that he would ask Congress to tions or laws that leave a great
pass some law restricting Ameri- deal to administrative discretion.
cans from traveling to Europe. In- Discretionary administrative law
stead of raising a storm of pro- should be reduced to a minimum;
test against these unprecedented it breeds bribery and corruption,
invasions of our liberties, most and is always potentially black-
newspapers and businessmen de- mail or blackjack law.
plored their "necessity" and hoped
they would be only "temporary." A Confusion of Interests
The very existence of the busi- Libertarians are learning to
ness timidity that allows these their sorrow that big businessmen
things to happen is evidence that cannot necessarily be relied upon
government controls and power to be their allies in the battle
are already excessive. against extension of governmental
Why are the heads of big busi- encroachments. The reasons are
ness in America so timid? That is many. Sometimes businessmen
a long story, but I will suggest a will advocate tariffs, import quo-
few reasons: (1) They may be en- tas, subsidies, and restrictions of
tirely or largely dependent on gov- competition, because they think,
ernment war contracts. (2) They rightly or wrongly, that these gov-
never know when or on what ernment interventions will be in
grounds they will be held guilty of their personal interest, or in the
violating the antitrust laws. (3) interest of their companies, and
They never know when or on what are not concerned whether or not
grounds the National Labor Rela- they may be at the expense of the
tions Board will hold them guilty general public. More often, I
of unfair labor practices. (4) think, businessmen advocate these
They never know when their per- interventions because they are
sonal income tax returns will be honestly confused, because they
hostilely examined, and they are just don't realize what the actual
certainly not confident that such consequences will be of the par-
an examination, and its findings, ticular measures they propose, or
will be entirely independent of perceive the cumulativedebilitat-
whether they have been person- ing effects of growing restrictions
ally friendly or hostile to the Ad- of human liberty.
ministration in power. Perhaps most often of all, how-
It will be noticed that the gov- ever, businessmen today acquiesce
in new government controls out of can be nonetheless .effective in the

sheer timidity. libertarian cause by hammering
A generation ago, in his pessi- incessantly on some single prin-
mistic book, Capitalis'in, Socialism ciple or point until it is driven
and Democracy (1942), the late home.
Joseph A. Schumpeter maintained
the thesis that "in the capitalistic Basic Principles upon Which
system there is a tendency toward Libertarians May Rely
self~destruction." And as one evi- Is there any single principle or
dence of this he cited the "coward- point on which libertarians could
ice" of big businessmen when fac- most effectively concentrate? Let
ing direct attack: us look, and we may end by find-
ing several.
They talk and plead - or hire peo-
pIe to do it for them; they snatch at One simple truth that could be
every chance of compromise; they endlessly reiterated, and effec-
are ever ready to give in; they never tively applied to nine-tenths of the
put up ~ fight under the flag of their statist proposals now being put
own ideals and interests - in this forward or enacted in such pro-
country there was no real resistance fusion, is that the government has
anywhere against the imposition of nothing to give to anybody that it
crushing financial burdens during doesn't first take from somebody
the last decade or against labor leg- else. In other words, all its relief
islation incompatible with the effec-
and subsidy schemes are merely
tive management of industry.
ways of robbing Peter to support
8.0 much for .the formidable Paul.
problems facing dedicated liber- Thus, it can be pointed out that
tarians. They find it extremely the modern welfare state is mere-
difficult to defend particular firms ly a complicated arrangement by
and industries from harassment which nobody pays for the educa-
or persecution when those indus- tion of his own children, but ev-
tries will not adequately or com- erybody pays for the education of
petently defend themselves. Yet everybody else's children; by
division of labor is both possible which nobody pays his own medi-
and desirable in the defense of cal bills, but everybody pays ev-
liberty as it is in other fields. erybody else's medical bills; by
And many of us, who have neither which nobody provides for. his own
the time nor the specialized knowl- old-age security, but everybody
edge to analyze particular indus- pays for everybody else's old-age
tries or special complex problems, security; and so on. Bastiat, with
uncanny clairvoyance, exposed the Knowing the Consequences
illusive character of all these wel- Another very important princi-
fare schemes more than a century pIe to which the libertarian can
ago in his aphorism: "The State constantly appeal is to ask the
is the great fiction by which statists to consider the secondary
everybody tries to live at the ex- and long-run consequences of their
pense of everybody else." proposals as well as merely their
Another way of showing what intended direct and immediate
is wrong with all the state hand- consequences. The statists will
out schemes is to keep pointing sometimes admit quite freely, for
out that you can't get a quart out example, that they have nothing
of a pint jug. Or, as the state give- to give to anybody that they must
away programs must all be paid not first take from somebody else.
for out of taxation, with each new They will admit that they must
scheme proposed the libertarian rob Peter to pay Paul. But their
can ask, "Instead of what?" Thus, argument is that they are seizing
if it is proposed to spend another only from rich Peter to support
$1 billion on getting a man to the poor Paul. As President Johnson
moon or developing a supersonic once put it quite frankly in a
commercial plane, it may be point- speech on January 15, 1964: "We
ed out that this $1 billion, taken are going to try to take all of' the
in taxation, will not then be able money that we think is unneces-
to meet a million personal needs sarily being spent and take it
or wants of the millions of tax- from the 'haves' and give it to
payers from whom it is to be the 'have nots' that need it so
taken. much."
Of course, some champions of Those who havethe habit of con-
ever-greater governmental power sidering ,long...;run consequences
and spending recognize this very will recognize that all these pro-
well, and like Prof. J. K. Gal- grams for sha.ring-the-wealth and
braith, for instance, they invent guaranteeing incomes must reduce
the theory that the taxpayers, left incentives at both ends of the
to themselves, spend the money economic scale. They must reduce
they have earned very foolishly, the incentives both of those who
on all sorts of trivialities and rub- are capable of earning a high in-
bish, and that only the bureau- come, but find it taken away from
crats, by' first seizing it from them, and those who are capable
them, will know how to spend it of earning at least a moderate in-
wisely. come, but find themselves supplied
with the necessities of life with- erly only if he has arrived at his
out working. principles through careful study
This vital consideration of in- and thought. "The common peo-
centives is almost systematically ple of England," once wrote Adam
overlooked in the proposals of Smith, "are very jealous of their
agitators for more and bigger gov- liberty, but like the common peo-
ernment welfare schemes. We ple of most other countries have
should all rightly be concerned never rightly understood in what
with the plight of the poor and it consists." To arrive at the
unfortunate. But the hard two- proper concept and definition of
part question that any plan for liberty is difficult, not easy. But
relieving poverty must answer is: this is a subject too big to be de-
How can we mitigate the penal- veloped further here.
ties of failure and misfortune
without underrnining the incen- Legal and Political Aspects
tives to effort and success? Most So far, I have talked as if the
of our would-be reformers and libertarian's study, thought, and
humanitarians simply ignore the argument need be confined solely
second half of this problem. And to the field of economics. But, of
when those of us who advocate course, liberty cannot be enlarged
freedom of enterprise are com- or preserved unless its necessity
pelled to rej ect one of these spe- is understood in many other fields
cious "antipoverty" schemes after - and most notably in law and in
another on the ground that it will politics.
undermine these incentives and in We have to ask, for example,
the long run produce more evil whether liberty, economic prog-
than good, we are accused by the ress, and political stability can be
demagogues and the thoughtless preserved if we continue to allow
of being "negative" and stony- the people on relief - the people
hearted obstructionists. But the who are mainly or solely supported
libertarian must have the strength by the government and who live
not to be intimidated by this. at the expense of the taxpayers -
Finally, the libertarian who to exercise the franchise. The
wishes to hammer in a few gen- great liberals of the nineteenth
eral principles can repeatedly ap- and early twentieth centuries ex-
peal to the enormous advantages pressed the most serious misgiv-
of liberty as compared with coer- ings on this point. John Stuart
cion. But he, too, will have influ- l\iill, writing in his Representative
ence and perform his duty prop- Government in 1861, did not equiv-
ocate: "I regard it as required If libertarians could win the in-

by first principles that the receipt flation issue, they could come close
of parish relief should be a pre- to winning everything else. If they
emptory disqualification for the could succeed in halting the in-
franchise. He who cannot by his crease in the quantity of money,
labor suffice for his own support it would be because they could
has no claim to the privilege of halt the chronic deficits that force
helping himself to the money of this increase. If they could halt
others." And A. V. Dicey, the these chronic deficits, it would be
eminent British jurist, writing in because they had halted the rapid
1914, also raised the question increase in welfare spending and
whether it is wise to allow the re- all the socialistic schemes that are
cipients of poor relief to retain the dependent on welfare spending. If
right to join in the election of a they could halt the constant in-
member of Parliament. crease in spending, they could
halt the constant increase in gov-
An Honest Currency and ernment power.
an End to Inflation The devaluation of the British
This brings me, finally, to one pound a few months ago, though
more single issue on which all it may shake the- whole world cur-
those libertarians who lack the rency system to its foundations,
time or background for special- may as an offset have the longer
ized study can effectively concen- effect of helping the libertarian
trate. This is in demanding that cause. It exposes as never before
the government provide an honest the bankruptcy of the Welfare
currency, and that it stop in- State. It exposes the fragility and
flating. complete undependability of the
This issue has the inherent ad- paper-gold international monetary
vantage that it can be made clear system under which the world has
and simple because fundamentally been operating for the last twenty
it is clear and simple. All infla- years. There is hardly one of the
tion is government-made. All in- hundred or more currencies in the
flation is the result of increasing International Monetary Fund, with
the quantity of money and credit; the exception of the dollar, that
and the cure is simply to halt the has not been devalued at least
increase. once since the LM.F. opened its
If libertarians lose on the infla- doors for business. There is not a
tion issue, they are threatened single currency unit - and there is
with the loss of every other issue. no exception to this statement-
that does not buy less today than Every libertarian should support
when the Fund started. it.
The dollar, to which .practically I have one last word. In what-
every other currency is tied in ever field he specializes, or on
the present system, is now in the whatever principle or issue he
gravest peril. If liberty is to be elects to take his stand, the liber-
preserved, the world must eventu- tarian must take a stand. He can-
ally get back to a full gold stand- not afford to do or say nothing. I
ard system in which each maj or have only to remind you of the elo-
country's currency. unit must be quent call to battle on the final page
convertible into gold on demand, of Ludwig von Mises's great book
by anybody who holds it, without on Socialism written 35 years ago:
discrimination. I am aware that
some technical defects can be Everyone carries a part of society
pointed out in the gold standard, on his shoulders; no one is relieved
but it has one virtue that more of his share of responsibility by
than outweighs them all. It is not, others. And no one can find a safe
like paper money, subject to the way out for himself if society is
day-to-day whims of the politi- sweeping toward destruction. There-
cians; it cannot be printed or fore everyone, in his own interests,
otherwise manipulated by the poli- must thrust himself vigorously into
ticians; it frees the individual the intellectual battle. N one can
stand aside with unconcern; the in-
holder from that form of swind-
terests of everyone hang on the re-
ling or expropriation by the poli- sult. Whether he chooses or not,
ticians; it is an essential safe- every man is drawn into the great
guard for the preservation, not historical struggle, the decisive
only of the value of the currency battle into which our epoch has
unit itself, but of human liberty. plunged us. ~
A Complex Problem
WHEN STUDIED with any degree of thoroughness, the economic
problem will be found to run into the political problem, the
political problem in turn into the philosophical problem, and
the philosophical problem itself to be almost. indissolubly bound
up at last with the religious problem.
I R V IN G B A B BIT T, Democracy and Leadership
"'
"A:sF3,rAs Possible
THE DISCOVERER of Australia, Cap- powers and capacities. One may

tain James Cook, said: "I had am- achieve outstanding success in one's
bition not only to go farther than career and yet still fall far short
any man had ever been before, of one's full potential as a human
but as far as it was possible for being.
a man to go." Too many people set their sights
". . . as far as it was possible too low. Their range of vision is
for a man to go." There could limited. They can see only what
hardly be a better text. We should is in their immediate vicinity.
all aim to achieve in life as much They have no far horizons or hope
as it is possible for us to achieve, or ambition. They go through life
to stretch ourselves to the limit of unaware of the magic and poetry
our capabilities. That is much of existence, untouched by inspira-
further than most of us realize. tion or imagination. To find, one
Few people make the best of them- must seek: to see, one must lift
selves. Few use to the full the up one's eyes to the hills.
gifts they are fortunate to pos- It does not matter that the goals
sess. The most tragic of all wastes we set ourselves are unattainable-
is the under-use of human talent. all the better. The great tragedy
This is not just a matter of is never to have felt the urge to
achieving success in our chosen rise above oneself, to be satisfied
vocation or in the eyes of the to go through life at ground level,
world. It is the more difficult task to have no purpose beyond the sat-
of making a success of ourselves, isfaction of everyday needs.
of developing to the utmost our
Reprinted from the October-November, 1967 "Ah! but a nlan's reach should
issue of ]PA Facts, a publication of the In-
stitute of Public Affairs, Melbourne, Aus- exceed his grasp.
tralia. Or what's a Heaven for?" ~
143
Te
REAL
Price
Wars
LEONARD E. READ
EVERYBODY favors freedom, but... ! the minor comp"etitive pricing flur-

Countless minds are filled with ries between bakers, filling station
"buts" of every description and operators, and the like. Recently,
variety. So numerous are free- consumers in the New York area
dom's "shortcomings" that in most enjoyed a "coffee war." But these
company it hasn't a leg to stand bids for more business are non-
on. State interventionism, social- violent and, thus, are not wars
ism, thus engulfs those who favor at all. They are nothing more than
freedom, but ... ! intensified, competitive pricing, of-
For instance, over and over fers to serve mass markets.
again we hear, "I believe in free- i\ctually, competitive pricing is
dom but in a free and unrestricted a device for cooperating; as con-
market we have price wars; the sumers, we look not only at quality
big fellows cut prices below cost but at price to determine with
to run the little fellows out of which supplier we shall cooperate
business after which monopoly in trade. How else are we to de-
prices may be charged."! cide what bread to buy, with which
Such so-called price wars are baker we shall cooperate? Many
men may cooperate to produce an
1 Regardless of all the restrictions
against competitive pricing in the item, but their customers are co-
U.S.A., in no other place or time in his- operators of the business, too.
tory has it been so much practiced. And True, some businesses fall by
history has no record of little-to-big-
ness growth so prevalent as in our the wayside as have some 1,600
country. different automobile manufactur-
144
1968 THE REAL PRICE WARS 145
ers in the history of that industry violence-must be defined as a

in the United States. Intensive price war.
competitive pricing only steps up What, then, are the real price
the rate of the dropouts; it does wars? Rent control qualifies, for
not alter the final decision. It it rests on coercive pricing. So
simply lets all producers know does the minimum wage law; if
sooner than otherwise how they anyone doubts it, let him absolute-
rate in the struggle to serve self ly disobey and observe the con-
and others. And this is the way sequences. 2 The prices of wheat,
it should be. The alternative would cotton, peanuts, tobacco, and so on
be for consumers to subsidize are fixed by force. Every form of
every incompetent person or group price control forces either buyer
in every enterprise ventured. Un- or seller, or both, to deal at prices
thinkable! not mutually acceptable.
These so-called price wars and The strike is the perfect ex-
the monetary benefits they confer ample of a real price war. Why?
on consumers are not a social The strike is a method of pricing;
problem and do not merit special strikes rest on violence or the
attention by the student of politi- threat thereof; thus, all strikes
cal economy. They are mere ripples are price 'wars.
in the mainstream of open com- The strike is the markup device
petition. used by trade unions, organiza-
tions of otherwise independent sel-
Violent Methods of Pricing lers of labor having among their
Mark the Real Wars purposes the coercive manipula-
There are, however, mighty, tion of market price to their own
economy-wrecking price wars- advantage.
real ones - that are rarely thought The striker is not content just
of as such and seldom diagnosed to withhold his own services from
with accuracy. As a consequence, the market; he is determined that
remedial efforts often tend to a-g- no one else shall enter the
gravate the conflicts and to make market he has closed. Any trading
peaceful cooperation and trade must be at his price or not at all;
more difficult. and he will deal violently with
We should bear in mind that any buyer or seller of services
violence is the distinguishing fea-
ture of war. We can infer from 2 See Chapter III, "Strife As a Way
of Life," in Anything That's Peacefltl
this that any pricing that rests on (Irvington, N.Y.: The Foundation for
the use or the threat of force- Economic Education, Inc., 1964).
who crosses his picket line. Gov- ideologically. Reflect on the pros-
ernments often sanction, encour- pects for cooperation, for instance,
age, and uphold such violence - in when one slaps a spouse in the
effect, forcing taxpayers to sub- face! Each shot fired at a human
sidize .(employ) the strikers. being and each threat of violence,
whether in shooting or price wars,
Unwilling Exchange is a step away from the ideal, a
Violence as a method of pricing blow to the creative process.
is intimidation, not cooperation. The cure for wars - including
Violence or its threat at best re- price wars - is an intelligent in-
sults in unwilling as distinguished terpretation of self-interest. How
from willing exchange. For vary- can I realize my creative potenti-
ing periods the consequence is no alities, except as I be free? And
exchange at all, and often ex- I cannot be free if I am holding
change between combatants is you down. Or vice versa! My free-
brought to a permanent standstill. dom depends on yours. and yours
Strikes are price wars; indeed, on mine. 3 This is so simple and
they are no less than civil wars. self-evident that one wonders why
The object in war is not to serve it is ever questioned.
the opponent but to injure him- As to the price of labor - yours
to gain at his expense. The grave or mine - simply free the market
risk is that both sides may lose. by removing every trace of vio-
To observe which side comes out lence or the threats thereof. Let
on top in warfare is not to be sure competition be open and unlimited.
of a winner. The side on top may Maximize, rather than minimize,
be as permanently fastened in that the prospects for mutual gain
position as is the side being held through cooperation. And be not
down. Both sides lose in these misled by the claims that trade
unfree positions. Contrast this unions or governments raise the
with the mutual gain derived from wage level. 4
the peaceful voluntary exchange In any event, let us confine the
of goods and services. term "price wars" to those pricing
We should assess all violence as activities resting on force, coer-
it affects the quality of the ideas cion, violence. ~
men hold. Evaluated in this man- 3 See "My Freedom Depends on
ner, it is easy to see that violence Yours" by Dean Russell. THE FREEMAN,
December, 1967.
not only destroys material wealth
4 See Why fVages Rise by F. 'A. Har-
but also downgrades man intel- per. (Irvington, N.Y.: The Foundation
lectually, morally, spiritually, and for Economic Education, Inc., 1957).
CLARENCE B. CARSON
ffuglaub
1. THIS SCEPTERED ISLE
This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
IT IS NOT for historians to pro- Channel, swept over her shores,

nounce sentence upon nations and and engulfed her in that night of
civilizations; they are neither disruption and chaos which can
j udges- nor j uries. It is proper for accompany conquest. No Barbar-
them only to record the fact of the ians have descended from the
rise, the decline, and the fall of North to drive the natives to the
nations apd civilizations. It may mountains for a retreat to repeat
be premature to speak of the fall an old historical process.
of England. No conquering hordes Yet England has fallen from
have as yet crossed the English its former high estate, fallen as
surely as if Claudius, the Roman
Dr. Carson, Professor of History at Grove City Emperor, had directed a new con-
College, Pennsylvania, will be remembered for
his earlier FREEMAN series, The Fateful Turn, quest, or as if some new Barbar-
The American Tradition, and The Flight from
Reality. ians-in the manner of the An-
1 . .tr7
glo-Saxons or Vikings - had de- the failure of nerve, the' abandon-

scended upon her. However, "the ment of principle, the moral decay
fortress built by Nature for her- of which the Profumo Affair and
self" has not fallen to some con- mini-skirts are signs but not the
queror from without this time; it substance.
has crumbled and is falling from
within. It may well be that this Future Unknown
inward decay will offer the oppor- Whether England will continue
tunity for conquest by some for- her current fall into historical ob-
eign power, but it has not hap- livion is not known as yet. It is
pened yet. not for historians to predict the
As is usually the case, Eng- future; they have a massive
land's decline or fall did not occur enough task in reporting the past.
overnight. The disintegration has . It is in the realm of possibility
been going on for many years. that England could become the
The devaluation of the pound in center of a new renaissance in the
1967 was only one more in a long future, that revival might come
chain of events that signalize de- and a new era of greatness pro-
cline. Though the yielding up or ceed from the British Isles. It is
cutting loose of England's empire possible, though not likely. At
is the most obvious and impres- any rate, a people do not necessar-
sive sign of decline, it is not as im- ily disappear because they have
portant as it appears to be. Ac- fallen from the pinnacle of great-
tually, the acquisition and formal- ness. There is still a Greek people
izing of the' imperial structure in in our day, as there is a Greece;
the latter part of the nineteenth but their greatness is now more
century was a sign that decline than two millennia in the past.
had already set in. The evidence The' Byzantine Empire continued
of decline can be seen in the aban- to exist for a thousand years as a
donment of free trade, the erec- civilization that was a faded re-
tion of trade barriers, the succes- flection of Rome. Dictators in the
sive declines in the exchange value twentieth century-Mussolini and
of the pound, in England's infe- Nasser, for example-have attempt-
rior trade position, in the inability ed to awaken their people from
to carry out obligations abroad, in the somnolence into which they
the drop to status as a minor pow- have sunk to a new effort at gain-
er after WorId War II. Underly- ing a place in the sun; but thus
ing these outward developments far they have had little success.
can be found the loss of confidence, In short, there is no way of know-
1968 THIS SCEPTERED ISLE 149
ing what the future place or di- work in this fashion we must
rection will be of a people who confront the story and its implica-
have fallen. For now, however, tions.
England's fall is a fact or, if that
Progress through Liberty
is too precise, a trend that has been
going on for a sufficient time that The story of England's rise and
its character is apparent. fall is particularly appropriate
Historians have been under- for those who are interested in
standably reluctant to record the the effect of liberty and order in
judgment. For Americans, anyway, the affairs of man. The greatness
England is too much a part of our of England was not simply in the
own background for us to welcome far-flung Empire which she once
or even to recognize her fall. Be- ruled, not only in that her navy
sides, it is ungracious and proba- ruled the seas, never in such arm-
bly impolite to call attention to ies as she managed to muster, not
the loss of station of another. in the pomp and ceremony of an
Even so, the rise and faU of na- apparently enduring monarchy,
tions is of moment to peoples other nor even finally in the vaunted
than those most directly involved. stoicism and tenacity of the Eng-
If there is something to be learned lish character alone. England's
from it, we would want to know greatness, in that nineteenth cen-
it, though that learning be con- tury moment of her glory, derived
tingent upon calling attention to from the stability of her institu-
unpleasant facts. Moreover, this tions, from the superiority of her
investigation and report is not product, from the confidence in
made in the spirit of the Pharisee. the rectitude of the professed mor-
We in America can hardly afford al values, and in England's grasp-
to rejoice and be thankful that we ing and applying the idea of lib-
are not as the English. What has erty when its time had come. For
happened to them should be an much of the nineteenth century,
object lesson having the most di- England was the leading nation
rect bearing for us. In many rein the world. That portion of an
spects, these United States have island known as England was the
followed the lead, though some- workshop of the world, the finan-
what more slowly, of the English cial center for the world, the
in the policies which have signaled world's great market and trading
and perhaps caused their decline. center, and the nation whose polit-
Their travail should be an occasion ical institutions were most imi-
for our awakening. But for it to tated and copied. This is a part of
the story to be told here, along inhabitants of Britain were still
with its background, before going in the Stone Age. When Plato
into England's fall and what oc- wrote his famous dialogues, il-
casioned it. literate Celtic farmers occupied
That England should have oc- parts of the island. Following the
cupied such a place of leadership 400-year occupation by Rome, the
and dominance in the world for Dark Ages descended upon Britain
the better part of a century is once again with the coming of the
amazing in itself. Moreover, it Angles and Saxons, at a time when
should be made clear that the pe- the Byzantine Empire was the far-
riod of England's leadership was off center of civilization.
more or less coincident with the The Mediterranean was the cen-
flowering of modern Western Civ- ter of Western Civilization for
ilization. It was a feat on a par several thousand years before
with or greater than that of Athens Christ, roughly speaking, until
in Greece in the fifth century be- around 1500 of our era. Britain
fore Christ, of republican Rome in was far removed from and, at
the second and first century before best, on the periphery of that civi-
Christ, of France at the height of lization. She was usually at the
the Middle Ages, and of Italy at very end of the trade routes; ar-
the time of the Renaissance. It is tistic and intellectual develop-
even more amazing when we look ments reached her shores very
at the physical basis of this rise late, if at all. Usually, Britain fol-
and review the usual place of Eng- lowed rather than led in European
land in the scheme of things. developments. To Shakespeare,
Civilization came late to Brit- England was a "precious stone set
ain and had a most tenuous hold in the silver sea," but to the rest
there for more than a thousand of the world for most of history
years after its tentative coming. it was a remote island with back-
There is no literary record of who ward inhabitants and unattractive
was there or what went on before resources.
55 B.C., when Julius Caesar put in
a brief appearance on the island The Geography of England
and made an account of his ex- Geography tells us little enough
pedition. When the Code of Ham- about why civilization emerges or
murabi was issued, Britain had is centered at a particular place.
probably not been heard of in the Historians must still ponder why
Mediterranean. When Egyptian Greece, with its hilly topography
civilization was at its peak, the and meager soil, should have been
the center of a civilization. Even known, roughly, as Britain; after

more favorable locations do not ex- the coming of the Anglo-Saxons
plain why civilization develops it became known as England (An-
there at particular times. Geogra- gle land).
phy provides opportunities to a
people, offers advantages as well Access to the Sea
as disadvantages for them, and Generally speaking, England
helps to explain somewhat the par- has the most favorable location on
ticular course their development Great Britain. Wales and Scot-
takes. Still, it is important to land are hilly and mountainous;
know a little of the physical fea- most of the arable land lies in
tures of that land whose history England. The climate of England
we are to examine briefly. For is usually mild the yea.r around,
there was and is a physical base warmed and cooled by the sea and
of England's development, and the land mass to the east. Most
what was developed was made of the level and rolling land on
from these materials in large part. the island is in England. In the
Geographically, England is a north and west of England are
part of the continent of Europe, found the hills which contain the
though it is now separated from valuable minerals; hence, this area
the continental land mass by water became the great manufacturing
which is at its narrowest over region. To the south and east lie
twenty miles across. It is general- the fertile lands for farming.
ly believed that Britain was joined The coast line is broken and
by land to the continent until eight heavily indented, an indication of
or ten thousand years ago. Eng- the access of the country to the
land is, of course, on an island. sea. As one historian says, "The
The name of the island is Great many indentations in the coast pro-
Britain. Present-day England oc- vide harbors which facilitate com-
cupies the southern and eastern munication with the outside world.
part of the island; to the west lies The harbors, moreover, are readily
Wales and to the north is Scot- accessible to the people of the in-
land. (England, Scotland, and terior, for numerous rivers flow
Wales now comprise the United down to the sea, and no place in
Kingdom.) Great Britain is the Great Britain is more than seven-
largest of a chain of islands which, ty miles from the coast."! Small
taken together, are known as the wonder, then, that when England's
British Isles. Before the fifth cen- 1 w. E. Lunt, History of England
tury A.D. what is now England was (New York: Harper, 1956, 4th ed.), p. 6.
time of greatness came, it should places to land for those who come
be in terms of trade, the sea, and from the continent. At the same
the navy. Once England began to time the number of landings
engage in foreign trade on a large make defense most difficult. So
scale, she had a decided advantage long as the peoples were not uni-
in transportation costs over most fied politically, so long as no cen-
countries, and it should be kept tral force dominated the most ac-
in mind that transportation by cessible areas, just so long could
boat along natural water lanes has invaders come with relative ease.
ever been the cheapest mode for To turn the proposition around,
the carrying of goods. once England was organized into
an effective kingdom, it became a
A Backward People
formidable task to invade her.
But for most of history Britain This occurred in the eleventh cen-
had Ii ttle impact on the rest of tury of our era, and since that
the world. The impact was usually time there has been no successful
exerted upon her, not from her. invasion. The impregnable fortress,
Whatever natural advantages the then, was not a product of en-
island enjoyed, they did not suffice vironment but of human effort and
to make the people there much of organization.
a positive force or influence in
world affairs. As has been pointed Often Invaded
out, for most of history the island The first of the four invasions
was at the periphery of civiliza- of recorded times was that of the
tion. The peoples there were sub- Romans. In 43 A.D., the Emperor
jected to a succession of invasions Claudius sent forces to Britain
from other peoples and empires, which were to succeed before the
invasions that go back long before end of the century in conquering
written records. There have been most of that territory now known
four successful invasions since as England. The Romans occupied
recorded history began. Shakes- Britain for the better part of four
peare might think of England as centuries, beginning their with-
an impregnable fortress, but for drawal in the early part of the
much of history it was quite fifth century. They brought the
pregnable. appurtenances of Roman civiliza-
It is easy to understand why tion: the town or city, the aque-
this was so. The island is not far duct, the road, literacy and the
from the mainland; its numerous Latin languages, effective political
rivers flowing into the sea afford organization, and, even, Chris-
tianity, for it is known that there Roman church to England. These
were Christian churches in Britain succeeded in converting the Anglo-
during the time of the Roman oc- Saxons to Christianity in the
cupation. course of the seventh century, by
The Romans began to withdraw and large, anyhow. At this time in
from the island and eventually history, the Roman Catholic
abandoned it in the face of a new church was the main preserver and
horde of invaders in the fifth cen- carrier of the remains and relics
tury. This was the Germanic in- of Roman civilization in Western
vasion, one which swept over most Europe. By its work, peoples were
of Europe and brought to Britain, made familiar with the Latin lan-
according to legend, the Angles, guage and some of the literature,
Saxons, and Jutes. There have with the idea of large-scale im-
been efforts from time to time to perial organization, and with a
brighten the traditional gloomy written and codified law.
picture painted of this wave of
invaders, to call them Germans Many Small Kingdoms
rather than barbarians, to say In the seventh century, England
that the age that followed was not was divided into a number of small
as Dark as it has been made to kingdoms. From time to time, one
appear. Be that as it may, the or another of these dominated the
new invaders were illiterate pa- others. Not much headway was
gans who swept all before them. made toward uniting these into a
They drove most of the native single kingdom until England was
population out of the lowlands of faced once again with a new wave
Britain, or so it is believed, al- of invaders from the north. This
lowed the towns and other ap- invasion is known as the Viking
purtenances of the Romans to de- invasion, and it went on sporadi-
cay and all but disappear, and the cally for nearly two centuries. The
country reverted to a rather prim- Danes began to arrive in England
itive agricultural condition. There in considerable numbers around
was a Celtic Christian church which 839. For most of the rest of the
made some impact upon these bar"" ninth century warfare continued
barians, but not much. between the occupying Danes and
Actually, literary knowledge of English kings, the most notable
what was going on in England of whom was Alfred the Great.
comes mainly after the late sixth The Danish invaders were a new
century when Pope Gregory the onslaught of pagans, no better
Great sent missionaries of the than pirates and raiders, creating
destruction in their wake, exact- ance to him and to organize the

ing regular payments from those whole kingdom under his great
whom they conquered. tenants-in-chief (barons). For the
England was quite often divided next 150 years or so, England was
between territory controlled by little more than a fief of a line of
the Danes and that by the Eng- Norman and Angevin nobles, and
lish kings. The situation improved the sway of France became in
in the late ninth century and for some ways more decisive from the
much of the tenth, but in the late early thirteenth century onward.
tenth century, there was a new
onslaught of Scandinavians. For The Norman Invasion
a time in the early eleventh cen- The point of this brief review
tury, all England was ruled by the of the history of England is to
Scandinavian King Canute, the emphasize the obscurity, backward-
first time it had been politically ness, and impotence of Britain
united since the withdrawal of the through most of history. It is a
Romans. (It should be kept in history filled with subjection to
mind that England is not very foreign invaders, of a people with
large, having slightly less terri- a tenuous and unsure hold on civil-
tory than the state of Alabama; ization, of a people being civilized
hence, to be divided into many (sometimes) rather than engag-
kingdoms would mean that each ing in the work of civilization.
one would be quite small.) Matters did improve somewhat
United England had enjoyed after the Norman invasion. Since
the rule of only one native that time, there has never been
king (Edward the Confessor) another successful foreign inva-
when it was subjected to yet an- sion. Continuing political unity
other invasion-that of the Nor- was established for England by
mans of William the Conqueror. the Normans and their successors.
This time there was nothing grad- England even began to contribute
ual, imprecise, or vague about the to civilization; there were many
invasion. William made claim to famous English scholars and
the throne of England upon the thinkers of the High Middle
death of Edward, invaded with Ages: Anselm of Canterbury,
his Norman soldiers in 1066, de- John of Salisbury, Roger Bacon,
feated Harold Godwin at the Bat- Robert Grosseteste, Duns Scotus,
tle of Hastings, and got the Witan William of Ockham, among others.
to proclaim him king. He proceed- France, however, exerted the dom-
ed to remove the basis of all resist- inant influence in the High Mid-
dIe Ages; England was still at the "Age of Discovery changed Eng-
edge of civilization, though no land from a land at the edge of the
longer at the outer edge. At any known world to a collection of har-
rate, Medieval civilization disinte- bours in the centre of the land
grated in the fourteenth and fif- hemisphere and at a prime focus
teenth centuries. England was of maritime routes." Thereafter,
finally disentangled from France England was no longer on the
by the middle of the fifteenth cen- edge of developments. The Tudor
tury, but the Hundred Year's War monarchs established the monar-
which had this result was followed chy at a new peak of power,
by a civil war in England for most brought comparative political sta-
of the latter part of the fifteenth bility to England, separated the
century, a war which signalized English church from Rome, and
the breakdown of the old lines of began to assert English power
political authority. England's in- upon Europe. During the reign of
fluence upon Europe and the rest Elizabeth I (1558-1603), England
of the world at this point was emerged as a sea power and was
almost nonexistent. the scene of a considerable literary
outpouring (the Age of Shakes-
England's Gradual Emergence peare). English was made into
during the Sixteenth Century a powerful and effective literary
Looking back from our vantage language during this period.
point, we can see that by the early Even so, England was still a
sixteenth century the stage was long way from the greatness which
being set for England's emer- influences and dominates a civili-
gence, if not to greatness at this zation. Spain was the dominant
point, at least to be a nation on power of Europe for most of the
a par with other nations. The sixteenth century. Probably, there
reign of the Tudor monarchs was was no one dominant power for
marked by many momentous de- the first half of the seventeenth
velopments: the Northern Renais- century; much of Europe was
sance, the Protestant and Catholic immersed in the wars of religion.
Reformations, the rise of nation- France would emerge once more
states, and, of equal importance, in the latter part of the seven-
it was the Age of Discovery. The teenth century as the great power
strategic location of the British of Europe, and her influence was
Isles was greatly altered by the prevalent during the Age of Louis
discovery of America. The Ency- XIV. England's rise to power and
clopaedia Britannica notes that the influence would come in the eight-
eenth century and reach its cul- may be disintegrative as well as

mination in the nineteenth. integrative or helpful. As such,
power and influence have little or
Degrees of Civilization, Power,
no positive value. They are valu-
and Influence
able only when they are put to
But before detailing that story constructive use and when they
some premises need to be stated are inhibited as to harmful uses.
and the situation just prior to A truly great civilization is one
England's rise needs to be ex- in which the powers of govern-
amined. I have spoken of civiliza- ments are limited and the energies
tion, of power, and of influence; of people-as many people as pos-
they have been treated implicitly sible- are released to constructive
as values. There are, however, civ- uses.
ilizations and civilizations; there This was hardly the case in six-
is, in like manner, power and pow- teenth and seventeenth century
er, influence and influence. Civili- Europe. Power was increasingly
zation, any civilization, is, I think, concentrated in the hands of mon-
preferable to an absence of civili- archs who frequently employed it
zation, if such a choice were to be quite arbitrarily. The actions of
made. Civilization implies order, people were often little more than
stability, and shared values over the reflection of the will of the
a broad geographic area. It pro- monarch. "I am the State," pro-
vides conditions within which claimed Louis XIV, and the Stuart
trade and exchange can take place monarchs of England failed to
among peoples, peaceably and prof- echo the sentiment only because
itably. There are, of course, de- they did not dare. Civilization,
grees of civilization, and the bene- such as it was, existed mainly for
fits of it may be reserved to a few. a very few people. People all over
Thus, Medieval civilization was Europe lay under a heavy burden
exclusive, and many of the op- of restrictions, oppressive imposi-
portunities and benefits were motions, and persecution. Their en-
nopolized by a few. Great works of ergies were channeled and inhib-
art may be produced as a result ited by the state. England was lit-
of the scantily rewarded toil of tle, if any, better than other lands.
the many. If she had been powerful and in-
In like manner, the power of fluential, it would probably have
a nation may be used to subdue been little more than the power
peoples and subject them to the and influence of a royal court upon
whims of a ruling class. Influence privileged classes. England would
become more civilized before she gard than to expose conditions as
would be worthy of imitation. they were in pre-industrial Eng-
There is another matter that land. Along with that, it will be
needs to be dealt with before tak- valuable to look at the state of
ing up the foundations of the rise freedom, or lack of it, in pre-in-
of England. Ever since the latter dustrial England. As should be
part of the nineteenth century well known, the amazing emer-
there have been a considerable gence of England to world leader-
number of intellectuals who have ship occurred after the release of
romanticized the supposed idyllic the energies of the people of Eng-
rural life of an earlier England and land by providing substantial lib-
heaped scorn and blame upon in- erty and in conjunction with
dustrialization for hardships which England's industrialization. The
occurred and poverty which ex- point needs to be placed in relief
isted. There is no better way to by contrast with despotic and rural
set the record straight in this re- England. ~
The next article in this series will

'relate to "pre-industrial England."
The Pursuit of Knowledge
WHENEVER a new property of any substance is discovered, it

appears to have connections with other properties, and other
things, of which we could have no idea at all before; and which
are, by this means, but imperfectly announced to us. Indeed,
every doubt implies some degree of knowledge,. and while nature
is a field of such amazing, perhaps boundless extent, it may be
expected that the more knowledge we gain, the more doubts and
difficulties we shall have; but still, since every advance in
knowledge is a real and valuable acquisition to mankind, in
consequence of its enabling us to apply the powers of nature to
render our situation in life more happy, we have reason to re-
joice at every new difficulty that is started; because it informs
us that more knowledge, and more advantage are yet unattained,
and should serve to quicken our diligence in the pursuit of them.
Every desideratum is an imperfect discovery.
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, The History and Present State of Discoveries
Relating to Vision, Light, and Colours, London, 1772
Steel
Imports
AND
Basic
Principles
WILLIAM B. BoYD
A. Devaney, Inc., New York.
OF COURSE, I am as vitally contributing factors, but I believe

cerned as anyone in the import that by far the most important
troubles of the steel industry, but cause is the actions and interven-
these troubles are only a part of tions of our own government-
a much greater problem and I all departments and all levels-
think we must lift our gaze above and of the labor unions to which
the morass of statistics and politi- government has given such great
cal maneuverings - above and be- powers and privileges. Consider
yond the steel industry itself- how our costs are skyrocketing
to see what is really happening because of high taxes, deprecia-
here. We must take a look at the tion of our money, harassments,
basic principles involved. controls, regulations, strikes,
I know we can all agree that union-imposed uneconomic wage
the proper way to solve a problem levels, and inefficient work prac-
is first to find its cause and then tices. These are the results of gov-
to remove that cause. The people ernment actions, and they are
of the American Iron and Steel forcing us to price ourselves right
Institute assume that their trou- out of the market.
bles come from foreign govern- If you don't believe it is our
ments and producers, low foreign own government that is at fault,
wage rates, and our State Depart- consider an industry which 'is
ment. Certainly these are con- little if at all affected by foreign
governments, foreign producers,
Mr. Boyd is President of the Chapin & Bangs and foreign wage scales. Take the
Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut and a
director of the Steel Service Center Institute. railroads - the New York, New
This article is from his statement to the Board
of Directors of the Institute in October, 1967. Haven & Hartford in particular.
158
1968 STEEL IMPORTS AND BASIC PRINCIPLES 159
This road has been murdered by cal intervention to compensate for

our own government and its crea- uneconomic practices already in
tures, the railway unions. It has effect. It would also be inconsistent
been heavily taxed by all levels of with belief in the free market
government, its rates have been which we profess.
controlled, its operations have been So what we need is not positive
regulated, it has suffered from government "help" (tariffs,
strikes, featherbedding, and un- quotas, embargoes, subsidies) but
economic wage rates, and on top negative government help (revi-
of this, government has built com- sion of the labor laws to strip the
peting highways along its tracks unions of special privilege and
and subsidized competing modes power, reduction of taxes, a bal-
of transportation. It has been anced budget, sound money, aboli-
ruined by its own government tion of government controls and
without the aid of foreigners and intervention in business) - in
now, no doubt, will be completely other words, a move to the free
taken over by government. And market and a constitutionally
this will be the fate of many more limited government.
industries if the present trend is Ideas must be fought with ideas,
not reversed. not with force. \Vhat we should
Why is government doing these do is demolish the prevalent ideas
things? The people in government of statism and then win accept-
are taking these actions because ance of the sound ideas of the
they believe the proper function free market, private property,
of government is to guide and limited government system.
control our economy for "our own This is a tall order and not
good" - that we are too stupid something to be done overnight,
and greedy to run our own affairs. but it seems to me the only sound
And we have such a government way. It is a matter of enlighten-
because the overwhelming major- ment and education because ideas
ity of the people in this country precede and determine actions;
have accepted and believe in stat- people act in accordance with their
ist ideas. beliefs. Good politics will follow
If this is so, then it would be good thinking. First, then, we
futile to run to government - the must develop our own understand-
very perpetrator of our troubles ing; for light attracts, and thus
- and ask for yet another politi- the ideas of freedom will spread.
~
TOOLS
JASPER E. CRANE
A PROMINENT AMERICAN indus- ply. For instance, Nehru of India,

trialist made a trip through the a great man with complete author-.
Orient recently, and in every coun- ity over more than four hundred
try he visited from Russia to Hong million people, thoughtfully con-
Kong and Japan he met and talked sidered the question and finally
with the ruler of that country. In came out with the reply, "You're
everyone of these conversations lucky."
he would ask what he called the Yet, the true answer to the
"$64 question"-"You have heard $64 question is simple - the pro-
of the high standard of living in vision of tools in a free country.
the United States. What do you That answer is clearly mani-
believe to be the cause of Ameri- fested in our own country's history
ca's prosperity?" Most of those in- as well as in other past and con-
terviewed replied that it was our temporary events. At the end of
abundant natural resources with the eighteenth century, immedi-
plentiful raw materials. The in- ately after Independence, Ameri-
dustrialist would then state that cans turned to making things
this was quite untrue, that some which the British, with their pol-
of these countries had more nat- icy of mercantilism, had not per-
ural resources per capita than we mitted the colonials to do. There
did in America. The ruler of the developed a great center of indus-
country would then flounder about, tryon the little Brandywine Riv-
but not one gave a reasonable reer, with 120 mills on the last
twenty miles of that stream. Else-
Mr. Crane is a retired chemical manufacturer
of Wilmington, Delaware. where, the growth of manufactur-
160
1968 TOOLS 161
ing industry throughout the coun- countries. Moreover, they brought

try was prodigious. The tremen- into their country great numbers
dous release of energy among free of workers, particularly from
men was the potent factor in man- Greece and Italy.
ufacturing enterprises throughout All goods and services are pro-
the new nation. "Yankee ingenu- duced by changing the form, con-
ity" was often spoken of, but the dition, and place of raw materials
outburst of energy and the rea- with the aid of human energy and
sons for it have seldom been ex- tools. These are the, three factors
plained. It proceeded at an ac- of production - human energy,
celerating pace. raw materials, tools.
Throughout human history About 78 per cent of all private
there have been occasional occur- goods and services produced in
rences of increased freedom in the United States in 1965 came
various places, always accompan- from firms using the corporate
ied by increased production and form of organization. The remain-
a better standard of living. The ing 22 per cent of production cov-
correct answer to the $64 question ered the output of nonincorporated
explains why this is always so. agriculture, shopkeepers, profes-
We have recently witnessed the sions, personal and business serv-
phenomenal progress of Western ice industries, and other unincor-
Germany. Prostrated by military porated enterprises.
defeat and in dire trouble in 1948, The relative importance of the
its situation seemed hopeless. Vice three basic factors of production
Chancellor Erhard consulted VV. in noncorporate enterprises is dif-
R6pke, the great economist at Gen- ficult to judge, for lack of statis-
eva, and he advised, "Try free- tics, but some figures are available
dom." Thereupon, despite the re- for corporate industry.
monstrance of American officials
What Are Tools?
in Germany, controls were taken
off of wages and prices. In this Tools are instruments of pro.,.
climate of freer enterprise, the duction (in addition to natural
rebound of the German economy resources and human energy, men-
was theatrical. West Germany tal and physical) - cultivated
soon became the most prosperous land, mechanical power, buildings,
country in Europe, with a much machinery, equipment, and ap-
higher standard of living for paratus of all sorts.
themselves and for over six mil- The use of tools by all animals
lion refugees from communist other than man is--pl:actically nil.
They use unchanged the raw ma- showed that if it were divided
terials presented by nature. equally to all the people, the daily
Charles Kettering told the story wage would be thirteen cents a
of travelers in Africa who would day. It wasn't a question of dis-
sit around a bonfire to counteract tribution of income to be corrected
the chill of the evening. When they by a .sense of charity; for that was
retired to their tents, monkeys all the "fellah" could earn in the
would come down from the trees Egyptian economy. What they
to warm themselves by the fire. needed was more tools.
And, he added, no monkey was In America, the corporate in-
ever known to put a piece of wood vestment in tools averaged over
on the fire! $12,000 per worker last year, and
One of Aesop's fables tells of in some industries, such as petro-
the quarrel between the organs leum, it ran as high as $97,000
of digestion, each claiming that it per worker.
did the major part of digestion Analysis of the facts of private
and was not properly rewarded production in the United States
for its work. Their proper propor- indicates that raw materials-
tions of the digestive process can the value of ore, oil, and minerals
hardly be determined. However, in the ground; uncultivated land;
the factors or elements of produc- standing timber in the forests;
tion of goods and services can be naturally occurring raw food-
approximated by considering that stuffs; and the like - account for
a worker in the highly industrial- about 2 per cent of the final price
ized United States produces at paid for goods and services in a
least twenty times as much as a free market. In some products,
coolie laborer with only a tool such such as textiles, raw materials
as a basket or other simple instru- may constitute as much as 6 per
ment. The toolless coolie is paid cent of this final value; but the
a few cents a day; the average average for all goods and services
American factory worker received seems to be approximately 2 per
$20.88 for an eight-hour day in cent. About 4 per cent of end val-
1965. ues may be ascribed to unassisted
A prominent clergyman visiting human energy, physical and men-
Egypt found his sense of justice tal. About 94 per cent of the val-
and decency offended by the fact ue of private goods and services
that the "fellah" was paid only produced in the United States,
twelve cents a day. Yet, examina- therefore, may be attributed to the
tion of the total income of Egypt use of tools. This high figure. at-
1968 TOOLS 163
tributable to tools may surprise is clearly shown by the fact that
those who have not studied this when the whiteman ca.meto Amer-
matter; but it will be realized that ica the estimated Indian popula-
production in other times and, tion was two hundred thousand-
sadly, even today in some places, all the country could support in
depends on slave labor and crude their practically toolless economy.
tools. Today, there a.re two hundred mil-
Today in the United States, lion inhabitants (including almost
every worker has sixty "slaves" four hundred thousand Indians)
working for him in the form of with a per capita income twenty-
mechanical power. Several times five times that of the Indian be-
more power is released by the fore the white man came.
automobile than by all other me- The production of automobiles
chanical energy and only a small is truly marvelous. The assembly
portion of this motor car energy line was one of man's greatest in-
is used for production purposes. ventions. A leading automobile
So we modify the statement above, manufacturer some years ago ex-
the correct figure being close to perimentally constructed an or-
twenty mechanical slaves for each dinary car by bringing simple
worker, and that worker is paid tools to the point of manufacture,
seven to ten times as much as is similar to the way in . which a
paid out in dividends. house is built. The result was a
The truth of this is evident cost of $10,000 for that car, where-
when we consider how much use- as his company was selling the
ful work a man can do on a farm model at the time for less than
or garden with only his bare hands $2,000.
as tools, and how dependent we Another instance of the value
are upon even the simple farm tools of the best tools was given to me
for winning livelihood from the while visiting one of the largest
land. It is clearly revealed when motor car manufacturers in a for-
one sees in backward lands farm- eign country a few years ago. The
ers plowing with a wooden plow manager of the plant, and a great
or sharpened stick. One must real- admirer of American methods,
ize that the amount of a farmer's said that it cost them eighteen
production has been multiplied cents a pound to produce a car
many times by the complicated and of the Chevrolet type; whereas,
efficient farm machinery available in Michigan the cost was ten cents
today in the United States. a pound for the same type. Yet,
The proof of these assertions the American worker received
three times the daily wage of the cational, and religious organiza-
worker in the plant abroad. They tions, but is the principal source
still had a long way to go in re- of the funds for providing tools.
ducing manual operations and us- Socialists claim that they will
ing better tools. finance their services by appropri-
ating "surplus income," by which
How Are Tools Supplied?
they mean corporation profits and
In a free country, investors in private income beyond the neces-
companies supply tools for use by sities of life. Every such effort
the worker who has not sufficient has failed. Bismarck, taking over
capital to buy them himself. Such the Sozial Politik from the social-
companies are in competition with ists, thought to finance it by seiz-
other corporations in the same line ing the railroads and employing
of business. The payment inves- their income for the government's
tors receive for the use of tools social services. Soon, railroad in-
they supply for manufacturing come turned into deficits. Heavier
purposes averaged about 4.8 per taxation followed and, finally, war
cent of the market price of the and disaster.
goods produced over the past dec- Britain employed the Marxian
ade. formula of heavy and steeply grad-
In a socialist country, govern- uated income taxes. This de-
ment supplies the tools, but at a stroyed private fortunes. Clement
high cost. For instance, according Atlee boasted that while there
to figures for Russia released once had been several thousand
some twenty years ago, the gov- personal incomes of $16,000 or
ernment in effect owned all tools more per year after taxes, now
and supplied them to the worker there were only sixteen such for-
at markups averaging over 15 per tunes left in the country. The defi-
cent of sales. Thus, the Russian cits of British socialism have out-
worker at that time, although he run the loans and gifts from A-
did not realize it, was paying three merica. Now the "luxuries" of the
times as much for his tools as did people - "beer, baccy, and bed-
the American. ding"- are taxed to fuel the so-
cialist state. The resulting pov-
IISurplus Income l l erty, particularly in formerly
So-called "surplus income," both thrifty Scotland, is appalling. But
private and corporate, is not only it is the consequence of govern-
a mighty force in helping to fi- ment ownership and control of in-
nance charitable, community, edu- dustry. And in Britain, as in other
1968 TOOLS 165
welfare states, what cannot be to continue' and increase its serv-
taxed directly is confiscated ices to customers. If earnings
through inflation. and savings are insufficient to
meet the needs and growth of the
Industrial Development business, the corporation goes
So-called "surplus income" is downhill or succumbs. And a na-
important in an economy, for out tion that thus cuts off the source of
of corporate profits and the sav- tools is destined to lose position
ings of the people comes the money in the world and dwell in poverty.
needed to buy the tools. In fact, Those of socialistic philosophy
successful corporations and other object that the use of tools is at
cooperative enterprises retain the expense of employment, that
much of their income for the re- it throws people out of work. His-
newal, improvement, and expan- torically, in England, the early
sion of tools. This vital point is use of labor-saving machinery was
often ignored, .people imagining violently fought and the new
that once an industry is fully op- equipment often destroyed on the
erating, it needs no further sup- ground that men were losing their
ply of tools. The success of any in- jobs. The record shows, however,
dustry depends on keeping its that labor-saving machinery not
tools up-to-date by repairs, re- only lifted drudgery from men's
placement, and improvement. This backs but also greatly increased
vital supply of equipment comes the production of goods and serv-
from adequate charges for depre- ices, creating new jobs and great-
ciation and obsolescence, from in- er income for all.
come retained and invested in That the process of industriali-
business, and from additional cap- zation, the saving and investing
ital supplied by investors. Cor- in tools, is further advanced in the
poration dividends, along with per- United States than elsewhere ex-
sonal savings such as are invested plains our high and rising wage
in savings banks and life insur- rates and level of living. And of
ance, are important phases in the total corporate income in the coun-
process of providing tools. try, 85 per cent goes to employees
The most valuable public-service - the users of tools - and 15 per
income in any country is the part cent to the suppliers.
of savings used for buying tools. So, let us beware of foolish talk
Capital formation in plant and about the evils of this tool-using
properties is the life blood of a age! Let us not kill the goose that
successful corporation, enabling it lays the golden eggs! ~
HANS F. SENNHOLZ
MUCH confusion and controversy form of intervention. A tax newly

flow from the difference between imposed, a new surcharge or a rate
old and new government interven- increase, immediately reduces the
tion. Some people look only at old profitability of business. Compan-
intervention, some only at new, ies earning high profits must cur-
each unaware of the other phase of tail their expansion or moderniza-
intervention. In debating the de- tion projects or reduce dividends.
sirability of certain policies, many Those companies that had barely
disagreements spring from the earned interest on the capital in-
fact that different people see dif- vested, or had just .broken even,
ferent phases of intervention. will be made "submarginal" by
The distinction between the two the tax. Their yields will fall be-
rests on strict theoretical analysis low the minimum level needed to
and can be defined precisely. Old attract and preserve the necessary
intervention is that government capital. The new tax causes these
restriction or interposition to companies to curtail their opera-
which the economy has fully ad- tions, close plants and other fa-
justed. And we speak of new in- cilities, and layoff some workers.
tervention when the economy has Output declines and the supply of
not yet adjusted to the new data, goods and services is diminished.
or is in the process of adjustment. There is business stagnation - a
The difference is crucial in any short-run effect of the new tax.
appraisal of the effects of govern- Wages now tend to decline, or
ment intervention. at least stay lower than they
Take, for instance, a corporate otherwise would have been. Other
income tax, which is a popular business costs, too, are reduced
gradually until various enterprises
Dr. Sennholz heads the Department of Eco-
nomics at Grove City College, Pennsylvania. become profitable again and capi-
"'ICC
1968 OLD AND NEW INTERVENTION 167
tal once more is lured back into taxes imposed ten or twenty years
investment and production. In ago and at the new equilibrium,
fact, gross yields return not just and fail to see any ill effects of
to the pre-tax level, but rise above rising taxation. They have for-
it to cover both the new taxes and gotten the months and years of
the net yield of capital. Inasmuch stagnation.
as the government consumes some
capital in the process of interven- Delicits, Old and New
tion, the yield per unit of capital Or, take a government deficit as
tends to rise even higher while a new datum with many-sided ef-
that of labor declines. fects. In the short run, the deficit
The new tax levy also causes a burdens the capital market, drains
shift of production factors from it of loan funds, and causes in-
employment for the people to that terest rates to rise. Businessmen
for the government. Capital goods must curtail their borrowing be-
industries and consumer goods in- cause many projects no longer are
dustries tend to shrink while the profitable at high interest costs.
"government sector" expands. This Business stagnates insofar as it
shift is facilitated and guided by had been relying on the capital
price changes that point up the market. This is a short-run effect.
change in purchasing power. The stagnation bears all the
All these are short-term effects. symptoms mentioned above. Of
The economy gradually adjusts course, the immediate beneficiaries
toward a new equilibrium that of the deficit gain temporarily.
takes the new tax into full ac- When the budget is finally bal-
count. The long-term effects in- anced, or the drain of loan funds
clude the shift of production fac- ceases to strain the market, eco-
tors, the reduction of marginal nomic conditions achieve a more
labor productivity, and the rise in normal pattern.
marginal capital productivity. In the long run, when all ad-
They are less conspicuous than the justments have taken place, there
short-term effects and difficult to remains only the hole in capital
demonstrate. After all, who can reserves torn by the deficit. Eco-
perceive what would have been in nomic development is retarded
absence of the tax? This is why permanently.
interventionists often deny that In recent decades Federal defi-
there is any undesirable effect of cits were often financed by infla-
a new tax, a new surcharge, or a tion. Weak administrations lacked
rate increase. They point at old the courage to boost taxes that
would cover the growing govern- losses in income and wealth;

ment outlays. And the capital mar- others have reaped permanent
kets could not absorb the extraor- gains. Many years later, when the
dinary demands of the U. S. Treas- economic adjustment has run its
ury. Therefore the Federal Re- course, it is impossible to ascer-
serve System, which is the ulti- tain the precise effects of the in-
mate source of paper money, the flation. After all, who can calcu-
U.S. engine of inflation, was called late what economic reality would
upon to "assist" the Treasury op- have been in a myriad of aspects
erations. It created the money to without the inflation of 1914 to
cover the budget deficits. 1920? The short-run effects are
Inflation is a short-run policy. forgotten, and the long-term ef-
It raises the prices of goods at the fects are open to academic specu-
point where the new money enters lation only.
the market. Business becomes
more profitable when sales in- Government Regulation and Control
crease and prices rise. This is When a government resorts to
what makes inflation so popular legislation or regulation that aims
in the short run. to benefit some people at the ex-
But after the pleasant boom ef- pense of others, it effects changes
fects, a recession usually follows. that are short-term and long-term.
The previous maladjustments be- Whether it aims to alleviate pov-
come apparent through soaring erty, eliminate slums, improve
business costs, declining profit transportation or communication
margins, and cancellations of or- or labor relations, or give tariff
ders. Some businesses suffer protection to industry, govern-
losses. The recession is also a ment intervention bears conse-
short-run effect, although this par- quences that deserve economic
ticular effect or reaction may de- analysis.
velop several years after the ini- Urban renewal, for instance, is
tial inflation. very popular with government
The long-run effects of inflation planners because of some long-run
are those that remain after all effects. Planners are animated by
economic adjustments have taken the visible changes - new expen-
place. The purchasing power of sive buildings, broad boulevards
the money unit is reduced per- and ~arge plazas, museums and li-
manently; goods prices stay high- braries, theaters and operas, pub-
er. Some people, especially the lic parks and, of course, the new
creditors, have suffered permanent Federal building and city hall.
1968 OLD AND NEW INTERVENTION 169
But the planners usually fail to duction until its attractive profit
perceive the invisible effects which margins are erased. A few years
are very real and permanent. After later, when all necessary short-
all, urban renewal consumes vast term adj ustments are completed,
quantities of resources and hu- the protected industry once again
man labor. It tears down and lays faces the very conditions that
waste old housing, in order to caused it to plead for protection.
erect the new. And all expenses, The foreign industries discrim-
whether covered by Federal inated against by the new tariff
grants, state aid, or local levies, levies suffer lower sales, business
are borne by taxpayers. These peo- losses, and unemployment. Simil-
ple are forced to forego enjoyment arly, the export industries in the
of countless goods and services so country imposing the tariff face
that the Federal building and city losses and depression because ex-
hall may be constructed. ports tend to fall when imports
The short-run effects are two- are restricted. After all, foreign-
fold: curtailment and recession of ers need to earn foreign exchange
all those industries that must fore- through exports in order to im-
go the capital, labor, and resources port.
now put into urban renewal; and The long-run effects remain
temporary prosperity and expan- when all production factors have
sion of those construction indus- fully adj usted to the tariff levy.
tries engaged in the renewal. The international division of la-
When the renewal is completed, all bor is disrupted and trade is dim-
affected industries must adjust inished. In all countries affected,
anew. the factors of production have
Or take the case of industrial been channeled into less useful
protection by tariff. In the short employment. Goods prices are
run, an industry receiving such higher and standards of living
government favors may benefit. lower.
The new tariff reduces the avail-
able supply of competing goods Whether government interven-
and raises prices. Profit margins tion is old or new, it reflects the
improve, employment expands, and substitution of political action for
wages may rise. But behind the economic choice, the rule of politi-
new tariff wall the profitable con- cians over consumers. And the re-
ditions now invite expansion of do- sult is bound to be a net reduction
mestic competition. New capital in the satisfaction of human
and labor enter that line of pro- wan~.
PAUL L. ADAMS
MAN in his very nature has need of his circumstances. Nature be-
of a major premise - a philosophi- came a challenge to his physical
cal starting point or Prime Mover, existence. Other people constituted
as it were, to give reason for his to him a confused complex of vari-
being, direction and order to his ant relationships that ranged from
thinking, and initiative and im- love on one hand to virulent hatred
petus to his actions. With the on the other. God faded from his
Christian, this basic assumption consciousness, and with that loss
stems from the belief that God, went also the meaning of man's
by Divine fiat, created man as a struggle. Man was thus lost in the
moral, rational being with free- only sense in which he could be
dom of choice, and that exercise really lost, and the need was there-
of will and choice in both the fore critical for a major premise
moral and physical frames of ref- which promulgates for man a su-
erence is an awesome but unavoid- preme purpose for life, a purpose
able fact of existence. which justifies the physical hard-
Man's choice to partake of the ship, the social conflicts, the spir-
"forbidden fruit" provided him itual struggle, and the disappoint-
with the promised knowledge of ments with which life is filled. On-
good and evil, but along with it ly such a premise delivers life from
came an incalculable complication the insanity it sometimes appears
to be - struggle without hope,
Dr. Adams is Academic Dean of Roberts achievement without happiness,
Wesleyan College. This article is from his
address before the Sons of the American victory without exaltation, death
Revolution, Rochester, New York, November
11, 1967. without resurrection.
170
1968 DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN HERITAGE 171
Man, himself, throughout the by exercising his reason toward

concourse of his history has given those ends that his highest moral
ample evidence of his longing and nature urges, and his task is to
need for an all-embracing purpose. refine his intelligence, develop
He knows so little that is perfect, his creativity, discipline his con-
yet he always looks for perfection science, and clothe himself in
- a seminal response which de- robes of righteousness.
rives from the moral image in
which he was originally created The Moral Premise
and the perfection of the environ- - Like a Golden Thread
ment in which he found himself. Man has never been without
Though corrupt by his own choice, some first principle, some maj or
he still yearns for the ideal, like premise, sometimes consciously,
some earthling wandering in a more frequently unconsciously,
cosmic wasteland dreaming of the held up before him. It runs in
green hills of earth. Basically, he some form like golden thread
seeks a society which will fulfill through man's history, and it may
his demands on nature, ameliorate be noted in various efforts and
his relationship with his fellow forms that mark man's societal
man, and provide the ultimate rea- action. The Israelites had in Jeho-
son for existence. In the search, vah God the source of law in the
man's thinking has led him, inevi- observance of which was life. The
tably, into metaphysical and on- Greeks promulgated Natural Law
tological problems, to a considera- as an absolute reference point for
tion of the first principles of all man's excursions into lawmaking.
existence. The Romans embraced Stoicism
It would be presumptuous, in- and with it the Natural Law con-
deed, for me to attempt a defini- cept which, in the Western wo~ld,
tive statement of the major prem- yielded place to the Divine law of
ise with its detailed ramifications, Christianity. This is clearly seen
and presumption is, among college in the Gelasian theory which
professors, a sin of great magni- placed absolute value on the sword
tude. Perhaps, however, one might of spiritual power.
conclude that within such a premise All of these systems with their
are these parts; Man is a spiritual varied premises failed to produce
being, created by God and en- the ideal society. The Hebrew sys-
dowed with the freedom and re- tem ended, oppressed by evil and
sponsibility of moral choice; his corrupt kings. The Greek system,
purpose in living is to glorify God even in the Golden Age of Pericles,
was marked by corruption, vice, The American Foundation

weakness, and personal lust for With all of the foregoing in
power. The Roman could observe mind, it can be assumed that those
the cruelty and inj ustice of his who raised a new nation on this
state, and he suffered from tyrants continent had a wealth of history
who plundered the poor to lavish on which to draw. The responses
wealth on the idle, sensual, and of our forefathers were partly the
effete nobility. The slight amelio- product of a vicarious intellectual
ration that feudalism supplied was empiricism and partly the intui-
due chiefly to the fact that there tive conclusions of liberty-loving
was less economic distance be- men playing it by ear. What these
tween master and serf - for goods men gave to America and the
were fewer, even in this paternal- world was the moral premise em-
istic social order, and pillaged bedded in a philosophy of moral
more frequently by incessant war- absolutes. It was shaped and nur-
ring. Certainly, there was little tured in the minds and hearts of
understanding of nature, no mas- people who recognized in it the
tery of production, and a very low last, best hope of man. These fore-
level of social justice. Seemingly, bears of ours were of the breed of
man was destined to a perpetual men who count not their own lives
slavery only thinly disguised in an dear unto themselves; they were
embracing paternalism that left prepared to die for America and
him without hope. for freedom. Need I remind you
Christian Europe was not with- that it was a young man not yet
out hope, however, for the six- twenty-two who said in a last mag-
teenth century saw a rebirth of nificent moment of life, "I only
the idea that man was free, must regret that I have but one life to
be free. Dramatically stated first give to my country"?
in theological terms, the fuller im- These great men espoused a
plications in nontheological terms moral absolute which accepted God
were soon asserted, and Europe as creator, as ultimate Truth, and
began a long and costly march they believed man to be a moral
toward freedom. Costly, for hu- creature, responsible to God, and
man liberty has never been se- capable of discharging that re-
cured or maintained without sacri- sponsibility only through freedom
fice, and it was our own Jefferson of choice. It logically follows, then,
who said, "Every so often the tree that freedom is more than just an-
of liberty must be watered by the other attribute. It is so essential
blood of patriots - and of tyrants." that life without it loses signifi-
cance. These Founding Fathers tion of serving freedom's cause.
saw in freedom and liberty the Even among its most ardent de-
only perfection a human society votees, there was never any sug-
can know, for in freedom's house gestion that this Constitution was
the individual can shape his own a panacea for all the social ills to
perfections and follow his noblest which man is heir. There was no
aspirations. The exercise of free- guarantee of identical status for
dom, then, is for man the perfect- individuals or groups. There was
ing of his humanity - not that no promise of material rewards.
the exercise will ever be perfect, There was only the implicit as-
but the continuing exercise rep- sumption that freedom and liberty
resents a constant affirmation of were their own rewards and worth
the eternal principle that man can any sacrifice. The Constitution
find himself only in God. promised only the system itself,
but under it liberty and freedom
Limited Government were to be nurtured. It was Ben-
These men of great vision jamin Franklin who saw the only
clearly understood that the only flaw, and he stated it in simple
real threat to liberty and freedom terms when he suggested that per-
is government, for men assign a haps the people might not keep
sanctity to government not ac- what they had acquired. It was
corded to individuals and groups. George Washington who stated in
But government is a faceless thing eloquent prose that liberty is guar-
and can hide the predators who anteed only by the eternal vigi-
lurk behind its fa~ade and exer- lance of those who share its vision.
cise its function; and govern- These architects of nation were
ments assume, quite naturally it men of great faith - faith in the
seems, government's right to a substance of things hoped for, the
monopoly of physical force. Fear- evidence of things not seen - faith
ing government, and the natural in their vision of a vast land and
tendency of power to beget power, great people - faith in the tri-
these men established a constitu- umph of truth over error, of jus-
tion which attempted to assure tice over inj ustice, of right over
man's freedom by limiting the tyranny, of knowledge over ignor-
sphere of government to a work- ance, of reason over prej udice,
able minimum. The clear intent and the ultimate triumph of eter-
was to magnify the responsibility nal values over the temporal. Faith
of the individual and subordinate in such a vision together with
government to its primary func- commitment to the program for its
fulfillment constituted in their formance in this regard. The stu-

thinking an irresistible force that dent of American history recalls
would shake the world - and it the demarche of the Federalist
did. In addition, it gave rise to a party into unconstitutionalism to
compelling spirit of national mis- retain power. It can hardly go un-
sion. noticed that there were those who
were blind to the implications of
Eternal Vigilance education for a substantial seg-
It is a truism that tragedy lurks ment of our society, including
close to the surface of all enter- women. Even more compelling
prises of great pith and moment. shortly after the centennial year
George Berna.rd Shaw suggested of Appomattox Court House is the
that there are two great tragedies thought that there were those who
in life. One is to not get your insisted on the immediate attain-
heart's desire; the other is to get ment of their ends and refused to
it. The observation is so applic- recognize longer that the Consti-
able to the American scene that it tution provided a certain, if slow,
arouses almost a response of sharp mechanic for resolving great in-
physical pain. America had her equities and injustice. This im-
great dream, her grand design. patience sent men to graves like
History provided her with the beds and finally resulted in the
opportunity to realize it. So she slaughter of more Americans than
avoided the first of the tragedies World War I and World War II
that Mr. Shaw suggested. The al- combined.
ternate tragedy was left to be real- Unhappy though these examples
ized, for tragedy must follow the be, we note with satisfaction that
failure to understand the tremen- the Federalist returned to, make
dous demand such a society places the great right decision in 1800,
on the individual. It calls for enor- and that educational opportunity
mous self-discipline in behalf of has approached universality in
freedom's pre-eminent claim; it this nation. We could even say
requires a conscious articulate that although the larger lessons of
sensitivity to freedom's climate; the so-called irrepressible con-
and it mandates a firm dedication flict were lost on us, we have at
to freedom's methods and goals times demonstrated our belief that
along with a determination to live the nature of our system cannot
with the results. be defined in terms of any appeal
It is not debatable that we have to the doctrine that might and
had an imperfect and uneven per- right are inseparable.
With liberty and freedom iden- Nature had been transformed into
tified in the Constitution and ac- an ally; a beginning had been
cepted as the norm for human ac- made toward a solution of the
tion, we demonstrated a vitality omnipresent problem of human re-
and creativity that produced lationships; and man's right and
achievement which first caught need to know and experience God
the' attention of the world and had been left unrestricted. We
then beckoned her disinherited mil- who received such a heritage
lions to the "lifted lamp beside the should fear no challenge, yet we
golden door." We enlarged indi- are alarmed by a challenge of so
vidual opportunity, secured reli- great a magnitude that we seem
gious toleration, and established unable to plot its dimensions. Wis-
the basis for political diversity dom and intelligence, however, as
and cultural pluralism. We edu- well as the instinct for survival
cated the masses, refurbished the dictate that the problem must be
concept of individual justice and stated, understood, and attacked.
charity, and we took over leader- There are those, undoubtedly,
ship of the revolution in communi- whose disquiet is solely in terms
cation, transportation, and produc- of the problem posed by nuclear
tion. Our free market led the physics. These people might think
world in the production and dis- beyond it, but the possibility of a
tribution of goods for the benefit nuclear war produces in them a
of all classes. Somewhere along trauma that makes further ra-
the line, too, we began to develop tional thought on their part im-
a distinct literature of merit and possible. Those of whom this is
other artistic forms. Finally, and descriptive tend to view the great
without great fanfare, we assumed ultimate catastrophe as physical
world leadership in moral idealism death, forgetting that the great
as a natural concomitant of our moral premise assigns little signif-
commitment to principles based in icance to the fact of mere physi-
the eternal verity of the moral
! cal existence. They would estab-
law. lish a new commandment which
may be simply stated, "And now
Obstacles to Be Overcome abideth the mind, the spirit, the
Such have been the fruits of the body, these three, but the greatest
American system, and such a na- of these is the body." It is not to
tion or system, meeting as it did be expected that those who hold
man's age-old search for an ideal such a belief could or would give
society, should fear no challenge. rise to any inspired resolution, for
that which they treasure most is as it ends without definitive com-

most easily subject to threats and mitment. There is some truth in
force. the assertion that protracted dis-
Then there are those who react cussion on a point at issue often
to the problem in materialistic results in a blurring of the
terms. These have altered the su- thought of both parties, but it
preme moral principle to read, logically follows that in such a
"Man shall live by bread alone." situation, the party with commit-
The member of this group is quite ment to a principle and a con-
likely to attach himself to any of comitant course of action stands
the several simplifications which in the least danger.
this group has institutionalized in
policy: the answer to any domestic Detoured by Relativism
problem is governmental spending N one of those in the classes just
to raise everyone's material stand- mentioned sees the challenge to the
ard of living; neutralists such as American heritage in its true di-
Tito will be won to our side if our mensions, and obviously they have
gifts are large and continuous; little understanding of the re-
the communist will soften his at- sources necessary to meet the
titude toward the United States challenge. The basic problem is the
and the noncommunist world if failure of Americans to dedicate
we allow them the trade advan- and rededicate themselves to the
tages of our productive system. great moral premise - freedom
Again, there is a class we could under God. As dedication to that
call passivists, and, like some of premise built the American her-
their medieval forebears who went itage, decline from it has given
into monastic seclusion, they seek rise to the problems that appear
to escape the world of decision and in the guise of insecurity - the
action. A tendency of the members fear of physical extinction, the
of this class is to rely on discus- compensation of materialism, and
sion, fruitless though it may be, indecision.
and on a complete negation of de- The decline was initiated by the
cisive action. Discussion becomes introduction of a philosophy of
for them not a means but an end, relativism with its inherent nega-
and failure is not failure, for non- tion of moral absolutes. This phi-
productive discussion guarantees losophy relieves man of all respon-
the need of still further discus- sibility; it erodes his moral stand-
sion. No international conference ards, for morals, it says, are a
is a failure, in this light, as long product of man's own thinking
and are therefore subject to sistent with our original premise
change. Further, it has no fixed and the institutionalizing of lib-
reference point; rather it has a erty. Time forbids a discussion of
multitude of reference points, dis- them, but some of the more dan-
coverable only by a process of ex- gerous may be listed. There are
pediency which itself becomes the those who change or pervert the
criterion for judgment. Such Constitution to gain the ends they
thought canonizes Nicolo Machia- desire, and the ends are presented
velli who baldly and boldly as- as good ends to justify the action.
serted that the end justifies the It was for good reasons that the
means. In such a philosophy, man Gracchi started the process of
is not free; he is rather a pawn of violating the Roman constitution.
history, and he has significance The end of the process was the
only as he participates in great destruction of liberty in Rome, for
mass movements. In action, the each succeeding constitutional vio-
philosophy is expressed in positiv- lation takes less explanation and
ism which denies any supernatural less and less justification. Eventu-
standard and acclaims any law as ally the constitutional image is
valid if there is sufficient force in lost, and the term itself becomes
the lawgiver to enforce it. Such a shibboleth.
a philosophy does not produce Then, there are those who for-
Nathan Hales. It is more apt to get that material wealth is a hap-
produce those who seek the undis- py by-product of our pursuit of
ciplined refuge of mass anonymity amorally legitimate goal, and they
and mass conformity. The end of relentlessly pursue the materialis-
such a system is pictured in Or- tic largess of nature as an end in
well's 1984, in which he describes itself. It is again the old story of
a society where Big Brother de- selling the birthright for a mess
cides what is truth for the unre- of pottage. The goal of this philos-
sisting masses. Orwell doesn't say ophy is ever greater materialism
it, but the tragedy is that under with .less and less effort. This idea
such system, life doesn't really seems to offer a built-in contradic-
matter. tion, but still the belief persists
that we have invented a slot ma-
Improper Methods chine which pays off for every-
The increasing acceptance of body.
such a philosophy has spawned an Again, there are those who per-
incredible number of value stand- vert the definition of freedom to
ards and courses of action not con- mean an absence of fear, of indi-
vidual responsibility, of self-dis- vidual he is prepared to give him-

cipline, and they include within its self to realize such an end. We
context the strong presumption of cannot change the form or sub-
egalitarian doctrines. These find stance of the communist move-
the answer to all of our problems ment or threat. We can, however,
in the increase of central, bureau- reclaim, revive, and renew the
cratic government. Washington is American heritage as the eternal
their Mecca. They do not, perhaps, answer to those who would, under
make a pilgrimage to Washington, any guise, enslave the free spirit
but well they might, for not only of man.
is their money there, it is fast The innumerable paths of his-
becoming a repository of the tory are thick with the dust of
American soul. In international decayed nations that knew the
relations, these people have a naive passing radiance of a glorious mo-
faith in the United Nations, as- ment. Khrushchev and communism
sign to it a supernatural aura, and promised to bury the American
claim for it a practical success not heritage because it no longer
demonstrable in logic or actuality. serves history's purposes. For me,
I fear no physical threat com-
A Time for Rededication munism can offer. I do fear the
Finally, there are those who are retreat from our heritage. I do not
totally oblivious to the fact that fear Khrushchev's judgment. I
the American forefathers, like the fear the inexorable judgment of
early Christians, were men whose God's law which has ordained
vision and faith were such that man's freedom. Should this nation
they intended to turn the world so blessed by God forget His or-
upside down - and did so. We have dinance, then we have no valid
lived in the golden heritage of claim to existence. We will have
their dedication to a great moral failed those who lived and died
principle and the abundant life it that we might be free as well as
provided. That we have grown the serf of the future who will not
insensitive to such a principle long remember our moment of his-
presages failure where they suc- tory. As Americans we can, as one
ceeded. We cannot escape the fact has said, "spend ourselves into im-
that the virility of communism mortality" in freedom's battle or
stems from the fact that the com- we can make our way carelessly to
munist is committed totally to the nameless graves and be part of
belief that it is necessary to the dust of history's passing
change the world - and as an indi- parade. ~
H. B. PHILLIPS
As USUALLY PRESENTED, freedom therefore discuss internal freedom

is a negative idea, the mere ab- first.
sence of restraint. That does not Perhaps many people would ask,
seem to be a very valuable notion. how can the freedom of an individ-
A baby left entirely alone would ual be self-limited? This is best
be under no restraint but would shown by examples.
not have much freedom. All it A skilled workman has greater
could do would be to die. I prefer freedom than an unskilled one.
to measure freedom positively by For the unskilled can only do
the things an individual can do. rough work. A skilled workman
The greater the range of activi- can also do rough work if he wants
ties in which he can take part, the to, but he does not have to. In ad-
greater is his freedom. dition, he can do work which re-
The actions of an individual can quires skill. A wider range of ac-
be limited in two ways. First, they tivities is available to him. He has
may be restricted by the orders of greater freedom.
a dictator, by the government, or An educated person has much
by his neighbors. These are ex- more freedom than an uneducated
ternal restraints and absence of one. For an uneducated person can
this kind of restraint might be only do manual labor. An educat-
called external freedom. Second, ed person can also do manual la-
they may be limited by his own bor if he wants to, but he does not
capacities or lack of capacities. have to. In addition, he can do
These are internal restraints and work of an intellectual nature. A
absence of this kind of restraint much wider range of activities is
might be called internal freedom. open to him. He has much greater
Without internal freedom the ex.- freedom.
ternal form is not worth much. I A person of good moral charac-
ter has more freedom than one
Dr. f,lhillips, now retired, was for many years
head of the Department of Mathematics at the
who is lacking in this respect.
Massachusetts. Institute of Technology. Criminals do not believe this. They
179
say they can obey the moral rules affairs of a nation involves a mass
if they want to, but they do not of "know-how" learned in the
have to. But for this slight liberty street and in the factories, much
they give up far more than they of which exists only as custom.
get. Suppose, for example, a man A good illustration of this is
has been guilty of stealing. He West Germany at the end of the
can never get a position in a bank second world war. At that time
or any other position of trust. By there was widespread destruction
a single transgression he has ex- of industry in West Germany. To
cluded himself from the most de- make matters worse the United
sirable opportunities in life. He States and its allies for some
has greatly reduced his freedom. years after the fighting ceased
Similar effects follow from any stripped machinery from the few
other violation of the moral code. factories that were left and shipped
The reason for this is simple. it to Russia. Yet 10 years later
When people live in close contact, West Germany was the most pros-
efficient cooperation requires that perous country in Europe, indus-
their conduct conform to certain trially second only to the United
rules. These rules constitute the States in the whole world, and
moral code. For its own success people from other parts of Europe
society automatically develops were flocking into West Germany
mechanisms which favor those to enjoy the greater opportunities
who conform and oppose those who existing there. The reason for this
fail to conform to this code. is clear. When the fighting ceased,
the Germans were not a mob of
Education toward Freedom untrained people but a group con-
The examples I have given all taining individuals capable of do-
belong to the field of education. ing anything needed in a modern
Even good morals is a form of state. Given control of their own
education acquired by those who affairs, in a short time they had
have the good fortune to be born the business of the nation operat-
in and grow up in a suitable ening smoothly and' productively.
vironment. And it is only through Compare this with the Congo.
education that a person can ex- Under pressure from the native
pand his capabilities and so in- population and well-meaning out-
crease his freedom. siders the Belgians, who had been
By education I do not mean directing the affairs of the nation,
merely what is learned in school. withdrew. There was immediate
That is only a start. Handling the chaos. The great mass of the peo-
1968 FREEDOM 181
pIe had none of the qualities for science is merely man's under-
needed in a modern state. Left standing of the universe, including
alone, such a people can only sink his understanding of man as part
into savagery, victims of starva- of the universe.
tion, disease, and superstition. Un- The second fact is that more
der outside management they than 90 per cent of all the scien-
could be given the necessary train- tists who have ever lived are now
ing' but this would require at least alive and working, and the number
a generation and during that pe- is steadily increasing. Through
riod they certainly would not be the efforts of these people the ad-
free. vance in the future will certainly
The conclusion is that without be much more rapid than during
education no worth-while freedom my lifetime.
is possible. Under these conditions any de-
tailed plan devised by a govern-
External Influences ment quickly becomes obsolete and
This brings me to the second must be revised. Under govern-
part of my discussion, the limits ment operation this revision is
on freedom imposed by external merely the choice of one individual
agencies. Left entirely alone, a or small number of individuals.
person would have very little free- Under freedom the best methods
dom. All of his time would be suggested by anybody, because of
needed to keep alive. Some form their superiority are quickly
of cooperation with others is thus adopted.
a practical necessity and this re- The effect of freedom is thus
quires some restriction on individ- to produce maximum diversity in
ual action. The problem is to de- human affairs. Because of the
vise a type of cooperation which large number of unknowns, the
permits the individual to do his value of any suggested procedure
best. The difficulty in doing this cannot usually be determined by
is due to the rapid advance in hu- reason but must be tested by trial.
man affairs which quickly makes The number of suggestions, the
any detailed arrangement obsolete. number of trials, and consequently
The speed of this advance is indi- the number of superior methods
cated by certain facts. found is greatest when each indi-
The first fact is that more than vid ual makes his own choice.
half of all we now know has been This is the reason for freedom
developed during my lifetime. and the reason why freedom will
This has been the work of science, ultimately prevail. ~
WANTED: Manager for New Society
Typical Problems to Be Solved:
Determine what product or service each person most urgent-

ly needs in relation to his present means, his health, his
family obligations, his education, and other pertinent
factors.
Determine the quantity and quality of each item to be pro-
duced and establish prices for these items and their respec-
tive parts.
Prescribe the production method or methods to be used for
each product and part thereof.
Mr. Ayau is a businessman in Guatemala and a director of the Centro de Estu-
dios Economico-Sociales.
182
1968 WANTED: MANAGER FOR NEW SOCIETY 183
Arrange for discoveries, inventions, new methods, and pro-
cedures incidental to progress.
Decide when to increase, curb, or cease production of any
item.
Devise methods to minimize waste.
Decide who shall direct the use of capital, and how much
each shall control.
Determine which components a manufacturer is to produce
and which ones he is to purchase from outside suppliers.
Make essential adjustments to the constantly changing needs
and priorities of a dynamic economy, allocating re'Source'S
for production or for consumption as occasion demands.
Know what quantities and qualities of resources are avail-
able in what locations and in what degrees of accessibility
at all times.
Determine which resources are to be used for present pur-
poses and which are to be conserved for future uses.
Determine whether to produce various items domestically or
to import them.
Specify the location of each industrial plant and of each op-
eration within each plant.
Protect consumers against misleading advertising, excessive
credit charges, deceptive packaging, shoddy merchandise,
and other sales devices.
Precisely locate each wholesale and retail outlet, specify the
quantities and qualities of each item to be sold, the inventory
to be carried, the service markup to be added, and so forth.
Decide what is to be grown on each parcel of farm land, with
what tools and what amounts of labor and fertilizer and in-
secticides, depending upon the type of soil, weather condi-
tions, and alternative uses for the farmer's time and other
resources.
Determine the appropriate land-labor-capital combinations

for each industrial, commercial, transportation, or agri-
cultural activity.
Devise a system for prompt transmission to everyone con-

cerned of all information as to changes in demand for and
supply of each commodity and service.
Determine how many persons and which individuals are to

be engaged in each particular economic activity, describing
how each job is to be performed and at what wage and other
working conditions.
Devise incentives and penalties to assure desirable behavior

and discourage the other.
Determine the rate at which each person shall save and con-
sume, considering family obligations, current net worth,
health, and other pertinent factors.
Arrange for the satisfaction of wants according to personal

choice and individual means.
Arrange for prompt and efficient displacement of any person

who fails in any of the foregoing objectives.
* * *
It should be clear, of course, that anyone who applies for the
position of general manager of society automatically will have dis-
qualified himself. If he had understood the problem, he would have
known that there is no alternative to free market pricing as a guide to
peaceful economic affairs. ~
TION
CURES
HO'VARD E. KERSHNER ents to be sure, but many of them)
ONE MINISTER who opposes our develops resertment because he
conservative views cites the Scrip- feels that he is being robbed. That
ture in an attemptto show that we leads to a decline of effort, for
are wrong: "But whoso hath this unless men are assured of being
world's goods, and seeth his able to enjoy the fruits of their
brother have need, and shutteth labor, very few will put forth max-
up his bowels of compassion from imum effort and most of them will
him, how dwelleth the love of God only produce enough for a meager
in him?" (I John 3 :17). Obvi- living for themselves and their
ously our critic has not followed families.
our writings sufficiently to under- Our correspondent also cites the
stand that we are not opposed to following: "The righteous consid-
relieving the needy; in fact we ereth the cause of the poor; but
urge it. We believe it should be the wicked regardeth not to know
done by individuals and privately it." (Proverbs 29 :7) It is my con-
organized charities, rather than by tention that the man who has the
the state. ability to use capital productively
Private charity is curative. It is considering the cause of the
brings a blessing both to the giver poor far more effectively than the
and to the receiver. So-called state man who passes the dollars out to
charity, on the other hand, soon be spent immediately without last-
induces the beneficiary to think ing improvement for the poor, who
that the government owes him a need productive jobs. Our corres-
living; that it does not cost his pondent heaps scorn upon us, but
fellows anything, and that he he is wrong. The most effective
therefore has a right to it. He ex- service one can render is to help
pects it, demands it, and grows in- by his saving to build the capital
dignant if he does not receive it. of a country so it can employ more
On the other hand, the individual and more people at steadily in-
who is heavily taxed in order to creasing wages, thus producing a
provide for many loafers and higher and higher standard of
wastrels (not all welfare recipi- living. This is the way to conquer
From Howard Kershner's Commentaries, dis-
suffering, poverty, disease, and
tributed by the Christian Freedom Foundation. ignorance. ~
185
ELIOT JANEWAY, a Wall Street Janeway's new book, The Econ-

analyst who has made some re- omics of Crisis: War, Politics and
markably accurate market predic- the Dollar (Weybright and Talley,
tions by keeping one eye peeled $10.00), is a mixed historical and
for the state of the President's re- journalistic coup. It takes off from
lations with Congress, is a "chart- Randolph Bourne's wholly repel-
ist" with a difference. Where other lent but wholly accurate observa-
analysts regard politics as an in- tion that "war is the health of the
trusion upon their subject that state." It follows from this that
must be explained away as ac- the peaceful development of coun-
cident, Janeway turns things tries is dependent on what has
around: in his view markets are been done to expand the economy
wholly dependent on power con- in wartime. War, says Janeway,
siderations, and the statistics of can be a mighty stimulus to na-
supply and demand are less im- tion building, but the proviso is
portant than, say, Lyndon John- that it must be waged by men of
son's habit of secretiveness, or the reasonable intelligence who can be
inability of Secretary of the cold-blooded about the payoff.
Treasury Fowler to get Secretary Janeway himself is as cold-
of Defense McNamara on the tele- bloodedly realistic as Sancho
phone. In such a world, the so- Panza himself. His book is an ex-
called science of economics takes plosively interacting multiple of
on a gossipy quality - but, in a four observations. The first obser-
time of galloping statism, an ana- vation is that America's wars,
lyst whose sources are both good prior to the one in which we are
and talkative can score some tre- now engaged, have all been profit-
mendous coups. able. Observation Number Two is
186
1968 WAR, POLITICS, AND THE DOLLAR 187
that Europe and Asia haven't been Caribbean and the Philippines and
as lucky in their wars, though the dash of the Oregon around
there have been ~xceptions. Obser- Cape Horn, dramatized the need
vation Number ,f'hree, taken from for the Panama Canal. And our
Norman AngeII'-s Tile Great Illu- three truly distant wars - World
sion, is that imperialism lost its War I, World War II, and the
realistic sanction when it ceased to Korean War - were forcing houses
be a simple matter of looting. And for the development of our tech-
the fourth observation is that nological economy.
wars are no longer needed as a Meanwhile, Europe and Asia
gigantic prod to production pro- suffered b.ecause of their inability
vided that mass consumption can to evade wartime destruction and
be stimulated by the political man- tremendous casualties. Some of
agement of continental-size econ- Britain's colonial wars were
omies. cheaply fought, and Bismarck put
the German Empire together by
Profitable Wars
easy victories over Austria and
When he is exploring the impli- Denmark. But the Franco-Prus-
cations of the first three of his ob- sian War proved a disappointment
servations, Janeway is entirely to the Germans, and the two world
convincing. The American Revolu- wars were devastating to all of
tion was mismanaged from a their European participants.
monetary standpoint, but when
Another Story in Vietnam
the soldiers were paid off in west-
ern land scrip it gave a mighty So Janeway lets his observa-
impetus to the westward expan- tions take him down to the pres-
sion. The War of 1812 was some- ent. It might be argued that, since
thing of a stand-off, but it did get the Vietnam War is far away, it
the British and their Indian allies can't hurt us much. But this is a
off our backs in the Detroit region, war that we are fighting alone. It
which meant that settlers could is a costly war financially, but, curi-
sleep in their beds. The Mexican ously, it isn't leading to any sig-
War rounded out our continental nificant industrial expansion. The
shape, and the Civil War preserved war is, at the moment of writing,
the new geographical configura- too small to permit controls, but
tion for the continental market not small enough to avoid mone-
that grew up with the building of tary inflation. Meanwhile, the
the railroads. The Spanish-Ameri- Soviets feed just enough support
can War, with its action in the to their North Vietnamese allies
188 THE FREEMAN "A/arch
to keep our casualties mounting To give Janeway his due, he is

without costing the life of a single no devotee of the crude theory
Russian soldier. By bogging us that "government investment" can
down in Southeast Asia, the So- solve all our troubles. He does not
viets have a free hand to adven- divide economics into "private"
ture in the eastern Mediterranean. and "public" sectors. His particu-
Janeway is certain that they will lar brand of interventionism,
make the most of it. though it is couched in neo-Keynes-
Thus we have lost the edge in ian language, is fairly close to
"crisis management" to Moscow. l\lilton Friedman's theory that the
In Janeway's estimation,' it was economy can be kept moving ahead
l\tIcNamara who misled Johnson in a state of dynamic equilibrium
into thinking the Vietnam War if the currency is expanded in a
could be won with a limited com- stable relationship to the increase
mitment. Johnson, in turn, was too in productivity. Janeway sees no
secretive to take Congress into his virtue in the "public sector" as
confidence or to seek its advice- such, and he is all for increasing
and' he is now lost in the "jungles" private fortunes provided they are
of Vietnam and Detroit without profitably engaged. After all, if
the money needed to win on either there is no flourishing private
the foreign or the home front. economy, the political managers
would have no source of tax funds
Weak on Welfarism
to take care of the strays.
The weak point of Janeway's The trouble with the Bismarck-
book is its treatment of the rise Lloyd George theory of the social
of the Welfare State. He speaks of service state, however, is that it
"Bismarck's Breakthrough," and provides no assurance that a J ane-
adds a few pages on Lloyd way or a Milton Friedman will
George's "creative improvisations" ever be allowed to work the levers.
which "translated" Bismarck's so- Bismarckian "socialism" created a
cial legislation into English. The population that became all too de-
inference to be drawn from this pendent on state action and state
sympathetic treatment of Bis- commands - and it wasn't much
marck as a primitive Keynesian of a jump from Bismarck's theo-
planner is that the human race is ries to Hitler's National Social-
now in possession of social instru- ism. Lloyd George's England
ments which will allow it to feed nlerged insensibly into the Eng-
everybody without resorting to land of Beveridge cradle-to-grave
the economics of war preparation. planning, which certainly hasn't
proved compatible with industrial days of journalism when the in-
productivity. formal essayist delighted, in-
As a hard-boiled reflection of formed, and infuriated readers
"what is," the Janeway insistence' with his ruminations. He writes
that politicians make the economic as a good conversationalist might
climate is all too true. But if talk on whatever topic comes to
there is no revulsion against the mind. Some event in the daily
idea that economics must always round supplies the 'inspiration, but
be subservient to the compulsions the thought pursued leads far
of politics, the correct image for afield, reflecting the conceit that
our productive system will remain the reader's interest is as varied,
that of the snake attempting to intelligent, and literate as Roy-
live by swallowing its tail. ~ ster's own. He writes, then, about
what interests him, be the subject
profound or trivial, philosophic or
nostalgic, timely or timeless.
~ A PRIDE OF PREJUDICES by Royster once told an interviewer
Verrnont Royster (New York: Al- that he thought himself the most
fred A. Knopf, 1967), 361 pp., radical editor in the country, so
$6.95. out of step is he with the prevail-
ing mood of the body politic. He
Reviewed by Robert M. Thornton
opposes the inflationary financial
READERS of The Wall Street Jour- policies of the national govern-
nal need little introduction to this ment and "the feeling that the
collection of essays by the editor government should feed our chil-
of that outstanding newspaper. dren, build our houses, provide
Many of these short pieces were for our old age, take care of us
selected from his occasional col- when we are sick, and bury us
umn, "Thinking Things Over," when we die." At a time when
which is an especially bright spot statism is embraced by most of
even in that sparkling editorial the molders of public opinion this
page. In these days when many of is indeed a radical position.
our "spiritual leaders" are busy When Royster faced the prob-
picketing, marching, and inciting lem of deciding who was to revie\v
to riot, it is in such unlikely places his book for The Wall Street J our-
as this that one finds searching nal, he arrived at a very simple,
thought about the human condi- yet daring, solution: he "re-
tion. viewed" the book himself. Here
Royster is a throwback to earlier was no self-praise or false mod-
esty but as one man said, "about that the Dark Ages lasted only
the most subtle mention of a book five hundred years.
by its author I have ever seen." "So perhaps the best thing to
In the closing sentences of the be said of the book is simply that
"review" Royster describes the Alfred Knopf thought it worth
contents of his book. You will find publishing."
inside, he writes, "some little es- Most of Royster's "review" is
says on sundry subjects done in a taken up with praise for the out-
quaint, meandering style. There standing job of book-designing
are personality sketches of public and book-making done by his pub-
persons that are de rigueur for a lisher. "It looks good on a coffee
practicing journalist; the passing table," he says "even if you never
thoughts on weighty public ques- open it." Indeed it does, but great
tions that an editor must offer to would be the loss of anyone who
keep his license; the reportage on neglected to look between the
affairs as distant as Kansas and covers. ~
India by which a reporter tests his
craftsmanship.
~ ON AGGRESSION by Konrad
"But there are also, you should
Lorenz, translated by Marjorie
be forewarned, essays of no great
Kerr Wilson (New York: Har-
point or purpose. Nostalgia can
be pleasant self-indulgence but court, Brace & World, Inc., 1966),
others may not be moved by re- 306 pp. $5.75
membrances of yesterday's De- ~ THE TERRITORIAL IMPERA-
pression or of wars past. The bor- TIVE by Robert Ardrey ( New
derline between sentiment and York: Atheneum, 1966), 390 pp.
sentimentality is very narrow, and $6.95
therefore easy to step over when Reviewed by Gordon B. Bleil
recalling a .great-grandfather or ROBERT ARDREY here assembles a
dreaming over a grandchild. vast amount of m,aterial from the
"Finally, one man's prejudice works of natural scientists and
is another man's anathema. Cer- adds his personal interpretation -
tainly not everyone today will or more correctly, his extrapola-
share the belief, expressed there- tion. The work is tightly focused
in, that our heritage from the past on the single subject of territorial-
contains many values worth con- ity.
serving in the twentieth century. Territory is any area of space
Or amid the troubles of the pres- which an animal or group of ani-
ent find comfort in the reminder mals defends as an exclusive pre-
serve, and territoriality is the in- vironment or culture, rejecting its

ward compulsion to possess and hereditary basis.
defend such property. Ardrey Konrad Lorenz is frequently re-
notes in his introduction that only ferred to in Ardrey's work, but at
one book (a 1920 work) has been the time Ardrey was writing,
devoted entirely to territoriality Lorenz's work had not been trans-
and that one was about birds. But lated from the original German. It
considerable material on the sub- has since become available in Eng-
ject is tucked away in the, pages of lish.
scientific journals. Lorenz's focus is on aggression
Ardrey develops his thesis that which he defines as "the fighting
man is a territorial animal linked instinct in beast and man which is
firmly to his piece of earth, and he directed against members of the
argues that male competition- same species." A naturalist by pro-
human as well as animal - is pri- fession and choice, Dr. Lorenz is
marily for possession of property, also a doctor of medicine and a
and only secondarily for posses- doctor of philosophy. From this
sion of the female. This inquiry solidly based vantage point he has
describes the physical behavior of considerable leverage on his bio-
many species, and also speculates logical materials and their human
on the emergence of values and implications.
natural morality among humans Somewhat less well structured
as concomitant phenomena. and less readable than Ardrey's
Property as pivotal in affairs of work, due in part, perhaps, to the
men was acknowledged by our difficulties of translation, Lorenz
Founding Fathers and emphasized nevertheless provokes reflection.
by political writers preceding Territoriality is one of the causes
them - as attested by the popular- of aggression, but not the only
ity of such slogans as "Life, Lib- one. Aggressive behavior in the
erty, and Property." Of late the animal kingdom has evoked a par-
private property principle has not allel development. of reliable, inhib-
only been ignored, but aggressive- itory mechanisms which prevent a
ly attacked in the flight toward species from destroying itself. Man
nonproperty social structures . . . is unique in that he has developed
welfarism, socialism, communism, enormous aggressive capabilities
and the like. Ardrey roots man's and destructive power without a
institutions in his biological heri- parallel development of reliable,
tage and challenges those who at- natural inhibitions.
tribute our behavior solely to en- Lorenz finds aggression healthy,
innate, and ineradicable. His prin- kind eliminates competition or ad-

cipal point is that the survival of vocates its neutralization, at
mankind - considering the awe- hazard is ultimate survival. It may
some destructive power now at our be a sign of the times that con-
disposal - depends on our success currently with the progress of
in imitating the natural and re- socialism highly competitive phys-
liable inhibitory mechanisms ical-contact sports, such as foot-
evolved by other organisms rather ball, mushroom in popularity - a
than trying to sweep aggression modern equivalent, so to speak, of
under the rug as immoral or cura- bread and circuses.
able. This tack will not work be- Fortunately for the serious stu-
cause aggressive drives are a nec- dent, both works are heavily ref-
essary part of our nature. erenced and additional study in
Students of the free economy areas of particular concern is facil-
will be reassured to find effective itated. Lorenz is slightly less de-
natural principles at work in hu- sirable in this aspect than Ardrey
man nature itself, which are con- because much of his source ma-
sistent with the ideology of com- terial, understandably, is in Ger-
petitive enterprise. We are better man. Both books are likely to
equipped to defend the market become well-thumbed by those who
place, where competition is aimed want a better understanding of
at serving the consumer. If man- why we are and what we are. ~
HANDSOME BLUE LEATHERLEX

12-ROD
FREEMAN BINDERS
$2.50 each
Order from: THE FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, INC.

the
Freeman
in this issue
VOLUME 18, NO.4 APRIL 1968
"" Not the things of life, suggests "" "Protect the leather industry! Then
John Sparks, but the people ought to let us compete," is the way at least
be free .. ..p. 195 one man in the busi ness sees it
............ p. 232
~ And how better to use and develop

one's freedom than through unre-
stricted travel? ....... p. 201 "" Life isn't exactly a game of basket-
ball, concedes Gary North, but re-
spected rules and an honest referee
"" Henry Hazlitt adds a word in de- can help in either case ... p. 237
fense of tourists and foreign investors
.......... p. 205
"" Raymond Buker came a bit late for

"" Dr. Kuehnelt-Leddihn's practiced Christmas, but his point remains valid
eye affords substantial insight into as of April 15 . .. .p. 247
the economic, social, and political sit-
uation in Latin America ..... '" p. 207
~ The Future of Conservatism by

"" Again, says Bill Dykes, let's first Stanton Evans affords this month's
learn to dispose of our own garbage if grist for "The Reviewer's Notebook"
we are truly concerned about others ............ p. 249
... p. 216
"" Professor Carson reviews the his- ~ And Review Editor Opitz covers a
tory of pre-industrial England from pair: The Symphony of Life by Donald
which she was to emerge as a world H. Andrews and The Broken Image by
power ...... p. 219 Floyd W. Matson .... .. .. p. 252


Economic Education
THE F R E E MAN is published monthly by the

7230.
vited in any amount-$5.00 to $10,OOO-as the means

"Tourists and Investors as Scapegoats" and "The Rise and Fall of
England."
THE
BEST
NOT FREE
THINGS
IN
LIFE
ARE
JOHN C. SPARKS
THE OLD SONG proclaims that the and endless other items and serv-
best things in life are free - and ices - all scarce at prices buyers
specifically extols such romantic would prefer to pay.
items as the moon, the sky, and IVI uch as we might wish to ac-
the flowers in spring. quire freely these best things of
The composer of these popular life, a moment's reflection shows
lyrics doubtless earned his fame why that is an impossible dream.
and royalties, though his philo- N one of these items is handed to
sophical sentiments might not win us by nature. None comes into be-
the plaudits of classical econo- ing without considerable effort by
mists. The latter would point out persons combining skills, years of
that the best things derive their training, and savings to produce
value from scarcity and are far desirable products and services.
from free. These products or services exist
A good house that may be free only because they can command a
for the taking is extremely scarce price, a price sufficient to encour-
- in fact, nonexistent. So are au- age productivity by those who have
tomobiles, automatic washers and the inclination. The fact that some
dryers, stereophonic consoles, en- persons are willing to pay for new
gineering services, the latest medi- hats causes scarce and valuable
cal drugs, classical art, fur coats, hats to materialize.
Many individuals, ,vorking sep-
Mr. Sparks is an executive of an Ohio manu- arately or grouped in companies,
facturing company and a frequent contributor
to THE FREEMAN. try to attract those who would buy
196 THE FREEMAN April
their scarce products and services. marvel to him, not to mention

Some succeed. Some do not. And their blessings upon millions and
respect for the discriminating millions of people. Life spans in-
judgment of potential buyers does creased unbelievably; many com-
more to improve the quality and mon and formerly fatal diseases
variety of goods and services "for virtually wiped out; human lives
sale" than does any other factor. blossoming that otherwise had no
The composer quite properly chance - miracles all!
listed love, happiness, and other Such outstanding service in sav-
intangible wonders among the best ing Ii ves and restoring health has
of things. It was doubtless intend- brought substantial economic re-
ed that the individual respond by ward to many of these modern men
actions that would earn for him of medicine. In addition to the
stirring soul satisfactions without monetary rewards, many have
an outlay of cash. Several decades known the personal satisfaction of
later, however, the song's promise serving the unfortunate ones lack-
has been stretched to cover not ing the funds to pay the full price,
only the philosophically-desirable or perhaps any price, for needed
objectives listed by the song writ- medical attention.
er, but many economically-desir- So phenomenal has been medical
able products and services as well. progress in the United States that
Obsessed by desire to consume, one would hardly expect it to be
prevailing political action attempts the object of political attack. Yet,
to by-pass the essential thought, a strange brand of collectivist
saving, and labor that produce "logic" proclaims the "right" to
"the best econornic things." free services of all kinds, including
medical- not the volunteered
Progress in Medicine services of generous physicians to
Successful performance of a those unable to pay - but the cold,
scarce and valuable service is well impersonal, regimented service
illustrated in the field of medicine. yielded by Federal legislation. By
A medical man of 1868, if given a what logic do Americans of any
glimpse of the parade of medical age expect to receive free medical
accomplishments to come in the care under a system of compul-
century just now ended, could sion?
scarcely have believed such mir- Some may question the use of
acles possible. The description of the word "free" to describe Medi-
such medical treatments, drugs, care benefits. Does not each earner
and procedures would have been a of income pay his own way through
1968 THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE NOT FREE 197
the Federal social security system raise funds for expanded facilities
for Medicare? Furthermore, the and improved equipment. And the
doctor's care portion of Medicare difficulty in acquiring such funds
is voluntarily chosen and paid for accounts for the relative scarcity
by the citizens. How can these be of hospital services.
called "free"? So what? What if those who are
The answer, of course, is that no covered under the Medicare pro-
service of value can be free. Medi- gram believe that medical services
care is not free. It has to be paid are virtually free and available in
for one way or another - or the great abundance - rather than un-
service will not be forthcoming. free and relatively scarce? What
But in the Medicare idea is a sub- difference does it make? They will
stantial element of something that receive the benefits, won't they-
to many of our countrymen ap- benefits they could not otherwise
pears to be a free benefit - or a afford?
partially-free benefit. They find it
easy to assume that medical bene- Consequences of Medicare
fits are in unlimited abundance in- IV[edicare patients no\v receiving
s tead of scarce and costly. The medical attention otherwise be-
service seems to be there for the yond their means will not easily
taking. It is true that medical be persuaded that Medicare is like-
drugs, technical equipment, and ly to downgrade the quality of
skills are much more plentiful than medicine in this nation. N onethe-
in years past; yet, they do not less, the advent of Medicare and
grow on trees. Manufacturers its supplemental programs will
spend millions of dollars to contend toward that result.
duct research and develop new The discipline of the market-
medicines. But their resources are that is, the exchange of values be-
limited by the amount stockhold- tween persons willing to trade
ers are willing to risk in the un- their scarce savings for scarce
certainty of researching and devel- medical services - is lost, or se-
oping a new product. Not every- verely impaired. Individual de-
one is willing or able to endure the cision-making will be displaced by
long years of study, expense, and government compulsion. Tragic
self-denial to become a doctor. results are sure to follow.
Doctors, therefore, are scarce. And Keep in mind that the cost of
so are the allied services such as Medicare was estimated by its pro-
nursing. Private and public hos- ponents on the low side to render
pital boards constantly need to it more palatable to wavering leg-
islators. Costs of government pro- others. What incentive remains to

grams seldom are estimated ac- keep the total cost reasonable?
curately. Medicare ran two or None whatsoever. The social se-
three times over its original esti- curity or other tax rates will con-
mate in the first year. Marginal ill- tinue to grow until they finally be-
nesses that previously would have come unbearable to taxpaying sal-
gone unattended now call for the ary and wage earners. Greater
doctor's attention - and add to the Federal deficits will bring further
cost of Medicare. Patients seek inflation.
more frequent and more extended
hospitalization - at added cost. Those to Be Blamed
Medical services and medical sup- And there will be scapegoats to
plies will broaden in definition so be sacrificed. Doctors will find
that areas never intended to come their fees first restricted, then
under the program will be included fixed. Numbers of Medicare pa-
- and add to the costs. Opportun- tients will be forcibly increased
ists will flock into the program, in without regard for the number of
collusion with patients, with sup- non-Medicare patients the doctor
plies and "semi-hospital" services may prefer to serve. And there
and activities bordering on the will be a revision in policy con-
fraudulent - all to become a part cerning other doctors who origi-
of the costs. nally refused to cooperate. They
Another extra cost - overlooked will be blamed for the shortcom-
by the proponents of Medicare- ings of Medicare, poor attitudes,
is the transformation of medical and lack of uniform coverage-
services, formerly performed free and will be forced to join the pro-
or at very low cost, into full price gram.
when eligible for government com- Private hospitals also will be
pensation. One doctor who "be- among the scapegoats when they
fore-Medicare" spent one day a seek equitable coverage of hospi-
week gratis with the residents of tal costs not now allowable for re-
a home for the elderly, now allows imbursement by the Medicare pro-
Medicare to pay him more than gram.
$1,000 for this day. The innocent bystanders will be
Beyond all this is the heavy cost those persons not covered by Medi-
of bureaucratic operation and the care but in need of medical atten-
lost sense of frugality by all par- tion, attention they will not get
ties in the program - patients, because so much of the scarce pro-
doctors, hospitals, agents, and fessional time and effort has gone
1968 THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE NOT FREE 199
into red-tape, restrictions, and un- pay in terms of lower quality care,
necessary "doctoring." These "for- the deterioration of medical sci-
gotten" people, the ineligible, self- ence, reduced numbers of intelli-
reliant families, will have to pay gent young men entering the field
twice, first for the Medicare of of medicine and scientific medical
others, and then for the care of research? What good in predicting
their own families, not to mention the gloomy future of medicine in
the disproportionate share of hos- the United States? The eggs have
pital overhead expense they will been broken, the scrambling under
be charged. For such double out~ way. Will such portrayals of Medi-
lay, they will receive minimum care's future return .us to our
time and attention from regiment- senses? Will this discussion help
ed doctors.. This excluded group bring economic understanding?
could hardly be blamed if it were Will anyone gain from this effort
to petition legislators to make the courage to join in the struggle
Medicare coverage universal. to restore freedom in this field of
A further consequence of Medi- human activity so vital to man's
care will be noted by all too few. 'well-being? I do not know.
The rate of medical growth and
The Effort to Improve
discovery of the last hundred years
will not be maintained. Bureau- The attempt must be made, how-
cratically fixed fees will discourage ever, regardless of the heavy odds
the development of new surgical against any quick rescue of medi-
procedures and concepts. Difficult, cine from the dismal detour it has
time-consuming, risky, tiring, ex- taken. Some day, the collectivist
ploratory efforts ,vill not be worth idea will recede, as honest and in-
the candle under Medicare. What telligent human actions beat it in-
fee should a doctor charge for the to retreat. Such gains, however,
first heart replacement operation? do not come from wishful think-
And why not stick instead to $35 ing or from dire predictions of
tonsillectomies, and $150 appen- socialistic evil. Nor is it certain
dectomies? Advancement in medi- that they will come from the ac-
cal science is seriously threatened tual misery of the adverse results.
by Medicare. Human nature is prone to accom-
Since the program is now law, modate to adversity which arrives
why point to the descending path gradually - as might be expected
it will follow? Why spell out the in medical affairs under regimen-
terrible price that all Americans - tation.
the young and the elderly - will Only a fresh and better under-
standing of the achievements pos- To spread the understanding of

sible in a free society will wean freedom is our task. There is no
support away from Medicare. Per- other antidote for the regimenta-
sons who think they are being tion of government control and in-
practical in support of government terference dedicated to accomplish-
medicine might well be persuaded ing the impossible. Only then will
to transfer their allegiance to the medical services and products be
institutions of freedom. The recognized as the best things in
search for a magic political form- life, but far from free. Only then
ula that will produce the best eco- will freedom of choice and free-
nomic things is doomed to failure. dom of exchange return to the
New formulas will be offered after field of medicine. Only then will it
each failure - "one more try"- resume its jet-like speed toward
which will fail in turn, until hu- new miracles of the future.
man gullibility is exhausted. Then The best things of life are not
a renewed understanding of the free. But human freedom is the
blessings of freedom will return to best means to attain the most de-
the people of our land. sirable "things" of our lives. ~
Ownership Means Control

A MAN is free precisely to the extent that his property rights
are intact, because the condition of freedom and the condition of
slavery are distinguished on the basis of the right of private
property. A freeman owns himself and whatever he comes by
lawfully. A slave owns nothing.... Ownership, however, means
more than the possession of formal legal title to things. It means
control. Control means authority over use, and over disposition
as well. It means the condition in which one has the authority to
follow his own preferences.
SYLVESTER PETRO
From testimony before Senate .Judiciary

Committee on the 1966 Civil Rights Act
PAUL L. POIROT
PERHAPS not always, but often these may be barriers, too, more
the grass is greener on the other internal than external.
side of the fence. And if there be In a sense, these internal bar-
such a thing as progress, it must riers are by far the most difficult
be primarily in terms of the free- for man to span, for he may not
dom of the individual to travel realize they are barriers or sus-
and trade and find out what is pect there could be something be-
beyond that fence. yond. How could there be anything
A fence, of course, is a barrier beyond the ocean if the earth were
- sometimes natural, as in the fiat? Or anything desirable beyond
case of broad oceans or rivers, a great wall or an iron curtain if
impenetrable jungles, lifeless des- no outside goods or services or
erts, steep mountainous terrain, ideas were allowed to penetrate?
or just empty space - sometimes Fear of the unknown can effec-
man-made of mined harbors and tively halt man's search for knowl-
passes, guarded walls, locked edge. An ocean or river or fence or
doors, barbed wire entanglements, wall affords protection and security
iron curtains, restraining laws, or of a sort he will abandon with
just red tape. And lack of knowl- great reluctance, if at all. Wild
edge and information, lack of im- animals, once domesticated, lose
agination and initiative and in- the ability to shift for themselves
genuity, lack of effort, lack of and the curiosity to explore be-
vision and courage and faith- yond the fence; and man, long im-
201
prisoned, comes to welcome his wisdom of the ancients, in books

walls and chains. and lost records and buried bones
and artifacts. And some would go
The Great Civilizer where man has never been before.
The story of civilization, how- Where man has been before and
ever, is the story of man emerg- staked his claim, .not always are
ing from his shell, thinking, forc- travelers welcome. To cross a
ing, working, winning his way fence may be to trespass. Many of
over or under or around or the chapters in the book of civili-
through the barriers and fences he zation have been written in the
encounters. The story includes a blood of conquistadors and cru-
running history of travel, the saders and the victims of their
odysseys of man, the wanderings invasion. Nor have we seen an
of Abraham and Lot, the journeys end to such mass migrations and
of Marco Polo, the voyages of the wars of conquest. Without con-
Phoenicians and Vikings and Co- doning the methods of coercion,
lumbus and Cabot, the Crusades, it may be acknowledged that in-
the Pilgrims, the Lewis and Clark vaders and defenders sometimes
expedition, the development of have learned from one another,
commercial aviation. So much of hopefully found ways to live more
the story of human progress is ex- abundantly together and in peace.
pressed in the improvements in But as long as some men travel
transportation growing out of to conquer, others will try harder
man's need to travel- the horse, to build and hide behind protec-
the wheel, the cart, the boat, the tive barriers. It must be doubted
sail, the rail, the piston motor, that ultimate human progress is
the wing, the jet. to be thus achieved.
Man's need to travel! Necessity
takes many forms and mothers The Wealth of Nations
many things. The need sometimes Adam Smith, less than two cen-
is literally for green pastures, a turies ago, pioneered in setting
watering hole, raw materials, liv- forth in orderly fashion what some
ing room. Others travel in search others had learned through trial
of beauty, understanding, great and error about the wealth of na-
ideas, truth - perhaps a sense of tions. There had been travel and
mission and responsibility toward trade of sorts through the cen-
fellow men. Some need to travel turies. Marco Polo might be de-
back through time, to discover scribed as a traveling salesman.
and decipher and understand the Camel caravans connected far-
1968 PROGRESS THROUGH TRAVEL 203
flung communities through trade. terests is to more efficiently serve
The Phoenicians were active trad- the interests of others and reap
ers in Mediterranean waters. The the rewards they will freely offer.
Roman Empire was in part a trad-
ing area. There were the mer- Freedom in America
chants of Venice and Florence. Could it have been entirely co-
New trade routes opened in the incidence that the year 1776, when
wake of the Crusades. Columbus Adam Smith's great book first ap-
was seeking a better route to the peared, also marked the beginning
spices of India. The mercantilists of a new idea about wars and gov-
were traders in a protected mar- ernments? The American Revolu-
ket system. But it remained for tion was a war for independence
Adam Smith to begin the explana- rather than for conquest, and the
tion of the advantages of speciali- limited form of government that
zation and trade that men some- developed in the young republic
times had practiced without full was designed primarily to. keep
understanding. The wealth of na- the peace among men who other-
tions, and of individuals, he per- wise would be free to produce
ceived, is not so much something goods and services and to trade
that exists - something hoarded and travel as they pleased and
or held in inventory - but an on- could afford.
going process of exchange among Primarily free! Yet, nearly
willing buyers and sellers free to another century would pass, and
travel with their ideas and their another terrible war, before hu-
wares. man slavery would be unlawful in
Other scholars studied and elab- the land. Nor has the warring
orated upon and refined the ra- ceased, as attested by recent riot-
tionale for private ownership and ing and looting in American cities
control and free trade in a mar- by persons politically unchained
ket open to all peaceful competi- yet intellectually, morally, emo-
tors. Eventually, some began to tionally unfree. The person who
understand that when exchange is has not learned to travel without
voluntary, both parties gain some- trespassing remains essentially a
thing from the transaction. Then runaway slave, not his own master.
they could know that it is not Yet, primarily free! Within the
necessary to rob or enslave others United States over the years there
in order to accumulate personal have been remarkably few cur-
wealth. On the contrary, the far tains, walls, tariffs, embargoes, or
better way to serve one's own in- other barriers to trade and travel.
Rivers, oceans, mountains, and come him. Free to partake of any

deserts have been spanned until recreational opportunities open to
no person in the nation is more the public and within his means.
than a few hours from any other. Free to overcome in any peaceful
Contacts can be made and con- manner, and to become his own
tracts consummated from any man.
part of the country to any other Yes, citizens of the United
in minutes, if not seconds. States primarily have known the
blessings of open markets, open
To Overcome Obstacles and shops, open doors, open homes,
Become One's Own Man open books, open minds, and open
Overcoming such barriers has hearts, within the institutional
helped to set man free; but he safeguards of limited government,
needed to be somewhat free in sanctity of contract, private prop-
order to overcome restraints and erty, and no trespassing. The mind
become self-responsible. Free to of the individual has been free
dream and follow that dream to grow in proportion as he has
wherever it led. Free to explore been free to explore and to travel
every new opportunity and move and to trade. And as the individ-
toward those most attractive. Free ual has prospered, so has the na-
to seek and find unused or waste- tion. Travel and trade are warp
fully used resources and exploit and woof in the delicate fabric of
them to everyone's better advan- civilization.
tage. Free to move himself to If man is to participate effec-
another job, if more attractive, tively in the ongoing process of
or to move his place of business Creation, he needs to be free to
to a better location that might be compete, not only within a given
a vailable. Free to travel from an nation, but throughout the world.
undesirable political jurisdiction National borders that inhibit
to a better one. Free to pursue peaceful trade and travel are bar-
his educational program with any riers to progress.
willing teacher, wherever avail- The most certain way to halt
able, at home or abroad. Free to or prevent the development of a
compete in any market place. Free nation and its citizens is to fence
to visit friends who would wel- them in. ~
Tourists and Investor,
al Scapegoats
HENRY HAZLITT
THE DEFICIT in the U. S. balance deeply injure both the dollar and
of payments, and the prospect of ou r economy.
losing still more gold, is the direct Let's begin with foreign invest-
result of the government's own ments. Four-and-a-half years ago
chronic budget deficits (particu- the government put a "temporary"
larly the huge one for 1968) fi- penalty tax on foreign portfolio
nanced by printing more and investments and asked for "vol-
more paper dollars. untary" restraints on foreign
President Johnson blandly ig- bank loans and direct investments.
nores all this and puts the blame N ow it has decided that these di-
on the American people. The worst rect investments are one of the
culprits are the businessmen who chief causes of the balance-of-pay-
invest abroad and the citizens who ments deficit and it has cracked
travel abroad. So he has an- down on them.
nounced mandatory limits and The truth is that our private
penalties on both. These restric- investments abroad are one of the
tions may possibly make the bal- chief sources of strength in our
ance-of-payments statistics look balance of payments. So far as
less ominous for a few months. direct investment is concerned,
But in the long run they are not the annual repatriation to the
only condemned to failure but will United States of income from
205
past investments has exceeded an- derdeveloped" countries. These

nual new investment outlays in handouts, as experience shows,
every year since 1945. Currently are wasted on harebrained social-
we are receiving $4 billion in in- istic schemes and, in any case,
come from this source, compared produce no offsetting earnings to
with an outflow of new capital of help our payments balance.
only some $2.5 to $3 billion. The new investment curbs, fi-
We received in 1967 from total nally, discriminate among foreign
private investments - including countries and so are certain to
bank loans and foreign securities breed resentment and retaliation.
- about $6.5 billion in income The proposed curbs on tourists
compared with an outgo of $4.5 are folly compounded. If, as Mr.
billion in new investments. This Johnson says, the citizens who
means a net balance-of-payments travel abroad are "damaging their
surplus of about $2 billion. country," aren't the citizens dam-
If we now constrict or cut off aging it still more who spend
the flow of new investment abroad, American dollars on Scotch,
we will do so only at the cost of French wines and perfumes, Ital-
constricting our future invest- ian couturiers, imported diamonds,
ment income from abroad. But jewelry, furs, and cars?
this is only part of the cost. We What's so outstandingly wicked
will undermine our own long- about travel? Why not, in con-
range competitive strength abroad. sistency, forbid the importation
We will withhold the capital that of all luxuries and put tough
allows foreign countries to im- quotas on the import of coffee and
prove their living standards. And cocoa? And why is it treason to
we will fail to develop the exports travel to Belgium but still patri-
that grow directly out of our di- otic to go to Brazil ?
rect investments abroad.
The .new program is riddled There is only one basic cure for
with contradictions. The govern- the weakness of the dollar. That
ment will first forbid its citizens is to stop the reckless Federal
to invest their money in countries spending; stop the budget deficits;
where it is used productively to stop grinding out more paper dol-
earn a. return and strengthen our lars. The new penalties and de-
balance of payments. And then crees .only divert attention from
it will tax these same citizens and the need for this basic remedy. ~
give away their funds as "aid" to
Copyright 1968, Los Angeles Times. Re-
irresponsible governments of "un- printed with its permission. .
IN PERSPECTIVE
ERIK v. KUEHNELT-LEDDIHN
THE AVERAGE CITIZEN of the United masses." Others will blame the
States knows only too well that Spaniards for not having raised
something is seriously wrong in the educational level of the Indi-
Latin America. But what is it? ans, and so forth. Yet, in the prev-
If somebody has the measles, we alent views on Latin America,
notice the rash, but this is only untruths are pitted against half-
a surface reaction on the skin truths, results are taken for
pointing to a disease which actu- causes, and stark ignorance is
ally infests the organism pro- mixed with stubborn prejudices.
foundly. The military dictator- As with a human being in a
ships in Latin America also are state of general decline, it is
reactions to an unhealthy situa- necessary to investigate the "case
tion. Usually people will mention history" of Latin America. What
the glaring differences of wealth is this part of the world like?
and insist that "social reforms" What does it represent? First of
would do the trick. Some claim all, let us face the fact that apart
that there is no "genuine faith" from the Caribbean area Latin
in Latin America and that the America consists of three major
Church, by "allying herself with regions:
the rich" and failing to "fight (a) the countries (from Mex-
illiteracy," has "betrayed the ico to Paraguay) with many In-
Dr. Kuehnelt-Leddihn is a European scholar,
dians, a large mixed population
linguist, world traveler, and lecturer. Of bis and a small, sometimes exceed-
many published works, the best known in
America is his book Liberty or Equality? ingly small,white top layer,
207
(b) predominantly white na- established: churches, chapels, ca-

tions (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay) thedrals, palaces, city halls, print-
and ing shops, universities, monas-
(c) Brazil, a "sub-continent" teries, convents, and comfortable,
larger than the United States, spacious living quarters sprang up
which is of Portuguese, not of almost over night.
Spanish origin and has a strong
A Different Race
African admixture.
In spite of great varieties these It was the Crown that tried to
three regions have a surprising protect the Indians and later the
number of common problems. Mestizos. The new aristocracy of
Now let us say a few words Latin America, however - not at
about the Indians. Some (but by all social, political, or religious
no means all) of the Indian tribes refugees as in North America, but
had a relatively high civilization largely members of Spain's lower
prior to the arrival of the Euro- nobility - resented the Crown's
peans. Still, they knew neither "protectionist" policy. "You in
the wheel nor genuine writing. Madrid or Seville do not realize
Those who were civilized lived what we are up against!" they
in highly autocratic and totali- indignantly protested. And they
tarian societies in which hard were right - in a way. The In-
work, as far as it existed, was dian (unlike the African) has a
carried out under the whip of most difficult personality, is ra-
overseers. State and religion had cially easily assimilable but cultur-
tyrannic aspects; human sacri- ally quite inflexible. He has anoth-
fices were the rule. When the er logic, he is suspicious, has a
Spaniards moved in, efforts were closed mind, is not interested in
made to assimilate and amalga- private property and indifferent
mate the native nobilities (in to pain, humorless (by our stand-
Mexico they were made equals of ards) , unreliable, lazy -if we
the grandees) ; but, by and large, take Western notions as a measur-
the upper crust became Spanish. ing rod. "The lucky Yanquis!"
Once the adventurers who had I was once told in Peru, "If only
brutally subjugated the country we had Negroes instead of In-
were eliminated, harnessed, or dians !"
disciplined, the Crown took over. Yet the Crown was also right.
The Spanish administration The Indians with their different
worked miracles. In no time, a wave length were certainly diffi-
new Christian civilization was cult to handle. They proved highly
1968 LATIN AMERICA IN PERSPECTI'VE 209
uncooperative and, more than dians, needless to say, supported
their local Spanish masters, the Crown which, however, was
showed a profound distaste for soon defeated on battlefields thou-
systematic, hard work. We must sands of miles from the mother-
bear in mind that the work ethics land.) The intellectual fatherhood
we know today in the Western of the French Revolution in this
world developed only after the struggle also hurt the Church.
Reformation. Our medieval an- The majority of the priests and
cestors worked infinitely less than friars, born in Spain and loyal
we do. The average city or town to the king, packed up and went
in Europe 500 years ago cele- home.
brated between 90 and 140 holi- This "war of liberation" left
days a year in addition to the 52 the Disunited States of Latin
Sundays. Before the Spanish con- A merica laboring under insoluble
quest, the Indians were used to problems right from the start.
either a bucolic life on the lowest Never had a republican and demo-
level or to forced labor under their cratic form of government been
monarchs and caciques. Without adopted by countries less qualified
stern discipline, the colonies could to make it work. (In our genera-
not have existed. This, Madrid tion, only Africa has made the
did not understand. Hence, the same mistake.) In 1822 the two
resistance of the local "whites" great liberators of Latin America
against the distant capital and met in Guayaquil: the Venezuelan
also against the Church which liberator of the North, General
preached benevolence, leniency, Simon Bolivar, and the Argentine
and tolerance. liberator of the South, General
Jose San Martin. The latter im-
The War of Liberation plored Bolivar to establish a mon-
As a result the Latin American archy in South America, to look
upper crust, egged on by Britain for a European prince who might
and the United States (both eager accept the crown! He was con-
to trade in that huge area) and vinced that republican democracy
imbued with the ideas of the was bound to fail in the Latin
French Revolution, rose against part of the Western Hemisphere.
Spanish domination. We had the Bolivar replied that he could see
amazing spectacle of a wealthy, San Martin's reasons but that he
landowning Creole aristocracy had to oppose his views; he was
fighting the Crown because it pro- pledged to republicanism and de-
tected the lower classes. (The In- mocracy; to advocate monarchy
would be a betrayal of everything publics have to shun the "party

he stood for. spirit" and must always seek a
San Martin returned to Argen- common denominator. Now, given
tina a broken man, packed his Latin individualism, this uniform-
belongings and went into volun- ity is lacking - not only South of
tary exile in Europe. He died in the Rio Grande but also on the
poverty in a small French town Iberic Peninsula, in France, Italy
30 years later. Bolivar, however, and, we should add, in the rest
came to regret his reply. He, too, of the non-Protestant Western
died in despair. "Thereis no faith world. The "team spirit" charac-
in Latin America," he wrote, terizes the Protestant, not the
"neither in men nor in nations. Catholic or Greek Orthodox world.
The Constitutions are mere books, Buttonhole the typical New York
the treaties scraps of paper, the commuter and ask him what his
elections battles, liberty is anar- political belief is. You will find,
chy and life a torment." He fore- chances are, 100 per cent stand
saw the rise of small local dic- for the republic, 99 per cent for
tators and a decay so general that democracy. Then repeat the ex-
the European powers would not periment in the subway of Madrid
even bother to reconquer a bank- or Barcelona and you will dis-
rupt continent. "I have plowed cover where genuine pluralism is
the sea," was his cry of anguish. at home.
The political parties of Latin
No Common Denominator America suffer as a rule from
These events of a century and radical ideological divergencies.
a half ago clearly foreshadow the Most of the parties are of the left
outline of our present troubles. - left of center, moderately left,
Harold Laski said that the demo- radically left, yet, at the same
cratic republic will work only if time they are extremely national-
two conditions are given: a two- istic and show marked socialistic
party system and what Walter tendencies. (This is also true of
Lippmann calls "a public philoso- the so-called Christian Democratic
phy," that is to say, a common Parties inspired by the Left Wing
outlook, common political prin- of Italy's democristiani and not
ciples uniting the entire nation. by the German, Austrian, Swiss,
In his Farewell Address George or Dutch Christian Democrats.)
Washington pointed out that This combination of nationalism
whereas monarchies can afford the and socialism is a frightening
luxury of ideological diversity, re- mixture known only too well to
1968 LATIN AMERICA IN PERSPECTIVE 211
us in Europe, and it is even more Italians, Spaniards, and Portu-
frightening if it has racist under- guese who have developed ma-
tones as we find them in Peru's terial ambitions in Northern style.
APRA and, to a lesser degree, in They become rich quickly. In Mex-
Mexico's PRI. The difference be- ico the Spanish immigrants (and
tween them and the Hitlerites, refugees) are called los zopilotes,
however, is this: the Nazis praised "the vultures," not only because
the lily-white Aryans whereas the of their sharp noses and their
Latin American national-socialist beady eyes (so unlike the soft,
parties worship the brown skin. brown traits of the Indians and
mestizos) but mainly on account
Exploitation of Envy of their commercial zeal. When
But why all this Leftism? It is they arrive, they may start by
nothing but the political exploita- pushing vegetable carts; ten years
tion of the startling, frequently later, however, they are likely to
even provocative, differences be- drive a Mercedes. (Allegedly one-
tween rich and poor. In the past third of Mexico's wealth is in
150 years the successful exploita- Spanish hands - data that are
tion of envy has been the key to difficult to check.)
political success in Europe; and In Caracas I overheard a con-
now the magic formula also works versation between two Venezuelans
in Latin America. In other words: one of whom remarked: "And I
the "social problem" is at the tell you, my friend, Yanquis,
bottom of this political ferment Germans, Portuguese, Spaniards,
and seems to work into the hands Italians, Syrians - they're all
of Moscow, Peking, and Havana. Jews, they're all Jews," by which
In using quotes for the term he meant that they work hard,
"social problem," we want to in- save money, reinvest it shrewdly,
dicate that the issue is not really and generally forge ahead. Yet
a social, but an economic one. this "automatic" financial rise is
Not really "social"? No. Though also achieved by the ambitious
in the past the Latins were not minority among the natives, what-
hard workers, the Indians (un- ever their color. In a generally
less they were totally enslaved) lethargic society where people, by
worked far less. Foreigners with and large, are not very competi-
knowledge and determination have tive the few ambiciosos (what a
a very good chance in Latin Amer- dirty word!) will swiftly rise to
ica - not only Americans, Ger- the top. And how they are hated:
mans, and Britishers but also the Gringos and the local rich!
The Social Pyramid discrepancies between the living
As a result of this odd distribu- standards of the social layers ex-
tion of energies (which, inciden- ist only in basically poor countries
tally, is not climatically condi- - and they are poor because the
tioned) the social pyramid has a majorities are not enthusiastic
very broad base and then narrows about hard and systematic work.
abruptly, ending in a very fine Investments, too, present a tick-
"needle." Such a "needle" is con- lish if not insoluble problem. A
spicuous indeed. In North Euro- revealing pa.ssage in Populorum
pean countries the social pyramid Progressio speaks of wealthy peo-
looks more like a triangle and its ple who, instead of investing their
top is relatively broad. Still, we profits in their own country, trans-
know that in Austria a total confer them abroad. It is true that
fiscation of monthly incomes of wealthy Latin Americans, except,
$1,000 and over would, if equally perhaps, Mexicans, have the tend-
distributed among all citizens, pro- ency to invest in the United
vide them with another cent and States, in Switzerland, even in
a quarter daily. If one were to ex- Spain and Japan. They do this
propriate all peso millionaires in in spite of the fact that the profits
Mexico, that means people owning derived thereby are well below
more than 80,000 U.S. dollars, each what they would be at home. But
Mexican would receive once and it is safety these investors are
for all the sum of $18.00. The sta- worried about. Since most of the
tistics would look even less favor- big popular parties are Leftist
able in countries like Colombia, in their tendencies, since CON-
Peru, or Bolivia. FISCATION is written in large
In other words: the most radi- letters on their party banners-
cal social reforms would hardly confiScation of factories, large
make a dent in the living stand- estates, church property, foreign
ards of the masses. Not the ex- companies - no wealthy Latin
propriation of the rich will allevi- American can trust his own coun-
ate the situation, but only a sub- try.
stantial general increase in pro-
duction. Rich countries are not A Formula for Failure
rich on account of "natural Almost all big parties, indeed,
wealth" (a totally exploded fal- talk about "soaking the rich" and
lacy) but on account of a high so do the Christian Democratic
work ethos, of industriousness, Parties who want to take the
saving, and investment. Radical wind out of the sails of the Marx-
ist and "national socialist" groups. The young man was enormously
Appealing to the envy of the many surprised.
seems the only way to get votes.
A young Peruvian Christian Dem- Military Stopgap Measures
ocrat informed me that 78 per Discussions like this prove the
cent of his country was in the existence of a genuine vicious cir-
hands of large landowners. I in- cle: no general disposition for
quired how much remained for the hard work (as it is known, actu-
average agrarian family. Taking ally, only in parts of Western
the size and the thin population of civilization and in East Asia),
Peru into consideration, there the tremendous gap between rich
seemed to be land enough for all. and poor, the demagoguery of the
"What about the Japanese im- Leftist parties (led predominantly
migrants ?" .I asked, "They all do by "university men" and morally
extremely well on tiny plots." stranded scions of old families),
"You are right, but our people all this creates the necessity for
would never work as hard as these unconstitutional "take-overs" by
Japs do; thus we have to carve the military. American public
up the large estates, just as we opinion as well as the State De-
have to nationalize the American partment heartily disapprove of
oil companies." undemocratic military rule, but,
"Confiscate their property?" normally, the armies step in only
"Not really. We shall give them when the country is menaced by
2.5 per cent government obliga- a Leftist, anti-American, pro-
tions. They got their treaty by Castroite faction as a result of
bribing our deputies." free elections or revolts.
"But didn't you tell me before In the past, most proteges of
that you want foreign invest- the United States have turned out
ments, foreign loans? How do you to be leaning to the Left, toward
expect to get them after expro- Moscow, if not Peking, once they
priating American companies?" took over with American moral
"Well, they have to shell it out or financial support. This was the
or we'll become communists. If case with Fidel Castro whose
they won't do it, we'll ask the ascent to power was enthusiasti-
Germans." cally greeted by the American
"My dear friend, economy is press, of "Papa Doc" Duvalier
based on credit and the term cred- in Haiti, of Juan Bosch. When the
it implies trust. The Germans military junta in Santo Domingo
won't give you a cent!" ousted Bosch, when the Peruvian
army prevented Raul Haya de la Perfectly silly charges are leveled

Torre from gaining control, when against her: that she always sided
General Ongania took the reins with the rich, that she owns great
in Argentina, Washington was wealth which she does not share
none too happy. (The American with the poor, that she did noth-
acclamation of Marshal Castelo ing to alleviate illiteracy because
Branco in Brazil was something she has a better hold on ignorant
utterly new.) people, and so forth and so on.
Yet, one must admit that mili- The fact is that the Church is
tary dictatorships are only stop- desperately poor, that priests are
gap measures. The problem posed living in abysmal misery, sleeping
by San Martin to Bolivar is as sometimes like dogs on the ground
timely today as it was a century as I have seen with my own eyes,
and a half ago. Still no monarch- that she has been totally expro-
ist party, no monarchist senti- priated in many countries, that
ment exists today in Latin Amer- she has made and is still making
ica - except for Brazil which was heroic efforts to educate all layers
fortunate enough to have a mon- although secular education is not
archy until 1889. Constitutions one of her primary tasks. (Actu-
pose an insoluble problem every- ally, in most, though not in all,
where, with the exception of Mex- Latin American countries the
ico. which has a one-party system, Catholic schools and universities
being run by the PRJ which, in are undoubtedly far superior to
turn, is firmly in the hands of an their secular counterparts.) That
oligarchy. An ideal situation? By there are certain ecclesiastic prob-
no means. But, at least, thanks lems which, for the moment, are
to strictly rigged elections, there beyond solution nobody will deny
is a permanence on which an ex- - for instance, the crucial prob-
panding economy can be based. lem of vocations.
The PRI (Revolutionary Institu- What I am worried about, be-
tionalist Party), once violently cause a solution can and must be
hostile to religion, has settled found, is the Church's stand in
down, has become "bourgeois," the aforementioned "vicious cir-
has made its peace with the to- cle." Christianity being only 400
tally impoverished Church. years old in many parts of Latin
America (where it is not Euro-
The Role of the Church pean Christianity transplanted,
And what about the Church in but superimposed!), it has af-
all that Latin American turmoil? fected only the blood and the
hearts of the people, not the bones teaches specific economic doc-
and the minds. This corresponds trines. One shudders at the
to the situation in Germany in thought of what the reaction will
the eleventh century, a fact one be when the Christian Democratic
tends to forget in dra.wing com- parties fail economically in the
parisons. The Church has, in the countries where they now hold
past, concentrated too much on sway.
devotion (especially on Marian We in Europe know by experi-
devotion) and not sufficiently on ence that Christian parties come
ethics, as Professor Fredrick B. and go whereas the Church re-
Pike of Notre Dame pointed out in mains - to face the music. In the
a brilliant paper. She did not preach past the Church has suffered
energetically enough the natural atrociously for having supported
virtues: respect for personal prop- specific political orders. The trag-
erty, thrift, truthfulness, frugal- edy will not be lessened if, out
ity, responsibility for the family, of an ill advised idealism, the
chastity, cleanliness. (In certain Church allows herself to be ident-
Latin American nations 85 per ified with specific economic sys-
cent of all children are illegitimate tems, above all those of a socialist
and get their entire moral educa- pattern which are notoriously in-
tion from benign grandmothers.) efficient.
Piety is impressive in Latin Amer- These reflections do not offer
ica, but the Mestizo who prays in a solution for Latin America's
mystical ecstasy, tears streaming tragic vicious circle. There, as
down his face, may vote com- elsewhere, religious, economic, so-
munist tomorrow or slit his neigh- cial, and political problems form
bor's throat from ear to ear. Our an organic whole. In all likelihood,
early medieval ancestors acted in the Archimedean point for curing
exactly the same way. these ills lies in a reform of the
Today, having made great ef- Latin American's soul, mind, and
forts in spirituality, the Church spirit. If this could be achieved,
suddenly seems to have discovered the economic, social', and political
"social justice" and engages heav- shortcomings would largely dis-
ily in politics. Although she rare- appear or, at least, be lessened.
ly openly advocates the Christian To cure the evils at their roots,
Democratic parties, she fosters and not by underwriting utopian
them secretly and, without suffi- blueprints, would thus be emi-
cient studying and preparation, nently the task of the Church. ~
E. W. DYKES
the Garbage Service
This article first appeared as "Big Wars from Little Er-

rors Grow" in the January, 1964, FREEMAN. But recent
events indicate that someone must have missed the point.
A FRIEND recently chided us liber- jump in at this point and apply

tarians for being so engrossed in our principles to get out of the
"pursuing our busy little semi- unholy mess resulting from years
nars on whether or not to demuni- and years of errors on errors. The
cipalize the garbage collectors" challenge might just as well have
that we tend to ignore the most been put in terms like this: "You
vital problem of our time: ,var are a second lieutenant. Your
and peace. platoon is surrounded. Your am-
Well, I'm not so sure. On the munition is gone. Two of your
assumption that the "garbage is- squad leaders are dead, the third
sue" is more fundamental than severely wounded. Now, Mr. Lib-
the "war issue," I take up the ertarian, let's see you get out of
gauntlet exactly as our friend has this one with your little semi-
flung it down. nars."
War - like many other of to- My answer: "Demunicipalize
day's problems - is the culmina- the garbage service."
tion of the breaking of libertarian Now, wait, before you cross me
principles, not once, but thousands off as a nut. 1 have a point. That
of times. Weare challenged to second lieutenant is a goner. And
so is the prospect of lasting peace
Mr. Dykes is an architect of Canton, Ohio. until man learns 'why it is 'wrong
216
1968 DEMUNICIPALIZE THE GARBAGE SERVICE 217
to municipalize the garbage serv- '5 There a Faster Way?

ice. You can't apply libertarian What do we do in our little
principIes to wrong things at seminars? We make the case for
their culmination and expect to freedom, which cannot coexist
make much sense or progress. with interventionism. Slow? Of
You have to start back at the course, painfully slow. But who
very beginning, and that is pre- can really say and prove there is
cisely what our little seminars are a better - or faster - way?
for. There are people who build I suppose, in a way, we can be
for tomorrow, others who build thankful - so long as wars per-
for a year, some who look for- sist - that there are men willing
ward a generation. The libertar- to tell my son how, when, and
ian, a part of "the remnant," where he will fight. I am not will-
takes the long view - forward to ing to be a party to telling their
the time when war will be looked sons what they will do, because
upon as we now look upon can- that would mean abandoning my
nibalism, a thing of the past. And position. Probably, in a world at
believe me, unless someone takes this stage of evolution, there have
the long view, wars will continue. to be both kinds. I can guarantee
Suppose a group of doctors in at least one who disavows initi-
a meeting on cancer prevention ated violence, but only if I hold
decide to do with cancer as the fast to that position myself.
state proposes to do with war: Depend on it, this view always
"Outlaw it." What chance would will be scorned by those who
the doctors have? None. And pre- cannot look past tomorrow. You
cisely for the same reason that may also depend on it that a time
the state can't outlaw war: They will come when the little seminars
don't know what causes it. will bear fruit. Listen to Albert
I think I know what causes war. Jay Nock:
In an unpublished article called
"War, the Social Cancer," I de- The fascination and the despair
veloped the thesis that war is the of the historian, as he looks back
malignancy resulting from the upon Isaiah's Jewry, upon Plato's
growth of interventionism, which Athens, or upon Rome of the An-
invariably becomes uncontrolled, tonines, is the hope of discovering
once started. Without interven- and laying bare the "substratum of
tionism - starting way back with right-thinking and well-doing" which
things like the garbage service- he knows nlust have existed some-
war simply cannot happen. where in those societies because no
kind of collective life can possibly many they were and what their work
go on without it. He finds tantalizing was like. l
intimations of it here and there in N ow, turn to William Graham
many places, as in the Greek An-
Sumner:
thology, in the scrapbook of Aulus
Gellius, in the poems of Ausonius, If we can acquire a science of so-
and in the brief and touching trib- ciety, based on observation of phe-
ute, Bene merenti, bestowed upon the nomena and study of forces, we may
unknown occupants of Roman tombs. hope to gain some ground slowly
But these are vague and fragmen- toward the elimination of old errors
tary; they lead him nowhere in his and the re-establishment of a sound
search for some kind of measure of and natural social order. Whatever
this substratum, but merely testify we gain that way will be by growth,
to what he already knows a priori- never in the world by any recon-
that the substratum did somewhere struction of society on the plan of
exist. Where it was, how substantial some enthusiastic social architect.
it 'was, what its power of self-asser- The latter is only repeating the old
tion and resistance was - of all this error over again, and postponing all
they tell him nothing. our chances of real improvement. So-
Similarly, when the historian of ciety needs first of all to be freed
two thousand years hence, or two from these meddlers - that is, to be
hundred years, looks over the avail- let alone. Here we are, then, once
able testimony to the quality of our more back at the old doctrine-
civilization and tries to get any kind Laissez faire. Let us translate it into
of clear, competent evidence concern- blunt English, and it will read, Mind
ing the substratum of right-thinking your own business. 2
and well-doing which he knows must Again I say : We will never end
have been here, he will have a devil
wars if we do not, at the mini-
of a time finding it. When he has
assembled all he can get and has
mum, understand why the garbage
made even a minimum allowance for service should be removed from
speciousness, vagueness, and confu- the jurisdiction of the police
sion of motive, he will sadly ac- force, that is - government. ~
knowledge that his net result is sim-
ply nothing. A Remnant were here, 1 Albert J. Nock, "Isaiah's Job" from
Free Speech and Plain Language (Wil-
building a substratum like coral in- liam Morrow & Company, 1937).
sects - so much he knows - but he 2 William Graham Sumner, What So-
will find nothing to put him on the cial Classes Owe to Each Other (Harper
track of who and where and how &Brothers, 1883).
Repl'ints of this article are available at 2 each.

CLARENCE B. CARSON
f1fuglaub
2. PRE-INDUSTRIAL ENGLAND
ENGLAND'S rise to greatness came if the workmen continue to work

after major political changes that effectively, if the machines are
afforded substantial liberty for utilized, and if what is wanted is
Englishmen. There have been produced. But then, technological
many efforts in recent generations advance is not an accident itself.
to attribute productiveness, pros- It, too, is the result of inventive-
perity, and industrial leadership ness stimulated by incentives and
to almost everything except mo- relief from fetters; in short, it,
rality and liberty - such diverse too, is the result of morality and
factors as war, inflation, natural liberty.
resources, government "promo- The role of liberty and morality
tion" of manufacturing, exploita- in the development of England's
tion of workers, and technology. prosperity and leadership becomes
The technological explanation is clearer as one examines the situ-
particularly alluring, for it is easy ation in England before the
to see that an increase in the change occurred. It has been
productivity of workers makes shown that civilizational leader-
more goods available. So it does, ship was hardly usual for Eng-
land, that the many wars in her
Dr. Carson, Professor of History at Grove City past had not produced abundant
his earlier FREEMAN series, The Fateful Turn,
The American Tradition, and The Flight from
prosperity, that such natural re-
Reality. sources as were to be found in
?1Q
that land had not distinguished ruled. It is true that James I

her thus far in productiveness, (1603-1625) insisted upon all his
and so on. In short, England's prerogatives, defending them on
greatness, when it came, should the offensive grounds of the Di-
be attributed to new factors: to vine Right of Kings, and that
morality and liberty. Charles I (1625-1649) attempted
to rule without going through the
The Political Setting motions of dependence upon Par-
In the century or so before liament. But it would be difficult
England began to industrialize on to prove that the Stuarts were
a large scale there was widespread more oppressive than the Tudors
oppression and hardship. Now, op- who preceded them. The Tudors
pression and hardship were not had flattered the members of Par-
peculiar to England of all nations liament, however, by allowing
nor to this time in history. On the them to participate in the des-
contrary, .oppression and hardship potic decisions. Of equal impor-
have been the lot of most peo- tance, the Tudors did not press
ples in most times everywhere. It issues to a constitutional head,
is the relative exceptions to this while the Stuarts in pressing
that are noteworthy. But oppres- their claims to their ancient pre-
sion has different forms in diff- rogatives raised troublesome con-
erent times, and there are degrees stitutional questions. At any rate,
of it as well. there should be little doubt that
It was in terms of the particu- the government of England was
1ar forms of oppression in Eng- despotic at the outset of the sev-
land that an amelioration of it enteenth century.
began to take place. IV[oreover, the It was not a despotism that
increasing liberty - the freeing of sprang from the personality of a
the energies of the people - led to king alone. The system that pre-
the industrialization which all~ vailed .provided considerable op-
viated much of the hardship. It portunity for despotism. At the
will be seen, too, that the hardship be-ginning of the seventeenth cen-
was not simply the result of in- tury, England had a class system
ferior technology but, more di- which was a relic of feudalism.
rectly, of the oppression itself. The classes had lost that inde-
Many Englishmen were inclined pendence, however, which had
to blame the oppressions of the earlier enabled them to balance
first half of the seventeenth cen- and offset the power of the mon-
tury on the Stuart monarchs who arch. When Parliament acted
1968 PRE-INDUSTRIAL ENGLAND 221
with the king, there were none freedoms for which Commons con-
who could effectively oppose the tended were freedom of speech,
action. When Parliament refused i.e., freedom to discuss whatever
to act with the king, it had no matters they desired when Parlia-
means of action; it would be dis- ment was in session; freedom
missed, most likely. The basis of from arrest while Parliament was
independence was there poten- in session or for what had been
tially, as we shall see later; but said and done there; and the right
for the time, power was concen- of initiative and alteration of leg-
trated and had been for the past islation.
century. Whether it was exercised Monarchs of the time assumed
in an enlightened fashion or not, that they would bring before Par-
it was despotic. liament such matters as would be
considered and that these might
The Forms of Oppression be discussed and decided upon, but
Three different kinds of oppres- none others. Thus, Elizabeth I
sion and persecution can be dis- (1558-1603) had said:
tinguished: political, religious,
and economic. All the oppression For liberty of speech her majesty
was by the government, of course, commandeth me to tell you, that to
and was in an important sense say yea or not to bills, God forbid
political; but for purposes of that any man should be restrained
discussion the oppression within or afraid to answer according to his
the government itself is denomi- best liking, with some short declara-
nated political, while persecution tion of his reason therein, and there-
in to have a free voice, which is the
of those not within government
very true liberty of the house, not
is referred to as religious or eco- as some suppose to speak there of
nomic. all causes as him listeth, and to
In many respects, political op- frame a form of religion, or a state
pression was the mildest, but it of Government as to their idle brains
got a great deal of attention be- shall seem meetest, She sayeth no
cause it frequently involved men king fit for his state will suffer such
who had a forum from which to absurdities. 1
speak. The great constitutional
issues of the first half of the J ames I was more emphatic in
seventeenth century frequently in- 1621, when he commanded the
volved the freedom and indepen-
1 Kenneth R. Mackenzie, The English
dence of the members of the House Parliament (Baltimore: Penguin Books,
of Commons and of judges. The 1950), p. 37.
Speaker of Commons "to make its members by arrests; the time
known in our name unto the of rebellion was at hand.
House, that none therein shall In like manner, the early Stu-
presume henceforth to meddle arts attempted to work their wills
with anything concerning our upon the courts. "In 1616 Chief
Government or deep matters of Justice Coke was dismissed for re-
State."2 fusing to defer to James I in giv-
Persecution Under Charles I
ing judgment. Ten years later
Charles dismissed Chief Justice
I t was under Charles I, how- Crew for refusing to admit the
ever, that the most extensive polit- legality of a forced loan.... Dur-
ical persecution occurred. When ing the personal government of
both houses of Parliament per- Charles I repeated dismissals re-
sisted in inquiring into foreign af- duced the judges to a state in
fairs in 1625, Charles dissolved which they enforced monopolies,
Parliament and had the Speaker abandoned Coke's attempt to re-
of the House of Commons, Sir strict the jurisdiction of Church
John Eliot, imprisoned in the courts, and declared Ship Money
Tower of London. Parliament had legaL"4 In short, the courts were
not enacted a law requiring the made effective instruments for the
payment of Tunnage and Pound- despotic will of the king.
age, but Charles, badly in need of
funds, simply imposed it without The Church of England
parliamentary consent. "Seventy The religious oppression of Stu-
gentlemen, of whom twenty-seven art England is known to Ameri-
were members of parliament, had cans, because it was this that drove
to be imprisoned for refusing to Pilgrims, Puritans, Baptists, Quak-
contribute to the loan."3 After a ers, and Catholics to migrate in
stormy session in 1629, Sir John considerable numbers to the New
Eliot was once again sent to World. Nowhere does the determi-
prison where he died in 1632, and nation to maintain conformity by
Charles ruled eleven years with- stamping out differences appear
out Parliament. When Parliament more clearly.
finally was called again in 1640, The Church of England was es-
Charles could no longer work his tablished. This meant that every-
will or even succeed in subduing one "had to attend services in his
2 Ibid.
3 Lacey B. Smith, This Realm of Eng- 4 Christopher Hill, The Century of
land (Boston: D. C. Heath, 1966), p. Revolution (New York: W. W. Norton,
210. 1961), p. 68.
parish church every Sunday, and made it a high crime to attempt

was liable to legal penalties if he to convert a subject to the Cath-
did not. He had to pay tithes, one- olic faith and set forth penalties
tenth of his produce or his profits, for saying or hearing a Mass.
to a clergyman whom he had no During her reign more than two
say in choosing, and of whom he hundred Catholics were put to
might heartily disapprove. He was death.
liable to the jurisdiction of Church Dissenting Protestants were not
courts, which punished him not spared either. A small sect began
only for 'heresy,' nonattendance at to hold meetings, called Conventi-
church, or sexual immorality, but cles. An act of 1593 provided im-
also for working on Sundays or prisonment for anyone who at-
saints' days, for nonpayment of tended one of these meetings, ban-
tithes, sometimes even for lending ishment from England for a sec-
money at interest."5 Moreover, the ond offense, and execution for
Church kept a close watch over and those ,vho returned to England
a tight rein on thought and edu- after having been banished. That
cation. "Books were strictly cen- matters were little improved for
sored, and the censorship was in such dissenters under James I will
the hands of the Bishops. Educa- appear from the account made by
tion was an ecclesiastical monop- William Bradford of what hap-
oly.... No person might teach in pened to a company of them who
a school or private family unless tried to leave England for Holland
licensed by his Bishop."6 in 1608. They arranged with a man
for a ship to take them over.
Dissenters Unwelcome
But when he had them and
Anyone who differed from the their goods aboard, he. betrayed
established church was in diffi- them, having beforehand complotted
culty, potential or actual. Dissent- with the searchers and other officers
ers, both Protestant and Catholic, so to do; who took them, and put
were persecuted. During Eliza- them into boats, and there rifled
beth's reign Catholics, particu- and ransacked them, searching to
larly, were the subject of disabling their shirts for money, yea even the
legislation: an act of 1571 made it women further than became mod-
treason to declare that Elizabeth esty; and then carried them back
ought not to be queen or to bring into the town and made them a
spectacle and wonder to the multi-
in a papal Bull. An act of 1581
tude which came flocking on all
;) Ibid., pp. 75-76. sides to behold them. Being thus
6 Ibid., p. 76. first, by these catchpoll officers ri-
fled and stripped of their money, out Parliament. Puritans we're

books and much other goods, they within the ranks of the Church of
were presented to the magistrates, England, but they wished to re-
and messengers sent to inform the form it in various ways. Arch-
Lords of the Council of them; and bishop William Laud, acting un-
so they were committed to ward.
der the auspices of Charles I, un-
Indeed the magistrates used them
dertook to bring them completely
courteously and showed them what
favour they could; but could not in line or drive them out. "Archi-
deliver them till order came from episcopal visitations took place
the Council table. But the issue was everywhere to ensure that the
that after a month's imprisonment altar stood at the eastern end of
the greatest part were dismissed the churches, that paid lecturers
and sent to the places from which should not invade the parishes to
they came; but seven of the prin- preach puritanism, that the serv-
cipal were still kept in prison and ices set out in the Common Prayer
bound over to the assizes. 7 Book were used, and that extreme
sabbatarianism was stamped upon.
Perhaps the most amazing per- Puritan pamphleteers . . . were
secution during the reign of James savagely punished by the Star
I was that for alleged witchcraft. Chamber."9 In the decade from
The king had produced a book on 1630 to 1640 nearly 20,000 of the
demonology a few years before he Puritans came to New England.
came to the throne of England.
"In 1604 an act increasing the Efforts at Economic Stability
penalties against witches was Economic oppression was usu-
passed by the English Parliament ally more subtle than religious
and under it many thousands of persecution, though hardly less
witches were condemned and burnt devastating in its extended ef-
in the first twelve years of the fects. Two intertwined principles
reign."s dictated this oppression: the now
The persecution of Puritans ancient Medieval goal of stability
reached its peak during the eleven and a later system which was be-
years when Charles I ruled with- ing given theoretical formulation
in the seventeenth century which
7 William Bradford, 0/ Plymouth we know as mercantilism.
Plantation, Samuel E. Morison, intro.
(New York: Modern Library, 1967), The goal of economic stability
p. 12. is readily understood; it is the
8 Maurice Ashley, England in the principle of maintaining things as
Seventeenth Century (Baltimore: Pen-
guin Books, 1952), p. 37. 9 Ibid., p. 68.
they are - prices, wages, products, used for commercial row crop
rents, workers - by legislation or farming). From time to time- the
fiat. Mercantilism jibed perfectly government tried to prevent this,
with the royal absolutism of the one of the more determined efforts
time. It was a system of economic being made under Charles 1.
planning by which the monarch
made economic activities an ex- Obvious Consequences
tension of. his will for the sup- Many of the deleterious effects
posed benefit of the kingdom. Re- of this "stability" regulation were
garding the effort to maintain understood at the time.
stability, one historian says that
Government regulation, in so far
the governments of the early as it was enforced, rendered the
Stuarts were "suspicious of so- English economy inflexible, less able
cial change and social mobility, of to react to changes in demand than
the rapid enrichment of capital- a free market would have been. In
ists, afraid of the fluctuations of 1631 the Hertfordshire Justices of
the market and of unemployment, the Peace protested that "this strict
of vagabondage and social un- looking to markets is the reason why
rest."lO Thus, "throughout the the markets are smaller, the corn
early Stuart period, governments dearer." Free trade would produce
thought it their duty to regulate better results: the Dorset Justices
agreed with them. Lancashire J us-
industry, wages, and working con-
tices refused in 1634 to cause un-
ditions. In times of dearth they employment by enforcing appren-
ordered Justices of the Peace to ticeship regulations; nor would they
buy up corn and sell it below cost prosecute middlemen whose activi-
price; they forbade employers to ties were essential for spinners and
layoff workers whose products weavers of linen, who could not af-
they could not sell."ll ford time off to go to Preston mar-
The most famous of the at- ket to buy flax. In Essex it was
tempts to maintain things as they "found by experience that the rais-
were over the centuries were the ing of wages cannot advance the
relief of the poor," since employers
laws against enclosure. Enclosure
would not take men on at the en-
was the practice of combining the forced higher wage rates. 12
many plots of a manorial estate
into a single farm, and frequently There is nothing new about the
enclosing it for the pasturing of ill effects of government interfer-
sheep (though it might also be ence with the market, as these in-
stances show.
10 Hill, Ope cit., p. 28.
11 Ibid., p. 29. 12 Ibid., p. 31.
Monopolies Everywhere caused by suppression of imports.

The most notable development The Greenland Company lacked
of mercantilism in the late six- oil. The salt monopoly embar-
teenth and early seventeenth cen- rassed the Fishing Society. The
turies was in the establishment of rise in the price of coal hit nearly
monopolies. It was the habit of all industries. 'No freeman of
the monarchs to grant charters or London,' said a pamphlet of 1640,
patents to individuals or companies 'after he hath served his years
to have the exclusive right to. en- and set up his trade, can be sure
gage in a certain trade or to make, long to enj oy the labour of his
sell, or purvey certain goods. One trade, but either he is forbidden
historian lists the following items longer to use it, or is forced at
as being thus monopolized at one length with the rest of his trade
time or another during the first to purchase it as a monopoly, at
four decades of the seventeenth a dear rate, which they and all the
century: bricks, glass, coal, iron, kingdom pay for....' "14 Mercan-
tapestries, feathers, brushes, tilism had not yet reached its
combs, soap, starch, lace, linen, high tide in England,but it was
leather, gold thread, beaver, belts, well under way under the Stuart
buttons, pins, dyes, butter, cur- monarchs.
rants, red herrings, salmon, lob-
sters, salt, pepper, vinegar, tin, A Land of Many Oppressions
beer, hops, barrels, bottles, to- Pre-industrial England, then,

bacco, dice, cards, pens, writing "vas a land of many oppressions.
paper, gunpowder, and so on. Little It was a land in which those who
was left to be monopolized, except dared to oppose the monarch
bread, as a member of Parliament risked not only their positions but
noted in 1601. 13 their lives and liberty as well, a
The impact of all this was quite land in which freedom of religion
predictable: inconveniences, scar- had hardly been conceived, a land
cities, high prices, obstacles to en- in which there were all sorts of
terprise, inflexibility, and great obstacles to enterprise, in which
burdens, particularly on the poor. privileged favorites dominated
"By the late sixteen-thirties the trade, in which government policy
economy was beginning to suffer. opposed change, and in which the
The clothing industry was hit by king intervened in the economy to
increased cost of soap and alum, try to replenish the royal purse.
and by the scarcity of potash These policies produced their full
13 See ibid, pp. 32-33. 14 Ibid., pp. 33-34.
quota of evils: the toadying poli- lacking or imprecise. There is

ticians who altered their courses much incidental evidence of hard-
to accommodate every change of ship, particularly by way of ex-
royal whim, the ecclesiastical cor- pressed concern for the lot of the
ruption, and the economic waste poor for this period: the passage
following from intervention. Pre- of the famous Elizabethan Poor
industrial England was a land of Law in 1601, the concern about
widespread hardship for the many Enclosure, and the pamphleteering
and of great bounty for the privi- of the Levellers and other reform-
leged few, mainly royal favorites. ers of the middle of the century.
There was nothing particularly Little more can be said, how-
new about the hardships of most ever, than some such formulation
people in seventeenth and eight- as this by an historian: "Certainly
eenth century England. Most peo- though the rich were often ex-
ple at most times have suffered tremely rich (a landowner was
such hardships, sometimes worse. not accounted really rich with less
But it is worth examining the ma- than 50,000 in property), the
terial conditions of this time be- poor were always very poor." He
cause of the notion that hardships goes on to explain why the lot of
of later centuries were products some of these poor may have been
of industrialization; that business getting worse: "The steady rise
fluctuations, that child labor, that in prices since the beginning of
unemployment, that grinding and the sixteenth century had fallen
unremitting labor for long hours heavily on those who depended on
were introduced by something a day wage, more especially since
called the- "Industrial Revolution." wages were fixed and, at least in
The best antidote to this perverse theory, held down by law."15 It is
view of things is to look into the only in the late seventeenth and
pre-industrial situation prior to early eighteenth centuries that
1750 in England. more precise information becomes
available. This will serve almost
Evidence 01 Hardship as well for our purposes as would
Since the survey of oppression earlier information if it were
has dealt mainly with the first available, because the economic
half of the seventeenth century, it oppression of the earlier period
would be appropriate to take the was still rampant, though the po-
same time period for a survey of litical and religious oppression
material conditions. However, in- was being somewhat alleviated.
formation for this period is often 15 Ashley, op. cit., p. 22.
Rural Poverty to eate the eggs that their hens

A generation or so ago, Dr. lay, nor the apples or pears that
Dorothy George researched and grow on their trees (save some that
wrote a book dealing with pre- are not vendible) but must make
money of all. All the best of their
industrial conditions. The follow-
butter and cheese they must sell, and
ing account is dependent mainly feed themselves and children and
on her work. She was moved to servants with skimd cheese and
do this, in part at least, because skimd milke and whey curds.l 6
she understood that a myth had
been purveyed about a kind of The poorest of the lot, and they
Golden Age which had supposedly were quite numerous, were the
preceded industrialization. Her re- cottagers who lived on but a little
search did not bear out any such land and managed to eke out a
condition. On the contrary, she bare existence from it sometimes.
found evidence of widespread
hardship and most difficult con- Women and Children
ditions of life. Child labor was not, of course,
One writer who made a tabula- an innovation that came with the
tion, of sorts, of conditions in the industrial revolution. Children
late seventeenth century estimated have labored from time immemo-
that at least half the population rial, as have women. Farmers
lived in abject poverty, were not, must always have worked their
in effect, self-supporting. Even children on the farms. Nor was
those who lived on farms could the work of children in manufac-
not, in most cases, afford to eat turing new to the nineteenth cen-
well. A contemporary of the times tury. Indeed, at the beginning of
describes the situation this way: the eighteenth century it was con-
sidered a work of charity and
The poor tenants are glad of a good will to find or provide work
piece of hanged bacon once a week
for women and children. Fre-
and some few that can kill a Bull
quently, a man could not keep
eate now and then a bit of hangd
beefe enough to trie the Stomack of his family on what he made.
an ostrige. He is a rich man that can "But," as Daniel Defoe said at the
afford to eat a joint of fresh meat time, "if this man's wife and
. . . once in a month or fortnight. children can at the same time get
If their sow pigge or their hens employment, . . . this alters the
breed chickens, they cannot afford 16 Quoted in Dorothy George, Eng~
to eate them but must sell them to land in Transition (Baltimore: Penguin
make their rent. They cannot afford Books, 1964), p. 12.
case, the family feels it . . . and down the most likely source of
as they grow, they do not run them.
away to be footmen and sol- One historian gives an example
diers.... "17 from the time of the early Stuarts
One child, put out to work by of how government intervention
his father at the age of seven, caused a depression. England had
went through two seven-year ap- for a long time been a major ex-
prenticeships but still could not porter of cloth. Customarily Eng-
make a living at his trade. His lish cloth was sent to the Nether-
second apprenticeship had been lands for some finishing and to be
as a hosier, and he bought his own dyed. James I was persuaded that
stocking frame, thinking that he great benefit would accrue to the
might be able to go into the busi- royal treasury and perchance to
ness. But it was no use: "I visited the kingdom if all the finishing
several warehouses; but alas! all work could be done in England
proved blank. They would neither and an Englishman could have a
employ me, nor give for my goods monopoly of the trade. .He can-
any thing near prime cost. I was celed the privileges of those who
so affected, that I burst into tears, had formerly been authorized to
to think that I should have served export cloth and gave a patent to
seven years to a trade at which I a new company which was auth-
could not get my bread," so the orized to export finished and dyed
boy describes his experience. 18 goods only. The undertaking "was
a total failure. . . . The Dutch at
Intervention Creates Problems once prohibited the import of any
Of course, child labor did not English cloths, finished or not...."
begin with the industrial revolu- The company soon had to "admit
tion; no more did so-called busi- defeat and obtain permission to
ness cycles. Dr. George says of the export undyed cloth. Unable to sell
earlier time, "that there was an abroad, they could not afford to
alternating rhythm of boom and buy at home. There was a crisis
slump, much affected by political of overproduction: 500 bankrupt-
causes (and mitigated by the pro- cies were reported. Despite wage
gressive growth of trade) is fairly cuts and emigration, unemploy-
clear ."19 By attributing them to ment soared."20 Quite often, how-
political causes she had also pinned ever, the causes of business cycles
17 Quoted in ibid., p. 23. cannot be so readily pinned down.
18 Quoted in ibid., pp. 62-63. Obviously, unemployment was
19 Ibid., pp. 53-54. 20 Hill,op. cit., p. 36.
not something that mysteriously been made to make all aspects of

put in an appearance with the "in- the life of people in England a re-
dustrial revolution." On the con- flection of the desires and will of
trary, the rigidities of the six- the monarch. Power was central-
teenth, seventeenth, and a portion ized, concentrated, and despoti-
of the eighteenth centuries pro- cally. used. Economic matters were
duced frequent widespread unem- not decided freely according to the
ployment. Shifts in demand for rational choice of the people but
goods from wartime to peacetime reflected, so far as they could
were particularly difficult to ad- make it so, the changing whims
just to in an age when so many of monarchs.
of those changes had to await the However irrational these politi-
authorization of the monarch. Sea- cal, religious, and economic ar-
sonal unemployment was also en- rangements might appear to some
demic. "This was general in most of us, they had their apologists,
trades. Before the days of steam, rationalizers, and defenders in
seaborne trade was usually sea- that day, as they usually do in any
sonal and always irregular. Some- times. Indeed, at the beginning of
times the Thames was so crowded the seventeenth century, hardly
with shipping that the lightermen, anyone could conceive of a free
waterside workers, and even the society. We who have received
Custom-house men were quite un- such a belief are quite often un-
able to deal with it. Sometimes a aware of how dependent freedom
contrary wind kept the Pool of is upon a great faith.
London almost empty."21 There were profound justifica-
tions for the absolutism of the
Tyranny Prevails in Absence seventeenth century. Men of the
of Known Alternatives
sixteenth and seventeenth century
The inhabitants of pre-indus- knew of nowhere else to look for
trial England, then, were many of order and peace than to monarchs.
them oppressed, and there was Hardly anyone believed that a so-
regular as well as recurring hard- ciety could subsist without hav-
ship. Some people probably would ing one, and only one, established
have been without material goods religion. "No bishops, no king,"
in any case, but it should be clear said James I, for he perceived that
that there was a close relation be- the hierarchy of the civil power
tween the oppression and the relied upon the hierarchical ar-
hardship. A concerted effort had rangements of the Church for its
21 George, Ope cit., p. 57. acceptance and support. Men in
that age thought about economic the execution of Charles 1.
matters, as do many in our time, Whether this was a blow for
that unless they were controlled liberty or not will probably re-
and directed by government, main always in doubt. But that
chaos and disorder would prevail. Englishmen were beginning to
It was a perilous thing, from every conceive of ways to lighten the
angle, to question the authority of yoke and even establish liberty
the monarch, however despotically there is no doubt. When they did
it might be exercised. establish liberty, they did so in
There were, of course, bold men terms of certain principles and
in the seventeenth century who practices which had been evolving
would not only challenge the au- for a very long time. It is ap-
thority of the Stuarts but who propriate- now to take a look at
would dare to order and carry out these foundations. ~
The next chapter in this series covers

the "Foundations of Political Libe1'ty."
Finished Symphony
GREAT orchestras once filled this silent hall
with strains of concord making spirits soar
and stirring those who heard to thoughts and deeds
beyond the reach of less-inspired men.
We leg'islated music free to all
intending but to share the blessing more
and now with weeping don our mourning weeds,
for not a soul has learned to play since then.
JAMES E. Me ADOO
IDE~
TO SAVE OUR
WILLIAM L. LAW
PROTECTIONIST sentiment in the as a tanner whose product is

nation seems more prevalent today leather, but as a capitalist whose
than it has been in many years. product is profit. That climate
This trend is unfortunate. most beneficial to capitalists, and
I have some knowledge of the for that matter workers and so-
subject, inasmuch as baseball glove ciety in general, is one in which
leather was the principal product there exists a minimum of gov-
of our firm until 1957 when Japa- ernmental interference.
nese-manufactured ball gloves en- Unfortunately, the most active
tered and ultimately captured 70 foes of capitalism seem to be cap-
per cent of the United States mar- italists themselves, because they
ket. Today we tan no baseball glove seek socialism for themselves but
leather. Sentiment in the ball free enterprise for others.
glove industry at that time was The protectionist argument is
very strong for protective action. almost as widespread today as it
I investigated the matter in some was two hundred years ago when
depth but found that I could not Adam Smith so brilliantly demon-
in good faith urge protectionist strated its fallacies. Fortunately,
action on my representative. Such we have the work of Smith and i
action would have been wrong his many successors plus the nu-
economically, politically, and mor- merous empirical lessons of the
ally. It simply makes no sense. benefits of free trade (of which
My sentiments are colored by the United States is a notable
the fact that I look on myself not example) to demonstrate the ad-
Mr. Law is President of the Cudahy Tanning
vantages of unrestrained ex-
Company in Wisconsin. change; unfortunately, it seems
2R2
1968 TO SAVE OUR HIDES! 233
that each generation must relearn buys them of a shoemaker. The

the lesson. shoemaker does not attempt to
make his own clothes, but em-
The Highest Impertinence ploys a tailor. The farmer attempts
No improvement can be made to make neither the one nor the
on Smith's understanding that "it other, but employs those different
is the highest impertinence and artificers. All of them find it for
presumption, therefore, in kings their interest to employ their
and ministers, to pretend to watch whole industry in a way in which
over the economy of private peo- they have some advantage over
ple, and to restrain their expense, their neighbors, and to purchase
either by sumptuary laws, or by with a part of its produce, or
prohibiting the importation of what is the same thing, with a
foreign luxuries. They are them- price of a part of it, whatever
selves always, and without any else they have occasion for. What
exception, the greatest spend- is prudence in the conduct of
thrifts in the society. Let them every private family, can scarce
look well after their own expense, be folly in that of a great king-
and they may safely trust private dom. . . .
people with theirs. If their own "That it was the spirit of mo-
extravagance does not ruin the nopoly which originally both in-
state, that of their subjects never vented and propagated this [pro-
will.... tectionistJ doctrine cannot be
"To give the monopoly of the doubted; and they who first taught
home market to the produce of it were by no means such fools as
domestic industry . . . must in they who believed it. In every
almost all cases be either a useless country it always is and must be
or a hurtful regulation. If the the interest of the great body of
prod uce of domestic can be the people to buy whatever they
brought there as cheap as that of want of those who sell it cheapest.
foreign industry, the regulation The proposition is so very mani-
is evidently useless. If it cannot, fest that it seems ridiculous to
it must generally be hurtful. It take any pains to prove it; nor
is the maxim of every prudent could it ever have been called in
master of a family never to at- question had not the interested
tempt to make at home what it sophistry of merchants and manu-
will cost him more to make than facturers confounded the common
to buy. The tailor does not at- sense of mankind."
tempt to make his own shoes, but The "sophistry" of which Smith
speaks is in essence that being highest for a reason; Americans

advanced today by those protec- work with the most and the best
tionists desiring to limit or elim- tools. American industry has the
inate the importation of foreign world's highest average capital in-
goods, and is basically as follows: vestment (tools) per worker
The United States is a high wage ($23,000) and therefore has the
country, its industry is unable to highest average productivity per
compete with that in other coun- worker. We have high wages;
tries, imports are increasing, and however, because of the multiplier
unless remedial measures are (tools) we have low labor costs.
adopted, our industries will be Certainly, labor intensive indus-
destroyed, our defense posture tries - handmade lace, for instance
will be weakened, and a large - are unable to compete. Give an
scale unemployment will ensue. Italian girl a needle and $20
That argument is advanced in- per week and she will produce
nocently by the naive and sophis- lace for one-fourth the cost of the
tically by those who know better. American girl who receives $80
It is no different from that ven- per week. Their productivity must
tured by the mercantilists whose be equal. However, give an Amer-
errors Smith so ably exposed. ican miner a giant mechanical
shovel and $150 per week and by
For Seffer Living mining 20 tons of coal per day,
Attend, then, the rationale for he will produce much cheaper coal
free trade - the position, inciden- than the British miner with less
tally, supported by most econo- efficient tools who receives $60 per
mists : We trade in order to ob- week and only produces four tons.
tain goods that are either unob- The labor cost per American ton
tainable domestically, such as as- at that ratio would be $7.50 and
bestos, or that can be obtained that per British ton would be
cheaper abroad, such as baseball $15. So we import handmade
gloves. Trade, between individ- lace and we export coal; we im-
uals, between states, between na- port baseball gloves and we ex-
tions, is economic and it does not port computers; we import coffee
reduce living standards of the and we export jet planes.
participants; rather, it enhances
them. In short, trade raises wages. We Pay with Exports
Those who thi.nk otherwise fail Exports must equal imports. If
to understand that wages in the this were not so, we would hope
United States are the world's for all the imports we could get.
1968 TO SAVE OUR HIDES! 235
Imagine receiving goods for noth- it caused by automation or by
ing. But we must pay - and we growth of the labor force. Sup-
pay with exports. porters of those doctrines would
Those who would limit imports be hard put to find statistical
are taking a superficial view, and support.
it is essential for the sake of our Unemployment is caused when
economic well-being that we con- money wag es are arbitrarily,
sider this matter in depth. Con- forced or held above the level indi-
sider not only the worker who cated by the market. Remember,
competes with imports but also the the level of real wages in an area
worker who is helped by exports. is in proportion to the capital in-
The baseball gloves are seen, but vestment per worker in that area.
the computers exported to pay for But if money wages are arbitrar-
them are not seen because they ily oversupported, unemployment
have crossed the border; yet, they ensues. To illustrate: In the 1929
are nonetheless real. deflation the money supply fell by
Consider the consumers whose one-third; prices of goods fell,
real wages are raised by cheap but the administration used all
imports. Consider the merchants weapons at its disposal to hold
with whom the consumer who money wages up, and for ten years
buys cheap imports spends the dol- 15 to 25 per cent of the work force
lars saved. Consider the industries was unemployed. The situation
themselves which by competing in was not corrected until 1940 when
world markets are honed to a the government took the opposite
higher degree of competitive effi- position (though for other rea-
ciency than they might otherwise sons) and held wages down while
be. Indeed, no one likes competi- it printed money to finance the
tion; but it is competition that war. Unemployment disappeared
has given the United States the at once.
world's highest standard of living. Most economists agree with the
above position. One of them, Sir
Causing Unemployment
\Villiam Beveridge, said in his
Let those who say that free book, Full Employment in a Free
trade causes unemployment ex- Society: . "This potential effect of
amine our history. They will dis- high wages policy in causing un-
cover that our periods of highest employment is not, denied by any
unemployment occurred when tar- competent authority ... as a mat-
iffs were highest. Unemployment ter of theory, the continuance in
is not caused by imports, nor is any countr~'-of a substantial vol-
ume of unemployment which can- quarter or more of the steel we

not be accounted for by specific require is imported from coun-
maladjustment of place, quality, tries lying uncomfortably close to
and time is, in itself, proof that the Soviet Union and China?"
the price being asked for labor as I imagine that we can, but prop-
wages is too high for the condi- erly this is a matter for the stra-
tions of the market; demand for tegic planners within whose pur-
and supply of labor are not finding view it falls. The decision should
the appropriate price for meet- be made in a calm and rational
ing." manner and without distortions
Let it be understood that if urged by parties whose interests
money wages fell, prices would are not necessarily those pre-
fall and real wages would continue tended.
to rise. The free market has the answer
Trade, then, does not cause un- to imports, to unemployment, to
employment; rather, it raises liv- gold outflow, and to most economic
ing standards. If industries find problems if we will but let it
that they cannot exist in a free function. If the level of money
market, it may be that they should wages (the distinction between
not. This should be a market real wages and money wages is
determinant. important) is so high that unem-
ployment threatens and that the
If Freedom Is the Goal, bal~nce of trade is negative, then
Rely on the Marlcet a high tariff policy will s~mply re-
As for the final argument that duce exports and employment as
national defense requires that the it always has in the past. The
consumers subsidize these non- solution of such a problem calls
competitive industries, let it be for hard money and the free mar-
said that this position has a better ket.
foundation than the others, though There is no other effective meth-
in most cases an insufficient one. od. Reliance on the market is the
For instance, the head of a only method consistent with the
large steel company asks, "Can highest possible standard of living
we, for example, be assured of the and a climate of political freedom.
strong industrial base in steel we Our business, incidentally, is ex-
need for modern defense if one cellent. ~
LEW ALe/HDOR
AND THE
GOLD CRISIS
GARY NORTH
AMERICANS are peculiar people. dumbfounded. They cannot seem

Consider, for example, their mar- to grasp the simplest laws of
velous ability to memorize vast trade; the various functions of
quantities of data concerning money completely elude their pow-
sports events, as well as their ers of comprehension. It is not
skill in recognizing the most sub- a matter of stupidity, exactly, but
tle legal points in the operation of they just do not want to learn;
complex athletic contests. The it is better to leave such matters
Saturday Evening Post used to to "the experts." They fail to real-
have a regular feature, "So You ize that their daily lives are far
Think You Know Baseball?" in more intimately connected to the
which the most intricate and per- operations of the economy than
plexing situations that had ap- they are to the outcome of a sports
peared in certain games were pre- event. They can shout "Kill the
sented and the reader waschal- umpire!" with no sense of shame,
lenged to referee the game and while they would never whisper
make a decision. Yet, when con- and scarcely dare think to "Ques-
fronted with some question con- tion the economic advisors."
cerning the devaluation of the Interestingly enough, the rules
pound, these same people are governing the operation of an
economy are rather analogous to
Gary North is a member of the Economists'
National Committee on Monetary Policy. those governing a game. A game,
237
like an economic system, must it. This is more than most people
have stated rules; teams must be can say about their own economy.
willing to abide by these rules; Like basketball, the interna-
the rules must bear some relation tional monetary system has gone
to the reality of the game and the through a series of changes since
ability of the men to play it. Per- 1891. Prior to 1922, the United
haps most important to the smooth States and most of Western Eu-
functioning of a game, and an rope were on a full international
economy, is the presence of a re- (and domestic) gold coin stand-
spected, mutually acceptable ref- ard. Paper currencies were freely
eree. A sound international econ- convertible into a stated quantity
omy must have all of these things; and fineness of gold or silver. Gold
so, for that matter, should a do- was the medium of payment in-
mestic economy. If a man wants ternationally. Because of this free
to understand the "rules of the convertibility rule, central banks
game" in international monetary and governments were partially
affairs, he might do well to keep in restrained in the creation of
mind that they should resemble paper currency and debt; if the
the rules of a sport. The analogy value of the paper began to fall,
is not perfect, of course; if it due to an increase in the supply,
were, it would not be an analogy. domestic populations and foreign-
But it can serve as a handy guide- ers rushed to convert the paper
line by which we can examine the into specie metals.
various reports that are coming In 1922, however, a decisive
out of Washington, London, and change came. Many nations, no-
Paris. tably Germany, had been experi-
encing rampant inflation since the
The Rules for Basketball beginning of World War 1. They
Basketball can serve as our had been printing vastly more
analogous sport. It is the only paper IOU's for gold than they
sport of American origin that had gold in reserve. This practice
can be dated precisely. Dr. James had thrown the previously smooth
Naismith invented it for use in operation of the international gold
the YMCA program in 1891. It standard into confusion. All coun-
has become, in terms of paid at- tries wanted to maintain their
tendance, America's most popular gold reserves against the demands
sport. While most of us are not of both domestic and foreign pop-
intimately familiar with the game, ulations, yet they also wanted to
at least we know something about enjoy the so-called benefits of do-
1968 LEW ALCINDOR AND THE GOLD CRISIS 239
mestic inflation. Thus, their do- full gold coin standard was aban-
mestic inflationary policies had doned; in its place came the "gold
come into conflict with the opera- exchange standard," which has de-
tion of the international trading veloped into something funda-
community,l As the value of the mentally different from the gold
vaver lJll1s I ell, many 01 the na- %tandQ.rd which had existed be-
tions began to experience gold fore. Jacques Rueff hag analyzed
drains. Gold maintained its pur- the great defectg of this system. 2
chasing power, and even rose; The worst aspect is that an in-
paper currencies, in most cases, verted pyramid of paper money
could hardly claim as much. and debt has been created; it
rests on a tiny fraction of gold
Genoa Conference of 192~ reserves. The United States and
The result was -the Genoa Con- England have, until quite recent-
ference of 1922. At that confer- ly, been able to create vast quan-
ence, the representatives of va- tities of unbacked money without
rious nations _attempted to find a feeling the effects of a gold run.
substitute for the full gold stand- Other nations have been willing
ard. They decided that instead to hold our bonds instead of de-
of the requirement that a nation manding gold and thereby putting
keep its gold reserves proportional pressure on our policies of do-
to its outstanding IOU's against mestic inflation. They, in turn,
gold, a new rule would be imposed: have expanded their own domestic
a central bank or a national treas- currencies on the assumption that
ury could now keep, instead of our bonds are "as good as gold,"
gold, interest-bearing bonds and and therefore equal to gold.
securities of nations that would
maintain a monetary system free- An Unstable Structure
ly convertible into gold. Free con- With the devaluation of the
vertibility was to be maintained pound and the pressures on the
among nations and their financial dollar, the pyramid appears to be
representatives, though not neces- toppling. This is why interna-
sarily between a nation and its tional monetary experts are fran-
domestic population. tically searching for some alterna-
It was at this point that the tive means of payment besides
gold. The structure of interna-
1 I have dealt with this conflict in my
tional trade is being threatened
essay, "Domestic Inflation versus Inter-
national Solvency," THE FREEMAN (Feb- 2 Jacques. Rueff, The Age of Inflation
ruary 1967). (Chicago: Regnery Gateway, 1964).
by a collapse of the means of pay- couraged men to accept as normal

ment; the gold exchange standard a somewhat stable or even declin-
is in serious trouble. The "ex- ing price level. But the war and
ported inflation" of the United postwar inflations brought higher
States and Britain is being called domestic, and therefore interna-
to a halt, but in doing this, for- tional, prices.
eign central banks and treasuries
"Not Enough Gold"
are risking the destruction of the
present monetary system. Now, if these new prices - in-
In other words, the Genoa Con- flationary prices - were accepted
ference changed the operational as somehow sacrosanct, valid, and
"rules of the game." It created a beyond criticism economically (as
system which only delays the ulti- so many government officials
mate judgment of gold against wanted the public to believe),
inflationary policies. The delay, in then the argument of the infla-
Britain's case, finally caught up in tionists had to be accepted: "There
1967; the United States is next on is not enough gold to facilitate in-
the list. For this reason, it is im- ternational exchange." This is ab-
portant to examine the assumption solutely true today, even as it was
lying behind the Genoa Confer- true then, given the level of the
ence's decision. The same assump- inflationary prices.
tion lies behind many of today's The argument went unchal-
anti-gold arguments. Before lenged, just as it is going unchal-
World War I, there had been rela- lenged today. Anyone who called
tively little change in the price for a return to gold was at the
structures of the various gold same time calling for a return to
standard nations. England's whole- the prewar, gold-based price level.
sale prices had remained relatively This, in turn, called attention to
stable for a century. In the United the fact that governments had
States, there had actually been a worked a sleight-of-hand opera-
fall in the price level between tion: they had levied invisible
1870 and 1900. This is only nat- taxes through currency debase-
ural; since the supply of gold ment. Men and women were pay-
and paper currency in this coun- ing higher prices for goods, and
try had remained relatively con- some of them were forced to re-
stant, and since industrial pro- strict their consumption of these
ductivity had doubled, a fall in goods and services. Here was the
the price level was inevitable. secret of war finance and the ex-
Thus, the gold standard had en- pansion of government operations.
It implied that the government of- can agree to changes in the rules
ficials had not been altogether of a game, but in doing so, they
honest with the public in regard modify the game itself. Fifty
to the actual costs of the war. years ago, before the advent of
Naturally, governments did not rules prohibiting a player from
want to make such an admission, fouling the other in the act of
any more than they want to make shooting, or those abolishing the
it today. So the new, inflated price "center jump ball" after every
levels were accepted as the stand- score, the game was a much slower,
ards of evaluation, and the vari- much lower scoring affair. A score
ous nations ratified the "gold ex- of 20 to 17 was common in 1920.
change" standard. There was just Today a college team like UCLA
not enough gold to go around. can average almost a hundred
Gold had failed to reproduce itself points a game; even high schools,
as rapidly as the governments had playing shorter games, have aver-
printed unbacked paper currencies, aged in the "hundred plus" range.
and thus gold had failed to keep My grandfather, who played the
up with the rising price levels. game before 1920, refuses to watch
Gold was to blame, not govern- the events on television. He insists
mental policies of inflation. The that "it just isn't the same game."
gold standard had to be modified, I t is not "real basketball." In a
clearly. certain sense, he is correct; the
At that point, the true gold game really is not the same any
standard was abandoned; what- more.
ever failures of the modern "gold The analogy, of course, is not
exchange" standard one wishes to air-tight. Other factors have
acknowledge, they are not the fail- changed the game, such as more
ures of the international monetary skillful players, better training
system prior to 1922. If the "gold programs, the coming of the jump
standard" has failed, as so many shot, and the development of good
contemporary economists are say- big players. Still, even here we
ing today, it is not the full gold can find a lesson. The coaches
standard. It is the failure of the sought after Lew A1cindor with
standard created by the govern- an intensity never before seen. It
meI).ts themselves in 1922. is exactly analogous to the frantic
search for gold made by govern-
Changing the Game ments and central banks in the
Now, what has all this to do 1920's (and today); everyone
with basketball? Simply this: men wants to augment his reserves of
gold. But not all central banks was to equalize their teams with
can be equally successful in their UCLA's squad. But this was left
quest, any more than all the unsaid.
coaches could achieve their dream In the same way, the Genoa
of having Alcindor on their team; conferees did not admit that the
therefore, many are dissatisfied real cause of the alteration of the
with the result. rules was the fact that they
It was the good fortune of wanted to pursue their own do-
UCLA that Alcindor selected that mestic inflationary policies more
school to attend; similarly, it was easily. The confiscation involved
the good fortune of this country in all inflation had to go on, by
that its policies of domestic infla- definition, but the excuse given
tion were not immediately chal- did not mention this side of the
lenged by the operation of the gold problem. No, the changes were
exchange standard.- It was "good" made only to "modernize" inter-
in the short run, and "good" from national monetary arrangements.
the point of view of the govern- What it really boils down to is
ment; until 1958, gold flowed into that coaches want to win ball
this country. The "gold exchange" games, and without big men who
standard made this possible, espe- are also skilled players their
cially when coupled to the fact chances of doing so are dimmed.
that European nations were in- Similarly, countries that inflate
flating their monetary systems their currencies lose gold to for-
even faster than we were. eign nations (and domestic popu-
lations, if their rights of gold
Rea/Reasons Unstated ownership are not declared "crim-
The losers, whether rival coaches inal" by officials of the state).
or rival governments, are never The rules must be changed; gold
happy. The coaches immediately and talented tall men are in too
imposed a rule against the fa- short a supply.
mous "dunk shot," which had been The difficulty arises, naturally,
perfected into a fine art by Alcin- when the losers try to change the
dor.This was to equalize the game rules too much, and in doing so
for the small man, we were told either isolate themselves from the
("small man": anyone under six game everyone else is playing, or
feet four inches). Of course, AI- else destroy the game itself. This
cindor was the only college player is precisely what the Soviet Union
to use the shot regularly. What attempted to do a few years ago.
the coaches really wanted to do The Soviets have never beaten
the United States in an Olympic inflation, we are caught in a di-
basketball game (no nation has). lemma. We are now attempting to
Thus, they proposed sweeping have the "rules of the game"
changes: a twelve-foot basket, shifted in our favor, in order that
seven men on each team, and free we might avoid the payment of
substitution of players. Not sur- our gold debts to foreign nations.
prisingly, the Soviet press re- We want a "paper gold" system,
ported that Soviet fans were far or a special drawing rights sys-
more pleased with this new game. tem, or any other kind of system
Had these changes been accept- which will permit us to forfeit
able to the Olympic rules commit- all or a portion of our gold debts.
tee, it would have forced the Since 1958, the "gold exchange"
United States to change its entire standard has been working to our
basketball structure at the ama- disadvantage. We want it amended.
teur level (an unlikely event) or The world at present holds twice
else suffer the consequences when as many potential claims to our
its Olympic teams entered inter- gold as we have gold to pay (as-
national competition 'without be- suming that Congress abandons
ing familiar with the different the already meager 25 per cent
rules. The rules committee ignored gold reserve requirement for the
the recommendation, and today support, and restraint, of our do-
the Soviet teams play the game mestic money supply). The 1922
by the "old-fashioned" rules, rules, which seemed to be of such
whether or not the public behind benefit to us for so long, now ap-
the Iron Curtain "enjoyed the pear to be hurting our interna-
game far more" the other way. tional position. Unfortunately for
our officials at the Rio de Janeiro
A Different Situation
conference of -the International
The average sports fan, when Monetary Fund in September of
he hears of 'such "unsportsman- 1967, any alteration that is in our
like conduct," is likely to scoff at plans will inevitably hurt our "op-
these tactics. Yet consider what position" - those nations and cen-
the United States is trying to do tral banks to whom we have made
in the world's monetary affairs. lawful commitments to pay gold
Our nation is now suffering a on demand. The Rio conference
gold drain as a direct result of was therefore a failure, whether
our own domestic policies of in- the news media admitted this or
flation.Since we do not want to not.
lose our gold reserves or stop the Like the rule change aimed at
Alcindor and the rule changes and demand. Try as they will, gov-
proposed by the Soviet Union, the ernments and central bank officials
ultimate motivation behind them cannot legislate away these laws
was never mentioned in public. (could you play basketball with
At the Rio meeting, no one spoke a hoop smaller than the ball?).
publicly about the possibility of a Professor B. M. Anderson (curi-
unilateral devaluation of the dol- ously enough, he taught at UCLA
lar; in private, according to Franz before he died) has put it this
Pick, the delegates spoke of little way:
else. The game goes on.
Gold is an unimaginative task-
Gold Plays No favorites Inaster. It demands that men and
governments and central banks be
One thing is certain, however. honest. It demands that they keep
There will always be referees. their demand liabilities safely with-
They are not loved men, and both in the limits of their quick assets.
teams may from time to time It demands that they create no debts
raise a cry against them. Never- without seeing clearly how these
theless, they are vital. A game debts can be paid. If a country will
could not survive without them. do these things, gold will stay with
Sometimes they may take the form it and will come to it from other
of an informal agreement, such countries which are not meeting the
requirements. But when a country
as in golf; anyone continually
creates debt light-heartedly, when a
breaking the rules is ostracized
central bank makes rates of dis-
by the other players. The players count low and buys government se-
themselves act as the refer~es, curities to feed its money market,
and in a certain sense, this is what and permits an expansion of credit
goes on in international finance that goes into slow and illiquid as-
and trade. sets, then gold grows nervous. Mo-
Historically, the means of en- bile capital of all kinds grows ner-
forcing the basic rules - the laws vous. Then comes a flight of capital
of supply and demand - have been out of the country. Foreigners with-
connected with gold. Ultimately, draw their funds from it, and its
own citizens send their liquid funds
gold is the referee of the inter-
away for safety.3
national trading community. It
has been for thousands of years. At this point, gold is withdrawn
Gold plays no favorites; it is an from the country in question. It
impartial, though demanding,
3 B. M. Anderson, Economics and the
taskmaster. It simply operates Public Welfare (Princeton: Van Nos-
according to the laws of supply trand, 1949), p. 421.
is in light of this that we can the laws of that "barbarous" met-

understand President Johnson's al (to use Keynes' words and the
decision, announced on the first words of Federal Reserve Chair-
day of 1968, to restrict capital man Martin), cannot be violated
from flowing out of the United with impunity. Citizens may learn
States through the imposition of to trust their government, but
exchange control laws. This is the other governments are not so eas-
first time in the history of this ily deceived. The gold continues
country that such a thing has been to flow out.
attempted. lYlandatory restrictions All of this has been an analogy,
are now placed on American cap- perhaps a strained one. The cases
ital that might have been invested are different. Basketball is only a
abroad, so that the money cannot game for our enjoyment; if its
be used by foreign nations to buy rules are changed for one reason
our gold, or more properly to or another, probably little will be
claim their gold which we are lost. The fans may feel that they
holding in storage. have been deprived of a treat when
Ironically, it was in 1958, the they can no longer witness AI-
very year in which the gold out- cindor's mighty dunk shot, but
flow began, that President Eisen- the rather self-centered decision
hower began to encourage Ameri- of the opposing coaches will not
can capital to flow abroad; tax do much harm.
benefits accrued to such invest-
ments. Gold, the impartial ref- Lives Are at Stake
eree, has brought the change in The operation of the interna-
policy, not the difference in po- tional trading community is some'-
litical party affiliations of the re- thing vastly more important. It is
spective Presidents. It was gold, a matter of life and death to cer-
and the economic laws that ulti- tain nations (India, for example),
mately determine the m.ovement and an extremely grave problem
of gold, that brought the condi- confronts the world today: how
tions which convinced the Presi- can the United States continue to
dent to impose exchange controls inflate its currency while continu-
for the first time in our history. ing to meet its international gold
Government-created inflationary debts? How can a dangerous, and
policies now have brought forth perhaps impossible, alteration of
government - imposed restrictions the means of payment be made
on free trade and investment. Con- without destroying the delicate
trols beget controls. Laws, even fabric of international trust?
Let no one misunderstand our its domestic currencies, the West-

situation; it is a. crisis. The na- ern world brought on the debacle
tions which continue to violate of 1929-39. The result, at least in
the laws of supply and demand in part, was the rise of the Hitler
monetary affairs are risking dis- regime, the imposition of exchange
aster. If they continue to violate controls by many of the nations,
the "rules" of supply and demand the disruption of world trade,
- the most fundamental rules and the collapse of productivity
which no piece of legislation can when the international division of
remove - irrespective of the de- labor was hampered. The referee
cisions made in Genoa in 1922, - gold - was hindered in its task
the fabric of the "game" will be of relaying the facts of the mar-
destroyed. Noone will play in ket to the world ; it was ham-
such a "game." Men will cooperate pered in restoring monetary sta-
voluntarily only when they can bility to the world. The result,
trust other men to fulfill their finally, has been the financial cri-
obligations and commitments; the sis of 1968. The "game," as
same is true of nations. Jacques Rueff has warned u~ is
in danger of being destroyed:
In the final analysis, the changes
made at Genoa only changed the Since 1945 we have again been
surface rules of the international setting up the mechanism that, un-
monetary mechanism. The old questionably, triggered the disaster
gold standard was scrapped, but of 1929-1933. We are now watching
the consequences, as they follow in
not the laws of supply and de-
their ineluctable course. It is up to
mand, and not the law made ex- us to decide whether we are going
plicit by Professor Mises, that to let our civilization drift farther
inflations, when halted, result in toward the inevitable catastrophe.
depressions. 4 By abandoning the For those with foresight, our most
old gold standard, and by inflating pressing duty at this juncture is to
impress on Western thinking that
4 Ludwig von Mises, Human Action monetary matters are serious, that
(New Haven: Yale University Press,
1949), ch. 20. Of course, Mises shows they require deliberate consideration
that if the inflation is not stopped, the and should be dealt with system-
result will be a form of mass inflation atically.5 ~
even more destructive than a depres-
sion. 5 Rueff, The Age of Inflation, p. xiii.
RAYMOND BUKER
Best Wishes!
Mt,. B1lket' of Leaf River, Illinois,
composed the following note to ac-
company $5 bil'ls sent as Christmas
gifts in an area where state and local
sales taxes arno'Unt to 5 per cent.
Dear ...
Instead of presenting you with the wrong size of something, or a
gadget you may not have use for, here is a genuine Abe Lincoln Instant
Credit Card. Abe's picture makes it genuine because he was a genuine
American. However, and this would grieve Abe's heart terribly: it is
no longer genuine for the amount stated on it. The man behind the
counter is still glad to take it and it will buy a couple dollars' worth
of most anything.
You see, the box of Shredded Wheat that was marked 11 some years
back, and no tax, is now marked 271*, plus tax. Even at today's prices
you can't exchange this for $5.00 worth of goods. You must quit buying
when you get to $4.75, and reserve the other two bits to pay the tax on
what you have in your cart. No, it won't take you very long to exchange
this picture of Abe for a few goods at the market place.
"'The box of Shredded Wheat in our cupboard before Christmas was marked
27. About two weeks after Christmas we bought another box at the super-
market. It was 31.
247
Perhaps you wish it would take longer, so you might want to do it

this way. Take your picture of Abe to the bank and exchange it for 500
little metal tokens, each one with a picture of Abe on it. Then go out
and have a big time. Two or three of them will buy a penny stick of
candy. A dozen of them will buy a nickel ice cream cone. Just one of
them will allow you to sit in your car and watch the people walk by for
twelve whole minutes. And, oh yes, it is still the coin of the realm when
the collection plate is passed at Sunday School.
It used to be good advice to take a few of these pennies and dollars
to the bank and put them to work drawing interest. But it seems now,
even with the interest added, it is worth less when you take it out than
when you put it in.
It doesn't make sense. Something has gone wrong. But if we put on
our thinking cap we can figure it out. We ask Uncle Sam to do every-
thing for us. And Uncle Sam is such a good guy that he jumps at the
chance. He hands out money right and left.
The only trouble is he doesn't have any money except what he first
takes out of your pocket. Then when he can't get enough out of your
pocket he plays magician and pulls money out of the thin air. This is
called inflation and it causes Shredded Wheat to go from 11 to 27.
Well, if we run out of money, we can always borrow more. Or, can we?
But, this is Christmas and with what help Abe is able to give you,
we wish you a Merry Christmas. We also fervently ~vish you a Happy
New Year. ~
The Future of
CONSERVATISM
I KNOW a certain news syndicate The anarchistic urge does not

manager who is looking for a good produce a lasting movement, un-
young liberal columnist to balance less, as could conceivably happen
the conservatives whom he already in the wake of a great national de-
merchandizes. He won't find one. feat, a collectivistic dictatorship
For the truth is that liberalism, takes over amid the chaos that
in its modern centralizing, collec- recklessness can produce. M. Stan-
tivizing, and statist connotations, ton Evans, the Indianapolis editor
is no longer producing ideas that who specializes in political demog-
carry conviction. The young who raphy, obviously doesn't think the
go for modern liberalism - the U.S. is about to be defeated. His
students who join such organiza- The Future of Conservatism:
tions as Students for a Demo- From Taft to Reagan and Beyond
cratic Society - have abandoned (Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
thought in favor of action. They $5.95) combines eloquence and
are against the "Establishment"- statistics to prove that the con-
but the Establishment is itself the servative trend is building up such
product of modern liberalism. They a head of steam that it can't be
are against "hypocrisy," but stopped, even though modern lib-
everybody, to them, is a hypocrite erals may continue to win some
if he compromises enough with so- election victories.
ciety to make a living. The expres- Mr. Evans can count noses and
sion of modern liberalism, with analyze the election returns with
the more vocal rising generation, the best of them. But he cuts much
is the "confrontation," the demon- deeper than your ordinary politi-
stration, the riot. It does not lend cal demographer. He finds certain
itself to reason and to words. telltale signs in the "common find-
249
ings of the new conservatives and fare programs" and the "mon-
the new consensus liberals." For strous incapacities of the Depart-
some years now the allied con- ment of Health, Education and
servative and libertarian causes vVelfare," Goodwin says there is
have been producing a new intel- "something wrong with the old
lectual j ournalisln. vVhere there approach." "The idea of decen-
was once only a FREEMAN, there tralization," he concludes, "is mak-
is now a whole group of maga- ing its first timid and tentative
zines - National Review, Modern appearances in political rhetoric.
Age, Rally, Triumph, The Inter- It is possible to predict that the
collegiate Review. The intellectual first party to carry this banner
bankruptcy of the old liberal (if buttressed by a solid program)
journalism of ideas is apparent will find itself on the right side
when you compare any issue of of the decisive issues of the
the Nation or the N e'wRepublic 1970's."
with the editorial sections of the
mass media. They are utterly in- Broken Promises
distinguishable in their repetitions Moynihan's retreat from the
of the current "conventional wis- current conventional wisdom of
dom." the collectivistic and centralizing
liberals is even more pronounced
A Sinking Ship than Goodwin's: "Liberals," he
But the current conventional says in a sudden spate of revela-
,visdom has begun to bore such tion, "have been unable to acquire
liberal intellectuals as Richard from life what conservatives seem
Goodwin, a former aide to John F. to have been endowed with at
Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, and birth, namely, a healthy skepticism
Daniel P. Moynihan, author of a of the powers of government agen-
controversial study of the break- cies to do good." Moynihan's own
down of the Negro family in the conclusion is that the riots in
so-called ghetto. Goodwin profess- seventy-five U.S. cities have re-
es to being troubled with "the sulted because the centralizing
growth in central power" that has liberals "raised hopes out of all
been "accompanied by a swift and proportion to our capacity to de-
continual diminution in the sig- liver on our promises." Speaking
nificance of the individual citizen, for his own liberal movement:
transforming him from a wielder Moynihan says his colleague~
to an object of power." Noting "must divest themselves of thE
the "fantastic labyrinth of wel- notion that the nation, especially
1968 THE FUTURE OF CONSERVATISM 251
the cities, can be run from agen- on the national TV programs." In

cies in Washington." this America every problem can
be solved by an increase in gov-
A Healthy Skepticism ernmental services from the Fed-
It takes special will power for eral authorities . . . and (by) a
the old-style libertarian to resist program of cautious accommoda-
throwing a sarcastic "I told you tion of the Soviet Union." The
SOH in the -aces o Goodwin, second, and "other," America is
lVloynihan and Company. But the only discovered by putting aside
will to resist should be invoked, that mass magazine and turning
for who among us is without sin? off the TV set. But, curiously, a
At least nine out of ten of us fell majority of the U.S. people live
for some of the nostrums of the in the "other America."
nineteen thirties. Those of us who
discovered the need for "a healthy Shifting Political Patterns
skepticism of the powers of gov- Mr. Evans proves this conclu-
ernment agencies to do good'" in sively by analyzing the political
the late years of the New Deal changes of the nineteen sixties
should extend a charitable wel- against the backdrop of westerly
come to an Irving Kristol when he and southerly shifts in the popula-
suddenly despairs of bureaucratic tion statistics, and against the
solutions to our troubles. And drift of people into the suburbs. The
when a Richard Goodwin says it northeast quadrant of the United
is "just possible that conservatives States, where- liberalism still calls
have something to teach about the the tune in local politics, has been
value of institutional arrange- growing at a pace considerably
ments, and the unwisdom of sac- slower than the rest of the nation.
rificing them to immediate de- The East, in the decade of the
sires," we should say, "Welcome fifties, grew in population by 13.2
aboard." per cent; the Midwest, by 16.1
The mass media publications per cent; the South, by 16.5 per
have been slow to catch on to the cent (and this despite the Negro
growing philosophical doubts exodus to Detroit, Chicago, and
among the liberals. As Mr. Evans New York) ; and the West, by the
says, there are two Americas. huge figure of 38.9 per cent. Cali-
First, there is the "America we fornia, Texas, and Florida have
read about in the glossy maga- all become giant states, quite cap-
zines, glimpse in some portions able of canceling the liberalism
of the daily press, hear discussed of New York and Pennsylvania in
political years. California has its ~ THE SYMPHONY OF LIFE by

Governor Ronald Reagan, Florida Donald Hatch Andrews (Lee's
its Governor Claude Kirk, Texas Summit, Mo.: Unity Books, 1966),
its Senator John Tower. The Re- 423 pp., $4.95.
publicans elected ten new gov-
ernors in 1966, seven of them in ~ THE BROKEN I1UAGE by Floyd
the South and West. And, says W. l\fatson (New York: George
Mr. Evans, seven out of a total of Braziller, 1964), 355 pp., $6.95.
eleven governors in the West are Reviewed by Edmund A. Opitz
considered to be conservatives.
The figures being what they are, PROFESSOR ANDREWS' book is the
it is small wonder that the so- fruit of a lifetime spent in the
called Eastern Establishment is fields of chemistry and mathemat-
having a hard time dominating ical physics. He is also a knowl-
Republican politics. Moreover, the edgable musician and, as the
growth of the suburbs, which present volume demonstrates, is
nurture a conservative philosophy, gifted with poetic imagination of
is changing things even in the a high order. Andrews ponders
Northeast. Today more than fifty- such startling breakthroughs in
eight million Americans live in twentieth century science as ra-
the suburbs, a gain of almost 50 dioactivity, X rays, the photo-
per cent in a decade. By contrast, electric effect, the quantum theory
the central cities gained only 11 and the theory of relativity; then
per cent. he develops a breakthrough of his
Mr. Evans thinks the Reagan own - offering music as the new
victory in California is a portent model of the universe.
of things to come on the national The older scientific model in-
scene (though not necessarily in herited from Sir Isaac Newton
terms of a personal Reagan shift was the machine; whatever scien-
from Sacramento to the White tific investigators and theorists
House). Reagan put together a could not interpret along mechani-
coalition of taxpayers, home- cal lines was swept under the rug,
owners, and suburbanites by "sur- into the category of unreality.
facing all the anxieties which it Reality was regarded as an intri-
should be the business of the Re- cate piece of clockwork; the idea
publican Party... to elicit." of mechanism reigned supreme.
When the same coalition decides It was futile to point out, as some
on a national candidate, says Mr. continued to do, that the idea of
Evans, it will elect a President. ~ mechanism is not a conclusion
reached by mechanical means, but J oad, are still useful, but the re-
by free thought; and that the cent book by Mr. Matson is even
mind, therefore, must be outside more pertinent. Matson is a phi-
the machine, and indeed its cre- losopher, if by that label we un-
ator. derstand a man who has so steeped
The logic of these critics is as himself in several disciplines that
impeccable as it was unacceptable. he gains a commanding vision
Treat things as if they are me- which enables him to knit their
chanical, it was said in reply, and separate findings into a coherent
you get results; and these results whole. This book surveys the cen-
are superior to anything produced turies since Newton in terms of the
by two thousand years of logic ideas which have had a decisive im-
chopping! The material accom- pact on man's thinking about him-
plishments of recent centuries re- self. Does the image man frames
flect mental capacity of a high of himself enhance his humanity
order, but while these marvels or downgrade it? The latter, Mr.
were honored mind itself was Matson demonstrates. Men have
downgraded, reduced to an emana- tried to live with a distorted image
tion of bits of matter. of themselves, an image accorded
We have now come full circle, the prestige of science until re-
to the point where the very prog- cently. But the forces of recon-
ress of scientific investigation it- struction are now gathering
self produces results which are in- strength, and they are to be found
explicable in terms of mechanics. among contemporary physicists,
It is music, argues Dr. Andrews, biologists, and psychologists; "all
which provides us with the choic- the way from the physics labora-
est clue as to the nature of the tory to the therapeutic clinic," he
universe, and "in shifting the writes.
basis of our ideas about the uni- "Science" is a god-term, and
verse from mechanics to music," many are offended if it is spoken
he writes, "we move into an en- of less than reverentially; such
tirely new philosophy of science." persons equate science with truth.
This is not so much to move Most genuine scientists, however,
off in a new direction as to step are able to view the matter ob-
into a new dimension, and a little jectively. Science is indeed one of
background reading might be the proudest accomplishments of
helpful. Older works on the phi- the human spirit, generously en-
losophy of science, such as those listing the services of all sorts
by Whitehead, Eddington, and and conditions of men. It depends
on the rare innovator and trail measurable damage. Kept within

blazer at the top end of the spec- bounds he may fulfill his early
trum; makes use of the plodding, promise, but in order for this to
patient experimenter at the other; occur a new perspective. and mood
while in between it employs a va- must be engendered, wherein man
riety of talents. The beneficent re- is regarded "as an indivisible
sults of science on its own level subject rather than an assembled
speak for themselves. product." The idea is that until
But there is a dark side, for man makes something of himself,
science is also a mystique, the he won't be able to make real
prevailing faith of our time; it sense of the universe around him.
breeds an ideology, scientism, Well, what kind of a species is
whose coarse growth tends to the one to which we belong?
choke out all in life that is not Man is the unfinished animal
quantitative and measurable - in- pa.r excellence. In the case of most,
cluding the perceiving mind it- if not all, other organisms, the
self! Furthermore, this ideology initial endowment is potent
has provided a plausible rationale enough to propel the organism
for setting up planned states from birth to mature form by a
where the masses of men are sort of unfoldment from within.
manipulated by their "betters," Maturation occurs more or less
and the economy is forced into the automatically. Man's situation is
pattern they have selected. These radically different. The infant's
untoward by-products of science endowment may be ever so gen-
have come under sporadic criti- erous but this is not sufficient to
cism for several centuries, but the guarantee a superior adult. He is
jabs were brushed aside as coming shaped in the family environment
from philosophers, religionists, and by his culture, but the critical
and men of letters. touches are added by himself;
The good news now is that sci- the full stature of personhood can-
entists themselves, in growing not be attained unless the indi-
numbers, are beginning to over- vidual takes himself in hand and
haul their own disciplines to take makes something of himself.
out the overweening pretensions. This he will not do if he be-
A handful of men let this genie lieves he cannot do it. If the pre-
out of the bottle, and along with vailing ideology assumes that the
an enormous amount of good, his individual is a mere creature of
clumsiness in the sectors beyond his environment, then that's what
his competence have done im- individuals will tend to become.
If it is believed that men can take millions of human beings over the
hold of themselves in creative centuries life must have been
ways, then they will do so and brutish and short. They were a
overcome environmental difficul- tough breed, however, in whom
ties. What a man believes about a kind of animal hope rarely fal-
himself significantly affects what tered. Then, about four centuries
he may become, and his chances ago men began to exploit a tech-
of coming upon the right ideas nique which gave them an im-
are diminished if the ideological mense amount of knowledge of
trend in his society is moving nature and enormous control over
strongly in the wrong direction. nature's processes. Science in the
The animal is content just to modern sense, "the glorious enter-
live ; not so man. The animal tainment," as Jacques Barzun calls
seeks to eat and avoid being it, was launched by the work of
eaten; he breeds, dies, and his such men as Copernicus, Galileo,
race continues. Man, on the other Descartes, and especially Newton.
hand, is a self-conscious being, The results speak for them-
aware of himself and of a not- selves, on the plus as well as on
self. The not-self out there is na- the minus side. Science has given
ture, both animate and inanimate. men inordinate power over nature
Nature has many facets; friendly, and they use some of this power
hostile, indifferent. Originally, at to threaten and destroy each other.
the mercy of nature and tethered Science has saved life and ex-
by a chronically short food supply, tended the life span to the point
man gradually le-arned to turn na- where expanding populations
ture to his own uses: by taming crowd each other to the edges of
fire, inventing the lever, and so the planet. We have better means
on. Enhancing his mastery over of communication and worse
nature, he outgrew nomadism and things to say; faster means of
became a herdsman, then an agri- getting there and less important
culturalist, and finally a city dwel- things to do once we arrive. Man
ler. Civilization is spawned by the maker and doer is proud of
city life, and at the dawn of his- his stupendous inventions and
tory man is lord of the planet; magnificent artifacts, but he
philosopher, builder, worshipper, spends some vital essence in pro-
poet, artist, hero. ducing them and feels dwarfed
The monuments of the past and robotized in consequence; man
testify that the human race has the philosopher and belle-Iettrist
had moments of splendor, but for wallows in despair. The prevalent
philosophy, existentialism, poises is the chapter about to close; for

man one step short of suicide; while the previous course of sci-
and in modern fiction he is often ence was running down to its bit-
portrayed as a pitiful slob. ter end, new trails were being
Is it surprising, though, that a broken by science itself which
technique which rigorously ex- point in an entirely different di-
cluded every human element from rection. We need, therefore, a new
its methodology in the beginning guide, one who will offer us not
should, in the end, find man less just a blueprint but a vision. Blue-
than human? Science did not deal print and vision are each neces-
with the whole man, and those sary; the former to be learned,
elements of human nature ex- the latter caught. Dr. Andrews' re-
cluded by its investigative tech- markable book is highly conta-
niques return to bedevil us. This gious. ~

FREEMAN BINDERS
$2.50 each

the
Freeman
VOL. 18, NO.5. MAY 1968
Freedom: "The Wave of the Future"? Edward P. Coleson 259

The history of great movements, from the planting of an idea until its flowering
as a major force among men, suggests that around the next corner may be the
age of freedom.
The Price Is Not Right Jess Raley 269

Something for nothing invariably costs too much.
Statistics and Poverty Harry l. Smith 272

There is no statistical or governmental way to eliminate a "lower third" from
any society, but their lot can be vastly improved through freedom.
How Welfarism Has Led to Britain's Troubles Anthony Lejeune 277

A friend from Britain advises Americans to reject the welfare state before
suffering its inevitable consequences.
The Rise and Fall of England:

3. Political Foundations of Liberty Clarence B. Carson 282
A review of political steps taken to establ ish and safeguard the rights of the
individual and limit the powers of government.
Making Travel a Crime William Henry Chamberlin 293

A government that can deny a peaceful citizen's freedom to move is well along
toward absolute tyranny.
A Sure-Fire Remedy Leonard E. Read 299

To overcome one's socialistic urge requires only that he take his own medicine
to its logical conclusion.
A Lesson in Time John O. Nelson 303

The United States government literally didn't know what time it was until private
enterprise fixed the clock.
Equality? Edward Y. Breese 308

Equal opportunities to different persons yield unequal results.
Book Reviews 312

"The World of Andrew Carnegie" by Louis M. Hacker
"The Balance of Payments: Free vs. Fixed Exchange Rates" by Milton Friedman and
Robert V. Roosa
"The last Hero: Charles A. Lindbergh" by Walter S. Ross

the
Freeman

Economic Education
THE F R E E MAN is published .monthly by the

7230.

"How Welfarism Has Led to Britain's Troubles," and "The Rise and
Fall of England."
((Wave of the FUture""?
Enw ARD P. COLESON
IN 1883 an obscure German ref- much of which was not published

ugee died in a London slum. A half until after his death.
dozen or so attended the funer- The writer was Karl Marx and
al and one of his friends said a the friend who supported him over
few kind words over his remains. the years, bade him the last fare-
Although the deceased had had well, and finally published volumes
the advantages of a university ed- two and three of his monumental
ucation when this was a rare work was Friedrich Engels, son
privilege and his wife came of the of a wealthy industrialist. Cer-
upper class in her native Ger- tainly, no "prophet" ever died a
many, the family had lived for more complete failure. Yet no
years under the most wretched "gospel" has ever spread more
conditions imaginable in a sordid rapidly. If present trends con-
slum while he spent his time in tinue and communism maintains
the reading room of the British its current rate of growth, it
Museum writing endlessly, piling would be very possible that Marx-
up heaps of illegible manuscript, ism could dominate the earth com-
pletely by the centennial of the
Dr. Coleson is Professor of Social Science at death of its author; that is, by
Spring Arbor College in Michigan. His latest
book, The Harvest of Twenty Centuries 1983 - just in time to provide the
(1967), pertains to Christian education and
the global crisis. setting for George Orwell's 198.1,,!
259
260 THE FREEMAN May
Small Beginnings of ing, but even perceptive men of

Mighty Movements the time failed to see how very
Many men of good will in our successful they were becoming.
time have been completely over- According to Margaret Cole,l H. G.
whelmed by the march of events 'VeIls, a pioneer British Fabian
in today's world: the seemingly Socialist, offended his fellow Fa-
inevitable and inexorable sweep of bians back in 1905 by reminding
communism across the earth, the them how "shabbily poor" and in-
spread of violence here and almost significant their little organization
everywhere, the collapse of ethical really was. He insisted the mem-
standards, and all the other symp- bers were generally inactive and
toms of disintegration all about the tracts they distributed were
us. One of their problems is that feeble indeed. He said they per-
they fail to understand the growth meated "English society with their
of movements across the ages and reputed Socialism about as much
thus are unduly depressed with as a mouse may be said to per-
the present outlook because they meate a cat." He then challenged
cannot see the possible develop- them to go out into the Strand
ments of tomorrow. They are not and see the enormous capitalist
alone in their pessimism. Late in establishments of London which
his life Karl Marx lost all hope were going about their business
for the future of the "cause" he as if there were no socialist threat
had given his life to promote and - as indeed there seemed not to
was very despondent, because he be. One might comment that what-
could not see that it would take a ever competence H. G. Wells had
generation or two for his efforts as an historian, he was certainly
to bear fruit. He died a broken- no prophet. He simply could not
hearted old man. Twenty years see how "veIl they were doing and
later, in 1903, which was just 65 how swiftly they would take over
years ago, Lenin launched his Bol- England. But the seed was sown
shevik organization with perhaps and would mature throughout the
seventeen supporters - still noth- world, given time, as we are so
ing to get excited about but much painfully aware today.
more significant than his contem- Lest the reader may assume that
poraries could possibly have imag- the communists have some magic
ined. formula for success - that it is in-
Of course, the socialist move- deed the "wave of the future," as
ment was much more than Marx 1 Margaret Cole, The Story of Fabian
or Lenin, and was long in the mak- Socialism, pp. 119-120.
1968 FREEDOM: "THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE"? 261
they themselves claim - let us ex- tianity in the Near East. Its ori-
amine a few other movements to gins were humble and unpromis-
see how they tend to grow. ing also, but its triumph was
indeed spectacular. In 632 A.D. an
Christ and Mohammed
illiterate Arabian camel driver
In 29 or 30 A. D. a Galilean car- died. Ten years before, he had
penter was crucified at Jerusalem escaped from Mecca when his
by the Roman governor to appease neighbors refused to listen to his
the populace. He had twelve disci- new religion and became' impatient
ples, but one betrayed him. Only with his insistent demands that
one followed him to the cross. Yet, they give up their idols. The would-
thirty-five years later Christians be prophet was received with en-
were sufficiently conspicuous thusiasm away from home and
around Rome, 1,500 miles away lived to see his new faith trium-
across the lVlediterranean, so that phant in Arabia.
Nero noticed them and thought of The Moslem "blitzkrieg" (light-
blaming them for the Great Fire ning warfare) speedily conquered
after he burned the "Eternal City" Alexander's old empire in the East
in 64 A.D. In spite of the most and all of North Africa in the
systematic and awful persecution, West. Within a lifetime the fol-
the Church triumphed over her lowers of the Prophet had won
enemies and became the official more territory than Rome ruled at
religion of the Roman Empire its height. The Mohammedan flood
within three centuries after the was stopped at the gates of Con-
Crucifixion. The teachings of the stantinople in southeastern Eu-
~laster also spread far beyond the rope, but in the West they were
frontiers of the civilized world more successful. Here, they poured
and helped to soften the blow of into Spain and on into France, as
the fall of Rome. Christian mis- if the world were theirs for the
sionaries had already partially taking. Never was the Christian
conquered the barbarians with the West in greater peril: "The cres-
Gospel of the Prince of Peace, cent was about to round to the
which helped to mitigate the hor- full." In 732, a century after the
rors of the collapse of civilization. death of Mohammed, the Moslem
During the long centuries of advance was repulsed at Tours in
darkness which followed the col- west-central France. Thus, another
lapse of Western civilization, an- great movement was born in an-
other faith arose not far from the other unlikely spot and grew be-
birthplace of Judaism and Chris- yond belief to become a mighty
262 THE FREEMAN May
force in the earth. And many other the setting up of the welfare state
examples could be cited. in 1945 was marked by little but
toil and sweat and oppression."2
Keynes' "Economic Utopia" To counter this mistaken idea may
Now, it would be a great mis- I quote the British godfather of
take to assume that just anyone the American New Deal, John
who gets up on a soap box can Maynard Keynes himself. 3 Lord
set off a chain reaction which will Keynes, who was born in 1883,
sweep the world; most such at- the ye'ar Karl Marx died, tells how
tempts obviously die on the vine. he grew up in the "economic El-
While it would clearly exceed the dorado" of the late Victorian pe-
limits of one brief article to ex- riod when people had forgotten
plore the why of the rise of move- Malthus and his gloomy predic-
ments in human history, perhaps tions of mass starvation, when
we can at least partially trace the products moved quite freely across
growth of freedom in the West frontiers over all the earth and
during the last two or three cen- men could travel to any land
turies and understand the reason "without passport or other formal-
for the rapid rise of totalitarian- ity," when men could get any
ism today. Such a survey should quantity of gold their credit would
help us to see also what the future command and invest it anywhere
may hold in store for us. they might desire. Indeed, Keynes
Before we attempt this overview describes this "economic utopia,"
of the path we have been following ,vhat one might call our "Paradise
over the years - and, as Robert Lost," in even more glowing terms
Frost would say, the "road not than I would.
taken" by modern man - a quick Actually, his high praise of this
glimpse of contrasting periods of era of freedom and rapidly rising
history may be most edifying. living standards is quite like the
Such an attempt presents real dif- estimate of Benjamin M. Ander-
ficulties, of course, since the prob- son, although Anderson and
lem of bias is very real indeed. Keynes may have agreed on little
I'm thinking especially of the his- else. In the opening pages of his
tory of England and the United Economics and the Public Welfare,
States over the past two centuries. Anderson reminds us:
T. S. Ashton notes that accord-
2 F. A. Hayek (ed.), Capitalism and
ing to an exceedingly common
the Historians, pp. 33-34.
view, "the course of English his- 3 J. M. Keynes, The Economic Conse-
tory since about the year 1760 to quences of the Peace, pp. 10-12.
Those who have an adult's recol- but they insist that what was
lection and an adult's understanding feasible back then is no longer
of the world which preceded the first possible in this "complex modern
World War look back upon it with a age." People today consider, and
great nostalgia. There was a sense quite correctly, too, that life was
of security then which has never since
less complicated back in the "Gay
existed. Progress was generally taken
for granted ... decade after decade Nineties" or the "horse and
had seen increasing political freedom, buggy days." By an extension of
the progressive spread of democratic the same logic, Adam Smith's
institutions, the steady lifting of the vvorld of 1776 should have been
standard of life for the masses. . . . very simple indeed since he wrote
It was an era of good faith. Men be- The Wealth of Nations at what
lieved in promises. Men believed in might be called the dawn of the
the promises of governments. Trea- Industrial Revolution. As a matter
ties were serious matters. In financial of fact, Smith was writing his
matters the good faith of govern- great work which supplied the
ments and central banks was taken
ideas for the new age while one
for granted. Governments and cen-
of his friends, James Watt, was
tral banks were not always able to
keep their promises, but when this perfecting the steam engine which
happened they were ashamed.... In was to supply the power.
1913 men trusted the promises of But this was no age of simplic-
governments and governments ity. This was an era of astounding
trusted one anothe-r to a degree that complexity. Smith never lived to
is difficult to understand today. The see those simpler times which
greatest and most important task of were in part an outgrowth of his
the next few decades must be to re- own economic and political philos-
build the shattered fabric of national ophy. The Wealth of Nations is
and international good faith. Men filled with the writer's protests
and nations must learn to trust one
against ,,,hat he considered the
another again. Political good faith
must be restored. Treaties must
inane and oppressive restrictions
again become sacred. 4 of the mercantilist period of which
he was an unwilling part. Much
The Complex World of J776 is said in history courses about
Now, many of my contempo- mercantilism and "a favorable bal-
raries would allovi that what ance of trade." But suffice it to
Keynes and Anderson said about say, for our present purpose, that
the prewar period might be true; mercantilism was an attempt by
4 Benjamin M. Anderson, Economics the government, through a ple-
and the Public Welfare, pp. 3-4. thora of controls, to regulate the
264 THE FREEMAN May
nation into prosperity. Some no- Abolish Restrictions
tion of the widespread nature of Adam Smith's cure for the con-
these regulations and their prac- fusion of his age was straight-
tical consequences may be gained forward enough: simply let the
from historian Henry Thomas government sweep away the end-
Buckle's characterization of the less maze of controls and let peo-
period: ple take care of their own business
In every quarter, and at every mo- in their own way. Some notion of
ment, the hand of government was how involved mercantilist regula-
felt. Duties on importation, and duties tions could become may be judged
on exportation; bounties to raise from the fact that it took over
up a losing trade, and taxes to pull three thousand pages to print the
down a remunerative one; this branch regulations for the textile industry
of industry forbidden, and that of France - and all of this before
branch of industry encouraged; one the beginning of the industrial
article of commerce must not be age which is supposed to have
grown, because it was grown in the
made life complicated. Even then,
colonies, another article might be
grown and bought, but not sold again, they were changed with such be-
while a third article might be bought wildering rapidity that no one
and sold, but not leave the country. could keep up with the latest or-
Then too, we find laws to regulate ders. French weavers once went
wages ; laws to regulate prices ; laws through a whole season without
to regulate profits; laws to regulate moving a shuttle while waiting
the interest of money; custom-house for the governmknt to make up
arrangements of the most vexatious its mind. Penalties were so severe
kind, aided by a complicated scheme, that no one could afford to dis-
which was well called the sliding regard the codes: offenders were
scale, - a scheme of such perverse
hanged, broken on the wheel, or
ingenuity, that the duties constantly
varied on the same article, and no sentenced to the galleys. No less
man could calculate beforehand what than 16,000 people are said to have
he would have to pay . . . the first perished over - of all things - the
inevitable consequence was, that, in regulations covering printed cal-
every part of Europe, there arose icoes. Little wonder that Smith
numerous and powerful smugglers, rebelled against the needless re-
who lived by disobeying the laws strictions, although England never
which their ignorant rulers had im- carried the system to the absurd
posed. 5 length that France or Spain did.
5 Henry Thomas Buckle, History of
Civilization in England, Vol. I, pp. 201- However, Smith was no anarch-
202. ist. He sought rather to reduce
the legal code to the simplicity of ent societies; secondly, the duty of
the moral law. He felt that sweep- protecting, as far as possible, every
ing away the complex and devious member of the society from the in-
economic regulations of mercan- justice or oppression of every other
tilism would relieve the govern- member of it, or the duty of establish-
ing an exact administration of jus-
ment of an intolerable administra-
tice; and, thirdly, the duty of erect-
tive burden (the task of minding
ing and maintaining certain public
everybody's business) and permit works and certain public institutions,
the sovereign to concentrate on which it can never be for the interest
what Smith regarded as the true of any individual, or small number
duty of the state: of individuals, to erect and maintain;
because the profit could never repay
All systems either of preference or the expense to any individual or small
of restraint, therefore, being thus com- number of individuals, though it may
pletely taken away, the obvious and frequently do much more than repay
simple system of natural liberty es- it to a great society.6
tablishes itself of its own accord.
Every man, as long as he does not Adam Smith and British Greatness
violate the laws of justice, is left We commonly assume that it
perfectly free to pursue his own in- was all very easy for Adam Smith,
terest his own way, and to bring both great man that he was, to
his industry and capital into competi-
straighten out the world of his
tion with those of any other man, or
day. Actually, Smith was a rather
order of men. The sovereign is com-
pletely discharged from a duty, in obscure Scottish professor. While
the attempting to perform which he traveling in the mid-1760's, he
must always be exposed to innumer- stopped off to see a little group
able delusions, and for the proper of French philosophers who were
performance of which no human wis- pondering the problems of France
dom or knowledge could ever be suf- and mankind, although nobody
ficient; the duty of superintending was paying much attention to
the industry of private people, and them, either. They called them-
of directing it towards the employ- selves Physiocrats, which means
ments most suitable to the interest of
the "rule of nature."
the society. According to the system
of natural liberty, the sovereign has The founder of this "school" of
only three duties to attend to; three economics was Fran~ois Quesnay,
duties of great importance, indeed, a self-made man who so distin-
but plain and intelligible to common guished himself as a physician
understandings: first, the duty of that he became Louis XV's per-
protecting the society from the vio- 6 Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations,
lence and invasion of other independ- Everyman's Library, Vol. 2, pp. 180-181.
266 THE FREEMAN May
sonal doctor. According to Henry were stifling French industry. But

George's account, Quesnay, they leaned on a reed [the King].
Turgot was removed. His reforms
were stopped. The pent up misery of
... abstaining from the intrigues
the masses . . . burst into the blind
of the court, . . . won the sincere re-
madness of the great revolution [in
spect of Louis XV (who) made him
1789] . The Physiocrats were over-
a noble, gave him a coat of arms, as-
thrown, many of them perishing on
signed him apartments in the palace,
the guillotine. . . .
calling him affectionately his thinker
On the continental trip he made be-
. . . . And around . . . this "King's
tween 1764 and 1766 ... Adam Smith
Thinker" was accustomed to gather
made the personal acquaintance of
a group of eminent men who joined
Quesnay ... and was, while in Paris,
him in an aim the grandest the hu-
a frequent and welcome visitor at
man mind can entertain - being noth-
the apartments in the palace, where,
ing less than the establishment of
unmindful of the gaieties and in-
liberty and the abolition of poverty
trigues of the most splendid and cor-
among men, by the conformation of
rupt court of Europe that went on
human laws to the natural order in-
but a floor below them, this remark-
tended by the Creator. These men saw
able group discussed matters of the
what has often been forgotten amid
highest and most permanent interest
the complexities of a high civiliza-
to mankind. 7
tion, but is yet as clear as the sun at
noonday.... The Wealth of Nations
That these men rose in France, and
as it were in the very palace of the Adam Smith, like the Physi-
absolute king, just as the rotten Bour- ocrats, never saw his ideas put
bon dynasty was hastening to its fall into practice, although he did pub-
is one of the most striking of th~ lish a "best seller" a decade after
paradoxes with which history his trip to France. His great work,
abounds. Never, before nor since, out A n Inquir-y into the Nature and
of the night of despotism gleamed Causes of the lVealth of Nations,
there such clear light of liberty. They to use the full title, was an in-
were (however) deluded by the idea
stantaneous success, was soon
... that the power of a king ... might
be utilized to break the power of translated into several foreign
other special interests, and to bring languages, and ran through five
liberty and plenty to France, and editions in his lifetime. It be-
through France to the world. They came a sort of statesman's hand-
had their day of hope . . . when in book, although it was years before
1774 . . . Turgot was made Finance
Minister of Louis XVI, and at once 7 Henry George, The Science of Polit-
began cutting the restrictions that ical Economy, pp. 149-160.
it made much difference in prac- ity, and progress so highly lauded

tical policy. Finally, some three- by Lord Keynes. Britain became
quarters of a century later, Parlia- the center of world trade and fi-
ment took the great step of nance. But all of this came to pass
dismantling the whole system of a century after. Adam Smith and
protection for domestic producers, the Physiocrats pondered the prob-
and Britain emerged as a "free lems of the world, just as we today
trade" nation. are reaping the harvest of Karl
The most celebrated case of the Marx's sowing.
dramatic fight for economic free-
dom was the so-called "Repeal of Ideas: Bomb with a Long Fuse
the Corn Laws," which did away Why the "gradual encroachment
with protection for English farm- of ideas," as Lord Keynes ex-
ers. England had long had a "farm pressed it? Several factors con-
program," a high tariff on grain, tribute to the long delay between
which kept out foreign agricul- thought and action. One is the
tural products and hence increased fact that a great teacher arises
the cost of living for the English with some new doctrine or a mod-
laborer. Since, traditionally, the ern version of an old one,but he
aristocrats of England were can scarcely hope to make much
wealthy landowners and had long of an impact on his own age which
controlled Parliament, it took a is run by men whose thought pat-
tremendous popular upheaval to terns are already set; his hope is
eliminate the Corn Laws. This was the student of today. This means
effected in 1846, in part as the that it will take at least another
consequence of the "potato famine" generation, perhaps even longer,
in Ireland which brought the before his ideas can bear fruit.
chronic problems of human need Furthermore, when we human
to a dramatic focus. Something beings get in a rut - as we habitu-
had to be done "right now," since ally do - we commonly do not
people were starving in large num- change our ways, however urgent
bers. Once Parliament started or desirable the changes may be.
slashing tariffs, it was only a \Vhen some crisis comes, such as
matter of time until they were the "Potato Famine of 1846" or
almost completely eliminated. the "Crash of '29," perhaps then
Most other Western nations we may get out of our rut only
joined in the movement to open to fall into another. Our "New
their markets also; which led to Deal" rut is some thirty-five years
the great period of peace, prosper- long by now, and a change may be
268 THE FREEMAN May
anticipated presently; but it will a billion people now know what

take quite a jolt to get us out of it. communism is all about, and first-
Widespread discontent at the grass hand, too, although few of them
roots is an important factor. have ever waded through Das Ka-
One reason why mercantilism, pital. No doubt, many of them are
the ancient version of the planned the bitterest enemies of the sys-
economy, went out of fashion in tem. On our side of the Curtain,
the last century was that genera- the "welfare state" is bankrupt
tions of ordinary people had be- also, both figuratively and liter-
come disillusioned with the at- ally.
tempts of the several European
governments to regulate and con- This dramatic failure of social-
trol their nations into prosperity. ism in all its forms and around the
A good many people back then world gives the man of good will
were aware of this public nui- who believes in liberty an oppor-
sance, though they had never read tunity he has not had in a long,
Adam Smith. A lot of folks today, long time - the opportunity to pre-
who never heard of Von Mises' sent Adam Smith's "obvious and
Planning for Freedom, have been simple system of natural liberty"
vexed with national planning since as the solution to the global crisis.
Henry Wallace "plowed under cot- And if we have the persistence of
ton and killed little pigs." A mul- Karl Marx and the patience of the
titude of Europeans who never Fabian socialists, it just may be
read Hayek's The Road to Serf- that tomorrow will be ours - that
dom have seen the "Berlin Wall" freedom will indeed be the wave
or the "Iron Curtain." More than of our future. ~
Dumping
When cheap foreign goods flood our markets-

Come into our ports without end -
The best way to punish the aliens
Is to buy all the goods they can send.
WILLFORD I. KING, Economics in Rhyme
The Price Is
NOT RIGHT
JESS RALEY
RECENTLY our State Legislature ment already protects me from my

made it mandatory for any indi- many inadequacies so much more
vidual who rides a two-wheel, mo- lavishly than I can afford, it ap-
tor-driven vehicle to wear a crash pears doubtful that further help
helmet. The law seems to have can be endured at this time.
been received with open arms by There is something pathetic
almost everyone. I can recall no about man's relationship with law
local, state, or Federal legislation - from the very dawn of history
within the past forty years that to this day. We know that civiliza-
faced less opposition. Consensus tion is built on a foundation of
appears to be that this law will law. Human nature being what it
neutralize any lack of skill or is, no culture, social order, or na-
judgment and protect the irrespon- tion could have emerged without
sible from his own folly, in spite certain basic laws, written or un-
of himself. written. Once committed to law-
Now I am not, in any sense, op- making, however, no nation seems
posed to crash helmets. The large- to have found a stopping place. All
ly hostile environment in which appear to have subscribed to the
man attempts to survive would theory that if a little law is good,
seem to dictate extreme caution a great deal of law must surely be
and proper use of all available better. This theory seems to affirm
safety equipment. Personally, I that a man who could function
would not think of riding a motor fairly well carrying ten pounds of
vehicle without a skid-lid. But the weight would do much better load-
sad truth is the Federal governed with a ton or more.
There is nothing contradictory
Mr. Raley is a free-lance author, speaker,
philosopher from Gadsden, Alabama. in the proposition that a minimum
270 THE FREEMAN May
of law tends to build civilization there is no hope that the minority
while labyrinthine laws tend to de- could, for long,. pay the bill.
stroy. In fact, a society of perfect For the undoubted advantage of
persons would have no place for living in a sophisticated society I
law enforcement since each indi- am willing, if not happy, to go my
vidual would of need be free and bit to protect that culture from its
therefore jealous of his or her re- enemies, foreign or domestic. I
sponsibilities. This being true, all must admit that, from time to
laws may be viewed as a burden to time, society may have need for a
society inasmuch as each respon- bit of protection from some care-
sible individual must spend more less act of mine. This, too, I am
or less time producing the wealth willing to pay for. But I absolutely
required to enforce them. Less cannot afford to be protected from
than perfect men may still con- myself. More than this, I find it
clude that laws enacted solely and nauseating to be forced to pick up
unequivocally to protect society the tab for killing the incentive
from malicious acts of irrespon- and responsibility of other indi-
sible individuals and groups are viduals in the name of protecting
necessary and helpful. All other them from the facts of life.
laws need to be recognized as the Certain laws calculated to pro-
unnecessary evil history proves tect one from his own folly doubt-
them to be. less have proven momentarily ad-
Even those laws free men have vantageous for particular individ-
found necessary to impose upon uals, but the price adds up to
their society can become an im- slavery.
possible burden. We know that a No culture that invokes laws to
culture must be protected from protect its members from their
other cultures that would destroy very own mistakes can justly
or enslave it. But if the vast ma- claim to afford an opportunity for
jority of powers upon this earth individual freedom; obviously, no
should attack a given country sys- person or group can shield another
tematically, that nation conceiv- unless the defender- controls the
ably could find the price of pro- actions of its ward. No people who
tection beyond its means. In the ask for or accept laws designed
same vein, society as a whole must solely to protect them from them-
be protected from the malicious selves can hope to earn freedom.
acts of its own members. But John Stuart Mill would surely
should the day arrive when a ma- be considered a square by this
jority must be restrained by force, sophisticated generation, but no
1968 THE PRICE IS NOT RIGHT 271
modern philosopher seems to have as a condition of employment.

improved upon his thoughts ex- Those who choose to shilly-shally
pressed in On Liberty: might be reasoned with and en-
couraged to be more prudent. But
That the only purpose for which responsible individuals could not
power can be rightly exercised over be forced to pick up the tab for
any member of a civilized commun-
the folly of others.
ity, against his will, is to prevent
harm to others. His own good, either
I feel strongly that individual
physical or moral, is not a sufficient freedom, including freedom of
warrant. He cannot rightfully be choice in matters where no one
compelled to do or forbear because it other than myself stands to gain
will be better for him to do so,be- or lose, is the greatest achieve-
cause it will make him happier, be- ment man may attain; I cannot
cause, in the opinions of others,. to compromise with any law that in-
do so would be wise, or even right. hibits that freedom. Compulsory
These are good reasons for remon- protectionism denies freedom of
strating with him, or reasoning with choice and discourages responsible
him, or persuading him, or entreat-
action. It lends aid and comfort to
ing him, but not for compelling him,
the antisocial breed f:rom whose
or visiting him with any evil in case
he do otherwise. To justify that, the hostile actions society as a whole
conduct from which it is desired to must pay to be protected. When
deter him must be calculated to pro- the irresponsible element in any
duce evil to someone else. culture reaches an active majority,
first chaos,. then social reorganiza-
In evening edition language, tion must follow.
l\Iill is telling all who can hear It's not that I make no mistakes,
that a free man absolutely cannot that all my decisions are wise, or
be protected from himself, either that no other person better man-
willingly or unwillingly. He as- ages daily affairs than I do. Nor
sumes, of course, that all men of would I attempt to deny that the
affairs will understand that this animal comforts promised by cer-
theory does not apply to legal in- tain laws that enervate freedom
fants. may be found advantageous at
To apply Mill's thil}king in Amer- some moment in' life. The whole
ica today would mean that an in- point I hope to make 'is this: Spiri-
dividual could be forced to respect tually, psychologically, and eco-
the life and property of others, but nomically, the price for protection
no power could compel him to par- from my own folly is much, much
ticipate in a social security system more than I care to pay. ~
THE London Times several years communications, public utilities,
ago described the British socialist and other economic activities.
experiment as "competition with- If the government could create
out prizes, boredom without hope, wealth, there would be no need
war without victory, and statistics fo'r taxation.
without end." Government statisticians also
Government intervention in the attempt to prove the stabilizing
economy often is based upon spe- effect of political controls. The
cious arguments and statistics de- great bid for government spon-
signed to back them up. But sta- sored stability came with adop-
tistics, while purportedly facts, tion in 1913 of the Federal Re-
fail to perform one important serve system, supposed to stabilize
function. They do not analyze both the economy and the cur-
cause and effect. rency. Yet, the cyclical pattern of
Government statisticians glory the economy has continued, with
in the growth of the national prod- a frequency and amplitude simi-
uct, as though government had lar to that prior to 1913. The one
caused such growth. Thus, the great exception: after sixteen
rooster would cause the sun to years of Federal Reserve stabili-
rise! zation, there occurred the most
Governments consume and dis- severe economic depression ever
sipate wealth rather than produce recorded.
it. Goods and services are forcibly As for currency, all nations
taken from the wealth-creating have suffered disastrously from
private sector to cover losses in- inflation and fiscal mismanage-
curred on government ventures in ment following displacement of
finance, insurance, real estate, the gold standard by government
Mr. Smith is a businessman in California. controlled central banking. Other
1968 STATISTICS AND POVERTY 273
nations have known worse, but have us believe that maximum

even the American dollar has lost employment is attained through
two-thirds of its purchasing power adroit official planning. We see,
under political management since however, that it is accomplished
1913. through government hiring, at
Statistics purportedly show gov- taxpayers' expense.
ernments successfully maintaining Among the most popular argu-
full employment. The more totali- ments for government interven-
tarian regimes do it through tion is the necessity for redistri-
forced labor and a low rate of bution of income. Businessmen are
productivity per worker - some- too selfish to effect an equitable
thing like having two workmen distribution, say the planners, and
fill each job. The United States only impartial government officials
achieves high employment by ab- can bring about "social justice."
sorbing many workers into gov- The New Deal, Fair Deal, New
ernment ranks and subsidizing Frontier, and War on Poverty
others. During the 1920's unem- identify successive attempts by
ployment averaged less than 4 per government to rearrange incomes
cent while about 6 per cent of the in a new and "fairer" pattern, all
work force was employed by Fed- to the net effect that the poor are
eral, state, and local governments still with us.
and the armed forces. The latest The following breakdown of
available figures still show about 4 family income statistics, prepared
per cent unemployed, whereas gov- by the Bureau of the Census and
ernment employees and members of adjusted to dollars of 1965 pur-
the armed forces now account for chasing power, might give the
18.5 per cent of the work force. impression that government re-
Government statisticians would distribution plans had succeeded:
274 THE FREEMAN May
It would seem that in the days general have had the effect of
of the Fair Deal 30 per cent of forcing the rich to disgorge part
the families were impoverished of their income and pass it down
with less than $3,000 per year and to the less fortunate.
that the number had shrunk to However, there is an impartial
only 17 per cent under the Great statistical process which elimi-
Society. All that the figures prove, nates the effect of arising living
however, is that there has been a standard on the pattern of income
constantly rising standard of liv- distribution and resolves the arg-
ing. This can be attributed to one ument as to whether government
cause only - the creation of new planning or the free market is
wealth, an entirely private func- responsible for the manner in
tion. When constantly increasing which incomes are apportioned.
incomes are fitted to fixed income This is done by showing the per:-
brackets it appears that the dis- centage of the national income
tribution of income is also vary- received by each fifth of the fam-
ing. Socialists point to this statis- ilies over the same series of years.
tical aberration as proof that the Also shown for each year is the
graduated income tax, the pre-s- percentage of national income re--
sure of labor unions, and govern- ceived by the top 5 per cent of all
ment control of the economy in families:
Except for some slight scalping with lowest incomes still receive
of the very top earners, it appears the same 17 per cent of the na-
that the various government tional total.
"deals" in modern America have Dr. Gabriel Kolko, generally fav-
achieved no significant redistribu- oring bigger and better taxes in
tion of incomes among families. his book, Wealth and Power in
The 40 per cent of all families America, states: "The basic dis-
1968 STATISTICS AND POVERTY 275
tribution of income and wealth tribution proved to be startlingly

in the United States is essentially consistent regardless of time,
the same now as it was in 1939, place, or degree of tax graduation,
or even 1910." Even the powerful the pattern very much resembling
graduated income tax seems to that shown by more recent sta-
affect the pattern but little. This tistics for families in the United
may be explained in part by the States.
fact that costs of redistributing Writing in 1928, the economist,
income may exceed the amount Joseph Schumpeter, had this to
reshuffled. The "commission" for say about his exhaustive study of
this service is apparently high and nineteenth century Britain:
stays in the hands of the relatively
well-paid social workers and pov- Until about forty years ago many
erty fighters - many of whom are economists besides Marx believed
in the top 10 per cent of income that the capitalist process tended to
earners. Other government interchange relative shares in the na-
ventions, such as minimum wage tional total so that the obvious in-
laws, cause unemployment among ference from our average might be
the poor and tend to reduce the invalidated by the rich growing
percentage of income received by richer and the poor growing poorer,
the lowest groups. It might be at least relatively. But there is no
such tendency. Whatever may be
pointed out that the government
thought of the statistical measures
taxes the poor also. A study by devised for the purpose, this much
the Tax Foundation estimates that is certain: that the structure of the
28 per cent of incomes under pyramid of incomes, expressed in
$2,000 a year goes for taxes. terms of money, has not greatly
At the close of the nineteenth changed during the period covered
century an Italian scholar named by our material- which for Eng-
Pareto made a study of income land covers the whole of the nine-
distribution in times past wher- teenth century - and that the rela-
ever he could find that an income tive share of wages plus salary has
tax had been levied. Such a tax also been relatively constant over
time. There is, so long as we are
is the only source of statistics for
discussing what the capitalist en-
such a study. He found a church-
gine might do if left to itself, no
imposed income tax in Peru some reason to believe that the distribu-
200 years ago, certain income tion of incomes or the dispersion
taxes in Europe over the centuries, about our average could in 1978 be
and the American income tax dur- significantly different from what it
ing the Civil War. Income dis- was in 1928.
276 THE FREEMAN May
So often it is stated that in unseen, the provident farmer became

developed countries there are only rich to the extent of having 50 hours
two classes - the very rich and of labor redound to his benefit daily,
the very poor. This is an economic yet each member of the community
illusion. In a country such as benefited by lh hour less work per
day.
India with per capita income un-
der $100 per year, there appears Wherever the heavy hand of
to be nothing but poverty. Any government interferes in economic
man of means stands out in star- affairs, things become more ex-
tling contrast to his impoverished pensive rather than cheaper. Hos-
surroundings and creates the im- pitalization, education, and postal
pression that there is no middle rates, for example, grow ever
class. But careful analysis will more costly while private enter-
reveal a pattern of income dis- prise continues to create more and
tribution similar to that in the better and cheaper products and
more advanced countries - all fol- services.
lowing Pareto's curve. You can be sure that if each
The only antidote to poverty is Asian worker were backed by
wealth. And wealth, by definition, $30,000 in capital, there would be
is created by those who make no mass starvation and no 25-year
themselves wealthy through serv- limit on the average life span.
ing others in open exchange. Fred Such is the miracle of wealth.
Kent's story of The Well helps Only a few know how to create it.
to explain why this is true. And the impartial and all-wise
free market will distribute it in a
In a pastoral community composed manner which creates harmony
of 101 independent and self-suffi- rather than conflict among men.
cient farmers, each worked 13 hours The American economist John
per day to keep body and soul to- Bates Clark observed years ago:
gether. Other than rain, the only
source of water was a spring on a Free competition tends to give to
hillside which each farmer visited labor what labor creates, to capital-
each day. This cost him an hour of ists what capital creates, and to the
work daily. Working overtime, one entrepreneurs what the coordinating
of the farmers dug a trench down function creates. To each agent a
to the valley and by forming a well, distinguishable share in production,
provided running water to each of to each a corresponding reward-
the farmers for which he charged such is the natural law of distribu-
lh hour of work per day. As can be &a
ANTHONY LEJEUNE
FOR THE BRITISH to say, as some her welfare policies. But welfar-
frequently do, that America ought ism, the attitude of mind that en-
to become more of a welfare state genders and is engendered by a
is rather like a drug addict trying welfare state (and this is some-
to get other people hOQked on his thing quite different from the
own suicidal habit. genuine welfare of individuals),
What worries me when I look has certainly been a major factor.
westward across the Atlantic is It is no coincidence that Brit-
not that there is too little welfar- ain's three devaluations - "this
ism in America but that there is disastrous treble," as the London
starting to be too much. In all Times described them - have taken
sorts of ways I see America head- place under Britain's three Labor
ed downthe sam_e19_ad Britain has governments, under governments,
already traveled, and I long to that is, which started out with
shout, "Go back, go back, before welfarism as their chief aim.
it's too late!"
Britain's present sad plight, of Self-Generating Demand
which devaluation and the govern- The progress of the welfare
ment's austerity package are only state was, admittedly, not much
the latest and most spectacular slo,ved down, let alone reversed,
aspect, has not been caused sole- by the intervening Conservative
ly, perhaps not even directly, by administrations. And this, too, was
no coincidence. Welfarism, once it
Mr. Lejeune is a British journalist. This article gets into a nation's blood stream,
is reprinted here by special permission from
The National Observer of January 29, 1968. is self-generating. The demand for
277
278 THE FREEMAN May
it increases as people become more is taxed away from them, redis-

dependent, both financially and tributed, and spent in ways they
psychologically, on services from would not have chosen for them-
the state and less capable of pro- selves. Otherwise there would be
viding for themselves. no point in it.
There may even be a point of What is happening to British
no return, after which a majority education makes a. bleak example.
of voters, their independence erod- The universities, having allowed
ed by inflation and taxation, really themselves to become almost
do have more to gain from an in- wholly dependent on state finance,
crease in welfare benefits than are just waking up to the fact that
from a marginal decrease in taxes. their freedom has disappeared;
The politicians inevitably respond they have to conform to the gov-
by bidding against each other with ernment's plans, whether they like
promises of bigger and more wide- them or not.
spread benefits. But, compared with the gram-
The Conservatives in Britain nlar schools, universities are lucky.
repudiate with horror any sugges- Twenty-five years ago most of
tion that they might want to dis- Britain's ancient grammar schools
mantle the welfare state. They (secondary schools that prepare
fought the 1964 election on a plat- students for universities) accepted
form that would have entailed even an offer of complete financial
more government spending than maintenance and agreed, in re-
the socialists offered. Recent events turn, that a majority of their gov-
have sobered them a bit, but it ernors should be political appoint-
remains to be seen whether they ees.
can really refrain from welfarism Now, in its pursuit of socialist
when the next election campaign equality, the Labor government
begins. has decreed that the grammar
Each advance of the welfare schools shall be abolished alto-
state takes another bite out of in- gether, and neither the original
dividualliberty, for the essence of governors nor the parents have
welfarism is that people's money any means of resisting.
1968 HOW WELFARISM HAS LED TO BRITAIN'S TROUBLES 279
The Trap Clicks Shut be reluctant to pay taxes high

This is the characteristic pat- enough to produce services as good
tern of state benevolence. The as individuals would be willing to
state assumes responsibility for buy for themselves.
providing something that individ- The National Health Service in
uals want - education, or medical Britain is grossly undercapital-
care, or transport; it picks up the ized, and always will be unless
tab, it doles out grants. Since the new money can be brought in, not
state has no money of its own, the through taxes, but directly from
cost has to be met through taxes, those who use it. The prescription
thus rendering individuals less charges that have now been re-
capable of providing these things imposed are too small to make
for themselves. Then the govern- much difference. If fees, even
ment says: "Since this is public quite small fees, were paid by
money, we must decide how it people who could afford them, not
should be spent, and who should only would more much-needed
get it, and we are entitled in re- money be available for equipment
turn to expect obedience to what and research and to prevent the
we consider the public interest." drain of doctors to America, but
So the socialist trap clicks shut. there would also be a far healthier
The theory of welfarism is that relationship between doctors and
people prefer security to freedom, patients.
and perhaps they do. But in the The same is true of education.
long run - and, as developments Even nominal fee-paying would
in Britain show, it may not be a greatly increase parents' interest
very long run - the security of- in their children's schooling, as
fered by a welfare state can be well as helping to raise the stand-
more vulnerable than the security ard of state schools nearer to that
offered by private savings in the of private schools.
bank. The individual has lost any
chance of control over his own A Need for Private Spending
future. People ought surely to be en-
Even if the welfare state man- couraged to spend money on their
ages to avoid economic disaster, children's education, on health, on
the normal standard of its social providing for their old age, thus
services is more likely to be at both helping themselves and re-
least slightly squalid than affluent. lieving the burden on the services
However much welfarism the vot- the state must provide for those
ers may demand, they will always in need. But welfarists actually
280 THE FREEMAN May
disapprove of money being spent invest money, could now afford to

in this way. Private doctoring and do so, but see no point in it. The
private schools are constantly at- welfare state will look after them
tacked by the socialists in Britain on a rainy day, and savers seem to
as selfish and antisocial. And, if a enjoy no significant advantage
man accumulates wealth for his over spenders. The middle classes,
old age, he becomes a capitalist for whom thrift was a traditional
and therefore wicked. virtue, have been ground between
The roots of welfarism lie in a the millstones of inflation and tax-
feeling that the advantage enjoyed ation: inflation caused partly by
by the wise virgins over the fool- the reckless public and private
ish virgins is unfair, and should spending that welfarism has pro-
be corrected by the community. voked, and taxation levied partly
The wise virgins must therefore to pay for the welfare services
be taxed for the benefit of the and partly, on purely political
foolish ones, and, if even this isn't grounds, to handicap the wise vir-
enough to produce equality, the gins. So all but the most deter-
wise virgins must be prevented mined savers and investors have
from flaunting the superior fruits lost heart.
of their wisdom - or their luck. The penal effect of taxation has
Whatever its philosophic attrac- blunted the urge to work hard at
tions, this is clearly a recipe for all levels, from top management
economic disaster. Some of the to the factory floor. People are
beneficiaries of Britain's welfare simply not prepared to sacrifice
state find it more profitable to live leisure or to take risks.
on state handouts than to work;
but these layabouts are not the Incentives Blunted
real problem. The problem lies in It has become completely im-
the crushing disincentive welfar- possible for companies to provide
ism imposes on ordinary people. adequate incentives for their sen-
Working-class families, which ior executives. And this ceiling,
perhaps in previous generations imposed by progressive taxation
had little opportunity to save and on the salaries of men at the top,
1968 HOW WELFARISM HAS LED TO BRITAIN'S TROUBLES 281
depresses remuneration, and there- very many) followed the typists'

fore incentives, throughout the example, "I'm Backing Britain"
whole salary structure. And, at badges sprouted like mushrooms,
the same time, the business itself and some pathetic school children,
is clogged and weighed down with old-age pensioners, and Pakistani
taxes. immigrants sent donations to the
So hypnotized are they by their chancellor of the exchequer.
own ideology that the socialists Enoch Powell, the former Con-
remain willfully oblivious of this servative cabinet minister and, it
result of their policies. Since they often seems, almost the last sur-
are prevented, both by the phi- viving champion of free enter-
losophy and by the consequences prise, said that the campaign's
of welfarism, from providing gen- motto ought to be "Help Brain-
uine personal incentives, they fall wash Britain." He was shouted
back on vain exhortations to work down for his pains, but he was
harder and the implausible argu- quite right. Without realizing it,
ment that "collective consump- those five well-meaning but in-
tion" is as attractive a goal as genuous typists have shown very
individual consumption. When clearly what lies at the end of the
these exhortations fail to elicit the welfarist road - the collapse of
desired response, they are sur- the normal relationship between
prised and pained. work and reward, of the system
The Labor government has been whereby the community is en-
heartened during the past grim riched by the efforts of individuals
weeks by the initiative of five working to earn wealth for them-
typists in a London suburban of- selves and their families.
fice who volunteered to work an Welfarism turns everybody into
extra half hour a day "in order a state pensioner. People's atti-
to help Britain." The story was tudes, ambitions, even their vir-
splashed by sentimental news- tues, shrink to those of pensioners.
papers with a fanfare of praise I have seen this happen in Britain,
and a glare of publicity. Prince and am infinitely saddened by it.
Philip and Harold Wilson sent Perhaps the process is reversible.
messages of congratulation. I hope so, though the historical
Bishops and schoolmasters said precedents are not encouraging.
how splendid it was. A few other Meanwhile, I do not want to see
groups of workers (though not the same thing happen in America.
~
CLARENCE B. CARSON
f1uglnub
3. POLITICAL FOUNDATIONS OF LIBERTY
ENGLAND'S RISE to a greatness sixteenth century, in the time of

which flowered in the nineteenth Elizabeth 1. But England's leader-
century was preceded by an order ship in civilization was still a long
of developments, an order which way off. Tudor despotism degen-
can be summarized in this way: erated into Stuart oppression, as
constitutional- the laying of the we have seen, and oppression was
political foundations for liberty; followed by civil war, revolution,
intellectual - the development of and reaction. On the ruins of mo-
ideas and spread of beliefs which narchical absolutism, however, the
supported liberty; and moral - re- English began to lay more nearly
ligious developments which pro- enduring political foundations of
vided the drive and discipline for liberty. It is this work that is to
constructive achievement. The be called up here.
royal navy, which was to be the There are two elements that en-
power symbol of greatness, had ter into the establishment of lib-
begun to playa leading role on the erty. One is the formal means for
high seas by the latter part of the circumscribing and inhibiting the
power of government. The other
Dr. Carson, Professor of American History at is the ideas and beliefs held by
Grove City College, Pennsylvania, will be
remembered for his earlier FREEMAN series, those who control the government
The Fateful Turn, The American Tradition,
and The Fli~ht from Reality. regarding liberty. It is doubtful
'lQ'l
1968 POLITICAL FOUNDATIONS OF LIBERTY 283
that extensive liberty can exist for the constitution, such as Magna
very long without the presence of Charta, or the Bill of Rights, or
both of these elements. Belief in the Act of Supremacy. But they
liberty alone may not be expected are only the concretizing of some
to restrain for long those who have aspect of the constitution at a
been given the power of govern- given time. These concrete provi-
ment, for the enticement to the use sions may become irrelevant or
of power is probably greater for fall into disuse, may be subtly
most men than any general love of altered by changes in institutions,
liberty. On the other hand, any may be revised by later parliamen-
forms of government may be tary enactments, or may no longer
turned to despotic ends when the be applicable; yet, the constitution
forms are not undergirded by a remains. What, then, it is proper
desire for liberty. At any rate, ex- to ask, is the constitution?
tensive liberty in England awaited
the historical junction of formal A Shifting Balance of Power
restrictions and beliefs which sup- The first thing to note about it
ported liberty. is that it is not fixed. It changes
Englishmen have long called without any specific action being
those forms by which they are taken as institutions and proce-
governed and which, it may be, dures change, and it may be
have restrained those who govern, changed by act of Parliament. No
The Constitution. They have unusual procedure is required to
spoken of the constitution as if it change it. Succinctly stated, the
had an unquestionable concrete constitution of England consists
existence. Yet, to an American, it of all those rules, written and un-
is quite often not clear what the written, which prescribe how
Englishman can be referring to. things governmental are to be
In the United States when some- done. These prescriptions may
one refers to the Constitution, he have taken shape by customary
refers to an actual document - us- usage or by royal recognition or
ually, anyway - which was drawn by legislative enactment. Gener-
by men in convention in 1787 and ally speaking, any practice of long
has been added to from time to standing having to do with the
time. It has bodily existence, as it modes of governmental operation
were. This is not the case, in the would most likely be reckoned a
main, for the British constitution. part of the constitution. In addi-
True, there are some documents tion, long established rights and
which are reckoned to be a part of privileges of persons are thought
284 THE FREEMAN May
to be constitutionally safeguarded. in the United States does. Indeed,

For example, freedom from ar- when Americans refer to "the gov-
bitrary imprisonment (the right ernment," they refer to the whole
to a writ of habeas corpus) is a paraphernalia of government pow-
part of the constitution. Yet, no er, all the institutions connected
unusual procedures would have to with it, and all those who com-
be followed to abridge this right, prise its arms. To put it another
or any others. way, Americans refer in this way
Liberty in England, then, has to everything having to do with
depended not so much upon sub- governance and to nothing in par-
stantive protections of it acknowl- ticular. When speaking formally,
edged in documents - though these the British do not do this. They
have played some part - as upon refer specifically to those who
the existence of effective counter- make governmental policy as The
weights to the powers of those Government. In contemporary
who govern. The crucial conception England, The Government is us-
for understanding how liberty has ually comprised of a Prime Min-
been protected in England is that ister and his cabinet chosen from
of a Balance of Powers. More pre- the ranks of the majority party
cisely, it has depended upon the (though a coalition government
counterweight of those who do may also exist). In earlier times,
not have the power to govern, at the monarch and his chief min-
least, not at a given time. In the isters would have comprised what
United States, there was a con- is nowadays referred to as The
certed effort to establish a balance Government.
of powers within the government. The Government in England,
This has never been so to any ex- then, is the result of a concentra-
tent in England, and it is a very tion of power, not a balance of
important difference between the powers. The checks upon this gov-
United States and the British ernmental power are not within it,
constitution. strictly speaking (though they
might be in a coalition cabinet),
The Loyal Opposition but outside of and in opposition
There is no balance of powers to it. In short, The Government
within The Government in Eng- exercises all the powers of govern-
land, nor has there ever been to ment, but there may be contests
my knowledge. The Government in for control of The Government,
England does not have the same and those who contest may serve
denotation as "the government" to limit and restrain the use of
that power. The Government, at antiquity. Therefore, it is appro-

any moment, has the exclusive use priateto review briefly the history
of governmental power, but any of some of the early constitutional
extension or change in this power struggles and the forces involved.
may be contingent upon the con-
The Norman Conquest- J066
sent of others. There may, then, be
counterweights to the exercise of A convenient and useful place
power; and when these have suf- to begin is with the Norman Con-
ficient strength and independence, quest of England in 1066 and the
it can be said with sufficient ac- ensuing years. William the Con-
curacy that a balance of power ex- queror was hardly the first king
ists which will inhibit an extension of England, but he was probably
of power by The Government or the first to rule a unified England
even result in reducing the amount with so much power concentrated
formerly available. It is this sit- in his hands. After William's con-
uation that has produced the for- quest he attempted to set up a
mal protections and safeguards to situation in which all force in the
liberty in English history. land was ultimately under his con-
For most of the history of Eng- trol.
land, the monarch has been, in ef- No power, independent of his
feet, The Government, though the will, could, in theory, be exercised
terminology would not have been in the land. The great tenants-in-
used in this way. In consequence, chief, or barons, had their fiefs
most of the attempts to limit, re- directly from him. All vassals, of
strain, regularize, or inhibit gov- whatever rank, owed their final al-
ernmental action have been efforts legiance to him. No castle could
of various forces in opposition to be built in the land unless he
the exercise of power by the king. licensed it. The Roman Catholic
The great and revered documents church, while it might technically
of the British constitution - Mag- be independent of him, was de-
na Charta, Petition of Rights, Bill pendent upon his will in many
of Rights - are concessions and respects for its operations. Wil-
acknowledgments wrested from or liam was potentially as absolute as
imposed upon monarchs. Though any medieval monarch, though he
the political foundations of liberty is not remembered for being an
which concern us here were laid arbitrary king. Later kings, par-
in the seventeenth and eighteenth ticularly Henry II (twelfth cen-
centuries, they were built of ma- tury) , increased their sway by
terials which have a much greater the establishment of king's courts
286 THE FREEMAN May
which began to make rulings on to pass in perpetuity to profes-

the basis of a common law. sors, students,' and burgers. The
Even so, counter forces to that Church was based at Rome, and
of the king continued to exist or it had weapons - excommunication
shortly came into being. One that and interdict - with which to check
every wise king would recognize and restrain monarchs. The clergy
in the Middle Ages was custom also enjoyed certain privileges
and customary law. People were which were not conceived of as
profoundly conservative, as they depending upon any arbitrary
usually are, and whatever had grant or rescission by the mon-
been done in the past. must con- arch. In short, the classes and
tinue to be observed or there would orders of medieval England
most likely be trouble. Local cus- emerged as counterweights to the
toms were early given the effect powers of the king.
of law. Even the common law
The Magna Charta-l2lS
which began to be shaped in the
twelfth century was mainly a law How this balance of powers or
for all England abstracted from forces could be brought into play
common features found in local was dramatically demonstrated in
customs and laws. The courts the early years of the thirteenth
which dispensed such law might century during the reign of King
be the king's, but the law was John. The first of these forces to
that of England and served po- meet John head-on was Pope In-
tentially to restrain monarchs. nocent III, the most forceful and
Moreover, the tendency was for powerful of medieval popes. Their
all holdings and privileges to be- troubles arose over the appoint-
come hereditary. The nobility ment of an archbishop to the See
might owe their fiefs originally of Canterbury. When the Pope
to the monarch; but over the years caused Stephen Langton to be
these holdings were passed on named Archbishop, King John re-
from father to eldest son, and the fused to accept him, and these two
new holder held his fief as if by became locked in a seven-year
right. Hence, the nobility began struggle for dominance. Innocent
to think of themselves as having III excommunicated John and laid
rights not dependent on the will the realm of England under inter-
of the king. Similarly, charters to dict. "This interdict meant that
towns and universities tended to all the churches were closed: no
become perpetual, and the rights masses sung, no marriages or fu-
and privileges derived from them nerals conducted. Only baptism
and confession for the dying were nor will we condemn him, nor will
permitted."1 Before the threat of we commit him to prison, excepting
being deposed by the Pope and by the legal judgment of his peers,
having the sentence carried out by or by the laws of the land."2 Magna
King Philip of France, John finally Charta was so revered because it
capitulated. Indeed, he went so far was the most thorough of the early
as to declare that he was a vassal documents affirming the rights and
of the Pope, and that he had re- privileges of the classes in Eng-
ceived England as a fief from the land against the king. The major
pontiff. In general, it should be point here, however, is to show
pointed out that papal powers gave how other forces limited the power
the clergy some independence of of the king.
royal authority.
King John was hardly out of Tlte Model Parliament-J 295
difficulty with Innocent III before Developments for the remainder
he was in deep trouble with other of the thirteenth century, under
forces in the land. There was wide- Henry III and Edward I, continued
spread dissatisfaction with the ar- generally along the lines of limit-
bitrariness of John's rule. The bar- ing monarchy. Magna Charta was
ons took up the cause against the reaffirmed on a number of occa-
king, and they defeated John at sions. A major problem arose over
Runnymede in 1215. They required how to keep a monarch to his
of him that he make written word. Committees and commis-
acknowledgment of important sions, made up of barons, were
rights and privileges possessed by tried, but with indifferent suc-
his subjects and of restraints upon cess. These committees to hold the
his use of power. This was done in king in check were the immediate
the Magna Charta. Magna Charta forerunners of Parliament. Parlia-
not only affirmed the rights and ment took its classic shape with
privileges of the barons but also the meeting of the Model Parlia-
of the clergy, of merchants and ment under Edward I in 1295. It
tradesmen, of the towns, and of is called the "Model" because the
free men in general. One clause classes which were so long to com-
read, "No free-man shall be seized, prise it were there: the nobles, the
or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or clergy, the knights, the townsmen,
outlawed, or in any way destroyed; and so on. In the next century
1 Christopher Brooke, From Alfred 2 Engen Weber, ed., The Western
to Henry III (New York: W. W. Norton, Tradition (Boston: D. C. Heath, 1959),
1966), p. 218. p. 196.
288 THE FREEMAN May
England became even more defi- the Roses (latter part of the fif-
nitely a limited monarchy. In addi- teenth century); and Henry VII,
tion to being limited by the classes the first of the Tudors, subdued
who were represented or sat in the remainder of the nobility,
Parliament, the notion spread that mainly with the instrument of his
the king was under the law. Henry Court of the Star Chamber. The
Bracton, the great jurist of the clergy lost such independence as
thirteenth century, said: "The they had enjoyed with the break
king should be under God and the from the Roman church, effected
law."3 in 1534. The guilds had long been
The traditional elements for re- declining in vitality, and manorial
straining and counterbalancing the serfdom had been replaced by ten-
power of The Government - the ant farming.
king - were the classes, Parlia-
ment, and the common law. It The Petition 01 Right- J628
must be kept in mind that in the Parliament - consisting of the
Middle Ages these did not so much Lords temporal and spiritual, and
establish liberty for Englishmen the Commons - continued to be
in general as protect the char- called into session and to take ac-
tered privileges and prerogatives tion. But, for the Tudor monarchs
of the various classes, themselves it was largely an auxiliary to their
devoted to maintaining status and absolute and, frequently, arbitrary
stability. Realistically, too, the rule. The early Stuarts (James I
classes could only provide counter- and Charles I) enjoyed no such
weights to the power of the king pleasant relationship with Parlia-
so long as they were independent ment in the first half of the seven-
of him to considerable extent. teenth century. Parliament (and
By, or in, the sixtee.nth century some judges, notably Sir Edward
the classes largely lost or were los- Coke) balked at simply being aids
ing their independence. This set to the despotism of monarchs. The
the stage for Tudor absolutism kings dropped the pretense that
and for the Stuart despotism Parliament had any independence
which has been earlier examined. and tried, so far as possible, to
In the late Middle Ages, kings be- rule without them.
came less and less dependent upon But Parliament was still a po-
the nobility as warriors. Feudal- tentially organized center of re-
ism disintegrated; the nobility sistance: and when Charles I dem-
were decimated by the Wars of onstrated his determination to
8 Brooke, Ope cit., p. 221. rule without that body as far as
possible, the potentiality became detaining or imprisonment simply
an actuality. -The House of Com- because the king commanded it,
mons became the center of a re- nor arbitrary use of martial law. 4
sistance which turned into a civil Another landmark on the way
war in 1642. Failing in their ef- to preventing arbitrary action by
forts to restrain the king, they the monarch was the Habeas Cor-
overthrew him. In 1649, Charles I pus Act of 1679. It had been long
was beheaded, and there followed established that a man being held
11 years of rule without a king. prisoner should be shown cause-
Civil war turned into revolution. be charged with violating some
But, as so often happens, revolu- law - why he was held. On the
tion resulted not in the establish- other hand, individuals were some-
ment of constitutionally protected times held in prison arbitrarily
liberty and balanced government by the monarch. The Habeas Cor-
but in military rule. The English pus Act required judges to issue
experience without a king was not the appropriate writs upon re-
a happy one. The rule of Oliver quest, and it provided stiff penal-
Cromwell with the support of the ties should they refuse. In like
army was hardly more palatable manner, those who held them in
than that of the Stuarts. Shortly prison could be penalized for re-
after Cromwell's death, monarchy fusing to release prisoners when
was restored in 1660. The struggle presented with such a writ. In
to restrain and limit the monarch short, the right to a writ of habeas
continued. corpus was firmly established.
Indeed, the seventeenth century
was the scene of a prolonged ef- The Sill of Rights-1689
fort to limit the monarch and to The most famous document of
establish other sources of power the seventeenth century is, of
to.counterbalance his. One line of course, the Bill of Rights. It was
the effort was to get the monarch propounded by a convention in
to concede limits to his power. 1689, after James II had fled from
The major constitutional docu- England and before William and
ments of the century are of this Mary came to the throne. In view
character, in the main. The first of the circumstances, it is under-
of these of major importance was stood that the acceptance of its
the Petition of Right, assented to terms was a condition of their
by Charles I in 1628. By its terms,
4 See William L. Sachse, ed., English
there was to be no taxation with- History in the Making (Waltham, Mass.;
out the consent of Parliament, no Blaisdell, 1967), pp. 249-50.
290 THE FREEMAN May
coming to power. By its terms, was still, in effect, The Govern-

there was an attempt to prevent ment. As one writer says, "He still
all those abuses with which they had his prerogative of making war
were so familiar from the recent and peace, choosing his own min-
past. A few of its provisions will isters, pardoning criminals, creat-
indicate the general tenor of them: ing peers, summoning, proroguing
That the pretended power of sus- and dissolving Parliament, and
pending of laws or the execution of minting coin."6 Indeed, there was
laws by regal authority without con- strong sentiment in the last years
sent of Parliament is illegal. ... of the seventeenth century against
That levying money for or to the members of the House of Com-
use of the crown by pretense of pre- mons participating in The Gov-
rogative without grant of Parlia- ernment. Jarrett describes the sit-
ment, for longer time or in other uation in this way:
manner than the same is or shall be
granted, is illegal. ... The House of Commons viewed the
That the raising or keeping a Executive in very much the same
standing army within the kingdom way that the heroes of the tradition-
in time of peace, unless it be with al school story view their masters.
consent of Parliament, is against They saw a great gulf fixed between
law. the authorities and themselves and
That the subjects which are Prot- despised as a careerist and a toady
estants may have arms for their de- anybody who sought to bridge it.
fense, suitable to their conditions Like the schoolboy heroes, they con-
and as allowed by law. sidered that they were there to ham-
That election of members of Par- per the establishment, not to help
liament ought to be free. 5 it. . . . [The] Act of Settlement of
1701 . . . forced upon the King a
A Time of Testing clause providing that anyone holding
One thing seems certain: once an office of profit under the Crown
again, constitutional monarchy had should be ineligible for membership
been established in England. It is of the House of Commons. 7
commonly said, also, that Parlia-
This last provision was short-
ment had triumphed, that hence-
lived, but it does indicate that the
forth it was the dominant branch
House of Commons distinctly did
within government. Such a posi-
not consider itself a part of The
tion certainly overstates the case
so far as the actual business of 6 Derek Jarrett, Britain: 1688-1815
governance is concerned. The king (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1965),
pp. 11-12.
5 Ibid., p. 318. 7 Ibid., p. 17.
Government at the beginning of owed their place to the electorate,

the eighteenth century. not to the king. The point of in-
sisting upon freedom of elections
Limiting the Monarch was that the monarch might not
The reality that took shape, interfere in, determine, or manip-
however, did not fit neatly into ulate elections. Freedom of speech
the theory of government as it has in Parliament and freedom from
commonly been held. In fact, a arrest were also important ad-
kind of" balance of powers existed j uncts to their independence. Also,
in the eighteenth and well into judicial independence was fully es-
the nineteenth century. The king tablished in the eighteenth cen-
still governed, or ruled, in theory tury. "For the judges, though ap-
and, largely, in practice, though pointed by the Crown, were no
the first two of the Hanoverian longer subject to its influence in
monarchs (George I, 1714-1727, their decisions, since they could
and George II, 1727-1760) did al- not be removed except on an ad-
low much of their power to slip dress from both houses of parlia-
away. The king still chose his ment." There was a rule that their
chief ministers, still made maj or tenure ceased when a new mon-
decisions of state, could effect elec- arch came to the throne unless he
tions to the House by various de- reappointed them, but "George III
vices, could influence members of himself, at the beginning of his
Parliament by perquisites at his reign, promoted the Act abolishing
disposal, and could increase the this rule."s
membership in the House of Lords
by new appointments. A Limited Government
On the other hand, he could not England had not only limited
rule for long without Parliament. monarchy but, much more impor-
He was dependent upon that body tant, limited government. The
for appropriations, for the passage king was limited by Parliament
of laws, and for the meeting of and by an independent judiciary,
obligations. A recalcitrant Parlia- as well as by documentary consti-
ment could bring the monarch to tutional provisions. The House of
his knees, and that rather quickly. Lords was limited by the House of
Moreover, the House of Commons Commons, for the latter body
was well on the way to establishing alone could initiate appropriations.
itself as independent in its source
8 Basil Williams, The Whig Suprem-
of power from the Crown. Its acy (London: Oxford University Press,
members were elected, and they 1939), p. 56.
292 THE FREEMAN May
The House of Commons was lim- ties which checked its exercise.
ited by the electorate, by an hered- Political parties emerged in the
itary House of Lords, and by the latter part of the seventeenth cen-
monarch. Each of these had some- tury, but they came into their own
what different sources of power: in the eighteenth. Close divisions
the House of Commons was elected; in parties inhibited the exercise of
the House of Lords inherited or power by the majority party.
attained position by royal appoint- Moreover, it enabled an astute
ment, the judiciary by royal ap- monarch to cling to power' by be-
pointment, and the monarch by ing a balance wheel between them.
heredity.
More checks upon power were One of the major foundations
developed in the eighteenth cen- for liberty had been laid, then, by
tury. The Cabinet began to take the eighteenth century: struc-
shape. It was, in theory, the king's turally limited government. The
instrument for government, but, other one is belief in and commit-
in practice, the king found it nec- ment to liberty. We must now
essary to appoint members of Par- turn to the development and
liament to places on it. Moreover, spread of ideas which extended re-
as Parliament gained in power, ligious liberty, freed enterprise,
this was accompanied by an in- spurred inventiveness, and loosed
terior division into political par- the energies of the English people.
~
The next article in this series will dis-

cuss the "Intellectual Thrust to Liberty."
Why Liberty?
WHAT has made so many men, since untold ages, stake their all on
liberty is its intrinsic glamour, a fascination it has in itself, apart
from all "practical" considerations. For only in countries where
it reigns can a man speak, live, and breathe freely, owing obedi-
ence to no authority save God and the laws of the land. The man
who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a
slave.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, The Old Regime and the French ~evolution
THE PROPOSAL to make travel out- enforceable. It is a confession that

side this hemisphere a crime is a the dollar is no longer good for a
tremendous step backward from very important purpose: payment
the ideal of working for maximum of travel expenses.
freedom of movement for men, One of the latest Soviet "anec-
goods, and capital- the three free- dotes," or sour jokes, is about a
doms that made the nineteenth communist professor who waxes
century, after the end of Napo- enthusiastic before his students
leon's wars, one of the most peace- about Soviet achievements in the
ful and prosperous in human his- exploration of space.
tory. "Soon," cried the professor,
The proposed tax has about "you will be able to go to the moon,
every fault a tax could have. It is to Mars, to Venus."
inherently unj ust, because it Whereupon a student timidly
makes a crime of something that interjected: "Yes, Professor, but
is inherently innocent and benefi- when can we go freely to Vienna
cial. It is discriminatory. It is re- and Rome and Paris?"
strictive. It is most probably un- One of the clearest distinctions
between the citizen of a free coun-
porter of economic and political conditions at try and the subject of the totali-
number of books, he has lectured widely and tarian state is the inalienable
and numerous megazines. natural right of the former to
293
294 THE FREEMAN May
travel, even to take up permanent half billion dollars of foreign al-

residence abroad. For the latter it coholic drinks which are annually
is a privilege, sparingly granted imported into this country or on
and usually to persons of proved our billion dollars a year of for-
enthusiasm for the regime. Should eign coffee.
the United States penalize and re-
strict and discourage foreign Actions and Reactions
travel to certain parts of the The weakness in all such uni-
world, it would move with one big lateral restrictions is that they in-
step into the totalitarian camp. vite and sometimes force repri-
That such a measure could even sals. A punitive tax on Americans
be proposed is an ominous sign of traveling in Europe will not en-
the restrictions on individual lib- courage European tourists to visit
erty which are threatened when this country. Nor is it likely to
managed money and a managed stimulate the market for sales of
economy begin to replace the nor- American goods abroad. Forei.gn
mal operations of the free market. airlines which will be hard hit by
The excuse for making travel in restrictions on American travel
Europe a crime is that Americans will cut down their purchases of
spend more in Europe than Euro- American planes. In short, in the
peans spend in the United States, case of travel as of trade, one re-
that the United States has been striction provokes a counterre-
running a deficit in its balance of striction on the other side, until
international payments and that a the whole world is drawn into a
cutdown in American tourist downward spiral of depression.
spending would be a means of re- It is worth remembering that
ducing this deficit. This line of the United States, at the outset of
argument is utterly specious and the 1929-33 depression, adopted
fallacious, especially for represen- the highly protectionist Smoot-
tatives of a country which has Hawley tariff on the ground that
been constantly preaching to Euro- this would soon make business
pean nations the virtues of free boom again. It didn't; indeed, this
international trade and the scrap- tariff legislation was one of the
ping of restrictions. contributory causes in making the
One might just as reasonably, depression one of the longest and
indeed with less harmful results most severe in modern economic
for individual liberty and the history.
benefits of free international con- No law is worth passing that is
tact, propose an embargo on the not enforceable. The American
1968 MAKING TRAVEL A CRIME 295
public should have learned this les- any exchange of dollars for for-
son from the sorry experience of eign currencies. The disastrous
national prohibition, adopted for effect of any such measure on the
idealistic reasons and abandoned greatest trading nation in the
in disgust and disillusionment world, where banks daily handle
when its principal consequences enormous numbers of transfers of
were widespread disrespect for dollars into foreign funds, would
law and a formidable increase in be almost incalculably disastrous,
racketeering and crime. Such leg- assuming that any such task were
islation, given today's conditions, manageable at all.
is riddled with obvious loopholes It is almost impossible to calcu-
for evasion. An American today late the amount of outright suf-
may transfer dollars to any Euro- fering, to say nothing of exas-
pean country and exchange them perating inconvenience, that ex-
for British pounds, French or change control - the demand that
Swiss francs, German marks, and every individual convince some
so on. faceless bureaucrat of his need
So the proposed requirement- for foreign funds - would involve.
degrading and unpleasantly remi- One thinks of such contingencies
niscent of procedures in commu- as the death or disability of a
nist-ruled countries - that every relative or close friend living
traveler, before departure, show abroad, for instance.
to some inquisitive bureaucrat his Moreover, the United States, as
stock of funds in cash and travel- the biggest trading nation in the
ers' checks, would also be com- world, necessarily carries out
pletely futile. He might have dis- every day uncounted thousands of
patched a much larger sum to transactions in foreign exchange.
London, Paris, Frankfurt, or Zu- Imagine the chaos that would fol-
rich before boarding plane or ship. low if every such transaction had
to be submitted for bureaucratic
Control of Foreign Exchange approval, with long explanations,
To make enforcement of a tax filed in triplicate or quadruplicate,
on travel even remotely plausible, to prove its necessity! Only peo-
the government would have to ple who have lived under a regime
take one of the most retrograde of exchange control can appreciate
steps in United States economic what a blessing it is to have a cur-
history. It would have to impose rency that is freely and readily
stringent, all-out exchange con- transferable and exchangeable.
trol, requiring official approval for One can reduce the case against
296 THE FREEMAN May
the proposed punitive tax on travel ishes best with the least govern-
outside the western hemisphere to ment meddling and interference.
the simplicity of an axiom in Europe had no more chance to re-
geometry. Such a measure would gain its potential in production
be quite futile and open to scores and international exchange with
of evasive devices unless foreign its postwar handicaps than an
exchange control in all its rigor athlete could \vin the hundred-
were clamped down. But such a yard dash encumbered with an as-
development would bring ruinous sorted variety of crutches and
consequences to the foreign export bandages. Except for the "black
trade which helps our interna- markets" in everything from goods
tional balance of payments infi- to currency, setting at nought of-
nitely more than it is injured by ficial rules and regulations, eco-
tourist spending. nomic life might well have ground
to a complete standstill.
Toward a Dead End Bit by bit, rationing and its in-
Should the United States be so evitable accompaniment, black
misguided as to adopt measures markets, went into the discard.
penalizing and controlling the Honest money replaced the in-
travel expenditures of its citizens, flated paper currencies, officially
it would be starting down a road valued far above their real worth
followed, at various times, by many as measured in the realistic "black
nations, a road that has always led markets."
to failure and frustration. At the Once money was thus able to re-
end of World War II almost all the sume its proper function as a
countries of Western Europe were medium of exchange, the absurd
tied up in hard knots of red tape, lapse into beggar-your-neighbor,
with exchange control, artificial barter methods went the way of
fixed rates of exchange for their rationing and phony fixed values
currencies, rationing at home and for inconvertible paper currencies.
quotas for imports. Their trade It no longer became necessary for
with each other was practically a country to fear, like bubonic
on a barter basis, with every na- plague, the development of an un-
tion demanding that its trading favorable balance of trade with
partner buy as much from it as some other country. Under a sys-
it sold. tem of multilateral trade, made
All experience shows that inter- possible by stable, freely exchange-
national trade is a dynamic, com- able currencies, a deficit in deal-
petitive enterprise which flour- ings with one country was made
1968 MAKING TRAVEL A CRIME 297
up by a surplus in exchange with been pleasant and friendly. Noth-

another. ing was on sale from any foreign
country, except, as I recall, a be-
Zurich V5. Prague draggled copy of an Italian com-
Sometimes a visible object les- munist newspaper. Zurich lived by
son is worth pages of theoretical free international intercourse, and
disquisition in showing the con- looked it. Prague lived in the shut-
trast between a system that is in isolationism of a totalitarian
working well and one that is work- state and a totalitarian economy -
ing badly. Some years ago, in the and looked it. Punitive travel re-
course of a European trip, I had strictions will be a long step from
occasion to fly from Zurich, in the Zurich model to the Prague.
Switzerland, to Prague, the capi- Is this really what Americans de-
tal of communist-ruled Czechoslo- sire?
vakia. Of course, the arguments may
The Kloten airport in Zurich be heard that the proposed penal-
was stocked with everything in ties are for a limited period, two
goods and services a traveler might years, and that they represent a
desire. There were magazines and necessary means of protecting the
books in many languages; a vast exchange value of the dollar,
assortment of Swiss chocolate; threatened by America's inability
watches and cuckoo clocks. There to sell as much abroad in goods
were exchange booths where one and services as it buys abroad.
could buy or sell any currency in Neither of these arguments car-
the world. Here 'were the outward ries much weight.
fruits of a genuinely free econ-
Ignoring the Basic Problem
omy. One might add that there
was not the slightest difficulty in It is a matter of general exper-
entering or leaving Switzerland- ience that restrictions and penal-
only a minute's glance at passports ties are far easier to impose than
for identification. to withdraw. The new hordes of
From the moment when the bureaucrats who, under the pro-
plane touched down at Prague the posed legislation, will start their
atmosphere was completely differ- congenial task of prying, snoop-
ent. Passports had to be surren- ing, and spying into the affairs of
dered for an indefinite period to American foreign travelers will
armed police. The atmosphere in be reluctant to relinquish their
the airport was as drab and dreary new powers. And what assurance
as the atmosphere in Zurich had is there, or can there be, that the
298 THE FREEMAN May
dollar or America's stock of gold signing into law new programs cost-
will be in any better plight two ing billions of dollars, criticizing
years hence than they are today? Congress at the same time for not
There has been a thundering si- spending more.
lence about any intention to adopt If inflation is not stopped and the
financial house put in order, a de-
the measures which would relieve
valuation of the dollar becomes un-
the pressure of domestic inflation, avoidable. An open devaluation,
which is a prime cause of Amer- preferably in the form of a floating
ica's balance-of-payments difficul- rate, would be far better than one
ties. disguised in a multitude of haphaz-
Such measures would be drastic ard, discriminatory taxes and con-
cuts in swollen government spend- trols of which the existing and
ing and a check on the reckless presently proposed batch is only the
pumping of new money into our beginning.
system by the Federal Reserve. It seems doubtful whether de-
One of the wisest comments on the valuation of the dollar, should it
folly and undesirability of penaliz- become necessary, would have se-
ing travel is that of Professor rious practical consequences for
Gottfried Haberler of Harvard the value of the dollar in terms of
University, an internationally other currencies, as it would al-
known authority on currency and most certainly be followed by simi-
balance-of-payments problems: lar moves in other countries. In
General nondiscriminatory pay- any case, nothing could be worse
ments restrictions could perhaps be than a step into the fatal bog of
justified as a temporary measure if exchange control, whether from
something decisive were done at the the standpoint of the American
same time to correct the fundamen- people, the American economy, or
tal disequilibrium. But nothing of the world economic situation. The
this sort has been proposed. On the proposed levy on travel is a strik-
contrary, the Federal Reserve con- ing example of trying to deal with
tinues to pump money at a record a superficial symptom while leav-
rate into the economy. Hardly a ing untouched the basic causes of
week passes without the President disequilibrium and inflation. ~
Complications
WE were the first to assert that the more complicated the forms
assumed by civilization, the more restricted the freedom of the
individual must become.
BENITO MUSSOLINI
A Sure-Fire
Remedy
LEONARD E. READ
AFTER 35 years of probing, I have sours, curdling into a deep-seated

finally hit upon a sure-fire remedy resentment and indignation when-
for socialism - the disease suffered ever conscientious effort or labor
by those who call for state inter- is rewarded less than no effort or
vention in order to do good or labor at all. For instance, one man
give help to their fellow men. The receives only a dollar a day for
cure can be effective, however, ditch digging while someone else
only if the patient can be per- is given a $10,000 check for sim-
suaded to take his medicine. A ply posing momentarily while his
very large if! picture is snapped. The patient's
But, first, let us understand the sensibilities are offended: Rank
malady and its symptoms. 1 inj ustice! Miserable economic in-
There is nothing unusual about equities! Although these are the
an early symptom of the disease: danger symptoms, the case is not
a perfectly normal compassion for necessarily hopeless. Many of us
those who, for whatever reasons, are similarly infected.
fail to emerge from the poverty The malady does not reach the
level. The first real sign of break- malignant or virulent stage until
down comes if the compassion the i-ndignant individual turns to
1 Socialism is a double-phased malady:
socialism, that is, until he advo-
the planned economy and the welfare cates coercion as a means of cor-
state. While the two seem always to go recting what he regards as eco-
hand-in-hand -a.s perhaps they must-
my remedy is aimed specifically at the nomic disparities and inequities.
welfare state phase. Diagnosis is now easy: the patient
299
300 THE FREEMAN May
will turn to minimum wage laws, elusion, the ditch digger would
rent and other price controls, Fed- receive far more than the actor
eral urban renewal along with who only had his picture snapped.
government housing and the like, The patient, however, is less con-
subsidies to farmers for not farm- cerned with these exaggerated
ing and to others for services never disparities than with the com-
rendered, strikes as a pricing mech- monplace ones. For instance, he
anism for labor, restrictions on sees the highly educated college
across-the-border travel, trade, and professor as "underpaid." He
investment, and so on. When these pities the poor farmer, on whose
symptoms appear, beware, for the produce all of us depend, who la-
disease is contagious! bors from early morn until after
What can be done for these vic- dark; the wage earner who doesn't
tims? Scolding, name-calling, im- have a "decent standard of living" ;
patience, intolerance is false ther- on and on. But note that the sym-
apy and should be scrupulously pathies engendered have their
avoided. No sound diagnostician roots in the patient's theory of
fools around with surface mani- value - he measures a man's worth
festations; he approaches the in terms of the effort or energy
problem systemically, as the phy- exerted. "That just isn't fair," he
sicians put it. exclaims, and he takes coercive
steps "to put things right."
A Mistaken Sense of Values
This is the advanced stage of
What delusion lies at the root the disease, the germs of which
of the malady? It is a notion as lie in the traditional mode of
old as mankind and so ingrained thinking and action.
in our tradition and thinking that, Until 1870, there was no basis
like a vestigial organ, it stays for prescribing a remedy. Then
with us not only as utterly use- came an important discovery: the
less but as positively harmful. The value of any good or service is
traditional notion: the value of 'what will be willingly exchanged
any good or service bears a direct for it. Value, in short, depends
relationship to the a1nount of ef- not so much on the objective cost
fort or energy exerted. It is the of production as on the subjective
cost-of-production idea of value; judgment of the customer. This
economists call it the labor theory was discovered nearly a century
of value. ago; yet only a few in the popula-
Were this theory of value car- tion have any apprehension of this
ried to its logical and absurd con- unassailable economic fact.
1968 A SURE-FIRE REMEDY 301
The important fact is that the coercion and rely entirely on per-
market value of my labor is not sonal demonstration and persua-
the value I put on it, nor does it sion to help those whose plight he
matter what anyone else says my deplores.
fair wage ought to be. The value The next step is for the patient
of my production is determined to abstain from using price and
by what you and others will freely quality as criteria for purchases.
exchange for it. There is a world Shopping for bargains is taboo.
of difference between our inher- Instead, he shall find those per-
ited, vestigial notion and this re- sons who are the objects of his
cently apprehended economic truth. compassion, those further down
Our patient, it turns out, is in- the economic ladder than their
fected by the vestigial notion and efforts seem to him to warrant.
the contradiction it forces upon He shall then purchase their goods
him. He allows his emotions to be or services -labor - at a price
governed by what he thinks an- which he thinks befits their efforts
other's wage or reward should be; and needs. The patient's tailor, for
whereas, what he thinks is irrele- instance, shall be chosen not for
vant, unless he's the buyer. He his competence or the desirability
then contradicts his own theory of his suits but for how strenu-
every time he shops around for ously he works at his trade. And
bargains - the latter a perfectly the patient will then reimburse the
normal and correct behavior. The tailor at a rate to assure him a
error of his theory is exposed by "decent standard of living." Fur-
his own actions, for when he shops ther, the patient shall follow this
for bargains he is trying to buy rule in all transactions for all
other people's labor as cheaply as goods and services. Henceforth,
possible. Living such a contradic- he shall look no longer to his own
tion is bound to have psychological requirements but only to what he
effects, the ill effect in this case sees as the requirements of others.
being the resort to coercion. So- Preposterous ? Yes, this remedy
cialism, in other words, is a psy- is the counsel of error. But it is
chological illness. absolutely consistent with the la-
bor theory of value, the vestigial
To Each According to Need notion that lies at the root of the
Now, what is the curative medi- patient's illness. Will the patient
cine so distasteful to socialists try it? If he did, he soon would
that few will try it? The first step tire of it. He won't take advice
is for the patient to abstain from from others; but if he will only
302 THE FREEMAN May
test his theory against his own record as well as sound theory
actions, he is cured. This is a do- demonstrate that the coercive way
it-yourself remedy; the dosage: of life Ie-ads to general impoverish-
read the prescription each morn- ment; the record and theory at-
ing on arising. test to the fact that the willing
exchange method of cooperation
A Fair Field;
affords prosperity on a scale here-
No Favors to Anyone tofore unknown to mankind.
How, now, is economic justice to And for the relatively few who
be served? Justice is served when remain unfortunately situated, let
the door of opportunity is as open each of us give of his own, not
to one individual as to any other. someone else's goods as a means
Whether or not a person serves of alleviation. This is the highly
himself well or ill or caters to the commendable Judeo-Christian
satisfactions of others efficiently practice of charity, heartening to
or inefficiently is in a realm other benefactor and benefited alike.
than j ustice.A fair field and no While charity is in a realm beyond
favor is our stand if we would en- economics, it is evident that with-
shrine justice. It is none of our out sound economic practices char-
business how a person makes out ity is impossible.
when justice prevails; that's en- In the final analysis, it is those
tirely his own affair. who produce, not bleed, for hu-
Are we then to let the unfor- manity who are the benefactors
tunate go unattended? Is there to of mankind. Noone need prescribe
be no thought of them? Of course, any remedy for them for they are
that will not be the case! The in good health.
Reciprocity
TSEKUNG asked, "Is there one single word that can serve as a
principle of conduct for life?" Confucius replied, "Perhaps the
word 'reciprocity' will do. Do not do unto others what you do not
want others to do unto you."
LIN YUTANG, The Wisdom of Confucius
JOHN O. NELSON

A Lesson In
TIME
On the Current Frenzy to Multiply Government Regulation
A VERITABLE FRENZY to multiply and command what we find it no

government regulation presently effort to do. There are, for in-
rules almost every electorate and stance, laws against murder and
every legislature. What are we to laws that command us to drive on
say of this obsession? We might the right-hand side of the street.
point out that it has a close affin- These and like laws are not op-
ity to the practices of socialism. pressive nor do we find them to be.
But is it, therefore, wrong? May But plainly, many laws that are
it not be justified? Is not law a legislated by government do exact
good, something we all desire? Let from us an effort in our obeying
us examine the last question first. them. The farmer, for example,
We do not desire our own op- has to curtail or ignore his own
pression. That can be affirmed with judgment and desires in obeying
certainty. Do government laws op- laws that tell him just how much
press us? And if so, all laws, or he may plant. That takes effort.
only some? The answer is: some And so does having to measure
do, and some do not. his acreage, having to fill out the
Some government laws prohibit many forms that always accom-
what we find it no effort not to do pany such laws, and so on. When
a law exacts effort from us it is,
Dr. Nelson is Professor of Philosophy at the
University of Colorado where he has taught
to that extent, oppressive. Thus,
since 1950. Articles and papers by him have we may conclude that most current
appeared in numerous scholarly journals and
books in the United States and abroad. government regulation is oppres-
303
304 THE FREEMAN May
sive. Moreover, even laws that taken sive would be to cite a case where
separately might not be oppressive government actually opposed pri-
become oppressive when multiplied vate efforts to produce order out
sufficiently. It does not require any of chaos and, yet, order was pro-
particular effort, for instance, to duced. For this case would be tan-
drive on the right-hand side of tamount in kind to what is some-
the street; but if this regulation times called a "crucial experi-
is combined with a hundred others rnent" in science. All important
as innocuous, just keeping in mind variables would be accounted for
what all the regulations are and and controlled: a certain chaotic
attempting to obey them all re- condition in man's affairs; private
quires effort. Thus, we find op- effort; and government action. A
pressive the mere number of laws determinate result would be ob-
and regulations. tained through the direct agency
What justification is offered, of private effort - namely, order
then, for this present insistence where there had been chaos. Since
on multiplying laws? A typical ex- government action was moving in
cuse is that without government an opposite direction to private ac-
regulation men's lives and affairs tion with respect to the result ob-
must lapse into chaos. This preva- tained, it could not be held that
lent belief makes it seem incum- government action was somehow
bent that every nook and cranny indirectly the cause of this result.
of our lives and affairs be regu- Thus, private effort must have
lated by government, no matter been the cause; and hence, govern-
how oppressive such regulation ment regulation could not be
may be; for nothing, we shall be claimed to be the necessary condi-
inclined to admit, is worse than tion of order in men's affairs.
chaos. I take exception to the be-
lief that without government reg- A Time to Remember
ulation men's affairs and lives Let us envisage, first, the pos-
must lapse into chaos. How, sible case of every city and gen-
though, can the validity of my eral locality in the United States
view be demonstrated? having its own time, determined
If we could cite a case where by the position of the sun at noon.
order in a certain area of men's And let us compound this variety
affairs prevailed without govern- of times by supposing that a vast
ment regulation, we should have network of railroads exists and
gone a long way in substantiating that each railroad employs the
our claim. But, even more conclu- time of its home terminal in all its
1968 A LESSON IN TIME 305
operations and schedules. In pic- shippers, and railway employees

turing this state of affairs, we pic- alike. Errors in keeping time and
ture - I think it must be agreed- correlating local times resulted in
a temporal chaos. We may suppose, innumerable inconveniences and
moreover, that this chaotic multi- costly disasters. Passengers missed
plicity of times would impose al- trains in wholesale lots; the trains
most unsupportable' burdens on themselves frequently collided. 1
travelers, shippers, and the rail- Something obviously had to be
roads. Presumably, we have been done. Given our contemporary
envisaging a mere possibility. Has prejudices, we would naturally
any such state of temporal chaos think that government had to step
ever in fact existed in the United in and did step in to bring order
States? A look at history reveals out of chaos by le,gislating the
that it has. time zones with which we are
Before 1883, local time - that is, familiar today. But not so at all.
time determined by the local noon- What actually happened was
day position of the sun - prevailed poles apart. By 1872, a majority
throughout the United States. of railroad executives were con-
Thus, there were more than 26 vinced that some system of time
local times in Michigan, 38 in Wis- zones should be established. A
consin, 27 in Illinois, and 23 in meeting of railroad superintend-
Indiana. A traveler going by rail ants was convoked in St. Louis,
from Maine to California had to calling itself initially the Time-
change his watch 20 times during Table Convention and later the
the trip if he meant to keep ac- General Time Convention. Under
curate time. In addition, each rail- the guidance of its secretary, Wil-
road operated its trains according liam Allen, former resident engi-
to the local time of its home ter- neer of the Camden & Amboy
minal. The Pennsylvania Railroad, Railroad, plans were drawn up to
whose home terminal was in Phila- eliminate the chaotic multiplicity
delphia, employed a time that was of local times. The first plans pro-
5 minutes slower, for example, j ected the adoption of time zones
than New York's, the home ter- bounded by meridians an even
minal of the New York Central, hour apart. None of these plans
and 5 minutes faster than Balti- passed the muster of close exami-
more's, the home terminal of the nation. Finally, in 1881, Allen con-
Baltimore & Ohio. Not surpris-
1 See, Stewart H. Holbrook, The Story
ingly, this multiplicity of time of American Railroads (New Y ork: Crown
standards confounded passengers, Publisher, 1947), pp. 354-55.
306 THE FREEMAN May
ceived the idea of five time zones doing so, and some local politicians
bas'ed, not on theoretical consider- who cried that the act was "un-
ations, but practical knowledge of constitutional, being an attempt
geography, economics, the location to change the immutable laws of
of large cities, and the general God Almighty and hard on the
habits of the populace. The plan workingman by changing day into
provided for time zones roughly night"3 - a typical political mis-
divided at the 75th, 90th, 105th, interpretation of plain fact - ex-
and 120th meridians west of cept, in short, for the predictable
Greenwich and thus falling ap- fulminations of some local politi-
proximately on the longitudes of cians, clerics, and journalists, the
Philadelphia, Memphis, Denver, general public found the change
and Fresno. The General Time good and adopted it. Without
Convention adopted Allen's. plan being forced, people. by and .large
on October 11, 1883, and selected set their watches by the new rail-
the noon of November 18 as the road time; towns and cities fol-
moment it should go into effect. lowed - indeed, had to follow-
At that precise moment the rail- suit.
roads, all acting in perfect con-
Government's Role
cert, changed their operations and
schedules from local to the new N ow, all this time, what was the
time. 2 attitude or response of govern-
Let us note: this regulation of ment? As we have already noted,
time initiated by the railroads was some local governments and their
a purely private undertaking. The officials opposed the new dispen-
new time zones had no force of sation, though the opposition
law. No one except railroad em- proved ineffective. What about the
ployees was compelled to set his Federal government? Surely - be-
watch by the new standards. What, hind the scenes at least - it must
then, was the response of the gen- have loaned a helping hand to the
eral public ?Except for a few Time Table Convention and en-
preachers who thundered that the couraged or indeed inspired the
change of time "was a lie" and bringing of order out of chaos!
"un-Christian," a few newspaper But, again, not so. In fact, the
editors who objected that the rail- very opposite. Let me quote from
roads were tyrannically dictating Holbrook's illuminating account:
time to 55,000,000 Americans and The traveling public, and shipper
should be stopped by law from too, quickly fell in with the new time-
2 Ibid., pp. 355-56. 3 Ibid., p. 356; see also p. 357.
1968 A LESSON IN TIME 307
belt plan, and naturally found it therefore, is false. Does it follow

good. But Uncle Sam wasn't ready that we have shown that the cur-
to admit the change was beneficial. rent multiplication of oppressive
A few days before November 18th government regulation is unj usti-
the Attorney General of the United fied? Not quite. We have shown
States issued an order that no gov-
that this current practice is not
ernment department had a right to
adopt railroad time until authorized
justified by the belief that with-
by Congress. The railroads went out government regulation men's
right ahead with the plan, and the affairs would lapse into chaos.
Attorney General, according to a It might be claimed, however,
good but perhaps apocryphal story, that the present multiplication of
went to the Washington depot late oppressive law can be justified on
in the afternoon of the 18th to take other assumptions. For example,
a train for Philadelphia. He was it might be argued that though
greatly astonished, it was reported, private effort as well as govern-
to find he was exactly 8 minutes and ment regulation can produce order
20 seconds too late. 4
in men's affairs, government regu-
lation can produce greater order,
It might be added that on
or greater safety, or greater se-
March 19, 1918 - a full generation
curity, or greater prosperity; and
after the general adoption of rail-
that, on these grounds, the multi-
road time by the country - Con-
plicity of government regulation
gress passed the Standard Time
currently taking place is justified,
Act, which gave (to what purpose,
even though oppressive. Now, I
it is hard to see) a government
am sure that each of these claims
commission power to define by law
can be shown to be absolutely
the boundaries of each time zone.
false. I merely want to point out
One is reminded here of a pla-
that we have not shown this in the
giarist who, having stolen and in
present paper. Our results have
the process mangled another man's
thus been more limited.
work, then takes credit for its
The many-headed monster of
creation.
socialistic misconception which
We have demonstrated as con-
dominates the modern mind is not
clusively as such things can be
likely to be slain by one blow.
demonstrated that government
However, cutting off one of its
regulation is not necessary to the
heads is a step toward its eventual
existence of order in men's lives
destruction. We have, I believe,
and affairs. The belief that it is,
lopped off the most central and
4 Ibid., p. 359. voracious one. +
EQUALITY?
EDWARD Y. BREESE
LIBERTE, Fraternite, Egalite, the In the end, of course, it will

J acobins proclaimed, and set about have to be equality at the level
oiling the brand new guillotine. of the smallest and weakest trees.
These were stern and practical Equality among people in their
men when it came to the daily relations with each other is also
mechanics of revolution. Some of likely to be at their lowest com-
their professed ideas might take mon level.
their heads into the clouds, but It is only in the ancient, pre-
their actions instinctively con- Christian era that we find exam-
formed to the realities of a trou- ples of people who sought equality
bled time. by pruning out the weaker growth
They knew, without troubling rather than the stronger. The
to theorize, that political equality Spartans eliminated at birth those
in their time could only be had by who could obviously not grow up
the knife. The man who wants to to be warriors or the breeders of
level a forest can't possibly jack warriors. So, according to report,
up all the immature or stunted did the Amazons.
trees. It's a lot more practical to There are occasional reports of
try cutting the tops out of those other primitive tribes living at
which tower above the rest. This such marginal levels that all who
way, equality of a sort can ulti- could not "pull their weight" had
mately be achieved. to be ruthlessly eliminated to en-
sure the survival of the group.
Mr. Breese has taught Industrial Manage- If equality is really desirable
ment at Georgia Tech and headed the De-
partment of Humanities at Embry-Riddle per se - and I'm not trying to say
Aeronautical Institute in Florida. At present
he is a free-lance writer. that it is - this cutting away of
1968 EQUALITY? 309
weak and defective units would the equalizing should be accom-
seem the logical method for hu- plished by beheading the tall trees.
manity to follow. It would improve Some of them may not realize that
the norm of achievement and the this is the only way it could be
available breeding stock at a pro- done.
gressive rate as the generations There also seems to be a high
passed. It is logical. level of confusion as to just how
Fortunately, or unfortunately, this alleged latter-day paradise is
as you wish, I doubt that it is to be brought about. They are
practical in the twentieth century agreed upon certain a priori as-
of the Christian ethic. We have sumptions as to the desirability
been taught too long and too and necessity of reaching their
thoroughly that it should be "wom- goals. Question these, and you're
en and children first in the life- promptly labeled bigot and enemy
boats." of the race. But their own think-
A full generation of political ing as to pragmatic implementa-
and economic socialism and mono- tion of the Four Equalities is
lithic statism in our own day has both primitive and fragmentary.
capped the process of indoctrina-
tion. Educational Equalization
This is why I am continually I have heard it seriously ad-
puzzled by the current semantics vanced that equality of education
of "equality." In a day and age at the highest level can be reached
of careless and sloppy usage, it's by requiring the top universities
hard to tell just what is meant to lower their admission and scho-
by the word. lastic requirements, even to the
The professed intellectuals and point of abolishing competition
"liberals" appear to mean an and grades. If this is only done,
equality of humanity at four lev- its advocates hold that even the
els: economic, political, educa- educationally and mentally "disad-
tional, and social. But they have vantaged" can receive a top level
not explained why equality at all education (?) at Princeton or
four levels would be desirable for M.LT.
humanity as a whole. The question mark (?) above
They are less frank - and con- is mine. There is no question in
siderably less clearheaded - than the minds of the proponents of
were the J acobins or the followers this absurd doctrine. Specifically,
of Toussaint or Spartacus. None I question what education, if any,
of them come right out and say could possibly be obtained at an
310 THE FREEMAN May
institution which had obligingly bernetic machine or delegated to

adjusted itself downward to the even the most sophisticated of
lowest common level. robots.
I won't try here to pursue this Grant this, and it becomes ob-
thought further or to question vious that "economic equality" in
equality at the social and political any society must be stratified in
levels. But, I want to examine at least these three levels. It may
s9me of the possible results of be possible, though I doubt it, to
fuzzy thinking about "economic force all workers to labor for one
equality." wage. But they may never be ex-
First of all, any such thing is pected to work for an income no
manifestly impossible. Even its better than that of the drones,
greatest advocates are presently for they, too, would become drones
admitting this in practice, if not in that case. Nor will the manag-
in theory. Any economic system- ers exercise their specialized abil-
no matter what it may be called - ities without tangible and meas-
has to embody three classes of urable reward.
people.
There must be primary pro- In Contrast to Russia
ducers (Le., workers) who use Let any doubter study the pres-
synthetic or extractive processes ent managerial class within the
for the alteration of raw material Soviet Union. Let him especially
into finished goods or who pro- ponder the results of surveys
vide services. Some of these will which show the "commissar" class
be better rewarded than others, nearly psychologically, tempera-
if for no other reason than the mentally, and motivationally iden-
differing utility of the products. tical with their Western counter-
There will be drones - some, parts in the "executive" ranks.
through no personal fault, as with Yet, this impossible leveling
the very old and very young. process is inherent in any such
Others will seek support out of proposal as a "guaranteed annual
laziness or antisocial tendency. In income" for all Americans. Put
any case there will be drones in such a system into operation, and
even the most efficient organiza- more and more individuals will
tion. stoop to take advantage of it.
Finally, there will have to be a As the drones increase, so will
class of entrepreneurs or manag- the burden upon the backs of the
ers. This is one human function remaining workers and managers.
which cannot be built into a cy- More and more of their produce
1968 EQUALITY? 311
will be diverted to the nonpro- aid each one to be and become
ducers. This process has its own and achieve to the upper limit of
built-in breakdown factor. The end his potential. This is what Plato
has to be disaster for all. defined as "j ustice." And this is
the only way in which those at
Opportunities Earned every level can be raised.
What about "equality of eco- There's really no mystery about
nomic opportunity"? Of all things, how such a favorable climate can
this sounds the most possible, the be attained. It's been done - right
most beneficial to all, and the most here - only a little while ago as
nearly in line with the ideals of history runs. Our Founding Fath-
a free society. Up to a point, it ers opened American life to the
certainly is. freest economic system yet at-
"Equality of opportunity," how- tempted by any people.
ever, cannot be given, any more As long as we held to the free,
than can freedom, education, cour- competitive economy our people,
age, or status. It has to be earned as individuals and as a whole,
or made for oneself by the individ- made giant strides. Our society
ual concerned. Neither liberty nor was both vertically and horizontal-
intelligence can be legislated. Nor ly mobile and fluid. The net re-
can equality of any sort except at suIt was growth, progression,
a dead bottom level. achievement.
Attempts to work out an elab- Only when we attempted to ac-
orate legal or social system to en- celerate or improve the process by
sure any sort of equality are in- coercive legislation did our trou-
evitably self-defeating. Humanity bles begin. A free economy can no
could save itself endless struggle, more operate within a tight frame-
suffering, and frustration if this work of regulatory law than can
truth were recognized. a man bound in a strait-jacket.
Once the issue is seen clearly, The natural, beneficial processes
there is something we can do of open competition are fatally
about equality of opportunity. We inhibited by controls.
can strive to establish a system
which will enable each individual Individuals must be free to help
to advance to the limit of his own themselves if mankind is to be
capacity and ability. We can thus elevated. ~
IF YOU SCRATCH a historian, you ties and thirties as the Wave of

find a politician. At least that's the Future. So it has gone for two
the way it's been ever since the or three historiographical genera-
New Deal and the New Economics tions.
conquered the academy. Arthur The rage to turn the past into
Schlesinger, writing about the the present has made for lively
Age of Jackson, couldn't resist controversy, and helped many a
imposing the face of Franklin man to a Ph.D. No doubt it is a
D. Roosevelt on Old Hickory. Hard sure cure for unemployment in
Money and Free Enterprising Academe, for, if the past has al-
Democrats of the eighteen thirties ways to be made over into a blue-
were turned into partisans of the print for what is going to happen
New Frontier and the Great So- next week, it means that the his-
ciety. William Graham Sumner, tory books must be changed every
who attacked the plutocracy of his decade. But what happens to the
day and actively opposed the Exterior View in all this chopping
Spanish-American War, was and changing? How can we treat
transmogrified by our Richard our ancestors with simple under-
Hofstadters and our R. G. Mc- standing of their own reactions to
Closkeys into a Social Darwinist their own contemporary problems?
and an imperialist. The Populist How can we read reality into their
tracts celebrated in Vernon Par- economics, their morality, their
rington's Main Currents in Amer- religious feelings?
ican Thought figured in a whole In his The World of Andrew
literature of the nineteen twen- Carnegie: 1865-1901, Louis M.
1)10
1968 THE WORLD OF ANDREW CARNEGIE 313
Hacker has addressed .himself to
the tremendous task of explaining
the most symbolic of our nine-
teenth century competitive enter-
prisers in terms of the intellec-
tual and moral forces that
beat in upon him. This isn't
designed to be a history of the
Carnegie Steel Company, though
you will find such a history in it.
What Louis Hacker has done is to
reconstruct the ethos of an era,
giving us long and detailed sec-
tions on what was being said and
done by judges and law courts and
labor organizers and f.armers and
railroad men and bankers and
schoolteachers and clergymen to
enforce the so-called Puritan ethic
of nineteenth century America. ANDREW CARNEGIE
The socialists and anarchists are
here, too, but mostly as a premoni- farmers. This is the Populist ver-
tory growl off stage. Hacker does sion of history. The farmer, so
not overestimate their importance the legend runs, sold his product
as of the eighteen eighties merely in a world market at low prices
because America became some- and bought his machinery in a
thing else after Andrew Carnegie protected market at high prices.
had passed from the scene. To continue the legend, the rail-
roads rooked him with high
Behind the Cliches freight charges. Moreover, since
The ground-breaking impor- the railroads had cornered much
tance of Louis Hacker's book de- of the best land, getting alternate
rives from the author's willingness sections as free gifts along their
to get behind the cliches of a full rights of way, the farmer sup-
half-century of historical writing. posedly couldn't add to his acreage
We have been told often enough without mortgaging himself to
that the development of the United the hilt. With the cards stacked
States in the post-Civil War period against him, the farmer had to go
was achieved at the expense of the into politics. He created his Farm-
314 THE FREEMAN May
ers' Alliances, his Granges, his farmer's expense out of the do-
Populist Party organizations- main they got for next .to nothing.
and eventually captured the gov- The railroads did everything they
ernment in Washington when the could to promote settlement of the
old Populist platforms were taken West, establishing land depart-
over by the New Deal. ments and selling their land grant
The only trouble with this his- windfalls on easy terms. Mean-
tory, as Louis Hacker shows, is while, freight rates went down
that it doesn't fit the facts. True along with the interest rates
enough, we had high tariffs in the charged by the banks. If the
late nineteenth century. But the growth of check money is made
U.S. market was so big and so part of the post-Civil War equa-
wide, and there were so many tion, there was an expanding cur-
competitive units, that the tariff rency throughout the whole period
did not have much effect on the of squawking about the demone-
price level once American com- tization of silver and the desira-
panies had grown beyond the "in- bility of retiring the Greenbacks.
fant industry" stage. By 1880, Since Louis Hacker can quote
says Hacker, the U.S. was making yards of statistics to bear him
more Bessemer rails than Great out, how are we to account for the
Britain; by 1890, more pig iron; agrarian radicalism that colored
and by 1895, our prices for both the latter years of the nineteenth
were lower than those of the Brit- century? Mr. Hacker points out
ish. While industrial prices in that the old Middle Border states
this country were dropping in the - Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan,
1870-1900 period, the value of Indiana, Ohio - did not go for the
America's farm plant - in land, Bryanite nostrums. Populism,
buildings, animals, implements, which swept the Mountain States,
and machinery - increased 104 per the High Plains states, and the
cent in constant dollars as com- South, had special causes that
pared with 24 per cent for 1900- were bound up with the drought
20. The Gross Product per farm cycle in the treeless plains and the
worker increased 60 per cent in crop lien system wherever cotton
the four decades following the was grown. The western farmer
Civil War. went into politics because he was
a disappointed speculator. He had
Agrarian Mythology sold his Indiana or Iowa land for
As for land, it isn't true that a high price and had moved out
the railroads made a killing at the into western Kansas or Dakota in
1968 THE WORLD OF ANDREW CARNEGIE 315
hopes of repeating his real estate served the public well. The "rob-
killing. But the drought cycle ber barons" took their profits, but
caught up with him in the late these were plowed back into in-
eighties. The U.S. Army engineer dustry - and "the American peo-
and geologist, John W. Powell, ple and th~ American economy
had predicted the return of were the real gainers."
drought conditions to what had The facts being what they were,
once been called the Great Amer- it is small wonder that the Amer-
ican Desert, and Powell was a true ican Federation of Labor, which
prophet. When the rains ceased believed in pushing for higher
to come after 1887, the speculator wages that would have come with
farmers streamed back East to increased productivity anyway,
complain to the politicians. should survive where the more
The disappointed land specula- Marxian labor movements ex-
tors found eager allies in the west- pired.
ern silver mine lobby and among Mr. Hacker fleshes out his story
the tenant farmers of the South. of Carnegie's world with a wealth
The villains, of course, were the of fascinating detail. There are
Gold Bugs, the Wall Streeters, the beautiful biographies of jurists
"international bankers." The cry (example: Supreme Court Justice
went up that only a national cir- Stephen J. Field), of sociologists
culating medium that amounted to (William Graham Sumner), of
$50 per person would prevent de- Populist radicals (Ignatius Don-
pression. But, as Louis Hacker nelly). There is a whole section
shows, there was no dearth of devoted to the growth of the Car-
money in a country in which "the negie steel companies up to the
steady increase of bank deposits time of their merger with the
and of the substitution of checks Morgan-Gary-Moore companies to
for notes kept the total money make up the United States Steel
supply at a high level." Bryan Corporation.
failed in 1896 because the country With the growth of Big Govern-
saw through the Populist delu- ment, everything has been
sions. changed. Mr. Hacker doesn't think
the modern world is necessarily
Remarkable Progress
an improvement on the world that
The Hacker conclusion is that created Andrew Carnegie. But
there wasn't very much the matter whatever our opinions may be,
with America in the post-CiviI Carnegie's world deserves a more
War period. Competition had patient understanding than it has
316 THE FREEMAN Ma~
received from our recent histor- American Enterprise Institute fOl

ians. Mr. Hacker has written a Public Policy Research. On thE
great book that will become more rostrum were two articulate and
definitive as our perspectives highly knowledgeable debaters:
clear. ~ fixed-rate defender Robert V,
Roosa, former Under Secretary of
the Treasury for MonetaryAffair~
~THE BALANCE OF PAY- under Presidents Kennedy and
MENTS: FREE VERSUS Johnson and now a partner of
FIXED EXCHANGE RATES by Brown Brothers Harriman and
Milton Friedman and Robert V. Company in New York; and float-
Roosa (Washington, D. C.: Amer- ing-rate defender l\Hlton Fried-
ican Enterprise Institute for Pub- man of the University of Chicago,
former president of the American
lic Policy Research, 1967), 200
Economic Association, adviser to
pp., $4.50.
Goldwater during the 1964 cam-
Reviewed by Mary Jean Bennett paign, and no,v a columnist in
Newsweek.
THE PLIGHT of the dollar, as mir- Both Roosa and Friedman be-
rored in the great international moan the accumulated U.S. pay-
money crisis and long persistent ments deficit of more than $37 bil-
U.S. balance of payments deficits, lion since 1950. This tremendous
has aroused all manner of debate sum has been financed by pay-
and actions such as removal of the ments from our gold stock, down
25 per cent gold cover from our by more than half to less than $12
currency, curbs by the President billion, and by a vast build-up in
restricting private overseas lend- short-term dollar liabilities, up to
ing and investing, and possible more than $30 billion. These
restrictions on foreign travel. claims could easily withdraw all
Debate has ranged from pro- the remaining gold in official U.S.
tectionism to cutting loose from monetary reserves - given further
gold altogether - Le., letting the breaches of foreign confidence in
exchange rate of the dollar seek the dollar.
its own level, "floating" among The accumulated deficit also
the currencies of the world. has been "covered" by complex
The issue of fixed versus float- and oftentimes unpublicized cen-
ing exchange rates was skillfully tral bank arrangements including
debated at length last year in a currency swaps, "Roosa bond"
public forum sponsored by the flotations, and London gold pool
contributions. In addition, there ministration has done to plug the

has been a rising tide of payments payments gap. He comes out four-
controls ranging from the Inter- square for a new international
est Equalization Tax legislated in "paper-gold" currency unit to help
1963 to Congressional questioning expand international liquidity and
in 1968 on whether Aunt Louise sustain growing world trade.
from Des Moines should be quite (Since the debate, Roosa's suc-
free to travel abroad this summer. cessor, Treasury Under Secretary
At this point, the two debaters Frederick L. Deming, has also en-
part company. Roosa is a defender dorsed without reservation the
of the status quo, of the current new Special Drawing Rights
fixed rate system, of what the Ad- (SDR's) authorized by the Inter-
318 THE FREEMAN May
national Monetary Fund meeting while conceding the fixed-rate sys-

in Rio last September.) tem is far from a perfect model,
Professor Friedman, deft inno- says that at least it provides an
vator and free market exponent established scale of economic meas-
that he is, wants a sharp break urement, easily translatable from
with the status quo. He blames one nation to another, enabling
the persistent U.S. balance of pay- merchants, investors, and bankers
ments deficits on fixed exchange of one country to do business with
rates, on what he calls bureau- others on known terms - knowing,
cratic price fixing. He holds that for example, with reasonable ac-
currency exchange rates should curacy just how many Japanese
become free market prices deter- yen would be equivalent to one
mined primarily by private deal- Swedish kroner or one Mexican
ings the world over. He argues peso.
that the payments problem would In other words, contends Dr.
yield to floating exchange rates Roosa, without fixed exchange
because there could not be a sur- rates international trade and in-
plus or a shortage in the sense of vestment would deteriorate. Mer-
eager buyers unable to find sellers chant, investor, banker, and for-
or eager sellers unable to find buy- eign exchange dealer would grope
ers; fluctuating prices would stir for the exchange rate that would
the necessary ea.gerness. In addi- enable them to make workable
tion, economic calculations. Uncertainty
would foreclose many a deal. Hedg-
Floating exchange rates would put
an end to the grave. problems re-
ing through forward exchange
quiring repeated meetings of secre- transactions would be all but im-
taries of the Treasury and gov- possible because no exchange
ernors of central banks to try to dealer could handle wild currency
draw up sweeping reforms. It would swings.
put an end to the occasional crisis "I am very much afraid," says
of producing frantic scurrying of he, "that the rate for any cur-
high governmental officials from rency against all others would
capital to capital, midnight phone have to fluctuate so widely that
calls among'the great central banks the country's own trade would be
lining up emergency loans to sup-
throttled and its capital misdi-
port one another's currency.
rected."
To put it mildly, Friedman's Friedman rebuts, pointing to
position doesn't sit well with Dr. the stable Canadian currency ex-
Roosa. Fixed-rate defender Roosa, perience from 1950 to 1962 when
the Canadian dollar "floated," and know, but there is much more to
to the increasing financial chaos Lindbergh's life than has appeared
caused by the "voluntary" invest- in the headlines.
ing-lending guidelines of Presi- There is, for instance, Lind-
dent Johnson (further aggravated bergh's pioneering work in the
since then by the new mandatory early days of two modern-day
controls announced on New Year's wonders: organ transplants and
Day). Clearly, Friedman gets the space travel. Lindbergh worked
upper hand in the argument. with French scientist Alexis Car-
So the brilliant debate goes, pro rel during the nineteen thirties in
and con, rebuttal and counter-re- the development of a perfusion
buttal, including some incisive pump to keep organs alive outside
questioning of the intellectual ad- the body. He was helpful also in
versaries themselves by competent securing financial backing for
forum participants. One question Robert Goddard's experiments in
overhanging the debate like the rocketry and offered much-needed
sword of Damocles was not raised encouragement to the neglected
but maybe its answer was too ob- inventor. And all the while Lind-
vious: That question is: Whither bergh has been an enthusiastic
the dollar? ~ promoter of aviation science,
choosing to earn his pay as a com-
mercial airline consultant rather
~ THE LAST HERO: CHARLES than seeking a big salary for the
A. LINDBERGH by Walter S. use of his name. His goal has ever
Ross (New York: Harper & Row, been real accomplishment, not
1968), 402 pp., $7.95. mere fame and fortune.
Reviewed by Robert M. Thornton Ross called Lindbergh "the last
hero" because the flight across the
CHARLES LINDBERGH has been in Atlantic was so much a one-man
the public eye since 1927 when he feat. Lindbergh raised the money
piloted a single engine plane non- to finance the flight, helped to de-
stop across the Atlantic from New sign and build his plane, The
York to Paris. A tragic kidnap- Spirit of St. Louis, plotted his
ping case five years later brought own course, provisioned his plane
unwanted publicity; and during - planned the entire trip with re-
the period just before Pearl Har- markable care for detail. No dis-
bor Lindbergh was involved in the paragement of today's astronauts
controversy over American foreign is intended, but they can function
policy. These things most of us only as members of a huge team
320 THE FREEMAN May
backed by billions of dollars in tax- readers to resort to all sorts of

payers' money, corps of techni- subterfuges so that his family
cians' and batteries of computers. might enjoy privacy and live a
And Lindbergh was a hero because fairly normal life.
years of adulation did not shake Lindbergh was one of the best-
his integrity. Nor did strong op- known members of America First,
position prevent him from relying Rn or~9.nizaHon opposing Amert-
on his own judgment, even at the can entrance into World War II.
risk of his life. vVe can better un- but he put aside his objectioT.ts
derstand his spirit of independ- once this country had entered/the
ence after reading how he was conflict. Lindbergh's opposition to
raised. Lindbergh senior believed the war had made him persona
a youngster should learn responsi- non grata with the Roosevelt ad-
bility at a tender age, and young ministration, and he was refused
Charles was encouraged to act on a commission in the Air Force.
his own initiative. However, a plane manufacturer
Contrary to his public image, did take advantage of his talents,
Lindbergh is not withdrawn or and Lindbergh, in order to do a
aloof. In the weeks after his solo good job advising his employer,
flight to Paris, when he was al- actually flew fifty combat missions
most held in reverence by every- in the Pacific Theater as a civil-
one he met, a flying buddy from ian! He was then in his forties-
early days delighted him by a bit an old man among fighter pilots -
of roughhouse after Lindbergh but he was a skillful pilot and his
had accidentally sent him tumbling. experience and knowledge proved
How much better this, said Lind- invaluable.
bergh, than to be treated like roy- A people cannot survive with-
alty. And, too, Lindbergh was fond out heroes, and it cannot flourish
of pulling practical jokes on his unless its imagination is captured
friends and family. Here was a by heroes of the right sort. Amer-
warm, sensitive human being ica has had its share of such men,
forced by the poor taste of report- and Lindbergh would be the first
ers, columnists, and newspaper to say that more are yet to come.
~
the
Freeman
VOL. 18, NO.6. JUNE 1968
No More Drinks on the House! Leonard E. Read 323

Concerning the problems competitors face when the government fixes rates and
denies their right to compete price-wise.
The Untruth of the Obvious Ya,le Bruzen 328

Those who think that hiking the minimum wage helps the poor should try to
understand the harmful effects of their good intentions.
The Artist under Socialism Dean lipton 341

Producers and consumers of the artistic are equally victimized by the compulsory
collectivization of imaginations and appetites.
Higher Education: The Solution -

or Part of the Problem? Calvin D. Linton 347
How education has suffered from the myths of automatic human progress, the
natural goodness of man, egalitarianism, scientism, and biologism.

4. The Intellectual Thrust to liberty Clarence B. Carson 359
The economic and political rise of England as a world power grew out of the
ideas of thoughtful individuals.
What Censors Prefer to Forget Neil M. Clark 371

Nor can anyone be very certain what circumstance or what forgotten book will
spark some future genius.
Book Reviews 378

"The American Schoolbook" by Hillel Black
"America's Political Dilemma" by Gottfried Dietze

the
Freeman
IRVINGTONONHUDSON, NEW YORK TEL.: (914) 5917230

Economic Education

and limited government, founded in 1946.
vited in any amount-$5.00 to $10,000.,.-as the means

"Higher Education: The Solution-or Part of the Problem?" and "The
Rise and Fall of England."
No More Drinks
on the House. . . LEONARD E. READ
LOCAL OPTION closed the saloon in ing at that; a high proportion of

my little village before I was. old airline passengers - and perhaps
enough to steal a peek through the every last one of the nonpassen-
swinging doors. But I wasn't too gers - will exclaim, "Good rid-
young to be impressed with a fea- dance!" Nor will I argue for free
ture common to saloons of that drinks; anyone who can afford to
day: the free lunch. Rumor had it ride first class is able to pay for
that the food was good, and all his own spirits. The real issue,
you could eat. Intriguing to a ho\vever, is not this minor item
ravenous youngster! but rather the trend it portends.
Of course, the free lunch was VVhat concern is this of govern-
purely a business getter. If the ment? Carry such interventionism
customer went home to eat, he a few steps further, and I \von't
might not return for another be allowed to buy you a cup of
drink. The profit in drinks ex- coffee!
ceeded the cost of the food; and The no-drink edict is sympto-
that was the economics of the matic of a trend that frets me, and
situation. for good reason. I have been rid-
I was reminded of the free lunch ing airplanes for 50 years - more
by a recent edict of the Civil Aero- than two million miles - and have
nautics Board: no more free grown up alongside the remark-
drinks on commercial airlines! able development of this industry.
Another business getter outlawed Today, it is in a state of perfec-
by government, and a popular rul- tion beyond my fondest dreams.
324 THE FREEMAN June
But, I recall paying a similar trib- flies "the friendly skies," imply-
ute to railway passenger service ing that the heavens may be less
and the "crack trains" of a short gracious to the others.A stranger
while ago. Observing what has to flying might easily gain the im-
happened to the railways by rea- pression that the airlines are com-
son of governmental and trade p~ting with each other as night
union interventionism and the clubs in the sky. What accounts
consequent denial of competitive for this shadow competition?
pricing, I wonder if the same
Protecfionwith a Vengeance
forces are not at work in air
transportation 11 The answer is simple: govern-
Do you see what I see? Why, ment'does not permit realistic
for instance, do our privately- competition; the CAB, not the air-
owned airlines find themselves lines, governs the pricing of air-
competing for business by resort- line services. Unhampered pricing
ing to such fringe attractions as is taboo; without it, competition
a free martini? Why has their ap- is essentially meaningless, leaving
peal for passengers been reduced only trivia as marks of distinction.
to such advertising sophistry? We When freedom to price their own
hear of "Fan" jets and "Whisper" services does not exist, how else
jets as if these were better than can they compete for business ex-
competitors' engines. One airline cept by appeals to inconsequential
features "Yellowbirds" and an- embellishments? To rephrase one
other spends a fortune on a dozen of their punch lines, "Is this any
color variations. We are offered way to run an airline? You bet it
meals aloft by "Club 21" and by isn't!"
"Voisin." Motion pictures! And Americans, by and large, have
stereophonic recordings ranging frowned on cartels, these being
from "rock" to Beethoven! Air- arrangements where members of
lines compete in how nattily the an industry get together and fix
stewardesses dress and how prices. The intent of the popular
"mini" their skirts lOne airline but ill-advised Antitrust Laws waS
anticarte1. 2 Only recently, some
1 It is careless talk to assert that the executives of leading electrical
airlines ran the railways out of the pas-
senger business. I can beat any prize manufacturers were sent to prison
fighter if his hands are tied behind his
back. Had the railways been free to com- 2 As to how ill-advised, see "Do Anti
pete, no telling what miracles they trust Laws Preserve Competition?" bji
might have wrought. They were given Sylvester Petro. THE FREEMAN, October
no chance! 1957.
1968 NO MORE DRINKS ON THE HOUSE! 325
for price-fixing. In other words, choose not to fly? The subsidies

they were condemned for not pric- granted to all airlines since, say,
ing competitively. Yet, the airline 1925, add up to some staggering,
industrY,like railroads, is a cartel, unestimable figure. 3 Who pays
pure and simple: free entry is this bin? The taxpayers, as much
taboo; prices are fixed. Had the by those who never fly as by those
airline or railroad owners effected of us who regularly take to the
this rigged arrangement them- air. Why should the nonflying
selves, they would be prosecuted 'widow Doakes, for instance, sub-
as criminals by the Antitrust Di- sidize my trips? This is rank in-
vision of the Justice Department. justice, but unavoidable under a
But they are absolved of any guilt government-backed cartel.
because, in these two instances, As for those of us who prefer
the cartels are of governmental to fly, why should we not be of-
construction. fered the full competitive range
Parenthetically, I make no claim of services and prices free-market
that the airline owners are op- airlines would provide as a means
posed to their cartel or that they of attracting our business? Intro-
are anxious for competitive pric- duce free entry along with com-
ing. For all I know, they may like petitive pricing, and watch their
the arrangement; it has a dual ingenuity out-do even today's re-
attraction: no price competition markable performance. And as-
and no public or governmental dis- sure continuous improvement by
approval. While most Americans removing the coercive forces that
will concede that competition is have crippled the railroads! Such
sound in principle - when applied outstanding performance by free
to others - not many will actually market practices has been demon-
seek it for themselves. Unless one strated time after time in all
enjoys a contest for fitness' sake, areas where they are not pro-
competition is avoided. hibited!
Why not? The reason is plain:
The Unseen Consequences once an activity has been under
My concern, however, is not so government control, no one can
much for the airline owner who imagine how the problems could
finds his industry controlled by 3 Subsidies take many forms: govern-
the CAB. I am concerned as a pas- ment operated airways, weather sta-
senger, and my concern extends tions, control towers, mail contracts, to
mention a few. Then, there are the air-
to those who may never fly at all. ports, the cost of which runs into the
What about those persons who billions.
be met were it decontrolled. This survivors; but from these few we

is the reason why the President's can purchase an enormous variety
Commission for postal service im- of autos, anyone of which would
provement does not recommend have confounded the imagination
that mail delivery be turned over sixty years ago. And, so far as
to the market, that is, to free entry autos are concerned, we feel con-
and competitive pricing. And it ex- fident of improvement next year,
plains why there is little likeli- and the year after. But how con-
hood that the airlines will be de- fident would we be were that com-
cartelized. petitive industrial complex merged
into a government cartel?
Unimaginable! U. S. based airlines are pri-
It is true beyond question that vately owned; most of the world's
no one, however ingenious, can en- maj or airlines are government
vision how free-market airlines owned. Observe how much lower
would operate. No one has ever are the operating costs of the pri-
had such foresight - or ever will! vate lines. 4 Private ownership,
But hindsight shows that when an even in the absence of competitive
activity is left to the market the pricing, generates a considerable
miracles happen; examples abound ingenuity and accounts for the ex-
by the tens of thousands. Just look cellence of our airlines.
at the record!
Except as Men Have Faith
For instance, no one, at the turn
of the century, foresaw how free However, we must bear in mind
entry and competitive pricing that there is no meaningful owner-
would work in the auto industry. ship except as there is owner con-
What does hindsight reveal? A trol, and that as control by the
remarkable selection-of-the-fittest CAB increases, private ownership
took place; some 1,600 companies of the airlines correspondingly
tried their hand and fell by the disappears. The CAB's control is
wayside. Those who failed in the increasing!
competition didn't like it; but I This is why the edict, "No more
am looking at our problem from free drinks," is ominous; it is
the standpoint of a consumer. symbolic of what's happening:
How have we consumers fared? competition, even in trivia, is des-
Everyone of the past three-score tined to become less and less. Man-
years has witnessed a service to
4 For a comparison, see "Flying So-
us superior to that of the previous cialism" by Sam H. Husbands, Jr. THE
year. Today, there are just a few FREEMAN, February, 1965.
1968 NO MORE DRINKS ON THE HOUSE! 327
agement of the airlines is slated lexicon of collectivism ; and we

to pass from the title holders to a might expect that our airlines,
government agency, as has the like the government owned Air
management of the railroads. France or Air India, will even-
Once we grant that the industry tually bear some such name as
is not suited to free entry and Air America. Conformity and uni-
competitive pricing, that it is a formity, not distinctiveness, is the
natural monopoly of the govern- collective way.
ment cartel type, we can expect This is assuredly the destiny
nothing different for the airlines of our airlines unless, of course,
than has already happened to the we turn to the one and only alter-
railroads. Granting this error, our native: free entry and competitive
airlines will, sooner or later, be pricing-even a drink on the house
staffed alike, the workers dressed or a free lunch if the competitor
and paid alike, the meals and so chooses. And this can happen
movies and drinks served alike, only as more of us than now know
and the planes decorated alike. We for certain that the results will be
need only remember that competi- more remarkable than we can ever
tion, even in trivia, is not in the imagine. ~
Spokesmen of Progress
THE RICH, the owners of the already operating plants, have no
particular class interest in the maintenance of free competition.
They are opposed to confiscation and expropriation of their for-
tunes, but their vested interests are rather in favor of measures
preventing newcomers from challenging their position. Those
fighting for free enterprise and free competition do not defend
the interests of those rich today. They want a free hand left to
unknown men who will be the entrepreneurs of tomorrow and
whose ingenuity will make the life of coming generations more
agreeable. They want the way left open to further economic
improvements.. They are the spokesmen of progress.
LUDWIG VON MISES, Human Action
THE
UNTRUTH
OF THE
OBVIOUS
YALE BROZEN
THIS is the age of science as well The Fair Labor Standards Act
as of riots-an age when we search was amended to raise minimum
for and discover the laws that ex- wage rates from $1.25 an hour to
plain and enable us to understand $1.40 on February 1, 1967, and to
many phenomena. Professor C. $1.60 one year later. It was ob-
N orthcote Parkinson, for example, vious that a wage rate of $1.25 an
through many years of painstak- hour would provide only $2,600
ing research, discovered the law per year for a full-time worker.
that "expenses rise to meet in- It was even more obvious that
come." this was (and is) less than $3,000
Parkinson has become famous a year, the official line which an
for his law. Since I, too, would annual income must cross if the
like to become famous, I am go- recipient is not to be poverty
ing to propound Brozen's law: stricken. Therefore, it was ob-
Most obviously true economic pol- vious that the minimum wage
icy propositions are false! rate had to be raised to reduce
Let me illustrate with some ob- the number of people in poverty
viously true policy propositions because of low wages. It seemed
which are false. equally obvious, then, that there
Dr. Brozen is Professor of Business Eco- ought to be a law raising the mini-
nomics, Graduate School of Business, Uni
versi ty of Chicago. mum wage above the poverty line.
1968 THE UNTRUTH OF THE OBVIOUS 329
N ow that the mInImum wage mInImum was increased in 1956,

has reached $1.60, the income of for example, unemployment among
a full-time worker employed at teen-agers and women over 45 rose
the minimum is $3,328. This, ob- despite the fact that total unem-
viously, is enough to cross the ployment was falling. Usually,
poverty line (with due allowance when total unemployment falls,
for inflation) and eliminate all unemployment in these two groups
poverty resulting from low wage falls twice as rapidly. However,
rates (in covered occupations). this usual relationship was re-
The question that arises, how- versed by the rise in minimum
ever, is whether the number of \vage from 75 to $1.00 an hour
people in poverty has been de- in 1956.
creased by eliminating all poverty The fact that increases in the
resulting from wage rates below statutory minimum wage cause
$1.60 an hour. Obviously, if no some people to lose their jobs is
wage is paid of less than $1.60 hardly debatable. The evidence is
no one at work (in covered occu- more than ample.~ Even the indus-
pations) will be in poverty be- tries given special treatment who
cause of a low wage. are allowed to pay less than the
full minimum have laid off people
The Unknown Effects of
Minimum Wage Rates 2 James E. Blair, "Regarding the Mini-
mum Wage," THE FREEMAN, July, 1965.
Despite all this obviousness, Y. Brozen, Automation and Jobs
the increase in the statutory mini- (Graduate School of Business, Univer-
sity of Chicago, Selected Papers, No. 18).
murn wage rate has increased-
Marshall R. Colberg, "Minimum Wage
not decreased - the amount of Effects on Florida's Economic Develop-
poverty in America. Although the ment," Journal of Law and Economics,
various upward moves in the October, 1960.
D. E. Kaun, "Minimum Wag-es, Factor
statutory minimum have increased
Substitution and the Marginal Producer,"
the incomes of some people, l they Quarterly Journal of Economics, August,
have decreased the incomes of a 1965.
great many others by causing G. Macesich and C. T. Stewart, Jr.,
"Recent Department of Labor Studies of
them to lose their jobs. When the Minimum Wage Effects," Southern Eco-
nomic Jou1nal, April, 1960.
1 Temporarily. The evidence indicates
J. M. Peterson, "Research Needs in
that the wag'e rates of those whose wag-e Minimum Wage Theory," Southern Eco-
is increased by the Fair Labor Standards nomic Journal, July, 1962.
Act would have reached the levels dic- L. G. Reynolds, "Wages and Employ-
tated by law within a few years without ment in the Labor-Surplus Economy,"
the law. American Economic Review, March, 1965.
because of a rise in their wage fects of the $1.25 minimum on

costs. the operation of a shop produc-
The Philadelphia Inquirer (Jan- ing mountain-made novelties at
uary 22, 1968) reported that the Paintsville, Kentucky. The shop
Goodwill Industries sheltered was closed, ending the jobs of
workshops, which are allowed to 200 part-time employees when a
pay as little as 50 per cent of the new wage-hour office in Pikeville
statutory minimum, were laying pressed for strict compliance with
off handicapped workers at the the minImum wage law. A Wall
end of January because the agency Street Journal sampling of re-
could not afford the even larger tailers, reported August 31, 1961,
subsidy required than they were found that package wrappers were
already paying to keep these peo- being dismissed, work weeks were
ple at work with the rise in the being shortened, and substandard
statutory minimum to $1.60 on employees were being laid off be-
February 1 and, as a consequence, cause retail stores were to be
a rise in the minimum for handi- covered by the minimurn wage
capped workers in sheltered work- law beginning September 3, 1961,
shops to 80. as a result of new amendments
ANew York Times story on to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
February 13, 1967 from Green- The Southern Pine Industry
ville, Mississippi, said that spot Committee presented evidence in
checks by civil rights workers in- Senate hearings that imposition
dicated that 100,000 people were of the $1.00 an hour minimum in
deprived of all farm income be- 1956 was a major influence in the
cause agricultural workers were closing of numerous sawmills in
covered by the Fair Labor Stand- the South. Professor John Peter-
ards Act for the first time and son, in his dissertation done in
they had to be paid $1.00 an hour. the economics department at the
As a result, 100,000 farm jobs University of Chicago, demon-
were wiped out. strated that employment adjusted
A Wall Street Journal story on for output and trend fell in saw-
September 7, 1965, reported the mills, men's cotton garments, and
lay-off of 1,800 women in North other industries when the mini-
Carolina crab meat packing plants mum was raised to $0.75 in 1950. 3
when the minimum went from A study of the seamless hosiery
$1.15 to $1.25. A U.S. News and
3 "Employment Effects of Minimum
World Report story, in the August Wages, 1938-1950," Journal of Political
17, 1964 issue, described the ef- Economy, October, 1957.
industry found a 13 per cent drop levels since 1956, approximating
in employment in mills whose or exceeding 14 per cent of those
average wage was less than the seeking employment in most years.
minimum when the $0.25 an hour That is a figure in excess of the
minimum was imposed in 1938 maximum unemployment among
and subsequently raised to $0.325 white male teen-agers in any year
in 1939. This did not include the before 1956. Negro male teen-age
decrease in employment in mills unemployment, however, has gone
which went out of business. to even higher levels than white
teen-age unemployment since 1956,
Impact on Negro Teen-agers exceeding 21 per cent of those
The incidence of unemployment seeking employment in every year
caused by increases in the statu- in the last decade. Since the full
tory minimum wage is falling application of the $1.25 minimum
most heavily on one group. It is a
group toward which a great deal RATIO OF NONWHITE TO WHITE
of governmental effort is being TEEN-AGE MALE UNEMPLOYMENT
directed for the purpose of im- (AGES 16-19)
proving their lot - Negro teen- Year Nonwhite White Ratio
agers. 4 Before the Fair Labor 1948 10.0% 9.8% 1.0
1949 16.5 13.8 1.2
Standards Act raised the mini- 1950 14.9 13.0 1.1
mum wage to $1.00 in 1956, non- 1951 9.1 8.0 1.1
white and white male teen-age 1952 9.0 8.9 1.0
unemployment both were approxi- 1953 8.2 8.0 1.0
mately the same, oscillating be- 1954 14.2 13.5 1.1
1955 13.7 11.2 1.2
tween 8 and 14 per cent of those 1956 15.3 10.4 1.5
seeking jobs, depending on the 1957 18.4 11.5 1.6
state of business. In 1956, when 1958 26.9 15.7 1.7
the $1.00 minimum went into 1959 25.2 14.0 1.8
1960 24.1 14.0 1.7
effect, nonwhite male teen-age un-
1961 26.8 15.7 1.7
employment surged to levels 50 1962 21.8 13.7 1.6
per cent greater than white male 1963 27.2 15.9 1.7
teen-age unemployment. (See Ta- 1964 24.3 14.7 1.7
ble.) White male teen-age un- 1965 23.2 12.9 1.8
employment has stuck at high 1966 21.4 10.5 2.0
1967 24.0 10.8 2.2
4 Y. Brozen and M. Friedman, The
1968 (Feb.) 26.6 11.6 2.3
J1!Tinimurn lVage: Who Pays? (Washing- SOURCE: Manpower Report of the President,
ton, D. C.: Free Society Association, 1967, pp. 203-04, 216.
Employment and Earnings and Monthly Re-
1966) . port on the Labor Force, March, 1968.
in 1965, nonwhite male teen-age to do it, although it seems so very

unemployment has soared to lev- obvious that. passing a law will
els 100 per c.ent greater than raise the minimum wage rate. Un-
white unemployment. Sinc.e the fortunately, what it does is to
rise to $1.40 in February, 1967, lower the wage to zero for a great
nonwhite male teen-age unem- many people. When the minimum
ployment has in some months been wage went up on February 1,
150 per c.ent greater than white 1967, nonwhite teen-age unemploy-
unemployment. This has oc.c.urred ment jumped from 20.9 per c.ent
despite a more rapid dec.line in in January to 26.2 per c.ent in
the nonwhite partic.ipation rate February. The inc.rease on Febru-
than in the white rate - a .dec.line ary 1 this year jumped nonwhite
whic.h c.arried the nonwhite rate teen-age unemployment from 19.1
to a level whic.h has been below in January to 26.2 per c.ent in
the white rate sinc.e 1961. 5 February (all figures seasonally
adjusted) .
How to Raise Wages The lowest wage rates c.an be
The greatest help we c.an give suc.c.essfully raised by improving
the Negro today is to repeal the our tec.hnology, by inc.reasing the
statutory minimum wage. Instead, amount of c.apital - the amount of
we are raising it. By doing this, tools, mac.hines, and other equip-
we are foreclosing opportunity ment - and by allowing people en-
for Negro teen-agers. Many are tering the labor forc.e to obtain
now unable to obtain the jobs jobs where they c.an learn the
where they c.ould learn the skills skills whic.h will bring a muc.h
whic.h would enable them to earn higher wage - an opportunity
far more than the statutory mini- barred to many by the statutory
mum. minimum wage. The minimum
We do want low wages raised. wage c.annot be raised by law
But passing a law is not the way without enormous deleterious ef-
fec.ts ranging from unemployment
5 Bureau of Labor Statistics, The
Negroes in the United States: Their Eco- for many to riots in the c.ities
nomic and Social Situation (Washington: where the unemployment is c.on-
Government Printing Office, 1966), BLS centrated.
Bulletin No. 1511, p. 27. The current
participation rate of nonwhite male teen-
agers has fallen to 46 per cent as com- Side Effects of the Law
pared to a 54 per cent participation rate Before passing on to other il-
among white male teen-agers. Employ-
ment and Earnings and Monthly Report lustrations of obviously true
on the Labor Force, March, 1968, p. 42. propositions concerning economic.
policy which are false, let me men- have lost their jobs in covered
tion a few other side effects of occupations have been forced to
the minimum wage statute. Among look for places in noncovered
other things, it has resulted in the work. People who would have left
maintenance of segregated work this work for better jobs in the
forces in plants where segregation covered occupations have found no
would otherwise have disappeared. jobs available because of the de-
Since an arbitrary increase in cline resulting from the rise in the
wage rates decreases the amount minimum wage. As a consequence,
of employment, employers have the supply of people for the non-
found that they could fill the recovered jobs has been increased
duced number of jobs in any given by the minimum wage and has de-
plant with the available white pressed wage rates for these jobs.
workers. Without this forced econ-
omization of labor, they find it Other Policies Producing
necessary to hire blacks as well Unintended Effects
as whites to fill the larger number There are a large number of
of jobs. other instances in which the gov-
Another effect has been to force ernment has intervened with leg-
rural and Southern residents to islation which seemed the obvious
emigrate to Northern and West- method for accomplishing some de-
ern cities since the minimum wage sired goal. However, the results,
has had its greatest impact on disas in the case of the minimum
advantaged areas not close to ma- wage, have been opposite those in-
jor Northern and Western metro- tended by the well-intentioned
politan markets. The result of this supporters of the legislation. Let
is greater population density in me summarize these with some-
Northern city slums, a greater what less detailed analysis than I
problem of assimilation, and a have given you in the case of the
breakdown of order in the over- minimum wage.
packed slum areas. A Federal effort is being made
A third effect is that wage to improve deplorable housing con-
rates in our lowest wage occupa- ditions for migrant workers in
tions such as domestic service the United States. Instead ofim-
have been depressed by the mini- proving their lot, it is making
mum wage laws. G The people who farm hands worse off than before.
6 Y. Brozen, "Minimum Wages and
A law that took effect July 1,
Household Workers," Journal of Law and 1967, is designed to enforce Fed~
Economics, October, 1962. eral migrant labor housing stand-
ards. The result is that farm op- has reduced the supply of housing
erators are speeding up their available to the poor. It has forced
mechanization of crop harvesting them to pay higher rentals than
rather than spend the money on they paid before their homes were
improved housing. Such concerns destroyed. 9 Also, the urban re-
as Heinz and Stokely-Van Camp newal program has wiped out the
are closing their workers' camps. livelihoods of hundreds of small
As a consequence, migrant work- business people whose places of
ers' jobs are disappearing and business were destroyed.
they are being forced out of rural
slums into worse urban slums. 7 TVA and REA Programs
The tariff, our tax on imports The Tennessee Valley program
from other countries, is supposed was supposed to benefit a group of
to protect the levels of living of people living in a low-income sec-
American workers from the com- tion of the country. What it has
petition of low-paid foreign work- done is to slow the migration of
ers. Instead, it has monopolized people out of low-productivity,
low-paying jobs for Americans. It low-paying jobs into high-produc-
has prevented Americans from ob- tivity, high-paying jobs. It has
taining the better-paid jobs in our subsidized people to stay put
export industries which would where their opportunities are
have been available except for the poor. The net result is that per
trade barriers we have imposed. 8 capita income in the Tennessee
Jobs in protected industries in the Valley area has risen less than it
United States pay an average of would have if there had been no
$2.00 to $2.50 an hour, while jobs Federal program for the Tennes-
in our unprotected export indus- see Valley.
tries pay $3.00 to $5.00 an hour. The Rural Electrification Ad-
The Federally sponsored and ministration was supposed to help
subsidized urban renewal program poverty-stricken rural residents.
was supposed to benefit poverty- The subsidies provided for farm-
stricken slum dwellers. Instead, it
n Chicag'O Housing Authority, Rehous-
7 N. Fischer, "Bad to Worse: Crack- ing Residents Displaced from Public
down on Migrant Worker Camps May Housing Clearance Sites in Chicago,
Pack the Slums," Wall Street Journal, 19.57-.58.
August 22, 1967. Joel Segall, "The Propagation of Bull-
8 Y. Brozen, "The New Competition- dozers," Jou1'nal of Business, October,
International Markets: How Should We 1965.
Adapt?" The Journal of Business, Octo- Martin Anderson, The Federal Bull-
ber, 1960. dozer (Cambridge, M.LT. Press, 1964).
ers in the program have had the price floors, not ceilings, which is
opposite result. These subsidies hardly a method of encouraging
have depressed rural wage rates lower transportation rates.
and left low-income rural dwellers Usury laws are supposed to pro-
worse off than they would have tect people from extortionate in-
been without these subsidies. Sub- terest rates. However, the net re-
sidized electricity and subsidized sult appears to be that it simply
power equipment under the REA bars many people from obtaining
program are used to reduce farm legal loans because legal lenders
labor requirements. The result is will not lend where risks are so
lower wage rates for farm workers high that the legally allowed re-
than otherwise would have pre'- turn is not compensatory. The il-
vailed, a consequence of the re- legal lending racket has sprung
duced demand for their services. up as a result of usury laws. It is
Transportation regulation such surely true that the borrowers
as that carried on by the Inter- from illegal lenders pay much
state Commerce Commission, in higher interest rates than they
the case of railroads, trucks, barge would if there were no usury laws.
lines, and oil pipe lines, by the When we became concerned
Civil Aeronautics Board in the about safety on the highway and
case of airlines, by the Federal found that most people did not
Maritime Commission in the case willingly buy seat belts, padded
of ocean carriers, and by the Fed- dash boards, and collapsible steer-
eral Power Commission in the ing gear which would not stab the
case of gas pipe lines, was sup-
petitive Ratemaking," I.C.C. Practition-
posed to protect the consumer of ers Journal, June, 1962.
transportation services from the Paul W. MacAvoy, The Economic Ef-
exaction of high prices by monop- fects of Regulation: The Trunk-Line
Railroad Cartels and the Interstate Com-
olies and protect small business- merce Commission Before 1900 (Cam-
men from discriminatory rates. bridge: The M.LT. Press, 1965).
Instead, prices are higher and S. Peltzman, "CAB: Freedom from
Competition," New Individualist Review,
transportation rates are more dis- Spring, 1963.
criminatory than they would be in "The Great U. S. Freight Cartel," For-
the absence of governmental regu- tune, January, 1957.
S. P. Huntington, "The Marasmus of
lation.t Most of these agencies set the Interstate Commerce Commission,"
Yale Law Journal, 1952.
10 Stewart Joy, "Unregulated Road John S. McGee, "Ocean Freight Rate
Haulage: The Australian Experience," Conference and the American Merchant
Oxford Economic Papers, July, 1964. Marine," The University of Chicago Law
George W. Hilton, "Barriers to Com- Review, Winter, 1960.
driver in a collision, it seemed ob- support these programs, partly by

vious that injuries could be re- its various interventions in the
duced by passing a law forcing market.
manufacturers to install these Minimum wage laws create pov-
items as standard equipment. erty by forcing people into unem-
What is not so obvious, and is a ployment. Agricultural price sup-
relevant piece of data which we port programs make people poor
did not bother to determine, is by raising the price of food and
what this does to the average re- by decreasing job opportunities
placement rate and the average through the production restric-
life of automobiles. Since this tions imposed to maintain high
equipment makes a car more ex- agricultural prices. Transporta-
pensive, auto users find it econom- tion regulation prevents industry
ical to drive. their cars longer than from moving to disadvantaged re-
they otherwise would. The conse- gions where the poor live and pro-
quent higher average age of cars viding jobs for them. It increases
may result in more failures of the cost to the poor of migrating
parts, more limited use of the lat- to regions where better-paying
est advances in making automo- jobs can be found and prevents
biles safe, and more dangerous them from curing their own pov-
highway travel with greater fre- erty. Union-supporting legislation
quency of injury and death. causes poverty by permitting and
encouraging union power to grow
Devices to End Poverty to the point where it can be and is
When we became concerned used to restrict the entrance of the
about poverty, we attempted to poor into higher-paying jobs. l l
meet the situation by such devices The regulation of the field price of
as various poverty programs, pro- natural gas by the FPC increases
vision of job training facilities, its price and the price paid by the
generous relief programs, more poor for cooking and heating
state grants to educational estab- fuel,l~ thus deepening the poverty
lishments operated by the state, of the poor and forcing some over
lengthened periods of compulsory the borderline into poverty. We
school attendance, and an assort-
11 H. Gregg Lewis, "Relative Employ-
ment of similar devices. These are ment Effects of Unionism," ArneTican
the obvious ways. What is unobvi- Economic Review, May, 1964.
1~ R. W. Gerwig, "Natural Gas Pro-
ous is that the state causes much
duction: A Study of the Costs of Regula-
of the poverty that concerns us, tion," The Journal of Law and Eco-
partly by the taxes it imposes to nomics, October, 1962.
could do more for the poor by the been serious enough about this to
repeal of all this legislation than engage in some job-seeking activ-
we can possibly do by the special ity are unemployed. Theodore C.
enactments designed to help the Jackson, the Negro manager of
poor. the Fifth Avenue branch of the
Bowery Savings Bank in New
Brazen's law No.2 York, has observed that "if a
This brings me to Brozen's sec- guy's busy enough involving him-
ond law: lll'henever ~ve have an self in personal betterment, he
irnpulse to pass a law to alleviate doesn't have time for rioting."
some problern, the n~ore appropri- Since a major reason many Negro
ate action is to repeal a la1lJ. teen-agel's are frustrated in their
Again, permit me to "prove" my attempts to better themselves is
law by example. the minimum wage law, we can do
We are currently concerned n10re to end the rioting problem
about the riots in our cities. The by repealing this law than by en-
reaction to this problem has been acting additional laws.
to consider additional legislation. I should add that a major ele-
Several proposed acts are before ment in the Newark riot was the
Congress at this moment ranging fact that some 22,000 Negroes
from making it a crime to cross were about to be deprived of their
state lines to foment riots to the homes by the Urban Renewal Pro-
institution of new government gram. Repeal of this statute would
agencies to do such things as fi- contribute more to ending the riot
nancing and subsidizing the pur- problem than the enactment of
chase of private dwellings by the additional statutes.
poor. Still another reason that Ne-
Let us consider one fact: the groes are frustrated in their at-
majority of those arrested during tempts to better themselves is the
riots for arson, making Molotov fact that unions keep Negroes out
cocktails, sniping, looting, and of many jobs and severely restrict
the like are Negro males behveen their entrance into apprenticeship
the ages of 16 and 20. I would sug- programs. Repeal of the Wagner
gest that part of the reason we Act and the Norris-La Guardia
find such people involved in these Act would do more to open up op-
activities is that many of them are portunities for Negroes than the
unemployed. More than 25 per IVlanpower Development Act has
cent of Negro male teen-agel's who managed to do to date or is likely
would like to have jobs and have to accomplish in the future. Em-
ployers spend $20 billion a year encies toward juvenile delinquen-

training people for jobs and they cy. Many of these broken homes
make jobs available for the peo- are a result of our Aid to Families
ple they train. The Office of Eco- \vith Dependent Children laws. If
nomic Opportunity spends $2 bil- a mother with dependent children
lion a year training people for will get rid of her husband, we
jobs and many of the jobs for will pay her handsomely for do-
which they train people do not ex- ing so in twenty-eight states,14
ist. The ship's steward training This may be an important factor
program is a prime example of in accounting for the rise from
this. Experienced ship's stewards 30 per cent of the families in
are finding it difficult to obtain some Negro ghettos having no
jobs in the dwindling American male breadwinners to 44 per cent
merchant marine, yet the OEO is in the past two decades. 15 Perhaps
training more people for these we should repeal this law, or at
nonexisting positions. Opening up least some parts of it.
employer training programs to Let me add another instance
Negroes by reducing the power of where repealing laws would alle-
unions to restrict entrance to viate problems on which addition-
these programs can accomplish al legislation is being proposed.
more than additional appropria- Agricultural interests are propos-
tions for the OEO. The repeal of ing the restriction of imports of
the Wagner Act would do more Danish cheese and Australian
to accomplish this than all the boneless beef. They are also pro-
state and Federal fair employment posing price-support programs for
practices acts will ever accom- dairy products and additional
pIish,13 purchase programs for other prod-
ucts. An enlargement of the Soil
Disorganized Family Life
14 For one example and the conse-
Still another factor in produc- quences, see D. Farney, "Cash Premium
ing riot-prone Negroes is the dis- to Break up the Family," lVall Street
Journal, November 30, 1967, p. 16.
organization present in Negro 15 "In the 1960's, women have headed
family life. A great many Negro about 23 per cent of all nonwhite families,
youths come from broken homes - compared to about 9 per cent of the white
families." The number of nonwhite fam-
and we know the psychological ilies with a female head rose by 47 per
problems this creates and the tend- cent from 1950 to 1960 while nonwhite
families with a husband or other male
13 Harold Demsetz, "Minorities in the head rose by 20 per cent and 11 per cent
Market Place," North Carolina Law Re- respectively. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
'view, February, 1965. op. cit., PP. 36, 182.
Bank Program and other programs began declining, and its use began
for taking land out of cultivation to broaden enormously.16
in order to reduce the magnitude The same sort of action oc-
of farm-produced surpluses is also curred in the case of atomic en-
being proposed. Instead of enact- ergy. Complaints had grown to a
ing programs to take more land vociferous level by 1954 that the
out of cultivation, why not repeal billions being spent by the Atomic
the reclamation program and Energy Commission were not
avoid putting more land into cul- producing the hoped-for results
tivation if all this does is make it in making nuclear energy an eco-
necessary to take more land out nomic industry. We had been
of cultivation? promised that the power of the
atom would be making deserts
Previous Applications of bloom by 1950, and there were no
Brozen's Second Law deserts in bloom. In 1954, we re-
I should say that we have oc- pealed the law monopolizing
casionally recognized that the way atomic energy research for the
to solve a problem is to repeal a government. Within a decade,
law rather than enact another. In three different companies each
the late 1940's, we found that developed economic means for
little research was being done to generating electricity with atomic
develop applications for synthetic fuels, although at the pace at
rubber and little was being done which developments had been com-
to reduce the cost of synthetic ing before 1954 it did not appear
fubber. It was proposed that Con- that this would occur for at least
gress should enact a law enlarg- three decades.
ing the government's synthetic Perhaps the most famous in-
rubber research. Another Con- stance of a repeal of laws as a
gressman proposed, instead, that method of solving a problem is the
the law monopolizing the owner- repeal of the corn laws in Great
ship of synthetic rubber facilities Britain in the 1840's. Food prices
by the government be repealed. were high and poverty widespread
The government ownership law in Great Britain in the early nine-
was repealed and the Federal gov- teenth century. With the repeal
ernment sold its synthetic rubber of British corn laws (Le., their
plants in 1953. Private research
on rubber promptly leaped to over Hi R. Solo, "Research and Development
in the Synthetic Rubber Industry," Quar-
$100,000,000 a year. After that terly Journal of Economics, February,
occurred, the price of synthetic 1954.
tariffs), one of the most remark- for priority action. A league to re-
able rises in affluence that has ever peal the Fair Labor Standards
occurred in world history took Act could begin its work by edu-
place in the following decades. cating people to the iniquitous
Perhaps we ought to pick a few effects of minimum wage rates.
laws to start work on and form a These help to maintain segrega-
league for their repeal. In Eng- tion in plants. They cause severe
land, Richard Cobden and John unemployment among Negro teen-
Bright formed an anti-corn law agers. They block the education of
league and managed the repeal of those most in need of education.
the laws within a few years. We They force the movement of people
might start to work, if you wish from where they would like to live
to start at the local level, on the to where they do not like to live.
repeal of city ordinances limiting They cause overcrowding of cities
the number of taxicabs. I find it a and the development of slums.
problem to obtain a taxi in most They are a maj or cause of civiI
cities to which I go except Wash- commotion. They breed the rioters
ington, the only major city which who have been burning our cities.
does not limit the number of cabs
by ordinance. These results should be enough
At the national level, the most to impeach any law. If we want
important single law in need of seriously to work on our prob-
repeal is the Fair Labor Standards lems of slums, segregation, unem-
Act. I gave its minimum wage ployment, and riots, here is the
provisions as much attention as I place to begin. Don't pass an-
did because it is high on my list other law. Repeal this law. ~
For a further discussion of the ways in which

the good intentions of political planners tend
to backfire, FREEMAN readers may wish to review
Dr. Brozen's article in the September 1967 issue:
"Rule by Markets vs. Rule by Men."
SOCIALISM
DEAN LIPTON
IN 1891, the famous Anglo-Irish see himself as little Alice in a

writer, Oscar \Vilde, wrote an es- wonderland of fantasy whenever
say titled "The Soul of Man under he reads any of the nineteenth
Socialism." In it, he predicted that century utopian socialists like Os-
under socialism the arts would car Wilde. How so many brilliant
thrive as never before, and the n1en could have guessed so wrong
artist would at long last find his will forever remain a perplexing
true home. Nor can even the most historical mystery.
rugged individualist find fault The case of Boris Pasternak is
with Wilde's reasoning that great typical of what happens to an art-
art is always the work of an in- ist under socialism, and is quite
dividual, accurately summing up different from Wilde's day dreams.
what art is in these words: "Art Pasternak, in the judgment of one
is the most intense mode of in- of the world's outstanding literary
dividualism that the world has critics, Edmund Wilson, deserves
known." But he then went on to to be classed with such giants of
propound a fallacy, insisting that Russian literature as Tolstoy, Dos-
socialism would release man's en- toevski, and Turgenev. Several
ergies and talents as no other sys- years ago he won the Nobel Prize
tem ever would. for Literature for Doctor Zhivago,
Anyone who has lived through a novel critical of Soviet society.
the rise of \vorld socialism must The communist leadership ordered
Mr. Lipton of San Francisco has been an Army
him not to accept the award, de-
historian, newspaperman, art and literary critic nounced him in its government-
whose articles have appeared in numerous
magazines. controlled press, and with sys-
tematic and calculated ruthless- China's leaders attacked artists as

ness hounded this great man to a class of undesirables in need of
his grave. "cultural rehabilitation." Young
A few years later, two young hoodlums were permitted to hu-
Russian writers were sentenced to miliate, degrade, and even torture
a Siberian concentration camp. Un- some of the finest artists in the
able to secure publication for their nation. Then they were turned
work in the Soviet Union, they loose on the ancient treasures of
had submitted it to foreign pub- China, the works of art it had
lishers. Under socialism this was taken many gifted men centuries
a crime - although it would have to produce. Priceless tapestries
been acceptable practice in any were torn from their walls and
capitalist country. trampled in the mud, wonderful
It is worth noting that these paintings were ripped to shreds,
acts were committed by the "lib- and exquisitely-wrought sculptur-
eralized" Soviet state, and not by al pieces were smashed into rub-
the old Stalinist tyranny. Not that ble. Nor does it take many guesses
Stalin's treatment of artists was to figure out what the cultured
more gentle. During his regime, and civilized Oscar Wilde would
for instance, the great Russian- have thought of this senseless
born Jewish painter, Marc Cha- savagery.
gall, was denied the right to ex-
hibit his work in Russian muse- Situation Reversed
ums. The reason is obvious to any- Compare the lot of the writer or
one familiar with Chagall's paint- artist under socialism with one
ings. They were usually based on who worked and lived in the
religious themes or Jewish folk- United States when capitalism
lore, but most certainly did not was at its height. Jack London
conform to socialist realism, the was not only a brilliant novelist
prevalent critical mode in the So- but a socialist who wrote fiery
viet Union. Chagall was more essays advocating revolutionary
fortunate than most, for he him- socialism. Yet, he was never
self was not living in Russia dur- forced to seek foreign publi~ation
ing Stalin's time. for his work. The largest capital-
Recently, China has shown the ist publishing firms in the nation
world just how savage the treat- gave his writings more than an
ment of artists and their work adequate hearing. His career
could be when a socialist state spanned the presidential adminis-
really put its entire will into it. trations of three of the most
1968 THE ARTIST UNDER SOCIALISM 343
ftrdQnt bQIiQvers in capitalism in create his work, to think out his

American history - William Mc- ideas, to develop his imaginative
Kinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and concepts. And this is exactly the
William Howard Taft - and at no one thing that socialism will not
time did any of them consider do, for it is congenitally incapable
using the power of his office of letting anybody alone.
against a man whose every politi- Beyond this, socialism restricts
cal, economic, and social argument the artist in a third way. It forces
must have been repugnant to him. him to accept critical standards
As a further comparison, we which have little or nothing to do
might consider Pasternak's treat- 'with art. In its extreme forms, as
ment by the socialist authorities we have seen, it does this with all
of his country against the treat- of the power of its governmental
ment accorded to the four Ameri- apparatus. In gradualistic types
can Nobel Prize Winners for Liter- of socialism and welfarism, it is
ature: Sinclair Lewis, Pearl Buck, done with more subtle economic,
Ernest Hemingway, and John social, and academic pressures-
Steinbeck. They were all at one but subtle as they are, they are
time or another vigorous and vo- very real to the artist.
cal critics of American society. The way critical standards are
But none of them was forced to arrived at by the nonartistic so-
renounce the award won by his cialist-thinker can perhaps best
own talents. The free press of the be seen by examining the ideas of
nation did not engage in a cam- the late Mike Gold, long-time lit-
paign of slander against any of erary arbiter of the American
them. Far from being degraded or Communist Party. The determin-
humiliated, they were applauded ing factor in worthwhile art,
and lionized. Gold once announced, was its social
significance. By this definition, a
How Socialism Stifles Art writer of second-rate, socially-sig-
To everyone living in a socialist nificant novels like Harriet Beech-
country, socialism is two things. er Stowe would be considered su-
First, it is a political and legal perior to a great allegorical styl-
system; secondly, an economic sys- ist like Herman Melville. In fact,
tem. Obviously, no system can do Gold said as much. It was, of
anything for the artist. This is as course, his right to believe any-
true of capitalism as it is of so- thing he liked about art or litera-
cialism. The best thing any so- ture. As long as they remained
ciety can do is to let him alone to just one man's opinion, his views
injured no one. Unfortunately, in cover book. However, the infla-
extreme socialist societies, men tionary impact (caused by taxa-
like Gold dictate artistic policy, tion necessary to finance a welfare
and the arts are inevitably down- state) and restrictive labor union
graded to the position of propa- practices has doubled the pub-
ganda handmaidens for the gov- lisher's costs until the break-even
ernment. point is seldom less than 8,000
copies. In practice, the publisher
Swamped with Trash knows that a serious work of liter-
The decline of the arts in the ature will ordinarily sell fewer
United States has paralleled the than 5,000 copies, far below his
rise of welfarism, and this doubt- break-even point.
less is one of the reasons why the So he does not publish the man-
beliefs of a brilliant novelist like uscript of a serious novel which
John Dos Passos have swung from he knows has considerable merit.
the radical left to the conservative Instead, he publishes what is
right. He lived to see what any de- known in the publishing trade as
gree of socialism could do to the a promotable item. Recent ex-
cultural level of the nation; Oscar amples would include The Green
Wilde did not. Berets (an adequate adventure
There are, for instance, more story news-pegged to the Viet
books being published in the na- Nam War) and Valley of the Dolls
tion than at any other time in our (a badly-written, prurient look
history, and yet their general into the private lives of Broadway
literary quality has never been so and Hollywood types). While there
low. To understand how this could is no literary law which says that
happen, it is necessary to realize a promotable item cannot also be
that the publishing industry, more a serious work of literature, I
than almost any other industry, is know of no instance in the entire
a risk business. And the degree of history of American literature
risk a publisher is willing to take where such has been the case. The
depends almost entirely on his Green Berets could hardly meas-
costs. ure up to a war story like The
The break-even point (the pub- Red Badge of Courage, nor would
lisher's cost of producing a book any knowledgeable critic class the
plus the author's advance against Valley of the Dolls with The Scar-
royalties, promotion and advertis- let Letter or Sister Carrie.
ing costs, and the like) used to be What has, of course, happened
a sale of 4,000 copies of a hard- is that the freedom and oppor-
1968 THE ARTIST UNDER SOCIALISM 345
tunity of the writer has been re- or altered. But bureaucracies once
stricted in favor of the benefici- established become almost impos-
aries of welfarism and organized sible to root out. And basic to
labor. But he does not suffer any socialist or welfare system is
alone. The cultural climate of the the bureaucratization of educa-
whole country is poorer. Nor is tion. Neither art nor writing can
the inflationary impact limited to be taught. What can, of course, be
literature. Its unfortunate conse- taught are the technical skills used
quences extend to the other arts in the arts. A competent teacher
as well. Until the last couple of would concentrate on these, and
decades, it was the custom of art let the prospective artist or writer
galleries to nurture painters and develop his own imaginative con-
sculptors of talent until they cepts, style, approach, the hun-
could cultivate a demand for their dreds of intangibles which go into
work. Few galleries would be so the making of fine art or litera-
foolhardy as to attempt doing so ture. But when education is bu-
these days on any kind of a mean- reaucratized, as it is today, the
ingful scale. Because of the high teacher feels that he must justify
cost of doing business, galleries his ever-higher salary and status
increasingly find that they must by teaching not the skills, but art
select their artists not on the itself.
merit of their work, but on In the past, "schools" of art and
whether they follow popular literature evolved because some
trends. Traditionally, American writers and artists had common
opera and symphony companies literary or artistic goals. This,
have been financed through vol- however, is no longer the case.
untary subscriptions. Today, they Today, such "schools" are insti-
are caught between rising costs gated by the colleges and universi-
on the one hand, and the fact that ties which teach art and writing.
excessive taxation has dried up This has led to what a critic for
their revenue sources on the other. the New York Tirnes has aptly
termed "an age of prolix medioc-
Academic Pressures rity."
under Socialized Education Although Wilde proved to be a
Even more destruction is done poor social prophet, he could be a
to the arts in a socialized state by perceptive critic. Addressing the
academic pressures than by eco- art students at the Royal Acad-
nomic ones. Economic circum- emy, he warned them: "Those who
stances may in time be changed advise you to make your art repre-
sentative of the nineteenth cen- artist. His greatest need is abso-

tury are advising you to produce lute privacy, and every noble-
an art which your children, when sounding concept so beloved by
you have them, will think old- the modern liberal and radical is
fashioned." The same thing, of aimed at tearing away its last
course, could be said about the art shred. Such ideas as "universal
being taught in welfare state edu- brotherhood" and "fraternity" can
cational institutions. It defies the only destroy the artist who is
first requisite of fine art. It won't above all else an individual. It is
last, and it dies a few years later true of him - as it is of everyone
when the bureaucratized educa- else - that to survive he must have
tors decide to instigate a new public consumption of his work.
trend. But he can never permit public
A variety of social forces which participation in it ; and that, in
are part and parcel of the welfare the last analysis, is just what any
state are antithetical to the true socialist system will demand. ~
Joint Monopoly
THIS has been the usual evolution of collective bargaining in

England and Western Europe and in the United States. Every-
where the same results follow. The employer-union relations
become substantially collusive arrangements. Concessions are
more willingly granted because everybody makes them simul-
taneously and because labor concessions can forthwith be trans-
lated into price increases which also everybody simultaneously
makes. The public interest, then, is subordinated to this new
joint interest of capital and labor, or employers and union, and
the influence of competition is further impaired.
In practice, under such arrangements, employers' associations
join with unions in fixing costs and prices' and lose n1uch of the
interest competing businesses have in keeping their costs and
prices down.
LEO WOLMAN, Industry-W'ide Bargaining
HIGHER EDUCATION"
THE SOLUTION OROF PART
THE PROBLEM?
CALVIN D. LINTON
My TITLE may strike you as odd, things. This is, I believe, the pub-
whimsical, even wrong-headed. lic image. Every member of a
Surely education is a "good thing." liberal arts college has at one time
It is by its very nature beneficial, or another confronted bewildered
not harmful; promethean, not me- or irate parents who demand to
phistophelean; our saviour, not know what, after an expensive
our destroyer. The more of it the liberal arts education, their newly
better. furnished offspring are trained to
But everyone of these popular do - what kind of a job can they
beliefs is doubtful. It all depends get? It is difficult to convince them
on what kind of education \ve are that the purpose of a liberal edu-
talking about, and ,vhat kind of cation is to develop mental powers,
people receive the education. to sensitize one's response to
Let me say at once, therefore, beauty and goodness, to expand
that I am speaking of that kind and lengthen one's outlook, to
of education which is secular, large- teach civilized emotions, and the
ly technological, and chiefly aimed rest. (It is particularly difficult
at teaching people how to do because, in all conscience, these
j obs have often not been done by
Calvin D. Linton is dean of the College of Arts
and Sciences of George Washington University, the liberal arts college. But that is
located a few blocks from the White House. He another story.)
has written several books and many articles.
His field is English literature. This article is The menace of modern educa-
reprinted by permission from the February
16, 1968, issue of Christianity Today. Copy~
tion is quite easy to define: Never
right 1968 by Christianity Today. have so many people, groups, and
347
nations been able, because of edu- J. The Myth of Automatic

cation, to do so many things- Human Progress
and we are all afraid that they The general tendency of ancient
will now start doing them! To thought was that man had fallen
narrow it a bit: The menace is from high estate, whether from
that of incalculable power (the some Golden Age or from the bliss
product of knowledge) in the of Eden. Not until the eighteenth
hands of bad or foolish men. The century and the rise of that
agonizing question now is not strangely irrational epoch called
whether we can possibly learn the Age of Reason were doctrines
how to do this or that, but which of inevitable human progress
of the things we have the tools to widely disseminated. Partly, this
do we should, by an act of will, was the result of a sort of pro-
choose to do. The question, in vincial complacency, and partly
short, is one of conduct, not of ignorance of history. How easily
knowledge. With this, education, in eighteenth century writing flow
to its own peril, has little to do. the condescending remarks about
And yet it is the most anciently the barbarism of the ancient
recognized of problems. Adam world, the primitive grotesqueness
faced it, and chose wrong. His of gothic cathedrals, the ignorance
problem, like ours, was not know- and ineptitude of Shakespeare!
ing how but knowing ~vhat. And But it remained for the nine-
the corrective was early stated: teenth century and the rise of
"Thou shalt do that which is right theories of evolution for the views
and good in the sight of the LORD: to become the dogma that all en-
that it may be well with thee ..." vironments tend inevitably toward
(Deut. 6 :18). With the spirit of perfection. Why this is so was
this commandment, modern educa- never clearly stated. There simply
tion has even less to do. Educa- is faith that the universe is so
tion's answer to man's problems is constituted. "Chance" will see to
more education - as if Hitler it. But chance is simply a non-
would have been made a better term, identifying the absence of
man if he had taken a degree or reason, purpose, intention, and
two from some good university. \vill; it is odd that reason should
I submit that modern education put its faith in that which is, by
presents increasingly the fearful definition, nonreason.
aspects of Frankenstein's monster Reasonably or not, however, the
because of the prevalence of five cult of inevitable progress has, in
fallacies or myths. education, placed improper em-
1968 HIGHER EDUCATION: SOLUTION OR PROBLEM? 349
phasis on novelty, change for its as a moral creature, begins from

own sake, the gimmick. True, in scratch. Not the novel but the true
the world of technology the view controls here.
that the latest is the best is usu- Julian Huxley once observed
ally sound - we properly prefer that evolution seemingly has not
the up-to-date typewriter, auto- worked in recorded history. Even
mobile, washing machine. But within the view of evolutionary
technology advances automatically, progress, therefore, there is no
so long as we. do not forget the ground for believing that the wis-
practical lessons of past experi- dom residing in the most ancient
menters. Every engineer begins at minds was not as great as that
the point where the last. one left held by the latest recipient of a
off. Advancement is due not to Ph.D. Indeed, in all honesty, most
any improvement in the human of us would agree that there prob-
brain, but to the mere accumula- ably is not alive this day any hu-
tion of experience. The ancient man being whose wisdom can
brains that measured the diameter match that of a Moses, a Job, a
of the earth, that worked out the Paul, a Marcus Aurelius, an Aris-
basic principles of force, leverage, totle, a John - make the list as
hydraulics, and construction, were long as you wish.
almost undoubtedly greater brains And it is precisely this store-
than our age possesses. But the house of ancient wisdom that the
modern technologist stands at the Cult of the New denies to the stu-
topmost height of achievement of dent. How they flock to the latest
all previous craftsmen. He may course presenting results of "an
himself be a dwarf, but he can unstructured learning experience
see farther than they, for he sits bearing upon upward mobility de-
on their shoulders. sires in terms of motivational ele-
Not so in the area of human ments in adjustment to a work sit-
conduct. Here it is not technology uation" - but how few choose a
but wisdom that governs. No man course in the ethical teachings of
becomes virtuous because of the Jesus.
virtue of another. He may be in- And yet, as we have seen, it is
spired by the wisdom and virtue precisely in the matter of choos-
of others, but he must make that ing wisely what we should do, not
wisdom his own possession. He in mastering more tools of power,
cannot start out as wise as they that our future security - if any -
simply because they have recorded consists. Bertrand Russell has
their wisdom. Every human being, written: "If human life is to con-
tinue in spite of science, mankind teenth-century extremism) that

will have to learn a discipline of every impulse of man is totally
the passions which, in the past, and inherently evil. (In passing,
has not been necessary. . . ." In some even conceive this to be the
other words, the upward curve of Presbyterian doctrine of total de-
virtue must parallel that of knowl- pravity. Actually, of course, the
edge. view declares that the total man
Professor Ginsberg of the Uni- was touched by sin, that no part
versity of London in his book, The of his being remained unaffected.
Idea of Progress, correctly states It does not attribute total evil to
that progress cannot be defined in every impulse.)
terms independent of ethics. One But the cult of sensibility, as
can scarcely call it progress if a the eighteenth century termed it,
murderous maniac is progressive- is not a corrective; it is an ex-
ly handed a stick, a club, a sword, treme, untenable, and unreason-
a pistol, a cannon, and finally an able dogma that shows up in mod-
H-bomb. ern education all the way from
Education must deal with that first grade to gradllate school.
which has never changed: the hu- Simply, it may be called the
man heart, its passions and ideals. philosophy of "doing what comes
There are the wellsprings of hu- naturally." At the intellectual
man well-being or human catas- level, for example, it is held that
trophe. In an address to the there is some magic value in the
Royal Society, Laurence Oliphant, uninhibited and uninformed opin-
Australia's top atomic scientist, ion if freely expressed. And so
declared: "I can find no evidence discussion groups are held in the
whatever that the morality of grade schools and the high schools
mankind has improved over the on such subjects as "What do you
5,000 years or so of recorded his- think about the atom bomb?" or
tory." "teen-age morality" or "banning
Lady Chatterley's Lover" or "im-
2. The Myth 01 the Natural plementing freedom among under-
Goodness 01 Man privileged nations" or what not.
This is a delicate subject. One The poor little dears have scarcely
sometimes feels that this dogma a fact to use as ballast. But no
is simply a corrective to the re- matter. The cult of sensibility be-
verse obnoxious doctrines of ex- lieves that continuing, free, un-
treme puritanism (the sort seen inhibited discussion will ultimate-
in medieval asceticism and seven- ly release the inherent goodness
of natural instincts and impulses. dam product of an eternal flux of
The fad for "brainstorming" has atoms, feels certain things -
passed, but not the philosophy be- chiefly, that he exists; or rather,
hind it. he experiences an experience he
N ow, of course, we must encour- arbitrarily names "existence."
age discussion. The young need Thus, what are "ethical standards"
to be encouraged to think and to to one may be unacceptable to an-
speak - the former, anyway. But other. There is no objective basis
the deadly assumption underlying for deciding between them. One
this sort of thing is that goodness can only hope, therefore, that he
is not a difficult matter of study, lives in a society in which the
discipline, learning, mastery of majority of the people happen to
tough masses of fact, but just a like the same ethical standards
kind of game. It's fun to do what one does oneself.
comes naturally. (On reading The idea that man is basically
about the uninhibited conduct of good and infinitely capable of self-
certain grade school classes, with improvement has ramifications in
free discussion, finger painting, every area of modern life. It is
group game~, or whatever the ardently preached by Freudian
youngsters want to do, an older psychologists, to whom .restraint
man said: "That's not a new fea- of any natural desire is bad; by
ture of education. They had that dreamy-eyed social and political
when I was a boy. They called it theorists who believe that "free-
'recess.' ") dom" is the sovereign remedy for
Ultimately, this view of ethics the ills of every primitive tribe
believes that there is no objective and nation; by aesthetic theorists
standard of morality or ethics. If ,vho teach that art is an unplanned
there were, then what one wanted eruption occurring ,vhen the "ar-
to do would be either right or tist's biography makes contact
wrong according to whether it re- ,vith the medium of the art"; and
flected or violated the absolute by educationists ,vho teach that
standard. Rather, itis the view of ,vhat Johnny wants to do is what
the cult that society deternlines he must be permitted to do. No
morality. The yote of the majority concept is more ,videspread, more
determines the ethical value. To taken for granted by millions who
refer to Bertrand Russell again, have never troubled really to think
one remembers his assertion that about it.
there is no l'ational basis for de- It is important to realize that
tern1ining ethics. Man, as the ran- members of the cult of .natural
goodness believe primarily in the man is also equal before the law.
goodness of the nonrational facul- The protection of the law, the
ties - instinct, emotion, impulse, responsibility for obeying the law,
subrational urges. They are not so and the duty of understanding the
strong on the natural goodness of law are equal in distribution and
the intellect. (The high priest of force, without regard to any cir-
the cult is D. H. Lawrence.) cumstances save legal age.
There is, consequently, a prev- But to declare that all men are
alence of anti-intellectualism in equally gifted, equal in force of
educational circles that manifests character, equal in abilities and
itself in a marvelous jargon large- talents, equally deserving of a
ly incomprehensible to the ra- share of the world's goods, equally
tionalintelligence. Jacques Barzun deserving of esteem, respect, and
gives a fine analysis of this malady admiration, equally deserving of
in The House of Intellect. re,vards, equal in cultural heritage
and contribution - this is irra-
3. The Myth of Egalitarianism tional nonsense.
This is an even more delicate No concept has had a deadlier
subject. To seem to question the effect upon modern education than
equality of men is to raise ques- this. It has hindered the identi-
tions about one's attitude toward fication and encouragement of the
home and mother and the Amer- exceptionally gifted; it has low-
ican way of life. Actually, of ered educational standards to a
course, the situation is not hope- point where no one, no matter how
lessly complicated. It is simply a dull, can fail to hurdle them; it
n1atter of identifying those areas has confused the right of every
in which all men are equal and man to seek an education with the
those in which they are not. fallacious belief that every man
To the Christian, every soul is has a right to receive a degree. It
equal before God. All have sinned has stifled initiative by refusing
and come short of the glory of to grant exceptional reward t9 ex-
God; all need grace; none is good ceptional effort. It has encouraged
before God. None can claim social mediocrity by withholding the
status, investments, political office, penalty of mediocrity.
or ecclesiastical affiliation to sep- An illustration: A university
arate him from his absolute equal- with which I am very familiar un-
ity with all other human souls. dertook a program to encourage
To the believer in the Western better English in the high schools
tradition of rule by law, every of the city. The basic idea was
competition-the best writers, the superiority in other fields to other

most skilled in grammar, the clear- people. Is this not inherent in life
est thinkers would be singled out itself? Do we feel resentful or
through public contests for re- guilty because we have not the
ward. mental equipment of a Pascal or
The professional secondary school an Einstein? Physically inferior
counselors were horrified. This because we cannot bat home runs
clearly amounted to "discrimina- like Mickey Mantle? Artistically
tion" - it discriminated between inferior because we cannot play
the able and the unable student! the piano like Rubinstein or Rich-
In the modern doctrine this is the ter? On the contrary, one of the
deadly sin. In sum, the university keenest pleasures of life is to be
was permitted to put into effect in the presence of a superior per-
only a watered-down plan that son - and to be very still.
carefully provided rewards for ev- That sort of pride which can-
eryone. Needless to say the pro- not, without infinite anguish,
gram was of only modest effective- acknowledge the superiority of
ness. Needless to say, too, that any other living being is quite
high school graduates come to us literally Satanic. From it flowed
scarcely sure whether writing is all our woes.
the white or the black part of a
page. 4. The Cult of Scientism
I "vas recently told by a profes- Again, careful qualification is
sional-educator colleague that the needed. Noone can, in the first
terrible alternative to belief in place, be other than grateful for
complete equality in all dimen- the marvelous strides science has
sions is the inculcation of an in- made in increasing human com-
feriority complex. From that, he fort, controlling disease, provid-
told me, come resentment, insecur- ing relief from soul-killing labor.
ity, antagonism, maladjustment, Nor, in the second place, can any-
psychoses of various kinds, rebel- one doubt the validity and effec-
lion - in short, a wrecked society. tiveness of the scientific method-
This, too, is nonsense. The thing in its proper place. What I refer
works both ways. Almost everyone to is the religion of scientism,
has some talent or ability that complete with dogma, faith, ethi-
could be developed beyond the av- cal system, and ritual.
erage level. If he properly receives "Science" is a wonderful word.
acknowledgment for this superi- It means "knowledge." Thus the
ority, he will be willing to grant old term for what we today call
"science" was "natural philos- Anthony Standen, distinguished

ophy." The study of nature - phys- British chemist who is editor of
ical; perceived by the senses; a huge encyclopedia of chemistry,
capable of instrumentation. In- writes: "What with scientists who
deed, modern science may be called are so deep in science that they
the application of instruments to cannot see it, and nonscientists
matter for the purpose of gaining who are too overawed to express
understanding of material forces an opinion, hardly anyone is able
and thus of gaining control over to recognize science for what it is,
them for our own purposes. the great Sacred Cow of our time"
The cultic aspect arises when (Science Is a Sacred Cow, Dutton,
(1) science is viewed not as. one 1950) .
way man has of knowing things "Is the universe," he continues,
(and a sharply limited one) but "to be thought of in terms of elec-
as the way that embraces every- trons and protons? Or ... in terms
thing man can, at least respect~ of Good and Evil? Merely to ask
ably, come to know; and (2) when the question is to realize at least
the teachings of its priests are one very important limitation of
accepted without question by a [science] ."
faithful congregation. The biologists, he says, try to
These cultic aspects are perhaps define "life," with ludicrous re-
most perceptible in the develop- sults. "They define stimulus and
ment of "mysteries" of the faith, response in terms of one another.
open only to the initiated, not to No biologist can define a species.
be comprehended by nonscientists. And as for a genus - all attempts
Writes the greatNorbert Wiener: come to this: 'A genus is a group-
"The present age of specialization ing of species that some recog-
has gone an unbelievable distance. nized taxonomic specialist has
Not only are we developing phys- called a genus. . ..' "
icists who know no chemistry, The scientist, says Standen, has
physiologists who know no bio- substituted is for o1{ght. "That is
logy, but we are beginning to get why," he concludes, "we must
the physicist who does not know never allow ourselves to be ruled
physics." As a consequence, the by. scientists. They must be our
mysteries known only to the spe- servants, not our masters."
cialists are accepted without ques- The cult has many imitators, all
tion by those without the neces- of them injurious to true educa-
sary knowledge to judge for them- tion. The ritual words of the wor-
selves. ship services, have been adopted by
areas of knowledge where no phys- Foundation: "I believe that faith

ical instrumentation is possible: plays an essential role in science
psychology, sociology, aesthetics, just as it clearly does in religion."
morality. When the modern psy- He goes on to list six basic faiths
chologist asks, "What motiva- of the scientist, including the faith
tional elements predominated in that nature is orderly, that the
this behavioral manifestation?" order of nature is discoverable to
he is still simply asking, "Why did man, that logic is to be trusted
he do it?" And the real answer as a mental tool, that quantitative
lies far beyond the reach of the probability statements reflect
cleverest electronic computer or something true about nature, and
microscope. so on ("A Scientist Ponders
In general, the attitude fostered Faith," Saturday Revie1v, J anu-
in modern education toward sci- ary 3, 1959). In sum, he says:
ence is unthinking worship. As a "Where the scientist has faith
consequence, as Martin Gardner that nature is orderly, the reli-
states in his recent book, Fads and gionist has faith that God is good.
Fallacies in the Name of Science, Where the scientist believes that
"The national level of credulity is the order of nature is discoverable
almost unbelievably high." to man, the religionist believes
The menace of this scientific that the moral nature of the uni-
gullibility obviously goes far be- verse is discoverable to man."
yond the classroom. It is the mal- Dr. Weaver rejects the well-
ady of our age, and one of which known aphorism of Sir Richard
we may perish. But my immediate Gregory:
point is simply that an environ-
ment of anti-intellectual material- My grandfather preached the Gospel
of Christ,
ism has seriously hampered the <
My father preached the Gospel of

development of students' aware-
Socialisn1,
ness of the moral and spiritual I preach the Gospel of Science.
stature of man, by which alone he
stands erect. But many others accept it with
Most paradoxical is the cult's fervor. "God has ceased to be a
dogma that there is no room for useful hypothesis," ,vrites Julian
faith in any true search for truth. Huxley. The problem of the nine-
The notion is palpably false. Let teenth century, says another, was
me quote Warren Weaver, vice- the death of God; that of the
president for the natural and med- twentieth, the death of man.
ical sciences of the Rockefeller Any humanist who speaks in
'these terms must be extremely under certain conditions of heat

careful, lest he fall into mere carp- and pressure, but that no one can
ing, deeply tinged by envy of the predict how a single one of the
prominence and prosperity of molecules. will behave.)
science. Nothing could be more To treat man merely as a capac-
foolish - or more ungrateful. The ity for response to stimuli, as
lament over the low estate of the totally the product of the forces
humanities in the public mind that impinge upon him, without
would be more touching if those will or conscience, is to divest him
responsible for the preservation of personality, individuality, and
and dissemination of humanistic dignity. But the whole science of
studies had something of positive human engineering is based, more
value to say, if they had a Path, or less, on this concept. The only
a Way of Truth to declare. variation is the difference of opin-
ion among the practitioners as to
5. The Cult of Biologism whether there remains in man
I admit that this is a poor term, some slight indeterminate center
and perhaps the topic itself were of being, inviolate to stimulus or
better considered a subheading of statistical confinement, or whether
the previous one. Essentially, this he is totally susceptible to manip-
cult is an outgrowth of material- ulation.
ism, the faith that man is only Among the many ramifications
biology, that he not only has of this cult let me. mention only
glands but is glands. two. First, the dogma that all hu-
As a consequence, whole seg- man actions are social in their im-
ments of educational theory con- plications, to be judged purely by
sider man precisely as a physicist their effect on society. And, sec-
considers an atom - one purely ob- ond, the dogma that emotions,
jective item among others of its feelings, are not essentially moral
kind, clothed with identity only as in their nature, nor the product
it is part of a group, the proper- of individual, unique, and sover-
ties and motions of which are to eign personality, but are merely
be determined statistically, in the conditioned reflexes of quiver-
terms of average behavior. (Years ing biology.
ago, Irving Langmuir, speaking of The first, thesocial dogma, con-
the "burden of irrationality" in ceives of the individual as the
science, pointed out that the laws, physician thinks of the cells of
say, of the expansion of gases tell the body - part of an organic
us how a mass of molecules behave whole, subject totally to the wel-
fare of the organic unit (the who are to be manipulated. It is

state, in the social and political evil because it denies human dig-
parallel), and to be excised nity and reduces the individual to
through surgery if a cell rebels. a cipher.
It is within this belief that a The second menacing product of
nationally prominent psychologist the cult of biologism is the belief
has defined education as "the en- that emotions and feelings are as
graving of desirable behavior pat- purely biological as the purely
terns." Through conditioning, physiological activities of man. In
teaching machines, Pavlovian de- other words this view denies that
vices of various kinds, the individ- the quality of a person's feelings
ual is created in the desired im- is a measure of his moral stature,
age. Undesirable behavior pat- of his culture, of his civilization.
terns are to be eradicated by a It denies that the teaching of
form of brainwashing and a new right feelings is a vital part of
engraving superimposed. Dis- true education.
missed as utterly outmoded is the The "natural" emotions of a
view of each human being as a child are pretty fearful, until they
living soul, created in the image have been civilized, associated
of God, with primary responsi- with moral values, enriched with
bilities as an individual to the culture. Most notably, the chiId-
God of his creation. and the savage - is instinctively
And who is to determine what delighted by cruelty. A child will
kind of behavior pattern is "de- pull the wings off a fly. A recent
sirable"? That's the hitch. The account of life among certain sav-
persons who most ardently would age South American Indians de-
like to impose their own behavior scribes the pleasure of the com-
patterns on me are the very ones munity at the antics of chickens
whose patterns I would least like plucked alive, with perhaps a leg
to have engraved. or wing pulled off for good meas-
At worst, this view of human ure.
existence is both irrational and This may be the "natural" feel-
evil. It is irrational because it ing of sin, and it may be an in-
must believe that those who im- stinctive expression of the savage
pose the patterns of desirable as biology. But it is the work of
behavior must be as totally the civilization, of culture, and above
product of external influence, as all of. religion, to eradicate it. "Na-
completely a consciousness-pro- tural" man must learn the right
duced-by-environment, as those emotions - what to laugh at,
what to smile at, what to frown capable of infinite and endless com-
at. plexities and confusions. He alone
Show me what makes a man is the motionless Center that gives
laugh, what makes him weep, and meaning to all motion. What he is,
I know the man. It is ultimately not what man is, determines what
a matter of morality, not biology. should be and shall be.
Education divorced from moral Let me end with a quotation
values cannot teach right feeling. from that rough-mannered philos-
The deepest and most signifi- opher, Carlyle (Sartor Resartus,
cant emotion of all, the one this Chapter IX) :
world most desperately needs to be
"Cease, my much respected Herr
taught, is compassion - the emo-
von Voltaire," thus apostrophizes the
tion most readily associated with
Professor: "shut thy sweet voice; for
the love of God for sinful man. the task appointed thee seems fin-
"The tender mercies of the ished. Sufficiently hast thou demon-
heathen are cruel," says the Bible. strated this proposition, considerable
Commandments that we deal or otherwise: That the Mythus of the
gently, forgivingly, tenderly with Christian Religion looks not in the
each other are "unnatural" in bi- eighteenth century as it did in the
ology. They are natural only to eighth. Alas, were thy six-and-thirty
the regenerated spirit. quartos, and the six-and-thirty thou-
Now, this is a broad indictment. sand other quartos and folios, all fly-
ing sheets or reams, printed before
I do not pretend that I have said
and since on the same subj ect, all
anything new, or that these prob- needed to convince us of so little! But
lems are peculiar to education. what next? Wilt thou help us to em-
They are maladies of our age. body the divine Spirit of that Re-
They break into dozens of major ligion in a new Mythus, in a new
subheadings, scores of topics, hun- vehicle and vesture, that our Souls,
dreds of subject headings, thou- otherwise too like perishing, may live?
sands of instances. What! thou hast no faculty in that
kind? Only a torch for burning, no
True Education hammer for building? Take our
thanks, then, and - thyself away."
But the correction is magnifi-
cently simple: True education, as Somewhat modified, these words
Milton said three centuries ago, is might be addressed to the kind of
to relearn to know God aright. dangerous education I have been
Education divorced from God is describing. ~
CLARENCE B. CARSON
f1uglaub
4. THE INTELLECTUAL THRUST

TO LIBERTY
THE COUNTERBALANCING of the the balance of powers and gave

power of government provided the impetus to the formulation of the
political foundation for liberty in structure as a principle necessary
England in the eighteenth cen- to liberty (classically expressed as
tury. But this development did the separation of po\vers). This
not stand alone, nor would it have intellectual outlook and the re-
been sufficient to provide liberty lated ideas \vere essential, too, be-
for long if it had. It was, of nec- cause however po\vers may be dis-
essity, one suspects, accompanied persed and counterbalanced in
by the development of ideas which theory, they can still be used for
supported the balance of powers interventionist and oppressive
and a general thrust toward the ends if there is not a widespread
establishment of liberty. Indeed, confidence in the desirability and
a whole new intellectual outlook beneficence of liberty.
underlay the thrust toward liberty There is a popular myth. in our
in the seventeenth and eighteenth era to the effect that men have
centuries. This outlook buttressed ever longed for and sought after
liberty when they were oppressed,
Dr. Carson, Professor of American History at
Grove City College, Pennsylvania, will be re-
which they usually \vere. This
membered for his earlier FREEMAN series, myth has been given currency by
The Fateful Turn, The American Tradition,
and The Flight from Reality. numerous historical novels, stories,
359
plays, movies, and the like. The What would happen to religion,
myth contains, at best, a half men have asked, if the people were
truth. It may be true that each not required to attend church and
individual person has usually were not taxed to support it?
longed for more operating room Would the most persuasive sup-
for himself and has sought to report of morality be lost? Would
move the restrictions that restrain not the binding ties of community
him. But this urge and drive can become unknit? What would be-
be, and frequently has been, some- come of the "lower orders" of
thing quite different from a de- men? If compulsion were removed,
votion to greater liberty for every- would they not fall prey to 'the
one. Quite often, men have been consequences of their natural bent
satisfied with special privileges to indulgence and laziness? Would
for themselves, at whatever cost not the people be confused and
in oppression to others, though misguided if they had available
they may mask their quest for for consideration every heterodoxy
privilege under the guise of the which a free press might publish?
love of liberty. How could authority be main-
tained if men might characterize
The Fear of Freedom
it by whatever vagrant thoughts
The rnatter goes deeper than entered their minds? What would
mere selfishness, too. Frequently, happen economically if men were
men have not only failed to make free? Would men in general not
the effort to extend liberty fall prey to the consequences of
throughout society but have also the bent of men to sell as high as
had a positive fear of and aver- they could and buy as cheaply as
sion to such a condition. Some of possible? Who knows what chaos
the best minds of the ages have would result, in wages, in rents,
been devoted to erecting elaborate in prices, in trade, if they were
justifications for limiting liberty not controlled and directed?
and maintaining oppression. Nor When these fears of the conse-
need these justifications have been quences of liberty have been added
insincere, though some of them to the danger that those in power
may have been. In truth, the pros- 'would lose their special privileges
pect of liberty can arouse exten- and become the object of retribu-
sive fears, for it raises the specter tion by the formerly oppressed, it
of chaos, disorder, things out of is easy to see why liberty usually
control, the fabric of society rent, has not been sought with great
and conflict let loose. devotion.
1968 THE INTELLECTUAL THRUST TO LIBERTY 361
Champions of Liberty ceptable and liberty came to be
in the 17th and 18th Centuries thought of as a jewel almost be-
So it was that at the beginning yond price. The general intellec-
of the seventeenth century a cham- tual outlook can be described as
pion of liberty would have been the natural law philosophy. Its
hard to find in England. No doubt, sway in Europe is usually referred
many would have liked the powers to as the Age of Reason and Age
of the monarch reduced, but they of the Enlightenment. The basic
would only have turned these same ideas associated with it are nat-
powers over to Parliament, most ural law, natural order, right rea-
likely. Yet, before the end of the son (or, just reason), social con-
century not only were there open tract, and natural rights.
champions of liberty but many
had come to believe that liberty Foundations of Natural Law
was both possible and desirable. The natural law philosophy was
This was largely the result of the not new to the seventeenth cen-
development and propagation of tury. Its formulation in philosophy
ideas favorable to liberty. The can be traced back to classical an-
great age of such liberal thought tiquity where its most prominent
got under way impressively around applications were made in Rome.
the middle of the seventeenth cen- Cicero was perhaps the most ar-
tury and continued more or less ticulate early spokesman for nat-
unabated until the end of the ural law. He defined it in this way:
eighteenth century, and beyond.
It begins with such men as John True law is right reason conform-
Lilburne, John Milton, James Har- able to nature, universal, unchange-
rington, Algernon Sidney, and con- able, eternal. ... This law cannot be
tinues through John Locke, Robert contradicted by any other law, and
Molesworth, John Trenchard, is not liable either to derogation or
Thomas Gordon, down through abrogation. Neither the senate nor
AdalTI Smith, Thomas Paine, and the people can give us any dispensa-
Edmund Burke, among others. tion for not obeying this universal
law of justice.... It is not one thing
Back of this outpouring of
at Rome, and another at Athens; one
thought about liberty, back of its thing today, and another tomorrow;
spread to the point \vhere it had but in all tinles and nations this uni-
become the common possession of versal law nlust for ever reign, eter-
Englishmen with any learning, nal and imperishable. . . . God hinl-
was an intellectual frame\vork self is its author, its promulgator,
within which the ideas were ac- its enforcer, and he who does not
obey it flies from himself, and does sons, of the rising and going down
violence to the very nature of man.! of sap in trees, of the cycle
through which the moon goes, and
The tradition of natural lavv
so on.
thought was kept alive in the time
of the Roman Empire particularly Scientific Measurement
by the Stoics, and it passed also
Some of these facts have long
into Christian thought where it
been put to practical uses. What
was much revered in the High
the scientists did was to explain
Middle Ages. Europeans recovered
the phenomena of regularity in
and refurbished it during the
the universe in terms of precise
Renaissance and successive re-
mathematical formulae. They dem-
vivals of classical thought in the
onstrated mathematically that our
seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
universe is heliocentric, that the
turies.
heavenly bodies move in elliptical
It would be true to say, I think,
pattern~, that freely falling bodies
that the natural law philosophy
accelerate at a uniform rate, that
survived and ,vas present in some
heavenly bodies are held in their
form from the time of the Roman
orbits by their tendency to fall
Republic to the middle of the sev-
counterbalanced by their attrac-
enteenth century. But it usually
tion for one another (the law of
occupied an inferior place to the-
gravity), and so on. In short, they
ology, or to other philosophical
held not only that the regularities
tenets. It came into its own in the
existed, that bodies were governed
seventeenth century with the im-
by laws, but that these laws were
pact of scientific developments, de-
so precise that they were capable
velopments associated with such
of mathematical expression. Most
names as Copernicus, Galileo,
astounding, these laws can be dis-
Kepler, Francis Bacon, Descartes,
covered and known by the mind of
Leibniz, Boyle, and Newton. Men
man. As Descartes put it,
must ever have observed signs of
regularity and order in the uni- God has established the laws of
verse, of the alternation of day nature just as a king establishes the
and night in a predictable pattern, laws of his kingdom. And there is
of the coming in and going out of none of them which we can not un-
the tides, of the rotation of sea- derstand if we apply our n1inds to
consider it, for they are innate in
1 Wilson O. Clough, ed., Intellectual
our minds, just as a king would
Origins of American Nat1'onal Thought
(New York: Corinth Books, 1961, 2nd stan1p his laws in the hearts of his
ed.), pp. 58-59. subjects if he had the power to do
so.... They are eternal and immut- toward liberty. If there is an order
able because God is always the same.2 in the universe established and
The natural law philosophy was maintained by God, man does not
mightily revived and buttressed by have to bring order by the exer-
these astounding new demonstration of his will. Chaos and dis-
tions. Not only did it gain in au- order will not be the result of
thority but also men began early liberty. On the contrary, if men
to search for a similar precision are allowed to follow the laws of
in social phenomena. Preserved their nature, if they are permitted
Smith has said, "The idea of a to pursue their own ends, if gov-
natural law, a natural ethics, and ernment pursues its defensive
a natural religion, found in germ function, if things are allowed to
much earlier, now became domi- follow their natural course, a be-
nant."3 As to what was made of neficent order will prevail. If men
it in the eighteenth century, he may make choice of their own re-
says that there was a "resolute ligious faith, religion will be
and successful effort to transfer stronger rather than weaker be-
the scientific spirit to other intel- cause of the fervor and attach-
lectual fields and to propagate it ment they will bring to its prac-
among ever larger strata of the tice. If all ideas are permitted ex-
population . . . ," and "to bring pression, the best ideas will win
under the reign of natural law the in the contest. If men may pursue
social disciplines, philosophy, re- freely their own economic ends,
ligion, law, education, and even prosperity will result. Of course,
literature and art...."4 these ideas did not spring full-
blown overnight, nor did everyone
A Secure Footing for rush to embrace them when they
a Faith in Freedom were presented. But this was the
The importance of this natural tendency of thought under the im-
law doctrine was manifold. In the pact of a prevailing natural law
first place, it provided secure foot- philosophy. It did provide a frame-
ing for the belief in and thrust work for confidence that a much
greater liberty would result in
2 Quoted in Preserved Smith, A His-
tory of ModeTn Culture, I (Gloucester, order and peace rather than chaos
Mass.: Peter Smith, 1957), 19l. and war.
3 Preserved Smith, The Enlighten-
ment (New York: Collier Books, 1962, An Authority
originally published as vol. II, A History
of Modern Culture), p. 36. Secondly, the natural law philos-
4 Ibid., p. 118. ophy provided an authority to ap-
peal to, one that could be ranged thority of the IIouse of Commons
against the established authority. in England.
The established authority always
has going for it the great weight Limited Government - and Progress
of its own momentum and past Thirdly, the analogy to the way
acceptance. It is a perilous under- order was maintained in the uni-
taking almost always to challenge verse was used to buttress the idea
it. In seventeenth century Eng- of devices for restraining govern-
land, to question the monarch was ment. The heavenly bodies are
to court imprisonment. To resist kept in their orbits by a kind of
him was to risk death, and that balance of powers exerted from
done in most imaginative fashion. and upon them. So, too, should
But beyond the risk of life and there be powers and counterbal-
limb involved in challenging the anced powers in government to
established authority, one needs restrain and prevent the arbitrary
always a confidence in one's own exercise of power.
rightness. This is not easy to And fourthly, the natural law
achieve by sane men; the estab- philosophy provided the ground
lished authority has the weight of for conceiving a different system
centuries behind it and the testi- than the one that prevailed. Most
mony and support of many famous men are apt to accept any going
seers. Natural law - frequently system and suppose that the way
combined with an appeal to the au- things are done under it are the
thority of the Bible in the seven- way they should be done. The new
teenth century - provided an au- outlook provided a method of an-
thority whose rightness was alysis and an altered vision from
superior to custom, tradition, us- \vhich to consider the reordering
age, and anything else in history or rearrangement of the system
when these ran counter to it. Nat- that prevailed. The method of ap-
ural law is antecedent to all man- proach was to look at the nature,
made law, law established by God or essence, of things, to consider
himself; he who takes it for a how they would operate naturally
shield has a basis and defense without some arbitrary interven-
superior to any other. Moreover, tion, and to discover the natural
reason, the common possession of laws that would come into play.
mankind, could be used in the dis- In this way, they could arriye at
covery of it. This could be and was the way things ought to be - that
used to justify popular govern- is, in accord with their natures-
ment and to add weight to the au- in contrast to the way they were.
The Role of the Levellers an equal rate levied upon real and
Some examples will now illus- personal estate It may not con-
trate how English thinkers applied tinue tithes It may not take
the natural law mode of thinking away the liberty of each parish to
elect its own ministers.... 5
over the years in the thrust to-
ward liberty. The first major ef-
That the Levellers based their
fort was during the period of the
arguments upon natural law is ap-
civil war or Puritan Revolution in
parent from their writings. Lil-
the middle of the seventeenth cen-
burne justified the actions of the
tury. Among the more thorough-
army under Cromwell by appeal-
going of the reformers were those
ing to "the prime Laws of Na-
known as the Levellers, led by
ture," and "the principles of
John Lilburne. The Levellers be-
Saifety, flowing from Nature
lieved that government should be
Reason, and Justice, agreed on b;
authorized and restrained by a
common consent."6 John Overton
written agreement. They proposed
another Leveller, declared that "ali
to vest government power in a
men are equally born to like pro-
legislature, but they favored
priety, liberty and freedome, and
many prohibitions upon its ac-
as we are delivered of God by the
tions, these prohibitions indicat-
hand of nature into this world, ev-
ing mainly how they thought
ery one with a naturall, innate
liberty should be secured. One
freedorne . . . even so are we to
writer describes the prohibitions
live, everyone equally alike to en-
on the legislature in this way:
joy his Birthright and priviledge;
even all whereof God by nature
It may not compel or restrain any
person in matters of religion, nor
hath made him free."7
impress men for military service, Those more in the mainstream
"every man's Conscience being to be of the Puritan Revolution also fre-
satisfied in the justness of that quently based their arguments
cause wherein he hazards his own upon natural law. John Milton, in
life, or may destroy others." . . . It explaining the natural right of re-
may not exempt any person from the sistance to tyranny and to depose
operation of the laws on the pretext a tyrannical king, declared "that
of tenure, grant, charter, patent, deall men naturally were born
gree, birth, residence, or parliamen-
tary privilege. . . . It may not con- 5 Perez Zagorin, A History of Politi-
tinue laws abridging the freedom of cal Thought in the English Revolution
(Rutledge and Kegan Paul, 1954), p. 37.
foreign trade, and may not raise 6 Quoted in ibid., p. 15.
money by excise taxes or except by 7 Ibid., p. 22.
free ... ," that this "authority and Hobbes. Many - N edham, Ludlow,
power of self-defence and preser- Sidney, Neville, and Marvell-took
vation being originally and natu- up the cudgels for liberty.lO
rally in everyone of them, and The classic statement of the
unitedly in them all ... ," and that natural rights doctrine based on
those appointed to govern them the natural law philosophy was
are "but to be their deputies and made, however, by John Locke in
commissioners, to execute by vir- connection with the Glorious Revo-
tue of their intrusted power, that lution of 1688-1689. In his Two
justice which else every man by Treatises on Civil Government,
the bond of nature and of cove- Locke so felicitously stated the
nant must have executed for him- position that it has ever and
self, and for one another."8 again been attributed to him,
though that would be to overstate
Areopagitica the case. Locke's familiar thesis
Milton is most famous in politi- goes this way. In a state of na-
cal thought, ho\vever, for his de- ture - that is, in that condition
fense of freedom of the press. Un- in which men find themselves
derlying the follo\ving argument naturally if we strip away the
is the conception of an order with- socially erected institutions - men
in men that attracts them to the have a "perfect freedom to order
true: "And though all the winds their actions, and dispose of their
of doctrine were let loose to play possessions and persons as they
upon the earth, so Truth be in the think fit, within the bounds of the
field, we do injuriously by licens- law of nature, without asking
ing and prohibiting to misdoubt leave, or depending upon the will
her strength. Let Truth and False- of any other man."ll That is, in a
hood grapple; who ever knew state of nature men have the right
Truth put to the worse, in a free to life, liberty, and property,
and open encounter."!) Similar rights derived from and sanc-
natural law foundations underlay tioned by natural la\v.
the work of such diverse figures However, as Locke sees it, in
as James Harrington and Thomas such a condition the individual
would not necessarily be in a posi-
8 Leo Weinstein, The A,rye of Reason
(New York: George Braziller, 1965),
tion to defend these rights against
pp. 138-39. 10 See Caroline Robbins, The E(ryh-
!J John Milton, Areo]J(l.t!iticCl, Richard tee nth - C e n t 11 r y e 0 m Tn 0 n we a l t h Tn en
C. Jebb, commentary (Cambridge, Eng- (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
land: Cambridge University Press, Press, 1959), pp. 22-23.
1918), p. 58. 11 Clough, op. cit., p. 149.
aggressors. This being so, he en- cated and supported freedom of

ters into community with others speech and of press, security of
for mutual protection and defense, property, religious toleration, and
yielding up so much of his pow- a broad range of rights for men.
ers to government as areneces- The foundation of their positions
sary to defend him in the enjoy- was in natural law, right reason,
ment of his natural rights. The and natural rights.
"freedom of men under govern- Regarding the origin of liberty,
ment is to have a standing rule to Trenchard said:
live by, common to everyone of
that society, and made by the All men are born free; Liberty is
legislative power erected in it; a a Gift which they receive from God
himself; nor can they alienate the
liberty to follow my own will in
same by Consent, though possibly
all things where that rule pre- they may forfeit it by Crimes.l 3
scribes not; and not to be subject
to the inconstant, uncertain, un- Gordon defined liberty as "the
known, arbitrary will of another Power which every Man has over
man: as freedom of nature is to his own Actions, and his Right to
be under no other restraint but enjoy the Fruit of his Labour,
the law of nature."12 Art, and Industry, as far as by it
he hurts not the Society, or any
The Whig Movement Members of it, by taking from any
The thrust to liberty in the Member, or by hindering him
eighteenth century in England was from enjoying what he himself
made primarily by those who enjoys."14 Regarding free speech
thought of themselves as Whigs. and property, Gordon said, "With-
This category included politicians out Freedom of Thought, there
and thinkers as well. There are can be no such thing as Wisdom;
many who might be called up in and no such Thing as publick
this connection, but for the first Liberty, without Freedom of
half of the eighteenth century it Speech.... This sacred Privilege
will suffice here to refer to the is so essential to free Government,
work of two of them: John that the Security of Property; and
Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. the Freedom of Speech, always go
These two, by way of their writ- together.... "1;')
ings, carried on a broad ranged
13 David L. Jacobson, ed., The English
argument for the maintenance and Libertarians (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Mer-
extension of liberty. They advo- rill, 1965), p. 108.
14 Ibid., p. xxxvi.
12 Ibid., p. 153. 15 I bid., p. 38.
Of liberty in general, Gordon apparently not easy for men to

thought it an unqualified blessing. see that there is a natural har-
"Can we ever over-rate it, or. be mony of interests in the economic
too jealous of a Treasure which realm, that men of many nations
includes in it almost all Human competing for gain do not make
Felicities? Or can we encourage enemies of nations but rather
too much those that contend for it, ,vork to the benefit of all.
and those that promote it? It is
the Parent of Virtue, Pleasure, Foundation of Classiclal Economics
Plenty, and Security; and 'tis in- There was a tendency for
nocent as well as lovely. In all thought in the eighteenth century
Contentions between Liberty and to move toward the theoretical
Power, the latter has almost con- justification of economic liberty.
stantly been the Aggressor. Lib- It can be seen in the writings of
erty, if ever it produce any Evils, Hutcheson and Hume, in the
does also cure them.... "16 French Physiocrats, Quesnay and
By way of such writings as Turgot, and among such Italian
these, by way of speeches, state- thinkers as Bandini and Becca-
ments, and philosophical examina- ria. 17 But it was Adam Smith who
tions, the tide was turned from constructed an economics from
the fear of the consequences of these and other materials that
liberty to open admiration of the would become the foundation of
blessings. Though men had from classical economics. He did this in
the outset contended for the se- his massive work, The Wealth of
curity of property, they were slow Nations, first published in 1776.
to see the full implications of Smith was not only a master of
such a position. At a time (for economic theory but also filled his
most of the eighteenth century) work with historical examples
when Englishmen boasted of their which displayed his erudition in
liberty, when religious toleration that area. Much of the burden of
had become commonplace, when Smith's work was devoted to ex-
men could speak freely with little posing the fallacies of mercan-
fear of punishment, when many tilism. At the same time that he
of the shackles had been struck did this, however, he set forth the
from enterprise, mercantilistic premises of a science of economy
policies still held sway. Though based upon the natural law phi-
the natural law philosophy had losophy. He held that the greatest
long reached a dominance, it was
17 See Smith, The Enlightenment,
16 Ibid., p. 70. pp. 194-201.
liberty in matters economic is con- led by an invisible hand to promote

sonant with and productive of the an end which was no part of his in-
widest prosperity, that when each tention... .1 8
man seeks his private gain he, at
the same time, contributes to the The intellectual thrust toward
general well-being, that in foreign liberty continued apace into the
trade all participants benefit, and nineteenth century, but enough
that conSUlners everywhere (that has been said here to show that
is, all of us) benefit from ex- the stage was set in outlook for
change. His argument that there freeing men from their earlier op-
is a natural harmony between pri- pression, that men were coming
vate acquisitiveness and public generally to prize liberty rather
gain is worth reproducing here to than to fear it. From this came
show how he used the natural the impetus to change laws and
laws to support economic liberty: remove obstacles to individual ex-
ertions.
But the annual revenue of every A Balance of Powers
society is always precisely equal to
the exchangeable value of the whole Before leaving this topic, how-
annual produce of its industry, or ever, there is a counter point to
rather is precisely the same thing be made. Rationalists were behind
with that exchangeable value. As the thrust to liberty; they based
every individual, therefore, endeav- their arguments upon natural law.
ours as much as he can both to em- But in England there were not
ploy his capital in the support of only Whigs but Tories as well, not
domestic industry, and so to direct only rationalists but traditional-
that industry that its produce may ists also, not only exponents of
be of the greatest value; every indi-
universal truths but men conscious
vidual necessarily labours to render
the annual revenue of the society as of the value of custom, tradition,
great as he can. He generally, in- and old institutions. These played
deed, neither intends to promote the their part, however backhandedly
public interest, nor knows how much it may appear, in the establish-
he is pron10ting it. By preferring the ment of liberty in England.
support of domestic to that of for- The rationalist ideas became
eign industry, he intends only his .the common possession of thinkers
own security; and by directing that in western Europe by or before
industry in such a manner as its
18 Adam Smith, The Wealth of Na-
produce n1ay be of the greatest val-
tions, Edwin Cannan, ed., II (New
ue, he intends only his own gain, and Rochelle: Arlington House, n. d.), p.
he is in this, as in many other cases, 29-30.
the end of the eighteenth century. hereditary monarchy, hereditary

Yet, they did not result in stable Lords, elected Commons, common
governments and extended liberty law courts - to safeguard liberty.
in many lands when applied by en- When the rational assault bid fair
lightened despots or under the im- to undermine these, defenders of
pulse of the French Revolution. the ancient and tried rose to its
They did not do so, we judge, be- defense. Edmund Burke is rightly
cause they broke too radically with the most famed of these. For so
the past, and did not take into persuasively declaring that cus-
account the peculiar predilections tom, tradition, reverence, awe, and
and institutions of peoples. even prej udice are essential to an
Britain followed a different ordered liberty, he should be reck-
course, for the most part. The bal- oned a spokesman for liberty also,
ance of powers there was a curious and in a goodly company, not one
blending of ancient institutions- of the least. ~
The next article in this series u'ill deal with

"Liberty and Property Secured."
Freedom of Speech
WITHOUT freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as

Wisdom; and no such thing as Liberty without freedom of
speech; which is the right of every man, as far as by it he does
not hurt or control the right of another; and this is the only
check it ought to suffer, and the only bounds it ought to know.
This sacred privilege is so essential to free governments, that
the security of property and the freedom of speech always go
together; and in those wretched countries where a man cannot
call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything else his own.
Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by
subduing the freeness of speech.
JO H N TRE N CHARD (1662-1723), Cato's Letters
.. .5~.
What Prefer
Censors . . ,~,:. to
Forget
....
"., %
~:~
NEIL M. CLARK
THE chap-who-knows-what's-best, All censors, including some

whether parent, teacher, preacher, parents, seem to like to forget an
politician, or professional do- important fact about reading:
gooder, looks over a boy's (or namely, that no one knows for
girl's) shoulder, and says, "Why sure what's a good book for any-
waste your time reading trash? one at a particular time - or a bad
Here! Try something good"- book, either. Serendipity is an un-
something he considers good. A predictable factor in reading. A
Federal bureaucrat soberly tells a chance-found book, even one com-
House subcommittee that any monly considered \vorthless, can
thought of controlling the subject have something in it of little sig-
matter of Federally-aided text- nificance for ninety-nine readers,
books is far indeed from his mind; yet for a hundredth it may be a
yet he adds that certainly there magic key that opens doors and
are ways of encouraging the use changes his life. There is in it,
of "good" books or discouraging for him, a treasure such as the
"bad" ones in Federally-aided in- princes of Serendip were always
stitutions. Money can be granted running into without conscious
judiciously or withheld, can't it? purpose.
Mr. Clark is well known for his free-lance writ-
lVIany will remember how the
ing in The American Magazine, The Saturday young sub-editor of an obscure
Evening Post, Nation's Business, and many
other magazines. gazette in Pakistan, looking for
371
something light to read after any given reader can never be ac-
work one night, picked up a nov- curately forecast: too much de-
el he hoped would enable him to pends on his circumstances when
pass a few hours. It was Sir he reads it. Treasures neither
Walter Besant's All in a Garden sought nor expected can leap out
Fair. That author and his book of printed pa.ges in the strangest
are forgotten now, and never set ways.
the world on fire. This book was
a simple narrative about a girl A Youth and a Rabbit
and three boys. One of the boys A youth who had no taste for
hoped to become a writer. reading because he had never read
The young editor had not read anything except what he was told
far when he was hit a solar- to, crawled under a church to cap-
plexus blow. The hero, he was ture his pet rabbit when it escaped
suddenly telling himself, was no from its pen. That youth, Joseph
better fitted for a writing career Henry, is not forgotten in the
than he himself was. Further, by history of American science. He
some process which he did not pioneered in electromagnetic re-
analyze, the book conveyed to him search and was a leader in many
the thought that there was no fields. He initiated our weather-
reason why he had to stay on in report system, was the first secre-
his humble job. In London, book- tary of the Smithsonian Institu-
men, publishers, and endless ex- tion, and his name continues to
citing literary activities were designate the unit of electrical in-
waiting. Why not go and try that duction. As a boy in tiny Galwa.y,
city's doorsteps? New York, he quit school to go to
The young man read and reread work in the village store at the
Besant's novel, and his thought age of ten. He gave no ea.rly signs
hardened into intention. With the of special qualities, and was him-
help of the book he fashioned a self unaware of possessing talents
dream for his future and began that could lead to a distinguished
saving money to put it into effect. career.
This he did. Soon he was far bet- But he loved his rabbit. And
ter known than Besant. His name when he saw it disappear through
was Rudyard Kipling. In writing a hole in the foundation of the
the story of his life, Kipling gives village church, he disappeared
Besant's chance-found book high after it. In the dark there, adven-
credit for shaping his career. ture came.
A particular book's impact on A glint of light caught his at-
1968 WHAT CENSORS PREFER TO FORGET 373
tention. Wondering what caused was more deeply lost in its con-
it, he bellied his way to it and tents than he had been in Brooke's
found daylight sifting through soggy novel. Gregory's book asked
loose boards. He shoved them questions, suggested mysteries,
aside and squeezed through the opened vistas which to that boy's
opening, emerging in a little room mind needed looking into. Here,
which housed the village library. this boy told himself, was some-
lIe took a book from the case. It thing he could devote himself to
happened to be Henry Brooke's passionately. The boarder saw his
A Fool of Quality, a slushy novel interest in the book and gave it to
once famed for "passionate and him.
tearful sensibility." The boy read
II A Remarkable Influence l l
a few sentences and was snared
by the magic of printed words. What was a rabbit's role in
For the first time in his life he Henry's career? Or, a book read
experienced the joy of reading a because of a rabbit? James Clark
book he didn't have to. It luade \Velling, the scientist's early biog-
him a booklover. He crawled back rapher, repeated the rabbit story
there time after time, eventually but discounted its importance.
leaving few of those books unread. "The strong intellectual forces
This new passion led to his which are organic in a great ca-
great reading adventure. Having 'reel'," he wrote, "do not depend
to stay indoors one day because on the casual vicissitudes which
of a slight accident, Henry looked ripple the surface of human life."
around for a book. The only one To think so, he declared, is to
he hadn't read proved to be some- "convert human history. . . . into
thing printed in London "for the the fortuitous rattle and chance
use of students and young per- combinations of the kaleidoscope."
sons." The author, George Greg- He said Henry was too great a
ory, was a vicar, a doctor of phi- man to have lived without making
losophy and the arts, and one-time his mark on the age.
chaplain to the Lord Bishop of Within limits, Welling was no
Landaff; and his book was entitled doubt right. But without the rab-
Lectures on ExperiJnental Philos- bit, would his mark have been the
ophy, Astrono1fvy, and Chemistry. same? Would he ever have both-
The owner of the book was Henry's ered to open Gregory's sober-
mother's Scottish boarder. When looking volume? At the age of
the boy opened it, he found his forty, Henry himself penned a
curiosity deeply stirred. Soon he paragraph of gratitude on the fly-
374 THE FREEMAN
leaf of Gregory's book. "Although cago. He was beset by fears grow

by no means profound," he wrote, ing out of immigrant parentage
he confessed that the book had a perennially frightened mother
exerted "a remarkable influence" and schoolboy bullies. The grea-
on his life. It opened a new world drama of his life was his figh
of thought and enj oyment to him, against fear. He once told me tha'
he said, "and caused me to re- from a boyhood in constant fligh
solve at the time of reading it from terrors, he emerged into ~
that I would devote my life to new kind of life as a result oj
the acquisition of knowledge." reading the Dick Merriwel
stories. These have never ranke(
"Enter at Your Own Risk" as great literature, and som
The late Charles F. Kettering would call them trash. The crud
knew (few better) the numbing heroes put Lew to shame because
effect of conformity and rut think- unlike himself, they did not rUT
ing even on scientists working on from danger but met it stoutly ai
the frontiers of knowledge in a whatever risk.
research laboratory. lIe also knew How naive! Yet this particulal
how a vagrant idea unsought can reader sternly resolved to act n(
lead to unexpected breakthroughs. less fearlessly than they. In hh
In 1953 he gave Antioch College next years, Lew tested himselj
$750,000 to build the new Olive physically against rivers in flood
Kettering Library~ \Vhile building hoodlums he knew were lurkin!]
plans were under discussion, he to half kill him, grizzly bears me1
remarked, probably more than eye to eye when he was a Fores1
half seriously, that it might be Ranger and unarmed, and agains1
wise to carve these words in stone the subtler psychological menaCE
over the portal: Enter here at of disapproval on public platforms
your own risk. The risk he envi- Inspired by the ridiculous Merri
sioned was that the browser, with- wells, his war on fear and the vic
out seeking it, might find a book tories he won were foundations on
that would alter his whole direc- which his poetry was built and his
tion of travel. career as a deeply respected uni
It happens. The late Lew Sarett, versity teacher.
a poet of whose verse Carl Sand-
burg once wrote, "the loam and "The Blue Book"
the lingo, the sand and the sylla- A remarkable private library
bles of North America are here," was once housed on an upper floor
had a troubled childhood in Chi- of a downtown factory and ware
house building in Chicago. In its Chester spent many stormy win-

special field of Elizabethan sci- ter days in the house, and reading
ence' it was perhaps the finest of was his recreation. Edlisfraedi be-
its kind. There were a number of came for him far more than a
Shakesperean folios as well as sci- time-passer. He read it so often
ence. Every book was beautifully and carefully that he knew it al-
bound, lovingly cared for; and the most word for word. It had what
owner, poorly schooled but richly he called a good section on elec-
educated, was familiar with the tricity, and an exciting definition
contents of every book. Among of a scientific experiment. The
them was one to which some peo- book made his career clear to him,
ple would not have given shelf- an unlikely one for a boy so sit-
space. It was printed in the Ice- uated: electrical research and de-
landic tongue. velopment. At seventeen, having
Chester Hjortur Thordarson was attended no other school in the
born in Iceland and was brought meantime, he went to Chicago to
to this country when little more attend school, and was assigned to
than a baby. His father died soon the fourth grade with the little
after arrival, leaving the rest. of fellows. He was small-built him-
them to find their way perilously self and didn't object, for in the
in a strange land. Chester's first next two years he was able to
schooling, and for many years all march through the eighth grade.
he had, consisted of two summer He had to quit school then and
sessions in a one-room country start earning his living.
school in Dane county, Wisconsin. He never returned to any formal
He learned his letters there, little school; but he never stopped ex-
else. The family moved to the pine tending his education. He became
barrens of Wisconsin, and later to an electrical engineer and man-
a North Dakota ranch which was ufacturer of electrical equipment,
thirty miles from a railroad. In especially laboratory equipment
neither place were there schools for universities. For Purdue Uni-
for the boy to attend. However, versity he built the world's first
in the Icelandic tradition, the million-volt 25-cycle transformer.
Thordarsons carried with them a He patented more than a hundred
few books; and one, called "the electrical devices. He always said
blue book" by the family because that the shape his career assumed
of its blue-cloth binding, was en- was due to the nlagic of "the blue
titled Edlisfraedi, an elementary book," which hardly a censor alive
physics book. would have considered fit to be
376 THE FREEMAN
put into the hands of such a boy. Steel subsidiary. The man told ml
He had Edlisfraedi rebound in the story of a career, his own
blue calf by one of London's best that could scarcely be matched to
bookbinders, and considered it the day. He worked underground as ~
chief jewel in his library. miner till he was twenty-seven
and at the time of his marriag l
From Most Unlikely Sources had only the rudiments of an ed
Acknowledged classics are fine, ucation. But he already had a pow
but they aren't everybody's fare. erful dream which he credited b
Unexpected treasures can be found a book sent to him as a Christma
in humble or unlikely books if they present when he was twelve. Un
serve a reader's need at the time. til he got it, he had never read l
Would Luther Burbank's plant- book.
creating career have developed as He had to wade through thi
it did had not someone given him, one at a snail's pace in order tl
when he was twenty-one, a copy make sure of each word. It wa
of Charles Darwin's Animals and a campaign biography of J arne
Plants under Domestication? He A. Garfield, then just elected Pres
often said the basis of his work ident of the United States. To th
was nature's method of plant im- boy it was a revelation that any
provement as Darwin described it. one born in a log cabin, as Gar
Can anyone now say how much field was, educated in schools 11<
Benjamin Franklin's scientific ex- better than those the lad himsel
periments and social views owed had briefly attended, and earninJ
to Daniel Defoe's An Essay upon his living at one time as a mule
Projects, a book unknown to most driver on a canal towpath, coul~
readers of Robinson Crusoe? rise so high. A little later h
Franklin said it was one of two himself was driving mules in th
books read at an early age which mines. That ephemeral campaigl
profoundly influenced him. document made him think tha
Even a poor book, met fortu- even he could make something 0
itously at a moment ripe for im- himself.
pregnation, can breed a rich ca- "There is no doubt," he told mE
reer; and who is to say it's a "that President Garfield had :
"poor" book that does that? I greater influence on me than an:
once sat in the Pittsburgh office other man, even though I met hin
of the man who had just been only in a book."
elected president of the H. C. Frick Hoping to guide readers or "im
Coke Company, a United States prove" them, do-gooders and bea
diedam would impose their notions of orderly shelves. But she has
of what's bad or good in books. observed also that after introduc-
Even proponents of closed shelves ing an open-shelf policy, books
in libraries, though without vi- that had not circulated for ten
cious intent, to some extent share years were found and read. "Open
the guilt of restricting adventures shelves," she has written, "are
in serendipity in reading. It is good for our patrons, good for us,
true that open shelves invite theft, and good for public relations."
mutilation, or misplacement. Dor- The reader who has free choice,
othy Cooper, librarian at the Uni- opens a book without special in-
versity of Washington, is one who tent, turns pages idly, is caught
has moaned at the mess freshmen, by something read - and one more
researching for themes, can make life is never again the same. +
Uses of History
WE ARE NOT ONLY passengers or sojourners in this world, but we

are absolute strangers at the first step we make in it. Our guides
are often ignorant, often unfaithful. By this map of the country
which history spreads before us, we may learn, if we please, to
guide ourselves. In our journey through it, we are beset on every
side. Weare besieged, sometimes even in our strongest holds.
Terror and temptation, conducted by the passions of other men,
assault us; and our passions, that correspond with these, betray
us. History is a collection of the journals of those who have
travelled through the same country, and been exposed to the
same accidents; and their good and their ill success are equally
instructive. In this pursuit of knowledge an immense field is
opened to us: general history, sacred and profane; and histories
of particular countries, particular events, particular orders,
particular men; memorials, anecdotes, travels.
(1678-1751 )
LOR D B 0 LIN G B R 0 K E
On the Study and Use of History
A Critical Point
HILLEL BLACK is one of those No Sperm Cells") . Georgia gets
ebullient muckrakers who hits fifty a going-over because several of its
targets and misses fifty others. school districts won't accept "in-
IIis investigation of the textbooks tercultural" books which include
used in our elementary grades and illustrations of whites and Ne-
in our high schools, The American groes swimming in the same pools
Schoolbook (William Morrow, or occupying the same large
$4.50), tends to concentrate on grandfather's chair. Mr. Black
secondary matters. Most of these complains that fifth grade social
are very well worth considering. studies texts have been kept from
But he doesn't tackle the funda- picturing such things as cows
mental question of why the schools about to calve ("It is against
turn out so many functional illit- company policy to show pregnancy
erates who slide through grade in animals"). He also complains
after grade without really learn- about silly southern educators who
ing how to read, write, or pursue reject anthologies which contain
a logical sequence to a correct con- Shakespeare's Othello (a play
clusion. abou t "miscegenation"). He
What particularly concerns Mr. doesn't approve of northern com-
Black is the fact that our textbook munities which outlaw The Mer-
publishers tend to be pusillani- chant of Venice for fear that it
mous when it comes to combating might offend the Jewish popula-
the social and moral prej udices tion. And he delivers a neat rep-
of the State Boards of Education. rimand to the individual who
He tells some fascinating stories thought H a1nlet might be danger-
about the veto which Florida, for ous fare for school children be-
instance, exercises on frank dis- cause it depicted a loose-living
cussion of animal reproduction in mother.
basic texts on science ("Look, Ma, When it comes to the history-
1968 THE FREEMAN 379
pardon me, the social studies- about history whatsoever. And as

textbooks, Mr. Black finds bland- for the failure of biology texts to
ness every\vhere. Four textbooks, talk about sperm cells, that is a
he says, describe Soviet interven- joke. The grapevine spreads such
tion in Hungary but fail to men- knowledge at an early age whether
tion U.S. intervention in Guate- the Boards of Education are aware
mala. Other texts omit the Battle of it or not. So why cry over an
of Stalingrad when talking about omission that really conceals noth-
World War II. An eighth grade ing? The important thing is to
textbook used in the Detroit school teach the student to unlock the lit-
system once contained a passage erature of science for himself
about a good-hearted slave-owning \vhen he is of an age to go to the
family in Tennessee, the Austins, library and look things up.
who were nice to their field hands,
which hardly seemed "objective" Ears and Eyes
history to the son~ and daughters Mr. Black doesn't seem to be in-
of Negro automobile workers. Tex- terested in the great controversy
as is duly chastised for making it that has been raging over phonics
difficult to mention the theory of versus the "look-say" method of
evolution. And so it goes. teaching first, second, and third
graders to "attack" words. No
Learning to Read doubt he would consider this a
With a lot of Mr. Black's stric- matter for cranks and crackpots
tures most reasonable men and to quarrel over. I would have felt
women would agree. But Mr. Black the same way if I hadn't had one
does not get to the bottom of what child who couldn't learn to read by
is the matter with our schools. The "whole word recognition" the way
n1ain trouble \vith primary educa- his brothers and sisters seemed to
tion is that it doesn't concentrate do. It became plain to me from ex-
on giving all our boys and girls perience with my own young that
the intellectual tools which would some people are ear-nlinded and
enable them to read anything, some are eye-minded. A reading
whether it is bland or not. After system that ignores the predomi-
all, if a boy can read, it hardly nantly ear-minded students is
matters whether he discovers in bound to produce a certain per-
grade school that the Russians centage of dropouts.
won at Stalingrad; he will surely rfhere was a period when Henry
come upon that fact at some point Luce, the publisher, couldn't find
in his life if he has any curiosity good young writers. This was in
380 THE FREEMAN JunE
the forties and early fifties. Well, is much better. He hates such clas
the "look-say" method of teaching sic Shakespeare adaptations .,..- and
kids to read was at its most viru- abominations - as "Friends, Ro-
lent in the thirties and early for- mans, countrymen, listen to me.'l
ties. When the "phonics" partisans He can't stand the j uicelessnesE
began to win some victories, and of committee-written texts. The
the more extreme advocates of Dick and Jane type of reader
"whole world recognition" had fi- leaves him cold. He is all for in-
nally to admit that language has corporating wider racial and cul-
sound and is con1posed of conso- tural horizons in the schoolbooks,
nants, . vowels, and blends, it be- but if it's just a matter of intro-
came possible for magazine edi- ducing Dick and Jane in blackface,
tors to recruit good young writers it isn't enough.
once more. Mr. Black has been an The best part of Mr. Black's
editor of The Saturday Evening book is devoted to recent changes
Post, and it is amazing that he and improvements in the teaching
doesn't see the relevance of train- of mathematics and the sciences.
ing in syllabic sound to the writ- But the sciences - aside from bio-
ing of good rhythmic prose. Quite logical theory - aren't controver-
absurdly, the word "phonics" sial. Mr. Black could hardly go in-
doesn't appear in his index. to the question of economics texts,
If I hadn't seen Negro children for economics is not ordinarily a
with IQs of eighty-five reading grade school or a high school sub-
\vith fluency after a few months ject. But maybe it ought to be-
of phonics drill in the first grade and it would be interesting to
of the old Amidon School in Wash- know what the effect of Mr. Black's
ington' D.C., and in one of the obviously liberal bias would be on
worst slum schools in Bedford- his judgment of books on econ-
Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, I wouldn't omic theory.
consider Mr. Black's oversight to The liberal bias does spoil some
be of any great significance. But of Mr. Black's passages on the
I have seen what I have seen, and teaching of social science in the
I know that Mr. Black misses the schools. He lumps Chiang Kai-
nlost important point of all. shek, a good leader who has en-
abled Taiwan to solve the land
A "Liberal" Bias question, with Trujillo, calling
When it comes to upper grade them both "reactionaries." If
points about the mastering of Chiang is a "reactionary," then
language and literature, Mr. Black the word is utterly meaningless.
1968 A CRITICAL POINT 381
Mr. Black's attack on historian will find this book helpful as he

David Muzzey for saying that "the surveys the present mess and won-
red hand of communism waS like- ders how we got this way.
wise at work in Cuba where dicta- Professor Dietze aligns himself
tor Castro" went in for confiscat- with that scholarly opinion which
ing American property is hoity- maintains that theAmerican Rev-
toity nitpicking. For Castro is a olution was not a revolution in
communist, as Mr. Black very the strict sense. "It did not over-
well knows. + turn a legitimate order," he writes,
"but restored the rule of law and
its protection of the individual
~ AMERICA'S POLITICAL DI- against the machinations of hu-
LEMMA by Gottfried Dietze (Bal- man lawmakers whose acts, while
timore: The Johns Hopkins Press, often legal, were not legitimate."
1968), 298 pp., $7.95. There would not be a monarchy
in the United States; sanction for
Reviewed by Edmund A. Opitz the exercise of rule would be the
consent of the people- but with
THIS BOOK is an analysis of the constitutional safeguards. "The
theory of Popular Sovereignty as democratic principle of popular
this idea has worked itself out in participation in government," he
the American experience since writes, "was to guarantee the lib-
1789. It takes a somber view of eral principle of the protection of
these events, arguing that the de- the individual from the govern-
velopment has been away from the ment. Popular government was
libertarian ideals of the framers considered a means for the pro-
of the Constitution toward a do- tection of the individual under a
mestic policy which transgresses Constitution embodying a rule of
individual liberties and a foreign law which had been cherished for
policy which pursues awill-o'-the- centuries. The American Revolu-
wisp at a cost which is enormous ti on was in the mainstream of the
- however measured. This is a constitutionalist development of
scholar's book, closely reasoned and the common law."
well documented; but its thesis In this nicely balanced equation,
will displease many in the aca- liberalism acted as a counter-
demic community because it re- balance to democracy; liberalism
fuses obeisance to the shibboleth assured a protected private do-
of "democracy." The serious stu- main for persons, while democracy
dent of public affairs, however, put political office within reach of
all and gave the masses a place to other people in the name of The
at the polling booth. But circum- People which no people would have
stances conspired to make democ- done or suffered under any mon-
racy attempt the work of liberal- arch.
ism, and already in the 1830's These dreadful consequences oc-
Tocqueville warned of the emer- cur whenever the idea of Popular
gence of "democratic despotism." Sovereignty crowds the most im-
The warning was not heeded. portant of all political questions
Some background might be help- off the boards. This fundamental
ful: Many men lust after power, question has to do with the nature,
hence the divine right of kings scope, and functions of govern-
idea which came in with the Ren- ment. As the question was phrased
aissance. James I of England liked by Whig and Classical Liberal the-
the divine right idea, for it placed orists it ran: What shall be the
him above the law. James ,vas not extent of rule? Those who pon-
accountable to any man, for his dered this question elaborated the
authority was bestowed directly body of doctrine kno\vn as liberal-
on James by God himself. These ism - in the old sense. To be a
notions did not go unchallenged, liberal, then, meant to subscribe
even in James' day, and the fa- to such ideas as limited govern-
mous confrontation with Coke is ment, constitutionalism, the rule
well remembered. of law - in order that each in-
But today, any power seeker or dividual might have sufficient
would-be dictator who claimed his latitude to pursue his personal
right to rule was authorized by goals without arbitrary interfer-
God would be thought mad; to- ence from either government or
day's dictators claim to derive other individuals. Along with its
their authority from The People. emphasis on individual liberty,
This century is the age of Totali- liberalism emphasized a man's
tarian Democracy, to borrow J. L. right to his earnings and his sav-
Talmon's phrase. Democratic the- ings, that is to say, his right to
ory has worked out its answer to his property.
the perennial question: Who shall Once a people embraces the
Rule? And, boiled down, democ- philosophy of classical liberalism,
racy's answer is: The People. they have accepted an answer to
Sovereignty is thought to reside the question: What shall be the
in The People; and once this an- extent of rule? They then face the
swer comes to be accepted without question of choosing personnel to
qualification, some people do things hold public office (Who shall rule?)
and, given the temper of the eight- dom of contract. "By the end of
eenth and nineteenth centuries, the nineteenth century," Dietze
the answer was bound to be that writes, "there was a general
offered by democratic theory: Let awareness that free property and
the masses participate in the po- free enterprise were in for serious
litical process. Thus, liberal democ- challenges."
racy, or the Federal republic, whose America's glacial drift away
features are laid down in the Con- fronl its original institutions and
stitution and defended in The Fed- ideals was obscured up until World
eralist. We had it all, once upon a War I because of the growing ad-
time, in these States. What hap- miration abroad for America's ex-
pened to it, and where did it come panding wealth and power. But as
a cropper? Turn back now to Pro- liberalism declined, the strength-
fessor Dietze's admirable book. ened lever of the central govern-
The theory of Popular Sover- ment came to be regarded as there
eignty had no place in it for civil to be used by this faction or that
war; habituated to thinking in for their partisan and personal
terms of large abstractions, it ends, first on the domestic scene,
could not imagine how The People then anywhere. In the original
could revolt against itself! But constitutional plan, domestic and
the American Civil War, a multi- foreign policy were the two faces
dimensioned tragedy, was thrust of one coin. The government was
upon us; and Professor Dietze re- not to try to regulate the peaceful
opens the academic debate that actions of citizens; and in relation
rages around Lincoln's handling to other nations, America was com-
of power. Lincoln did act outside mitted to a policy of neutrality and
the Constitution, and it might be noninterference with the internal
argued that the means were justi- affairs of other peoples. "The Fed-
fied by the ends, so perilous were eralist," ,vrites Professor Dietze,
the exigencies of the occasion. But "proposes a foreign policy in the
the occasion passed, whereas the long-range national interest, a
precedents remained, resulting in policy which corresponds to an in-
a growing national unitary state ternal policy favoring free gov-
and a greatly strengthened execu- ernment and the long-range public
tive. In the postwar period there interest." From the days of the
was governmental intervention in French Revolution on, popular pas-
the areas of price control, wages sions in America reverberated oc-
and hours legislation, rate regula- casionally to democratic move-
tion, and restrictions on the free- ments abroad, but they did not
sway the makers of foreign policy could mean that just as foreign pol-
who were guided by "constitu- icy previously favored liberalism,
tional reason." The shift from now it could favor foreign systems
and movements that were akin to
neutralism to internationalism oc-
the programs of the Progressives,
curred around the turn of the cen-
the New Freedom, the New Deal and
tury, but it was the moralisms of the New Frontier. Since these pro-
\Voodrow Wilson which finally grams emphasized social rather than
opened the floodgates. Hardheaded property rights, "civil" rather than
considerations of national interest civil rights, national power rather
make for peace, but they do not than federalism, a concentration of
convey the same emotional impact power in the political branches of
as statements about "national in- government rather than the separa-
tegrity," "human rights," and a tion of powers, foreign policy could
"world safe for democracy." We well come to favor similar trends
abroad. It could even become capti-
abandoned rationality as the guid-
vated by foreign movements that
ing principle of our foreign policy,
went further to the left, such as so-
as domestically we had accepted cialism and Communism.
its correlative, majoritarian de-
mocracy. Those who manage and No one can survey the record of
further domestic affairs in the in- the past generation and argue
terests of the Great Society will that the United States has pur-
also manage foreign affairs; and sued a foreign policy geared to
because these men vibrate in sym- hardheaded reasons of national
pathy with their like numbers in interest. Rather, with will numbed,
other nations where these trends we have witlessly stumbled into
are more advanced, our foreign one bloody situation after an-
policy has lost its head-so to other, losing prestige abroad and
speak- and makes less and less spreading dissension at home.
sense as the years go by. Pro- What are the prospects? Can
fessor Dietze says it better: we go beyond the present dilem-
rna? History is made by men
Since the democratization of for- and men are moved by ideas.
eign policy makers in a large meas-
When a significant number of peo-
ure was brought about by a move-
ment which favored social legislation ple, like Professor Dietze, come to
over laissez faire, "liberalism" over identify the wrong ideas which
liberalism, absolute majority rule have generated the present mud-
over free government, there was also dle, and discard them for sound
a good chance that the substance of ideas, they'll make a different his-
foreign policy would change. This tory. ~
the
Freeman
VOL. 18, NO.7. JULY 1968
Moral Education - and History Frederick A. Manchester 387

From the historical record may be drawn some suggestions for a moral regenera-
tion in our time.
Still Life on Fire John Otterson 397

Concerning the vast unknown within ourselves and how to bring it forth.
Separation of Powers and' the Labor Act:

I. Congressional Policies vs. Labor ~oard Policies Sylvester Petro 402
An expert analysis of the forfeiture of Congressional legislative power to an ex-
ecutive agency - the National Labor Relations Board.
Confiscation and Class Hatred Henry Hazlitt 415

Whether in Britain or the U.S. or anywhere else, confiscatory taxes can de'stroy the
economy.
Some Lessons of Rhodesia William Henry Chamberlin 417

Peace and prosperity seem to depend far more on domestic law and order than on
international sanctions and other meddling.
A Power that Serves Walter l. Upson 424

Their object is to generate horse power and purchasing power without resort
to coercion.
The Rise and Fall of England

5. liberty and Property Secured Clarence B. Carson 428
Not so much through new guarantees as by gradual repeal of old prohibitions and
restraints.
Albert Nock's Job Nicholas Silia, Jr. 439

To improve one's own understanding is the most likely way to convey a good idea
to others.
Book Reviews 441

"Poverty Is Where the Money Is" by Shirley Scheibla
"The New Ordeal by Planning" by John Jewkes
"George Washington in the American Revolution 17751783"
by James Thomas Flexner

the
Freeman
IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK TEL.: (914) 591-7230

Economic Education

and limited government, founded in 1946.

U.S.A. Additional copies, postpaid, to one address: Single copy, 50 centsj
3 for $1.00j 10 for $2.50j 25 or more, 20 cents each.
IIMoral Education - and History," still Life on Fire," IIConfiscation
and Class Hatred," and lithe Rise and Fall of England,"
A PROMINENT Protestant clergy-
man, the Rev. Dr. Norman Vin-
cent Peale, has recently been
quoted as saying that "We are liv-
ing in probably the most undis-
ciplined age in history."1 Well, if
this age is indeed liable to so seri-
ous a charge, it should be of in-
terest to know whether the past
owed its differing condition to ac-
cident or whether this may have
been related to specific measures
which it has taken. What, in this
connection, have other ages done?
I suggest that we direct our at-
tention to a few examples of past
practice.
First, what about primitive cul-
tures ? At adolescence boys are
given "moral instruction, includ-
ing tribal usage relating to obedi-
ence, courage, truth, hospitality,
sexual relationships, reticence,
and perseverance."2 - "Sometimes
long periods of silence are im-
posed upon novices in connection
with the puberal ceremonies of
most primitive peoples. . . . Aus-
tralian boys go alone into the
bush, and are required to main-
tain silence for long periods. Afri-
can lads are required to remain
1 U. S. News & World Report, March 4,
1968.
2 W. D. Humbly, Origins of Education
Among Primitive Peoples, 1926, cited in
The History and Philosophy of Educa-
tion Ancient and Medieval, by Frederick
Eby and Charles Flinn Arrowood, 1940,
p.15.
388 THE FREEMAN July
silent and immobile- for long pe- five centuries later in the Instruc-
riods. Such practices test a boy's tions written for King Merikere,
obedience and self-control, and his father, who was the Pharaoh,
render teachings associated with referred to 'God, who knoweth
them especially impressive."3 character.' The Egyptian use of
the word character signified 'to
In Ancient Egypt
shape, to form, or to build.' It had
As to education in ancient in view especially the work of the
Egypt, we are told that morals potter, in molding clay on his
were its "central feature.... Civi- wheel. . . . The literature of re-
lization demanded the evolution mote antiquity had a distinct
and enrichment of moral life. To pedagogical purpose. The first and
this end the Egyptians sought to deepest of all human interests, or,
train and instruct their young in one might say, the first of all sci-
the art of virtuous living. Their ences, was the knowledge of how
method of moral cultivation was a to live. Not how to secure food,
great advance beyond the simple but how to live with, and act
training of primitive society, and toward, one's fellows, that is, to
.yet it was similar in character. live in human relations."4
Their chief writings were a series
Hebrew Education
of moral aphorisms and incidents,
the distilled experience and wis- Of Hebrew education it has
dom of the fathers, set down for been said that it "is unlike any
the instruction of their sons. The other whatsoever in that it made
boys learned this wisdom by copy- God the beginning. It began,
ing the 'wisdom literature' again therefore, by teaching the child the
and again as their daily lessons. most general and universal, and
It was literally 'line upon line, pre- not the particular. It began with
cept upon precept'; but these were the social, and not the individual;
learned by writing and not by with the personal and ethical, and
memorizing them. - The sage old not with things. It began with the
vizier, Ptah-hotep, in the twenty- abstract and unseen, and not with
seventh century B. c., wrote, 'Pre- the seen and the concrete; with
cious to a man is the virtue of obedience to law and reverence
his son, and good character is a for God, and not in the acquisi-
thing remembered.' This is said tion of the arts of reading and
to be the first recorded use of the writing. Truth was deduced from
word character in literature. Some this divine, original principle, and
3 Eby and Arrowood, Ope cit., p. 17. 4 Ibid., pp. 87.
1968 MORAL EDUCATION - AND HISTORY 389
not learned by induction. Jewish also sober and thoughtful. Brought
education was spiritual, and up in the self-renouncing atmos-
therefore it stood in direct con- phere of the preceptor's family,
tradiction to the empirical and they were able to discharge the
naturalistic systems of other peo- duties of the householder's life
ples. The fact that it has outlasted (their life in their second twenty-
every other system whatsoever five years) with strong other-
makes it the most successful ed- regarding tendencies and with
ucational experiment ever staged their passions and appetites sub-
in the history of civilization."5 dued or moderated. Devotion to
duty and spiritual exercises prac-
The Culture of India
tised long in the preceptor's fam-
In ancient India, a boy belong- ily made them loving, friendly,
ing to anyone of the three upper broad-minded, truthful and
of the four castes had to live with happy."6
his parents until he had been in-
.. . And of Greece
vested with the holy thread and
initiated into the sacred Gayatri- Of education in ancient Greece,
Mantra. "But as soon as he got his 'we can catch a glimpse in the fol-
initiation, at the age of eight or lowing sentences from the Protag-
ten, he had to leave his father's oras of Plato (Jowett's transla-
house and go to the house of his tion) : "Education and admonition
would-be teacher and live with commence in the .first years of
him until he was twenty-five, childhood, and last to the very end
when he would have become of life. Mother and nurse and fa-
master of all the branches of ther and tutor are quarreling
learning. The life spent in the about the improvement of the
professor's house is called the life child as soon as ever he is able
of Brahmacharya. This was ex- to understand them: he can not
actly the opposite of what we call say or do anything without their
a comfortable and luxurious life. setting forth to him that this is
However rich his parents might just and that is unjust; this is
be, a new student would be treated honorable, that is dishonorable;
equally with his compeers." - "The this is holy, th'at is unholy; do
celibate students of the classical 6 The two quoted passages are from
days were trained to be hardy and For Thinkers on Education (Mylapore,
robust and were not only learned Madras, Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1948)-
in the lore of the day but were the first, here slightly edited, from Book
One. p. 3; the second from the anony-
5 Ibid., p. 157. mous Introduction. p. xi.
this and abstain from that. And The Wisdom of the Chinese
if he obeys, well and good; if not, In ancient China, we are told,
he is straightened by threats and "The most important thing [in
blows, like a piece of warped wood. respect to 'rightness of relation-
At a later stage they send him to ship'], which all children were
teachers, and enj oin them to see taught, was the relation between
to his manners even more than to themselves and other people. There
his reading and music; and the were Five Relationships (just as
teachers do as they are desired. there were Five Virtues [kind-
And when the boy has learned his ness, good manners, knowledge,
letters and is beginning to under- uprightness, and honor]) to which
stand what is written, as before every man must be _true. These
he understood only what was were the relation between parent
spoken, they put into his hands and child, between husband and
the works of great poets, which wife, between ruler and subject,
he reads at school; in these are between older brother and younger
contained many admonitions, and brother and between friend and
many tales, and praises, and en- friend. If everyone were true to
comia of ancient famous men, these five, then truly there would
which he is required to learn by be no unhappiness in the world.
heart, in order that he may imi- If friends are faithful and help-
tate or emulate them and desire to ful to each other; if the elder
become like them. Then, again, the brother protects and guides the
teachers of the lyre take similar younger, and if the younger
care that their young disciple is brother respects and obeys the
temperate and gets into no mis- elder; if the subject is loyal to
chief; and when they have taught his ruler and the ruler's first
him the use of the lyre, they in- thought is to care for his people;
troduce him to the poems of other if \vife and husband live together
excellent poets, who are the lyric in perfect harmony . . . ; if the
poets; and these they set to music, child honors and serves his
and make their harmonies and parents and the parents cherish
rhythms quite familiar to the chil- their child, where is there any
dren, in order that they may learn room for evil doing? These five
to be more gentle, and harmonious, loyalties were to the Chinese what
and rhythmical, and so more fitted the Ten Commandments were to
for speech and action; for the life the Jews and the last one was the
of man in every part has need of most important. For if the son
harmony and rhythm." truly honors his parents, he will
do nothing wrong, since that would to know the sort of ethics that in-
bring sorrow and shame upon evitably came to their attention,
them, but he will always do his we have only to turn to its pages.
best, in order to give them pride From it I quote a number of pas-
and joy in him. This command- sages: all of them are (or contain)
ment has held the Chinese people sayings of Confucius:
together from Yao's time [Yao "A virtuous ruler is like the
was an ancient, legendary king] Pole-star, which keeps its place,
until this present century, and has while all the other stars do homage
had much to do with the amaz- to it." - "If a man can reform his
ingly long life of their nation."7 own heart, what should hinder him
The details given are of great from taking part in government?
interest, but the unique and per- But if he cannot reform his own
haps the most striking fact about heart, what has he to do with re-
education in China is - or rather forming others?" - "At home, a
has been until very recently - its young man should show the quali-
relation to the government. Con- ties of a son; abroad, those of a
fucius (551-479 B.C.) was, as ev- younger brother. He should be cir-
eryone knows, the teacher par ex- cumspect but truthful. He should
cellence of his nation, the revered have charity in his heart for all
transmitter of the moral wisdom men, but associate only with the
of his people accumulated through virtuous. After thus regulating
untold centuries. As early as the his conduct, his surplus energy
reign of Wu Ti (140-87 B.C.) ex- should be devoted to literary cul-
aminations based on Confucian ture." - "The princely man never
classics were employed as the for a single instant quits the path
means of selecting state officials, of virtue; in times of storm and
and subsequently this system has stress he remains in it as fast as
been characteristic of China - at ever." - "The nobler sort of man
least from and including the Tang is proficient in the knowledge of
Dynasty - until the twentieth cen- his duty; the inferior n1an is pro-
tury. One of the Confucian clas- ficient only in money-making."-
sics is the Analects. This book, "The subdual of self, and rever-
then, among others, was the ob- sion to the natural la\vs governing
ject of the closest possible study conduct - this is true goodness. If
by youth aspiring to a post in the a man can for the space of one day
government. If, therefore, we wish subdue his selfishness and revert
7 Elizabeth Seeger, The Pageant of
to natural laws, the whole world
Chinese History, 1962, P. 45. will call him good. True goodness
springs from a man's own heart." "Boys of what might be termed

- "Make conscientiousness and the middle class . . . were handed
truth guiding principles, and thus over to special priests for educa-
pass on to the cultivation of duty tion at about the age of six, or
to your neighbor. This is exalted even earlier. They were lodged in
virtue." - [Confuci us, being asked, special boys' houses in an organi-
"Is there anyone maxim which zation which might be compared
ought to be acted upon throughout to a modern boarding school, save
one's whole life ?"J "Surely the that the discipline in the Mexican
maxim of charity is such: - Do schools was much stricter.... Ed-
not unto others what you would ucation included a very strict
not they should do unto you."- moral training...
"With coarse food to eat, water to "Another college existed for the
drink, and the bended arm as a education of the sons of the nobil-
pillow, happiness may still exist. ity.... Here the education was
Wealth and rank unrighteously even stricter, and the discipline
obtained seem to me as insubstan- more rigid.... During the whole
tial as floating clouds."8 period of the training, which va-
ried from about six to eight years,
Mexico Before the Spanish the boys were under a very strict
From the Old World I now turn supervision. They slept in the col-
for a moment to the New, specifi- lege building, and, apparently, sel-
cally to Mexico, and to this at a dom saw their parents....
comparatively early period. We are "Girls of the nobility and mid-
told that here, at the time of the dle classes were prepared for mar-
Spanish conquest- ried life by instruction in girls'
"From a very early age the schools patterned after those of
training of the child was very the boys. They entered these at
strict.... "Vith such strict train- about the age of five . . . Disci-
ing it is not strange that the pline, as among the boys, was very
Spaniards were astonished at the strict, and long periods of silence
high moral tone of the natives, were imposed upon them. They
and their reluctance to tell a lie. "vere never allowed to leave the
Unfortunately contact between college precincts unless accom-
the two civilizations soon led to panied by an old woman, who
a rapid moral degeneration of the served as chaperon. This rule was
native code. not relaxed even when exercising
in the school gardens. Should they
8 From The Sayings of Confucius, by
Lionel Giles. meet anyone not connected with
the school, they were forbidden to continued to honor on this con-
speak or even raise their eyes tinent, with very slight modifica-
from the ground. - Punishment tions, down nearly to the close of
for infractions of these rules was the eighteenth century."l1 "The
severe.... Even daughters of the old education," said Irving Babbitt
rulers were subjectpd to the same in 1924, referring to the early
discipline."!) American college, "was, in inten-
tion at least, a training for wis-
Early American Methods dom and character."12
and the Christian Influence So much for our American col-
I come now, very briefly, to the leges; now the schools. "The most
post-classical period in the Occi- prominent characteristic of all the
dent - with special reference to early colonial schooling was the
America. "In the progress of west- predominance of the religious pur-
ern education," it has been said, pose in instruction. One learned to
"Christianity has been the su- read chiefly to be able to read the
preme influence. It is impossible Catechism and the Bible, and to
to understand the institutions and know the \vill of the Heavenly Fa-
culture of occidental civilization ther. There \vas scarcely any other
during the past two thousand purpose in the maintenance of ele-
years without this new ethical n1entary schools."13 Of Horace
force."lO. . . "Our earliest Amer- Mann (1796-1859) it has been
ican Colleges were founded on the said: "His hvelve carefully \vrit-
model of those of British universi- ten Repo1'ts on the condition of
ties: and here, as there, their education in Massachusetts and
avowed design, at the time of their else,vhere, with his intelligent dis-
foundation, was not merely to cllssion of the aims and purposes
raise up a class of learned men, of public education, occupy a com-
but specifically to raise up a class nlanding place in the history of
of learned men for the Christian American education, ,vhile he ,viII
Ministry.... This was the system always be regarded as perhaps the
which time had honored at Oxford greatest of the 'founders' of our
and Cambridge, and which time American system of free public
schools. Noone did more than he
fI J. Eric Thompson, Mexico Before
Corte.: (New York, Charles Scrib~er's 11 F. A. P. Barnard, 1872, as cited in
Sons, 1933), Chapter II: "The Cycle of Public Education in the United States, by
Life." Omissions from the quoted pas- Ellwood P. Cubberley, 1947 edition, pp.
sages include details of harsh disciplinary 33f.
punishments. 1~ Democracy and Leade1'ship, p. 303.
10 Eby and Arrowood, op cit., p. 578. 13 Ellwood P. Cubberley, op. cit., p. 41.
to establish in the minds of the new generation is a fresh invasion

American people the conception of barbarians. They have devel-
that education should be universal, oped systems of training all un-
nonsectarian, and free, and that questionably aimed, whatever their
its aim should be social efficiency, specific nature, at producing disci-
civic virtue, and character, rather plined men and women, and if the
than mere learning or the ad- societies they have created have
vancement of sectarian ends."14 all been, as Dr. Peale would appear
From this last quotation it ap- to think probable, more disci-
pears that though Mann was an plined than ours, the inference is
outstanding agent in the trans- plain.
forming of American popular ed-
ucation he meant to preserve What Can We Do?
ethical values among its aims. And we in mid-twentieth cen-
Again we encounter the crucial tury America, what, if anything,
word character. are we doing to civilize our incom-
What, then, if anything, to re- ing barbarians?
turn to our starting point, have By what is perhaps universal
past ages done to bring about, or belief, the most effective agency
to maintain, a disciplined society? for moral training is the home.
To judge from the examples I What of the home in contemporary
have adduced, two things are ob- America? According to Dr. Peale,
vious. One is, emphatically, that it lacks discipline, morality, spirit-
they have done something. They uality, and even love. "Two gener-
have not been passive. They have ations of parents who abandoned
not been "permissive" - if by be- the old American home quality of
,ing permissive we n1ean allowing discipline have caused our univer-
youth to grow up in uninhibited sities to inherit neuroses, neglect,
responsiveness to their native im- permissiveness, creating a student
pulses and desires. The other thing generation that thinks it can get
is that they have subjected their what it yells for, even student
children to a process, definite and power or control of the universi-
in some cases severe, of moral edu- ties themselves."l;:) Whether or not
cation. In short, they would appear completely subscribing to these
to have shared in no small degree views, probably most observers
the view I have seen curtly ex- who reflect on the subject would
pressed, more or less facetiously agree that the American home,
no doubt, to the effect that each partly because of the increasing
14 Ibid., p. 226. 15 For source, see footnote 1 above.
break-up of the family and con- ages have done, is tremendous-
sequent loosening of its ties, is even, perhaps some \vill feel, star-
functioning most inadequately as tling. What in the way of positive
a moralizing force. Another poten- action on our part does the con-
tial moralizing force, once no doubt trast suggest as desirable - even
secondary in importance only to mandatory?
the home, is the organized church.
Here my own testimony must be The Answer Comes Clear
mainly inference and surmise, but The answer to this vital ques-
it would seem to me inevitable tion is luminously clear - even,
that with the widespread shift of one might almost contend, logically
emphasis in religion from its inescapable - provided the follow-
former task of purifying and ele- ing propositions are true: (1)
vating the individual soul to con- that what purports to be history
cern with social amelioration and and what we read as such is sub-
the forwarding of humanitarian stantially authentic; (2) that my
causes, its effect upon traditionally examples are in fact substantially
basic morals would be greatly di- representative; (3) that human
minished; and I am unaware of nature, within the limits of re-
contradictory evidence. Still an- corded history, has not significant-
other potentially major force for ly changed; and (4) that we in
right conduct, a force vigorously America today are seriously dis-
operative, as we have seen, in co- satisfied with the moral condition
lonial times, and no doubt still of our culture.
more or less operative at least as As to the first of these proposi-
late as a century ago, is formal tions there has been scepticism.
education - the schools and the One recalls the comment - how
colleges. What has become of that seriously made I do not know-
force today? My own impression that history is a lie agreed upon:
is that apart from religious schools un mensonge convenu; and an out-
and colleges it is virtually non- standing American industrialist
existent. has been quoted as saying, com-
The emerging contrast between prehensively, that "history is
what we are doing in America to- bunk." Such scepticism, serious or
day in the way of moral education otherwise, can, I think, be sum-
(or rather what we are not do- marily dismissed.
ing), and what, if the examples I Of the truth of the second prop-
have adduced may be considered osition - that my examples are
reasonably representative, past in fact substantially representa-
tive - I leave the reader to judge. Pharisee, is like unto the first:
The third proposition - that hu- "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
man nature has not significantly thyself."
changed since history was first There can perhaps be no plainer
written - is probably accepted by proof of the impotence of current
most people, though I dare say criticism than the willingness of
there are some, dazzled by the an author to expose himself to
marvels of modern science and ridicule by an assertion diametri-
technology, who are firmly con- cally opposed, beyond all question,
vinced that the world has lately to the moral experience of man-
begun anew and that mankind has kind.
been more or less transformed. It Of the truth of the fourth prop-
would not much surprise me to osition - that we in America to-
hear of a new book, amply sup- day are seriously dissatisfied with
ported by laboratory statistics, en- the moral condition of our culture
titled Human Nature Today. In a - I leave the reader to judge.
recent number of Reader's Digest To what, then, if all these prop-
(February, 1968) I see Eric Hof- ositions may be accepted as cor-
fer quoted as observing: "The re- responding with the facts, does the
markable thing is that we really argument plainly lead? It leads to
love our neighbor as ourselves: the conclusion that an imperative
we do unto others as we do unto requirement of our time is an all-
ourselves.... It is not love of self out drive toward intensifying the
but hatred of self which is at the moralizing activities of the home,
root of the troubles that afflict the the church, and all other relevant
world" - and all this despite the social agencies, and the establish-
fact that genuine religion every- ment, at all levels, of a definite
where has as a main objective the plan of moral education, wherever
subdual and destruction of the ego! it does not now exist, in our edu-
In the passage cited from Mr. Hof- cational institutions. To ignore
fer he does not remark that he this requirement, in view of the
thinks human nature has changed, world outlook of the moment, and
and if he does not think it has especially of the consequent urgent
done so for, say, two thousand demand for political and other
years, he is attributing to the leaders trained, not merely tech-
Founder of Christianity an exer- nically, but pre-eminently for wis-
cise in superfluity that is truly dom and character, might seem to
gigantic. The second command- reasonably prudent minds to verge
ment, said Jesus to the tempting on madness. ~
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JOHN OTTERSON
WHEN we feel we know others it powerful, violent horror of Titus

is remarkable, understanding as Andronicus or the creator of A
little as we do about ourselves. Midsummer Night's Dream!
The human personality is im- The human is an extraordinary
mensely complex. The person. is a mixture of tendencies and strains.
great deal more than a name, far And from the time of first young
more than certain physical, men- years, certain feelings, certain
tal, and emotional characteristics. directions grow stronger, feed
It is only in.the human being that their appetite, and begin to hold
untried ideas are born, and by audience. It is a wondrous thing,
him that discoveries are made and both delightful and sometimes
poems written. Perhaps the true frightening, to witness this gene-
person is the hidden dweller in all sis of growth in the young. And
things. We have resident within we evolve as a grown person not
us not one nature, but many. We' by advancing all our capacities on
house a myriad of selves super- an even front, but by the selective
imposed upon each other like end- development of a few of these and
less reflections in opposing mir- by integrating them into a func-
rors. Which is the true Shakes- tioning totality. We are both
peare, the man who wrote the chemist and crucible in this deci-
Mr. Otterson is an artist, art .director, lec- sion-making process.
turer, and teacher in Santa Monica, Cali-
fornia. If we choose any positive rela-
397
tionship to life, we tacitly acceptthey can "take it" and frame new
its hazards and handicaps, its hopes. And does not the strength
dissonance and harmony. Opposi- of caring, of how much we care,
tion comes to every man who as- does this not signal the inconven-
pires. Dissonance and consonanc,e iences one will suffer, the risks
are as inseparable as the two one will chance? Half-hearted in-
sides of a coin; they are ceaselessterest did not take an Albert
rhythms in life. But what of the Schweitzer into his jungle hospi-
challenges: will they be masked or tal and keep him there year after
unmasked; will they come as a year. Gigantic battles are waged,
whisper or as a clap of thunder; fought without bow and arrow,
will they inflict mere surface without shield, without helmet, or
scratches, infected wounds, or javelin or cannon, without bay-
mortal blows? And what of our onet or rifle. One can move
direction: is it determined; is it through the most intense conflicts
straight as the pull of a magnet with serenity. One may hear the
or are we like the ancient God, command to surrender and yet not
Janus, with two faces looking in give up.
opposite directions? Have we per- A flower is held before a mir-
mitted ourselves to be caught in ror; the mirror reflects the flower,
a revolving door? When Alice in but has no knowledge of it. And
Wonderland asked the Cheshire the human eye has no more knowl-
cat which path she should take edge, no more awareness, no more
through the forest, the grinning consciousness of the flower than
cat simply replied that it would the mirror. But our inner eye, our
depend on which way she wanted inner reaction to what the physi-
to go and then added that they allcal eye has imaged, proj ects to the
lead somewhere. flower its consciousness, its mean-
ing or feeling to us. And this
It may be the crISIS moment might tell quite a story about the
that ultimately reveals what we person we are; and what we mean
are. Or it may be the "long haul," to ourselves.
calling for infinite patience and Every waking moment, con-
tenacity, determining the endur- sciously or subconsciously, we se-
ance values by which we live. lect, we respond, rej ect, accept. To
There are those whose hopes have live is to be for some things and
been broken again and again, but against others; but always under-
they will manage to find the re- standing that confusion destroys
siliency to never be "used-up"; purpose. We listen, talk, we walk
1968 STILL LIFE ON FIRE 399
or ride. With each breath we pro- turn our backs to its natural world
j ect or reflect the results of inner - the natural world with its gifts,
selections, our emotional road- its sights, its sounds, its colors
blocks, our mental foxholes: our and inexhaustable forms, its vast
choosings, likes or dislikes, our ap- spaces and intricate detail? Have
preciations, loves, sensitivities or we been as absentees for too long
insensitivities, our enthusiasms a time from its wonders; have we
and our beliefs, the impoverish- lost our sense of proportion and
ment or richness, the peace or developed emotional myopia? Have
war within our being. All are part we lowered our eyes from the hills
of our working-out whole; they and mountains? And what if
are the me,mbers of our cast, the beauty has wings; do we grasp
ingredients of our recipe, the only a feather as she flies by1
thoughts, the feelings, our way. Does not the sunset allow a star
In closing lines to one of his to shine more brightly 1
poems Robert Frost wrote: "The Do we let our heads and hearts
road diverged in a wood, and I- and those of our young ones grow
I took the one less traveled by, away from the earth 1 It is not the
and that made all the difference." education but the preservation of
virgin sensibilities that is vital.
Stone skeletons, the wrecks of Can we still taste from a moun-
past civilizations, lie scattered in tain spring; have we treasured
awful silence across the earth's the desire to dream 1 Anatole
surface. These human societies de- France writes, "to know is noth-
clined and fell when inner decay ing, to imagine is everything."
became their disease. As we move Are we in too much of a hurry to
closer together, do we grow fur- pause; are we too in a hurry to
ther apart! Do we forget that one share this pause with some young
of the greatest needs, yearnings of one ? We open the pages of The
the human being is a sense of the Little Prince : "And a brilliantly
worth\vhileness in living? And it lighted express train shook the
is the quality of self-renewal that switchman's cabin as it rushed by
builds this sense of worthwhile- with a roar like thunder. 'They are
ness. With continual effort opposi- in a hurry,' said the little prince.
tion becomes a time for growth. 'What are they looking for1' 'Not
Do we wish to merely exist, to even the locomotive engineer
vegetate, to become "it-things"- knows that,' said the switchman."
emotional strangers on earth? The farmer looks for rain, the
This earth is our home! Do we fisherman waits for the tides, the
sailor watches the stars. Let us no exits. Nor is he "sle.eping away

discover within ourselves. Inquisi- the unreturning time." Within his
tive man must part the curtains; vision the eye of a needle can be
he must seek beyond the evidence; an opening for the longest thread.
his is the lure over the horizon as He is the owner of flexible re-
his lighted candle reveals more sponses; he is the human being
darkness. And the individual who not fighting himself, and he re-
has all the answers; could he be flects a sound measure of self-
the one who is afraid not to have trust. A blade of grass pushes
them? What vistas lie ahead of through concrete in its journey to
the words, "I do not know." One reach the sun; the spring crocus
of the most exciting traits of sci- reaches upward, cracking a solid
ence is an intense desire to over- crust of winter's ice. Fabre found
come its own ignorance. a universe hatched by the sunlight
in a stagnant pool only a few feet
Frequently, we refer to a be- wide.
yond: beyond belief, beyond en- And what of the boyar girl
durance, beyond understanding. dreaming alone on the hillside?
But are we not thinking of the Must our lostness label them anti-
outside beyond rather than the be- social; must we smother them with
yond within our being? What the suffocating vocabulary of to-
frustrations result from inner, getherness? Has the game of the
bottled-up beyonds? Charles individual been called because of
Dickens told of such a situation, darkness! No - we hear the bird,
a Mr. Creakle, a man of undis- the tree, the warmth of time, the
ciplined passion; but he, unfor- quality of moonlight - they whis-
tunately, could not speak above a per "this way." And accolades to
whisper. The searcher, the dis- Don Quixote, to Cervantes -
coverer will see beyond a threat- Quixote is as much a child as his
ening present; he can sense pos- author was a genius, and as much
sibilities and moves into each a genius as his creator was a child.
situation with an a.live interest. 0, to scour that rusty suit of ar-
To him life is not a sordid circus, mor; to transfigure the country
or a comic satire; it is not a play- lass into a great lady; 0, to mount
ground for hypocrisy or retarded that ramshackle steed Rozinante
naivete. Cynicism and bitterness and ride fearlessly into life. Is
have not injected their venomous this not the world of our waking
solutions into his veins. He is not dreams! And is it not the love of
trapped in stifling corridors with life for what it truly is, not what
1968 STILL LIFE ON FIRE 401
man attempts to squeeze into his his stomach in pain and composes
stuffy mold? Do we escape the nor- Parsival; Renoir, hands crippled
mal undulations of routine; do we by arthritis, has a brush strapped
lift ourselves above despair! Long to his arm and paints some of his
ago a wise man said, "The flowers finest canvases. And what of Lin-
of tomorrow are in the seeds of coIn: in the mixed shame and
today." We stand, now, not in the blame of two clashing civiliza,-
past, not in the future. The seeds tions, often with nothing to say,
burst with life; we hold a rainbow he said nothing; frequently, he
in our arms; we delay the sun- slept not at all and on occasions
set's blush for another moment; he was seen to weep but in a way
we shelter the breath of twilight; that made weeping appropriate,
we touch the rising moon. decent, maj estic.
Wait! a miracle: a woman alone
Solitude; her hours belong to in her tiny home and blind for
us; she is the immense stillness; twenty years suddenly regains her
a great tenderness, an at-one-ment, sight. The joy nearly overwhelms
a vast loneliness with no lonely her; the colors, the rooms, the
being. Have we both eye and furniture, the world she has never
vision: beyond knowledge there seen, she must share this, tell it
must be insight, beyond judgment to all. Her grown daughter walks
there must be love. An opened seed through the front door. The
joins the ,vind: a spark from the mother, her unblinded eyes filled
volcano; a snowflake from the with tears, says, "Darling, I see
mountain, a heartbeat from the you."
swamp, from the slough of cities,
from forgotten towns, a heartbeat Again a whisper - come lead the
from the belly of a ship, from the 'way: it is the music of daybreak;
agony of battlefield. it is the pageant of the seasons; it
Columbus wrote in the log of is gentle rain falling through the
his first voyage across the un- leaves; it is the fresh morning
known Atlantic, "This day we dew spreading silver over the
sailed on." Nietzsche exhorts man fields. We feel the mystery; some
to get off his knees, to stand on his seals cannot be broken. Man's will
feet, and then he collapses. Tschai- for hope. We look above the elec-
kovsky says, "I'm sick again" and tric lights, above the neon tubes,
writes a symphony; Wagner grabs and see the stars. ~
Separation of Powers
and the Labor Act
I. CONGRESSIONAL POLICIES
versus LABOR BOARD POLICIES
H ow a delegation of judicial power to an executive

agency has brought about a loss of policy-making
legislative power to the congress
SYLVESTER PETRO
WHEN the Senate was considering the national labor policy, an ap-
the Taft-Hartley Bill in 1947, plication of the Labor Act more
Senator Joseph H. Ball, though faithful to Congressional intent,
himself a leading proponent of the than the Labor Board had pro-
Bill, called attention to its out- vided under the Wagner Act. 2
standing weakness. He said: "The Congress hoped in 1947 that such
rights guaranteed to employees ... a result could be achieved by a
could be made a complete dead number of provisions which ex-
letter overnight by a National horted the Labor Board to oper-
Labor Relations Board that was ate more in the manner of a regu-
so inclined."l lar court. 3 Unfortunately, how-
One of the major objectives of ever, the Labor Board members
the Taft-Hartley Act was to .se- were asked to produce judicial re-
cure a fairer administration of sults without being given one of
Dr. Petro is Professor of Law at New York the essential characteristics of
University School of Law. He has written
several books, inc1udine; The Labor Policy of Federal judicial office - life tenure
the Free Society (1957) and Power Un-
limited: The Corruption 01 Union Leadership 1 This and subsequent footnotes will
(1959), and is a noted lecturer and con-
tributor to malazines. be found at end of the article, page 412.
AI\9
1968 CONGRESSIONAL VS. LABOR BOARD POLICIES 403
- and without being placed in the It gave the administrative branch

only branch of the Federal gov- a critical edge over and above the
ernment which can, if it wishes, natural advantage which it pos-
devote itself essentially to non- sesses as the activist branch of
political, disinterested interpreta- government - the only branch
tion and application of law- which possesses and wields sub-
namely, the Federal judiciary. stantial and sustained aggressive
Asking the short-term, politically power, much money, and hordes
oriented Labor-Board members to of personnel.
act as a court was much the same The observable result is that
as asking a baseball pitcher to call Congress's labor policies now pre-
his own balls and strikes. This is vail only to the extent that the
what disturbed Senator Ball. His United States Courts of Appeals
fears have been borne out. continue to exercise in Labor-Act
The labor policies prevailing cases the fragments of their con-
today are as much those of the stitutional judicial power that
Labor Board as they are those de- Congress and the Supreme Court
clared by Congress in the National permit them to exercise. 4
Labor Relations Act. The two are It adds up to this: If Congress
radically different in certain crit- wishes to preserve its legislative
ical respects. Since the Labor policy-making supremacy, it must
Board is an administrative respect the judicial supremacy of
agency, and since the Constitution the Federal courts. We attain the
delegates all policy-making, legis- height of practical realism today
lative powers to Congress, a mis- when we rediscover what Ameri-
carriage of the principle of the cans learned in the eighteenth cen-
separation of powers has occurred. tury, what Englishmen learned
This miscarriage was not and relearned a dozen times from
brought about by any defect in- the eleventh century to the seven-
herent in the principle itself. It teenth century, and what Aristotle
was brought about by a violation discovered in the fourth century,
of the principle. Influenced by B.C., namely, that executive power
plausible error, Congress merged is strong stuff which must be care-
into a short-term politically ori- fully guarded.
ented executive agency significant
aspects of administrative, judicial, Principles Pertaining to Separation
and legislative power. That mer- IIere are the practical principles
ger upset the delicate balance which should influence thought on
which the Constitution establishes. the Separation of Powers:
1. That a wary legislature and an pointed for life to judicial office; but
independent court system with com- that nevertheless life tenure in ju-
plete and unfragmented judicial dicial office, as the Constitution re-
power - even working as deliberate quires, is absolutely necessary if the
allies - are by no means over- policy-making legislative supremacy
matched against an ambitious ex- of Congress is to be preserved; and
ecutive; that, to repeat, if Congress wishes
to maintain its constitutional legis-
2. That if the rule of law is to be lative supremacy, it is going to have
roughly approximated, executive to accept and affirm the constitu-
power must be confined to pure ad- tional judicial supremacy of the
ministration, even when plausible Federal judges.
arguments, based on convenience or
on necessity, are made in favor of
adding legislative and judicial pow- There is more at stake here
ers to the executive power; than an academic exercise in po-
litical theory. The nation is in
3. That if all the inordinately trouble. Some of this trouble
complex and intersecting interests
traces directly to the Labor
of this nation are to be harmonized
Board's usurpation of the policy-
and reconciled tolerably, it is going
to have to be done by policies and
making power and its clumsily
legislation wrought from the kind biased exercise of judicial powers.
of deliberation and compromise While producing rio perceptible
available exclusively to the repre- social benefit, the Labor Board's
sentativebranch of government, administration of the Labor Act
namely, Congress; has been the source of definite
social harm. Since its policies are
4. That the executive. branch is
physically and politically unable to
materially at odds with those of
confine itself to disinterested inter- Congress and since Congress rep-
pretation and application of Con- resents public opinion far better
gress's policies and statutes - es- than the Labor Board does, we
pecially those conceived and enacted may conclude that public senti-
in past times; ment is being flouted. That is evil
enough in a country which values
5. That an independent judiciary
representative government. But
such as that envisioned by the Con-
there are other evils. Perhaps the
stitution may perhaps not be suffi-
cient to insure faithful interpreta- worst product of the Board's un-
tion and application of the laws, representative labor policies has
owing to the possibility that men in- been a chronic, debilitating threat
herently lacking the requisite moral to the viability of the American
and intellectual virtues will be ap- economy, upon which rest both the
well-being of American citizens right to refrain from any or all 01
and the hopes of decent men and such activities.
women everywhere in the world.
Added in 1947, the italicized
The Prindple of Free Employee Choice clause expressed what may be
Occupying the vital center of called a "quantum jump" in public
the labor policies declared by Con- and Congressional evaluation of
gress is the principle of free em- employee rights and collective bar-
ployee choice. This principle was gaining. Prior thereto, as illus-
not worked out overnight in Con- trated by the Wagner Act, public
gress. On the contrary, it emerged and Congressional opinion seemed
from over a half-century of legis- convinced that collective bargain-
lative experimentation. It is vis- ing was so unqualifiedly in the
ible in primitive and fragmentary public interest that there was no
form as far back as the Erdman need to subordinate it to any
Act of 1898. It figured implicitly other principle or even to place
in the Clayton Act of 1914 and ex- any Federal restraints upon
plicitly in the Railway Labor Act trade-union activities, however
of 1925, the Norris-LaGuardia coercive, designed to spread col-
Act of 1932, and the labor rela- lective bargaining. No doubt em-
tions legislation of the mid-thir- ployee rights to freedom of choice
ties. It has come to rest in com- in collective bargaining were even
plete and definitive form in the then favorably evaluated; Section
central, dominant provision of the 7 of the 'Vagner Act stated them,
National Labor Relations Act, and Section 8 was comprehensive-
Section 7, the most significant and ly designed to forestall employer
most carefully considered expres- coercion of employee rights. How-
sion of Congress's fundamental ever, the absence of any prohibi-
labor policy. Section 7 declares tion upon union activities designed
that: coercively to impose unionization
upon unwilling employees implies
Employees shall have the right to that Congress rated collective bar-
self-organization, to form, join, or
gaining superior to employee free-
assist labor organizations, to bar-
gain collectively through represen-
dom of choice.
tatives of their own choosing, and Events during the Wagner Act
to engage in other concerted activi- period (1935-1947) brought about
ties .for the purpose of collective what has proved to be a perman-
bargaining or other mutual aid or ent change of mind both in the
protection, and shall also have the general public and in Congress.
Whereas previously unions and principle in labor relations law, is

collective bargaining were thought not only congruent with the tra-
to be unqualifiedly in the public ditions of the country; it is also
interest, most people began seeing in accord with the present wishes
in the late thirties and forties of the American people as a whole. 5
that unrestrained power and priv- Notwithstanding all that, the
ilege in trade union officials and a Labor Board, sometimes blatantly,
monolithic pro-collective-bargain- more often hypocritically and dis-
ing policy could produce serious ingenuously, but ever persistently
damage in the form of both abuse has been attempting to restore the
of individual employees and weak- state of affairs prevailing under
ness in the economy. the Wagner Act. It has been try-
Still unwilling to discourage ing, often successfully, to re-ele-
either union expansion or collec- vate union organizing privileges
tive bargaining, however, Con- and collective bargaining over the
gress decided to subject them to principle of free employee choice. 6
another principle, the principle of
free employee choice, and did so, Favoring Unionization
as we have seen, by expressly de- Upon occasion one may observe
claring a right in employees to re- the process clearly at work. The
frain from joining unions, or bar- relatively recent Garwin case 7 is
gaining collectively, or participat- an example. There the Board or-
ing in other union activities. There dered an employer to bargain with
can really be no doubt that in so a union even though none of his
legislating Congress faithfully current employees belonged to
represented persistent public opin- that union. According to the
ion. The Congressional majority Board, the order was necessary in
in favor of the Taft-Hartley Act order to remedy prior unfair prac-
was overwhelming. It remains so. tices. The fact that the order
So far as I can tell, and this is the would have fastened upon em-
field of my major long-run inter- ployees a union which they ob-
est, public opinion today is more viously had not chosen seemed less
than ever suspicious of unre- important to the Board than the
strained power and privilege in desirability of maintaining the
trade unions. Legislative trends bargaining status of the union in-
are toward more control of trade volved. Fortunately, a panel of
unions and collective bargaining, judges was formed on the Court
not less. The principle of free em- of Appeals for the District of Co-
ployee choice, Congress's basic lumbia a majority of which con-
sidered itself duty-bound to chal- requirement. 9 In the hands of the

lenge the Board's evaluation of Labor Board, collective bargaining
the policy issue. That Court, which has become an institution encour-
does not habitually question the aging unreasonable, uneconomic
Board's policy determinations demands by unions and discourag-
when they favor unionization or ing resistance to such demands
collective bargaining, held in this by employers. 1o
case that free employee choice is It is true that the Board does
the paramount principle of the not straightforwardly and explic-
national labor policy and that the itly compel concessions - as Judge
Board had incorrectly subordin- VVright in an extraordinary opin-
ated it to the bargaining prin- ion recently said it should do. l l
ciple. 8 But any specialist in the field will
An almost equally egregious disagree that the employer who ada-
placement of Congressional policy mantly refuses to make any conces-
may be seen in the collective-bar- sion can expect to be harassed in-
gaining rules which the Board has definitely by the Board, no matter
laid down. Congress guardedly how honest he is. As a result, em-
and conditionally approved collec- ployers tend to make concessions
tive bargaining as an institution or offer counterproposals whether
potentially in the public interest. or not they think it correct or eco-
The approval was conditional upon nomically feasible to do so. As a
the free choice of employees; there further result, collective bargain-
was to be no collective bargaining ing practices are developing in an
unless a majority of employees in unwholesome way, and the law of
the appropriate unit desired it. collective bargaining surpasses
Moreover, the duty to bargain was the comprehension of even able
carefully guarded by an explicit practitioners.
qualification in Section 8 (d) to A long string of NLRB deci-
the effect that neither concessions sions might be presented - each
nor agreements were required. one requiring sustained and com-
plicated analysis - in illustration
Employer Harassment of the Labor Board's persistent
Defying these unmistakable in- determination to replace Con-
dications of Congressional intent, gress's policies with its own. 12
the Labor Board has held in hun- However, being less interested in
dreds of cases that employers must the substantive minutiae of cur-
make concessions if they are to rent labor law than in the general
satisfy the good-faith bargaining aspects most relevant to the sepa-
ration of powers, I confine myself on the issues, the Labor Board

to an account of only some of the has steadily constricted those free
outstanding examples of the speech rights. So much so that it
Board's ne,gation of Congressional is dangerous nowadays for an em-
policies in favor of its own. ployer to open his mouth at all
One of Congress's dominant during an organizing campaign. 16
purposes in labor legislation over And yet, as an outstanding Fed-
the past twenty years has been to eral judge, Judge Friendly of the
apply equal rules to ,employers Second Circuit, has said, "If Sec-
and unions in organizing cam- tion 8 (c) does not permit an
paigns. Even a superficial glance employer to counter promises of
at the parallel subdivisions of Sec- pie in the sky with reasonable
tion 8 of the National Labor Re- warnings that the pie may be a
lations Act will convincingly re- mirage, it would indeed keep Con-
veal an intent to govern even- gress's word of promise to the ear
handedly the activities of these but break it to the hope."17
normal rivals. 13 Again, this ap- Common sense would seem to
proach faithfully mirrors public suggest that an employer cannot
opinion, which has always favored coerce employee free choice by un-
the equal rule of law. Yet again, conditionally offering benefits. Yet
the Labor Board has flouted both the NLRB, with the approval of
Congressional sentiment and the the Supreme Court, has been hold-
community consensus. The Board ing that an employer violates the
has stretched the rules relating to Act in granting even the most in-
employer conduct to the point nocuous benefits, or merely prom-
where infringement of constitu- ising them, during an organiza-
tional right is a daily occurrence. 14 tional campaign. 18 This may not
On the other hand, it has confined seem a vastly important point. The
regulation of even the most ag- fact is, though, that, together with
gressive, coercive, and monopolis- the extrastatutory limitations im-
tic union conduct to the level, at posed upon employer free speech
most, of mere annoyance. 15 and other strained extensions of
Whereas Congress in Section 8 the law, it has made it possible
(c) of the NLRA expressly im- for the Board to find employers
munized expressions of opinion in guilty of unfair practices when-
order to make sure that employees ever they vigorously resist an or-
would hear both sides in union or- ganizational drive. The Board's
ganizational campaigns, and could apparent objective is to quell all
thus register an informed choice resistance to union expansion. If
it succeeds, employees and their be used in order to secure another

freedom of choice will be the prin- election, not in order to secure im-
cipal victims. mediate recognition of the union as
exclusive bargaining representative.
The Bryant Chucking Grinder Case 3. Cards were signed by 198 of
the 337 employees in the bargaining
With its powers in such for- unit, but the employer refused to
midable array, the Board is in a recognize the union on the basis of
position to impose collective bar- the cards, insisting instead upon an
gaining virtually at will, quite re- election (as the law permits the
gardless of the preferences which employer to do).
employees might register in the 4. An NLRB-conducted secret-
secret-ballot elections .which the ballot election was held in November,
Board is tending to avoid. And 1962. The union was rejected in this
this in spite of the fact that Con- election by a vote of 18.1,. to 12.1,..
5. In December of 1962 the union
gress has indicated that the pre-
filed objections to the election alleg-
ferred - if not the exclusive- ing employer interference.
means of establishing bargaining 6. Entertaining the objections, the
status for unions and imposing Board ordered a new election.
bargaining duties on employers is 7. After the Board ordered the
the secret-ballot election. 19 The new election, the union (for reasons
tortured, devious methods by not explained) withdrew both its
which the Board has thus flouted objections to the past election and
Congressional intent is well worth its petition for a new election; in-
serious attention. The recent case stead, in January of 1963, the union
of Bryant Chucking Grinder Co. filed unfair labor practice charges
v. NLRB20 will serve as an ex- against the employer based on his
pre-election conduct.
ample of how the Board is manag-
8. The NLRB Regional Director
ing to impose collective bargain- dismissed these charges on the
ing, either without elections or, ground that they were disqualified
worse, in spite of election defeats. by the Board's decision in Aiello
Here is an outline of the case. Dairy Farms,21 establishing the rule
that charges would not be enter-
1. A union had been defeated in a tained when they related back to
secret-ballot election in 1959. pre-election conduct.
2. In 1962 that union began an- 9. The union appealed the dis-
other organizing campaign. The rec- missal to the NLRB General Coun-
ord showed that the union circulated sel.
employee authorization cards on the 10. The General Counsel sat on
basis of both public and private this appeal for roughly two years
representations that the cards would while prosecuting other cases in
which he argued that the Board concurred specially, broadly indicat-

should overrule the Aiello Dairy ing that he would much rather have
Farms decision. denied enforcement of the Board
11. Finally, in Bernel Foam Prod- order. He went along with Judge
ucts Co., Inc.,22 the Labor Board Hays, he said, because the Supreme
overruled Aiello. Court's decision in NLRB v. Katz 24
12. The General Counsel there- "was couched in terms so strong that
upon ordered the Regional Director to impose an exception requires
to issue a complaint based on the more boldness than I possess." 25
charges filed by the union in this, Judge Anderson, dissenting, took
the Bryant Chucking Grinder case. the position that it was not a matter
13. Owing in part to delays com- of boldness at all but simply one of
mon in the Board's general proc- keeping the Board from inflicting
esses and in part to exceptional in- another travesty of Congress's poli-
eptitude on the part of the Board's cies on the nation. He pointed out
Trial Examiner, an NLRB decision that the employer's pre-election con-
was not reached till late in 1966- duct was innocuous; that the union
some four years after the events in had misrepresented the purpose of
issue and the union's defeat by a the cards, thus disqualifying them
vote of 184 to 124. as evidence of representative status;
14. This NLRB decision 23 held: and that the Board's decision was
(a) that the employer had never imposing a bargaining representa-
been entitled to the 1962 election tive upon employees who had shown
because he had not had a reasonable only, if they had shown anything,
basis for a "good-faith doubt" of the that they did not wish to yield their
"majority status" established by the individual rights to a union. Perhaps
198 signed authorization cards prof- the most impressive fact adduced in
fered in 1962; Judge Anderson's powerful dissent
(b) that the employer's conduct was the difference in the bargaining
prior to the election interfered with unit in 1967 from what had been in
the free choice of the employees and 1962, when the 197 cards were
thus invalidated the election; and signed. There were 337 employees
(c) that the employer had a duty to in the unit in 1962. There were 400
bargain with the union from late in 1967. Equally significant, at least
1966 on, despite the election defeat, sixty of the card-signers had left
because of the card majority in 1962. Bryant Chucking in the intervening
The employer appealed to the Sec- years. Thus, Judge Anderson con-
ond Circuit. cluded, the Board was giving the
Writing the court's decision, union exclusive bargaining status
Judge Hays enforced the Board for over 400 employees in 1967 on
order with little attention to the the basis of signatures by roughly
facts of the case. Judge Friendly 135 employees in 1962 - signatures
gained, moreover, on the representa- gressional solicitude in customary

tion that the cards would be used to coin. Since 1947, and especially in
secure an election! 26 the last few years, the Board has
issued a long series of decisions
The importance of the process which, in terms of arrogant fact-
illustrated by the Bryant Chuck- distortion, questionable legal in-
ing case can scarcely be exagger- terpreta tion, and callousness
ated. In the last two or three years toward due process requirements,
that process seems to have become at least equal and often surpass
the preferred method of establish- the worst that it had produced
ing bargaining status. If this is under the Wagner Act. 29
true, a wholesale departure from
Congressionally declared rules and NLRS and the Kohler Case
policies has occurred. It is not a Perhaps the outstanding histor-
matter only of abandoning the sec- ical example of such Board con-
ret-ballot elections which Congress duct is to be found in its decisions
so clearly envisioned as the main in the Kohler case. Since I have
means of establishing bargaining written a book30 about the NLRB's
status. The full nature of the first decision 3! in the case and an
travesty cannot be appreciated un- article32 about the second,33 I do
less one knows that the Board it- not think it necessary to spend
self has frequently characterized time and space on that affair here.
authorization cards as unreliable Suffice it to say that, in my opin-
methods of ascertaining employee ion, that litigation provides in it-
choice. 27 self sufficient basis for a re-evalua-
Moreover, the rigged processes tion by Congress of its grant of
evident in Bryant Chucking illus- judicial power to the NLRB.
trate another radical departure So disturbing has the Board's
from Congressional intent. One of performance been that it seems in-
the main objectives of the 1947 creasingly to try the restraint of
amendments of the Wagner Act Federal judges. 34 The Federal cir-
was fairer and more judicious con- cuit-court judges habitually bend
duct by the Labor Board. The 1947 over backwards in an effort to
amendments sought to induce respect the limits on their review-
Board members to deal more ing power which Supreme Court
scrupulously with the facts and to decision and the statute to some
give more sensitive heed to due extent impose. Judge Friendly's
process requirements. 28 But the comment reflects the sentiment of
Labor Board has repaid this Con- a good many of his brethren on
the Federal bench and will be in labor relations law and practice.
found repeated in one form or an- Those policies do survive to some
other in dozens of decisions .each extent. And in this fact resides
year. In short, the U.S. courts of another fact of significance to this
appeals frequently enforce Board inquiry into the separation of
orders even when it is perfectly powers: Congress's labor policies
clear that, given a freer hand, survive in about the same propor-
they would vacate them. 35 In the tion and to about the same extent
opinion of easily a majority of the as do the reviewing powers of the
Federal judges, I would say, the Federal courts of appeals.
NLRB has a policy of its own A subsequent article will con-
which only accidentally intersects sider the constitutional validity,
and coincides with the policies of the practical worth, and the con-
Congress. sequences of Congress's having
It would be inaccurate to con- transferred so much judicial pow-
clude, however, that no vestige of er from those courts to executive
Congress's policies survives today agencies. ~
FOOTNOTES
1 93 (Daily) Congo Rec. 5013, 2 Leg. Lab. Cas. n 12044 (7th Cir. 1967). With
Hist. of the LMRA 1947, p. 1495. Judge Hays' view in Bryant Chucking
2 Cf. Rep. No. 105 on S. 1126, pp. 1-3, Grinder CO. V. NLRB, 56 CCH Lab. Cas.
8-10 (80th Congo 1947); H. Rep. No. 510 n 12344 (2d Cir 1967), compare that of
on H.R. 3020, pp. 36-38 (80th Cong.1947). Judge Anderson, dissenting in the same
3 Ibid. And see Sec. 9 (c) and Sec. 10 case. With Judge Bryan's opinion com-
(b) and (c) of the Act as amended. An pare that of Judge Boreman in NLRB V.
amendment to 10 (b) is typical. It ex- Dove Coal Co., 54 CCH Lab. Cas. n 11604
horted the Board to follow the rules of (4th Cir. 1966).
evidence and procedure prevailing in the 6 For particularly able criticisms of
Federal district courts, but only "so far the Board's distortion of the Congres-
as practicable." sional policies, see the notes: Card
4 The U.S. Courts of Appeals cannot Checks and Employee Free Choice, 33
vacate NLRB findings of fact unless U. Chi. L. Rev. 387 (1966); Union Author-
there is no substantial evidence in the ization Cards, 75 Yale L. J. 805 (1966).
record considered as a whole to support 5 I have discussed the evolution of Con-
those findings. Cf. Section 10 (e) of the gressional labor policy at greater length
Act and Universal Camera Corp. V. in The Labor Policy of the Free Society
NLRB, 340 U.S. 474 (1951). Obviously at pp. 125 et seq. (Ronald Press, 1957).
circuit judges will vary considerably in 7 ILGWU Local 57 V. NLRB; Garwin
both interpreting and exercising such Corp. V. NLRB, 54 CCH Lab. Cas. n 11664
reviewing power as this necessarily vague (D. C. Cir. 1967), opinion by Burger, J.,
standard imposes. Cf. the varying views Bastian, J., concurring; McGowan, J.,
of Judges Knoch and Schnackenberg in dissenting on the critical issue.
Lincoln Mfg. Co., Inc. v. NLRB, 55 CCH S Judge McGowan dissented on the
ground that the Board, "if it is to medi- thetic Fibers Co. v. NLRB, 55 CCR Lab.
ate between clashing interests with mod- Cas. U 11783 (4th Cir. 1967); NLRB v.
eration and restraint, must have s('ope Logan Packing Co., 56 CCR Lab. Cas.
for inventiveness and experiment." Ibid. U 12278 (4th Cir. 1967); Rome Town
at pp. 18084-85. This is about as close as Foods, Inc. v. NLRB, 55 CCR Lab. Cas.
one normally comes to an explanation of U 12019 (5th Cir. 1967); NLRB v. Or-
the rationale which affirms the existence tronix, Inc., 56 CCR Lab. Cas. U 12051
and endorses the exercise of policy-mak- (5th Cir. 1967); Southwire Corp. V.
ing discretion in the Board. NLRB, 56 CCH Lab. Cas. ff 12110 (5th
9 The outstanding example of the Cir. 1967); Rivers Mfg. Corp. V. NLRB,
Board's insistence that employers must 55 CCH Lab. Cas. ff 11902 (6th Cir. 1967) ;
make concessions to the union's demands NLRB V. Swan Super Cleaners, Inc., 66
(concessions to employees and obvious CCR Lab. Cas. ff 12239 (6th Cir. 1967);
good-faith intent to reach an agreement Frito-Lay, Inc. v. NLRB, 56 CCR Lab.
not being enough) is the General Electric Cas. U 12264 (7th Cir. 1967); National
case, 150 NLRB No. 36 (1964). Can Corp. v. NLRB, 55 CCH Lab. Cas.
10 For typical examples of NLRB de- U 11771 (7th Cir. 1967); Dierks Forests,
cisions requiring concessions from em- Inc. V. NLRB, 56 CCH Lab Cas. U 12274
ployers as an aspect of the duty to bar- (8th Cir. 1967); NLRB v. Frontier
gain, see California Girl, Inc., 129 NLRB Homes Corp., 54 CCR Lab. Cas. U 11701
No. 21 (1960); Cummer-Graham Co., 122 (8th Cir. 1967); NLRB v. Transmarine
NLRB No. 134 (1959); Fetzer Television, Navig. Corp., 55 CCR Lab. Cas. U 12028
Inc., 131 NLRB No. 113 (1961); James (9th Cir. 1967); NLRB v. TRW Semi-
Rubin, 155 NLRB No. 37 (1965). The Conductors, Inc., 56 CCR Lab. Cas.. U
Board rarely reveals the facts in its de- 12299 (9th Cir. 1967); J. C. Penney Co.
cisions, tending as a rule simply to en- v. NLRB, 56 CCR Lab. Cas. U 12150 (10th
dorse the findings made by the trial ex- Cir. 1967); NLRB v. Groendyke Trans-
aminer in his frequently prolix reports, port, Inc., 54 CCH Lab. Cas. U 11690
and the reader is accordingly required to (10th Cir. 1967) ; Retail Clerks V. NLRB,
piece out the basis of the holding. 54 CCR Lab. Cas. U 11653 (D.C. Cir.
11 Cf. United Steelworkers v. NLRB 19~7): Clothing- Workers V. NLRB, 53
(Porter Co.), 56 CCR Lab. Cas. ff 12332 CCH Lab. Cas. U 11335 (D.C. Cir. 1966).
(D.C. Cir. 1967) (Miller, J., dissenting) 13 Section 8 (a) (1) - (5) defines em-
and the same case at an earlier stage: 53 ployer unfair practices; Section 8 (b)
CCR Lab. Cas. ff 11238 (D.C. Cir. 1966). (1)-(7) defines roughly parallel or an-
12 I cite the following cases as a mere alogous union unfair practices. Sections
cross section of decisions in which the 8 (c) - (f) establish certain principles and
U.S. courts of appeals have found more provide for certain types of rules ap-
or less serious shortcomings in the plicable to both unions and employers.
Board's handling of fact or law. In some 14 See the cases cited in note 12, supra.
cases, the court completely denied en- 15 Documentation of this assertion is
forcement; in others, partly. The classi- beyond the scope of this paper. The proc-
fication is in the numerical order of the ess has been too long and too tortured
circuits: Caribe General Electric Co. v. for any kind of brief treatment. I have,
NLRB, 53 CCR Lab. Cas. ff 11094 (1st however, written two books which dem-
Cir. 1966); NLRB v. Purity Foods, Inc., onstrate in painstaking detail how-con-
55 CCRLab. Cas. ff 11896 (lst Cir. 1967) ; trary to Cong-ressional intent-the Board
Cooper Thermometer Co. v. NLRB, 55 has liberated unions from any serious
CCR Lab. Cas. ff 11868 (2d Cir. 1967); control by the NLRA. See: H ow the
NLRB v. Nichols, 55 CCR Lab. Cas. ff NLRB Repealed Taft-Hartley (Labor
12016 (2d Cir. 1967); Firestone Syn- Policy Assn., 1958); and Power Unlimit-
ed: The Corruption of Union Leadership 27 See: Union Authorization Cards, 75

(Ronald Press, 1959). See also my labor Yale L. J. 805, 828-31 (1966).
law articles in the N.Y.U. Annual Sur- 28 See notes 2-3, supra.
vey of American Law dating back to 29 A goodly number of these will be
1951, and my Unions, Housing Costs, and found among the cases collected in note
the National Labor Policy in 32 Law and 12, supra.
Contemp. Prob. 319 (1967). 30 The Kohler Strike: Union Violence
16 Cf. NLRB v. TRW Semi-Conductors, and Administrative Law (Regnery, 1961).
56 CCH Lab. Cas. n 12299 (9th Cir. 1967) ; 31 128 NLRB 1062 (1960).
National Can Corp. v. NLRB, 55 CCH 32 "Reward the Guilty," Barrons (Jan.
Lab. Cas. IT 11771 (7th Cir. 1967); South- 1965) .
wire Corp. v. NLRB, 56 CCH Lab. Cas. IT 33 148 NLRB 1434 (1964).
12110 (5th Cir. 1967); Amalgamated 34 In NLRB v. Purity Foods, Inc., 55
Clothing Workers v. NLRB (Hamburg CCH Lab. Cas. U 11896 at page 18952 (1st
Shirt Corp.), 54 CCH Lab. Cas. IT 11609 Cir. 1967), Judge Woodbury said after
(D.C. Cir. 1966). reviewing the testimony: "The Board's
17 NLRB v. River Togs, 56 CCH Lab. conclusion to the contrary flies in the
Cas. IT 12097 at page 19624 (2d Cir. 1967). face of reality." This is among the milder
18 NLRB v. Exchange Parts Co., 375 of the many critical references which cir-
U.S. 405 (1964). cuit judges continue to make to NLRB
19 See the note, Union Authorization findings. In NLRB v. Getlan Iron Works,
Cards, 75 Yale L. J. 805 (1966), against Inc., 55 CCH Lab. Cas. IT 11950 at page
which the only authority of any signif- 19116 (2d Cir. 1967), Judge Feinberg
icance is the Supreme Court's opinion said: "Because this is one of those rare
in UMW v. Arkansas Oak Flooring Co., instances where we find a lack of sub-
351 U.S. 62, 71-72 (1956). As Judge stantial evidence to support one of the
Friendly has pointed out, the brief dis- Board's key findings, we decline to en-
cussion of the question found in that force the order to bargain and remand
case "would hardly preclude Supreme for further evidence." I doubt that Judge
Court re-examination of this issue." See Feinberg could find any considerable
NLRB v. S. E. Nichols Co., 55 CCH Lab. number of other Federal judges who
Cas. IT 12016 at page 19359, note 1 (2d share his confidence in the Board's fact-
Cir. 1967). finding.
20 56 CCH Lab. Cas. IT 12344 (2d Cir. 35 Year after year numerous court of
1967). The facts here recounted are appeals decisions contain the following
drawn mainly from Judge Anderson's observation in one or another form:
dissenting opinion. " ... we have no hesitancy in saying that
21 110 NLRB 1365. were we the fact finders we would have
22 146 NLRB 1277 (1964). difficulty finding support for the charges
23 160 NLRB No. 125. of unfair labor practices." NLRB v.
24 369 U.S. 739 (1962). Witbeck, 56 CCH Lab. Cas. IT 12148 (6th
25 See 56 CCH Lab. Cas. IT 12344 at p. Cir. 1967). See also: Int. Tel. & Tel. v.
20476. NLRB, 56 CCH Lab. Cas. n 12101 at page
26 Judge Anderson said: " ... I think a 19643 (3rd Cir. 1967); NLRB v. Plym-
bargaining order, by imposing on respon- outh Cordage Co., 56 CCH Lab. Cas. U
dent's employees a form of representa- 12135 (5th Cir. 1967); NLRB v. Elco
tion concerning which a substantial ma- Corp., 55 CCH Lab. Cas. IT 11898 (9th Cir.
jority has never had an opportunity to 1967), where the court said: "Had this
express a preference, disregards the em- court been called upon to pass originally
ployees' Section 7 rights, and undermines on the merits of this case, we mi~ht have
the most fundamental policies of the disagreed with the ultimate conclusion
Act." Ibid. at page 20476. of the Board."
Confiscation
HENRY HAZLITT
LONDON-When politicians in pow- fiated welfare spending. Instead,

er in any country have wrong, the new budget actually increases
fixed ideas, not even the worst total spending to $27.6 billion in
crisis will lead them to abandon fiscal 1969 compared with $26.1
those ideas. They will only admin- billion in the preceding fiscal year.
ister still greater doses of the The surplus is to be achieved by
same quack remedies that brought even more onerous taxation. Rev-
on the disease'. enue for fiscal 1969 is estimated
The budget measures recently at $30.9 billion, up from $26.8 bil-
announced by Roy Jenkins, the lion. This would leave a nominal
British chancellor of the excheq- surplus of $3.3 billion, compared
uer, are a perfect illustration. They with a surplus of only $718 mil-
have been praised both there and lion in fiscal 1968, which ended
abroad for their harshness and March 31.
brutality. It is true that they im- Even before the announcement
pose further sacrifices on the Brit- of the new levies, Britons paid
ish taxpayers, but most of these Draconian taxes. The standard in-
are unnecessary and irrelevant. In come tax rate is 41 1;4 per cent. On
the long run the new measures top of this are imposed surtaxes
can only discourage effort, saving, which bring marginal rates as high
investment, and production. as 91 1;4 per cent on income and 80
To restore confidence in the per cent on estate duties.
pound the budget should be bal- The Jenkins proposals, impos-
anced, of course; but it should be ing stiff increases on "purchase
balanced by reducing grossly in- taxes" (up to rates of 50 per cent
A1F\
on items like phonograph records lowed to roll back individual prices

and cameras) were praised be- that it considers too high. All of
cause they did not increase ordi- these measures will restrict, dis-
nary personal income, corporation, courage, and distort production.
or capital-gains taxes. But to make Yet the most ominous measure
up for this, the new budget im- is still the expropriation of invest-
poses a savage additional tax (os- ment income, in a country once
tensibly to run only for one year) considered to be the most respon-
on investment income over $7,200 sibly governed in the world.
a year. The rate progresses from Even the London Economist, to-
10 pe'r cent on that amount to 45 day far from a conservative jour-
per cent on amounts over $19,200. nal, gagged at this. "The spectacle
Because this special impost comes of people purposelessly enjoying
on top of the regular income tax the despoiling of somebody else is
and surtax, it actually makes the very nasty; and as a great roar of
total tax on investment income in delighted shadenfreude greeted the
the higher brackets more than levy, the Labor backbenches sud-
100 per cent. In fact, a man with denly looked extraordinarily nasty
investment income of. more than and loutish."
$19,200 could pay a total tax of The act of confiscation is totally
136 per cent on amounts over that irrelevant to restoring confidence
figure. in the pound. It can only under-
An added grim feature of this mine that confidence. Even on the
confiscatory tax is that the recipi- government's own calculations it
ent of investment income is not al- will bring in less than 1 per cent
lowed to escape it even by giving of its total revenues. It penalizes
that income away. precisely saving and investment,
There are various other follies the most essential element for the
in the new Labor Party measures. increase of production, real wages,
The stupid "selective employment and economic growth. It was im-
tax" has been increased by 50 per posed solely to satisfy a blind
cent. Wage and dividend increases envy and class hatred. +
are to be limited to 3 1/2 p.er cent a
Copyright 1968, Los Angeles Times. Reprint-
year. The government is to be al- by permission.
SOME
LESSONS
OF RHODES

Salisbury City
(Courtesy of Rhodesia National Tourist Board)
THERE IS NOTHING like a visit to a ference of opInIon with the Rho-

distant and controversial land to desian government, headed by Ian
give a sense of perspective and Smith, as to ho,v far and how fast
realism. I have recently returned the African population (about 4
from such a visit to Rhodesia, a million, compared with some 235,-
landlocked country of 150,000 000 whites, mostly of British and
square miles in south central South African stock) should be
Africa, which has been under enfranchised. Rhodesia had been
economic siege by the United Na- practically self-governing for al-
tions - with the participation of most half a century; the British
the United States - for much of connection had been mainly for-
the period of two and a half years mal, finding expression in such
since its declaration of indepen- details as the nomination of a gov-
dence in November, 1965. ernor-general as representative of
The basic cause of Britain's re- the Queen. There had been no Brit-
fusal to accept Rhodesia's selfish interference in Rhodesian do-
proclaimed independence - a status mestic legislation.
it has accepted for many former The United Nations Charter
dependencies with less literate and does not authorize the imposition
educated electorates - was a dif- of such sanctions and trade re-
strictions as have been imposed on
porter of economic and political conditions at
Rhodesia because of domestic leg-
number of books, he has lectured widely and islation. So the excuse for this
is a contributor to The WaIl Street Journal
and numerous magazines. declaration of economic war was
.41'7
that Rhodesia, under its present communist-ruled countries farther

regime, was a threat to the peace afield: Cuba, the Soviet Union,
of the world - an allegation with- and Red China. Both incursions
out a shred of serious proof. failed to achieve anything except
It should be noted that Rho- virtual wiping out of the guerrilla
desia, unliJ;<:e South Africa, is not forces and minor casualties for
a country of racial apartheid. the Rhodesians. Significantly, an
There are 13 Africans in the 65- African unit, the Rhodesian Afri-
member legislature. There could can Rifles, bore the brunt of the
be more if the two radical African second incursion, and with no ap
parties, Zapu and Zanu, had not parent strain on its loyalty.
demanded a one-man, one-vote Since the declaration of inde.
system and urged a boycott of pendence, Rhodesia has been un-
elections until this was estab- der double attack, from hostile in-
lished. Under the present system, cursions across the Zambezi River
the franchise is limited by property on its northern border, and from
and educational qualifications. such forces of African nationalist
Fifty members are elected on an subversion as may exist within
A roll, with higher qualifications; the country. It has also been the
fifteen on a B roll, where the quali- object of an economic blockade,
fications are lower. first launched by Great Britain,
Hotels and higher education in then extended by the United Na-
Rhodesia, again in contrast to tions.
South Africa, are multiracial. Per-
haps of greater significance is Signs of Tranquillity
that more than half the police The British Viscount plane used
force is African and a consider- by Rhodesian Airways landed at
able part of the small army is com- Salisbury, capital of Rhodesia and
posed of Africans. Notwithstand- named after a famous British
ing the UN's curious excuse for Conservative Prime Minister of
sanctions, Rhodesia has never sent the late nineteenth century. I
any military force outside its should not have been surprised to
own borders. There have been two find here and there signs of ten-
invasions of its territory by ter- sion and unrest. But nothing of
rorist guerrillas, mostly refugees the kind appeared on the horizon.
from Rhodesia who received train- Salisbury on a Sunday afternoon
ing in sabotage and guerrilla war- in the clear heat of its high prairie
fare in adjacent Zambia (formerly altitude was about as peaceful a
Northern Rhodesia) and from spot as one could imagine.
1968 SOME LESSONS OF RHODESIA 419
There were few police and no live under the traditional tribal
soldiers in sight. Many Africans organization) were stabbed, shot,
lay stretched out in the city parks, strangled, and clubbed.
quite at ease. Rhodesian acquaint-
ances told me that unscrupulous Keeping the Peace
foreign photographers took pic- The Smith regime put a stop to
tures of these recumbent figures these disorders, using some meth-
and published them with captions ods that would not be approved by
indicating that here were victims the American Civil Liberties
of repression. Our acquaintances Union, notably detention and re-
drove us into the suburban en- striction of residence without
virons of the capital, where we trial. The leaders of the two
enjoyed a typical British tea at parties, Nkomo and Sithole, and
the country home of some friends. some other agitators were placed
If those present were sitting on in detention. According to Minis-
a powder keg, they gave a pretty ter of the Interior Nicolle, some
good impression of being totally 20 to 30 persons are held in in-
unaware of it. definite detention. A larger num-
These friends and other Rho- ber, perhaps. three or four hun-
desians I met reported that the dred, are subjected to residence
state of public order had very restriction and forbidden to move
much improved since UDI (un- out of their own districts until
ilateral declaration of indepen- the authorities are convinced they
dence). This, so they told me, was are bent on no mischief.
because previous governments had Practically all the Europeans in
been weak on law enforcement. Rhodesia and probably a consider-
The African political groups, Zapu able number of Africans (although
and Zanu, had taken advantage of here the only testimony has been
this situation to run a fierce com- the marked absence of unrest
petition for recruiting new mem- since DDI) believe that restraints
bers at high entrance fees. Euro- on the liberty of a few hundred in-
peans were not much endangered; dividuals, reaching the rigor of
but law-abiding Africans who re- detention for perhaps thirty of
fused to pay ,vere apt to have them, is a price worth paying for
crude bombs hurled through their domestic order.
windows; their thatched huts Of bvo factors that might have
were set on fire and the occupants shaken the stability of the Rho-
beaten and left for dead. Tribal desia Front regime - internal sub-
chiefs (most Rhodesian Africans version and harassment by guer-
rilla bands from abroad - both the white flag of surrender. To-
have so far proved nonstarters. bacco, formerly a principal export
Rhodesia is an open country, and fairly easy to identify, has
which welcomes a quarter of a been hard hit and has caused some
million tourists every year and in- shifting to other crops and to a
cidentally offers some scenes of different type of tobacco which
great natural beauty such as Vic- the Rhodesians hope will be easier
toria Falls and some fine preserves to market abroad. Sugar exports
of African wild life. Had there also have been affected; and the
been serious trouble from domes- inflow of foreign capital, while it
tic insurrection or foreign inva- has not stopped altogether, has
sion, it could not have been con- slowed down. Ironically enough,
cealed. There was no such trouble; this slowing down of the economic
and this might suggest to an in- growth rate has injured less the
quiring mind that African as well Europeans than the Africans, for
as European Rhodesians wel- whose welfare the British Labor
comed the measures taken to Party and the United Nations
stop arson, assaults, and thug- profess so much concern. It is the
gery. As a result of these meas- Africans, with their high birth
ures, residents of Salisbury, rate, who are most in need of new
Bulowayo, and other Rhodesian job openings.
towns could sleep a good deal Rhodesia is self-sufficient in
more soundly in early April than food and cannot be starved, or
could those of Washington, Chi- even inconvenienced, into surren-
cago, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and der. The United Nations could
other American cities plagued or have struck a harder blow if it
threatened by hoodlumism and had been able to make its oil sanc-
vandalism. tions effective, because Rhodesia
has no domestic source of this
Sanctions No Problem fuel. But oil sanctions have be-
What of the economic war de- come a joke. In the beginning,
clared on Rhodesia, first by Great their effect was blunted by im-
Britain, then by the United Na- provised shipments from Rho-
tions? This interference with the desia's friendly southern neigh-
normal course of the country's bor, South Africa, which rushed
import and export trade has in- supplies by train and truck. Sym-
flicted some damage on Rhodesia's pathetic students at the Univer-
economy, but not nearly enough sity of Pretoria, the capital of
to induce any talk of running up South Africa, rolled a big drum of
oil to Salisbury as a gesture of tences of death were about to be
solidarity. executed.
Now, the need for these emer- rrhe Rhodesian government went
gency shipments is over. Rhode- ahead with these executions, then
sian oil supplies come in regularly with two more of Africans who
through the port of Laurenco had committed murder under espe-
Marques, in Portuguese Mozam- cially heinous circumstances. The
bique. Thence, they are shipped left-wing press in England and
through South Africa to Rhodesia. some Afro-Asian circles at the UN
The price has gone up a little; but had afield day denouncing "Hang-
no Rhodesian motorist is seriously man Smith." There was no reflec-
inconvenienced. tion of this sentiment in Rhodesia,
The sanctions have also speeded ",~here it was felt that some shabby
up considerably the development common criminals had been given
of Rhodesia's home industries, an utterly undeserved status as
notably in the field of clothing. martyrs in an atmosphere of ig-
Rhodesian manufacturers not only norant emotionalism. It was felt,
have begun to supply many home however, that the government had
needs; they also have pushed made its point with five execu-
energetically into the nearest tions, decisively rejecting British
available export market, South interference with the course of
Africa, and so vigorously that Rhodesian justice. So, there was
South African firms are asking no protest when some thirty other
for protection. Africans held in cells reserved for
those condemned to death were
British Meddling given commutations of sentence.
British-Rhodesian relations, I had an opportunity for a per-
Vvhich at one time had seemed sonal talk with Mr. Ian Smith,
close to a settlement following a head of the independence move-
conference of Prime Minister Ian ment and Prime Minister of the
Smith with British Prime Minis- existing government. (Incidental-
ter Harold Wilson, took a turn for ly,Mr. Smith was recently refused
the worse in March when Wilson permission to visit the United
invoked an authority never before States to accept a speaking invita-
claimed for the British Privy tion at the University of Virginia.
Council and also pushed Queen Mr. Smith had fought on the al-
Elizabeth into the situation by lied side during World War II as
having her reprieve three convict- an aviator and suffered serious
ed African murderers whose sen- facial inj uries, requiring consider-
able reconstruction surgery. With of a final breach, Rhodesia was

what may be considered a rather prepared to go it alone as an in-
strange scale of comparative val- dependent republic. "Weare inde-
ues, the same State Department pendent now," Mr. Smith empha-
that barred Mr. Smith as a pre- sized. "But we still consider our-
sumably undesirable alien was selves in the Commonwealth and
willing to spread out the red car- recognize the sovereignty of the
pet for Mr. Oginga Odinga of Queen."
Kenya, who has been strongly The Prime Minister dismissed
linked by rumor with Chinese as quite unrealistic a question
communist activities in Kenya. about the possibility of black rule
Mr. Odinga, notorious for his hos- in Rhodesia. He declared that Rho-
tility to what he calls neo-colonial- desia's military and police secur-
ism, Le., Western economic and ity forces could easily handle the
financial aid, was only prevented problem of guerrilla. infiltration
from coming at the time because across the border from Zambia. To
his own government withheld his a question whether some form of
passport.) federation with South Africa
Mr. Smith conveyed the impres- might follow a complete dissolu-
sion of being a straightforward, tion of the tie with Great Britain
outdoor type of man, a good rep- he remarked that this subject had
resentative of his countrymen and not come up for consideration, al-
as frankly outspoken as might be though the possibility could not be
expected of the Governor of Kan- ruled out. A number of South Af-
sas or Nebraska. ricans came up with the first pio-
neer settlers with Cecil Rhodes
Willing and Able Leader (who gave his name to the coun-
Had all prospect of agreement try) and Rhodesia's ties with
with Britain disappeared with the South Africa have always been
executions? closer than with any other coun-
Mr. Smith made it clear that he try.
did not believe this was necessar-
Reason for Optimism and
ily the case. The executions were a
matter of internal Rhodesian jur- Lessons to be Learned
isdiction, with which Britain had Mr. Smith expressed confidence
never claimed the right to inter- that the African population sup-
fere in the past. If, however, the ports the present regime. Most of
British government was inclined them live, he said, in a tribal form
to press the situation to the point of organization, where the chief
sets forth the sense of the tribal that several lessons may be learned
group after consultation with vil- from its recent experience.
lage headmen. Discussing the sub- First, a politically conscious,
ject further, he said: "So far as well-educated group of people, con-
the educated African is concerned, vinced that their civilization and
he can be consulted and he can ex- way of life are at stake, can main-
press his opinion. These people are tain a predominant political posi-
the minority. The majority don't tion, provided there is no strong
even understand what a constitu- movement of rebellion. So far,
tion is. So it is difficult to ask them there are no signs of any such
to express an opinion on a particu- movement in Rhodesia.
lar type of constitution." Second, sanctions applied
Expressing gratitude to Ameri- against such a group are much
cans who had shown understand- less effective than is commonly
ing of the situation in Rhodesia, supposed. There are always loop-
Mr. Smith topped the interview holes in the machinery, and the
with the following statement of energy and skill of the Rhodesians
confidence in the future of his in evading economic boycotts con-
country: "Weare winning the siderably exceed the will and abil-
economic war without any ques- ity of the outside world in enforc-
tion; sanctions have advanced the ing them.
output of our domestic economy Third, while it is always diffi-
by five or ten years, or even more. cult to predict the longevity of ad-
As far as security is concerned, I ministrations, I think it is quite
think the record shows that we likely that Mr. Smith, with the
have less trouble now than we had support of the great majority of
before our independence. I think his countrymen, will outlast more
we have less trouble than most than one head of a contemporary
other countries in the world, and African state, and also his princi-
with a lower ratio of police than in pal opponent, Mr. Harold Wilson.
your own country and Britain, and Britain's Labor Party is in a de-
a lower ratio of armed servicemen, cline and Rhodesians are confident
also.. vVe are a happy, peaceful, that an alternative Conservative
prosperous, and expanding econ- administration would leap at the
omy. I would say all these things chance to find some face-saving
give us just cause to be optimistic." means of burying the dismal fiasco
I left Rhodesia with the feeling of sanctions. ~
aPower that Serves
WALTER L. UPSON
IN September, 1903, I went to work 2,000 kilowatt unit which was suc-
in the Testing Department of the cessfully installed and working in
General Electric Company in the New Power plant. Now a much
Schenectady. Later that fall, I was larger unit of 4,000 kilowatt ca-
one of half a dozen ordered to re- pacity was ready for testing. It
port at the New Power Station to was for this that I was assigned.
help with some testing of a new The machine was quite impressive,
steam turbine-electric generator. standing, I should say, about fif-
This was at a time when steam teen or perhaps twenty feet high.
turbines were a new and quite It was running when we arrived
exciting development. Parsons tur- and made a considerable roar.
bines had been developed in Eng- We testers took our places be-
land and the Westinghouse Com- fore the various meters, or meas-
pany had secured rights from this uring instruments, and proceeded
company for America. General to take readings as load was ap-
Electric Company then obtained plied to the generator. Suddenly
rights for the Curtis turbine and there was a flash; something had
was pushing these as fast as pos- gone wrong and the great machine
sible. This turbine-generator unit was slowed to a halt. We were all
was of the vertical shaft type in amazed. Then, someone found on
contrast with the horizontal Par- the floor part of a broken bolt
sons type. The General Electric about two inches long that had
Company had already built one evidently been involved. The man
Mr. Upson, now retired, was for many years
in charge was E. B. Raymond, very
a professor of electrical engineering. Besides much the boss, big and command-
his books on the subject, he has written
numerous scholarly and scientific articles. ing. Mr. Raymond showed us the
1968 A POWER THAT SERVES 425
broken bolt and demanded that we tricity; now, with much larger and
find the other part of it. We more efficient generators only
scurried around everywhere look- three pounds were required, and
ing, but to no avail. Then' he an- engineers were working hard to
nounced that the one who found bring about still greater perfec-
the piece would be given a week's tion. This meant reducing the
vacation - just at Christmas time price of electricity to you and me,
- at full pay. which was done when most every-
This was indeed a temptation; thing else was costing more. The
certainly it was to me. Then I re- only reason why our monthly elec-
membered that Mr. Elmer Sperry tric bills did not go down was that
had once told me that when I lost we kept using more and more elec-
anything I was not to waste my tricity as it became available for
time looking wildly around but more and more uses. That march
rather to stop and think where it of progress has kept going to this
would naturally be. So I did just day, spurred by advancing tech-
that, and decided that the piece nology in a free society.
sought must be somewhere inside
the generator. I got a wire, put a Continuing Progress
hook on it, climbed to the top of In February, 1910, it was my
the machine, and began to probe privilege to go with a large group
around as best I could down in- of engineering students on a sight-
side. It was a very difficult thing seeing trip to Chicago. Of the
to get into, and my effort was many engineering wonders there
futile. Finally, the order was given on display, none was more impres-
to tear down the machine, for sive than the great new Fisk
nothing could be done until the Street electric station nearing
trouble was found. And then it completion. It had been designed
was found, embedded in the lami- to consist of eight or ten huge
nations of the armature, right 5,000 kilowatt turbogenerators of
where I had been trying to probe. the vertical type giving a total ca-
I did not get my holiday. pacity of forty or fifty thousand
Now, I have told this story to kilowatts, a great help toward
impress on you that a 4,000 kilo- meeting Chicago's growing needs
watt turbogenerator at that time for electricity. But the most sur-
was something to stand in awe of. prising thing was that before the
Not many years earlier it had re- last machine was installed orders
quired ten pounds of coal to gen- came to tear it down, and to tear
erate one kilowatt-hour of elec- the others down in turn. For while
this was going on, new and larger their places. Again, electricity was
units were being substituted in cheaper for the public.
their places. It had been found
that the same station could ac- How Far?
commodate 12,500 kilowatt units How far was this process to go?
making the station two and a Do not think it is all a case of the
half times as large, and again re- size of the machines; far from it.
ducing the cost of electricity. On Every item of use in the electric
our inspection we were warned system was, being subject to in-
not to get too close to these giant tense scrutiny and research by
machines which contained such the engineers and scientists who
concentration of power. worked under the free enterprise
Now we jump to the new station system which has prevailed in
at Cahokia, across the river from America and still prevails except
St. Louis, and to the year 1930. in a few notable cases where pub-
Turbogenerators were getting so lic ownership advocates with polit-
huge that it was found best to ical support have succeeded in
discard the vertical type and go gaining control. The real progress
to the horizontal. Here, the plan in this great field can be said to
was for eight 20,000 kilowatt ma- have been the exclusive result of
chines, giving a total capacity of the efforts of the free workers.
160,000 kilowatts. In order to re- Public ownership does not make
duce the cost of electricity still for progress; all the progress it
further, every new device was can show is what it has adopted
adopted. Here, the great supplies from the free workers. That story
of coal were at hand and the coal has been told many times, and I
was pulverized and blown into the do not intend to spend more time
boilers. The steam was super- on it here. I firmly believe that
heated, and the Mississippi River nothing we have of a like nature
was called on for cooling water to is so well done, so inexpensive, so
the extent that it was said the reliable, and still so progressive,
station used six times as much as the privately-operated electric
water as the entire city of St. power plants. We do not half ap-
Louis. But the planned-for units preciate them.
were never completed, for again it Now I have taken you from the
was found that larger ones would small turbogenerators, considered
be more efficient. The 20,000 kilo- huge in their day, from 2,000, 4,-
watt units were taken out and 60,- 000, 5,000, 12,500, 20,000 and even
000 kilowatt machines were put in 60,000 kilowatt capacity, which
1968 A POWER THAT SERVES 427
culminated in 1930. But that is than is now given our private elec-
not all, for still-the great machines tric companies, the people of Ten-
grew and grew. Three years ago, nessee could still have their low-
we were apprized that they had cost rates without having to rely
reached 500,000 kilowatts, and to- on the rest of the United States
day there are on order several ma- to make up annual deficits. At the
chines which will have a capacity same time, operation would be at
of 800,000 kilowatts each, large a profit and a substantial tax would
enough in fact for one machine to be turned in each year to the Fed-
provide electricity for a city of eral treasury, thereby, theoreti-
half a million population. These cally, at least, reducing the burden
great machines no longer demand upon each one of us. And the serv-
ten or three pounds of coal per ice would be at least as good, if
kilowatt-hour. They have been not better.
made so efficient that they require One other point I wish to make
only seven-tenths of a pound for here: You should not overlook the
each kilowatt-hour produced, thus fact that electric power is an en-
saving great quantities of coal and gineer's field of action. You may
still lowering the cost to the users. not know what this implies, but I
tell you its great implication is
Freedom 'rom TVA that the work will be done hon-
I firmly believe that were the estly, straightforwardly, efficient-
Tennessee Valley Authority turned ly, and in the best-known, up-to-
over to private operation with no date engineering manner. For
more government intervention that is the way engineers work. ~
Voice of Experience
Do YOU know what amazes me more than anything else? The
impotence of force to organize anything. There are only two
powers in the world - the spirit and the sword. In the long run
the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.
NAPOLEON BON APARTE, Paroles de Napoleon
CLARENCE B. CARSON
fiEuglaub
5. LIBERTY AND PROPERTY SECURED
With this power of creation and this passion for independence,

property has reached an ideal perfection. It is felt and treated
as the national life-blood. The laws are framed to give property
the securest possible basis, and the provisions to lock and trans-
mit it have exercised the cunningest heads in a profession which
never admits a fool. The rights of property nothing but felony
and treason can override. The house is a castle which the king
cannot enter. The Bank is a strong box to which the king has no
key. Whatever surly sweetness possession can give, is tasted in
England to the dregs. .
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, 1847
Now a considerable proportion of the law defining the rights

of the individual and delimiting the power of the state over him
was constructed in the eighteenth century .
E. NEVILLE WILLIAMS
THE intellectual thrust to liberty tections to and extensions of lib-

and a government with its powers erty were mainly the work of the
counterbalanced eventually bore Whig Party acting in Parliament
fruit in the form of practical lib- and of judicial interpretations by
erties protected by law. These pro- the courts, though others played
some part in it. The great age of
Dr. Carson, Professor of History at Grove City
the expansion of English liberties
his earlier FREEMAN series, The Fateful falls generally within the years
Turn, The American Tradition, and The
Fli~ht from Reality. from the adoption of the Bill of
1968 LIBERTY AND PROPERTY SECURED 429
Rights in 1689 to the final repeal erty was hardly an individual pos-
of the Navigation Acts in 1849, session, since its use was ham-
the latter culminating a long effort pered by all sorts of restrictions
to establish free trade. This pro- and limitations inherited from a
longed movement to secure liberty long past. Laws still prohibited en-
and property runs parallel with closure; guild and apprenticeship
England's rise to greatness and regulations hampered the entering
world leadership, a parallel that is of trades; monopolies granted by
hardly an accident. The progres- government shut off commerce to
sive expansion of liberty released newcomers; and export and im-
the energies of the English people port taxes stood in the way of
for the role they were to play. trade. Medieval relics and mercan-
To appreciate the growth of lib- tilistic interventions smothered in-
erty, it will be useful to view it in itiative and placed heavy burdens
contrast to the oppression which upon enterprise. Freedom of
preceded it. Since a general survey speech, press, of the use of one's
of this subject has already been faculties, and protections for the
presented, it is only necessary here constructive use of one's property
to make a summary presentation were still forlorn ideals.
of the state of liberty, or oppres-
Gradual Changes Linked
sion, as it was in 1688 prior to the
onset of great changes. with the English Heritage
In 1688 religious intolerance It is not practical in the short
and oppression was still fully es- scope offered here to recount in
tablished. Not only was there an detail the story of the successful
established church, but also dis- struggle for liberty that occurred
senters and Roman Catholics were over a century and a half. That
prohibited to exercise their reli- would require a book, at the least.
gion, barred from political partici- It will be possible here to touch
pation (by the Test Act), and only a few of the high points, to
otherwise underprivileged by law. indicate some general trends, and
Government by law was continu- to suggest how it was accom-
ally threatened by monarchical plished. In general, it should be
suspension of laws. Publishing pointed out that the establishment
was hampered and restricted by of liberty and protection of prop-
licensing requirements, by censor- erty in England was not accom-
ship, by virtual monopolies grant- plished by drastic changes or revo-
ed to certain printers, and by lution. On the contrary, it was
strenuous laws against libel. Prop- achieved by gradual changes with-
in the context of the English her- One other general point needs to
itage. be made before surveying the
The movement falls very rough- highlights of the securing of lib-
ly into three periods: first, the erty and property. Historians fre-
Glorious Revolution and a decade quently write as if there were
or so after, from around 1689 to some close connection between the
the early 1700's; second, a slow degree of political participation by
growth and expansion spread over the people and the extent of lib-
much of the eighteenth century, erty. It is true that a popularly
followed by some reactionary based government may be limited
measures during the French Revo- in its exercise of power by the
lution and Napoleonic Wars; electorate. But this is not neces-
third, a new surge in the second sarily the case, as evidenced by the
quarter of the nineteenth century. existence of numerous despotic
It is important to note, too, that governments in the twentieth cen-
the thrust to liberty embraced the tury which nonetheless have uni-
whole spectrum of liberties, rang- versal suffrage. The connection be-
ing from freedom of the press to tween political democracy and lib-
the securing of property to indi- erty does not appear sufficiently
viduals. One' writer calls attention close to warrant discussing the
to the phenomenon in this way: two together or including in this
"It should be emphasized . . . that study an account of the movement
the press was an integrated part for and extension of the franchise.
of the entire social organism af-
fecting and being affected by the Toleration Act of 1689
society of which it was a part. For The confines of government
example, the decline of govern- power were greatly loosened to al-
ment controls in the eighteenth low much greater individual lib-
century parallels the growth of erty by the Glorious Revolution of
private enterprise capitalism and 1689 and the acts of the next few
the increase in democratic process- years following that event. Re-
es in government. . . . All three ligious toleration, of sorts, was es-
were inextricably interrelated."! tablished by the Toleration Act of
That liberty is all of a piece ap- 1689. This act was of particular
pears to be borne out by historical benefit to Protestant dissenters,
tendency. for they were not only relieved of
penalties for observing their faith
1 Frederick S. Siebert, Freedom of
the Press in England (Urbana: Univer- but also permitted to hold meet-
sity of Illinois Press, 1965), p. vi. ings, to have their clergy, and to
carryon many of the activities vailed after the lapsing of this act,
hitherto reserved to conformists. one writer says: "At the close of
However, they still suffered cer- the seventeenth century several
tain disabilities for their noncon- important trends in the liberation
formity, i. e., exclusion from polit- of the press can be discerned. The
ical participation by the Test Act, prerogative powers of the crown
the payment of taxes for support were gone forever. The licensing
of the Church of England, among requirements had been abolished,
others. Such toleration was not and the printing trade was at last
extended to Roman Catholics or to free from commercial regulation.
non-Trinitarians. 2 In practice, The powers of the Stationers Com-
however, there was considerably pany as a trade monopoly had been
more toleration after this than the finally smashed."4 While there
law allowed, if strictly interpreted. were still some restrictions on free
Religious enthusiasm abated in the expression, such as for libel and
eighteenth century, and with it the sedition, England was very near
desire to persecute in matters of to having a free press.
faith and observance. The way to
Rights of Individuals
remove disabilities was even made
easy for those who would go The Glorious Revolution also set
through the motions of conform- the stage for greater protections
ity. to the individual from arbitrary
A long stride toward establish- imprisonment. Not only was the
ing freedom of the press was made monarch restrained in this regard
in 1695 when the House of Com- but also the courts adopted new
mons refused to renew the Print- rules and procedures which re-
ing Act. This Act had embodied a moved much of the arbitrariness
variety of evils including licens- from trials and punishment. The
ing requirements, a virtualmonop- Bill of Rights prohibited cruel and
oly to the Stationers Company, re- unusual punishments, and men
straints on the import of foreign were no longer flogged to death.
books, a special privilege of print- Also, no more women were burned
ing to one gentleman, and so on. 3 alive after 1688. "After 1696 two
Of the general conditions that pre- witnesses had to be produced
against the accused in treason
2 See E. Neville Williams, ed., The
Eighteenth Century Constitution (Lon-
trials; the accused were entitled
don: Cambridge University Press, 1960), to full use of counsel, and to a
pp.42-46. copy of the indictment, together
3 See ibid., pp. 399-401. ~ Siebert, op. cit., pp. 301-02.
with a list of crown witnesses and minor offences as sheep-stealing,

of the jury. In 1697 the last Act cutting down a cherry-tree. . . ,
of Attainder in English history and petty larcenies from dwelling-
was passed. . . . Judges began to houses, shops, or the person."7
protect even Quakers from the The aim of this legislation may
Church courts.... The inadmissi- have been quite laudable. The pop-
bility of hearsay evidence. . . . at ulation was increasing as was its
last won general acceptance after mobility. There existed no regular
1688."5 police for the protection of prop-
However, the penalties pre- erty, and there was much deter-
scribed as. punishment for crimes mination that property should be
were still quite harsh. It was not respected. However, the harshness
until 1736 that witchcraft ceased of the laws frequently led juries
to be a crime. Moreover, following not to convict. In consequence,
the Glorious Revolution and rather than the absolute protec-
through much of the eighteenth tion of property as intended, there
century there was a great increase was a resulting uncertainty as to
in the number of crimes for which punishment.
the death penalty was prescribed.
This was particularly true for Trade Restraints Lifted
stealing. From one point of view, A much clearer benefit of the
these harsh penalties indicate a Glorious Revolution was the great
determined effort to protect prop- reduction of the obstacles to trade
erty. As one writer says, "There and business. There followed a
was a tendency in William's reign great assault upon chartered mo-
for the law to be made more sav- nopolies and special trading priv-
age in protection of private prop- ileges. "'Trade,' Parliament de-
erty. Statutes made shoplifting clared in 1702, 'ought to be free
and the stealing of furniture by and not restrained.' In 1701 a
lodgers punishable by death."6 Chief Justice said that royal
Debtors' laws were tightened as grants and charters in restraint of
well. "By the end of George Irs trade were generally void because
reign no less than 160 felonies had of 'the encouragement which the
been declared worthy of instant law gives to trade and honest in-
death... , among them being such dustry.' Such charters were 'con-
trary to the liberty of the sub-
5 Christopher Hill, The Century of
Revolution (New York: W. W. Norton, 7 Basil Williams, The Whig Suprem-
1966), p. 290. acy (London: Oxford University Press,
6 Ibid., p. 289. 1942), p. 60.
ject.'''8 Nor were these empty under the Test Act. One writer
words. T. S. Ashton says, "In 1689 observes that as many as two-
the Merchant Adventurers were thirds to three-quarters "of those
shorn of most of their powers, and employed in all branches of the
ordinary Englishmen became free public service had never complied
to export cloth to all but certain with the law - some had never
reserved areas. In 1698 it was en- even heard of it; and Lord Gode-
acted that anyone might trade rich informed the House of Lords
with Africa. . . . And in the fol- that he had never been called upon
lowing year commerce with to qualify till he was made Chan-
Russia and Newfoundland was de- cellor of the Exchequer...."10 The
clared open to all." Some monop- British were hardly in an experi-
olies persisted (and the Naviga- mental mood so far as legislation
tion Acts still bound colonial was concerned for much of the
trade), but "most of the field lay eighteenth century.
open to competition."9 There fol-
lowed a great surge in trade and Private Ownership of Land
commerce. There was, however, a major de-
For much of the eighteenth cen- velopment during that century in
tury, the extension of liberty was the matter of private property in
gradual and undramatic. Fre- land. It is known as the movement
quently, it occurred as a result of for enclosure of lands. Much of the
nothing more than failing to en- farm land of England was still un-
force restrictive legislation. For enclosed at the beginning of the
example, there existed authority eighteenth century. This meant,
for fixing wages and prices, but in effect, that such farms were not
little positive (or negative) action consolidated units under the con-
came of this power. Or, the effects trol of a single farmer. On the
of a law might be ameliorated contrary, the land was divided into
without actually repealing the law. small strips, and one man's hold-
For example, from 1743 onward ings would consist of a number of
an Indemnity Act was passed an- such strips dispersed among the
nually by Parliament allowing re- holdings of others. The problem
ligious nonconformists an exten- was further complicated by the
sion of time to qualify politically existence of Commons - pasture,
woods, or idle lands to which those
8Hill, Ope cit., pp. 263-64.
9T. S. Ashton, An Economic History 10 William L. Mathieson, England in
of England: The Eighteenth Century Transition (London: Longmans, Green,
(London: Methuen, 1955), p. 130. and Co., 1920), p. 236.
who lived on an estate claimed ual, became more marked: thirty-

common privileges in its use. three Acts between 1720 and 1730,
These arrangements, which were thirty-five between 1730 and 1740,
relics of medieval organization, thirty-eight between 1740 and
were major obstacles to the effec- 1750. From 1750 to 1760 we find
tive use of the land. It was very one hundred and fifty-six such
difficult to introduce improvements Acts; from 1760 to 1770 four hun-
in farming techniques, in seed, or dred and twenty-four; from 1770
in pasture use. Any change in the to 1780 six hundred and forty-
way the land was utilized would two. . . . while between 1800 and
affect the privileges of others. In 1810 the total reached was ... an
short, most of the advantages of unprecedented . . . nine hundred
private property were missing. and six Acts...."11
Prior to the eighteenth century, An Act of Enclosure spelled out
sporadic efforts at enclosure had the procedures by which the an-
been going on for two centuries or cient titles to strips of land and
more. But whenever they occurred, privileges to the use of Commons
a hue and cry was usually raised could be extinguished and these
against them. They were blamed lands be consolidated into individ-
for depopulating the countryside, ually owned farms. For example, if
for making the lot of the poor an individual had title to thirty
harder, and for upsetting the so- dispersed strips of land consisting
cial arrangements of England. of one acre each, he might receive
Parliament passed various acts of a thirty-acre farm plus his por-
a general nature to inhibit en- tion of the land used in common,
closures. Any exception, to per- perhaps ten acres more. Mantoux
mit enclosure, required a special says, "In fact, all this was tanta-
act of Parliament. These, however, mount to a revolution throughout
became increasingly easy to ob- the parish - the land being, so to
tain in the eighteenth century. speak, seized and dealt out again
One historian summarizes the among the landowners in an en-
progress in this way: "And their tirely new manner, which, how-
number increased year by year as ever, was to leave untouched the
time went on: there were three former rights of each of them."12
Acts only in the twelve years of
11 Paul Mantoux, The Industrial Rev-
the reign of Queen Anne; from
olution in the Eighteenth Century (Lon-
1714 to 1720, about one every don: Jonathan Cape, 1961, new and rev.
year. During the first half of the ed.), pp. 141-42.
century the progress, though grad- 12 Ibid., p. 168.
By this means, then, lands were lowed the next year by a modified
widely brought under private own- act along the same lines. "The Act
ership and control. There was, in of 1799 laid down that any person
addition, much consolidation of who joined with another to obtain
holdings by purchase.l 3 One effect an increase of wages or a reduc-
of all this was not long in being tion of hours might be brought
felt in England: much increase in before a magistrate and, on con-
agricultural productivity. viction, sentenced to three months
in prison."15 The Act itself may
Labor Relations have been unjust, but it illustrates
There were some important the determination to leave deci-
changes affecting employers and sions to individuals. In 1813, a
workers in the last years of the clause of an Elizabethan Act em-
eighteenth and in the early years powering Justices of the Peace to
of the nineteenth century. A fix wages was finally dispensed
major obstacle to technological with.t 6 In 1814, the Statute of Ap-
change was the attitude of work- prentices was repealed, and most
ers to new machines and tech- of the obstacles to the entry into a
niques. There were a considerable trade were removed. "And with
number of riots in the latter part the repeal in 1824 of the Spital-
of the eighteenth century in which fields Act of 1773, which had pro-
machinery was broken up and sab- vided agreed wage rates in the un-
otage by workers occurred. Earlier economic silk industry, legislative
in English history the government interference with wages vanished
had actually intervened on occa- completely until 1909."17
sion to prohibit the introduction
of new techniques. Now, however, Progress to 1850
the government no longer opposed The movement toward the es-
new machinery, and acts were tablishment of individual liberty
passed for the suppression of such did not, of course, always proceed
riotous and destructive activities. in a nice straight line over the
Government forces were used to years, with no detours or rever-
protect property and allow manu-
15 T. S. Ashton, The Industrial Revo-
facturers to make innovations on lution (New York: Oxford University
many occasions.t 4 In 1799, the Press, a Galaxy Book, 1964), p. 93.
famous (or infamous) Combina- 16 Mantoux, Ope cit., p. 456.
tion Act was passed, to be fol- 17R. K. Webb, Modern England: From
the Eighteenth Century to the Present
13 See ibid., p. 172. (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1968),
14 Ibid., pp. 400-08. p.153.
sions to the old ways. There. was erty. An act of Parliament in 1833
considerable repression of some provided for the abolition of slav-
liberties during the period of the ery in the British colonies. There
French Revolution and the Era of was an attempt to accomplish this
Napoleon. There was much fear great reform with as little damage
among the English political lead- to vested interests and property
ers that the revolution in France as possible. Twenty million pounds
would take root and spread in were paid in compensation to West
England. Still, the general tend- Indian slaveholders. In addition,
ency over the years was in the di- complete abolition was to be
rection of the expansion of liberty. achieved over a period of years.
The last great surge of that "All Negro children under six
movement got under way in were to be unconditionally free
the 1820's and continued to the after the passage of the act, but
1850's, or thereabouts. Under the those over six were to be held in
impulse of the ideas of such men apprenticeship. . . . If all their
as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, wages were kept by their 'employ-
Jeremy Bentham, Richard Cobden, ers,' the apprentices could earn
and John Bright, among others, their freedom in seven years." In
and following the political leader- the same year, too, the East India
ship of such men as Robert Peel, Company lost its last monopoly,
the remaining obstacles to individ- that of the China trade, and the
ual liberty and free use of private Bank of England lost its monopoly
property were largely swept away of joint-stock banking.l 8
during these years. The Test and
Repeal of the Corn Laws
Corporation Acts were repealed in
1828, virtually removing the polit- There is much else that could
ical disabilities of Protestant dis- be told, but it will suffice to con-
senters. Of course, dissenters had clude this summary of the high-
to consent to the continued ex- points of the securing of liberty
istence of the established Church and property by discussing the
of England, but they were now establishment of free trade. Mer-
otherwise free. An Act emancipat- cantilism died hard in England,
ing Roman Catholics was passed and the last aspect of it to be cut
in'1829; Catholics could now serve away was the protectionism of
in political office legally. tariffs and related interventions.
In the wake of vaunted elector- The most famous of the tariffs
al reforms of 1832, some impor- were the Corn Laws. They ac-
tant blows were struck for lib- 18 Ibid., p. 219.
quired such great fame because an And even the poorest of men will
Anti-Corn Law League was or- generally have bread. Important
ganized in 1839 under the leader- changes were made in the Corn
ship of Richard Cobden; the Laws in the 1820's, along with
League mounted such an attack other tariff reductions. However,
upon these laws that their repeal it was not until the 1840's that the
was a cause celebre. Historians, work was finished.
too, have generally made the re- In 1845, 430 articles were re-
peal of these laws the symbol of moved from the tariff lists, and
the triumph of free trade. other duties greatly reduced. In
The Corn Laws were the result 1846, the hated Corn Laws were
of enactments on a number of oc- finally repealed. In a mopping up
casions in the seventeenth and exercise, the Navigation Acts also
eighteenth centuries. Their object were repealed. 20 One economic his-
was to encourage the export of torian describes the upshot of
wheat and other grains and to dis- these developments in this way:
courage the importing of grains. "In a broad view the repeal was
More broadly, they were a part of the coping stone of the edifice of
a mercantilistic effort to increase free trade; it marked the final
exports and decrease imports. To stage in the struggle against mer-
effect this, a bounty was some- cantilism. Henceforth for nearly
times paid on grain exported while a hundred years England dis-
, tariffs discouraged imports. Adam carded the system of economic na-
Smith charged that these laws tionalism ... in favour of interna-
aimed "to raise the money price tional co-operation."21
of corn as high as possible, and It should be clear that much of
thereby to occasion, as much as the work of securing liberty and
possible, a constant dearth in the property in England consisted of
home market."19 what would nowadays be called
negative actions, of the removal of
To Help the Poor privileges, of the repeal of laws,
It was, as can readily be seen, a of the withdrawal of intervention,
particularly good place to launch of allowing restrictive legislation
an assault against protection. The to lapse, and so forth. Yet the im-
tendency of such protection, if it 20 See Gilbert Slater, The Growth of
fulfilled its aim, would be to drive Modern England (London: Constable
up the price of bread in England. and Co., 1939), p. 614.
21 E. Lipson, The Growth of English
19 Quoted in Ashton, An Economic Society (London: A and C Black, 1959),
History of England, p. 49. p.317.
pact was far from negative. Just the restrictions. It was so for the
as land can be irrigated by open- English. As the water in an irri-
ing the sluice gates of a dam gation ditch rises when the sluice
which has held the water in con- gates are opened, so rose England
finement, so the energies of a peo- to greatness as the restrictive leg-
ple can be released by removing islation was repealed. ~
The next article of this series will discuss

"The Moral Base" for England's rise.
The Power of an Idea
THE FREE-TRADE CAMPAIGN started under the most difficult odds.

Four-fifths of the Members of Parliament represented landlords
benefiting from protection - even though the average farmer and
the farm laborer did not. The Chartist movement also opposed
Corn Law repeal, charging that the League wanted the reform
in order to reduce wages. Nevertheless, as a result of Cobden's
energy, Bright's eloquence, and the influence of Adam Smith and
his disciples, Parliament finally repealed the Corn Laws in 1846-
under the leadership of the great Tory statesman, Robert Peel.
Britain now gradually abandoned protectionism in favor of free
trade....
As a result Great Britain now entered into its greatest period
of prosperity, which lasted, except for cyclical interruptions, until
World War I. Large areas of the world profited materially. The
British workers profited as much as the employers.
RAYMOND LESLIE BUELL, in Fortune, May, 1942
Jay Nock, founder and editor of
the old Freeman, has the best so-
lution.
For example, in his classic es-
ALBERT say, "Isaiah's Job," Nock made it
abundantly clear that his goal was
not to convert the masses to any
NOCK'S particular philosophy.
"The mass-man," wrote Nock,
JOB "is one who has neither the force

of intellect to apprehend the prin-
ciples issuing in what we know as
the humane life, nor the force of
character to adhere to these prin-
ciples steadily and strictly as laws
of conduct; and because such peo-
NICHOLAS SILIA, JR. ple make up the great, the over-
whelming majority of mankind,
OCCASIONALLY the smoke-screen they are called collectively the
generated by public opinion polls, masses."
manipulated news media, and other So, Nock's duty as he saw it was
socia-political forms of gamesman- to tend the Remnant, those unique
ship tends to daunt even the most individuals who had, or were will-
ardent proponent of liberty. For ing to develop, the necessary in-
we are all human, and yield at sight and ability to understand
times to discouragement. and employ ideas on liberty. In
However, it is during such times distinguishing them from the
that we should try to marshall our masses Nock noted: "The line of
inner strength and re-examine our differentiation between the masses
outer goals, for things are not al- and the Remnant is set invariably
ways what they seem. It is, thereby quality, not by circumstance.
fore, in our own best interest, as The Remnant are those who by
well as the interest of liberty, not force of intellect are able to ap-
to judge by appearances, but in prehend these principles, and by
terms of the realities involved. force of character are able, at
But how to distinguish one from least measurably, to cleave to
the other, you ask? Perhaps Albert them. The masses are those who
are unable to do either."
Mr. Silia, a member of The Nockian Society,
is a free-lance writer and poet. So Nock's primary purpose,
4:19
then, was not to alter public opin- ways so largely an unknown quan-
ion, manipulate news, or convert tity. You do not know, and will
others to his way of thinking. He never know, more than two things
merely sought to improve himself about them: first, that they exist;
and thereby become ever more second, that they will find you. Ex-
capable of furnishing other seek- cept for these two certainties,
ers with the inspiration and in- worldng for the Remnant means
sight which might further their working in impenetrable darkness."
own personal unfoldment. His job,
in short, was to be a sort of cata- This, then, was Nock's job. It is
lytic agent for the Remnant. likewise the job of all those who
Knowing beforehand that the are interested in' promoting the
masses were not to be transformed cause of liberty. And to them,
or converted, Nock did not be- N ock offers this bit of encourage-
come discouraged in his task of ment: "If, for example, you are a
servicing the Remnant. And once writel' or a speaker or a preacher,
you clearly see his point you will you put forth an idea which lodges
understand its soundness. in the Unbewusstsein of a casual
In other words, if your goal is rnember of the Remnant and sticks
to reform the world to your liking, fast there. For some time it is in-
you are slated for failure from ert; then it begins to fret and
the outset. For that task is im- fester until presently it invades
possible - as well as unnecessary. the man's conscious mind and, ,as
But if your goal is to reform your- one might say, corrupts it. Mean-
self, and incidentally present the while, he has quite forgotten how
truth as you know it to others, he came by the idea in the first
then you cannot fail. instance, and even perhaps thinks
Whether anyone accepts the he has invented it; and in those
ideas you present is immaterial to circumstances, the most interest-
your goal. Even though you may ing thing of all is that you never
convert no one, you still improve know what the pressure of that
society by improving one of its idea will make him do."
units - yourself. This endeavor will, of course,
Nevertheless, you can be sure strike a responsive chord only in
that your self-improvement will those rare individuals \vho are
attract the Remnant's attention, ready to ,vork for the Remnant. ~
although you may not be aware of
Write THE FREEMAN for a complimentary copy
it. Or as Nock said, ". . . in any of "Isaiah's Job," Nock's story of The Rem-
given society the Remnant are al- nant. Quantities, 10 for $1.00; 100 for $7.00.
"
THOSE with long memories will nomic Opportunity, and very little
recall the bitter criticism leveled of lasting benefit has trickled
at Herbert Hoover for believing through to the "worthy poor" at
that free enterprise prosperity the bottom of the pyramid.
would benefit everybody. They The difference between Hoover's
called it the "trickle down" theory, free capitalism and Sargent
and were quite sarcastic about it. Shriver's OEO Welfarism is not
Hoover, thou shouldst be living to be discovered in the official
at this hour, if only to turn the justifications of two ways of let-
tables on your critics! For if ting riches flow to the bottom.
there was ever a "trickle down" The theoretical justification of
situation, it is the sort of thing capitalism is that it produces sav-
that is described in Shirley Scheib- ings that provide the man at the
la's Poverty Is Where the Money bottom with more tools, and there-
Is (Arlington House, $5.95). The fore with a steadily increasing in-
billions have gone out for the come. Sargent Shriver would, no
Jobs Corps, the Community Ac- doubt, claim a somewhat similar
tion programs, .the Head Start benefit from tax money spent to
kindergartens, the Child Develop- give skills to young men in the
ment Group of Mississippi, the Job Corps. Unfortunately for
lfnited Planning Organization of Shriver, the Hoover theory, save
Washington, D.C., and all the for occasional interruptions (as
other taxpayer-financed contrap- of 1929), has paid off in practice
tions run by the Office of Eco- ever since the beginnings of the
industrial revolution, whereas the new johs more than six months,
theory of OEO Welfarism has yet and less than half with jobs were
to produce anything but a fiasco. working at what they were trained
Reading Shirley Scheibla's story for in the Corps. The median pay
of the War on Poverty is a most per hour was $1.32, fifteen cents
uncomfortable experience. You an hour better than before their
feel like laughing at the farcical very expensive training. In the
things that have been going on meantime we had had inflation.
in the administration of the pov- Mrs. Scheibla recounts the scan-
erty programs, yet you are con- dals that beset the Job Corps pro-
stantly aware that real people, not gram. Razor slashings, public
comic strip characters, are being drunkenness, lead-pipe bludgeon-
victimized by the social worker ings, and sex crimes have bedev-
jokesters. So you end up feeling iled the camp directors. Of course,
rather miserable as Mrs. Scheibla, the same people would have prob-
a Washington correspondent for ably been misbehaving in identical
Barron's, unrolls her vast tapestry ways elsewhere if they hadn't
of ineptitude, cupidity, and plain been tapped for rehabilitation
nonsense. through work, so you can't blame
it on the OEO. But the point is
Disappointing Results
that there hasn't been much re-
The intentions behind the cre- habilitation.
ation of the Jobs Corps may have Not even the big corporations-
been good. But what has become Westinghouse Electric, Litton In-
of it all? Mrs. Scheibla tried very dustries, IBM, Xerox, and so on -
hard to get firm figures about job have been able to do very mucD
placements resulting from train- with the trai~ing programs whicD
ing at Job Corps centers across they undertook at Sargent Shriv
the country, but nobody has any er's behest. The cost figures fOl
decent records, and OEO has had the entire Job Corps adventurE
to fall back on pollster surveys have been terrific. RepresentativE
to find out what becomes of its Edith Green of Oregon, an earl3
"graduates." A Louis Harris poll, advocate of the Corps, put i1
dated March 1967, showed that sharply when she quoted from ~
57 per cent of graduates and drop- letter from a constituent. The let
outs were working after leaving ter read: "How can I possibly pa~
the Job Corps, whereas 58 per taxes to support people in thl
cent were doing so beforehand. Job Corps centers at $13,000 ~
Only 6 per cent had kept their year? Our total income is $6,001
1968 OEO WELFARISM 443
a year, and we have three children. limited and Associated Commun-

We had hoped that we would be ity Teams). Jones's credo is ap-
able to send our three children to parent not only in his poetry and
college. Instead of that you are drama but in some of his more
passing a program in the Con- dogmatic utterances. "The force
gress of the United States which we want," so he has written, "is
says I am to pay taxes to support of twenty million spooks [Le.,
one person at $13,000 a year." Negroes] storming American
Says Mrs. Scheibla: "Even fig- cities with furious cries and un-
ured for enrollees, costs exceeded stoppable weapons. We want act-
$13,000 at some centers. Accord- ual explosions and actual brutal-
ing to Senator Strom Thurmond, ity." When New York policemen
they came to $22,000 at Camp raided Jones's theater, they dis-
Atterbury, and Representatives covered an arsenal of deadly weap-
Fino and Goodell found the costs ons, a rifle range, sharpened
per graduate came to $39,205 at meathooks, pistols, knives, and a
St. Petersburg, Florida." cache of ammunition.
Loaded for Bear Head Start to Nowhere
If the Job Corps have not done The most appealing of the War
the job that old-fashioned voca- on Poverty ideas was the project
tional training and business ap- called Head Start. I am probably
prenticeship programs once did, a softy, but I still see some po-
the Community Action programs tential merit in the idea of cre-
across the country haven't done ating a pre-kindergarten program
much better. In places, the local for slum children who never see
action projects have been means an educational toy, a book, or the
for paying $25,000 salaries to di- evidence of any other cultural
rectors in cities whose mayors amenity, at home. Alas for my
get $18,000. The projects have been lingering hopes, Mrs. Scheibla
havens for Maoists, anarchists, tells me that the only public eval-
and even orthodox communists uation of Head Start shows that
whose pasts have been an open the "initial advantages" gained
book. Before being cut off by OEO, by children in the OEO-sponsored
LeRoi Jones's notorious Black pre-kindergartens lasted only for
Arts Theatre had received $115,- the first few months when they
000 from New York City's Har- went on to upper grades. "The
you-ACT (an amalgamation of teachers themselves," so Mrs.
Harlem Youth Opportunities Un- Scheibla quotes from a report,
444 THE FREEMAN Julu
"were a more decisive factor than victim to Glendower's illusion.

participation in Head Start . . . Twice within less than one genera-
Head Start children scored higher tion the ,British electorate have
if they had good teachers, but submitted to the socialist fantasies
lower ... if they had poor teach- of a Labour Party bent on sum-
ers. We can easily predict that moning spirits from the bathos
even the finest pre-school experi- of economic planning. Twice the
ence for deprived and segregated Labour Party has carried Britain
children will wash out and disap- into the abyss of economic despair.
pear as these children pass Britain's postwar experiment
through the grades." with socialism inspired Professor
Reading Mrs. Scheibla's sum- John Jewkes of Oxford University
mary of OEO appropriations ($1.7 to produce his memorable book
billion for fiscal 1968), I recall entitled Ordeal by Planning
Tommy Corcoran's cynical pre- (1948). It is an illusion, he ar-
scription for "spreading the gued, to believe that elaborately
wealth." Back in the nineteen thir- constructed economic blueprints,
ties, at the height of WP A, written by some socialist theore-
Tommy shook his head and said tician in London, can successfully
that the government might do a determine the rate of growth and
better job if it "threw the money the general health of the economy.
out of airplanes." ~ "I believe that the recent melan-
choly decline of Great Britain,"
he wrote, "is largely of our own
~ THE NEW ORDEAL BY PLAN- making. The fall in our standard
NING: The Experience of the of living to a level which excites
Forties and the Sixties by John pity and evokes the charity of
Jewkes (London: Macmillan, 1968, many other richer countries, the
42 shillings)
progressive restrictions on indi-
vidual liberties, the ever-widening
Reviewed by Peter P. lVitonski destruction of respect for law, the
IN "Henry IV," Glendower proud- steady sapping of our instinct for
ly declares, "I can call spirits from tolerance and compromise, the
the vasty deep." To which Hotspur sharpening of class distinctions,
caustically replies, "Why, so can our growing incapacity to play a
I; or so can any man; but will rightful part in world affairs-
they come when you do call for these sad changes are not due to
them?" During the past twenty- something that happened in the
five years, Britain has twice fallen remote past. They are due to some-
thing that has happened in the who endured the failure of the first
past two years. At the root of our wave of planning in the forties to
troubles lies the fallacy that the accept, let alone understand, the
best way of ordering economic new wave of planning initiated by
affairs is to place the responsibil- the Conservative Government of
ity for all crucial decisions in the Harold Macmillan in 1961. In 1964
hands of the State." the Conservative Plan - a rather
The tragedy of the centrally primitive attempt to stop economic
planned economy, as the British growth and then get it started
experience has plainly demon- again when the planners felt the
strated, is that the plan almost in- climate was right - was rejected
variably fails to achieve its prom- by the electorate in favor of so-
ised ends. Indeed, more often than cialism, which promised "a co-
not, it backfires in unexpected and herent, long-term plan." The so-
calamitous ways. But not even a cialist plan was little different
succession of failures convinces from the conservative plan, and
the planner that the philosophy in the end the entire country
behind planning is all wrong. If found itself in one of the most
economic disaster results from tragic economic binds in recent
his plan, the planner simply comes history.
up with another. Today, in the Indeed, the present economic
midst of Britain's second major plight of Britain is so dire that
flirtation with planning, the La- many informed persons are now
bour Party dirigisJ'ne has suc- persuaded that the idea of plan-
ceeded in virtually destroying the ning has been permanently dis-
economy; and yet the socialist credited. Certainly the population
planners continue to turn out at large is fed up with planning.
"new" and "better" plans. So, And yet, somehow the myth sur-
once again, Professor Jewkes has vives, and this is what horrifies
taken up the cudgels on behalf of Professor Jewkes. The planners
the free economy, re-issuing his will be defeated at the next Gen-
m,agnum opus under the title, The eral Election, simply because they
New Ordeal by Planning: The Ex- have failed again; but this will
perience of the Forties and the not necessarily spell the end of
Sixties. To the original work he planning in Britain. The British
has added a profoundly vivid and voter has thrown the planners out
perceptive analysis of the failures before and lived to invite them
of central planning since 1961. back again. Professor Jewkes
It was hard for those Britons fears yet a third renaissance of
central planning and presents this toward the kind of free economy
volume, and all the new informa- Professor Jewkes advocates. Until
tion contained therein, as a warn- the fallacious thinking behind
ing against just such a contin- central planning is properly re-
gency. futed economic progress will be
It is Professor Jewkes' firm be- almost impossible. Professor
lief that the British Government, Jewkes has written such a refu-
like all governments, has only tation, and it is sincerely hoped
limited power to do good, but vir- that his views will reach a large
tually unlimited powers to do public on both sides of the
harm. Government must get its Atlantic. ~
priorities straight. Instead of ex-
perimenting with all sorts of fan-
tastic planning schemes, it should ~ GEORGE WASHINGTON in the
get back to its primary duties of American Revolution (1775-1783)
providing for national defense, by James Thomas Flexner (Bos-
curbing internal violence, and ton: Little, Brown & Co., 1968),
maintaining the value of the cur-
599 pp., $10.00.
rency. In recent years, the British
government has failed in all these Reviewed by Robert M. Thornton
tasks. Instead, it has created a THE EARLY American scene was
welfare state that is threatening crowded with great men - Adams,
the very existence of Britain as an J efferson, Franklin, Madison, and
economic entity. Hamilton, to name the most prom-
"The people never give up their inent intellectual leaders, 1764-
liberties," Edmund Burke wrote, 1789. But none of these worthies
"but under some delusion." It is could have filled the shoes of the
clear that the British were de- military leader of the American
luded into believing the promises "revolution," George Washington.
of both the Conservative and So- And he had the strength of char-
cialist planners, and that they are acter and devotion to the good
only just now - at the nadir of cause to stick at a difficult job for
their country's political history- eight long years.
beginning to face up to the evils The real humanity of our first
of planning per se. Economically great national hero has been ob-
depressed, deprived of many of scured, on the one hand, by por-
their traditional freedoms, they traying the man as a demigod,
are fast turning away from the and, on the other, by debunkers
ideology of planning, hopefully who write him off as a self-seek-
ing and philandering plutocrat. wall" Jackson or a George Patton,
The scholarly multivolumed study but a man of peace, in love with
by Douglas Southall Freeman his home and his land, and always
avoids these extremes but some- yearning to return to them. (3)
times loses Washington amidst all Trained officers were scarce and
the detail. And the sheer mass of those with foreign experience
works on Washington tends to often looked down on him as a
scare off some who are interested provincial, sometimes doing more
in learning about the man. Now at harm to the cause than to the
last we have Flexner's work (the enemy. (4) His forces were more
book under review is the second rabble than army, hard to keep
of a projected three-volume study) together and resistant to disci-
which not only avoids the extremes pline. (5) Logistics was a con-
of opinion but carries its scholar- stant nightmare, his men often
ship lightly and never loses sight suffering from lack of food, cloth-
of its subject. Washington is the ing, and shelter in a land of plenty.
central figure of this canvas and (6) Congress dragged its feet on
Flexner, for all his admiration, touchy matters and eagerly passed
has not been afraid to paint him, the buck to General Washington
warts and all. on many occasions. (7) Individual
Washington was not a great states, jealous of each other and
orator whose words we can memo- of Congress, failed to respond
rize and cherish; neither was he when called upon. (8) Congress
a fiery commander brandishing lacked the power to tax so the
his sword over his head as he Continental army was nearly al-
leads singlehandedly an attack on ways broke (the paper money
the enemy. His much less glamor- printed by the Continental Con-
ous job can be fully appreciated gress was "not worth a Continen-
only by those who have themselves tal"). (9) Civilian leaders were
had the responsibilities of leader- wary of the military so they often
ship, no matter on how small a hampered Washington's efforts to
scale. Consider, if you will, the make his army more efficient. (10)
difficulties Washington had to Many colonists were,. if not op-
overcome. (1) In his previous posed to independence from Great
military experience he had held Britain, not very helpful to the
only minor commands but here he patriots; and there were the usual
was, in 1775, the commander in faint hearts too cautious to take
chief. (2) He was not the warrior any definite stand. This list could
type, along the lines of a "Stone- be extended but surely the point
is already clear: given Washing- They gained ascendancy by being
ton's job, few men would have willing and able to bring their intel-
stuck it out. ligence and property to bear in ef-
But what really sets Washing- fectively helping their less powerful
ton apart from other men was his and less informed neighbors to
absolute refusal to accept the dic- achieve ends which they persuaded
their followers were for the common
tatorial powers some wanted to
good. Nothing in Washington's Vir-
grant him after the war for inde- ginia training urged him to seek
pendence had dragged on and on popularity by shaking hands and
without victory. After the' years grinning. And his elevation to lead-
of frustration it must have been ership in the Revolution had not re-
very tempting to Washington to sulted from electioneering - quite the
accept the proffered power and reverse. He had sought to evade the
use it to bring order out of the responsibility 'which had been forced
chaos and put down opposition to upon him.
the cause. But he flatly refused.
Flexner closes his book with an Since Washington did not have
essay on Washington that reminds to stoop to conquer, "no impor-
us why among the leaders of our tant outside pressure impeded
young republic there were so many [his] efforts to steer by the high-
men of integrity, why the best est stars. He could wholeheartedly
men, it seems, got to the top more pursue his conviction that he could
often then than now. Leaders of serve his fellowmen best by serv-
Washington's day, writes Flexner, ing the great principles." And,
declares Flexner, "it was in his
did not normally kowtow to the elec- ability to recognize the great prin-
torate. They did not wander the ciples that Washington's most fun-
fields taking public opinion polls. damental greatness lay." ~
THE FREEMAN ON MICROFILM
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the
Freeman
VOL. 18, NO.8. AUGUST 1968
The War on Poverty: A Critical View Edmund A. Opitz 451

An analysis of the problem of poverty over the centuries and the cure effected
through freedom.
The Collapse of Self Leonard E. Read 462

Concerning the preservation of one of the most precious of man's possessions:
self-responsibility.

6. The Moral Base Clarence B. Carson 467
Especially covering the Puritan influence and the effect of the evangelical
Protestant movement.
Where Burglars Get Better Break than Businessmen Lowell B. Mason 478
Federal agencies can take a tougher stand on businessmen than the courts do on
criminals when fixing their sentence.
Where in the World? Ralph Bradford 484

One's own country may well be the best place in the world for him to live - if he
will uphold and strengthen the good while correcting what displeases him.
Advance to the Rear David Skidmore 494

The so-called new forms of Il soc ial" legislation are but throwbacks toward serfdom
and slavery.
Separation of Powers and the Labor Act:

2. "Expertise," Separation of Powers, and Due Process Sylvester Petro 497
Neither the President nor an administrative agency can better represent the public
in matters of policy than can Congress.
The Right to Life Jerome Tuccille 507

The real issue underlying the troublesome problems we face.
Book Reviews 509

"Accent on the Right" by Leonard E. Read

the
Freeman
IRVINGTONONHUDSON, NEW YORK TEL.: (914) 5917230

Economic Education

and limited government~

"The Rise and Fall of England" and "Where Burglars Get Better Brea~
than Businessmen."
The War
on Poverty
A CRITICAL VIEW
EDMUND A. OPITZ
MOST PEOPLE who have lived on all men. We all want to see other
this planet have been desperately men better off; better fed, better
poor, and most societies even to- housed, better clothed, better edu-
day are by no means affluent. cated, healthier and with better
Never before in history has a so- medical care, more recreation and
ciety entertained the hope that more leisure. There is little dis-
poverty might be eliminated; such agreement as to goals such as
a notion in any other society but these; the continuing debate be,;.
mid-twentieth century America tween liberals and conservatives is
would be put in the same category not over ends; it is over means.
as perpetual motion. Only in a na- We differ as to the means we must
tion where unparalleled prosperity employ if we are to attain the ends
was the rule could people regard we say we want to reach.
poverty as the exception. No other The Great Society has a ready
society has ever been wealthy answer to all such problems: Pass
enough to even think of launching a law. The typical liberal of our
what we call a War on Poverty. I time has unlimited faith in legis-
shall ask you to keep this thought lation designed to redistribute
in mind as I submit the program wealth and income: Taxes for all,
to critical analysis. subsidies for some. Is there a
All men of goodwill can meet slum? Replace it with a govern-
on the common ground of shared ment housing project. Is there a
goals. The common aim of liberals "depressed area"? Build a "de-
and conservatives alike is to en- fense plant" there. Is X industry
hance the economic well-being of in trouble? Give it a subsidy.
Does the economy need a shot in
The Reverend Mr. Opitz of the Foundation
staff is active as a lecturer and seminar leader. the arm? Hand out a veterans'
452 THE FREEMAN August
bonus. And so on and so on; the economic goods of its own, so any
list is endless. Each of the items, wealth it bestows on this or that
however, has something in com- person must first be taken from
mon with all the others; each one the people who produced it. If gov-
proposes to correct an economic ernment gives Peter a dollar, it
problem by political action. In must first deprive Paul of a por-
short, the liberal invokes govern- tion of his earnings. The nature
mental action to achieve economic of political action is such that gov-
goals. ernment cannot possibly be used
as a lever to raise the general
Emphasis on Production level of economic, physical, and
Now, the natural way to go intellectual wen-being. If govern-
about achieving the economic ends mental action does increase the
of higher all round living stand- income of one segment of the
ards - one would suppose - is by population, it is only by disad-
employing economic means and vantaging other sectors of society
becoming more productive. It is in a kind of seesaw action. If,
only in a productive, prosperous therefore, our concern is to up-
economy that share-the-wealth grade the general welfare - the
programs make any sense at all; overall well-being of aU citizens-
and it is only by expanding the we must rely on economic rather
methods which explain our pres- than political means; that is, we
ent prosperity that the less pros- must rely on men and women in a
perous can hope to improve their market economy, working com-
circumstances. Otherwise, the sit- petitively, with government acting
uation might shift into reverse; if as umpire seeing to it that the
we employ the wrong methods for rules of the game are not being
getting rid of poverty, we might violated.
find that we have eliminated pros- Let us try to get this matter of
perity instead! poverty into perspective. Most of
Government is not an economic us have had some encounter with
institution; governmental action poverty. Our memories go back to
as such does not produce food, the stock market crash of October,
clothing, or shelter. The provision- 1929, and to the Great Depression
ing of men's material needs in- of the nineteen thirties. Most of
volves economic action, with gov- us experienced poverty in our own
ernment standing by to protect families or, at any rate, in our
the producer and keep the trade neighborhoods. In the nineteen
routes open. Government has no thirties there were millions of men
1968 THE WAR ON POVERTY: A CRITICAL VIEW 453
without jobs, through no fault of pIe were not simply ill-fed and ill-
their own. As a consequence of clothed; they literally had no
w'idespread unemployment, many housing! This ,vas poverty of an
American families had to scrimp intensity so great that, by com-
in order to get along. They pulled parison, the poor in American
in their belts and ate less well cities or the impoverished in the
than they would have liked; some rural areas of the South, even dur-
wore cast-off clothing; houses ing the depths of the Great De-
went unbuilt or unrepaired. Peo- pression, would seem affluent by
ple did without, and America went comparison. There is affluence in
through the wringer. But during India as well as an enormous
this same period - the nineteen amount of poverty, but the poor
thirties - more than five million in America live at a level which
people died of starvation in the would put them among the af-
Ukraine; nothing like this hap- fluent in India - or Africa, or
pened in America. America has China, or in many parts of Eu-
never had a famine, not even dur- rope.
ing the Great Depression of the
nineteen thirties. The mass star- Pinning Down the Definition:
vation in the Ukraine was of a Poverty Is Relative
different order of magnitude from I draw these comparisons only

the hardship endured by the peo- to sugg~st that we are badly in
ple of America during the Great need of a definition of our major
Depression. term, poverty. We live in a gen-
Twenty-five years ago I stepped eration which prides itself on its
off a troopship in Bombay. We expertise in semantics. The seman-
were surrounded by beggars. A ticist has taught us to look for
swarm of little boys were diving the referent. A piece of steel, the
into Bombay Harbor for pennies; semanticists point out, is not a
loincloth-clad stevedores-scrawny piece of steel merely. We must
Iittle men - began to unload the specify steel of a certain carbon
ship. Several of us hired a taxi content, with certain dimensions,
'which drove us around this exotic at a certain temperature, and at
and teeming city. Returning to a given time. A piece of steel n01w
the ship late that evening, we will be a blob of rust a century
drove through miles of city streets from now, so the time element is
and saw hundreds of thousands of important. The Office of Economic
Bombay citizens sleeping side by Opportunity acknowledges the
side on the sidewalks. These peo- problem in a sense, by offering us
an arbitrary definition of poverty. exacts more than three hundred
A couple without dependents, we dollars from them in taxes. This
are told, with an income of three action violates what Tolstoy de-
thousand dollars a year, is living clared to be our first duty toward
at the poverty line. But in 1936 the poor. We should, he said, get
one of the early New Dealers, an off their backs!
economist named Mordecai Eze- I do not believe that all things
kiel, wrote a book entitled Twenty- are relative, but I do believe that
Five Hundred Dollars a Year. An some things are relative; and
annual income of two thousand five what we call poverty is one of
hundred was held up then as an them. A thirteenth century Eng-
economic target for America. The lish serf Ii ving in Northumber-
book was regarded as utopian, as land was desperately poor - not
a wild prophecy of the level of relative to other serfs living in
prosperity to which Americans Northumberland or Wessex, but
might aspire. And now an annual relative to hisNorman overlord.
income 20 per cent above this is And that Norman baron lacked
called the poverty line! the amenities we deem necessary,
Now, prosperity is not measured and which are today enj oyed by
by numbers of dollars alone; pros- all but a fraction of American
perity depends upon the prices of citizens.
the things these dollars are used
to buy. And, as everyone knows, A Wave of Immigration
the government has inflated our America has, until recent years,
dollars to the point where each been looked up to by the world's
one is now worth about 39 per people as the land of opportunity.
cent of what it was worth thirty Immigrants by the millions came
years ago. The dollar today buys to these shores in the period 1820-
- on the average - what 39 1930, in order to be free of the
would buy in the period just be- restraints they suffered from in
fore World War II. Three thou- other parts of the world. They
sand dollars does not buy much in sought a land where they might
1968. A couple which earns only worship freely; a land where the
three thousand dollars a year are barriers of class and caste were
declared by the national govern- largely nonexistent; a land where
ment to be existing on the ragged a man might rise by his own ef-
edge of poverty. But what is the forts. What were these people do-
very first thing this government ing here during these decades?
does to them? It steps over and They were farming, manufactur-
ing, pushing west, building rail- prosperity far above that of most
roads across the continent, sup- other people. America's greatness
plementing their diet by fishing is not, of course, to be measured
and hunting, finding a new way of by monetary income and material
life, and so on. These people were well-being; but it is interesting to
producing food, clothing, shelter, note how well Americans have
and the amenities at an accelerat- done economically with the re-
ing rate, and by so doing they sources available to them. The
were fighting poverty. They were United States is only one-sixteenth
overcoming poverty by their proof the land surface of the world,
ductivity - and poverty can be re- and Americans are only about
duced in no other way - only by one-fifteenth of the world's popu-
production. The general level of lation. Nevertheless, Americans
economic well-being in America own three-quarters of all the auto-
rose decade by decade. Many peo- mobiles in the world, one-half of
ple went from rags to riches; all the telephones, one-half of all
but even those whose ascent was the radios, three-quarters of all
not so dramatic did share in the the television sets. Americans con-
general prosperity. I am critical sume about two-thirds of all the
of much that went on in nine- petroleum products in the world,
teenth century America, but let's one-half of all the coffee, two-
at least give the period its due. thirds of all the silk. An Ameri-
These people fought and largely can factory worker can buy four
won what might be called the suits of clothes with a month's
great war on poverty. A whole so- wages; his counterpart in a totali-
ciety came to enjoy a level of af- tarian country can buy half a suit
fluence hitherto "beyond the with a month's wages. An Ameri-
dreams of avarice." can can buy six pairs of shoes
Americans continued to expand with the results of a week's work;
their productive capacity so that his totalitarian counterpart can
by mid-twentieth century we have buy one shoe. These figures prove
sent our surpluses around the only one thing. They demonstrate
globe in various foreign aid prQ- with what dramatic success Amer-
grams. Despite the fact that icans have waged the great war on
America has given more than 122 poverty.
billion dollars worth of goods to We had become so prosperous
various nations since the end by the mid-nineteen fifties that
of World War II, Americans this fact was cause for alarm-
stillenjoy a personal level of in the eyes of some .people. For
example, the National Council of addition, every local community'
Churches convened a study con- had its locally based welfare proj-
ference in Pittsburgh in 1956, on ects and so did every state. Ac-
the general theme: "The Christian cording to the Social Security Bul-
Conscience and an Economy of letin for November, 1963, we
Abundance." were spending in excess of forty-
"Can we stand abundance ?" four billion dollars a year on wel-
asks a brochure which came out fare and welfare-type programs.
of this Pittsburgh meeting. "The Then, in 1964, Congress passed
human race has had long experi- the Economic Opportunity Act
ence and a fine tradition in sur- and a one billion dollar War on
viving adversity. But now we face Poverty was announced with great
a task for which we have little fanfare.
experience, the task of surviving
prosperity." Among the confer- How the Great War Was Won
ence resources was a booklet by Now the very fact that we have
Leland Gordon and Reinhold Nie- a so-called War on Poverty is it-
buhr giving "information and ~n self eloquent testimony to the
sights on the economic and reli- general affluence of our society. In
gious aspects of mounting pros- a society where almost everyone is
perity in the U.S.A." In 1958, poor - and this has been the con-
John Kenneth Galbraith provided dition of almost every human so-
the phrase we were looking for to ciety of the past and it continues
characterize the era when he en- to be the condition of most people
titled his book The Affluent So- in other parts of the globe today
ciety. The man in the street - talk of eliminating poverty is a
phrased it somewhat differently: pipe dream. It is only in America
"We never had it so good," he that the idea of ridding ourselves
said. of the last vestiges of poverty
The prosperity enjoyed by the would occur to anyone. So success-
bulk of Americans during the fully have we waged the great war
mid-twentieth century does not on poverty that we entertain the
mean that American society neg- notion that in a piece of further
lected those who did not share in legislation we can eliminate what
the general prosperity. In 1963, might be called residual poverty.
the then Secretary of Health, Edu- It goes without saying that be-
cation, and Welfare observed that fore we can share our prosperity
42 Federal programs have "a di- we must be relatively prosperous.
rect application to poverty." In Thus, it is imperative that we ex-
plain the que'stion: How did we and tools; in chemicals the invest-
achieve that level of prosperity ment is $45,000 per worker; and
which makes it possible for us to in petroleum the figure skyrockets
entertain the notion of eliminating to $141,000 of invested capital. A
poverty altogether? The average society becomes more prosperous
American is somewhat taller than - the material well-being of peo..
his ancestor of a century ago, and pIe increases - when people are
somewhat heavier; he has had a encouraged to save, when earnings
longer period of schooling. But are protected, and when these
our prosperity gains are not to be savings are invested in tools and
accounted for by the fact that the machines. At the present moment
twentieth century American is in America about $21,000 worth
bigger, stronger, and smarter of tools and machines - on the
than his nineteenth century coun- average - are put at the disposal
terpart. Does he work longer than of each man who works in a fac-
his forebear of a century ago? tory. As a consequence, the aver-
No, to the contrary, the work age American worker produces
week has been cut almost in half more efficiently than his counter-
in the past hundred years. The part in other nations, and more
answer lies in better tools and goods are available for everyone.
more of them. The average Ameri- Because he produces more his
can worker of today has at his dis- wages are higher; his wages rise
posal far more and better main lock step with his increased
chinery than any other worker in productivity. This was how the
history, and as a result the Amer- great war on poverty was won.
ican worker is the most produc-
tive worker of all times. In Amer- Progress through Freedom
ica machines do more than 90 per This result has been obtained
cent of the physical work. Tools within the free economy, or the
and machines are called capital, free market, as it is sometimes
and it is the immense amount of called. The free society is one
capital invested per worker in which gives the individual citizen
America which accounts for the elbowroom by limiting govern-
American's productivity. In the ment by constitutional, legal, and
average manufacturing plant there moral restraints. The idea is to
is more than $21,000 invested per retain a protected private domain
worker. In the automobile indus- ,vithin which people may freely
try the figure rises to $25,000 in- choose and freely pursue their
vested per worker in machines personal goals - just so long as
their actions inj ure no one else. exist if those in power did not
In such a society the economy will feel it was good for them." Such
be free, and as a result of eco- a sentiment as this is a gratuitous
nomic freedom it will attain to insult aimed at dissenters; but
maximum prosperity. But no mat- moreover, it is a silly sentiment.
ter how prosperous a society be- We live in a commercial and man-
comes, wants and demands will in- ufacturing culture, and mass pro-
crease faster than material goods duction is the rule. Mass produc-
can be produced. tion cannot continue unless there
Henry David Thoreau remarked is mass consumption, and the
that he was rich in the number of masses of men cannot consume
things he could do. without; but the output of our factories unless
this is not the modern temper. they possess purchasing power.
The mood of our time is reflected To suggest that those who have
in Samuel Gompers' response to goods and services to sell have an
the question, "What does labor interest in keeping their custom-
want 1" "More," was his reply. ers too poor to buy is nonsense. In
There is a Parkinson's Law in op- a free economy, everyone has a
eration here: The higher the gen- stake in the economic well-being
eral level of prosperity, the more of every other person.
keenly do we feel the nagging
wants and demands for even more liThe Science of Scarcity"
things. The general principle is: Economics has been called the
Human wants and demands al- science of scarcity, but as the
ways outrun the means of satis- word "scarcity" is used in eco-
fying them. This is a fact of our nomics it is a technical term. Let
human situation as such, and we me try to explain. If we are to
need to discipline our emotions properly evaluate the war on pov-
into line with reality. ertY,we must keep in mind that
These emotions are easily ex- there is on this planet a built-in
ploited by demagogues who sug- shortage of the things men want
gest that mankind might move in- and need. To qualify as an eco-
to a utopia of abundance, except nomic good a thing must exhibit
that wicked men bar the way and two characteristics. It must, in the
keep us poor. The coordinator of first place, be wanted; and, in the
the National Council of Churches' second place, it must be scarce.
Anti-Poverty Task Force, for ex- Everyone of us wants air, but
ample, makes the assertion that air is not an economic good be-
"Poverty would not continue to cause each of us can breathe all
the air he desires and there's still be a moment when everyone will
a lot left over for everyone else. have all he wants. "Economics,"
Ordinary air is not a scarce good, in the words of Wilhelm Ropke,
but conditioned air is another "should be an anti-ideological, an-
matter. Air that has been cooled ti-utopian, disillusioning science."
or heated has had work performed And indeed it is. The candid econ-
on it and it is in relatively short omist is a man who comes before
supply; there's not enough of it his fellows with the bad news that
to go around and, therefore, we the human race will never have
have to pay for it; we have to enough. Organize and reorganize
give up something else in order to society from now till doomsday
obtain air that is heated or cooled. and we'll still be trying to cope
The second feature of an economic with scarcity.
good is its scarcity. Now, beri- The point needs to be stressed:
beri is a scarce thing in this part Scarcity now and forever, no mat-
of the world, but it is not an eco- ter how high we jack the society
nomic good because no one wants above the subsistence level. Pov~
it. erty, in other words, is not an
Economics is indeed the science entity like smallpox, say, or polio.
of scarcity, but it's important to By research, and by investing a
realize that the scarcity we are great deal of money, time, and
talking about in this context is a brains, we have wiped out several
relative scarcity. In the economic diseases which once plagued the
sense, there is scarcity at every human race. There is no analogy
level of prosperity. Whenever we here to the situation we confront
drive in city traffic, or look vainly as regards poverty. No matter how
for a place to park, we are hardly far a society climbs up the ladder
in a mood to accept the economic of prosperity there will always
truism that automobiles are be a bottom 20 per cent; some
scarce. But, of course, they are, folks will always be better off
relative to our wishes. Who would than others.. A college president
not .want to replace his present says that they carefully screen
car or cars with a Rolls Royce for the students entering his institu-
Sundays and holidays, plus an tion, and during the four years of
Aston Martin for running around? college the students are exposed
The economic equation can never to the best teachers around. But
be solved; to the end of time there despite all their efforts, 50 per
will be a scarcity of goods, and cent of the students graduate in
unfulfilled wants. There will never the bottom half of their class!
Every society, no matter how pros- market so that government can
perous, will still be trying to cope store it or give it to people who
with vestigial poverty - even are hurt by receiving it.
though the people comprising this Look at the damage done by the
residue of poverty are affluent by Urban Renewal Program. My
comparison with the masses of source here is the study by Pro-
Asia. fessor Martin Anderson, spon-
sored by the Joint Center for Ur-
Poverty through Intervention
ban Studies of M.LT. and Har-
Scarcity, as I have said, is in vard, published as The Federal
the nature of things, but there Bulldozer. In the decade under
is also artificially induced scarc- examination, Professor Anderson
ity. There has be.en less of insti- found - among other things - that
tutionally generated and sanc- the Urban Renewal Program has
tioned scarcity in America than demolished about 120,000 dwelling
elsewhere, but there has always units with a median rental value
been a certain percentage of our of $40 per month. During the
poverty artificially created by un- same period, some 25 to 30 thou-
wise and unwarranted political sand dwelling units have been
interventions. If government did built with a median rental value
not do so much to hurt people, of $180 dollars per month. The
there would be less excuse for its poor have been evicted from their
clumsy efforts to help them. Let crowded and unsatisfactory hous-
me briefly cite several examples: ing into housing that is even less
The farm program costs about 7 satisfactory and more crowded.
billion dollars a year. This hurts The people who can afford to pay
mainly the masses of moderate $180 a month are enjoying subsi-
and low income people who are dized housing at public expense.
first taxed to pay for the program, During the period when Urban
and then are hit again by the Renewal has shown a net loss of
higher prices they are forced to 90,000 housing units, what has
pay for food - which is a far private enterprise been doing?
larger item in the budget of the Something like 18,000,000 housing
poor (in proportion) than it is in units have been constructed in the
the budget of the rich. The money private sector of the economy!
taken from these people is given Then there are minimum wage
to farmers who use it to buy laws. Liberal and conservative
equipment and fertilizer to grow economists see virtually eye to eye
more food for which there is no on this point; they agree that min-
imum wage laws throw men out chines than otherwise would be
of work - especially teenagers and the case, and are that much less
especially Negroes. After 1956, productive in consequence. Being
when the minimum was raised less productive, we are poorer than
from 75 to $1.00 the nonwhite we need to be. It boils down to
teenage unemployment rose from the truism that we can conquer
7 per cent to 24 per cent while poverty only by production, with
white teenage unemployment went the corollary that every restraint
from 6 per cent to 14 per cent. on production sabotages the real
It is easy to understand why. war on poverty. Nor is there any
Wages are a cost of doing busi- political alchemy which can trans-
ness, and if something begins to mute diminished production into
cost more, we start using less of increased consumption.
it-other things being equal. When The fact of the matter is that
labor costs more per worker, the restrictive political practices
fewer workers will be used. Some of today - which bear such labels
marginal plants will shut down as Liberalism, Collectivism, and
altogether. the Great Society - are the conse-
Similar reasoning applies to quence of wrong-headed theories
monopoly labor unions. The aim of yesteryear and last century. We
of these unions is to raise wages embraced unsound ideas and en-
above the market level; and if gage in uneconomic practices as a
they succeed in so doing, a num- consequence. The late Lord Keynes
ber of workers are thereby disem- said it well:
ployed. Former Senator Paul
Practical men, who believe them-
Douglas wrote his book on wage selves to be quite exempt from any
theory in 1934, demonstrating intellectual influences, are usually
that if wages are artificially raised the slaves of some defunct economist.
1 per cent by union pressure on Madmen in authority, who hear
employers, between 2 and 3 per voices in the air, are distilling their
cent of the work force will lose frenzy from some academic scribbler
their jobs. Unemployment is in- of a few years back. I am sure that
stitutionalized. the power of vested interests is
Then there is the matter of in- vastly exaggerated compared with
vestment. The welfare state's pat- the gradual encroachment of ideas.
tern of taxation drains off money It is ideas which rule the world,
that other,vise would flow into for good or ill, and in this strug-
capital investment, with the result gle none of us is a mere specta-
that we have fewer tools and ma- tor. ~
LEONARD E. READ
WHAT a thought-provoking title, range of man's concept of all that

"The Undiscovered Self" P For it is real. And the end will never be
implies a dark continent in the in sight!
mind awaiting exploration, and Nor need we confine our ob-
suggests that the discovery and servations on the significance of
development of the inner life is the expanding self to the physical
the only way to lengthen the per- universe. As the inner life is more
imeter of all that man can call successfully explored, spiritual
reality. The expanding universe, qualities are increasingly pe'r-
in this sense, is but the measure ceived, embraced, and experienced:
of man's expanding mind. Only a creativity, inventiveness, piety,
moment ago, in evolutionary time, love, justice, charity, integrity, a
this orb of ours was thought to be moral nature.
flat. The expanding self - increas- We conclude, therefore, that
ing awareness - not only is re- man's destiny, earthly goals, pur-
sponsible for that correction but poses, aspirations - properly fo-
accounts for the appearance of cused - are linked inextricably tc
the electron, countless galaxies, a deeper understanding and mean
and numberless other wonders ing of expanding selfhood.
that recently have come within the And, by the same token, we car
infer that any abandonment oj
1 The Undiscovered Self by Dr. Carl selfhood is dehumanizing; it if
Gustav Jung (New York: The New
American Library of World Literature. devolutionary as distinguishe(
A Mentor Book). from evolutionary; it is collapse
462
1968 THE COLLAPSE OF SELF 468
The collapse .has numerous man- ing, he will regard it lightly and
ifestations: strikes; riots; mass will not cling to it as one of the
hysteria; political chicanery; li- most priceless of all possessions.
centiousness in the name of art, Frederic Bastiat sets the stage
music, poetry; in a word, public for my thesis: "We hold from
bawdiness; in classrooms and pul- God the gift which includes all
pits alike the pursuit of excellence others. This gift is life - physical,
is more pardoned than praised. intellectual, and moral life. But
The signs, to say the least, are life cannot maintain itself alone.
ominous. The Creator of life has entrusted
It is, thus, of the utmost im- us with the responsibility of pre-
portance that we try to pinpoint serving, developing, and perfect-
the cause of this dwindling self- ing it. In order that we may ac-
respect for, as I see it, this is the complish this, He has provided us
taproot of the deplorable effects with a collection of marvelous
we observe. faculties. "2
The mere phrasing of the col- Marvelous potential faculties
lapse or decline as "the loss of would be more to my liking. A
self-respect" comes close to sug- faculty is marvelous only when
gesting what the cause really is: there is some attempt to realize
a ntarked removal of responsibil- its potentiality. There is nothing
ity for self. And while the individ- marvelous about the faculty of
ual who is forced to relinquish sight if one will not see, or of in-
responsibility may take comfort sight if one lets it lie forever dor-
in the fact that he did not divest mant. The "marvelous" quality
himself voluntarily, the end result rises and falls with the develop-
- coercively taken or willingly ment or atrophy of faculties. Put
given - is no Tesponsibility for our faculties to use and they de-
self. Next to life itself, self-res- velop; neglect to use them and
ponsibility is the most precious they decline.
possession one can lose, and it Tie the arm to one's side and it
matters not how he loses it. \vithers; cease exercising the mind
for a prolonged period and think-
Talents to Be Tested ing can no more be recovered than
Before discussing the careless spoiled fruit can regain its fresh-
and lackadaisical attitude toward ness. It is use, practice, exercise
self-responsibility, let's review its
2 The Law by Frederic Bastiat (Ir-
importance. For, unless an in- vington-on-Hudson, N. Y.: The Founda-
dividual is aware of its deep mean- tion for Economic Education, Inc.), p. 5.
that gives muscle to the faculties, him - next to life itself. And the
all faculties - intellectual and spir- idea of voluntarily transferring
itual as well as physical. one's self-responsibility to some-
Observe a person in extreme one else is unthinkable. How could
difficulty - over his head in water, anyone call such a thought his
financial problems, or whatever. own?
Except in rare instances, he'll
frantically hope for someone to Shedding Responsibility
rescue him. But what happens But what, actually, is the situa-
when no helper is to be found? He tion? Millions of citizens are do-
finds only himself; he's on his own ing all within their power to rid
responsibility; it's sink or swim, themselves of responsibility for
as we say. And nine times out of self as if it were a dreaded burden.
ten he'll work his way out of the They implore government to be re-
mess he's in. Faculties, if not too sponsible for their prosperity,
far gone, rusty though they may their welfare, their security, even
be, will rise to the occasion; creak- their children. 3 They voluntarily
ily they'll begin to function. drift - nay, militantly march-
Responsibility for self not only toward total irresponsibility.
rescues the faculties from non- And on the other side of the
use and atrophy but serves to re- coin are the governmental power
new, invigorate, and expand them; seekers - all too ready to accom-
these faculties are the very es- modate. Members of the hierarchy
sence of self, that is, of one's life. who devoutly wish to assume re-
Further, self-responsibility has no sponsibility for the people's lives
substitute; it is the mainspring of and livelihoods - with the people's
the generative process. 3 The child is but the extension of par-
Any individual who intelligently ental responsibility. So far as responsi-
interprets and identifies his high- bility is concerned, parent and child be-
gin as one and the same. Ideally, parental
est self-interest - the growth or responsibility is relinquished as the off-
hatching of faculties - and then spring acquires responsibility for self;
clearly perceives the role self-re- self-responsibility thus suffers no loss.
But, to an alarming extent, this proper
sponsibility plays in achieving this transition is ignored. Instead, the re-
objective, must cherish, prize, and sponsibility for children - education, for
instance - is more and more turned over
cling to its retention. Toward this to government, an apparatus incapable
right of being responsible for self of transferring the responsibility it has
he has a defiant possessiveness; it assumed to the child. It is this parental
irresponsibility which accounts, in no
is among the last of all rights he small measure, for the juvenile delin-
will permit others to take from quency we observe all about us.
1968 THE COLLAPSE OF SELF 465
money! - are greeted less with others who are less fortunate than
resistance than with eager accept- themselves. Above all else, they
ance. Laws are then written to en- pay attention to an emerging, ex-
force compliance; that is, govern- panding selfhood. In a word,
ment forcibly takes the responsi- there's work to do - no time or
bility for problems, as much from even inclination to indulge in ac-
those who oppose as from those tions unrelated thereto.
who applaud the transfer of re-
sponsibility. Paternalistic Government
Together - those who eagerly So, when lamenting the current
shed responsibility and those who trends, point the finger of blame
as avidly assume it for others- where it belongs, at The Establish-
they present not only a collapse of ment, namely, at the preponderant
self but a landslide to tyranny. thinking of our day: the mischie-
Strikes, riots, and other provoc- vous notion that it is the role of
ative demonstrations are but the government to look after "its peo-
actions of a people bereft of self- ple."4 Point the finger, also, at the
respect. These millions are no dwindling respect for our most
longer anchored to responsible be- priceless right: the right to look
havior; they have cast themselves out for ourselves..
adrift, their trade union or the Observe that the finger of blame
government or some other "bene- points at the mischievous notion
factor" assuming the responsi- of paternalism and the loss of self-
bility for their lives. The disci- respect - not at discrete individ-
plined behavior required for social uals. Without question, we make a
felicity, which responsibility for grave error when we try to shame
self imposes, is so lacking that they persons because they espouse ideas
suffer no obvious penalties for which we believe to be false. One
their follies. To absolve human be- can take no credit for this tactic;
ings of this corrective force is to it is as shallow as, indeed, it is
populate the world with people identical to, name-calling. Such
recklessly on the loose, every base personal affronts generate only re-
emotion released, vent given to the sentment; under this kind of fire,
worst in men. these human targets of our criti-
Individuals responsible for self 4 Many of the persons who deplore
are rarely found in mobs. They riots are those who support one or an-
concern themselves, rather, with other Federal handout - fl'ee lunches,
Medicare, subsidies, the Gateway Arch,
spouses, children, perhaps aged or you name it -little realizing that their
helpless relatives and friends- type of action set the riots in motion.
cisms rise to their own defense than the latter, and for the same
and are thereby hardened in their reason: its invalidity!
ways. Utter silence is preferable It is clear that expanding self-
to this. hood is possible only in a state of
We should, instead, work at the freedom. And it is equally clear
impersonal level, which means that freedom is out of the ques-
coming to grips with the ideas at tion among an irresponsible peo-
issue. All of us share in common ple, seemingly a vicious circle. Yet,
a feeling of gratitude toward those this circle can be broken, the col-
who keep us from making fools of lapse ended, and a reversal begun
ourselves. That it's the function by little more than a recognition
of government to look out for "its that self-responsibility is the mas-
people" is no more valid than the ter key. Man then may see that
ancient belief that the earth is his earthly purpose is not to be a
flat. Were we adequately to work ward of the government but his
at the intellectual level, the former own man, under God - self-respect-
notion would no more be upheld ing and self-responsible. ~
A Harmony of Interests
THE SOCIALISTS believe that men's interests are essentially an-

tagonistic. The economists believe in the natural harmony, or
rather in the necessary and progressive harmonization, of men's
interests. This is the whole difference. . . .
To be sure, if men's interests are naturally antagonistic, we
must trample underfoot justice, liberty, and equality before the
law. We must remake the world, or, as they say, reconstitute
society, according to one of the numerous plans that they never
stop inventing. For self-interest, a disorganizing principle, there
must be substituted legal, imposed, involuntary, forced sel/-
sacrifice - in a word, organized plunder; and as this new prin-
ciple can only arouse infinite aversion and resistance, an attempt
will be made at first to get it accepted under the deceptive name
of fraternity, after which the law, which is force, will be invoked.
FREDERIC BASTIAT, Justice and Fraternity (1848)
CLARENCE B. CARSON
f1uglaub
6. THE MORAL BASE
THERE ,vas more to England's rise mund Burke pointed out regarding
to greatness and leadership of the supposed establishment of
civilization than the establishment liberty in France during the
of liberty. It has been made clear French Revolution that if people
that this rise was preceded and are to be free to do as they please,
accompanied by the laying of polit- "we ought to see what it will
ical foundations for liberty - by please them to do before we risk
the separation and counterbalanc- congratulations...."
ing of power, by substantive limi- Of course, Burke knew that lib-
tations on power, by the wide- erty does not consist in simply do-
spread veneration of and intellec- ing what one pleases. It is only
tual support for liberty, and by possible when men are constrained
legal efforts to secure liberty and to behave in ways that will not
property. But liberty only releases intrude upon the equal liberty of
the energies of a people; it does others as well. But his point is
not direct and control them to well taken, even so. Liberty is only
positive ends of achievement. Ed- conducive to greatness when a
people are under the sway of a
College, Pennsylvania, will be remembered for noble vision of the purpose of life,
his earlier FREEMAN series, The Fateful
when they are motivated to the
Flight from Reality. constructive employment of their
faculties, when they are inwardly motive, and of desire. Both Old
constrained to peaceful pursuits, and New Testament show man as
and when they generally abide of inherently bent to sinfulness, as
their own will by certain high naturally alienated from God, as
principles. In short, liberty pro- prone to serving the things of
vides the opportunity, but positive this world rather than doing the
achievement proceeds from an will of God. Both evoke in sensi-
ethos, an ethic, a morality, a reli- tive souls a sense of tension be-
gious or spiritual base. tween man as he is and man as
So it was for the English, at he should be - a tension in the
any rate. In the broadest sense, broadest sense between This WorId
the ethos which gave meaning to and the Next. The Counsel of Per-
the lives of Englishmen, impelled fection, taught by Christ, revealed
them to their accomplishments, such an exacting level of behavior
and provided the moral code for as good and virtuous that living
individuals to control themselves up to it would be entirely beyond
came from Christianity. Christi- the natural capacities of man.
anity is an unusual fusion of Old
and New Testament teachings. Norms of Christian Living
From the Old Testament particu- Christianity not only revealed
larly comes the high moral code and held up perfect and impecca-
for conduct conducive to peaceful ble norms for human conduct but
living in this world. The Decalogue also offered a means of redemption
reduces this code to a few simple for sinful man. More, Salvation
commandments. The last five of was not only made available but
these command a strong and ex- also almost irresi.stibly attractive
plicit respect for life and property: - a pearl beyond price. This is not
the place to enter upon a discussion
You shall not kill. of the mysteries of religion, how-
You shall not commit adultery.
ever, even if the writer were com-
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness
petent to do so. The bearing of
against your neighbor. these matters upon history is
You .shall not covet.... 1 great, nonetheless. The fact is
that Christianity, in providing a
The New Testament goes be- way for the redemption of indi-
yond these to place great emphasis viduals, did not remove the ten-
upon inward purity of heart, of sion between This World and the
Next; if anything, for the very
1 Exodus 20: 13-17 (RSV). sensitive it heightened it. A man
1968 THE MORAL BASE 469
still had to live out his years in came under the Protestant im-
this Vale of Tears. He still had petus, but the importance of this
to inhabit the flesh, be subject to will be clearer by examining first
its temptations and resist them, the Catholic posture toward this
live in relationships with other world.
men, and live in an abiding con-
sciousness of how far from the Catholic Practices
ways of God are the ways of the Actually, there are two postures
world. The gift of salvation car- implicit in Catholic practice re-
ried with it the freely incurred garding this world. There is one
obligation to observe the moral for those of a strong religious
norms. bent - for the unusually sensitive
There developed within Christi- souls - and another for the gen-
anity, then, a particular attitude erality of men. The generality of
toward this world. It was, in the men must perforce live in the way
traditional language, a snare, a of the world, and they will do so,
delusion, a place of temptation, at in any case. They must marry and
,var with the spirit, temporary, give in marriage, go into the mar-
destined for destruction, and so ketplace and trade, produce and
on. What posture a Christian was consume, make war and maintain
to take toward this world was a law and order, use that force and
matter that engaged the intellects those means necessary to keep
of the greatest thinkers and the things running. Since they live
heroic efforts at exemplification of and participate in the way of the
many of the saints. The positions world, they are subject to the
taken ranged all the way from the great temptations there and are
rare one of pantheism to complete likely ever and again to fall into
rejection of, say, a Simeon of grievously sinful actions and hab-
Stylites. its. For such men to be redeemed
There have been, however, two they must benefit from unearned
main postures taken by Christians Grace. On the other hand, those
toward this world, that of Roman of deep and abiding religious in-
Catholics and that of Protestants. clinations may withdraw from the
England was under the sway of world-spiritually-to live in con-
Roman Catholicism for nearly a vents and monasteries. They re-
thousand years, from the Synod nounce the world to live unto God.
of vVhitby in 664 until the Act of By living apart from the rest of
Supremacy in 1534. England's time the world, by living under rigorous
of greatness and world leadership discipline and observing a regular
order of devotion, these may be not satisfy those' with unusual re-
able even to store up Grace that ligious zeal. It largely denied the
may benefit the generality of men. monastic outlet for those of such
The social import of all this is an inclination and did not replace
that those of a deeply religious this with any great moral fervor
and devout nature were set apart directed toward life in this world.
for religious devotion rather than It is not to deny that the Anglican
directing their energies toward church has provided religious sol-
this world, so to speak. ace to its communicants, nor to
deny that it has numbered among
The Church of England its clergy men of great intellect
Very shortly after the break and religious steadfastness, to
with the Roman church, the mon- point up what was largely lacking
asteries and nunneries were sup- from its make-up. The truth is,
pressed in England. Their lands however, that the Anglican church
and properties were taken from has not generally played up the
them, and they had to seek other tension between This World and
means of livelihood and to make the Next. It has obviously been a
themselves useful in the world. support of the powers that be in
The Church of England was soon This World. It has discouraged
set on its course which it has gen- any great degree of zeal which
erally tried to follow throughout might disturb existing arrange-
its history, a course which would ments or lead to transformations.
provide a middle way between
that of the Roman Catholic on Evangelical Protestantism
the one hand and that of other The moral base and animating
Protestants on the other. Like drive from Christianity which was
other Protestants, Anglicans would so important for England's rise
allow their clergy to marry and and greatness came mainly from
would have a reduction of the evangelical Protestantism, then,
sacraments. Like the Roman Cath- even to an influence on the Angli-
olics, they would continue the prac- can church itself. There were two
tice of episcopal succession and be great waves of evangelical Protes-
governed by an hierarchy, among tant fervor to sweep over England,
other things. Like any compro- accompanied by several rivulets.
mise, however, it did not entirely The first of these was brought by
satisfy a considerable number of the Puritans, the second by John
people. Wesley and Methodism. The Puri-
Mainly, the Anglican church did tan impact reached its peak in the
middle of the seventeenth century. tude toward life in this world in
The second wave came in the lat- the following fashion:
ter part of the eighteenth eentury . . . The preachers endeavored by
and continued on into the nine- precept and example to show how
teenth century until it could be the elect, while living according to
said that the evangelical Protes- the code of saintliness, must use
tant outlook held sway in England. their gifts and opportunities in this
The contrast between the Puri- life. The Puritan code was much
tan attitude toward this world and more than a table of prohibitions.
that of Roman Catholics is great It was the program of an active,
indeed. The Puritans were capable not a monastic or contemplative,
life. . . . The saint had no reason to
of the most vivid language to de-
fear the world or run away from it.
scribe the sinfulness of this world. Rather he must go forth into it and
To their spokesmen, this world do the will of God there. 2
was indeed a snare and delusion,
and the Christian a pilgrim and a The Puritan Posture
stranger in it. On every hand, The Puritan posture toward this
man was beset by temptations world comes out clearly in the doc-
which he was unable of himself trine of The Calling. To Roman
to overcome. Life was conceived Catholics, the clergy, monks, and
as a great struggle between the nuns were supposed to have a spe-
commands to righteousness of God cial calling or vocation. To the
and the bent of man to pursue his Puritans, by contrast, an those
own fleshly way. Yet the Puritan chosen by God (elected) were
did not in the least approve of called to whatever their earthly
efforts to withdraw from the undertakings might be. John Cot-
world. That we should live out ton, an English Puritan ,vho mi-
our time in the midst of the temp- grated to America, set forth this
tations of this world was a part doctrine very explicitly. He said,
of the plan of God for man. To "First: faith draws the heart of
withdraw would be to run away. a Christian to Ii ve in some war-
Christians were called instead, rantable calling. As soon as ever
they held, to plunge into the af- a man begins to look towards God
fairs of this ,vorld with zeal, to and the ways of His grace, he will
show forth the character of their not rest till he finds out some war-
faith by the performance of their rantable calling and employment."
tasks here.
2 William Haller, The Rise of Puri-
One historian of English Puri- tanism (New York: Columbia Univer-
tanism has described their atti- sity Press, 1938), p. 123.
He makes it clear that a warrant- The Puritan, then, was supposed

able calling may be any lawful em- to go about the affairs of the
ployment so long as it serves the workaday world ,vith a zeal en-
public as well as the individual livened by his religious faith. He
involved and that it be such an was to show forth the character
undertaking as an individual is of his faith by the quality of his
led to by his talents, interest, and work. The virtues he particularly
the counsel of others. Cotton sums admired were such as might well
up his message in this way: lead to success in an earthly call-
ing: industry, sobriety, diligence,
I t is an use of instruction to every
honesty, and s.teadfastness. Puri-
Christian soul that desires to walk
by faith in his calling: if thou tans did, indeed, throw them-
wouldst live a lively life and have selves into the affairs of the
thy soul and body prosper in thy workaday world with an almost
calling, labor then to get into a good unprecedented zeal, for the pur-
calling and therein live to the good pose, in purest doctrine, of glori-
of others. Take up no calling but fying God and keeping themselves
that thou hast understanding in, pure against the Day of J udg-
and never take it unless thou mayest nlent, though many of them may
have it by lawful and just means. well have become enamored of the
And when thou hast it, serve God means and forgotten the end.
in thy calling, and do it with cheer-
fulness and faithfulness and an Alter the Restoration
heavenly mind. And in difficulties
and dangers, cast thy cares and The great age of the Puritans
fears upon God, and see if he will ,vas the seventeenth century. In
not bear them for thee; and frame England their ranks numbered
thy heart to this heavenly modera- such stalwarts as John Milton,
tion in all successes to sanctify God's Oliver Cromwell, Edmund Spen-
name. And if the hour and power ser, John Bunyan, among others.
of darkness come, that thou beest The Puritan experiments during
to resign up thy calling, let it be the Interregnum (1649-1660),
enough that conscience may witness
however, left a bad taste for their
to thee that thou hast not sought
thyself nor this world, but hast faith in the mouths of many E'ng-
wrought the Lord's works. Thou lishmen, and the following of the
mayest then have comfort in it, Puritan faith waned after that.
both before God and men. 3 Puritans were never again to oc-
cupy so prominent a position
3 Perry Miller, ed., The American
Puritans (Garden City: Doubleday, among the English. With their de-
1956), pp. 173-82. cline came also a decline generally
of the nonconformist or evan- prominent role was played by John
gelical Protestant appeal for a Wesley and the Methodists. There
good many years. were two leading figures in a re-
Historians are generally agreed, vivalist movement which was un-
too, that there was a general let- derway in the 1730's and 1740's:
down in morality after the Res- George Whitefield and John We1s-
toration (1660) and extending ley. Whitefield was the first to take
well into the eighteenth century. to open-air preaching - that is,
In the first half 01' so of the eight- preaching to throngs of people
eenth century the upper classes who gathered in an open space.
were reputed to be much given to His preaching was characterized
wine drinking and gaming. "They by much enthusiasm and a power-
tell me," George III once said to ful emotional appeal. J ohn Wesley
Lord Chancellor Northington, was to adopt this as his method
"that you love a glass of wine." too, and over a long career was
The reply was, "Those who have to address such crowds on many
informed your Majesty have done occasions.
me a great injustice; they should Of the influence of Wesley and
have said a bottle." Gout was a Whitefield upon their time, as
common disease, reputed to be the well as upon later generations,
result of drinking huge quantities there should be no doubt. One
of cheap port. Gin could be had historian says that their work
cheaply, and many of the pOQr "brought about the regeneration
drowned their sorrows in it, ac- of a living faith in England. They
cording to report. Industry and appealed to the vast mass of their
sobriety were not yet well estab- countrymen who had, most of
lished in England. them, either never been inside' a
church in their lives, or, if they
Whitefield and Wesley had, were untouched by the formal
Evangelical Protestantism be- services they found there - the
gan to make a comeback in the poor, the degraded, no less than
eighteenth century. With it came the honest working folk, repelled
a renewed religious zeal and a by the cold, lifeless, and perfunc-
revival of what was, in many tory ministrations of the' bene-
respects, the Puritan posture to- ficed cle'rgy."4
ward this world. Several denomi- Wesley and Whitefield preached
nations and sects played a part
Basil Williams, The Whig Suprema-
4
in this: Congregationalists, Bap- cy (London: Oxford University Press,
tists, and Quakers; but the most 1939), pp. 96-97.
salvation by faith and personal Christian Virtues

piety. Though they frequently ad- The Doctrine of the Calling was
dressed the poor, they were nei- revived in Methodist teachings. It
ther radicals nor revolutionaries. will be worthwhile, too, to go over
Their message was directed to in- those virtues that Wesley account-
dividuals, not to classes. So far as ed worthy of a Christian:
Wesley was concerned with the
... Do you love, honour, and obey
material conditions under which
your father and mother, and help
people lived, he bade them to im- them to the utmost of your power?
prove by their own efforts. More, Do you honour and obey all in au-
he bade them to be diligent in thority? all you governors, spirit-
their earthly affairs: ual pastors, and masters? Do you
behave lowly and reverently to all
The generality of Christians after your betters? Do you hurt nobody,
using some prayer, usually apply by word or deed? Are you true and
themselves to the business of their just in all your dealings? Do you
calling. Every man that has any take care to pay whatever you owe?
pretence to be a Christian, will not Do you feel no malice, or envy, or
fail to do this: seeing it is impos- revenge, no hatred or bitterness to
sible that an idle man can be a good any man? . . . Do you speak the
man: sloth being inconsistent with truth from your heart to all men,
religion. But with what view? For and that in tenderness and love? ...
what end do you undertake and fol- Do you keep your body in sobriety,
low your worldly business? "To pro- temperance, and chastity, as know-
vide things necessary for myself ing it is the temple of the Holy
and my family." It is a good answer, Ghost. . .? Have you learned, in
as far as it goes; but it does not go every state wherein you are, there-
far enough. For a Turk or a heathen with to be content? Do you labour
goes so far; does his work for the to get your own living, abhorring
very same ends. But a Christian may idleness as you abhor hell-fire? The
go abundantly farther: his end in devil tempts other men; but an idle
all his labour is, to please God; to man tempts the devil. An idle man's
do not his own will, but the will of brain is the devil's shop, where he
him that sent him into the world; is continually working mischief. Are
for this very purpose, to do the will you not slothful in business? What-
of God on earth, as angels do in ever your hand finds to do, do you
heaven. 5 do it with your might? And do you
do all as unto the Lord, as a sac-
5 Herbert Welch, comp., Selections
rifice unto God, acceptable in Chris1
from the Writings of John Wesley (New
Jesus?6
York: Methodist Book Concern, 1918),
pp. 97-98. 6 Ibid., pp. 308-09.
The teachings of Wesley and Another historian says of the

others like him, says one historian, impact of the evangelicals within
brought solace to those poor hud- the Church of England, "Although
dled in their misery in new fac- this movement had passed its
tory towns in the late eighteenth climax in 1815, it still represented
century and eventually "helped to the most active section of the
make them the deeply religious church. The leaders set a pattern
and self-respecting people which of strict and pious life.... They
the lower middle class of factory maintained a serious and unself-
workers and shopkeepers of the ish attitude towards public af-
manufacturing areas had become fairs. They used their wealth con-
by the nineteenth century."7 scientiously, and, on the whole, to
John Wesley was an ordained good and noble purpose."9
Anglican clergyman and remained
one throughout his life. He pro- Victorian Morality
fessed much love and veneration In the first half of the nine-
for the "mother church." Yet teenth century, the evangelical de-
after his death the Methodists be- nominations grew greatly in num-
came a separate denomination. bers and influence. "The number
Even so, the impact upon the of Congregationalist chapels in-
Anglican church remained great. creased three and a half times be-
By the late eighteenth century tween 1801 and 1851; the number
there were many of an evangelical of Baptist meeting places multi-
temperament within the estab- plied fourfold; and the number of
lished church, and they taught Methodist halls multiplied more
doctrines similar to those of Wes- than fourteen times during these
ley. As one writer puts it, "Like years.... Revival meetings on the
the Methodists, the evangelicals American model were popular
within the Church of England among many nonconformists, and
were firm supporters of the social the evangelically minded 'Low
order. Reformation of manners, Church' remained a prominent
not reformation of social evils, facet of Anglicanism."lo A reli-
was their main concern; and to gious census in 1851 indicated
most of them righteousness and
radicalism seemed to go ill to- 9 Llewellyn Woodward, The Age of
gether."8 Reform (London: Oxford University

Press, 1962, 2nd ed.), p. 504.
7 Williams, op cit., p. 97.
8 Derek Jarrett, Britain: 1688-1815 10 Walter L. Arnstein, Britain: Yes-
(New York: St. Martin's Press, 1965), terday and Today (Boston: D. C. Heath,
pp. 358-59. 1966), p. 80.
that of approximately 18 million basis and unaffected by its eco-
people some 7 minion were regu- nomic appeal, its code of Sabbath
lar churchgoers. observance, responsibility, and
The influence of the evangeli- philanthropy; of discipline in the
cal Protestant ethic reached its home, regularity in affairs; it had
peak in the nineteenth century. created a most effective technique
I t eventuated in the dominance of of agitation.... "13 Or again, "To
what has been termed Victorian be serious, to redeem the time, to
morality. One historian describes abstain from gambling, to remem-
Victorian morality "as a set of ber the Sabbath day to keep it
ideals about efficiency and thrift, holy, to limit the gratification of
seriousness of character, respect- the senses to the pleasures of a
ability, and self-help. . . . The table lawfully earned and the em-
maxim 'honesty is the best policy' braces of a wife lawfully wedded.
was to serve not merely as a slo- ."14 The testimony of yet an-
gan but as an accepted and demon- other historian wiII drive the point
strable truth.... Bankruptcy was home:
regarded not merely as a financial
but as a moral disgrace. Morality No interpretation of mid-Victori-
in government was given similar, anism would be sound which did not
perhaps even greater stress...."11 place religious faith and observance
in the very centre of the picture.
Bible-reading in the Home, The most generally accepted and
Sermonizing in the Church practised form of Christianity at
the time was that which may be
By truncating a sentence by G. broadly called evangelicalism, with
M. Young, historian of the Vic- its emphasis upon moral conduct
torian Age, the relation of evan- as the test of the good Christian....
gelicalism to this morality can be Its basis was biblical. Bible-reading
stated: "Victorian history is the in the home was as popular as
story of the English mind employ- sermonizing in church. Its highest
ing the energy imparted by Evan- virtue was self-improvement. Its
gelical conviction.... "12 He says emphasis lay not on sacraments or
ritual, but on organized prayer and
that "Evangelicalism had imposed
preaching, and on the strict observ-
on society, even on classes which ance of Sunday... .Ii)
were indifferent to its religious
13 Ibid., p. 5.
11 Ibid., p. 77. 14 Ibid., p. 2.
12 G. M. Young, Victorian England: 15 David Thomson, England in the
Portrait of an Age (London: Oxford Nineteenth Century (Baltimore: Pen~
University Press, 1936), p. 5. guin Books, 1950), p. 107.
The moral base for the rise and election and the state of his soul.
greatness of England, then, was Careful workmanship, diligence in
to be found mainly in a Chris- labor, charitable benevolence, re-
tianity as it was interpreted and spect for other men in what was
exemplified by evangelical Protes- theirs was deeply ingrained in this
tants. Men did not, of course, pro- outlook. In a sense, this outlook
fess Christianity that England did make of all of life and every
might be great or even, ideally, undertaking a kind of spiritual
that they might be successful as exercise, and of the whole world a
individuals in acquiring worldly monastery. To put it another way,
goods. Protestant Christianity all legitimate human effort was
spoke its message to the individual pervaded with spiritual overtones
soul in its yearning toward God and meaning. Even that part of
and eternity. If they did put life that has to do with material
spiritual things first, they were things, their production,acquisi-
told, then they might have earthly tion, and disposal was given spirit-
goods in plenty. We cannot know, ual import. Not because of the
of course, how far and to what importance of material things but
extent men did indeed put spirit- because of the transcendent im-
ual things first. What we can be portance of the immortal soul
certain of is that they had im- which was engaged with them for
bibed an outlook toward this world a little while, and in the manner
and were taught a morality which of its engagement showed forth
did make for material success and its faith.
greatness. The drive which carried the
English to their peak of achieve-
The Freeing of Human Energy ment, then, had a profound basis.
The energies of Englishmen set The morality by which they were
free by liberty were controlled and constrained in the conduct of their
directed toward positive accom- affairs was equally deeply based.
plishment by an ethos which held From about the middle of the
that any lawful undertaking, be it eighteenth century onward the
ever so humble, was a calling of English began their surge to
God to a Christian engaged in it. greatness. The base from which
The way in which he performed they moved has now been ex-
his work would be a sign of his plored. ~
The next article in this series will pertain to "The Industrial Surge."
WHERE BURGLARS GET BETTER BREAK
THAN BUSINESSMEN
LoWELL B. MASON
MILLIONS of law-abiding business- case cannot be the same man who
men are now subject to treatment sits in judgment nor can he im-
the U. S. Supreme Court has ruled pose the punishment, if any.
unla\vful when applied to common There is no doubt that the re-
criminals. cent Supreme Court interpreta-
The courts, cheered on by lib- tions of our Bill of Rights incline
erals everywhere, have moved dra- many thoughtful citizens to the
matically and forcefully in recent growing opinion that the rights of
years to safeguard individual law-abiding citizens have been sub-
rights. But the plight of the busi- ordinated to those of criminals.
nessman in his relations with Fed- All of this criticism could be
eral administrative agencies, which avoided if the Supreme Court
regulate most of interstate com- treated burglars the same way it
merce in America, has been over- treats the American businessman.
looked. Most of the safeguards to overly
Supreme Court decisions hold speedy justice are avoided when
that police and prosecutors are not dealing with businessmen charged
allowed to put defendants to inqui- with violating Federal laws regu-
sition. The accused also must be lating interstate commerce.
advised that they need not confess Why should burglars and other
and that counsel will be provided criminals, who pay no taxes on
for them if they want it. their estimated $40 billion annual
Many other provisions long have take, get better treatment than
been part and parcel of what is businessmen who are the govern-
generally referred to as due proc- ment's main source of income?
ess - such as: Why should the many business-
All men are presumed innocent men who come under the jurisdic-
until proven guilty by a greater tion of administrative law accept
weight of the evidence. the special strictures this law ap-
The officer ,vho prosecutes a plies exclusively to them?
Certainly they do, with consid-
Lowell B. Mason is a former member of the
Federal Trade Commission, a lawyer, a vig- erable docility.
orous defender of individual liberties, and a
colorful author and speaker. He has served in A successful businessman fol-
both the legislature and executive branches lows established rules of conduct.
and at national, state, and local levels of
government. He is author of the new book, He pays his bills, honors his con-
The Bull on the Bench.
1968, Nation's Business-the Chamber tracts, and obeys the law whether
of Commerce of the United States. Reprinted
by permission from the February issue. he likes its provisions or not, else
A1"70
he soon finds himself outside the practices what it does not preach.
pale. He accepts the fact that for It practices discrimination. And
over a half century the established in this case, it is against the ma-
I'ole of administrative law allows jority - not the minority. We hear
the score of Federal regulatory much these days about de' facto
agencies which prosecute him to discrimination - favoritism not
judge him also. recognized by law, but neverthe-
This may disturb him at first, less practiced. The discrimination
but he is somewhat reassured against businessmen is not only
when he goes to trial to hear the de facto, it is also de jure. It is
prosecutors refer to themselves as recognized and enforced by law.
a quasi-judicial court. It seems to For businessmen there is no
him he is in front of a court. It freedom from inquisition, a pre-
has all the appearances of one. sumption of innocence until they
The commissioners of Federal are proved guilty by a preponder-
regulatory agencies sit on a high ance of evidence, a trial before an
bench just like judges. Everybody impartial judge and a jury.
arises when they enter the room. If a burglar got the same treat-
Witnesses are sworn; decorum and ment the businessman gets, his
dignity are the order of the day. house could be searched regularly.
But the businessman will find out The function of prosecutor, judge,
there is a great difference between and jury could be consolidated in
the quasi-judicial treatment he the hands of one agency.
gets and the real judicial treat- The commissioners of some Fed-
ment accorded a burglar. eral agencies, who devote their ef-
forts to rooting out bad commer-
Burglars Get Better Break
cial practices, believe they have
To illustrate, take two cases: become so expert that when a
One involving a businessman and businessman comes to trial before
one a burglar. Assume both are them, it is not necessary to waste
guilty or assume both are not time proving his guilt by a great-
guilty. Weare not concerned with er weight of the evidence. The
what they did, but with how and commissioners, having originally
why two widely divergent methods prepared the charges against him,
are used in dealing with these two apparently instinctively sense
suspects. rrhere is a tender set of whether or not the man is guilty.
laws for burglars and a tough set All that the administrative law
for businessmen. requires is for them to put some
In other words, the government evidence in the record or, if there
1968 WHERE BURGLARS GET BETTER BREAK THAN BUSINESSMEN 481
is no evidence, at least some in- Federal Trade Commissioners?
ferences upon which guilt may I've always been proud of my
rest, and the Supreme Court will decision in the case. I voted
not interfere with their judgment. against the order.
FTC expertise has reached such
FTC in Action occult dimensions that even if the
Let me give an actual case defendant had done no wrong at
which was tried when I sat on the the time we sued him, if we pre-
Federal Trade Commission. dicted his acts might develop evils
There was a businessman whom later on, we issued an order
the commissioners suspected was against him anyway.
injuring some of his customers by Just think of all the robberies
giving quantity discounts to and murders that could be pre-
others. So a complaint was filed vented if a combination policeman-
against him. At his trial, testi- prosecutor-judge were endowed by
mony was sought from those who statute with the same wisdom and
were injured. FTC personnel trav- authority. Then they could lock
eled all over the United States and up everybody who had "the ten-
couldn't get a single customer to dency and capacity" to do evil.
say he was inj ured. But these plenary powers apply
If the agency had been ordinary only against businessmen. If a wit-
prosecutors and had to try that ness is not a businessman but a
case before a judge and jury, it communist, and his organization
would have lost. But being quasi- is on trial before another quasi-
judicial, FTC just inferred the judicial court (the Subversive Ac-
customers were injured, and found tivities Control Board), the stat-
the man guilty right away. He ute strictly forbids a finding of
vias mad, of course, and appealed guilt unless there is a preponder-
our decision. But when a quasi- ance of evidence to support it.
judicial commission says a man is
hurt - he is hurt. Legal Counsel Barred
This conclusion the Supreme One Supreme Court decision
Court heartily approved on the points out that, under the authori-
grounds that either all the witty of an Ohio statute, a business-
nesses were too dumb to know man being questioned regarding
they were hurt or were not smart incidents damaging to the econ-
enough to object-and besides, why on1Y in a general administrative
should the court question the j udg- inquiry is not even allo\ved to have
ment of a bunch of experts like his lawyer present.
If this businessman had been And if conducted by a state of-

accused of a criminal act, an ar- ficial or anyone he designates to
resting officer would have to cau- do the job, an investigation may
tion: "You don't have to say any- be in secret. All friends, relatives,
thing or answer any of my ques- and defendant's attorneys are
tions if you don't want to. We'll strictly excluded, for as the five
let you have a phone so you can to four majority of the Supreme
call your lawyer or a friend or Court said: Advisers to a witness
relative. If you can't afford a law- might encumber the "proceeding
yer, one will be furnished to you so as to make it unworkable or un-
if you want one." wieldy," and "the presence of law-
And what about inquisition in yers is deemed not conductive to
America? the economical and thorough as-
Federal agencies that regulate certainment of the facts."
businessmen have power to require As students of history remem-
them to file answers to specific ber, there was an alarming rise in
questions, as to their work, busi- the French crime rate before the
ness, conduct, and practices. French Revolution, just as there
They have far more power than is here in America today. M. Se-
the courts possess. These Federal guier, a chief prosecutor under
policemen can not only investigate, Louis XVI, demanded many of the
but even snoop and harass. same shortcuts to speedy convic-
Here's what the Supreme Court tions that are being urged today.
said about them in the Morton He got them. Later on the same
Salt Co. case: sort of instant justice was glee-
"It [the Federal agency] has a
fully applied to send Louis and his
power of inquisition, if one chooses cohorts to the guillotine.
to call it that, which is not derived
Will Court Relent?
from the judicial function....
Even if one were to regard the But does history have to repeat
request for information in this case itself?
as caused by nothing more than of- While, I predict, we'll never
ficial curiosity, nevertheless, law entreat burglars as badly as we do
forcing agencies have a legitimate businessmen, what are the chances
right to satisfy themselves that cor- of government treating business-
porate behavior is consistent with
men as politely as it does burglars?
the law and the public interest.
I'm not too optimistic about
"Official curiosity" can cover a this, though recent decisions in-
lot of territory. dicate the Supreme Court is get-
1968 WHERE BURGLARS GET BETTER BREAK THAN BUSINESSMEN 483
ting fed up with wearing two leagues and I investigated thou-

faces - one for burglars - one for sands of charges against business-
businessmen. men. When we determined there
Here's what these decisions were was "reason to believe" the laws
all about. of the marketplace were violated,
Everybody knows a burglar's we filed complaints against them.
home has always been his castle. Then hastily donning our judge's
If government agents wanted to robes behind the bench (figura.-
break in and look under his bed, tively speaking) we solemnly
they first got a warrant to do so. marched into our courtroom. Seat-
This was because the Constitution ing ourselves on our high bench
says anyone suspected of burglary and looking benignly down on the
can't be forced to convict himself. hapless culprits, we would say,
But ordinary citizens? "Now tell us what this case is all
They weren't suspected of any- about."
thing, so it was all right for agents Some bureaucrats (who would
to wander through their bedrooms, have been glad to see me off the
parlors, and baths without messing Commission) thought I should re-
around with warrants. All the sign in protest against this direct
agent had to do was bang on the repudiation of the American con-
door and yell, "Hey, you I Lemme cept of separation of powers. Ri-
in I" diculous - I had no truck with of-
Now the Supreme Court says, ficials who resigned in protest as
"N 0 more discrimination. When it long as there was any chance to
comes to a man's home - treat him make known their beliefs.
just as nice as you do burglars." Thanks to President Truman, I
But one swallow doesn't make a had this chance. My dissents, dur-
summer. ing these 11 years, brought more'
What about the other judicial fruit to freedom than if I had
discriminations against the busi- sulked outside the tent.
ness community? What about in-
quisition? What about quasi- There's still a long road to
judicial officials prosecuting their travel. But while there's lif.e,
own cases, then sitting in judg- there's hope.
ment on their own prosecutions? Who knows?
Sixty years of legal custom have Maybe some day government
sanctified it. will treat businessmen with the
For 11 of those years, as a Fed- same consideration it gives burg-
eral Trade Commissioner, my col- lars. +
RALPH BRADFORD
WHERE IN THE WORLD would I the people, the climate, the scen-
rather live, than in the United ery, the music, the language, the
States of America? This is a ques- food - something good. There is
tion that I have been asking my- hardly a land I have visited that
self rather frequently of late; and does not occupy a warm corner in
I always come up with the same my memory. I think of them often.
answer: Nowhere! England - vast, noisy London,
I have asked it also of a good the smoky midlands, the lovely
many much-traveled friends who lakes, the fine people. Scotland-
are of conservative persuasion, the ruined abbeys, the Trossachs,
like me; and after an initial star- and especially the Castle glooming
tled look that fades fast into over the reeking chimney pots of
thoughtfulness, they invariably "Edinbur-r-ry" in a misty twi-
give me the same reply: Nowhere. light. Italy - not the highly organ-
There is something significant ized Tourist Trap, but the rugged
in this, for the world has many home of a fascinating people.
beautiful and interesting places. Greece ... palimpsest of the ages.
It has heen my own privilege in Thailand, country of fabricated,
the past dozen years or so to visit fragile beauty. Argentina, south-
42 countries of this wobbly world, ern twin of the United States.
some of them several times. Near- Chile, the Italy of the New World.
ly all offered features that I liked: - You name it, and I'll love it ...
for some fondly remembered
Mr. Bradford is well known as a writer, speak- thing: a white cone of mountain
er, and business organization consultant. He
now lives in Ocala, Florida. rising from a misty lake - like
...tOA
1968 WHERE IN THE WORLD? 485
Osorno ... or Fuji; a sea-pierced preferences and nostalgic preju-

gorge, like the Kotar Gulf of Yugo- dices (I ask myself, and of late I
slavia; the mighty gash of the ask my friends) - aside from all
Corinth Canal; a glimpse of the that, think it over carefully, and
Corcovado Christ looming through say which country you would pre-
the clouds high over Rio; a fisher- fer to the United States as a place
man's dinner beside the Tagus in in which to live. I have yet to find
Lisbon; a surprising bit of wine, an American who said he would
like the Tsara of Baalbek or the choose to live elsewhere. I know
resin-flavored Retsin of Argolis; there are such, expatriates by
or maybe a simple act of human choice, for one reason or another
kindness - as when the young that seems good to them - but I
Scotch woman who shared our have never met them.
compartment south to Keswick,
seeing that we were much bur- A Disturbing Trend
dened with baggage and no por- The occasion for these musings
ters at hand, left her baby on the is this: For a good many years I
seat and came trudging down the have been concerned with the di-
corridor after us, lugging one of rection my country is going. Like
our heavy bags! many other Americans, I have
Yes, always there is some good been opposed on principle to the
or beautiful or gracious thing to idea of a deficit economy, not he-
remember. Always, or nearly al- cause I worry about an occasional
ways, I would like to go back. year in the red (which is ordinary
But to live? Which country experience in business and even in
would I choose above my own? private, domestic life) but be-
And the ans\ver is: none. Liter- cause I have seen the devastation
ally, none. Partly, I suppose, this that can be wrought by an ex-
is due to the love, the accustomed- tended application of the fatuous
to-your-face feeling that we all spend-borrow-and-never-pay aber-
have for our native place. We are ration. It is easy to list a number
somewhat like O. Henry's Cosmop- of modern nations whose middle
olite, who was largely and mag- class - the saving and investing
nificently tolerant of the whole element that provides much of the
world - until somebody happened capital for industrial and other
to disparage the two-by-four vil- development - has been sold into
lage in which he had lived as a loss and bankruptcy by that fatal
boy. philosophy. When I see my nation
But aside from such geographic headed the same way, I protest, I
cry out, I argue- I even denounce. the safeguards and the opportuni-
I get all hot under the collar! And ties for such progress; but if, in
so do a lot of other people who our developing society, conditions
share my conservative views on arise that were not foreseeable
the philosophical, as well as the when the Constitution was writ-
fiscal, need for solvency in our ten, then we want the Constitu-
national affairs. And we get all tion amended by the process pro-
the hotter when left-wing devotees vided, and not nullified by bureau-
of progress-through-inflation ac- cratic manipulation or set aside
cuse us of being "concerned only by judicial dictate.
with money" - as though we had
neither fiscal sense, political wis- The Need for Law and Order
dom, nor social vision! We believe that ,vhen Congress

As a result, we become easy was empowered to coin money and
targets for the scornful shafts of "regulate the value thereof," it
the disciples of debt, compulsion, was intended that the value of
and superstatism, who call them- that money should be protected
selves "liberals." They accuse us and maintained, and not dimin-
of wanting a "static" economy, of ished or destroyed, and that it is
looking backward, and especially the present duty of Congress to
of being always against things, thwart, rather than aid and abet,
never for anything. All this, of those policies and persons that are
course, is a lot of nonsense. We systematically undermining the
have a positive,not a negative, strength of our currency, and
program. We are for a number of thereby lessening the security of
things that are fundamental to our people.
the long-term welfare and safety We believe that "law and order"
of all the people. We want the is something more than a phrase.
economy to be active and healthy; Life and liberty can be realized
we want production and employ- and protected only in a society
ment; we want everybody to earn that has adopted rules for its con-
and save and invest and enjoy se- duct, and for the conduct of the
curity and comfort. We want the people who are members of that
American dream, as expressed in society and live under its form of
the American Constitution, to be government. We are not interested
fully realized in the prosperity, in punishment or retribution as
the freedom, and the progress of ends in themselves. We are con-
the American people. We believe tent, indeed, we desire, that jus-
that the Constitution provides both tice shall be tempered with mercy
- a humane concept that is pretty rights of their victims; when we
well guaranteed by our jury sys- see the Attorney General of the
tem. Few indeed are those who United States, our highest law en-
look upon law enforcement as a forcement officer, go on national
mere matter of vengeance. But no television to let the world of riot
society can long continue unless and arson know that he favors a
its laws are enforced; the alterna- "soft line" in dealing with their
tive is anarchy and the destruc- depredations-then, however much
tion of social and political values we may favor and support the hu-
that have been the foundation of man and civil rights which the
that society. Therefore, when we rioters are pretending to espouse,
see the laws openly disobeyed in we begin to ask ourselves what is
the name of "protest"; when zeal- ultimately going to happen when
ots for this or that cause announce the law is so weakly regarded and
that they will determine for them- so feebly enforced by those who
selves which laws they will obey are hired and paid and sworn to
and which ones they will flout; defend it?
when we see riot, arson, and mur-
Evil Must Be Opposed
der condoned and even defended
by high officials of our govern- When year after year goes by
ment, we are appalled, we are with no effective action on the
angered - and we are frightened. part of government officials to
When we read that a Justice of bring expenditures into balance
the Supreme Court, attending a with receipts; when there is a con-
procommunist conference, com- stant proliferation of the. Federal
pared the Bolshevik revolution of bureaucracy, always at the ex-
1917 with the American Revolu- pense and seldom to the benefit or
tion of 1776 and advocated "force- service of the taxpayer; when we
ful revolution" as the only way to see the idea of compulsion becom-
correct the "intolerable condi- ing more and more the main re-
tions" under which he said 85 per liance (in everything but law en-
cent of the world's people live- forcement, that is) of the con-
when we read such things we are trolling political methodology;
outraged - and again, we are when we learn to our dismay that
frightened. When we read that the nearly 48,000,000 people are now
High Court, in decision after de- the recipients of regular monthly
cision, seems to show greater con- checks from the state and national
cern for the legal rights of admit- governments - confronted with all
ted criminals than it does for the this, what choice have we but to
be negative? How can we avoid you were against something! It

being "against" such things? would be negative! Your proper
What we are for is a great and procedure would be either to keep
growing and free society in which still, or else to offer a positive
every citizen shall have opportun- alternate suggestion - such as
ity for the highest degree that he that I should rob your neighbor's
can attain of comfort and security. house, instead. Or better yet, that
What we are against are the I should rob a bank, which might
policies and proj ects and practices help in effecting a much-needed
that weaken, that jeopardize, and redistribution of the money which
that may destroy that society. And the bank had (no doubt, wickedly)
since such destructive policies are amassed!
being constantly advanced and
cleverly promoted, it follows that Reviewing the Ideal
there is a lot to be against. So much for a few of the things
And we owe nobody an apology we are against. So much for the
for being "against" such things. central vision that we are for.
Indeed, the outcry that conserva- And so much, in brief and perhaps
tives are always against and never inadequate declaration, for the
for things is a rather slick device reasons that impel us to our faith,
of the radical Left. Unfortunately, and to our espousal of what we
many conservatives have let them- believe are the necessary condi-
selves be bamboozled by it. They, tions for freedom and progress.
too, often say, "Yes - that's a But there is a danger in such
very bad thing - but we can't say advocacy. We hear much these
so. We mustn't be negative!" To days of alienation, the scholar's
be negative has come to be a kind term for a sense of rejection, of
of public relations sin. It sounds not belonging. We, too, we who
better to be "for" things; it seems warn of danger, are threatened
positive and affirmative - and with a kind of alienation - of sep-
these, in current semantics, are aration from the dream, from the
"good" words. By an extension of political and socio-economic struc-
this never-be-negative logic, if you ture, that is our nation! When
were to learn that I planned to we see so much that may injure,
burglarize your house, you and that is injuring, that nation,
shouldn't do anything so negative so much that we know is wrong
as to notify the police and get and dangerous, we are apt, all
me into the clutches of the law. unconsciously and without intent,
Dear me, no - that would mean to make a fatal substitution - the
thing contained for the container; on the whole, a somewhat violent
the bad policies about our country people. In common with other in-
for the country itself. "They" are dustrial nations, we went through
doing so many things that are our period of exploitation. We
economically dangerous and mor- know all that. But we know, too,
ally indefensible that in our com- that our transgressions have been
plete withdrawal from them we no worse than those of contem-
are in danger of separating our- porary nations. Like most of them,
selves, imaginatively, from the the American people and the
physical territory, the political American State were the product
government, the economic struc- of the seventeenth and eighteenth
ture and the social concept that is centuries, with all that this im-
the United States of America. And plies in the way of nobility - and
this would be suicidal - for us, I venality. We can lay the record
mean; for it would convert us of our country alongside that of
into emotionally stateless. persons; any other great power, confident
and without the spur of patriotism that we shall come off well in the
-though it is no longer fashion- comparison. If this is not a basis
able, and in some quarters is con- for pride, neither is it an occasion
sidered bad taste to use the word for shame; and our current critics
- without its stimulus our lives, in England, France, and Germany,
and especially our efforts to pre- not to mention Sweden and Switz-
serve freedom, would have little erland, may please take notice.
purpose.
After all, why do we concern So Much to Approve
ourselves over inflation, or crime, But at the mere suggestion of
or injustice, or bureaucracy ram- our "alienation" from the United
pant, or the trend toward compul- States, theoretical speculation
sion and the lessening of freedom? abruptly ceases and we face facts:
Is it because we love liberty? Yes, One, we are inseparable from the
of course - but it is also because United States, physically and emo-
we love our country! Oh, we are tionally. Two, we wouldn't live
no longer mere jingoistic patriots. else,vhere if we could. Three,
We are capable of self-analysis squirm and wriggle as we may
and self-criticism. We do not over admitting to emotionalism,
think our country has always been we love our country! And we love
flawless. Our statesmen have made it, aside from habit and the com-
grave blunders. Our policies have pulsion of instinctive filial devo-
often been unwise. We have been, tion, because it is still, despite all
we have done to stifle initiative, On the one hand, you see fire,
the land of opportunity. With all smashed windows, looted stores,
the ridiculous and hampering re- flaming Molotov cocktails, screams
strictions we have placed in the way of hatred - a grim and ghastly pic-
of individual growth and develop- ture. That is the dark side - the
ment, it is still the land of the side that is flaunted to the world.
free. But in all the cities where racial
The picture of America, as rioting occurred, not more than a
presented to the world and to us few thousand persons took part.
Americans, by the press, televi- The participating \vhites, of
sion, books, the theater and the course, were negligible in relation
movies, has been a sadly distorted to the total white population. But
one. If you read current best- what of the Negroes '! Surely not
selling books or look at top-rated more than twenty thousand, all
movies, you will get the impres- together. A large number of riot-
sion of an America of free love, ers? Yes - but there are twenty
sex deviation, self-indulgence, and tnillion Negroes in this country!
violence. If you follow TV news There is no doubt that they
releases you see only violence- have a grievance against the
mobs, marches, "protests," riots, American society. They have been
arson, looting. But these things discriminated against, mistreated,
are not normal. The very fact that degraded. This we know, as they
they are not normal is what, un- do. But they also know that the
der the code of the newsmen, white-dominated society that has
makes them newsworthy! wronged them is making a sincere
effort to redress that grievance.
The Path to Progress
And of the 20 million Negroes,
Consider riots. (And let it be despite their frustrations, prob-
here recorded that the writer of ably less than one-half of one per
this article is a supporter of the cent have taken any part in riots.
rights of all minorities, and is The others, conscious that Amer-
against discrimination because of ica has not been fair to them,
race or religion. He is also a long- realize, nevertheless, that their
time advocate of slum elimination, best hope is with this country.
both as a humanitarian measure They, too, in spite of all, love it.
and a social and economic neces- It is their country, too. They want
sity.) Well, the riots have been no part of senseless violence. And
bad and bloody. But what is the this is one of the good things
obverse of their gloomy medallion? about America.
Over-publicized Hippies tutions they attend is well and
A minor occasion for dissatis- good. It is their future that is in-
faction with the American scene volved, and their opinions should
as currently presented has been be heard. But when they follow
the advent of the so-called hippies, mob tactics, halt classes that
and especially the spate of maw- others wish to attend, seize build-
kish stuff that has been written ings, destroy property - then they
about them. Seldom have so few have forfeited any right to con-
had so much written about them sideration.
by so many, and rarely have such This spring we had the spec-
efforts been made to magnify the tacle of Columbia University be-
minuscule and glamorize the un- ing forcibly taken over by a small
savory. They have been portrayed group of illegal entrants. After
as heralds of a new religious con- that act of vandalism, the issues
cept, symbols of a divine dis- which the students and their
content. Seeing them, and reading friends claimed to represent be-
about them, one grows a little came irrelevant. They were super-
sick. Is this America? It can't be seded by a new issue - the main-
- and yet this is being hailed as tenance of authority and the ob-
"the hippie generation." servance of the law. If the stu-
What nonsense! By their own dents had been ten times right,
wildest claims, the hippies num- they had no license to become law-
ber not more than 200,000 of all breakers.
kinds. But the age group - the The trend toward hooliganism
"generation" - to which they be- in colleges, very marked in the
long numbers over 15,000,000! A past year or two, is one of the
thing wrong with America is that things that is wrong with Amer-
even one per cent of our youth ica. But here, too, there is a
are socially maladj usted, or incor- bright side - a right side. It is
rigible, or hooked on drugs - or found in the fact that these stu-
just plain silly. But the other side dent mob actions are nearly al-
of the coin, the thing that is 'ways perpetrated by a small, mi-
right about America, is that 99 nority group. At the University
per cent of our young people are of Denver (where prompt and
not that way. courageous action by the school
Of course, some of them invite authorities put an end to the
criticism, too. That young people attempted seizure) only 40 stu-
should take a keen and critical dents were reportedly involved. At
interest in the educational insti- Columbia something less than 700
joined the mobsters, while over aIists, traditionalists) want to ad-
17,000 refused to have anything vance and protect the .interest of
to do with it. The ratio in the the American people by emphasis
Berkeley insurrection was about on solvency, safety, and self-reli-
the same. The law-abiders, the ance, rather than on debt, eco-
respecters of authority, far out- nomic adventurism, and socialistic
numbered the mobsters. There is intervention.
always more good than bad. Our job, while not hesitating
But at this point it may be to expose the bad, is to offer the
objected that the great majority positive alternative of proclaim-
should "do something about it." ing, and trying to preserve and
It may be asked, "Why do they extend, the good. The miracle of
allow a handful of their numbers modern times is not only our high
to get away with such outrages?" levels of production, employment,
But what should they do - become and earnings, .not only our eco-
lawbreakers themselves, and en- nomic and social achievements,
gage in bloody battle with the but also and primarily the fact
offenders? They have a right to that our economy has had the
assume that the discipline of the stamina to withstand and survive
school will be asserted and main- the handicaps of debt, taxation,
tained by the school authorities, and restrictiveness that have been
and that criminal acts will be placed upon it in the name of
dealt with by the police. The only progress. Our power to create, and
way they could rout the law- produce, and distribute, and con-
breakers would be to become law- sume, though shackled needlessly,
breakers themselves. No - they are is of enormous consequence. When
correct on both counts, first, in not this is coupled with widespread
joining the rioters, and second, in academic training and high intel-
not starting riots of their own to ligence, plus the willingness to
suppress the other rioters. work, a very tough mechanism
for survival is provided. Our job
The Challenge is to teach the possibility of that
All these contrasts of what's survival, even against the odds we
wrong and what's right with our ourselves, we Americans, have
country present part of the chal- imposed. Our job also is to pro-
lenge we must face-"we," in terms claim and explain the reasons for
of this article, being those who, our great achievements, even as
under various names (conserva- we carryon the battle to remove
tives, libertarians, constitution- conditions that are a constant
long-range brake upon the con- we must resist with the power of
tinuance of those achievements. opposing ideas, because they are
And especiaJly we need to hold negative thinkers, with their eyes
fast one central conviction that is fixed upon the outmoded statism
easily demonstrable - namely, that of the seventeenth century. They
the United States is incomparably are the backward-lookers, who
the earth's greatest nation, rich must be taught the lessons of
in freedom, opportunity, and ac- freedom. We must counter their
complishment - and that our aim, negativism, not with counsels of
our dedication, is to keep it that despair nor the pessimism of
way! doom-saying, but with the aggres-
We do not look backward. We sive faith of those who are deeply
look forward - with apprehension, convinced that freedom, given a
yes; but also with confidence. We chance, will work!
know what great things have been
achieved by self-reliant people in And if at times we grow de-
the past; and we also know that spondent and wonder if the game
it is precisely such self-reliant is worth the candle, we can re-
people who are continuing to build kindle the lamp of our belief by
a great society here in our Amer- asking ourselves. . . .
ica. Where in the world would I
There are those who would rather live than in the United
shackle that society with debt, States of America? .....
taxes, inflation, and the restraints . . . . and getting the answer:
of supergovernmentalism. These NOWHEREl ~
Civil Liberty
THE NOTION of civil liberty which we have inherited is that of

a status created for the individual by laws and institutions, the
effect of which is that each man is guaranteed the use of all his
own powers exclusively for his own welfare. It is not at all a
matter of elections, or universal suffrage, or democracy.
WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER
What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1883)
ADVANC~
To The Rear
DAVID SKIDMORE
IF THE TITLE of this article seems "mixed economy," one might con-
self-contradictory, it is in keeping clude that it is something new and
with the political and economic beneficial for freedom lovers
language of the times. Such is the everywhere. Alas, such is not the
present state of semantic confu- case. The direction in which most
sion that even the most devout of our "social" legislation is carry-
atheist would be sorely tempted to ing us, is not forward, but back.
accept a literal interpretation of If we attempt to follow the "lib-
the story of the tower of Babel. eral" road far enough, we shall be
The problem may be seen in other attempting to go back to the days
areas perhaps, but nowhere with of serfdom and outright slavery.
more disastrous results than in Perhaps it seems unfair to say
the conflict between individualism that the ideals of collectivism are
and collectivism. identical to those of slavery. I
Thos.e who advocate varying have drawn this conclusion, how-
degrees of collectivism are labeled, ever, not from the statements of
in the news media and in every- its opponents, but from those of
day speech, as "liberal," "radical," its supporters.
or "progressive," all of which im- Consider, for example, the slo-
ply eagerness to change. From the gan of socialists (and of many
labels often applied to the increas- "liberals") the world over: "From
ingly socialistic trend in our each according to his ability, and
Mr. Skidmore is a free-lance writer in Spring-
to each according to his need."
field, Missouri. How would this slogan, as a policy,
AnA
1968 ADVANCE TO THE REAR 495
differ from slavery? The fruit of mend, implicitly if not explicitly,

a slave's labor is taken from him a return to the times when people
according to his ability, as judged were considered primarily as re-
by his master, and refusal or fail- sources.
ure to produce for the master ac- What, exactly, are the means of
cording to his need (again decided production for human beings? A
by the master) results in punish- factory produces, but the build-
ment for the slave. ing and operation thereof require
Socialism demands a system of a process of thought. The opera-
punishments, but not rewards, tion of a farm, a mine, a fishery,
since rewarding effort does not or an oil field requires systematic,
take "from each according to his rational, intellectual procedures.
ability." True, some socialist na- The basic human means of produc-
tions do reward superior production, upon which all other human
tion in specific areas, but even means of production depend, is
these are only sporadic attempts the mind. The collectivist demand
to imitate the "evils" of capital- for centralized control of the
ism. The second part of the slo- means of production, is a demand
gan, "From each according to his for control of the human mind.
ability and to each according to The war on private property is in
his need," assumes that the slav- reality an attempt to destroy the
ery implied in the first part will distinction between people and
produce enough to satisfy all property.
needs. The periodic famines in the Those who advocate individual
communist countries indicate that initiative, the free market, and in
this assumption is tragically general, the radically unconven-
wrong. tional notion that Man, the indi-
Social legislation is often por- vidual, belongs to himself as an
trayed as a boon to mankind individual, are labeled - and too
whereby the means of production often accept the slander - as "re-
are taken from the hands of capi- actionary," "anachronistic," or less
talistic "robber barons" and placed severely, "conservative." Admit-
under central control for the good tedly, the last epithet is not in-
of all. Here again, our language variably derogatory, although
shows signs of serious deteriora- lately it has come to suggest an
tion. Those advocating centralized idolater of the Status Quo. The
control of the means of produc- others, however, would seem to
tion are called "progressive" and imply that competitive enterprise
"liberal," although they recom- is an attempted return to a bygone
era of "robber barons" which is gories; we can gain at his expense,

better for.gotten. or we can gain, but not at his ex-
The opposite is true. Competi- pense. Obviously, if we rob or de-
tive enterprise or capitalism is the fraud him, our gain is his loss.
one economic system which is not Likewise, if we beg from him, our
dominated by coercion or beggary, gain is his loss, even though it is
but by voluntary production and voluntarily accepted. Only if we
voluntary exchange. The element trade is our gain also his gain.
of choice which distinguishes a Trade, however, must be volun-
free society from an unfree one tary; when forced, it becomes just
is an individual phenomenon another form of robbery.
rather than a collective one; a
slave by majority rule is still a Competitive enterprise is based
slave, and no less so because slaves upon free trade, and is therefore
may constitute a majority. The the one economic system which
distinguishing characteristics of does not require victirns. This, the
capitalism are free trade and its self-named "liberals" would have
prerequisite, private property. us believe, is an attempted return
Although there are various ways to a cruel, tyrannical past. I sub-
by which you or I can take admit that the "wave of the future,"
vantage of the efforts of another, if freedom is to have a future, is
they all fall into one of two cate- capitalism. ~
Conflicting Policies
POLICIES of interventionism and socialism tend to immobilize the
population and capital of the world, thus bringing about or main-
taining the world divergencies of productivity, of wealth and in-
come. A government that nationalizes efficient industries produc-
ing for the world market and then mismanages them not only
hurts the interests of its own people but also those of other nations
living in a world community.
These international conflicts are inherent in the system of inter-
ventionism and socialism and cannot be solved unless the systems
themselves are abolished. The principles of national welfare as
conceived by our progressive planners conflict with the principles
of international cooperation and division of production.
HANS F. SENN HOLZ, How Can Europe Survive?
and the Labor Act
11. "EXPERTISE," SEPARATION OF POWERS,

and DUE PROCESS
SYLVESTER PETRO
IT IS sometimes said that, what- latter encomium of administrative

ever their constitutional defects, agencies so much. But "expertise,"
quasi-judicial administrative tri- one still hears, is as necessary in
bunals are vital to good govern- government as it is in the other
ment because of the complexities vital aspects of advanced, intri-
of the modern world. One used to cate, delicately interdependent con-
hear, too, that such tribunals are temporary society.
necessary in order to get speedy According to this view it is un-
justice and broad-minded, flexible, realistic and "reactionary" to ex-
sophisticated decisions. Lately, pect the regular courts either to
with the NLRB and other admin- possess, to develop, or consistently
istrative agencies demonstrating a to exercise the requisite expertise
truly remarkable talent for delay in so specialized and complicated
and for hide-bound mechanical de- a field as, for example, labor rela-
cisions,3G one does not hear the tions. There, a tribunal manned by
experts is needed. One does not
36 For footnotes, see page 506.
ask a general handyman to build or
Dr. Petro is Professor of Law at New York
University School of Law. He has written repair a computer. In the same
several books, including The Labor Policy of \vay, a judge of general jurisdic-
limited: The Corruption of Union Leadership tion cannot be expected to perform
( 1959), and is a noted lecturer and con-
tributor to magazines. ,veIl in the complex, specialized
497
area of labor relations. There, a tive and complex, it would not fol-
specialized expert tribunal such low that - the nation's fundamen-
as the National Labor Relations tal policies being what they are-
Board must do the job. a specialized agency of govern-
It will be observed that this ra- ment. is necessary. The fundamen-
tionale is built around two tal policies of this nation call for
assumptions: (1) that labor re- the administration of labor rela-
lations are a distinct, inordinately tions mainly by employers and em-
complex field; (2) that a specially ployees and, to some small degree,
qualified agency is thus required by trade unions and arbitrators.
to administer them. The more complex relationships
It is true that the employer-em- become, indeed, the more neces-
ployee relationship is distinct sary does it become to leave to in-
from such other relationships as dividuals the freedom to adjust
husband-wife, parent-child, buyer- their own relationships. The effect
seller, contractor-subcontractor, of thoroughgoing regulation of
government-person, and teacher- complex relationships is only frus-
student. It is not self-evident, how- tration for both the regulating
ever, that the employer-employee body and the persons regulated.
(or union-employee or union-em- Regulating an infant is relatively
ployer) relationship is either more easy; the child grows more diffi-
sensitive, more complicated, or cult; the teenager almost impos-
more critically a matter of public sible - all because the relationships
interest than those and other hu- have grown more complex. It is the
man relationships. Society is a nature and supreme advantage of
sensitive complex of human rela- a free society, as distinct from a
tionships; all human relationships command or totalit.arian society,
are relatively subtle and compli- to leave the conduct of all human
cated. It is not possible to main- relations essentially to the persons
tain a priori that labor relations immediately involved, or to their
are more so. Such an assertion agents, subject only to general
has to be proved. Noone has ever rules, equally applied.
done so- probably because it Congress has followed this
would be impossible to do so. policy in the Labor Act. It has
never empowered the Labor Board
Complexity Requires Freedom to administer labor relations (al-
Even if it were conceded for though that agency has frequently
the sake of argument that labor had to be .reminded by the Su-
relations are exceptionally sensi- preme Court, by the U.S. Courts
1968 "EXPERTISE," SEPARATION OF POWERS, AND DUE PROCESS 499
of Appeals, and by Congress of cause it would be impossible to do

the limited reach of its commis- so.
sion). Congress has empowered On the contrary, the General
the Labor Board and its General Counsel's prosecutional monopoly
Counsel to administer the N a- works against both policy and
tional Labor Relations Act, not justice. Denying persons the right
the labor relations of the country. to a day in court more markedly
denies justice than does a denial
No Need for Monopoly of due process. It is a denial of
The General Counsel's functions all process. This denial cannot be
are mainly to decide which charges justified on "policy grounds,"
should be prosecuted and then to either, for its effect has been and
prosecute them. The functions of must continue to be to inhibit and
the Labor Board and its subordi- frustrate the development of labor
nates are (1) to conduct hear- law.
ings; (2) to interpret and draw As matters now stand, only such
conclusions from written and oral developments occur as the Gen-
evidence; (3) to apply Congress' eral Counsel wishes; dozens. of de-
law to the facts found in accord- cisions could be cited to the effect
ance with congressional intent; that there is no appeal from a
and (4) to issue appropriate refusal by the General Counsel to
orders. issue a complaint. Without in any
No one has ever advanced a way impugning the good faith of
convincing reason for giving a the General Counsel, it remains
prosecutional monopoly to a law- self-evident that he and his limited
yer entitled "General Counsel of personnel cannot possibly equal
the National Labor Relations the range, the vigor, and the liti-
Board" as against vesting this gational fertility of the nation at
power, say, in the Department of large. Even if it be conceded - as
Justice. Moreover, no one has ex- I do, at least for the sake of argu-
plained why either policy or jus- ment - that the General Counsel's
tice in labor law is served by de- staff includes la.wyers as learned
nying private parties - employees, and as clever as those in private
employers, or union officials - the practice, the fact remains that the
power to prosecute their own cases latter are more numerous and
which private parties are ac- more zealous to serve their clients.
corded under the antitrust laws. The General Counsel's prosecu-
Noone has even attempted to tional monopoly should obviously
justify this - again probably be- be withdrawn.
Expertise in What? is a good thing, we must then ask:

If it is difficult to understand expertise in what? If it is exper-
why the General Counsel should tise in legal administration - in
have a prosecutional monopoly, it the arts and skills of judging-
is at least equally unobvious that prima facie, at least, one would
human beings who become mem- think that career-judges are the
bers of the National Labor Rela- true experts.
tions Board are more qualified to In a period when principled
perform the judicial functions analysis counted for more than it
which Congress created in the Na- does in these "pragmatic" days, it
tional Labor Relations Act than would have been enough to point
are the men who occupy the Fed- out that the members of the Na-
eral bench. Conducting hearings, tional Labor Relations Board are
ruling on sufficiency of complaints appointed for limited terms of of-
and answers, admitting or exclud- fice. That fact would alone serve
ing evidence, evaluating testi- to disqualify them for the exer-
mony, interpreting documents, cise of any part, however small,
drawing inferences, arriving at of the judicial power of the United
conclusions of fact and of law, States. For the Constitution in-
fashioning appropriate orders- sists that the judicial power of
these are all activities requiring the United States be exercised
a certain level of competence, only by men appointed to the Fed-
training, and experience. The eral bench for life.
"man in the street" is not likely The times being what they are,
to carry out these functions very the analysis must extend beyond
well without special training and and behind the Constitutional
experience. standard, even though in doing so
The question, however, is not it will only confirm the acuteness
whether the NLRB is more quali- and the wisdom of that standard.
fied than the man in the street to Two integrated inquiries suggest
carry out these functions. For the themselves: (1) Are Board mem-
purposes of this investigation into bers and their subordinates better
the separation of powers, the main qualified than Federal judges to
question must be whether Con- carry out the judicial functions
gress has a reasonable basis for created by the Labor Act? (2)
delegating judicial powers to an Are the Congressional policies em-
administrative agency, rather bodied in the Labor Act likely to
than to the judges of the Federal be accepted with better grace and
bench. Admitting that "expertise" more faithfully effectuated by the
Labor Board or by the Federal confined to the labor law field,
courts? tend to build a concentrated and
extensive experience in labor law
The Judicial Temperament
much more quickly than the Fed-
No extensive "empirical re- eral judges are ever likely to ac-
search" is necessary in order to quire.
establish that the Labor Board Careless thinking might lead
members and their subordinates one to conclude from the forego-
begin their careers with no sig- ing that the Labor Board people
nificant training or experiential soon acquire a significant advan-
advantage over the men who are tage, even if they do not begin
appointed to the Federal bench. with one. More careful considera-
As a matter of fact, the only rele- tion leads to a different conclu-
vant specialist training for the sion, however.
functions under consideration is Of course, a person specializing
legal training. All Federal judges in labor law is likely to know
nowadays, so far as I have been more about that subject than the
able to discover, are legally person who does not specialize in
trained. Most Labor Board mem- it. No court of general jurisdic-
bers and personnel have likewise tion will ever be able to match a
had legal training, although some specialized court in the mastery
have not. There is a stand-off of the minute detail of the sub-
here, and I doubt whether it could stantive law in which the latter
be resolved by reviewing the law- specializes.
school records compiled by the It is a serious mistake, however,
judges and the Board people re- to regard this as a significant
spectively. point. What we desire primarily
As far as experience is con- in judges is not exhaustive mas-
cerned, it is quite probable that tery of the substantive details of
Labor Board personnel, if only any particular field of law. It is
for being younger on the whole, the job of the opposing lawyers to
have had less general experience bring all the relevant law and doc-
at the beginning of their Board trine to the court's attention.
careers than the Federal judges A solid grasp of basic principles
(who come mainly to office after of law in the various fields is more
years of practice) have had in the than enough such equipment for
beginning of their judicial careers. any j udge. What a democratic so-
On the other hand, Labor Board ciety wants essentially from its
personnel, since their efforts are j udges, however, is a complex of
other qualities. It requires what is sent the nation and its people in
perhaps best comprehended with- the way that Senators and mem-
in the term "judicial tempera- bers of the House of Representa-
ment": a strong but open mind; a tives do. It is physically impos-
habit of reserving judgment till sible for judges and administra-
all the facts are in and disinterest- tors to constitute themselves the
edly evaluated; a willingness to deliberative and consultative mi-
listen - really listen - to argu- crocosm of the nation which the
ment; patience; respect for the House and the Senate do without
opinions of other judges; a good even thinking about it.
logical mind which will adequately
Leave Policy to Congress
distinguish the relevant from the
irrelevant facts and the cogent When judicial officers take on a
from the illogical arguments; an legislative role, they make a mess
inclination to start out every case all around. They produce neither
believing that the facts, the law, good legislation nor good deci-
and the arguments- not the iden- sions. Litigation, the courtroom,
tity of the parties - should de- and the judicial opinion are func-
termine the decision. There is no tionally neither adapted nor adapt-
basis for the belief that NLRB able to either gathering the sense
members, trial examiners, or other of the whole community or ex-
Board personnel rank higher than pressing it in legislative form. On
the Federal judges on this all-im- the other hand, litigation, the
portant standard of judicial tem- courtroom, and the judicial opin-
perament. Quite the contrary. ion are the best means thus far
In a representative government, devised for applying established
there is one more supremely de- law and policy to the facts of the
sirable judicial quality. If repre- individual dispute which every
sentative government is to func- case or controversy involves.
tion properly, the judges must be This is why it is good for legis-
satisfied to leave the policy-mak- latures to stick to legislating and
ing to .the legislature; they must for judges to stickto judging. It
be committed to interpreting and may be all right for legislatures
applying the statutes which the to care little about the facts of
legislature has passed, not to com- particular cases when they are
peting with the legislature as a contemplating general legislation.
lawmaking, policy-making organ But the judicial officer who fails
of government. For neither judges to attend excruciatingly to the
nor administrators can ever repre- facts of the particular case he is
deciding, on the contrary, is fund- the trial examiner's characteriza-
amentally and dangerously untrue tions were not only exaggerations
to his function and duty. but "without foundation." "A
One of the characteristic .de- right to infer," he said, "is not a
fects of the NLRB is that it is right to create."38
continually forcing the facts to fit The point is that it is unrealis-
its predetermined policies. Instead tic to expect patient, painstaking
of fitting Congress's law to the analysis of fact and application of
facts as they exist, the Board per- existing law from committed ide-
sistently manhandles the facts so ologues; for they are interested
that they will produce the results more in molding the world to their
it wants. The Board wants every desires than in doing justice in
employee in the nation to wear a the immediate dispute. The close-
union label. If Congress says that ly related point is that such ide-
employees need wear a union label ologues cannot be expected to sub-
only when it fits them, the Board ordinate their policy wishes to
does what it can to make a fit. If those of the legislature. Hence, if
the facts don't fit, the Board will Congress wishes its policies to
make them fit. If there are no ma- govern the country, it must insist
terial facts at all, the Board will upon judges who are willing to
frequently use adjectives to make confine themselves to judging and
up the deficiency. Thus in Rivers to leave the policy-making to Con-
Mfg. Co., the trial examiner de- gress.
livered himself of the following
comments: "In this setting of in- The Representative Function
tensive and extensive [sic] inter- Some will perhaps challenge
ference, restraint and coercion, this view of the necessity of Con-
the Respondent terminated the em- gressional policy-making suprem-
ployment of nine employees . . . acy. We have heard a great deal
known by management to be union of talk in recent years, for ex-
adherents. . . . The evidence sus- ample, about the superior repre-
taining General Counsel's allega- sentative qualities of the presi-
tions that these October 2 dis- dency. However, disinterested
charges were designed to discour- analysis of the relevant facts must
age further self-organization is quickly dismiss such talk. As re-
overwhelming."37 markable as the Presidents of this
After a painstaking examina- country have been, it is impossible
tion of the entire record, Circuit for anyone man - even before be-
Judge O'Sullivan concluded that ing elected President - to equal
Congress' representative capacity. be for his own reasons, the desires

And it is simply absurd to ex- of the pressure group involved.
pect him to sustain a broadly
representative character after he No Job for the President
takes up the consuming burdens Many Presidents have agonized
of office. Noone man can even over the "loneliness" of their posi-
meet and know as many people in tion. This phenomenon, grown
as many places as five or six hun- more frequent of late, is of poten-
dred Congressmen and Senators tially great significance to any
can. Still less can he reconcile study of the Separation of Powers.
within himself the kind of con- The lament grows out of the con-
sensus or compromise which is dition of executive power which,
possible in a multitudinous con- presumably, the person who gains
sultative assembly originating in the presidency has more or less
all the geographically distinct actively sought. Executive respon-
areas of which the country is sibility must ultimately be con-
composed. centrated in one person. In this
If the President wished realisti- country, with government grown
cally to gather the consensus of so great, presidential responsibil-
the whole country on all issues, he ity absorbs as much time and en-
would as a pracUcal matter have ergy as the incumbent is willing
available to him no better mechan- and able to give it. An executive
ism for doing so than the one al- decision always has to be made,
ready available in the House and one way or another, clean-cut or
the Senate. There is really a very ambiguous. There is no way in the
peculiar meaning in the assertion world for the President to share
that the President represents the his responsibility in the way that
whole country better than Con- Senators and Representatives not
gress does. Persons using such only can do - but must.
language mean that they have This is not to say that Senators
been able to convince the Presi- and Congressmen do not have to
dent of the worth of their pro- make "lonely" and difficult deci-
posal while Congress has re- sions with respect to their own
mained unmoved. But when Con- personal choice of action. Of course
gress remains unmoved - it being they do, as all human beings must.
the genuine representative of the But it is in the nature of legisla-
whole country - the meaning is tion in a representative govern-
that the whole country is not ready ment that the responsibility for
to endorse, as the President may every legislative act is a well-di-
vided and broadly shared responsi- sent the sum of the country's pol-
bility, arrived at deliberately- icy wishes as well as the Congress
with each Congressman or Senator does overall, it would seem to go
in a position to be fairly confident without saying that no bureaucrat,
that his vote either reflects the no administrative agency, no judge
majority sentiment of his constit- or body of judges can do so. This
uency or at least does not violate is why, in a country which prides
that sentiment sufficiently to lose itself upon being a representative
him his office. It is physically im- government, it is supremely desir-
possible for a single person over able that anyone exercising judi-
any sustained period, however deli- cial power be content to leave the
cately tuned his antennae, to main- policy- and lawmaking to Con-
tain such rapport with the whole gress. For the alternative involves
nation, especially when he has the abandonment of representa-
heavy executive responsibilities to tive government and a substitu-
dispatch. He can take only one tion in its place of rule by the one
position on an issue at a time. or the few. In Aristotle's termi-
That is the ineluctable consequence nology, the commonwealth gives
of being a single human being. way to democracy, and democracy
Five hundred or so elected repre- to tyranny.
sentatives can take five hundred If judicial temperament and a
positions, and each, theoretically, willingness to leave policy-making
may be satisfying his duty to his to the legislature are the two basic
own constituency. and reciprocal requirements for a
The merit of representative gov- proper exercise of judicial power,
ernment in the form established it is difficult to see how Labor
by the Constitution of the United Board members and personnel
States lies mainly in its realistic qualify better than do Federal
response to such practical consid- judges. On the contrary, a Federal
erations. No better way to run a judgeship is far more likely to
country in accordance with the secure those qualities than is an
dominant wishes of the community administrative appointment. Con-
has as yet been discovered. sideration of our second basic
question will further illuminate
The Labor Soard Out of Order this matter.
If it is true that the President That question is whether the
- the outstanding politician of the Congressional policies embodied in
country (I use the word with no the Labor Act, and with them the
pejorative intent) - cannot repre- supremacy of legislative policy-
making, are likely to be better en- the basis of which a fair predic-
forced and preserved by the Labor tion about the future conduct of
Board or by the Federal courts. the respective incumbents can be
I happen to believe that, over made.
the years, decisions of incompar- Human beings, customarily with
ably higher quality, greater fair- legal training, man both the Fed-
ness, and more cogency have been eral courts and the NLRB. We
produced by the United States must assume, if we are to avoid
Courts of Appeals than by the Na- interminable and inconclusive per-
tional Labor Relations Board. 39 sonality comparisons, that agency
But it is not enough simply to members and judges begin with
register the opinion that better equal moral and intellectual char-
decisions have come from the acteristics. The question then fo-
courts than from the Board. I as- cuses on the respective institu-
sume that the reader is interested tional settings and the probable
in looking into the question wheth- effects of those settings on the
er there is something inherent in performance of their judicial du-
the character of Federal j udge- ties. This will be the subject of a
ships or Board memberships on concluding article in this series. ~
FOOTNOTES
36 It took the NLRB fifteen years to the NLRB decisions which they reviewed,
bring the Mastro Plastics case to a con- and have been greatly impressed with the
clusion. Cf. NLRB v. Mastro Plastics acumen, the intellectual flexibility, and
Corp., 354 F. 2d 170 (2d Cir. 1965). The the large-mindedness of the judges as
excuse proferred by this "expert" agency: compared with the contrary characteris-
a shortage of competent personnel. tics in the NLRB decisions or trial-ex-
31 Quoted in Rivers Mfg. Co. v. NLRB, aminer reports. But for the reviewing
55 CCH Lab. Cas. ff 11902 at pages 18977- power of the Federal courts, I am con-
78 (6th Cir.1967). vinced that we should be experiencing
in labor law today a succession of trav-
38 Ibid. at pages 18977, 18978.
esties of justice such as has not been
39 I have undertaken a comparison of seen heretofore in either England or
the court decisions cited in note 12 with America.
THE Either this fundamental right
is his by nature, by the very fact
RIGHT of his existence, or it is an arbi-
trary gift which can be granted
TO to him by society, or revoked by
that society according to the whim
LIFE of the moment.
Either an individual's life be-
longs to himself alone, or it is an
JEROME TUCCILLE object of public domain which can
be manipulated by and sacrificed
Is THE WAR in Vietnam the major to any group that puts a claim
issue confronting us here in upon it.
America today? Or is it perhaps It is my assertion here that
the malignant spread of crime and there can be no such thing as civil
violence in our streets? Then rights, or human rights, or econ-
again, maybe it's the race ques- omic rights, or any other kind of
tion? - or the growing concern "rights" unless there is first and
over an urbanized society? - or foremost an understanding of the
birth control? - or abortion re- true nature of individual rights.
form? - or education? Unless we understand and affirm
The true answer lies at the root the principle that each and every
of all these issues. For the above individual is born a free agent
are merely the symptoms, the ef- into society, that this freedom is
fects' the natural by-products of a a natural right and is not granted
deeper fundamental issue which to us by governmental decree, and
lies at the heart of virtually every that this basic right entitles the
malady that faces us today. This individual to use his life as he
root cause can be stated concisely sees fit, to aim it in ,vhatever di-
in a single phrase: the deteriora- rection his reason and ethical
tion of individual freedom. judgment advises him to - as long
Either an individual born into as he does not interfere with the
society has the right to his o,vn same right of his fellow human
life, or he does not. beings - there can be no such
Either he has the right to life, thing as peace on earth, no such
liberty, and the pursuit of hap- thing as respect for law, no such
piness, or he does not. thing as racial justice, no such
Mr. Tuccille is a free-lance writer in New
thing as harmony in our cities, no
York City. such thing as satisfactory educa-
tion, no such thing as morality in members of a particular collective

our personal lives (for morality - as Jew, as Negro, as Wasp, and
presupposes freedom of choice). so on ad infinitum - rather than
Unless each and every individual judging a person according to his
is free to direct his own life, free worth as an individual.
to make the decisions that are There can be no such thing as
necessary for his own welfare and "decent education" as long as the
survival, none of us is totally state is free to authorize a public
free. curriculum, and then make every
It is important to remember citizen support it through taxes
that, for every individual whose regardless of whether or not he
rights are sacrificed for the "gen- believes in it and wants to make
eral welfare," there is someone at use of it for his own children.
the receiving end of each coercive There can be no such thing as
sacrifice - someone is collecting freedom of religion as long as par-
sacrificial offerings dictated by the ticular religious sects organize
state. And just as the state- may lobbies to pressure for govern-
demand that one individual be mental favors, thus dissolving the
sacrificed today for another, so to- barrier between church and state
morrow it may change the rules which was the direct cause of re-
and today's recipient may become ligious freedom in the first place.
tomorrow's victim. There can be no such thing as
There can be no such thing as morality, itself, unless each in-
peace on earth as long as the state dividual is free to make decisions
is permitted to draft its citizens that affect his own personal life-
from private life into the ranks of indeed, the most personal elements
an internationalist police force. of his life.
There can be no such thing as The most important issue con-
order in our streets as long as fronting us here in America today
people do not recognize and re- - across the entire face of the
spect the right of other individu- earth for that matter - is the at-
als to own and maintain property, tack by the collective mentality on
to walk the streets without threat the freedom of the individual. It
of physical attack - in short, as is an attack on the right to life it-
long as people do not respect the self, and only by recognizing thi~
right to life itself. fact and meeting it head on wi!:
There can be no such thing as we achieve the freedom and jus
racial justice as long as we insist tice that is so dearly cherished b)
on categorizing individuals as all rational men. ~
ACCENT
on the RIGHT
KARL RADEK, after the umpteenth government interventions, which
communist mistake in the Soviet is equivalent to saying that the
Russia of the nineteen twenties, brake is what makes the automo-
said to journalist Ernestine Evans bile move.
that "there must be something to To the Fabian Radeks, Leonard
this Marxism, for we're still Read says, in effect: "There must
alive." What Radek missed was the be something to this voluntarism,
fact that the power of the com- for we're still much more alive
munist bureaucracy had been than they are in Moscow and Pe-
saved by a strategic retreat to vol- king." True, we are always doing
untary features with the New Eco- violence to the rule that affluence
nomic Policy, which, for a crucial derives from liberty. At one point
span of time, let the peasants pro- in his book Mr. Read lists some of
duce as they pleased. the prohibitions on our freedom of
Communism is always being choice. We pay farmers for not
saved by retreats which deny its growing peanuts and cotton. We
own premise. Staying close to support socialist governments, in
home, Leonard Read applies this Yugoslavia and elsewhere. We take
insight to our own variety of col- tax money from the people in or-
lectivism. His Accent on the Right der to put a man on the moon. We
(Foundation for Economic Edu- subsidize below-cost pricing in lots
cation, $2 cloth, $1.25 paper) of things, and pay for the subsi-
should be a convincing answer to dies by funny-money shenanigans
the many Fabian Radeks among that inflate the prices of every-
us who attribute the economic thing else. We "renew" slum areas,
strength of the United States to driving the poor people out to cre-
ate new slums on the other side of to race far ahe'ad of the restraints
town. We keep businesses from on willing exchange. Regress has
hiring apprentices and from put- not been able to keep pace with
ting teen-agers to work by our in- progress. So Leonard Read con-
sistence on a minimum wage law. tinues to count his blessings. He
We refuse to let private enterprise is, as Ayn Rand would probably
deliver first-class mail. We even say disapprovingly, something of a
prevent people from going out of mystic. But only to the extent that
business if they happen to be hav- he sees Creation going on around
ing trouble with union labor. him as the world changes and mu-
tations occur. Mr. Read likes the
first, Identify the Problem free market, in goods, services, the
Mr. Read is unflinchingly honest exchange of ideas, ideals, knowl-
when it comes to recognizing the edge, wisdom, information, faiths,
hobble's on our freedom of choice. doctrinal concepts, discoveries, in-
But he is not one for maintaining ventions, and intuit~ons - because
a defeatist posture. "Find the it is in harmony with "Creation:
wrong," he says, "and there's the Capital C." Competition, in short,
right" - meaning, of course, that is in the grain of things.
the identification of sin always
suggests its opposite in something Government-Induced Poverty
better. Despite "profuse expendi- Leonard Read doesn't listen
ture, heavy taxation, absurd com- much to politicians, for he consid-
mercial restrictions, corrupt tri- ers it a delusion to expect that gov-
bunals, disastrous wars, seditions, ernment can end poverty. Govern-
persecutions, conflagrations, inun- ment has nothing to hand out ex-
dations" - the quotation is from cept what it garnishees from tax-
Lord Macaulay, who wrote in 1839 payers. Obviously, says Mr. Read,
- we do not seem to be "able to this subtracts from private owner-
destroy capital so fast as the ex- ship and is a dead-end road. Sav-
ertions of private citizens have ings are drained from those who
been able to create it." Or, as have, which is not conducive to
Leonard Read adds, quoting some the capital formation on which
Brazilian entrepreneurs, "We get production - and even taxation-
things done while the politicians rests.
sleep." The alleviation of poverty, as
Our inventiveness and ability to Mr. Read says, is a by-product of
specialize have, ever since the time private ownership and the free
of Adam Smith, always managed market. Conversely, it should be
1968 ACCENT ON THE RIGHT 511
stated that poverty is a by-product ceros who used to cross the border
of government intervention. The from Sonora, Chihuahua, and
migration of the Negro poor who Lower California to pick tomatoes.
have been pouring into the de- The idea was to make room for
serted inner core areas of our Americans as field hands on the
cities is a government-created phe- California ranches. But the Ameri-
nomenon. It all began in the nine- cans, for one reason or another,
teen thirties, with the best inten- failed to come out from the cities
tions in the world. The big think- to take the jobs. Unable to get
ers of the day decided that too their tomatoes picked, the Cali-
much cotton was being raised. So fornia farmers put in a hurry call
we had politically decreed acreage to the inventors and the agricul-
reduction, plus subsidies to owners tural cross-breeders. Within an
for the land that was taken out of amazingly short time the cross-
use for the "soil bank" and such. breeders had perfected a tomato
The bigger farmers who got most plant which bears fruit that ripens
of the subsidy money poured some all at the same time. And the in-
of it into fertilizers which en- ventors came up with a machine
abled them to grow more cotton to pick the fruit of the new plant.
on less land. And, with the rest Result of the whole process: The
of the subsidy money, they went poor Mexicans have been deprived
in for the new planting and har- of the opportunity to get capital
vesting equipment that enables insufficient amounts to buy land
them to dispense with the Negro of their own below the border.
cotton chopper. And the Americans who were ex-
No doubt the mechanization of pected to take the place of the
farming would have conle anyway. Mexicans in the fields are still liv-
But the process was accelerated ing on relief in the skid rows of
by the politicians. And the Negro Los Angeles, San Francisco, and
poor, displaced all at once,have other West Coast cities.
not had the time or the opportun- Mr. Read, who believes in the
ity to make an orderly transition necessity of mobility, would have
to new ways of life. a hard time explaining our policy
to the Mexican government, which
Technological Impact
has been surprisingly silent on the
We see something similar hap- subject of the hobbles we have
pening in California. To get rid of placed on bracero labor. If I were
Mexican labor, the government has the President of Mexico, I would
put hobbles on the so-called bra- be hopping mad. Not only do we
create poverty by government in- politicians, many of whom still pay
terventions at home, we also ex- lip service to the "revolution,"
port poverty to our neighbors. have been able to drain it"away by
Luckily for Mexico, she can ab- taxation. The Mexicans might echo
sorb the blow. The reason: The Mr. Read's Brazilian friends: "We
Mexican middle classes have been get things done while the politi-
creating capital faster than the cians sleep." +
History of Intervention
THE HISTORY of government limitation of price seems to teach

one clear lesson: that in attempting to ease the burdens of the
people in a time of high prices by artificially setting a limit to
them, the people are not relieved but only exchange one set of ills
for another which is greater. Among these ills are (1) the with.
holding of goods from the market, because consumers being in
the majority, price fixing is usually in their interest; (2) the
dividing of the community into two hostile camps, one only of
which considers that the government acts in its interest; (3) the
practical difficulties of enforcing such limitation in prices which
in the very nature of the case requires the cooperation of both
producer and consumer to make it effective....
From an address by MARY G. LACY, Librarian
of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics
(U. S. Department of Agriculture), delivered
before the Agricultural History Society on
March 16, 1922.
the
Freeman
VOL. 18, NO.9. SEPTEMBER 1968
Misrepresentations of Capitalism John O. Nelson 515

Protesting the treatment accorded the builders of the free economy by some
latter-day interpreters.
Failure of Politics George Hagedorn 524

Taxing producers invariably aggravates the problems of the poor.
life Begins at Seventy Leonard E. Read 527

Concerning the danger of retirement before one has come to maturity.

7. The Industrial Surge Clarence B. Carson 532
Describing the improved agricultural and industrial production and trade during
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Cheating Without Knowing It Paul L. Poirot 544

How we shortchange ourselves when we hide in a majority and impose our will
on others at their expense.
Freedom Cuts Two Ways Robert C. Tyson 548

Before any of us can blithely dismiss our external restraints, each of us must
assume a solemn moral obligation to restrain himself.
Separation of Powers and the Labor Act:

III. Judicial Courts vs. Administrative Courts Sylvester Petro 553
The Constitutional arrangement of the judiciary functions of government makes
the difference between the rule of law and control by dictatorial whim.
Devolution James E. McAdoo 567

What happens when a creature loses its freedom and dignity.
The Exploitation of the Virtuous Robert James Bidinotto 568

A young man reminds us that the chief victims of the welfare state are those
robbed of their properties - including their integrity.
Book Reviews 573

"Special Counsel" by William A. Rusher
"The Jeweler's ye"by Witli-am F. Buckley, Jr.

the
Freeman
A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF IDEAS ON LIBERT~
IRVINGTONON-HUDSON, NEW YORK TEL.: (914) 5917230

Economic Education

and limited government.
vited in a:ny amount-$5.00 to $10,OOO-as the means

"The Rise and Fall of England."
MISREPRESENTATIONS OF CAPITALISM
PROPONENTS of laissez-faire capi- tion. The other form consists in
talism find, like Socrates, that presenting as fact what was fact,
their most implacable and influen- but putting upon the facts an in-
tial accuser is nameless: a great terpretation that entirely dis-
and almost infinite mass of his- colors them. In certain respects,
torical distortion. This distortion this last method of denigrating
takes two forms. One consists in laissez-faire capitalism is more
the presentation of what never persuasive, as it is more common,
was fact as historical fact. A case than the first. Plain misstatement
in point would be the mephitic of fact can be easily hit and ex-
butchering practices depicted in ploded. Colored interpretations of
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and fact offer a tougher target, off
in the multitudinous accounts of which even well-directed fire can
the meat-packing industry that glance harmlessly.
trace their lineage to that libelous In this essay, I shall concentrate
figment of Mr. Sinclair's imagina- upon the last form of distortion.
Although helpful, general consid-
Dr. Nelson is Professor of Philosophy at the
University of Colorado where he has taught erations and arguments cannot
since 1950. Articles and papers by him have
appeared in numerous scholarly journals and
disarm these distortions. Like the
books in the United States and abroad. repressions in hysteria, they must
516 THE FREEMAN September
be disarmed by concrete exposure We learn from Taper that

- one by one. This is slow work, Miller was born in 1827 "in the
but there is no substitute for it. little town of Brackenheim in
So, let us begin with a recent Wlirttemberg, Germany," the son
article in that popular but prestig- of a butcher. He was apprenticed
ious emporium of the American to the trade at eight and at four-
Past, the magazine, American teen he ran away to the United
H eritage. The article, "The King States. Nine years later, when 22,
of the Ranchers,"1 is a description he made his way to the gold-
by Bernard Taper of the life and booming California of 1850 with
career of the cattle-raiser, Henry six dollars in his pocket. When he
Miller. died in California in 1916, his
"estate was appraised at forty
Distorting the Picture million dollars, a sizable increase
By interpreting in emotively [Taper notes] over the six dollars
denigrating terms various facts of he had started with...." This es-
Miller's life and activities which tate consisted almost entirely in
seem prima facie praiseworthy, farm and cattle-land and cattle.
and which by libertarian stand- In summary, then, Miller, a
ards are praiseworthy, Taper man- German immigrant without
ages to produce a picture of the friends or fortune, came as a very
laissez-faire capitalism of the young man to this country and
American Past that depicts it as after a few years, with six dollars
something distasteful, even im- in his pocket, arrived in Califor-
moral, and deservedly displaced. nia, where he died 66 years later
The analogy that comes to mind is leaving an estate in cattle-land
of a person who holds up to a gleam- and cattle worth forty million dol-
ing white snow-scape a red-col- lars. In the older tradition of
ored pane of glass and, beckoning Horatio Alger, we should want to
us to look through the glass, then praise this progress from rags to
tries to convince us how ghastly riches and think of it as exempli-
and bloody the snow is. But let fying the rewards of virtue, hard
me now substantiate this claim in work, invention, and thrift. How
detail. I shall use for my wit- does Taper refer to it? He quotes
nesses Taper's own statements of from Carey McWilliams' tenden-
fact. tious work, Factories in the Field,
to the following effect: "His
1 Bernard Taper, "The King of the
Ranchers," American Heritage, August, [Miller's] career is almost with.
19&7. out parallel in the history of land
1968 MISREPRESENTATIONS OF CAPITALISM 517
monopolization in America. He or that he had some sort of charter
must be considered as a member that gave him exclusive control
of the great brotherhood of buc- over the ownership of land in the
caneers: the Goulds, the Harri- United States. Plainly, Miller was
mans, the Astors, the Vander- as far as Taper himself from fall-
hilts." In this quotation Taper ing into either category; for, as
clearly intends to be presenting we have seen, ownership of some
his own interpretation of Miller. land (as opposed to all land) does
Thus, he, too, wants to convince not make one a land monopolist.
us that Miller was a "land mo- Actually, it is inconceivable
nopolist" and a "buccaneer." that any private individual could
be a land monopolist. This sort of
How Big Is a Monopoly? monopoly, like most others, would
In dissecting this harsh accu- have to reside in the State, and
sation we might pause first over typically it has. In the face of
the epithet "land monopolization." such obvious discrepancy with
Now what can land monopoliza- fact and theory, what then can be
tion by a private individual con- the point of McWilliams' and
sist in? If one owns a certain Taper's description of Miller as
amount of land In his own name, a land monopolist? We can think
is he a land monopolist? If, then, of only one possible answer. In the
I own in my own name a half-acre "Brave N ew World" laboratories
lot in suburbia, am I a land mon- of Marx and his latter-day fol-
opolist? Predictably, neither Mc- lowers, the term "monopoly" has
Williams nor Taper means that. been given a sense denoting de-
But by the same token, if I owned mons and demonocracy and, just
one thousand acres or a million as unfairly, has been reserved for
acres, I should not for that reason private individuals and private
alone be a land monopolist. business (instead of government
What could an individual pos- where its older and true applica-
sibly be taken to mean if he said, tion lay). Whatever McWilliams'
"I have a monopoly on land" ? and Taper's conscious intention
Surely, he could only mean that he may have been, therefore, in call-
had some kind of exclusive con- ing Miller a land monopolist, the
trol of the ownership of land. point is made that Miller and his
Thus, if uttering such a remark activities were somehow diaboli-
in the United States, he would cal. By obvious implication, the
have to mean either that he owned virtues and ideals of laissez-faire
all the land in the United States capitalism are also sullied.
Pirate Without Portfolio came a butcher's assistant, laboring

Do we find any closer fit of early and late seven days a week
phrase and fact in the description and indulging in none of the pleas-
of Henry Miller as a "buccaneer"? ures of what was then the most
According to Webster's diction- riotous, fun-loving city in the coun-
try. A contemporary gives us a tell-
ary, a buccaneer is "a pirate; esp.
ing glimpse of young Miller at the
one of the freebooters preying start of his career in 1850. The
upon early Spanish-American ves- writer was wending his way home at
sels and settlements in the 17th dawn after a night of carousing and
and 18th century." Since Miller passed Miller on the street. Miller
lived in the nineteenth and twen- was on his way to open the butcher
tieth centuries and had only a shop. He was bent over, carrying on
brief and nodding acquaintance his shoulders a calf he had slaugh-
with the sea, we must assume that tered an hour earHer in the stockade
Taper and his authority, McWil- a t the other end of town.
liams, are here being purely fan- Are we reminded by this de-
ciful. Presumably, what they scription of anything resembling
mean, if they mean anything fac- robbery? I trust that we are not.
tual, is that Miller obtained his Does the fact that Miller worked
wealth and possessions through and saved while much of San
robbery of one sort or another. Francisco caroused suggest pi-
Let us see then what facts Taper racy? Surely, it does not.
adduces for this serious charge. Taper several times refers to
Four paragraphs following his Miller's foresight, organizing
stigmatization of Miller as a buc- genius, and consummate knowl-
caneer, Taper describes in specif- edge of the cattle business. Ac-
ic detail Miller's general outlook cording to Taper, Miller had "a
and methods. We find that Miller fabulous memory, brilliant organ-
abj ured easy and capricious ways izing power, and a fanatic devo-
of making a fortune for sheer tion to work." He rode day and
hard work, industry, honesty, and night supervising his vast hold-
thrift. Taper tells us: ings and herds, composing mean-
Fronl the beginning, the gold mines while an almost endless stream of
had no lure for l\1iller. He was as insightful and knowledgeable
fully certain as the miners that the memoranda covering an amazing
West was the land of opportunity, variety of details and topics:
but he expected to have to work hard
for his reward, not to have it handed As Miller travelled there used to
to him as a pile of nuggets. He be- emanate from him a steady stream
of letters to the various supervisors, ticularly suited to the West - a mix-
agents, foremen, and other satraps ture of Hereford, Devon, and Dur-
(sic) of his business empire. Written ham - and inl proved the breeds of
on cheap ruled paper at any oppor- sheep. He has been credited with be-
tune moment of the day - before ing one of the first agriculturists in
sunup, late at night, during pauses California to experiment with the
on the dusty roads and trails - Mil- strange new crop called alfalfa, and
ler's letters contained advice and in- he was anlong the first to plant cot-
structions on the nl0st minute details ton and rice, both now staples of the
of his far-flung operations: how to state's agriculture.
make use of cow chips as fuel to Of even more far-reaching conse-
run the farm machinery, what to do quence were his reclamation and ir-
about anthrax and blackleg, the ad- rigation projects ... Miller was also
vantages of opening haystacks at the the first to do something practical
south side, Miller's displeasure at on a large scale to assure a constant
finding canned milk served in his water supply - he built thousands of
hotel in the heart of the dairy coun- miles of levees and irrigation ditches,
try, the inlportance of rubbing salt three major canals with a total
over a hide to keep it from shrivel- length of 190 miles (!), and a 350-
ling, etc. . . A good many of the foot danl across the San Joaquin
thousands of letters of instruction River. It is estimated that he there-
he wrote have been preserved, and by made fertile over 150,000 acres of
they are quite remarkable docu- near-desert land.
ments, constituting something of a
comprehensive manual of cattle rais- Land Acquisition
ing. To almost anyone of uncor-
To judge from this presentation rupted mind and feelings, this
of fact Miller was not only a account of Miller would seem to
hardworking and prudent busi- picture, not a malefactor and rob-
nessman but an imaginative and ber of men, but a creative genius
scientific one also. And this im- of the highest order and a bene-
pression is borne out by some factor of. both his own generation
later remarks of Taper's. Con- and subsequent generations. We
sider these statements: therefore repeat: what possibly
can Taper and McWilliams mean
He [Miller] affected the develop-
factually by calling Miller a buc-
ment of the Far West, particularly
caneer or robber? Did Miller per-
of California, in a number of unique
and significant ways. He put the haps steal his land holdings and
business of raising livestock onto a cattle from other men? This does
systematic basis for the first time. not seem to be true either.
He developed a breed of cattle par- The first land Miller owned was
purchased in 1863 with some ten sell out to him at a nominal price,"
thousand dollars he had saved adds Taper. But unless greatly
from working (as we have seen) enlarged upon and those enlarge-
in a butcher's shop and then op- ments substantiated in all sorts
erating one himself in San Fran- of detail, this blanket indictment
cisco. As far as one can tell from carries no weight whatsoever. It
Taper's article, whatever land does not even make much sense.
Miller acquired from individuals Buying out one heir would not
or the government, he acquired give Miller sole grazing rights
by purchase or other legal means. over a ranch if there were other
He forced no one to sell land to heirs. He would possess just so
him, an innuendo of Taper's to the much right as his portion of the
contrary notwithstanding. Says estate entitled him to. Had he
Taper: purchased a controlling interest?
Then, of course, he "dominated"
Like many of his contemporary the ranch, but what would one
titans of private enterprise, Miller expect? If the other heirs pos-
had few scruples to deter him in sessed the controlling interest,
his quest for gain. One of his meth- they and not Miller would "dom-
ods of acquiring land was to buy inate" the ranch. Did the heirs to
out one or more of the heirs to a
Spanish grants really sell out to
Spanish land grant. This would give
him grazing rights over the whole Miller at "nominal prices"? What
ranch and before long he would so were the exact circumstances if
dominate the land that the other they did? Was the land unim-
heirs would sell out to him at a proved and did its improvement
nominal price. entail a great deal of expense
which they were not prepared to
/lFacts that Can't Stand share with Miller? These are ques-
Close Examination/l tions that minimum fairness
Let us examine this colored ver- would demand be answered before
sion of Miller's "method" more accusing a great and gifted man
narrowly. Miller would buyout like Miller of sharp practices,
one or more of the heirs of a and, in particular, such a seedy-
Spanish land grant. There is noth- looking practice as "so dominating
ing unscrupulous in that! "This the land" that heirs to Spanish
would give him grazing rights grants were forced "to sell out
over the whole ranch and before at a nominal price." From what
long he would so dominate the we learn elsewhere about Miller's
land that the other heirs would abilities and achievements, he
neither did engage in sharp prac- he said gruffly, wiping $350,000
tices in order to obtain business off his books." Let us put this fact
success nor did he have to. in the scales against the charge,
But, again, Taper tells us with for whatever weight it has, that
testy indignation that Miller "also Miller loaned money to farmers
engaged in the practice of mak- simply in order to foreclose on
ing extensive loans on farm prop- them and gain possession of their
erties and then foreclosing on the lands. Here was his supreme op-
mortgages." Let us suppose this portunity, and he did the very op-
'were so. Miller forced no one to posite from what the charge predi-
accept the loans in question. On cates. Surely, therefore, the charge
the contrary, one can imagine in question weighs out as mere
that those who received the loans vilification.
would have been outraged had
Taper raced up during one of the Stolen Cattle
said transactions and cried, "You Can it be maintained, perhaps,
dare not - you cannot - borrow that though Miller did not rob
this money from Miller!" Did others of their land, he robbed
Miller foreclose on unpaid loans them of their cattle and for this
on farm properties? Suppose he reason deserves the appelation,
did. How coul_d one possibly re- "buccaneer"? Once more the facts
main solvent if he did not? Does rise in opposition. What we learn
the government waive foreclosure is that - far from robbing others
when not paid on loans to it or of cattle - Miller was the constant
when its coercive tax-levies are target of such robbery and that,
not paid? But even Taper's impu- moreover, the government courts,
tation that Miner avariciously instead of protecting Miller from
foreclosed on farm mortgages this robbery, condoned and abet-
whenever he could and indeed ted it. We read:
loaned money on farms just in
order to be able to foreclose on Miller's attitude toward those who
them is invalidated by his own attempted to rob him was realistic.
subsequent testimony. For soon He knew that he was a natural
target and that it was a rare jury
afterwards he tells us that "one
that would bring in a conviction
day during the depression of the
against a person accused of stealing
nineties he [Miller] called every- from the man who owned more live-
body in the region who owed him stock and land than any person in
money and gave back all their America. In one case a defendant
IOU's. 'It's time for a clean start,' was acquitted after being caught
red-handed. After the trial he said This act of benevolence, we dis-
reproachfully to one of Miller's su- cover, was merely one of a great
perintendents, "I'm surprised at Mr. many. For example,. Miller "was
Miller. He ought to be a better busi-
apt to leave a twenty-dollar gold
nessman than to prosecute me. It
cost me a thousand dollars to bribe
piece in one of his boots as a tip
that jury. Look at all the cattle I'm for the maid who shined them"-
going to have to steal now to get a queer form of graspingness, one
that back." must say! Or consider these poli-
cies of Miller's as set down by
Weare tempted to exclaim: Taper:
Mr. Taper, these are the facts by
your own admission! Look at [Miller] never prosecuted anyone
them for heaven's sake! Now who - settlers or bandits - who killed his
were the buccaneers? Indeed, ex- cattle for food. Miller asked only
cept for just Henry Miller, who that whoever killed any of his steers
was not! should hang the hides on a tree
Taper is not satisfied with call- where Miller's cowboys could find
ing Miller a "buccaneer"; he calls them. Hides, after all, were worth
him a "grasping, dominating, hu- four dollars apiece. It was surpris-
morless man." These ugly traits ing how often even bandits took the
are evidently supposed to lie be- trouble to comply with this request.
He let it be widely known that any
hind and explain Miller's being a
settler should feel free to pick up a
buccaneer or, what seems to come lVIiller cow on the range and take
to the same thing in Taper's Lexi- her home as a milk cow for the
con, a successful businessman. A family, provided the settler saw to
successful entrepreneur just has it that the unweaned calves did not
to be grasping, dominating, and suffer.
humorless! What truth is there in Miller had a long list of people
this first article of the anticapital- to whom he regularly sent gifts,
ist's creed? Once more we shall let and he knew better than to try to
Taper's own statements be our stint or economize here. "There's nc
use giving a person a turkey and ex-
witnesses.
pecting him to appreciate it unles~
Acts of Benevolence it is in fine condition," Miller onCE
said to a penny-pinching foreman
Let us take the accusation that "It's better not to send a gift at all.'
Miller was grasping. We have al- Miller's prudently calculated gen,
ready cited the instance of his re- erosity extended to tramps and otheJ
turning $350,000 worth of IOU's vagrants, to whom he gave severa
in the depression of the nineties. thousand free meals a year.
Humorless? us, we find instead that the per-
Taper's charge that Miller was son being d,escribed was in reality
humorless - and certainly that is intelligent, industrious, imagina-
a charge of which, for all we tive, saving, prudently generous,
know, Taper himself might be and completely honest, and that
guilty - is not so easy to counter. his immense success in business
What strikes one person as humor stemmed from these virtues and
is apt to strike another as not hu- from a corresponding lack of vice.
mol". For my own part, I detect
wry humor in Miller's instruction Destroying the founders
Denies Our Heritage
for "the care of hoboes":
I have gone to these lengths to
Never make a tramp work for his demonstrate the distortion and de-
meal. He won't thank you if you do.
ception that have been practiced in
Anyhow he is too weak to work be-
fore a meal and too lazy to work
Taper's article for reasons that are
after a meal. not negligible. Taper's distortion
and deception are not isolated.
I detect a twinkle of humor in They are representative of the
Miller's leaving twenty-dollar gold treatment accorded for many years
pieces in his boots for the maids now and still accorded to the great
who shined them. But suppose geniuses of this country's laissez-
Miller lacked any sense of humor: faire past. In so denigrating these
how uncharitable to bring this men, historians and economists
fact up against Miller as if enu- have also blackened the virtues
merating the counts of an indict- and achievements of such persons.
ment: grasping, dominating, hu- In doing this, they have made it
morless! seem that one ought to be ashamed
In a widely read and admired of the very traits, persons, and
journal devoted to the history of achievements that in another time
this country, then, we find a great it was perceived one should right-
entrepreneur of our recent past ly be proud of. The tragic upshot
described as a "buccaneer" and, of this denigration of laissez-
given the harshest intonation, faire history, achievement, and
"grasping." Our vision being col- virtues is that the present genera-
ored by these interpretations, we tion, taken in by the deception,
are apt to think that we are read- finds itself emulating, not the true
ing an account of some unmiti- heroes of civilization like Miller,
gated thief and scoundrel. When but the constant oppressors of
we look hard at the facts provided mankind, the Castros, Mao-tse-
tungs, and Lenins. One hardly ond, in doing so, robbing us of a

needs to point to the already ter- rich heritage. It is important that
rible devastation of mind, moral- what has been taken from us by
ity, spirit, and material well-being deception be taken back by force
that this subversion of truth and of fact and demonstration.
history has produced in America. The country's great past and its
In less than two generations, "the great men - the Fords, Rockefel-
land of the free and the brave" lers, Vanderbilts, Astors, Millers,
has become the limbo of the co- Jim Hills - have been buried un-
erced and the fearful; the land of der a mountain of muckraking in-
opportunity, the limbo of despair; nuendo, misrepresentation, and
the land of the beautiful, the lim- outright libel. Our future lies bur-
bo of the ugly. ied under this same mountain of
Taper, McWilliams, and their collectivist refuse. One of the ma-
fellow anticapitalists, while point- j or tasks of the libertarian schol-
ing at the Millers and Carnegies ar - perhaps the first of his tasks
of our past and shouting "robber," - is to remove this kitchen midden
have themselves engaged in the of hatred and envy that obscures
most frightening robbery of all: the past greatness of America and
first, robbing great men of repu- so retrieve the visible foundations
tations fairly won and the grati- of a right civilization and right
tude that we owe them; and sec- philosophy. ~
Failure PROSPERITY is another name for

abundance. A nation can have an
abundance of goods and services
of only if it produces an abundance
of goods and services. It can pro-
Politics duce an abundance of goods and
services only if it is organized in
such a way as to release the ener-
GEORGE HAGEDORN gies, initiative, and skills of such
of its citizens as possess those
Mr. Hagedorn is Economist and Vice-Presi-
qualities.
dent of the National Association of Manu- Unfortunately energy, initia-
facturers. This article is from his column in
NAM Reports, June 24, 1968. tive, and skill are not distributed
1968 FAILURE OF POLITICS 525
evenly among all the groups in The story is much the same in
any society. They are not evenly other parts of Latin America, in
distributed among the nations of Indonesia, and in many of the new
the world. It is likely that the dif- nations of Africa. For reasons
ferences are not so much genetic which should, but don't, embarrass
as they are cultural. But in any the governmental leaders, the de-
case the disparities exist and they parture of the "exploiters" pro-
are wide. duced more widespread poverty
This gives rise to a feeling - it rather than the promised univer-
is a world-wide phenomenon- sal prosperity.
that where abundance is lacking There is a small number of
it is hecause the group affected is nations which illustrate the oppo-
(or has been) exploited by some- site side of the coin. Hong Kong
one else. The road to prosperity and Malaysia have encouraged
for all is to suppress the exploiters private enterprise. Their prosper-
by political action, rather than to ity and productivity shine out
provide goods and services by pro- from an otherwise dismal picture
ductive action. in the less developed world.
This is the prevailing sentiment At the same time we see some
in most of the undeveloped nations of the advanced nations going the
of the world. It is the chief bar- other way. In France a large seg-
rier to their development into ment of the working population,
prosperous members of the family animated by revolutionary fervor,
of nations. It is a rising senti- has decided to give itself pay
ment in many of the industrial na- raises of 10 per cent to 15 per
tions and is the chief threat to cent, together with longer vaca-
their continued prosperity. tions. It is truly astonishing to
Case histories are abundant. In see the illusion, in an intelligent
Bolivia a revolutionary govern- and sophisticated nation, that
ment nationalizes the tin mines. everybody's welfare will be im-
What had been the chief national proved by higher pay for less
asset under private ownership be- wor]c.
comes, under government control, In the U. S. the belief that pov-
an inefficient and wasteful opera- erty is the result of robbery by
tion. An enormous influx of for- an exploiting class has not yet be-
eign aid from the U.S. is thrown come the dominant mode of think-
down the drain in subsidizing so- ing. But it is making progress.
cialistic government enterprises or In certain circles the middle class
corrupt government officials. is more likely to be despised for
its "affluence" rather than ad- benefit everyone else. In a society

mired for the productivity which where economic decisions are made
made that affluence possible. by a political power struggle, the
Henceforth, it is urged, we must natively resourceful (whether gen-
work to eliminate poverty through uinely able or not) will take prom-
redistributive political action rath- inent parts in that struggle. But
er than through productive action their efforts are unlikely to con-
in the mill and market place. At tribute anything positive to the
least this is what many of the welfare of their fellow citizens.
programs advocated to eliminate A society which rewards its
poverty - a higher level of gov- participants in proportion to their
ernment social action supported contribution to the production of
by higher taxation, or a negative goods and services other people
income tax - seem to come down to. want is, on the record, the most
The spirit of enterprise among effective in reducing the preva-
Americans - that willingness to lence of poverty. All this is ele-
invest one's own sweat and re- mentary in principle and abun-
sources in opportunities one finds dantly illustrated in practice. We
for oneself - is a tough bird and can only express astonishment
will be hard to kill. But it can be that it has become the fashion
seriously crippled both by verbal in intellectual circles to ignore
abuse and by higher levels of it. It is as though we were to
taxation. Worse, it can be mis- agree that, since the fact that
directed, by government interv~n grass is green is an old and trite
tion, into unproductive or counter- truth rather than a fresh new
productive channels. And those one, we will henceforth believe
who don't share the spirit of en- that grass is red.
terprise will suffer along with
those who do. Raising taxes on the productiv
Individuals who are resource- groups in society in order to ex-
ful by nature will usually make pand antipoverty programs isn'1
out in any kind of society. In a essentially different from expro-
free enterprise society, persons priating the owners of tin mine~
who combine native resourceful- in order to make the Boliviar
ness with high ability will often populace richer. And it isn't likel3
rise to the top, by activities which to be any more successful. ~
Life Begins
at SEVENTY
LEONARD E. READ
POPULAR EXPRESSION has it that life, and the potentialities of the

"life begins at forty," thirty years human cortex are never fully real-
ahead of my suggested figure. But ized. There is a surplus and, de-
life really begins each moment one pending upon physical factors, ed-
grows in awareness, perception, ucation, environment, and con-
consciousness; that is, the budding scious effort, more or less of the
process is a continuous beginning. initial store of neuroblasts will de-
The moons that have come and velop into mature, functioning
gone do not necessarily measure neurons. The development of the
growth or its ending; now and more plastic and newer tissue of
then life flags in the teens; on the brain depends to a large ex-
occasion it accelerates in the nine- tent upon the conscious efforts
ties. If seventy seems less likely made by the individual. There is
than forty for a ne,v beginning, every reason to assume that de-
the reason is that so many have velopment of cortical functions is
died on the vine in that interval. promoted by mental activity and
Glory to the man who can truth- that continued mental activity is
fully attest, "Life begins at an important factor in the reten-
ninety!" tion of cortical plasticity into late
Twenty years ago - at the age life. Goethe . . . [and others] are
of fifty - I discovered this: "The among the numerous examples of
normal human brain always con- men whose creative mental activi-
tains a greater store of neuro- ties extended into the years asso-
blasts than can possibly develop ciated with physical decline. . . .
into neurons during the span of There also seem sufficient grounds
for the assumption that habitual And if there be any certain key
disuse of these highest centers re- to personal happiness, it involves
sults in atrophy or at least brings the use and development of the
about a certain mental decline."! faculties - the expanding mind
And now, on rereading Ortega, being the most important and, by
I find: "As one advances in life, one and large, all that remains for the
realizes more and more that the elder citizen.
maj ority of men - and of women But there is another reason for
- are incapable of any other effort looking so favorably on those who
than that strictly imposed on them insist on "a perpetual striving, an
as a reaction to external compul- incessant course of training" :
sion. And for that reason, the few Each of us has a vested interest
individuals we have come across in these "select men, the nobles."3
who are capable of a spontaneous We can live our o'wn lives to the
and joyous effort stand out iso- fullest only insofar as they dwell
lated, monumentalized, so to speak, among us. The society in which
in our experience. These are the we live - the environment - is
select men, the nobles, the only conditioned by the absence or pres-
ones who are active and not merely ence of those who persistently
reactive, for whom life is a per- pursue excellence. The rise and
petual striving, an incessant fall of society depends upon this
course of training."2 kind of nobility. These "select
men" are essential to us, and
Enter into Life
striving to be numbered among
There is more to the observation them is a worthy aspiration.
of these two scholars - a biochem- Yet, many persons lack such as-
ist and a philosopher - than first piration. Analogous is the tree
meets the eye. A worthy ambition, with every appearance of health,
they quite correctly imply, is "to its blossoms beautiful to behold,
die with your boots on" or "go fruit developing normally toward
down with your colors flying." full size. But, alas, before it
For what other reason are we here ripens, the fruit falls to the ground
than to get ever deeper into life? - big and well-shaped, but useless!
We witness so many promising
1 See Fearfully and lVonderfully JI;!ade
by Renee von Eulenburg-Wiener (New individuals falling by the wayside,
York, N. Y.: The Macmillan Company, stepping away from life, forsaking
1938) , p. 310.
2 See Revolt of the Masses by Orteg-a y 3 Thomas Jefferson: "There is a nat-
Gasset (New York, N. Y.: W. W. Norton ural aristocracy among men. The g-rounds
& Co., Inc., 1932), p. 71. of this are virtue and talents ..."
1968 LIFE BEGINS AT SEVENTY 529
the effort essential to life's full certain that the type of maturity
cycle, just when the process of here in question will never issue
maturing is to begin! In a word, alTIOng those ,vho, for whatever
the fruit of life abandoned! reason, permit themselves to "die
To associate old age with mature on the vine." Thus, it is of the ut-
judgment is indeed a mistake, most importance that we reflect
simply because, as Ortega sug- on the obstacles to maturity. If
gests, too many elders react only they can be identified, we can,
to external compulsion. The inner hopefully, reduce them.
development that is prerequisite
to maturity tends to terminate too The Urge to Quit
soon. Old age, more often than The most formidable obstacle
not, can be associated with senil- on the. ,vay to maturity is covered
ity. Yet, the greater the age, the by the idea of retirement! Two
richer the maturity, assuming, of forces move us toward retirement,
course, that the budding process namely, temptation and compul-
is alive and functioning. In these sion.
rare cases, old age and mature Many are congenitally lazy, if
judgment go hand-in-hand; the not physically, at least mentally.
older the wiser! Their menta1 activities have stag-
If I am not mistaken, freedom nated, leaving them uninteresting
is to be expected only in societies even to themselves, let alone to
distinguished by a significant others; they cannot stand their
number of mature and wise men. own company or abide being alone
And maturity and ,visdom of the with their thoughts. They seek
quality required is reserved to merriment and diversion supplied
those who can retain the budding by others, like a man walking
phenomenon - cortical plasticity- down the street ,vith a radio glued
into those years normally associ- to his ear. Any excuse, however
ated with physical decline, that is, flimsy, to avoid thinking for self!
into the period when maturing of Such persons have no fruit to
the intellect becomes at least a ripen, no mental activity to ma-
possibility.4 In any event, I am ture.
There are others who have had
4 Conceded, many a young person no thought since early adulthood
reaches a higher state of maturity than
does the octogenarian. This is because need of maturity regardless of how high
some are born more highly endowed than or low the endowments. Mankind loses
others. However, my po in t is not aimed most when those of high endowment fail
at such comparisons but, rather, at the to mature.
but to "get it made." By the time Retirement, of course, is a rela-

that goal is achieved, abstract tive term. The shortened work
thought has been too long neg- week, enforced by edict, is a case
lected for reactivation or renewal; in point. One must retire, not
half-hearted attempts prove un- work beyond the legal forty hours,
rewarding, .so the temptation is to or the employer will be forced to
forswear any conscious effort. Ma- pay a higher hourly rate, in effect,
ture thoughts are out of the ques- a fine.
tion. Legal holidays seem never to be
Ever so many persons of high abandoned even after the cause
potential look to a vocation for they were meant to celebrate has
fame or fortune and forget to been forgotten. Instead, there are
choose one in harmony with their countless excuses for increasing
unique capabilities. As a conse- their number. Minor retirements
quence, the job is likely to ~e bor- en masse!
ing; holidays and vacations - little Social security payments are
retirements - are highlights of the withheld from senior citizens who
seasons; and as the years pass, elect to work and earn. Activity is
full retirement seems more and penalized; inactivity is rewarded.
more attractive. There is no in- Governmental unemployment
centive to extend mental activity payments often exceed what some
to its maturity. persons could earn by working,
thus inducing retirement.
Relative Retirement Most corporations, educational
The thought of retirement is a- and religious institutions, cham-
nathema to me. I have not experi- bers of commerce, trade associa-
enced any of the temptations and, tions, and other organizations com-
thus, can list only a few of the pel retirement at 65; many make
more obvious examples. But it it attractive to retire at 60; and
seems clear that there would be we hear more and more of retiring
little drive for compulsory retire- at 55. The sole criterion is the
ment if retirement were not a number of moons that have come
common goal. It seems to add up and gone; whether the budding
to this: Let's formalize and legal- process is dead, or at its very
ize that which the vast majority peak, is not even considered. As a
so ardently favor! The following consequence of this indiscriminate,
examples of compulsive forces rule-of-thumb procedure, many of
stem from these common tempta- the nation's best men are "put out
tions. to pasture."
1968 LIFE BEGINS AT SEVENTY 531
These illustrations suffice to em- everyone will make it, of course,
phasize the retirement syndrome. but maturity surely is within the
It is, today, the common fetish reach of thousands at the modest
and the end is not in sight. Under price of conscious, persistent, ded-
these CirCUlTIstances, it is remark- icated, prayerful effort. The re-
able that even a few individuals ward for realizing one's poten-
are capable of spontaneous and tialities, whatever they are, may
joyous effort, that is, are able to be the highest earthly life has to
experience the maturing period. confer.
No wonder that the perceptive That my life still begins with
Ortega observed such individuals each moment can be assigned in
to "stand out isolated, monumen- part to a stroke of good fortune-
talized" ! vocation and avocation are identi-
In one sense, it is lamentable cal; work and pleasure are one and
that those who have advanced in the same.
wisdom and maturity should Beyond this, I have a first-rate
"stand out isolated, monumental- retirement policy: short of effec-
ized." Far better if there were tive compulsions to the contrary,
more such persons - the few less I propose to ride my bicycle till
conspicuous than they are. Not I fall off! ~
Accept the Challenge
IT IS MEN who have counted struggle as a blessing who got the

big rewards of life. As Emerson said, "God keeps an honest
account with men."
The hard surgical cases, where life hangs on a heart beat, do
not go to the dilettante surgeon. The tough engineering problem,
like building a bridge across a mighty river, does not go to the
engineer who has always looked for the easy jobs. And the same
for lawyers and top executives in business.
If at times you feel that you have not had the same chance
that others have, ask yourself what chance did Abraham Lincoln
have? Remember that "it is not so much the size of the dog in
the fight that counts, but the size of the fight in the dog."
SAMUEL B. PETTENGILL
CLARENCE B. CARSON
C!Euglaub
7. THE INDUSTRIAL SURGE
THERE was a great surge of pro- considerably in the second half of

ductivity accompanied by increas- the century." Not only was more
ing exchange activity in England land brought under cultivation
in the latter part of the eigh- but also there were considerable
teenth century and extending into increases of production per acre,
and through most of the nine- as much as one third in the yield
teenth. This productivity occurred of wheat between 1750 and 1800. 1
in almost every field and was by There appears to have been a
no means confined to what is usu- similar increase in the production
ally thought of as industrial. of cattle for market during rough-
There were, for example, consid- ly the same period. In 1750, a
erable increases in production of little under 71,000 head were sold
basic agricultural commodities. at the major market at Smith-
As one authority says, "Statistics field. In 1794, there were over
of the output of grain are few and 109,000 offered for sale. 2 It is
unreliable. It is, however, beyond generally held, too, that the aver-
doubt that annual production rose age weight of cattle offered for
Dr. Carson, Professor of History at Grove City 1 T. S. Ashton, An Economic History
College, Pennsylvania, will be remembered for of England: The 18th Century (New
his earlier FREEMAN series, The Fateful York: Barnes and Noble, 1955), p. 51.
Flight from Reality. 2 Ibid., p. 245.
532
1968 THE INDUSTRIAL SURGE 533
sale had greatly increased. One ufactures developed at a rapid
writer says that the average pace. "The output of pig-iron in
weight of oxen offered at Smith- Great Britain in 1788 was 68,000
field had increased from 370 tons. In 1796 it was, for England
pounds in 1710 to 800 pounds in and Wales alone, 125,000 tons, and
1795. 3 a few thousand tons must be add-
Sheep for sale at this market ed for Scotland's contribution. In
did not increase quite so dra- 1806 the British total had swollen
matically: from approximately to 258,000 tons."6 As for coal,
656,000 in 1750 to about 718,000 "There are no valid statistics of
in 1794. 4 But sheep were getting the production of coal, but the an-
much heavier on the average than nual figures of exports from the
formerly, also. great northern field may serve as
a guide. For the decade 1701-10
Manufacturing they give an average of 183,000
The surge in manufacturing Newcastle Chaldrons; for 1791-
production was much more marked 1800 the figure is 758,000." Indica-
than in farming. The most dra- tions are that production increase
matic increase occurred in the elsewhere was even greater. 7
making of cotton goods. Ashton
Shipping and Trade
says, "The number of pieces of
broadcloth milled in Yorkshire Perhaps the best indicators of
rose from an average of 34,400 in the great surge of production are
1731-40, to one of 229,400 in 1791- the shipping and trade figures.
1800. Between the first and last The most reliable statistics exist
decade of the century the annual for these undertakings also. The
output of printed cloths grew tonnage of boats leaving English
from 2.4 million to 25.9 million ports in 1700 was 317,000 regis-
yards. . . ."5 The woolens indus- tered tons; by 1751 it was 661,000
try expanded much less rapidly. A tons; it had reached 1,924,000 in
vigorous pottery industry, how- 1800. 8 In pounds sterling the val-
ever, was developed in the latter ue of English exports in 1700 was
part of the eighteenth century. about 71;2 millions; in 1750, 15
Mining and iron and steel man- millions; in 1800, 42 millions. Im-
3 Paul Mantoux, The Industrial Revo- 6 J. Steven Watson, The Reign of

lution in the Eigh teenth Century (Lon- George III (London: Oxford University
don: Jonathan Cape,1961,rev.ed.),p.161. Press, 1960), p. 505.
4 Ashton, Ope cit., p. 245. 7 Ashton, Ope cit., p. 124.
5 Ibid., p. 124. 8 Mantoux, Ope cit., p. 100.
ports had risen comparably, as impressive in that day and are the
might be expected. 9 The export of best known to this day were the
cotton goods rose precipitately machines which were applied to
within a few years. The total val- textile manufacturing. Earliest
ue of such goods was only about inventive attention was given to
360,000 pounds sterling in 1780. speeding up spinning, for in the
By 1800 it was more than five and early eighteenth century it took
a half millions. The import of cot- about ten spinners to provide the
ton as raw material for manufac- yarn for one weaver. This dis-
turing shows a similar increase: parity was increased by John
in 1781 it was 5,300,000 pounds of Kay's flying shuttle, patented in
cotton and by 1800 it had risen to 1733, which enabled the weaver to
56 million pounds. 10 work without the former assis...
tance he needed. Lewis Paul de-
The Spirit of 'nnovation veloped a device for roller spin-
The great surge of production ning in 1738 which was supposed
and increase of trade was pre- to aid in the task of spinning; but
ceded as well as accompanied by in the form that he contrived it,
mechanical inventions, new prac- it was never much used. Much
tices, new processes, reorganiza- more effective was the spinning
tions of production, and improved jenny devised by J ames Har-
transportation facilities. The spir- greaves in the 1760's. It simply
it of innovation, change, and in- linked several spinning wheels to-
vention seemed to be abroad in the gether so that a spinner could spin
land in the latter part of the eigh- several threads rather than one
teenth century. Samuel Johnson with the same motion.
observed cryptically that "the age Another step in accelerating
is running mad after innovation," spinning was Richard Arkwright's
that "all the business of the world water frame, a machine that was
is to be done in a new way; men operated by water power, patented
are to be hanged in a new way; in 1768. In the 1780's, Samuel
Tyburn itself is not safe from the Crompton developed the mule, a
fury of innovation."ll contrivance that could spin a great
The inventions which were most number of threads at once that
would be of very high quality. The
9 Ibid., p. 102. speeding up of weaving now be-
10 Ibid., p. 252.
came most important. The Rev-
11 Quoted in T. S. Ashton, The Indus-
trialRevolution (New York: Oxford Uni- erend Edmund Cartwright de-
versity Press, 1964), p. 10. signed an effective power loom in
1784. 12 Most of these inventions Townshend showed on his estates
were rather quickly adopted and how wasteland could be reclaimed
thus began the transformation of by drainage, manure, and the
textile manufacturing. planting of grasses. Robert Bake-
well was the most notable inno-
Improved Farm Practices
vator in developing new breeds of
These were probably among the cattle and sheep. "He began his
most famous inventions of the work in 1745, scouring the neigh-
eighteenth century, but they were borhood for the breeding animals
by no means the only important which came nearest to his ideals,
innovations for increased produc- and later breeding in and in from
tivity. Almost every area of pro- his own stock only, selecting the
ductivity was enhanced by chang- best and selling the less good rams
es in processes or practices. Cer- and bulls to other breeders." So
tainly, a great deal of ingenuity successful was he that "visitors
went into improving farming came from far and wide, Russian
practices and propagating them. princes and German grand dukes
Jethro Tull was one of the early included, to see his farm and
leaders in farm improvements. He stock, and pick up all the informa-
published a book in 1731 in which tion with regard to his methods
he advocated intensive farm- that he could be induced to im-
ing. "He recommended deep hoe- part."14 Horses began increasing-
ing and ploughing, and a system ly to be substituted for oxen to
of continuous rotation of crops, pull plows in the course of the
thanks to which the land could eighteenth century. Along with
bear, without exhaustion, a suc- this change, there was increasing
cession of varied harvests, and the use of iron in the making of
wasteful practice of fallows could plows.
be suppressed or reduced. He ex- New or improved techniques
plained the importance of winter and inventions appeared in many
food for the cattle and showed to fields. Thomas Newcomen invented
what account could be turned nu- a steam pump in 1709, and James
tritious roots such as turnips and Watt constructed an effective
beets."13 steam engine in the 1760's. This
At about the same time, Lord latter was used mainly for pump-
ing water out of mines at first, but
12 Michael W. Flinn, An Economic and
Social History of Britain (London: Mac- 14 Gilbert Slater, The Growth of Mod-
millan, 1961), pp. 163-65. ern England (London: Constable, 1939,
13 Mantoux, op. cit., p. 158. 2nd ed.), pp. 190-10.
by the nineteenth century its use upkeep of roads." The most ef-
to turn machinery was being ex- fective turnpike builder in the
ploited. The overshot water wheel century vvas John Metcalf, a blind
replaced the undershot wheel. Coke man. He developed a process for
was effectively used to make iron making a firm surface over bogs,
by Abraham Darby. Henry Cort and repaired and built many good
patented proc.esses for rolling and roads. 15 These pikes did link Eng-
puddling iron in the 1780's. In land fairly well by the beginning
textiles the use of chlorine and of the nineteenth century; but it
other chemicals greatly accelerated was by the efforts of Telford and
the bleaching process. Macadam after 1810 that superior
roads were built.
Better Transportation
The first of the great canals
One of the developments which was the Worsley canal built for
greatly facilitated the productive the Duke of Bridgewater by
surge was that of improved trans- J ames Brindley. He undertook the
portation facilities. In the latter building of it in 1759 and com-
part of the eighteenth century pleted it in 1761. A few years
there was much building of im- later the great Mersey canal was
proved roads in England, and the begun. Work on many others soon
era of canal building got under- followed suit: the Grand Trunk,
way. These were aided both by the Bolton, the Bury, and the
new processes and engineering Kendal. 16 The peak of canal build-
feats which were the marvel of ing was reached between about
the day. At the beginning of the 1795 and 1815. "Between 1793 and
eighteenth century roads in Eng- 1805 the Grand Junction canal
land were probably in no better linked London with vVarwickshire,
shape than they had been five hun- with a side line to Oxford. The
dred years before. "Apart from Leeds and Liverpool canal was be-
London, there was not a single ing pushed up 600 feet to cross the
town which had permanent busi- Pennines by locks and so, via the
ness connections with the rest of old Aire and Calder navigation,
the country." About the middle of linked up with the Humber. Bir-
the century, turnpikes began to mingham was connected with the
be authorized on a large scale. Severn."17 So it was that England's
"Between 1760 and 1774 Parlia- great cities became canal ports.
ment passed no fewer than four
15 Mantoux, Ope cit., pp. 108-17.
hundred and fifty-two Acts in con- 16 Ibid., pp. 124-25.
nection with the construction and 17 Watson, Ope cit., pp. 518-19.
Entrepreneurship brought together capital, labor,

Increased Production and materials but also made the
Inventions, processes, methods, great innovation which we know
and technical know-how might as the factory system. The power
well have gone for naught had needed to turn the ever larger
it not been for the development machines could not be conveniently
of entrepreneurship during. this provided in the' homes; hence,
age. Entrepreneurs emerged to workers, machines, power, and
link together capital, labor, and materials were concentrated in
raw materials and organize them factories. (Of course, on a small
for effective productive purposes. scale such concentrations had long
A good' example of the new type existed in such activities as mill-
of farmer entrepreneur was Coke ing.) Among the most famous of
of Holkham. He introduced new such men - themselves sometimes
implements and 'methods, encour- inventors or introducers of new
aged his tenants by granting long processes - were Josiah Wedge-
leases, and by careful husbandry wood, Mathew Boulton, Richard
increased the value of his estate Arkwright, J edediah Strutt, Sam-
tenfold during his lifetime. is uel Oldknow, Robert Dale Owen,
Such attention to estates became Thomas Walker, and Robert
quite the fashion in the eighteenth Pee1. 20 These men and others like
century. "George III had a model them gave great impetus to the
farm and welcomed the title of industrial surge.
'Farmer George.' Of Sir Robert
Walpole, England's first 'prime No Real Revolution
minister,' it was said that 'he The changes and developments
opened the letters of his farm discussed above are ordinarily
steward' before state correspon- described as the Industrial Revo-
dence. . . . When Fox visited the lution. They have been generally
Louvre, his mind was filled with so-called since a book by Arnold
the thought 'whether the weather Toynbee was published under that
was favourable to his turnips.'''19 title in 1884. H. L. Beales notes
But entrepreneurship reached its some rather strong objections to
epitome with the manufacturers. the phrase, "The Industrial Revo-
These were the men who not only lution." He says, "The changes
18 Mantoux, op. cit., pp. 160-61- 20 Witt Bowden, Industrial Society in
19 E. Lipson, The Growth of English England towards the End. of the Eight-
Society (London: A. and C. Black, 1959, eenth Century (New York: Barnes and
4th ed.), p. 140. Noble, 1965, 2nd ed.), pp. 137-38.
which are described as revolu- Lessons for Today

tionary rose spontaneously from Much attention has been fo-
ordinary economic practice, and cused upon the early years of this
they were constructive in that industrial surge in England. In
they gave an increasing power of view of the great concern at the
satisfying wants. It is impossible, present time with economic
too, to find a beginning or an growth it would be understand-
ending of these developments. The able if a great deal more interest
inventions on which rested the were shown than is. Certainly,
enlargement of industrial enter- anyone wishing to industrialize
prise established themselves only might expect to find instruction
slowly.... The extended probings in what happened during these
of scholars . . . seem to show years. Economic historians, and
that there never was an indus- others, have given considerable
trial revolution at a11."21 None- attention to describing and at-
theless, he and most others have tempting to account for the surge.
continued to use the phrase. The usual approach is to ac-
Though the present writer has count for industrialization by a
no illusions that his preferences complex of conditions which set
will have any effect, he prefers a the stage for it. Before going in-
much less loaded phrase, such as to these, however, it will be well
the "Industrial Surge" to describe to discount one explanation that
the early developments, and refers is sometimes given. Namely, some
to the old usage only for identi- have attributed the rise of pro-
fying what is being discussed in ductivity in England to the im-
conventional terms. That there petus provided by the wars Eng-
was a considerable surge of pro- land participated in, more spe-
ductivity there can be no doubt. cifically, to those of the French
That this surge got under way Revolution and the Napoleonic
in England before it did in other Era. If that were the case, it
lands is a matter of universal would still not be clear why Eng-
agreement. That the innovations land preceded other countries,
and organization which promoted because they were engaged in war-
it spread from there and continue fare also and some of them had
to enliven production wherever similar pressing needs.
they are employed should be clear But the evidence does not even
also. point in this direction. The most
21 H. L. Beales, The Industrial Revolu- dramatic spurt in productive ac-
tion (London: Frank Cass, 1958), p. 28. tivity occurred during the 1780'S,
after peace had been made with not difficult to understand that
the United States and other coun- the demand theory really explains
tries. Ashton says, "After 1782 nothing.
almost every statistical series of
production shows a sharp upward Many Contributing Factors
turn. More than half the growth Such fallacies aside, however,
in the shipments of coal and the the explanation in terms of sev-
mining of copper, more than eral conditions has merit. The
three-quarters of the increase of following is an example of such
broadcloths, four-fifths of that of an explanation, one that is along
printed cloth, and nine-tenths of the lines of the background which
the exports of cotton goods were has already been dealt with in
concentrated in the last eighteen this work in earlier chapters:
years of the century."22 It is true
Many circumstances thus combined
that the impetus continued after
to create a condition favorable for
war broke out in 1793, but it was mechanical improvements. The incom-
already well underway. Neither ing of independent-minded and skilled
evidence nor logic supports the artisans from the Continent; the
notion that the development can escape, especially in the north, from
be attributed to war. the monopolistic restrictions of cor-
Some writers propose, too, that porations and gilds; the social fer-
increased demand accounts for ments tending to dissolve the tradi-
greater output. When rightly un- tions opposed to change; the rise of
derstood, this claim is both true rationalism and experimental and ap-
and irrelevant. It is of the same plied sciences.... 23
order of explanation as that which He would add to these also the
would explain the sleep-inducing teaching of evangelical Protes-
quality of the sleeping pill by its tants and the opportunity for
soporific character. Or, the de- profitable application of machin-
mand theory amounts to claiming ery.
that increased productivity is Ashton adds to the above such
caused by increased productivity. factors as lower interest rates,
When we keep clearly before us the role of entrepreneurs, the
the realization that money is a part played by dissenters, the
medium of exchange, that effective stimulation and impetus given by
demand arises from goods and various societies; and so on. 24 And
services (not from money), it is
23 Bowden, op. cit., p. 65.
22 Ashton. An Economic History of 24Ashton, The Industrial Revolution,
England, p. 125. pp.10-17.
the list of the particular condi- objection to it needs to be dealt

tions which set the stage for in- with.
dustrialization in England could Economy would not appear to
probably be extended. be an appropriate heading for an
The present writer shares with historical explanation. Economy
these and other historians the can be considered a constant, while
conviction that the industrial history deals with change. In its
surge arose out of the particular basic meaning, men are bent by
conditions that existed in England nature toward economy. The root
plus the efforts of men. Yet he meaning of economy is the thrifty
feels that an enumeration of cir- use of resources. More broadly,
cumstances which could be ex- to be economical is to employ as
tended almost indefinitely does not little as possible of the resources
satisfy. It does not satisfy because of production -land, labor, and
it does not pin down what im- capital- to achieve the largest
pelled the development, because it amount of goods and services. It
does not distinguish between what would seem likely that men have
was essential and what merely ever been inclined to do this.
adventitious, and because it does No doubt, each individual is
not provide that instruction which inclined to behave economically
we would have from history. In in the employment of his re-
the final analysis, it does not sat- sources. He is inclined to put
isfy because there is a way of forth as little effort as possible,
dealing with all the essential con- to use his capital sparingly, and
ditions by reducing them under to employ as small amount of ma-
a single heading. terials as possible to effect the
greater increase in his income.
"Economy" the Key As such, this penchant might be
Economy is the key to the in- expected to be a constant through-
dustrial surge. Men were impelled out history. But what is econom-
to the adoption of new procedures ical for an individual is not, under
and the making of inventions by certain circumstances, economical
the desire for economy, and it was for people generally. That is, it is
economy in operation that enabled possible for an individual to be
them to increase production so quite thrifty with his resources
rapidly. Evidence for this' and ex- and increase his income without
amples to show it in operation increasing the general store of
need to be examined, but before goods. Stealing is the obvious ex-
doing this a profound theoretical ample. But all use of force to
effect an increase of somebody economy. Since the latter part of
or other's goods is of a similar the eighteenth century there have
character. The most common such existed elaborate explanations of
use of force is government inter- how in the absence of force when
vention in the economy. an individual increases his own
income he is at the same time
Special Privilege behaving in a way economically
When government intervention beneficial to society.
is general in a land, it is fre-
Away from Privilege
quently economical for individuals
who benefit from it not to increase The productive surge came in
the general supply of goods and England when a sufficient portion
services. An individual who has of the people turned their atten-
a monopoly can actually increase tion away from getting special
his income by decreasing the goods privileges to finding ways to save
offered at a particular time. The resources and increase production.
price of services can be enhanced Even the spurt of productive ac-
by keeping newcomers from of- tivity which came in the 1780's
fering theirs. The mercantilism illustrates the point. After 1782,
which was rife in Europe in the British merchants no longer had
sixteenth through the eighteenth special privileges on continental
centuries affords numerous ex- America. There was not only a
amples of the economy for individ- spurt in shipbuilding in England,
uals of possessing special priv- since they could no longer use
ileges. So does the feudalism the American colonies as a source,
which preceded it. Whole ages but also reinvestment of funds
have been dominated by the efforts in such undertakings as domestic
of men to get and keep special manufacturing which had for-
privileges from government for merly been employed in the main-
themselves. It is this that makes tenance of markets for which
the practice of Economy the sub- British merchants had exclusive
j ect matter of history and appro- privileges.
priate for historical explanation. But Englishmen had been turn-
If men cannot use force to ining toward economy and away
crease their incomes, they must from special privileges for a con-
increase the supply of goods and siderable period before the 1780's.
services in order to do so. By For more than 150 years the as-
a kind of common consent this sault on privilege had been going
is what men have agreed to call on, in mounting fervor from the
1640's, and it was to continue on fast-stepping horse than with the

into the nineteenth century. In- plodding ox. New breeds of cattle
deed, the battle between Economy turned feed to greater amounts of
and Privilege was a long and bit- flesh and less to bone. The over-
ter one. Every step of the way, shot water wheel could provide the
the attempt to practice economy same amount of power with much
was contested. Kings tried to less water used. One man could
cling to their monopoly-granting produce six times as much thread
powers. Then Parliament took to by turning the spinning jenny as
granting monopolies when the he could formerly with the spin-
power had been wrested from the ning wheel. The canals saved an
king. Rural enclosures by which immense amount of time in ship-
the land could be economically em- ments of heavy goods. The steam
ployed were only accomplished by pump made it possible to utilize
the grudging consent of Parlia- mines much more fully and com-
ment and over the emotional pro- pletely. The list could be extended
tests of poets. New processes en- but the point has surely been
countered tremendous resistance made.
from those accustomed to the old.
Knowledge Is Power
Workers sometimes rioted against
the introduction of new machines. That Englishmen were increas-
Yet, skirmish by skirmish, ingly aware of and concerned
Economy won the day in England. with economy can be shown in
I t won as special privileges were many ways. Thrift was much ad-
removed and restrictions which vanced by banks and savings as-
obstructed economy lost the force sociations. Inventions were pro-
of law. It won as men witnessed moted by various societies. Daniel
the superiority of new techniques Defoe explored the rudiments of
and machines. It won as enlighten- economy in his fictional Robinson
ment as to its public benefits C1"u8oe. Jethro TuB had focused
gained sway over superstitions of attention on rural economy by his
the past. writings. Adam Smith made a
There should be no doubt that definitive case for economy in The
the inventions, processes, meth- lVealth of Nations.
ods, and organizations which led And, the conditions which set
to the industrial surge were eco- the stage for the industrial surg
nomical. The horse saved labor, were conditions which permitted
for the same workman could plow economy. The limitations of gov-
a great deal more land with the ernment which preceded and ac-
companied it freed the energies directed their energies toward

of the English people to behave achieving Economy. This was a
economically. The security of lib- product both of the struggle of
erty and property enabled men to certain elements for political pow-
behave economically as individuals er, which resulted in the limita-
and made it necessary for the'm tion of power, and increasing
to behave economically in a way knowledge born of new ways of
to benefit society if they would learning.
prosper. The moral base which The industrial surge continued
directed the energies of men to into the nineteenth century. The
constructive purposes inculcated great productivity provided the
a sense of stewardship which rnaterial base f or the greatness
would have men be thrifty and and leadership of England. It is
industrious. The very thrust of now in order to make an account
men to employ reason in more of England at the height of her
and more areas was a thrust to leadership role in Western Civili-
economy of thought. zation, in the course of which it
In short, as rnenestablished will also be possible to indicate
conditions which made individual the more specific benefits to Eng-
economy socially beneficial, they lishmen of productivity. ~
The next article of this series will describe the Pax Britannica.
Mass Production
THE OUTSTANDING FACT about the Industrial Revolution is that

it opened an age of mass production for the needs of the masses.
The wage earners are no longer people toiling merely for other
people's well-being. They themselves are the main consumers of
the products the factories turn out. Big business depends upon
mass consumption. There is, in present-day America, not a single
branch of big business that would not cater to the needs of the
masses. The very principle of capitalist entrepreneurship is to
provide for the common man. In his capacity as consumer the
common man is the sovereign whose buying or abstention from
buying decides the fate of entrepreneurial activities. There is
in the market economy no other means of acquiring and pre-
serving wealth than by supplying the masses in the best and
cheapest way with all the goods they ask for.
LUDWIG VON l\IISES, Human Action
CHEATING
WITHOUT KNOWING IT
PAUL L. POIROT
THE JUDGE was about to pro- To cheat knowingly is serious

nounce sentence upon the con- enough; but perhaps worse is to
victed confidence man. "You cheat without knowing it, for this
should be ashamed to cheat those leaves less chance of catching the
who trust you," he admonished. culprit and correcting the prob-
"But, Judge," came the re- lem.
sponse, "who else can I cheat?" Did I cheat today? Perhaps
Most of us presumably know without knowing it? Let's ap-
the rewards of serving rather than proach this difficult question from
cheating those \vho trust us. How another direction: Was I cheated
n1any times this very day have today? Reflecting on my various
you served others to obtain what purchases at the barber shop, res-
you wanted from them? Did you taurant, grocery store, service
not buy or sell some commodity station, it seems unlikely. These
or service - thus serving a trusted friends surely would not cheat
and trusting friend? Did it occur me, nor would I knowingly cheat
to you to cheat, even if dealing them. As far as I know, these sup-
with a stranger who might not pliers held clear title to their
know whether to trust you? wares, delivering them to me as
Presumably, we know it is represented and unencumbered by
wrong to cheat and know why it is other claims. Likewise, the money
wrong. The something he gains or whatever else I willingly gave
through fraud is subtracted from in exchange was mine and now is
the character of the cheater; it theirs - entirely acceptable for
degrades him. To cheat another is their own use or as a medium for
to cheat oneself in the process. further exchange. We traded be-
544
1968 CHEATING WITHOUT KNOWING IT 545
cause each of us wanted to, each Possibly we may conclude that

gaining something more valuable none of us knowingly cheated to-
to him at the time than the prop- day. And how very nice for all of
erty he relinquished. And we will us! But let's have one final check
express our mutual satisfaction before closing the books on this
through similar transactions to- knotty problem.
morrow or next week or next
month or whenever the need The New School Building
a r is e s . But not if 0 n e 0 f us What of the gathering this eve-
thought the other had cheated. In ning in the home of a neighbor
that case, the one injured might to discuss plans for the new
seek restitution or take his busi- $6,000,000 high school? Any
ness elsewhere - probably both. cheating going on there? These
To continue to trade with one who are good neighbors, hard-working,
cheats would be to work for noth- God-fearing, helpful and friendly
ing; and most of us are allergic people, none of whom would think
to work on those terms! of cheating. They will carefully
Some persons, of course, are discuss the importance of educa-
allergic to work on any terms; tion for all children in the grow-
and this may tempt such a person ing community. Some will recall
to try to cheat. An employee, for the amounts by which school-
instance, might "soldier" on the taxes have risen over the past ten
job, producing far less than he years; they will understand that
could or should in return for his the new school means a 10 per
wage. A butcher with a heavy cent tax increase next year and
thumb, a short-change artist at probably for many years to come.
the cash register, trash in the They will conscientiously review
bottom of the basket, rocks in the the facts and circumstances, each
coal, checks that bounce, building trying to decide how to vote in
lots under water or inaccessible the coming school election.
to water, counterfeit currency- But will it occur to anyone of
plenty of ways to cheat if one them that such a collective deci-
wants to try. But it's no way to sion-making process, the results
build a steady business with sat- of which are to be binding upon
isfied customers. There's no great every taxpayer in the district,
future in it. And perhaps this ex- might be something like cheating?
plains why most of us rarely en- What of the young Jones couple
counter such fraudulent practices who had counted on that extra
in our daily affairs. $50 of school-taxes to help defray
the costs of an operation for the That such action involves cheating
baby? Or the elderly Smith couple, surely must be a minority point
barely able now to maintain their of view in most communities, if
modest home and cover the other it is believed at all. Nevertheless,
necessities of life? Or the hun- it may serve to illustrate the pos-
dreds of other needs other fami- sibility of our cheating without
lies in the school district face that realizing it. If we were to use
to them might seem more urgent such tactics to compel the Mor-
at the moment than a $6,000,000 mons of our community to help
new high school and the attendant build Sunday school facilities in
costs for operation and perpetual the local Presbyterian church,
care? many persons would think we
True, everyone will have had were cheating.
an opportunity to be heard, a Good Presbyterians, of course,
chance to vote. But in the final would never do such a thing!
analysis, some will be compelled Those concerned would pledge
to buy ,educational facilities which their own resources to build and
they neither want nor can afford. operate their own church school.
And the compulsion will have been But what of the proposal con-
applied by their friendly, kindly, sidered this evening by the ruling
well-meaning neighbors who con- elders: Should the Presbyterian
sider education to be one of the church join other churches of the
proper functions of the police community in support of the In-
power. 1 terfaith Housing Corporation?
Any cheating here? Certainly not
Public Housing
on the surface, at least. The
Perhaps it calls for too harsh a church pays $25.00 a year to be-
judgment upon one's most inti- come a voting member of the cor-
mate friends to conclude that they poration - no strings attached or
are cheating when they compel other obligations. The purpose of
others to help build the schools the corporation is to alleviate the
that some believe to be needed. shortage of low-rent housing, es-
1 The value of education or need for it
pecially for families of minority
are not at issue here - only the methods groups some of whom may be dis-
used. The case for voluntary rather placed by a proposed new high-
than compulsory schooling is discussed
at length in the book, Anything That's way. Surely a project worthy of
Peaceful by Leonard E. Read. (Irving- the cooperation of the various re-
ton-on-Hudson, N. Y.: The Foundation ligious groups in the community!
for Economic Education, 1964), pp.
180-221. But what is a thoughtful Chris-
1968 CHEATING WITHOUT KNOWING IT 547
tian to do when he later discovers from use by other students and
that the Interfaith Housing Cor- by faculty members wishing to en-
poration is simply a front to re- gage in the peaceful pursuit of
quest Federal funds for housing knowledge? Are we not cheating
to be built, not voluntarily by con- others if we deny them, in whole
cerned individuals and religious or in part, the use of their faculties
groups of the community, but by or their property for any peaceful
the coercive procedures of the tax purpose they might choose?
collector and the police power? The ways in which man may
Isn't it something like cheating cheat are perhaps infinite. Even a
to compel someone else to carry tiny child, when he puts his mind
out one's own charitable impulse? to it, will baffle many an adult.
And among adults are experts at
Organized Violence the art of deception. But it is not
To cross a union picket line, the diverse and deliberate efforts
either to fill a vacated job or to of unorganized individuals to ob-
buy goods or services from the tain something for nothing that
besieged supplier - or to actively most seriously concern us. This
question the propriety of a stu- is not our real problem. By and
dent sit-in or campus demonstra- large, we may and we must trust
tion - is thought by many to be one another to behave as best each
a form of cheating. It is to be a knows how.
"scab," "strike-breaker," "Uncle The form of cheating most
Tom" - at the very least, a harmful to us as individuals and
"square." But how can it logically as a society occurs when we hide
be anything but cheating when in a majority and quite thought-
men organize to prevent others lessly act to achieve our ends at
from performing essential ser- the expense of somebody else. 2 We
vices which they themselves re- heedlessly authorize the govern-
fuse to perform? It is, or used to ment to do for us what we could
be, considered cheating to copy never, in serious contemplation,
another student's answer on a bring ourselves to do on our own.
quiz and claim credit for it as Thus does one become the victim
one's own. But isn't it also a form of his own' irresponsibility, cheat-
of cheating on the part of any oring without knowing it, and cheat-
ganized group of students when ing himself most of all. ~
they attempt by force or threat
of force to foreclose an institution 2 See "The American System and Ma-
jority Rule" by Edmund A. Opitz, THE
of learning or some part of it FREEMAN, November, 1962, pp. 28-39.
FREEDOM
CUTS
TWO
WAYS
ROBERT C. TYSON
ABRAHAM: LINCOLN, speaking in from the sheep's throat. The sheep

Baltimore in 1864, beautifully thanks the shepherd as his liber-
brought out the double-edged na- ator, while the wolf denounces him
ture of freedom. He did this for the very same act. Plainly,
through a parable, after first ex- Lincoln noted, the sheep and the
plaining that the word freedom ,volf are not agreed on a defini-
for some may mean for each man tion of freedolu.
to do as he pleases solely with To me the parable illustrates
himself and the product of his the conflicting meanings deri ved
labor, while for others the same from freedom. 'roday we hear of
word may mean for some men to freedom as never before, but just
do as they please with other men what does it lnean? We hear of
and the product of other men's Freedom Workers, Freedom
labor. Marchers, Freedom Fighters. We
The parable had to do with a hear of Freedom Now, Freedom
shepherd, a sheep, and a wolf. The for Students, Freedom from Want,
wolf feels free to attack the sheep. Freedom from Authority, and, for
But the shepherd drives the wolf all I know, maybe even Freedom
from Freedom.
Mr. Tyson is Chairman of the Finance Com- Yet in all this clamor over free-
mittee, United States Steel Corporation. This
article is from his commencement remarks to dom, I find little or no reference
the graduating class of the Voorhees Technical
Institute, June 3, 1968. to what I think is the necessary
1968 FREEDOM CUTS TWO WAYS 549
concomitant of freedom, the very stitutional society. The design was

thing that gives man his essential carefully laid down by the Found-
dignity, the factor that makes a ing Fathers. They realized that
society livable, creative, and truly freedom was not a grant of gov-
free: namely, responsibility. ernment. Such a grant would then
Without responsibility - by be but a slender reed, for what
which I mean primarily self-re- government could grant, govern-
sponsibility - liberty becomes li- ment could clearly also take away.
cense, morals become elastic, and In fact, freedom stems from a
society becomes predatory, its peo- much Higher Authority than gov-
ple tending to become like the wolf ernment. The Declaration of Inde-
in Lincoln's parable, lunging at pendence holds "that all men are
the other fellow's throat. . . . endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights,
Neither License Nor Anarchy that among these are Life, Lib-
No, as I understand it, freedom erty, and the pursuit of Happi-
is not license; it is not anarchy. ness."
Under freedom, no man is free to So through the Constitution and
do entirely as he likes. After all, the Bill of Rights, the authors of
freedom involves morality; it in- our Federal Republic insisted for
volves discipline, an inner disci- the sake of liberty that men in
pline, a conscience within the in- public office could not be blindly
dividual ever reminding him that trusted, that they had to be made
his freedom stops where the other accountable and responsible, that
fellow's freedom begins, that no the American government was to
man is really free if he renders be strictly limited in its powers,
another man less free. And it subject to checks and balances,
makes no difference who lessens and expressly prohibited from in-
freedom, whether it stems from fringing on the endowed freedom
private or public sources. The fact of the individual. Ours was to be a
is that most usurpation of free- government of law, not of men.
dom has stemmed from the latter.
As liberal reformer 'Voodrow Wil- Political foundations of
son noted: "The history of liberty freedom in America
is a history of the limitations of Thus, the theory of government
governmental power, not the in- put forth by the designers of
crease of it." the Constitution was something
Indeed, this was the design for unique in the history of govern-
the American dream, for our Con- ment. They laid down the founda-
tions of a society that was essen- Signs of Sickness

tially dependent on individual con- Yet, because the responsibility
science, on self-government, on side of freedom has been some-
each individual's sense of respon- hovv lost sight of, our society and
sibility, love of justice, and re- economy are not well; indeed,
spect for the framework of due they are sick, and the evidence of
process of law - that is, respect this sickness can be readily found
for the other fellow's freedom. in the daily headlines, notwith-
Hence, our society was built on standing all the so-called refer-
not one but many centers of gov- ences to freedom. Rioters in the
erning authority, beginning with streets are beleaguering our ma-
the governing authority within jor cities. Crime rates keep on
the person himself and extending hitting new records, with more
to families and churches, commu- youthful offenders than ever be-
nities and states, business enter- fore. Teenage shoplifting is a
prises, and other voluntary asso- mounting problem for our stores.
ciations. Drug addiction, especially by
So ours is a society - thanks young people, is an increasingly
to self-government, to self-realiza- corruptive and corrosive social
tion - that strives to encourage problem. Family ties are vveaken-
every individual to achieve what- ing. Promiscuity is rising.
ever rank or distinction of which In higher education we have
he is capable. It is a society with also seen a marked deterioration
Constitutionally guaranteed free- in moral standards. Cribbing dur-
doms of press, speech, assembly, ing exams, for example, has al-
and petition. It is a society of ways been a problem, but today
political freedom of choice for the more and more students seem to
individual citizen. It is a society attach no dishonor to it whatso-
whose economic system is built ever. Students talk of Student
upon individual enterprise and Power but precious little of Stu-
ownership within the framework dent Responsibility. Students have
of a free market. As you know, even taken over academic build-
this economic system has made us ings by force and have held cap-
the most productive people in all tive campus recruiters, deans, and
history with the world's highest other college administrators -
living standards. The system fur- ironically and clearly diminishing
thermore provides far and away the freedom of the captives,all too
our greatest weapon in the War often in the name of civil liberties
on Poverty. and civil disobedience. Even the
1968 FREEDOM CUTS TWO WAYS 551
code of civil disobedience calls for as a dollar; the man shot back:
accepting responsibility in terms "Doctor, am I that bad?"
of the consequences for infractions Well, is the economy really sick?
of the law. Yet when apprehended The apswer depends on how you
by the authorities, what is the first measure economic symptoms. Cer-
"demand" of the disobeying stu- tainly, signs of inflationary stress
dents? It's amnesty. But such am- and strain abound. The Federal
nesty hardly squares with respon- budget is in perennial and ever
sibility. rising deficit. The U. S. balance of
One more point on campus riot- payments is also in perennial and
ing: In practically all the disturb- ever rising deficit. Our stock of
ances at our educational institu- gold has been dissipated to a dan-
tions, a small but noisy nihilistic gerously low level. All manner of
minority has commandeered facil- controls have been applied to
ities and effectively blocked the American lending and investing
freedom of the student majority overseas, although history is re-
to attend classes. The adversely plete with their failure in previous
affected maj ority all too often has applications. And, although the so-
been silent and has looked the called "voluntary" wage-price
other way. This response of indif- guideposts proved to be a demon-
ference also strikes me as irre- strable failure, talk persists of
sponsible. I do not suggest that new controls over wages and
the majority do battle with the prices, while little is done about
disturbers, but rather that they the underlying fiscal and legisla-
rally to the cause of peace and ra- tive forces of inflation. That infla-
tional discussion of issues, that tion is compounded by wage and
they support the university admin- salary demands by leaders of or-
istrators who are trying to main- ganized employees both private
tain order and so to protect their and public, both professional and
freedom. nonprofessional, far beyond any
semblance of producti vity or
Inflation Attends merit. It is compounded by de-
the Welfare State mands for all manner of handouts
Economically, we also see signs from the government - local, state,
of fever - and lack of responsi- and especially Federal. In the
bility. Maybe you heard of the re- name of welfare, these demands
sponse of the man getting his an- are for more and more - not to-
nual physical checkup to the doctor morrow but today. These demands
who told him that he was as sound strain the body politic - and eco-
nomic - and erode the foundations corruption, in an ethical softness

of our liberty. that is steadily eating away at our
In all these examples of social values and virtues, in the credit
and economic sickness we see that every man is a law unto him-
abuse of freedom; 'we see aban- self.
donment of discipline and respon- I guess what I am trying to say
sibility - of self-discipline and boils down to this: The other side
self-responsibility - by those in of the coin of individual freedom
private and public life. In other is individual responsibility. You
words, we see the elnergence of can't have the one without the
the kind of freedom exemplified by other. Before you and I can gov-
the wolf in Lincoln's parable. The ern others, each and everyone
wolfish freedom may not always of us must first learn to govern
be overt and violent. It can be himself. Before any of us can
covert and subtle. It can be seen blithely dismiss our external re-
in disrespect for due process of straints, each of us must assume
law. It can be seen in a growing a solemn moral obligation to re-
moral laxness, in indifference to strain himself. ~
Character Must Be Earned
WHEN a man is on his own, an individual responsible for him-

self, he must earn a character-a personal character that is
perhaps his first necessity. Others may then learn and imitate
his qualities and capabilities. In a planned society he has no
need of a character, for no such thing is wanted. No national
or universal plan can afford to take the least notice of his
personal character.
As an individual responsible for himself, a man must also
acquire credit. Others must be convinced that he is credit-worthy;
that he can be trusted; that what he undertakes he will perform
to the limits of his ability. But when he is planned, nothing so
troublesome is in the least n"ecessary.
SIR ERNEST BENN, Rights for Robots
and tlie Labor Act
Ill. JUDICIAL COURTS

versus ADMINISTRATIVE COURTS
SYLVESTER PETRO
THE institutional setting of each Board" avowed and to some ex-

member of the National Labor Re- tent adopted a judicial stance; the
lations Board is a five-year ap- "Roosevelt-Truman-Kennedy-
pointment to what is known as a Johnson" Boards, while still not
quasi-judicial tribunal, located by entirely disavowing a judicial
law, fact, and tradition in the ex- role, have on the whole adopted an
ecutive branch of government. Ap- essentially policy-making stance
pointment is by the President, conformable to that of the Admin-
with the advice and consent of the istration in power.
Senate. The duties are essentially Federal judges also are appoint-
judicial in character. One hears ed by the President, with the ad-
varying opinions, concerning vice and consent of the Senate. To
whether or not the Board mem- this extent, the institutional set-
bers should conceive of themselves ting of Federal judges and NLRB
as essentially policy-making par- members is the same. But to this
ticipants in any current Adminis- extent alone. No Federal judge has
tration, on the one hand, or judges ever asserted that his job is to
on the other. The "Eisenhower effectuate the policies of a given
executive administration. On the
Dr. Petro is Professor of Law at New York
University School of Law. He has written contrary, when Federal judges dis-
several books, including The Labor Policy of cuss the question, their uniform
limited: The Corruption of Union Leadership
( 1959) , and is a noted lecturer and con-
affirmation is one of obedience to
tributor to magazines. the Constitution and to the Con-
gressional intent expressed in member to the Administration

valid legislation. which appointed him, to the one
The Supreme Court of the with power to re-appoint him, or
United States has been accused to both. There is no need to over-
of policy-making ambitions, both simplify the situation. Tradition
currently and in the past. Whether may call for a "pro-union" Admin-
or not you or I credit such accu- istration to appoint one or two
sations is not material to the pres- "pro-employer" types to the
ent inquiry. For no one can valid- Board. In such a case, the "pro-
ly accuse the Supreme Court of a employer" Board member would
peculiar policy bias conceived and be unfaithful to the Administra-
pursued essentially because that tion if he abandoned his former
policy is favored by the incumbent stance as a means of insuring re-
administration. appointment. In order to keep the
Supreme Court justices have "bipartisan" show going, he must
been a constant source of surprise maintain some semblance of the
to the presidents who appointed penchant which got him his ap-
them. Justice Holmes's contempt pointment in the first place.
for antitrust law and policy - a If a Board member wishes re-
shock to the President who ap- appointment at the end of his five-
pointed him - is only one example year term, he must satisfy the
of a number of such cases. It is Administration then in power that
incorrect to believe that the pres- he can be relied upon to act in ac-
ent Supreme Court, "activist" cordance with that Administra-
though it may well be called, is tion's labor-policy views, subject
acting the way it is because it to the "bipartisan" tradition. There
believes that the present or any is nothing sinister and nothing
past Administration wished it to surprising about this. On the con-
act in that particular way. trary, a given Administration has
no basis for its appointments to
A Case for Tenure the NLRB other than furtherance
We come, then, to the first of of its policies and political ambi-
two sharp distinctions between tions or payment of its political
membership in the NLRB and debts. Expecting an Administra-
Federal judicial office: the five- tion which has gained power with
year terms of the former and the the assistance of trade unions to
life tenure of the latter. The five- appoint a Board which would deal
year term of office goes far toward as rigorously with unions as the
insuring allegiance in each NLRB law requires - that is as realistic
1968 JUDICIAL COURTS VERSUS ADMINISTRATIVE COURTS 555
as it would be to run for office on quasi-judicial executive agency,

a platform which the voters de- not the legislation. It is important
monstrably oppose. to bear this in mind because re-
suIts in particular cases will be
The Political Process
affected. Thus, though there may
It is true that a Board member be a general policy coincidence be-
is always in a position to "betray" tween the legislation and the Ad-
the President who appointed him. ministration, the Administration
The betrayal may even win him may still feel that in a particular
reappointment from a succeeding case, for one reason or another, it
President who approves his new is desirable that the impact of the
position. But this is of little sig- legislation be softened, hardened,
nificance. The fact remains that a or redirected in some other way.
majority of the Board will always
be governed sooner or later by the Plotting a Course
political position of the Adminis- Our present structure of "ad-
tration in power; five-year terms ministrative law" leaves plenty of
expire; then the Administration's room for this sort of thing. A busy
labor policies reflect themselves in General Counsel has to pick and
the new appointments. President choose the cases which he will
Kennedy had a majority within a prosecute. He cannot prosecute
year or so of his accession. them all. Certainly he need not
It is possible that the Adminis- prosecute them all with equal
tration's labor policies will coin- vigor and persistence and acumen.
cide precisely with those of the After all, the main thing is to
Congress which passed the legis- keep the staff busy. If it is kept
lation in question. Possible, but busy in spite of the fact that one
not likely. As time passes, the particular case is not prosecuted
likelihood diminishes. An Act at all, or that it is put "on the
passed by Congress in 1947 is not back burner," what great harm
likely to express exactly the poli- has been done?
cies that an Administration in Or suppose the case is prose-
1967, or 1987, finds suited to its cuted so that it gets before the
political and social objectives. Board. Courts may not substitute
But even when Administration their conclusions for those of the
objectives coincide exactly with Board where there is substantial
the legislatively expressed policies, evidence in the record considered
it will be the Administration as a whole which supports the
which controls the action of the Board's finding. Not uncommonly,
the record as a whole will sustain can reasonably be expected where

contrary findings. In such a case, judicial power is confined to men
the reviewing court, if faithful to with life tenure who have been
this basic principle of "adminis- appointed to the insulated judicial
trative law," may not vacate the department of government. If the
Board finding, no matter which Supreme Court is indeed an acti-
way it goes. Hence, it is perfectly vist, consciously policy- making
permissible for the Board to go agency, rather than a genuine
either way. And the judge who court of law, it is so because that
keeps faith with the law - as most is the way it conceives its func-
Federal judges do - must enforce tion. If there is a flaw in the
the Board order in either case. All Court's position, that flaw is not
this being true, the Board itself a product of any defect in the
is in a position to do exactly what Constitution, in the principle of
the General Counsel does in pick- the separation of powers, or in the
ing the cases to prosecute. It is in institution of life tenure for judi-
a position, in short, to make an cial officers. It is a flaw, instead,
exception whenever doing so is of in the conception of judicial office
great importance to the Adminis- held by individual members of the
tration of which it considers itself Court. It is a product of their fail-
a part. ure to understand the functional
inadequacy of the courtroom as a
Proper Judicial Procedure political, policy-making institu-
I am no muckraker and do not tion, and the functional superior-
wish to exaggerate the incidence ity of the courtroom as an institu-
of such conduct on the part of tion in which justice under law
either the Board or its General may be distributed among particu-
Counsel. In any event, it is enough lar parties litigant on the basis
that such possibilities exist, even of minute consideration of the
if they have never actually oc- particular facts and of the legal
curred. Indeed, the analysis will arguments which the adversary
proceed more disinterestedly and system is bound in individual
more expeditiously if it is real- cases to bring to the attention of
ized that there is no necessity to the judges.
establish that this sort of thing
has or has not happened in any The Court May Err
particular case. If misunderstanding and inef-
For the major point in our in- fective corrective measures are to
quiry is that nothing of the kind be avoided, it is necessary to un-
derstand, as well as we can, what to challenge Congress's policy-

motivates the Supreme Court to making supremacy under the Con-
take an activist, policy-making stitution. 41 In my view, Justice
position. Of course, it is always Stewart was correct in calling
possible to jump to the conclusion Justice Brennan's opinion "a pro-
that the Court does not care about tracted review of legislative and
the Constitution; that the justices decisional history in an effort to
are arrogantly determined to fol- show that the clear words of the
low their own will; that they are statute should be disregarded.... "42
engaged in a completely extralegal
and extraconstitutional struggle Not Structural Defects
for supreme power in the govern- However, I would remind the
ment of the United States. This reader here of two points. The
is not only a possible position; in first is that Justice Brennan could
my opinion, there are occasions not possibly have been meaning to
upon which it seems the most curry favor with the Administra-
plausible explanation of certain tion which appointed him; he was
decisions of the Court. As an ex- an Eisenhower appointee. Nor
ample, I would cite the recent could he have been motivated by
(1967) decision of a bare majority a desire to promote his own career
of the Court in the N ationalWood- by currying favor with the present
work case.40 Adminstration. There is nothing
Mr. tJustice Brennan wrote the that the current Administration
opinion of the court for himself can do either to hurt or, help him
and Justices Warren, White, and on the Court.
Fortas. A majority was made by The second point to remember
the special concurrence of Justice is that, no matter how blatantly
Harlan in the Brennan decision. a life-tenure justice may seem to
Justices Black, Douglas, and Clark misconstrue legislation, there is
concurred in a dissenting opinion always, in the end, an objectively
by Justice Stewart. With these insoluble problem concerning mo-
dissenting justices I have con- tivation. We may eliminate eco-
cluded that Justice Brennan's nomic insecurity where the judge
opinion so blatantly flouted the has life-tenure and the position
clear meaning and intent of the pays him enough to preclude am-
statutory provision involved that bition. We may eliminate vulgar
the only possible explanation was corruption, owing to the traditions
a determination by the majority and the high dignity of the Court.
40 For footnotes, see page 566. We may eliminate light frivolity,
for there is plenty of reason to Moreover, with law professors

believe that the justices take their in a state of great confusion over
role seriously. But when these and the judicial role with respect to
other such motivating factors are statutory interpretation, it is easy
eliminated, it is still not possible to understand that at least some
for the external observer-analyst of the justices will .share their
to be sure about the causal factor confusion. A professor of law has
or factors which actually produced recently published the following
the judicial opinion in question. It statement:
could have been so trivial a thing
The myth that the courts only
as stupidity, a law clerk who did
follow the intent of Congress in-
a fragmentary job of research hibits most judges from examining
among the authorities or in the solutions worked out in other coun-
record of the case, or an appeal- tries, even when Congress had no
ing argument on the wrong side, intent or when that intent was not
or simply the hard case which to solve but to avoid the problem.
makes bad law. Thus, the Court in the Lockout
Cases condemned the NLRB for "un-
An Understandable Confusion authorized assumption ... of major
It is best, then, to operate on the policy decisions properly made by
assumption that, however egre- Congress," and then fabricated a
giously the justices may act in Congressional intent to support its
own policy decision. The Court could
particular cases, they nevertheless have gained greater insight into the
perform their duties in good faith problem and made a more respon-
- by which I mean, in accordance sible decision if it had examined the
with their conception of their role alternative solutions from other
on the Court. Often, we must re- countries; but that would require
mind ourselves, the Court inter- an open admission that the Court
prets Congress's statutes well and was making the policy decision which
faithfully, reversing the NLRB Congress had refused to make. 43
in the process. Often, owing to the
inherent ambiguities of language The Charges Re-examined
or to sloppy or evasive work in The foregoing comment may be
Congress, an interpretation can broken down as follows:
go either way, and the critic can- 1. Courts do not merely follow
not complain with any great force the will of Congress.
merely because the Court has 2. They are policy-makers.
adopted an alternative which he 3. It is proper that they make
would have rejected. policy.
4. Congress did not express a the Labor Act. After the Court
policy on the legality of collec- has done so, the Circuit Courts of
tive-bargaining lockouts. Appeals have no real alternative
5. The Supreme Court made its but togo and do likewise.
own policies in the Lockout The third statement is not only
Cases, but it did so inade- incorrect, but seriously so. Aside
quately because it was. afraid from "gap-filling" and selection
to admit that it was making among alternatives where legisla-
policy which Congress had de- tion is ambiguous, the Federal
clined to make. courts, including the Supreme
The first two statements are in- Court, act improperly when they
accurate, though not completely in- make policy. They act improperly
correct. The vast preponderance of from all relevant points of view:
Federal judges other than Su- from the point of view of personal
preme-Court Justices not only say morality; from the point of view
that they are bound by Congres- of Constitutional legitimacy; and
sionally declared policies but act from the point of view of func-
in accordance with that declara- tional-practicality. All Federal
tion, subject to three qualifica- judges swear to uphold the Con-
tions: (a) sometimes statutory stitution as a prerequisite to their
ambiguity or other deficiencies re- office. The Constitution (as well as
quire the court to contribute some- the basic concept of representative
thing more than mere interpreta- government which underlies it)
tion to the decision which it must states that:
reach; (b) at times a Federal
judge does play fast and loose with All legislative Powers herein
granted shall be vested in a Con-
legal doctrine and statutory in- gress of the United States, which shall
terpretation; (c) sometimes the consist of a Senate and House of
court must follow an interpreta- Representatives.
tion at variance with the plain
meaning of the statute because For reasons already stated, no
the Supreme Court has already court of law can represent the na-
imposed such a variant. The latter tion adequately; confined to a par-
is peculiarly relevant in labor .law. ticular dispute in the courtroom
A large proportion of Circuit- setting, broad policy-making by
Court affirmances of NLRB deci- judges is bound to be abortive.
sions is owing to the fact that the The nation, the law, multitudes of
Supreme Court has so often en- persons, and the future of repre-
dorsed the NLRB's revisions of sentative government in the
United States - all are in a state whose views and preferences are
of crisis today owing in no small to be represented by government
part to the Supreme Court's as- &nd reflected in law.
sumption of policy-making and I have discussed the foregoing
even constitution-making powers comment on judicia}:-policy-making
over the past thirty years or so. power at some length because of
The fourth and fifth statements the help it affords in understand-
are incorrect. Congress did not ing the policy-making penchant of
say in so many words that the the Supreme Court. The comment
collective-bargaining lockout was does not represent the aberrant
lawful. But such a lockout was view of a single law-school pro-
plainly lawful at common law, and fessor. It represents, to n1Y per-
there was no language or no policy sonal knowledge, a substantial
in the National Labor Relations body of opinion among law teach-
Act from which an inference of ers, and therefore of necessity
Congressional determination to among law students, practitioners,
change the common law could and even judges. It is really in-
properly or logically be drawn. On grained enough to be called an
the contrary, there was much Con- unreconciled contradiction in our
gressional language from which legal tradition - one which can be
the Court could - and did - infer removed only by spreading a bet-
that Congress intended to preserve ter understanding of the meaning
the legality of the collective-bar- and the requirements of repre-
gaining (as contrasted to the coer- sentative government and of the
cive anti-union) lockout. The Su- Constitution.
preme-Court decisions in the Lock-
out Cases were manifestly correct Different Traditions
interpretations and applications of We have come now to the second
Congressional intent. Moreover, to sharp distinction between the in-
suggest that the Court should have stitutional framework of the Fed-
referred to European experience eral judiciary and that of quasi-
in order to determine how to gov- judicial administrative tribunals:
ern A mericans demonstrates a the history and the traditions
doubly peculiar lack of under- within which they respectively
standing of the system of govern- operate.
ment of the United States. It fails It would be a mistake to assume
to understand not only what rep- that an administrative agency
resentative government means, but such as the NLRB is something
also what the constituency is new, without history or tradition.
The mistake is understandable be- from political pressures by life
cause that history and that tradi- tenure in office, involving the abo-
tion are hidden and forgotten. The lition of all such quasi-judicial
history and tradition which the agencies as the Star Chamber.
NLRB carries forward today was
rejected in the middle of the The English Influence
seventeenth century in England. It Two great legal scholars - Sir
was rejected on the basis of ex- Henry Sumner Maine and Profes-
perience so repugnant, and so sor William W. Crosskey - have
tragic for men who prized law and demonstrated both broadly and in
decency, that it could not be re- detail that the main features of
vived till consciousness of its ter- the Constitution of the United
rible consequences .had dimmed States were the direct product of
with the passage of more than 250 the English experience during the
years. seventeenth century.44 It is impos-
I refer, of course, to the aboli- sible to read the Constitution
tion in the seventeenth century of against the background of that
such administrative tribunals as experience and come to any other
the Star Chamber and the Court rational conclusion. Article I gives
of lIigh Commission. Those agen- all legislative policy-making
cies, like the NLRB, were ration- powers to Congress; Article III
alized as "expert" tribunals which gives the whole judicial power of
could be relied upon to do "speedy the United States to life-tenure
justice," unhampered by the "tech- judges.
nicalities" of the law courts, and The result was to interrupt the
obedient to the executive policies history and the traditions of ad-
which parliament and the courts ministrative courts. We had none
of law were frustrating. for a long time, and even after
The constitutional revolution the Interstate Commerce Commis-
which took place over a period of sion was created at the end of the
more than forty years in England nineteenth century, we still had
during the seventeenth century little "administrative law" till the
had two significant results, both thirties. Few lawyers will now re-
relevant to our present inquiry: member the names of the men
(1) the assertion of parliamentary who served in the Star Chamber
policy-making supremacy, involv- or the Court of High Commission,
ing a radical reduction in the if indeed those names were ever
power of the executive; (2) the widely known. But neither will
creation of a judiciary insulated many lawyers remember the
names of ICC or FTC or CAB or Story, Shaw, Field, Holmes,

NLRB members. Brandeis, Cardozo, Jackson.
It seems to be in the nature of It is a serious shortcoming - a
an administrative court to operate failure to grasp one of the power-
anonymously. Even today, NLRB ful determinants of human action
decisions emerge anonymously. - to underrate the influence of
One is tempted to infer a lack of such a tradition, especially in the
pride in or perhaps a hesitancy to law, where a judge's nose is
assume responsibiiity for the rubbed willy-nilly so often in what
NLRB's product. And the infer- his predecesso\rs have said or done.
ence is strengthened by the fact That thinnest, most unpercep-
that normally only dissenting or tive, and most inaccurately desig-
specially concurring opinions are nated of all schools of legal
signed by NLRB members. thought - "legal realism" - holds
that judges not only do but should
A Shining History of decide cases in accordance with
Intellectual and Moral Courage their own inner intimations of
The history and traditions of immortality. But the "legal real-
the Federal judiciary are strik- ist" does not explain how a person
ingly different. They trace directly trained in the law, acting in a liv-
back in an unbroken line to the ing tradition, thinking, as he
great English chancellors and must, in the categories of thought
judges, even beyond the time when which prevail in the law, can pos-
life tenure was accorded judges. sibly hand down decisions outside
It is a history full of shining ex- that tradition and those cate-
amples of intellectual and moral gories.
courage - of judges who time Asking a career, life-tenure
after time vindicated the maxim, judge to act in the fashion that
"Let justice be done though the "legal realism" suggests is the
heavens fall." Roscoe Pound has same as asking a person to write
described how the king's judges without the alphabet. The only
defied the king's will even though thing produced is an unintelligible
they served at their king's pleas- mess, and few judges are willing
ure. 45 Their names are known; to befoul their tradition and the
even in the Year Books, the judges law books that way. And so most
are identified. One does not need judges, especially those for whom
to be a legal scholar in order to judging is a lifetime career, tend
recognize such names as Coke, after a while to settle themselves
Holt, and Mansfield, or Marshall, down into carrying on the great
tradition of obedience to law as laid the basis for giving unions
opposed to personal preference or exclusive bargaining status and
political expediency. for imposing the duty to bargain
on employers in hundreds of cases
Consistency - in spite of the fact that the em-
Continuity, consistency, predict- ployees in those cases had, in
ability - these are the values secret-ballot elections, rej ected col-
which most Federal judges prize lective bargaining.
and which they try to achieve. In Courts do make and change law
contrast, the field of "administra- to some extent. Unfortunately, as
tive law" presents a spectacle of we have seen, they sometimes do
violent change in the "law" with those things even when the exist-
each change of Administration. ing law is clear enough so that
Judges think that the function of they are not required to do so by
law is to help the community as a the necessity of deciding the case
whole by giving a firm standard before them. Contrary to academi-
to which persons in general may cians of the kind I have mentioned
adjust their conduct without fear above, there is no justification for
of finding, after they have acted such conduct. On the other hand,
on one legal assumption, that the it is well to understand two things
law has been changed. Adminis- about it. First, the phenomenon is
trative agencies consider "law" confined to relatively few judges,
only another tool with which to mainly on the Supreme Court.
advance the interests and policies Second, it creates a power strug-
of the . .L\.dministration in power. gle between those few judges, on
I remind the reader of the vi- one side, and Congress, on the
cious cunning illustrated by the other; it does not necessarily align
Bryant Chucking Grinder case.-!G the judicial power with the execu-
The "Eisenhower Board" had held tive power; and thus does not
that unfair practice charges should create so dangerous a threat to
not be allowed to relate back to the principle of the separation of
pre-election conduct. The rule powers and to congressional
made good sense. A party should policy-making supren1acy as does
not consent to an election when he the grant of judicial power to an
means to challenge it thereafter executive agency.
because of pre-election conduct.
However, the "Kennedy Board" The Weakest Link
found the rule unacceptable and Judicial power is the "weakest"
simply reversed it. In so doing, it of the three aspects of govern-
mental power. It controls by itself administrative tribunals is very
neither men, nor guns, nor money, nearly hopeless. There are so
nor votes. If Congress did not many. They do so many things.
keep itself so busy bootlessly try- They grind out so many decisions.
ing to legislate this nation into a Their activities are as often off
paradisial state, it could without the record as on. The confusion
too much trouble keep the Su- between their powers and those
preme Court vividly aware of its of the reviewing courts creates an
inherent weakness. If, for just a infinity of problems in itself. Al-
few years, Congress would police locating responsibility is ex-
Supreme-Court decisions - in- tremely difficult. For example, the
stantly responding to so blatant NLRB constantly contends that
an example of statutory miscon- it must be doing a good job be-
struction as occurred in National cause the Courts of Appeals en-
Woodwork by a suitable statutory force a vast preponderance of
amendment - even the dullest or Board orders. But the Courts of
the most arrogant Supreme Court Appeals 1nust enforce most Board
justice would learn that he was orders because the substantial
not commissioned by the Consti- evidence rule ties their hands;
tution with the supreme and auto- moreover, by now, with the Su-
cratic power which some of the preme Court's support, the Board
justices have arrogated to them- has the bulk of the substantive
selves. law under the statute in a posture
That would be a troublesome such that it can write decisions
and an annoying job for Congress; pretty much at will, no matter
an unnecessary one, too, since the what the facts are.
Justices ought to know better,
even if the professoria do not. But Conclusion
at least it is practical and possible Congress's policy-making leg-
for Congress to control the Su- islative supremacy, and with it
preme Court. It is a small body, this country's hope for an effec-
turning out a limited number of tively operating representative
decisions. In the last resort, Con- government, is endangered by the
gress could simply take away much merging of judicial power into
of its appellate jurisdiction with- such executive agencies as the Na-
out doing irreparable injury to the tional Labor Relations Board.
nation. Delegating judicial power to an
In contrast, the job of policing administrative agency is both un-
and controlling the activities of constitutional and impractical. It
is unconstitutional because the country. Tomorrow, if history is
Constitution confines the judicial any guide, we shall have tyranny.
power of the United States to an The process has gone far al-
independent judiciary composed of ready in the field of labor policy.
life-tenure incumbents. It is im- Although these matters are hard
practical because competent judg-, to quantify with any precision, in
ing cannot be expected from lim- my judgment the Labor Board has
ited-tenure political appointees managed to gather a preponder-
who operate outside the long and ance of the policy-making power
sustained judicial tradition of in its hands, together with execu-
subservience to law rather than to tive and judicial power. Congress's
political exigency. The principal will to assert its Constitutional
argument in favoro{ specialized power must not be weakened by
quasi-judicial administrative tri- doubts of its functional and rep-
bunals is based upon an erroneous resentational superiority as legis-
and deceptive conception of "ex- lator and policy-maker for the na-
pertise." The relevant "expertise" tion. It is nonsense to hold that
must be in the art of judging. The the President or his bureaucracy
real experts in that art are the better represent the nation. It is
judges who sit on courts of gen- equal nonsense to believe that
eral jurisdiction. courts or administrative agencies
Creating specialized quasi-judi- can isolate the consensus of the
cial administrative courts, subject community into a set of coherent
to fragmentary and limited judi- basic policies better than Con-
cial review, produces neither ex- gress can.
pert nor expeditious judicial ad- If Congress wishes to escape the
ministration. It produces, instead, fate of the British House of Lords
uncontrollable confusion. Out of and to preserve the representative
that confusion, the executive character of this government, it
branch emerges with precisely the must respect and enforce the prin-
concentration of governmental ciple of the separation of powers.
power which the outstanding This means that Congress must
achievement of the United States repeal its delegation of judicial
Constitution - the principle of sep- power to the National Labor Rela-
aration of powers - was designed tions Board and revest that power
to disperse. As Thomas Hobbes in the Federal courts.
said, liberty is fragmented power. Problems will remain. Some
The result today of reconcentrat- judicial incumbents are unable to
ing power is a badly governed distinguish judicial activity from
legislative activity even when the position against a multi-powered

two are clearly distinguishable, executive.
let alone when, as often happens, So, even if Congress, respecting
it is difficult to distinguish them. the Constitution, should confine
Moreover, some judicial incum- judicial power to the Federal
bents believe that judicial power judges, it will have to keep a wary
is tantamount to legislative power, eye on its storehouse of legisla-
at least so long as they can get tive power. Raids by the other
away with it. Ultimately, however, branches can be expected. But this
it is a simpler matter for Congress is inherent in the nature of men
to correct such judicial mistakes and things. It is not only for lib-
and to subdue such power-lust in erty that the price is eternal
judges than it is to maintain its vigilance. ~
FOOTNOTES
40 386 U.S. 612 (1967). I have dis- 44 Cf. Maine, Popular Government 196
cussed this case at length in 32 Law and et seq. (1885); 1 Crosskey, Politics and
Contemp. Probe 319 (1967). the Constitution in the History of the
41 Ibid. at pages 337 et seq. United States 414-68 (1953).
42 386 U.S. at 650.
45 Pound, The Development of Consti-
43 Summers, American and European tutional Guarantees of Liberty 16, 23, 25,
Labor Law: The Use and Usefulness of 32,40 (1957).
Foreign Experience, 15 Buffalo L. Rev.
210, 218 (1966). 46 See the text, supra, at note 20.
The Rule of Law

THE END of the law is, not to abolish or restrain, but to pre-
serve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings
capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom. For
liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from others;
which cannot be where there is no law; and is not, as we are
told, a liberty for every man to do what he lists (For who
could be free when every other man's humour might domineer
over him?) But a liberty to dispose, and order as he lists, his
person, actions, possessions, and his whole property, within the
allowance of those laws under which he is, and therein not to be
the subject of the arbitrary will of another, but freely follow
his own.
JOH N LOCKE, Second Treatise
Devolution
Experimenting, Nature's hand once flung
a fledging from its aerie's lofty roost,
and for a moment, one bright arrow hung
suspended where no other had been loosed;
one bold bald eagle bravely le-arned to fly
where timid wings had never brushed the sky.
On currents unsuspected until then,
one eagle soared, alone, and unconfined
by instincts binding goose and pelican
to paddle in a wake, to fly behind
the bird ahead; to go where leaders went.
One eagle circled freely, free, content.
But, faintly, to the eagle's lone domain
there rose enticing songs of happiness
from birds who never had to brave the rain,
or bear the winter's numbing, fierce caress.
And as the eagle faced survival's tasks,
he came to doubt the price that freedom asks.
Today, the eagle claws a shredded limb,
unblinking eyes fixed more than miles beyond
his cage, and broods upon the empty hymn
that brought him drifting slowly to the ground:
Free now, from tyranny of endless sky;
Free not to hunt,
or build a nest,
or fly.
JAMES E. McADOO
567
ROBERT JAMES BIDINOTTO
THE HORDES of the impoverished both those who should know bet-
who recently dwelled in Wash- ter, and those who do know bet-
ington demanding more welfare ter. In the latter category are
assistance, public housing, and a those who have vested interests
guaranteed income managed to in the pressure-group warfare of
resurrect as their justification the welfare state.
the old but familiar cries of "ex- It is my contention that there
ploitation" and "social injustice" is officially-sanctioned social in-
which, they said, had been their justice in our nation. But the
fate under the American system. system which is its root cause is
What these terms meant to the not capitalism, nor are the prin-
demonstrators was apparently at cipal victims of this injustice
odds with what the dictionaries those for whom the Leftists
say they mean, but the "liberal" mourn.
leaders and propagandists re- Let us first discuss the word
peated them, too, and with each justice. My dictionary defines
repetition of each slogan the the term "just" as "given or
pickets and marchers felt more awarded rightly, or deserved . . .
victimized by the capitalism rightful, legitimate, deserved,
they have been taught to hate, merited. . . ." The clear implica-
and more self-righteous in their tion is that justice consists of
crusade for cradle-to-grave wel- recognizing and granting those
fare. Their support came from things which are rightfully and
Mr. Bidinotto is a sophomore, specializing in deservedly claimed by another
economics at Grove City College, Pennsyl- man, or, giving men exactly what
vania.
568
1968 THE EXPLOITATION OF THE VIRTUOUS 569
they deserve. Any more or any The state apparatus exists for the
less is, by definition, a breach of explicit purpose of protecting in-
justice. dividual rights.
Properly defined then, "social The only social system based
justice" would mean the principle upon the recognition of individual
of granting and accepting the de- rights is capitalism. Capitalism
served and rightful in relations requires of man his creativity - his
between and among groups and inability to produce goods and serv-
dividuals in society. ices - as the price of his survival,
But what is wrong with the for it recognizes the essence of
concept of justice promoted by justice: that a man receive what
the welfare-state advocates? It is he earns by his own effort and
simply that what they preach is thought, and not what he can
not justice at all, but out-and-out plunder from the creative efforts
injustice. What they favor is an of others. It allows men to trade
abandonment of the concepts of with one another to mutual ad-
deserved and undeserved, earned vantage in uncoerced exchanges.
and unearned, and right and Capitalism encourages the best
wrong. Their aim is as old as the men have to offer: thrift, practi-
one which motivated the world's cality, ambition, hard work, and
first thief: "the fatal tendency," honesty. Above all, it asks that
as Bastiat called it, to live at the men use to their fullest extent
expense of one's fellow meri. the productive ingenuity of their
minds. Under laissez-faire capital-
Freedom and Justice ism a man is judged by his ac-
A truly civilized society exists complishments, and the means he
by means of free, voluntary ex- employs to achieve the values he
change of values between consent- seeks. Capitalism does not sepa-
ing and willing individuals. It is rate ends from means.
the function of the government of This system, based on justice
a free society to promote justice. and the respect of individual
One of its more specific missions rights, built the most wealthy,
is to assure that exchanges are productive, and powerful nation
willing and voluntary, not forced that has ever existed.
and fraudulent. The initiation of
force is outlawed by the govern- Victims of Intervention
ment of a just culture. Such a so- But note what happens when
ciety exists using reason, not government ceases protecting in-
plunder, as its means of survival. dividual rights and actively vio-
lates those rights instead. Who answer is no. Wealth is something

suffers and is victimized when our that has to be produced before it
nation accepts the collectivist can be possessed. The allegation
premise that it is proper to ex- that it is the "possession of ex-
ploit an individual for the sake cess wealth" that is being recti-
of society, and that individual fied by this principle is a smoke-
rights should be subordinate to screen. The degree to which one
"public good"- as determined by is plundered is determined by the
democratically-elected politicians? degree of one's productivity, or as
Our American welfare state, I pointed out earlier, by the de-
like other statist-oriented systems, gree of one's economy, practical-
is run on the tacit premise of ity, ambition, initiative, labor, in-
"from each according to his abil- tegrity - the productive virtues.
ity - to each according to his The key virtue being man's ra-
need." That is the implied, but tional faculty, his mind, and his
seldom-stated, basic principle of creative use of that faculty, it is
which the New Deals, Fair Deals, easy to see what is ultimately
New Frontiers, and Great So- being looted and redistributed. It
cieties are but a manifestation. It is man's mind that is being plund-
is the implied justification of the ered, through confiscation of the
Guaranteed Income proponents, fruits of man's intelligence. It is
the advocates of conscription, and thus the man of the greatest vir-
the Welfare Statists. What this tue who is hurt the most by redis-
principle means is illuminating. tribution.
It means that the need of one
man constitutes a demand on the Subsidies for Failure
men of productive ability to fill it What determines who shall be
. . . as a matter of right to the the recipient of the plundered
"needy" man. The means of en- wealth? One's need of that wealth
forcing this principle is the coer- - his inability or unwillingness to
cive power of the state, which produce and create by using his
confiscates the product of the able intelligence to its fullest extent.
and creative to undeservedly bene- In other words, one's faults! Who
fit those who n-either produce nor stands to gain and ,vho stands to
create. lose in such a society? Who is ex-
What determines who shall be ploiting whom?
looted in this manner? Is mere The producer is chained to pro-
possession of wealth the basis of duce for those who cannot main-
the redistributionist creed? The tain their own lives. The creator
1968 THE EXPLOITATION OF THE VIRTUOUS 571
is harnessed to fill the stomachs, cally passed by the majority."
clothe the bodies, and build the This is even worse; it means that
houses of those who create noth- (a) the legal system of the na-
ing. The able man becomes a serf tion has been corrupted by the
of the man who is not able to fill worst of principles, and that (b)
his needs, claims, and demands by "the majority" recognizes itself as
his own effort. The best are pun- being outside the influence of the
ished and shackled for the sake moral code which the state im-
of the least and the worst. The poses upon individuals; that any
welfare state, established to cor- injustice can be committed in the
rect an imaginary inj ustice, has name of the "majority," or "so-
perpetrated the worst immorality: ciety," or "the common good" ;
exploiting the virtuous for their that morality is a numbers game
virtues. In such a society, to im- of factions, individuals, minori-
prove oneself and show progress ties, and the omnipotent majority.
means that one gradually stran- The alternatives in the game are
gles himself through his own ef- strictly limited. One either be-
fort; that the better one gets, the comes a looter, or one is looted;
more demands are placed upon one is either a parasite living
him, and the more of a slave to upon others, or one is a victim-
society he becomes. And worse: a human sacrifice - to that para-
he is a slave not to sOlnebody else's sitism.
superiority, but to his neighbors'
Join a Pressure Group
inferiority.
How does one cash in on the
/I Might Makes Right" welfare state? One joins a pres-
When a nation proclaims the su- sure group. The purpose of a pres-
periority of the collective whim sure group is to pressure the legis-
over an individual right, it em- lature to pressure the producer-
braces a most peculiar standard victim-taxpayer, extorting from
of morality, based on the simple him in proportion and to the ex-
addition of numbers. The principle tent of his virtues. This leads to
invoked is that might makes right, the scandalous corruption of leg-
that the size of one's gang is his islators by lobbyists, whose only
sanction to somebody else's prop- aim is to get a special coercive
erty. One might say, "But it's per- advantage over their neighbors via
fectly legal to tax one man to the power of the government. The
benefit another. After all, the laws presumed beneficiaries of the wel-
governing welfare were democrati- fare state are the confirmed para-
572 THE FREEMAN Septembe1
sites; and their victims are those of individual rights and the on I)
who, under free competition, system that can preserve them:
would be the most successful. And capitalism. It is a false idea thai
while pressure-group warfare es- the producer of wealth should fee:
calates,! new bureaucracies are guilty because of his ingenuity:
created and new bureaucrats em- creativity, and riches. Has he not
ployed to legally plunder men's earned the fruits of his effort? Is
savings and distribute the loot he to be apologetic about virtue
among those seeking favors. And and success?
it is the doer, the thinker, the It is the task of libertarians to
worker, the producer, who foots use every opportunity to promote
all the bills. There is the true "so- the system under which no one is
cial injustice and exploitation" in sacrificed, exploited, or treated
America. unjustly for another's sake. That
The remedy lies in the discovery system is capitalism, with its re-
spect for individual rights. Its
1 Walter J. Wessels, "The Theory of
ruling principle is justice for all.
Political Escalation," Freeman, Febru-
ary, 1968, p. 81. ~
The Interstate Commerce Commission
-a system of laws and rules and an administration of those laws

and rules in which the overweening goal is to maintain at as
high a level as possible the cost of moving the country's goods,
in the interest of the financial welfare of the movers. The basic
goal of regulatory policy is to maximize the earnings of the
common carriers, particularly those in financial difficulty.
Much attention is given to the effect of technology upon in-
stitutions. Perhaps not as frequently noticed is the ability of
institutions to counteract technology. The Interstate Commerce
Commission and the regulatory system that it has helped to
create have done a truly remarkable job of battling technology
head on and, to a considerable extent, winning. The creation
and maintenance of large barriers to entry where no signifi-
cant natural barriers exist (for example, in motor trucking) has
been a monumental task, which the ICC has executed success-
fully in little more than three decades. A motor carrier's largest
single asset is simply its permission to be a motor carrier.
" . From Indiana Business Review, Marchi April 1968
The NatlOn-Topsy-Turvy World of Transportation Regulation" by
David W. Maxwell, Professor of Business Economics and Public
Policy, Indiana University
A. REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK J OH N C HAM B E R L A IN
HAVING LIVED through the past attempt to prove to young people

two decades and watched the of the late sixties that the activi-
steady growth of cliche versions ties of the communist apparatus
of history, I doubt that future in the United States of the fifties
generations will ever know the and before were not in the best in-
truth about our times. But if error terests of the Republic. Unlike the
persists, it won't be the fault of late Senator McCarthy, Bill
William Rusher, the publisher of Rusher doesn't make mistakes in
National Review, who has set arithmetic or treat the English
down his experiences as a Senate language as something that is in-
subcommittee investigator in a re- capable of expressing nuances.
markable book, Special Counsel But will this book cause a single
(Arlington House, $10). "liberal," whether young or old,
Bill Rusher went to Washing- to recheck his sights on history?
ton, D.C., in 1956 to help Bob Perhaps I am too cynical, but I
Morris investigate communism doubt that Rusher will penetrate
for the Internal Security Subcom- the "liberal" hide. He himself
mittee of the U.S. Senate. Despite gives the reasons for supposing
the fact that Senator Joe Mc- this: the "liberals" - and the
Carthy had long since been cen- word should be continuously
sured, and was then living out his placed in quotes - had gone over
last days in innocuous desuetude, to various variants of socialism in
anything connected with anti- the New Deal period, and their
communist activity was still own self-regard had become im-
called "McCarthyism" in the mid- plicated with the craving to be-
dle fifties. The stereotype had al- lieve that Soviet Russia, despite
ready jelled; no matter how metic- everything, must somehow come
ulous Bob Morris and Bill Rusher out right in the end. Economic de-
might be, they were still "witch- terminism, acting on capitalism
hunters." and communism alike, must lead
Combatting the "witch-hunter" us all to "convergence" in the "lib-
allegation, Bill Rusher's book is an eral's" mind. In deference to this
view, "Red-baiting" must be re- Harry Gold was passed for han-
garded as something that is dling to Gaik Ovakimian, a Soviet
"against history" - and the trading official who worked for
Rushers who presumed in the fif- Amtorg, the official Russian trade
ties to help hunt out communist corporation, in New York City.
subversion were simply wasting Ovakimian wasn't in America to
time and the taxpayer's money. buy and sell goods; he was here
for building an apparatus that
The Record Speaks would enable the Russians to by-
For those who don't care for pass the difficult work of develop-
stereotypes, however, Rusher's ing their own products for the
book is full of irrefutable stories. market, or for the Soviet armed
It should cause some libertarians forces.
to recheck their sights. Too often One thing led to another, and
the libertarian assumes that if Harry Gold, after stealing a stag-
you put your trust in the market, gering array of quasi-military in-
you don't have to worry about dustrial secrets for a succession
such things as the Cold War. But of Russian handlers, found him-
the Cold War has enabled the self in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
Soviets to use the mechanisms of where he met David Greenglass,
the market as a "cover" for dirty an employee at the Los Alamos
undercover political and paramili- atomic development installation.
tary activity. The secret designs- of the atom
For example, the early years of bomb passed from Greenglass to
Harry Gold, the mousy, unobtru- Gold, and from Gold they went on
sive little man who stole the basic to Moscow.
secret information about the pro- Bill Rusher tells this particular
duction of the atom bomb and de- story with a fine relish for detail.
livered it to the Soviets, were What it proves is that communism
spent in industrial spying for his isn't content to use trading organ-
foreign masters. Gold was a chem- izations for their stated purpose.
ist who, in 1922, worked with a If Amtorg had been just a trade
sugar company in Philadelphia. corporation, Harry Gold could not
The depression gave him prole- have succeeded as a spy. Commu-
tarian ideas, and he allowed him- nism isn't primarily interested in
self to be recruited to steal the ac- market considerations; everything
counts of secret manufacturing that it does is subordinated to
and synthesizing processes for political and military aims. So how
transmission to Moscow. In time deal with Moscow on a free trade
1968 INTERNAL SECURITY 575
basis? You may be vitally endan- agreement. But by now it was too
gering your own free system if late; hyperinflation had already
you do. set in, and the financial collapse
of the Nationalist government
Treasury Intrigue
could not be stopped.
Another poser for those who Bill Rusher helped investigate
think we can do business as busi- the burrowings of communist
ness with the communists is Bill sympathizers into the waterfront
Rusher's tale of how Soviet sym- unions of the Pacific coast and
pathizers in the U.S. Treasury Hawaii. He interviewed the "rede-
managed to undermine our finan- fector,,, John Santo, after the col-
cial policies vis-a-vis Nationalist lapse of the Hungarian freedom
China. In the last days of World movement in 1956. He helped ex-
War II the Chinese government pose the workings of a communist
of Chiang Kai-shek was threat- cell in New Orleans. He and Bob
ened with galloping inflation. Sec- Morris poked and prodded wit-
retary of the Treasury Henry nesses who were sometimes willing
Morgenthau had promised to make to talk without taking the Fifth
five hundred million dollars avail- Amendment about such various
able to China. It was supposed to things as our post-war China
go in the form of monthly gold policy, or about Communist Bella
shipments. But Harry Dexter Dodd's alleged pressure tactics in
White and other Treasury em- New York State politics, or about
ployees, for reasons that have the suicide of Herbert Norman,
never been fully explored, drib- the Canadian Ambassador to
bled the money out at a snail's Egypt. The good stories tumble
pace. Eventually Henry Morgen- out of his capacious memory. And,
thau read the riot act to his dila- as a lawyer who believes in evi-
tory underlings; he had given his dence, the good stories are always
written word to China, and, as he carefully documented, carefully
said, "a person's word, and par- checked.
ticularly his written word, means There is no "McCarthyism"
something." "What about the here. Mr. Rusher does not think
honor of this Government?," Mor- that the West will die as the result
genthau asked his sophistical em- of a communist "conspiracy." He
ployees. After Morgenthau had de- thinks it a far greater danger that
livered his dressing-down, the the West may succumb to its lack
gold began to move to Nationalist of compelling belief in its own
China in accordance with the free traditions. But, having put
his priorities in order, Mr. Rusher alism." Although highly learned,

thinks it useful to expose com- he does not try to fill the scholar's
munist spy policies. He hopes his job. Rather, he has chosen to joust
book will be read by the young with the "enemy" on a day-by-day
with open minds. ~ basis via television, public debates,
letters, magazines, books, and
newspapers. He steps gaily into
~ THE JEWELER'S EYE-A Book the arena, seemingly unaware of
of Irresistible Political Reflections the terrific odds against him. Al-
by Willianl F. Buckley, Jr. (New though he may not always get the
York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1968, best of his opponents, he at least
378. pp., $6.95) keeps them from "winning" by
Reviewed by Robert M. ThO?"nton default. Buckley has helped to de-
YEARS AGO H. L. Mencken re- stroy the false image of the con-
marked on the need for a high servative as a stodgy Colonel
Tory magazine written with good Blimp. Agree with him or not, you
humor. In 1955 William F. Buck- won't find him dull. Being a con-
ley, Jr. filled this need with his servative can be exciting!
sprightly fortnightly, National The present book is an excellent
Review. A dozen years later he and collection of Buckley's observa-
his merry band are still going tions on the current scene, but the
strong- to the discomfort of the subtitle is misleading. Besides his
"liberals." Buckley invites com- lively criticisms of the "liberals"
parison with "The Sage of Balti- and their nonsense, we have some
more" because he, like Mencken, excellent reportage. Here again,
has a fine command of the Eng- one is reminded of Mencken, never
lish language, is devastating in his shy about voicing his opinions, yet
verbal assaults, and is never hesi- capable of straight reporting in a
tant about needling the pompous crackling, lucid style. Closing out
or exposing frauds. That he enjoys the book are several tributes to
the respect and even the friend- the deceased among public figures,
ship of people on the Left shows friends, and family. Along with
that he is able to attack the ideas the memorials to Henry Luce,
he believes wrong without any Herbert Hoover, and Douglas
personal animosity. MacArthur, readers of THE FREE-
Buckley admits that he is no MAN will be happy to see Buckley's
original thinker and he offers no eulogy on Frank Chodorov who
serious tomes to undermine the fought the good fight back when
intellectual foundations of "liber- "liberals" were almost unopposed.
the
Freeman
VOL. 18, NO. 10 -OCTOBER 1968
Gold and the Failure of the "Sorcerers" Alvaro C. Alsogaray579

Argentina's Ambassador discusses the function of gold and the malfunction of
various schemes of money manipulation.
The Threat of Wage and Price Controls Emerson P. Schmidt 587

Recounting U. S. experiences under price control during and following World
War II.
Recipe for Failure Paul L. Poirot 592

Training the hard-core unemployed to earn by serving cannot be done under a
system that pays them not to work.
The Public Be Damned Milton Friedman 601

A businessman might have said it, but only a bureaucrat can get away with it.
Education in America:
1. What Has Happened? George Charles Roche III 603
Introducing a series concerning the American ideals of higher education, the
departures therefrom, and the prospects for recovery.
Leaving the Problem to Others Ben H. Carpenter 611

A business leader surveys the national and world scene and suggests ways in
which individuals may help to improve it.

8. Pax Britannica Clarence B. Carson 624
The British contributions during a century largely characterized by world peace
and human progress.
Let's Justify Freedom Larry Arnhart 636

Not the welfare state but the free economy is the key to justice in human
affairs.
Each on His Own White Charger Earl, Zarbin 639

The futility of looking for a leader to do what can only be done by oneselt

the
Freeman
A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF IDEAS ON LIBERT't
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of maintaining and extending the Foundation's work
Copyright, 1968, The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. Printed i

U.S.A. Additional copies, postpaid, to one address: Single copy, 50 cent~
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Any ,current article will be supplied in reprint form upon sufficient dE

mand to cover printing costs. Permission is hereby granted to reprir
any article from this issue, providing customary credit is given, excef
liThe Public Be Damned," IILeaving the Problem to Others," and 11Th
Rise and Fall of England."
ALVARO C. ALSOGARAY
GOLD
AND THE
FAILURE
OF THE
"SORCERERS"
IN 1965 as I was traveling from ployee. "Yes, bought my
Tokyo to Paris I had to stop over ticket and I go to Cal-
in Bangkok because of the Indo- cutta," insist y. The em-
Pakistan War which had just ployee, belie he had not
broken out. I went to the offices made himse repeated,
of Pan American Airways to "But, madam, as been de-
change my itinerary since the one clared and it is ible to cross
I had, via Calcutta and New that territory." ich the lady
Delhi, was cut off. An American replied impert , "It is not
woman was talking at that mo- my problem if is a war; I
ment with the representative of bought my ti 'et i the United
the company. She was asking that States, yo ompa agreed to
her flight to Calcutta be confirmed take me to certain laces, and
for the following morning. "I am therefore you must ma e arrange-
very sorry, madam, but for ob- ments for me to be in Calcutta
vious reasons our planes cannot tomorrow morning." The conver-
land there," answered the em- sation continued in that vein for
almost an hour. Finally, the em-
Mr. Alsogaray, Ambassador to the United
States from Argentina, wrote this article in
ployee, on the verge of despair,
March, 1968. It expresses his concern over asked the traveler, "Madam, is
the gold problem and the meetings at that
time in Stockholm and Washington. what you have to do in Calcutta
580 THE FREEMAN October
so important?" To which she re- where, or else brought only a frac-

plied, "I have nothing to do there tion of its official value. Besides,
but I bought my ticket in the each time a devaluation was to
United States and you should take place, we saw closed banks
stand behind your company." This and a reluctance to change foreign
is a superlative expression of the currencies for pesos. We are also
faith of the United States citizen aware of the nature and ultimate
in the value of commitments and reason for these phenomena: a
of the social order prevailing in lack of faith which is the malady
his country. that afflicts even powerful nations
A few days ago when the bank today.
holiday was decreed in the prin-
Modern IISorcerersll
cipal countries of Europe as a re-
sult of the gold race, United The loss of confidence and with
States tourists in some places had it the alteration or failure of an
to face a different situation but established order does not come
one that was connected with the about as a result of unforeseen
same problem. There was no war factors or of natural castastro-
but, in the hotels, shops, and even phes. Nor is it a punishment from
the banks, American dollars were the gods. It simply results from
not accepted except in very small mistakes in human behavior, near-
amounts. If it had occurred to one ly always inspired by a new class
of those tourists to argue that the of politicians and "experts" in
gross national product of the economy which might well be
United States is more than $800 termed modern "sorcerers." Like
billion and that the United the alchemists of old and like
States' potential and resources are Goethe's Faust, these manipula-
practically incalculable, probably tors of the economy of the twen-
the clerk would have shrugged his tieth century believe in miracle~
shoulders and answered that in and promise happiness to the com
any case he was not prepared to mon man without requiring from
change more than a few dollars. him anything other than that hE
In Argentina these small-great demand it vehemently from hi~
dramas are very familiar to us. government. He is assured, be
There were times when the Ar- sides, that by means of a divinE
gentine peso, our national cur- breath called "development" the~
rency - once one of the hardest can transform printed paper int<
and most stable currencies in the large hydroelectric presses, stee
world -was not accepted any- plants, atomic plants, and all kind:
1968 GOLD AND THE FAILURE OF THE "SORCERERS" 581
of goods that they will distribute of his labor in order that a few
according to an elevated "social (the first to appear) may benefit
justice." In short, that they have from that advantage. Everything
discovered the modern philoso- goes very well at first while the
pher's stone! presumed beneficiaries as well as
In Argentina some of these those who are forced to contribute
tlsorcerers" even had official status. are unaware of the fraud; but
There was a government that an- finally the system fails and the
nounced a grand development plan fraud is out in the open. Except,
and the head of that government that it is then too late and the
said publicly: "I have so much consequences are already irrep-
gold in the Mint that I cannot arable. The "sorcerers" who
even walk in the corridors." And brought them about disappear
as for carrying out the plan, "why from the scene or are expelled
worry about money because one from it, but their place is soon
could always make use of Mi- taken by others of the same ilk.
randa's 'magic wand' to get all one In Argentina, in less than a
needed." When matters did not go quarter of a century, the "sor-
very well, the "sorcerers" lost cerers" were able to downgrade
their official designation but con- the currency by more than 99 per
tinued to function disguised under cent and to transform a potentially
such other names as "develop- rich country, full of possibilities,
mentists," "managerial planners," into a comparatively underde-
"men gifted with a great social veloped one.
conscience," or simply "experts"
in economy. For twenty years they The Gold Crisis
managed the country directly or This story is applicable to the
indirectly by means of bureau- present crisis in the international
cratic measures more or less se- monetary system and the race for
vere according to the times, but gold. The common man, and not
always aimed at preventing the just the speculators and hoarders,
free play of individual initiative has begun to lose faith in the cur-
and energies. rency of the most powerful coun-
The magic formula of the "sor- try in the world and of the mone-
cerers" in Argentina - and in all tary system created by the "ex-
parts of the world - consists in perts" to by-pass the rigid disci-
promising the man in the street pline imposed by gold. The new
a better life and at the same time system was an attempt to replace
robbing him of part of the fruits that discipline by a voluntary and
conscious discipline to be put into scaffolding has fallen about them.
practice by politicians and "ex- For many years they asserted that
perts" in economy. "the new economic science" had
For many years, that anony- found a way to manage the econ-
mous common man, who consti- omy with more finesse and that
tutes the basic cell of human so- the crises of the past could not be
cieties, did not notice that his repeated. They were now in' con-
leaders did not adjust to that new trol over the "blind and irrational"
discipline and that they allowed forces that unleashed such crises.
the modern "sorcerers" to direct Their methods, all of them based
the course of the economic proc- on subtle ways of restraining the
esses by means of equations and economic freedom of the individual
statistical indices. Then some of and substituting for the latter the
those men, who make up the vast intelligent decisions of high gov-
majority of the people everywhere ernment officials, would prevent
in the world, began to realize what the recurrence of the old prob-
was happening. They tried to es- lems. Having discovered new ways
cape from the ills they felt in- of choking freedom, they felt se-
stinctively were approaching, by cure in their position of disguised
buying gold. Then the whole com- dictators. Today, they cannot un-
plex system devised as a substi- derstand what is happening to
tute for the order imposed by gold them.
underwent such a shake-up that What these "sorcerers" did not
everyone was obliged to accept the know is the big. secret, as old as
truth: that printed paper no long- humanity, that man is free and
er had the value the governments that sooner or later he is bound to
said it had. Today, those who rebel against any kind of slavery,
worked and saved can no longer whether it be visible and brutal as
buy the same amount of gold they in political tyrannies, or subtly
could yesterday. Soon, if heroic imposed by means of an economic
measures are not taken, they will system. The only subjection that
no longer be able to buy ordinary man admits is that imposed by
goods at former prices. Overnight, law.
a good portion of the fruit of their When the "sorcerers" attempted
labors has evaporated. to oblige workmen and business-
men to pay forced tribute through
Confusion Among the "Sorcerersll inflation, those men, even the most
The "sorcerers" cannot under- humble and least informed, re-
stand why all their complicated acted against that veiled form of
1968 GOLD AND THE FAILURE OF THE "SORCERERS" 583
slavery and tried to free them- (demagogues and false "experts"

selves by buying gold. It is use- in economy) from wasting the re-
less for the "sorcerers" to accuse sources of the community and sur-
the speculators and the hoarders. reptitiously enslaving men. These
There are always speculators and "sorcerers" can fall back on all
hoaders; but they can never cause the magic formulas they want to,
harm when freedom reigns, how- but in the end they will be unable
ever imperfectly. Only when offi- to prevent men from buying gold;
cial regulations reach a point at and the discipline this imposes
which they begin to choke the will prevent the "sorcerers" from
common man and he rebels do the carrying out their designs.
speculators and the hoarders find This discipline annoys the "sor-
a propitious soil for their activi- cerers." The impotence they feel
ties. And this is what has hap- is well reflected in a cartoon pub-
pened at the present time. lished in the United States during
the recent crisis. In it appears a
A Discipline as Well as monument with a resplendent gold
a Protection
calf. At the foot of the monument,
For thousands of years gold has the World is kneeling. The caption
represented, for some reason deep- below says, "Still doing business
seated in human nature, a disci- in the same old way!"
pline and at the same time a pro- Though the symbolism is differ-
tection for the individual. On the ent-because the annoyance is not
one hand, it guarantees his sav- against the "materialism" of gold
ings which are the result of his but rather against the discipline
work. On the other, it obliges him it imposes - what appeared to be
to submit to certain rules the most dead seems to reappear with char-
fundamental of which is that he acteristic immutability.
may not enjoy anything that is If the "sorcerers" - and others
not the product of that effort. On -- wish to escape from the disci-
the government level it works in pline imposed by gold, they should
the same way. The gold reserves invent another discipline. They
of a country constitute the best cannot live with a permanent defi-
guarantee and protection for its cit. They cannot squeeze blood
inhabitants and are the result of from a turnip. They cannot multi-
the intelligence and work of the ply material goods by means of the
whole nation. At the same time, simple expedient of printing a
if the reserves are well used, they piece of paper. They have to work,
prevent the modern "sorcerers" save, invest; and only then, when
the desired goods have been pro- pectations with regard to liquidity
duced, may they enjoy them. and savings. Among those
The "sorcerers" still have a schemes, the most usual are defi-
card up their sleeve to justify cits in national budgets, privileges
themselves. They will now say that granted to certain large private
there has been an excess of eco- and state enterprises that are al-
nomic freedom in the world, that lowed to exist outside the market
the lack of sufficient controls on in a state of insolvency, salary
international trade has brought raises above increases in produc-
about imbalances and that the gov- tivity, and attempts to force de-
ernments have not known how to velopment by financing with cur-
plan and take a firm enough hand rency issues and false credits.
in the economic processes. That is This all means one thing: a deficit.
to say, they will fall back on the It implies a political and moral
great. political fraud of blaming problem; not an economic one.
the crisis upon a freedom that has One lives with a deficit because
not existed, taking care to hide the that is the way he prefers or be-
fact that their maneuvers in the cause there is no will to resist
monetary and investment plane- pressures .exerted by those who
principally those of a public na- use techniques to bring it about.
ture - and other more refined con- Ultimately, the problem simply
trols that restrain freedom have comes down to the fact that one
actually precipitated the crisis. spends more than he produces.
Inflation is the social cancer of
Inflation: Cause of the Crisis our times. Individual freedom and
The fundamental cause that has order in. free communities depend
lead to the present crisis can be on whether it is possible to over-
found in inflation. Inflation does come that ill. I should like to re-
not consist, as many. believe, in mind you' here of warnings ex-
the rise in prices. This is simply a pressed more than a decade ago
consequence of inflation or a visi- by two eminent men who have
ble sign of it, in the same way that played a decisive role in the re-
fever is a sign of illness. construction of the postwar world:
Inflation occurs when, through Ludwig Erhard and Jacques Rueff.
various schemes, greater means With regard to the individual
of payment are placed in the hands problem, Erhard pointed out:
of the public than should be avail- "These ideas, thought out fairly
able from goods already produced and consistently, should move us
and from certain individual ex- to include monetary stability
1968 GOLD AND THE FAILURE OF THE uSORCERERS" 585
among the fundamental rights of period." As if it were possible to

man who has the right to expect avoid crises until convenient to
the State to protect everyciti- the political parties! The fact is
zen ...." that the inflationary illness has
On the fate of communities, ignored the electoral calendar and
Rueff has been tirelessly repeat- obliged everyone to take heed of it.
ing warnings such as these: On Saturday the 16th and Sun-
day the 17th of March of this
Since 1945 we have been develop- year, a meeting took place in
ing the mechanism which, unques- Washington among the governors
tionably, unleashed the disaster of of the principal central banks and
1929-1933. It is up to us to decide
international financial institu-
if we are going to allow our civili-
tions; .and they did the only thing
zation to be propelled toward the
inevitable catastrophe. Though we they could do: they gained time.
are on the brink of disaster it is Some of them have been express-
still possible to avoid it if we are ing warnings that no one wanted
determined enough. . . . The prob- to hear and now they have thedis-
blem (of the present international agreeable task of doing what they
monetary system) will be solved never wanted to do. With the few
soon either under pressure of an instruments at their disposal, they
emergency or by peaceful delibera- have obtained a respite that should
tion. . . . If action is taken. in time, be utilized. The future of free so-
the peoples of the West will be saved
ciety depends on what is done dur-
from the disorder and suffering of a
new world crisis. . . . Today, after
ing the next few months.
40 years of inflation, freedom will be The measures that were taken
saved through the rehabilitation 01 do not in any way solve the prob-
money. . . . lem. They simply postpone it, and
at the cost of admitting that it
Inflation, which moved slowly at was not possible to keep faith.
first but gained momentum during This is a severe blow to stability
the past few years, has already led and confidence, subtle mechanisms
us to the first lap of the crisis. I on which the whole social order is
have heard many people ,say, based. But there was no other
"Nothing will happen to gold or way, and it had to be done.
the monetary system until Novem-
ber be<:(!)lse then there will be elec- The Two-pronged Problem
tions in the United States and it There are two separate prob-
is not advisable to deal with such lems which, due to the relationship
problems during the election between them, are often confused.
The first is the price of gold and pends on whether the true causes
the holdings of dollars in the cen- of the ill are eliminated.
tral banks. The second is the dis- This first step which has been
cipline to which community life taken does not as yet have the
must adjust in order not to spend characteristics of liquidation. As
more than is produced. I have -said, it constitutes a means
The first problem can be solved of gaining time. Now we will have
by means of monetary artifices to study and solve the above men-
and a political decision taken tioned problems with all speed.
jointly by the principal nations. Conditions today are much worse
But if the second problem is not than those prevailing three or
solved simultaneously-that is, ad- four years ago, when public ,con-
j usting from now on to a specific fidence had not been undermined.
discipline in order to eliminate def. But in any case, they are better
icits - the gold problem will crop than those that will come up in
up again and the sacrifices im- the future if the consideration of
posed by its temporary solution said problems is postponed again.
will have been entirely worthless.
A monetary devaluation - or gold In many countries, among them
revaluation - makes sense if it is Argentina, we have lived through
aimed at canceling past errors this kind of experience dramati-
and building a better life in the cally for the past 25 years. Today,
future by avoiding further errors these problems are extended on an
of that nature. That cancelation, international scale. The future of
that is in the nature of a surgical the free warld depends on the
operation, does not in itself solve leaders of the West finding a way
the problem nor does it guarantee to check inflation -and establish-
that it will not reappear. It simply ing a monetary order without
puts an end to an untenable sit- which freedom cannot -be safe-
uation; after that, everything de- guarded. ~
Diluting the Money

As WELL might they have attempted to show that a beverage
made by mixing a quart of wine with two quarts of water would
possess all the exhilarating quality of the original, undiluted
liquid.
ANDREW DICKSON WHITE
Fiat Money -Inflation in France
'rile Threat of Wage
EMERSON P. SCHMIDT
THERE is growing talk in Wash- to two years to run with their

ington and elsewhere that wage contractual built-in labor cost
and price controls are now nec- increases.
essary, or at least inevitable. The Thus, the prospects of rising
consumer price index of the Bu- Iiving costs even under a some-
reau of Labor Statistics has been what softer economy are strong.
rising by more than 4 per cent Profit margins will be under pres-
per annum in recent months. Even sure. Losses by numerous com-
if the surcharge on corporate and panies will be inevitable. Sales for
individual incomes and the slight many companies and in many lines
cut in government expenditures may decline just enough to cut
provided by law in June, 1968 - as deeply into what a few months be-
well as some monetary restraint - fore were profitable operations.
should slow down our economic But the general public, not under-
growth and result in a rise in un- standing the nature of cost pres-
employment, the probability of a sures but noting that unemploy-
continuous rise in prices is strong. ment has moved up fractionally,
Wage-fringe settlements have will fail to see why prices should
been running at 50 to 100 per cent still be rising. There must be
or more in excess of the general something wrong! Why not get
rise in overall productivity. Nu- the government to protect the con-
merous union contracts have one sumer?
Dr. Schmidt, economic consultant, writer, and
Those who urge government
lecturer, served from 1943 to 1963 as Director controls either have short memo-
of Economic Research of the Chamber of
Commerce of the United States. ries or have had no experience
587
trying to live under controls. The of New York reported to Congress:
case for the free market economy,
as well as the only real cause of The inspector visited 105 stores
inflation (deficit spending and in 43 towns scattered throughout
loose monetary policies), are well the Black Market area. He found
known by FREEMAN readers. So, that 48 of the stores had no meat.
let us simply review here some of
the controllist experiences within This refrain was voiced by the
our own generation. meat cutters union (AF of L) in
the spring of 1946:
Meat Price Control
World War II price controls con- We know that the present govern-
tinued until the late fall of 1946, ment regulations in the meat indus-
about fifteen months after the end try are unenforceable; the legitimate
dealer cannot pay the prices paid by
of the war. The attempt to control
the bootleggers and keep within the
the prices of meats ended in utter
oP A restrictions. . . . As a result
futility; the .end came in a total (1) the public's meat bill is in-
collapse. creased by billions of dollars a year;
In May, 1946, the Bureau of (2) thousands of men and women
Labor Statistics stated: in packing plants are unemployed;
(3) hundreds of legitimate slaugh-
Meat counters were empty more terers and dealers in meat are un-
often during the first four days of able to stay in business.
the week of May 15, 1946, than any
corresponding period in any month Here we note reference to "the
since March 1944. Approximately 85 black market" and to "bootleg-
per cent of the stores had no veal,
gers." Surely an industry the size
more than four-fifths were without
pork loins, ham or bacon, and almost
of the packing industry could not
seven out of ten often had no beef be taken over by the black market
or lamb. and bootleggers! There must be
some other explanation - some
Official statistics for a year or other part of the story.
two earlier showed no decline of The data of the Bureau of
the animal population on the farms Labor Statistics showed that
which could account for this mas- employment in packing plants
sive disappearance of red meat. dropped to 93,000 in October,
Something else must have hap- 1946, reflecting a large diversion
pened. of Ii vestock from the packing
A little earlier Mayor LaGuardia plants. Within one month after
1968 THE THREAT OF WAGE AND PRICE CONTROLS 589
OPA controls were removed, em- Business as Usual in Texas

ployment increased to 163,000, An experience of the last OPA
and by the end of December, 1946, administrator in 1946 finally con-
reached 180,000 - nearly double vinced President Truman of the
the October figures. futility of price control. Paul Por-
Even so, many people apparently ter, in charge of OPA, and Clinton
unaware of economic cause and Anderson, Secretary of Agricul-
effect, lamented the abolition of ture, had not been seeing eye-to-
the controls and spoke of the price eye on control measures. The Pres-
gougers. Price controls broke ident, as Mr. Porter told me the
down in 1946, and President Harry story, ordered Porter to reach an
S Truman merely officiated at the agreement with Secretary Ander-
final rites. son and stop the feuding. Porter
But it is well to recall how re- went to see Anderson in his home
luctant the President was to de- state, New Mexico, to carry out
control prices. As late as October this mission.
14, 1946, he issued a statement On the way back to Washington,
containing some remarkably re- Porter said, he stopped in Texas
vealing language: and happened upon an auction sale
of cattle. The live-weight prices
Some have even suggested that exceeded the OPA prices of dressed
the government go out on to the meat! Sidling up toa man who
farms and ranges and seize the cat- appeared to have an interest in
tle for slaughter. This would indeed the sales and the prices being of-
be a drastic remedy. But we gave it fered' and without being too ob-
long and serious consideration. We vious about it all, Porter inquired:
decided against the use of this ex-
"How come these prices ?" The
treme wartime emergency power of
man didn't seem to understand.
government. It would be wholly im-
After some further conversktion,
practical because the cattle are
the Texan said, "Oh, you mean
spread throughout all parts of the
country. this here OP and A 1"
Another remedy suggested by "Yes," said Porter, "What about
many people was to have the gov- this OP and A?"
ernment seize the packing houses. The Texan answered noncha-
This offered no real solution, how- lantly and innocently, "I don't
ever, because the seizing of empty think they have put it into effect
packing plants would avail us noth- yet down here."
ing without the livestock. When Porter got back to Wash-
ington he told the President of his "police action." Defending all this,
Texas experience. The President, President Truman, said:
without further ado, called for the These people who say we should
end of World War II price control. throw out price controls and rent
The history of price controls controls are wrong. They are just
and wage and salary controls is as wrong now as they were back
replete with countless episodes in 1946. (June 14, 1951)
similar to the drasticexperi ence
Who was wrong and when, we
in the packing and meat industry.
need not further detail. Public
Description and analysis of these
opinion polls, for what they are
innumerable cases fill many vol-
worth, have indicated in recent
umes. So let us take a look at
months that a majority of the
what the President said when he
public now again favors controls.
terminated controls:
The law of supply and demand, Words of Warning
operating in the market place, will, But fortunately, not everyone
from now on, serve the people better has such a short memory or such
than would continued regulation of faith in government controls.
prices by the government. . . . I am
The Economic Report of the
convinced that the time has come
Council of Economic Advisers in
when such controls can serve no
useful purpose. Their further con- 1968 stated the situation in a
tinuance would do the nation's econ- short sentence worthy of recall:
omy more harm than good. Accord- Although such controls may be
ingly, I have directed immediate unfortunately popular when they are
abandonment of all controls over not in effect, the appeal quickly dis-
wages, salaries, and prices." (Nov. a ppears once people live under them.
9, 1946) (Page 119)
This was a marked turn-around This view is widely held by
by the President. It took some most responsible government
dramatic events and experiences agency people in Washington. 1
to cause him to change his mind. But the political winds may blow
Yet, how short memories are! In into a controllist gale at any time.
early 1948, he again asked for A 4 per cent rise in prices per
comprehensive controls, though year cuts the value of the dollar in
Congress then refused him such
powers. A massive price control 1 For recent expressions see, A Per-
and wage control program was respective on Wage and Price Controls.
Chamber of Commerce of the United
instituted during the Korean States, Washington, April, 1968.
1968 THE THREAT OF WAGE AND PRICE CONTROLS 591
half in just 18 years. In terms of have long loomed as the last refuge
the early 1930's, we now have a of the unsuccessful planner. Yet of
38 dollar. Rarely does a year pass all the "unacceptable" solutions, they
are the least acceptable. 2
without some Congressional com-
mittee or subcommittee, or sev-
Have we not had enough ex-
eral of them, recommending some
perience and warnings in regard
form of price control, sometimes
to inflation to know how to pre-
labeled "price surveillance."
vent it - and to avoid the authori-
The dangers are close at hand.
tarian people-control, which goes
Inflation, even though created by
by the name of wage and price
government policies, becomes po-
control?
litically "unacceptable." A bit of
No country has succeeded in
slack from an overheated economy
checking inflation without adopt-
atmosphere also becomes unac-
ing policies which first checked
ceptable. Henry Wallich, a former
government spending and the
member of the President's Coun-
growth in the stock of money.
cil of Economic Advisers, put it
Every country which has held
this way:
down the expansion in the stock
of money has also checked the rise
To call inflation and recession "un-
acceptable" is to call, in effect, for
in the general level of prices. ~
price and wage controls. Controls 2 Newsweek, July 8, 1968.
The Price of Price Controls
THE WHOLE recorded history of man is strewn with the wreckage

of the great civilizations which have crumbled under price con-
trois; and in forty centuries of human experience, there has
never been ~ so far as I can discover - a single case where such
controls have stopped, or even curbed for long, the forces of
inflation. On the contrary, in every instance I can find, they have
discouraged production, created shortages, and aggravated the
very evils they were intended to cure.
IRVING s. OLD~
Reelp~ for Failure PAUL L. POIROT
1 Promise of Federal aid

12 Hard-core unemployed
1Thriving business enterprise
1 Pinch of American taxpayer
Liberally marinate a "depressed area" in Federal aid until

the people have abandoned all sense of self~responsibility,
self-respect, and human dignity.
Politically integrate a dozen of the resultant "hard-core
unemployed" into jobs in a thriving business enterprise, on
the theory that "the public interest" takes priority over effi-
cient production of goods and services customers want.
Squeeze from American taxpayers amounts sufficient to
cover any waste or loss of resources involved in this operation.
Agitate this unfortunate combination until sufficiently
frustrated to abandon the scheme and start over.
Serves no one.
PRESIDENT JOHNSON, early in 1968, Early reports of experience and

announced. a program to place the progress under the program have
hard-core unemployed in perma- been generally favorable, reflect-
nent private-industry JOBS. The ing the popular enthusiasm for so
National Alliance of Businessmen worthy an objective. 2 Much as one
promptly sprang forth to imple- might wish to share such enthusi-
ment the idea. Some 30,000 job asm, the evidence and returns
openings had been pledged by var-
2 For a typical report see U.S. News
ious firms before mid-year, and and World Report, July 1, 1968, pp. 54-57,
their initial requests for Federal "Training the Unemployables," describ-
aid to hire and train hard-core ing the experience of one company, Lock-
head Aircraft, and pointing up the oppor-
workers averaged just under $3,- tunities - and pitfalls - of this campaign
000 for each trainee.! by which "men once deemed unemploy-
able are being turned into competent
1 The Wall Street Journal, July 2, 1968. workers."
1968 RECIPE FOR FAILURE 593
from this new program to date The successful firm provides that
are too meager to justify the hope training and shows a profit on the
that human nature has drastically time and effort invested. That's
changed for the better in 1968. what market demand means: Con-
Despite what some of the spokes- sumers gladly reward, in the form
men for business have been saying of profit, the most efficient sup-
about the new duties of manage- pliers. And no self-respecting
ment and their willingness to help trainee or employee would be-
the government remodel society, grudge his trainer that profit. Who
the fact is that there is no meas- wants to be trained by those who
urable market demand for "so- bankrupt themselves in the proc-
cial progress" as such. The pros- ess? Who wants to understudy a
pect of a subsidy or payment of failure? What is so great about
$3,000 or more for the training being added to the payroll of a
of a worker may seem a reason- company receiving a $3,000 gov-
able risk to some businessmen; ernment subsidy for the favor?
they may see a chance there for a
Unused Resources
reasonable return on their time
and investment - perhaps, a profit. When the social reformers with
But taking such a government governmental power proclaim a
contract is not quite the same need that cannot be detected or
thing as competing efficiently to measured in the market, the busi-
serve consumers. nessman who volunteers to fill that
There is a consumer demand need can hardly pretend to be
for trained employees, if not di- operating in the free market. He
rectly, at least for the goods and is dealing instead in the uncer-
services resulting from such train- tain realm of political action.
ing. Market wage rates and prices There is a popular myth to the
tell workers when it is to their effect that an unemployed person
advantage to seek further train- or an unused resource of any kind
ing, and in what fields; and these is a drain upon the economy. It
same market signals tell business- could be true that the person or
men when to step up or cut back resource might be employed to the
on training programs. advantage of everyone concerned;
Consumers are fickle; their the economy then might be health-
wants and choices are constantly ier than otherwise. But unemploy-
changing. Every change calls for ment per se does not drain the
new jobs, new equipment, new working economy. The fact that
employees, new skills - training. Joe Doakes is unemployed does
not automatically entitle him to This is a demand situation to
draw goods and services out of which suppliers can respond - an
the market place. He is neither opportunity for profitable private
putting anything into the market enterprise.
nor withdrawing anything from
Fruits of Intervention
it - as far as his unemployment
is concerned. In contrast, consider the effect
The foregoing, however, is not of various government welfare
the total picture in the United programs over the years. What
States today. Legal action has have we accomplished with force?
been taken to give the unemployed To what lengths have we gone to
person drawing rights upon scarce shatter the mirror in which men
resources. In a sense, he has been would identify their own inter-
handed a tax collector's permit. ests?
How much he may lawfully ex- The more a man earns, the
tract from producers depends higher tax rate he must pay on his
upon how little he produces. Not earnings. He may lose Old Age
his poverty nor his lack of produc- or Disability benefits if he earns
tivity, but the tax-power granted too much. Higher earnings may
to him by government in the form render him ineligible for low-rent
of special privilege, is what allows subsidized housing or Medicaid or
him to drain the economy. So, let Aid to Dependent Children or
us bear in mind that coercive pow- Food Stamps or Unemployment
er has been given to those we Compensation or other welfare
otherwise identify as the hard- payments. The law has granted
core unemployed. There is little him these "rights," given him
prospect of their learning to serve power to use against the taxpayer,
themselves through honest employ- made it very difficult for him to
ment as long as they share the be- discern whether or not it is in his
lief that the rest of the world owes best interest to train for a job
them a living and as long as they and improve his capacity to earn.
hold the political power to prove Some gentle reader may be
it. shocked at reference to political
It is normal and natural for the power in these terms. But it is
individual to act in .his own in- high time to remember that gov-
terest. If he clearly sees it is to ernment is coercive force - pure
his benefit to develop the skills to and simple. And it is high time to
earn a better living, he is likely to stop asking government to per-
be in the market for such training. form any duty for us if the use of
police power seems inappropriate derbuss recently rechristened the
to that task. "negative income tax."
The political weapon comes in Professor Paul A. Samuelson,
many shapes and sizes, some of in his Newsweek column of June
which are difficult to recognize. 10, 1968, finds hardly anything
The protective tariff hides an iron wrong with a negative income tax
fist, as does any charter or grant except its "unappetizing name."
of special privilege. Organized What politician wants to be nega-
labor wields governing power in tive! "So," says he, "call it by the
excluding competition from vari- sweeter sounding and more in-
ous job opportunities. So do many formative, name of an 'incentive
licensed professionals. Farm sub- income supplement.' "
sidy checks are drawn against tax- But the Professor, in typical
payers under compulsion. So is fashion, is mincing words. He
every other payment made by any knows very well that the principle
government to any individual- of the so-called negative income
simply because government is and tax was fully incorporated in the
can be nothing but the power of "progressive" income tax in effect
coercion. in the United States since 1913.
The principle is to soak the rich
Identifying the Problem for the presumed benefit of the
The point is this: tax-power is poor; on a steeply rising scale,
the hard-core of the unemploy- take from those who produce most
ment problem in the United States. efficiently and give to those who
Some persons are unemployed be- do not. Now, after 55 years, he
cause employers are strictly for- wants to change the name of the
bidden, under full penalty of the game to "incentive income supple-
law, to pay as little as those per- ment." Under the old name, it
sons will earn. Some are unem- didn't solve the problem of pov-
ployed because unions, empowered erty. Nor will sweetening the
by law, will not admit them to sound of socialism chang.e its
certain jobs. Most of the unem- effect. Diminishing the rewards
ployed are regularly drained of for production inevitably and in-
their dignity by bureaucrats who variably will hurt the poorest
hand out tax-collected resources, among us more than it hurts those
thus inviting their "clients" not better cushioned against starva-
to work. And some of the unem- tion.
ployed are just waiting until Con- There is no cause for either a
gress reloads that ancient blun- student or a professor of econom-
ics in 1968 to ignore the lessons exempt from taxation all earnings
of socialism so eloquently told by above a certain figure. Then, dis-
the millions of victims of famine tribute the proceeds, not directly
in Russia and other lands that at to consumers, but indirectly to
times have carried the "incentive those most efficient at supplying
income supplement" to its logical the goods and services consumers
conclusion. want. Give the subsidies to the
prod ucers, in proportion to
Justice? amounts they have invested in the
There is an alternative to "pro- productive facilities and tools that
gressive" socialism, and whether create job opportunities and sup-
it be called laissez faire or the free ply the market with goods and
market or open competition or services.
private enterprise makes very little
difference. It affords to each in- Subsidizing the Efficient
dividual precisely what he deserves If the Samuelsons of the Great
- which is another way of spelling Society were to carefully examine
justice. One serves himself the farm price support program
through serving others; some call in its over-all application in the
it the Golden Rule. This formula United States since the mid-thir-
permits a person to be charitable, ties, they might begin to grasp
at his discretion, and with his own the implications of subsidizing
resources; but it does not com- the rich. Not that there is any
mandeer his property, against his excuse or justification for such
will, for disposition by others. interference with the market! But
If Professor Samuelson is de- the reason why such interference
termined to practice inj ustice and has been tolerable for so long is
interfere with the way the market that the farm subsidies by and
allocates goods and services ac- large have gone to the most effi-
cording to the guides of supply cient producers of food and fiber.
and demand and consumer choice, Not the poor, small, inefficient
and if he wants. an "incentive in- farmers, but the large, efficient,
come supplement" that might be prosperous ones have received
more helpful than harmful to the most of the price support pay-
poor, let him try subsidizing suc- ments. Despite the various "soil
cess rather than failure. He could bank" and "plowing under" names
call it "positive taxation," though for the game, the bulk of the
it would be regressive in fact, like benefits have been paid to those
the present social security tax: who produced the most - almost
as well as the market would have skepticism of those who wield po-
done if unmolested. And the net litical power.
result has been an abundance-
The Marie of Integrity
even a surplus of cheap food to
feed the poor of the entire world. We expect too much if we ex-
No political meddler in his right pect virtue and integrity from
mind would have planned it that those who hold special privilege
way - but it has happened that and live by the power it gives
way in spite of the intentions of them. Nor will we find freedom if
the planners. we look to them for it. Any free-
Maybe the farm program hasn't dom any person enjoys will be
helped the poor, but it hasn't hurt earned by him through his own
them very much. By the same virtue and integrity in his daily
token, subsidizing savers and in- dealing with others of virtue and
vestors would better serve the integrity.
poor than to give the same amount These are qualities we may hope
to consumers. If professors insist to find in our business associates-
on minding other people's busi- the successful suppliers and the
ness, let them think in terms of a satisfied customers in the market
"positive income tax," the pro- place - under a simple but inflex-
ceeds to be used to subsidize the ible code of justice: each gets
most efficient producers of goods precisely what he earns by serving
and services. others.
Fortunately, such a proposal is Individuals or groups may hold
wholly lacking in political appeal. and practice other codes of justice,
Political proponents of farm price and of mercy, and may have ex-
supports never meant to encourage cellent reasons for such codes. But
production; that was quite acci- no code demands greater integrity
dental. Except by such accident, of men than does the simple code
there isn't the ghost of a chance of the market. Is integrity too
of passing a law to reward success. much to ask of those who solicit
But there is no need of legislation our trade?
for that purpose; an unhampered Just what is integrity? What is
market economy, leaving each per- this quality we have every right
son free to pursue his own peace- to expect of a business associate?
ful interests, would do the job Well, we expect his product or
very well. All that is asked of service to be as good as his word,
politicians and their brain trusts and his word as good as his bond.
is some faith in freedom and some We expect him to stand fully and
personally responsible for what and should not have to tolerate

he says and does. Our right to such behavior from a business-
expect that much of him rests man who is actively competing to
upon our demonstrated effort to serve customers satisfactorily. Of
live by that same code - a condi- him, we expect responsible per-
tion of mutual respect. formance - and integrity.
Such integrity seems hardly too Whenever an employee comes to
much to ask of a man who wants work for us with political priv-
to do business. Yet, we know that ileges and power, we ought to be
it is human and easy to err. suspect of him. And if we, as em-
In good faith, we contract for ployer, have entered into an alli-
the services of an employee, who ance with employees of that char-
becomes a businessman when he acter, our customers may well
thus enters the market. But some- suspect our good intentions and
times we find that instead of de- capacity to deliver goods or serv-
voting full time to the task he has ices according to contract. How is
agreed to perform, he uses part the customer to know against
of his time at our expense to or- whom the unioneer's political pow-
ganize his fellow employees to er will be used?
slow down on the job, or strike
in unison, or forcibly deny other A Peculiar Partnership
willing workers entry to the job With mounting evidence on
opportunities thus neglected. every hand of the failures of com-
This is the sort of behavior we pulsory socialism, one hears more
might .expect if we were dealing and more, from outstanding busi-
with a governmental monopoly nessmen among others, of a new
such as the Postal Service; for in and golden opportunity for private
that case, not the negligent em- enterprise to "volunteer" and car-
ployee, but the general taxpayer ry out the tasks at which govern-
is held responsible for the failure ment has failed - a "private cor-
to serve efficiently. We may .expect poration" to operate the postal
such behavior from employees of monopoly, a national alliance of
any organization which holds an businessmen to train the unem-
exclu~ive charter or franchise to ployable or remodel the inner city
serve a given area. There come to or clear up the ghetto or attend
mind illustrations involving public to foreign aid. Solving the prob-
carriers, water companies, gar- lems of Vietnam doubtless will be
bage collection, taxi service, other added to the list.
utilities. But we do not expect Scarcely anyone seems to be
concerned that these tasks for the tract private enterprise to problem
most part are no more the appro- areas. Indeed, for the most part,
priate domain of private ente-r- that is the problem, and the solu-
prise than of government. The tion is just that simple: use gov-
conditions of the problems are so erning power only to keep the peace.
qualified and stipulated that there
is no solution. There are serious Unwanted Volunteers
problems in these areas that ought Human affairs are endlessly
to be solved; but they have not complicated by those who "volun-
yet heen identified or described teer" the power of government to
with sufficient clarity to yield to solve all sorts of real or imagined
solution. To propose that business- problems for which armed forces
men join forces with government, have no competence. And the ex-
and accomplish with modified cuse often is heard that private
power what the full power of gov- enterprise failed to do anything
ernment could not do, is to con- about those problems. Now, from
fuse and corrupt the functions of the other side of the vicious circle,
both the free market and the come voices urging private inter-
police force. Business is not done vention where government inter-
through compulsion. Policemen vention has failed. And a power-
may need guns to keep the peace, ful case can be made for voluntary
but not to wage war on poverty. coope-ration rather than compul-
Not until the gove-rnment gets sion in many human relationships.
out of a particular business, relin- But it does not necessarily fol-
quishes its monopoly power in that low that everything which govern-
field, is there much prospect that ments have undertaken or been
private enterprise will seek or dis- urged to do ought to be done-
cover opportunities to profitably either voluntarily or coercively.
serve the needs in that area. As To voluntarily relieve individuals
long as government persists in of the unpleasant consequences of
granting special privileges and in their own weaknesses and mis-
confiscating profits earned and takes can he just as harmful to
property invested, businessmen them as to let the government do
are well advised to keep out - not it. To "voluntarily" relieve indi-
to volunteer their services. If gov- viduals of the fruits of their own
ernment will confine its efforts efforts without their consent is
to the defense of life and property still rank injustice. Private enter...
- a fair field and no favors - that prise is not something that can
is the very most it can do to at- be done to someone else. It is for
participants only - willing partic- tage, the greatest problem we face is

ipants. not one of adequate funding but of
The point is excellently stated adequate wisdom in applying this
basic principle. For in a society made
in a recent article, "Enterprise
strong through competitive, private
Potential of the Inner City" by enterprise, we cannot solve the prob-
John H. Clay, Negro president of lems of the cities through a two-so-
the Negro-owned, profit-making ciety approach whose dominant
Business Development Corporation themes a-.re achievement-fostering
(BDC) in Philadelphia: enterprise outside the core cities and
funded social reinforcement inside
It is tragic that this nation, de- dependency areas; this dual approach
pendent for its great strength upon implies inferiority and cements de-
private enterprise, until lately has pendency, while fostering alienation
failed to recognize a dichotomy of in both areas. We only can eradicate
approach so very evident to us in the poverty through steps to install and
"inner-city": to remove and eradicate foster in dependent areas not a share
poverty, our nation has tried pri- of the fruits of enterprise but, rather,
marily to rely upon social beneficence the enterprise system itself. It is the
and assistance controlled by bodies only instrument dynamic enough. 3
outside the population affected, throw-
ing away the vibrant lessons from Mr. Clay has reiterated the an-
our own history demonstrating time cient and ageless truth that people
and time again that self-determina- do best for themselves when left
tion and individual initiative, in eco- alone - and free. The idea that
nomic as well as political matters, good may come of mixing business
breed capacity, responsibility, com- and government is a serious threat
mitment, involvement, motivation ... to human progress - not a hope-
and results.
ful sign. ~
In our society's developing commit-
ment against poverty and disadvan- 3 N AM Reports, July 15, 1968.
Alexis de T ocqueville
IF IT BE ADMITTED that a man, possessing absolute power, may mis-
use that power by wronging his adversaries, why should a major-
ity not be liable to the same reproach? Men are not apt to change
their characters by agglomeration; nor does their patience in the
presence of obstacles increase with the consciousness of their
strength. And for these reasons I can never willingly invest any
number of my fellow creatures with that unlimited authority
which I should refuse to anyone of them.
would quickly set modern tech-
nology to work in the transmission
THE of mail, and simultaneously lower

the cost to the consumer. The gov-
ernment system would have to
PUBLIC shape up or ship out.
But neither the one proposal
BE nor the other will be adopted. The
facts of political life that make
D_MNED this prediction a near-certainty
were brought home to me when I
was writing my earlier column on
MILTON FRIEDMAN the Post Office. Why not, I thought,
use it to persuade a congressman
to introduce a bill to repeal the
present prohibition on private de-
A PRESIDENTIAL commISSIon has livery of mail? That would have
just made official what you and I started desirable legislation on its
have long known from experience. way, made the column more topi-
The Post Office "each yea.r . . . cal, and given the Congressional
slips further behind the rest of the sponsor some publicity. So I spoke
economy in service, in efficiency, to a number of friends in Con-
and in meeting its responsibilities gress.
as an employer." All were favorable to the sub-
The commission recommended stance of the bill, yet none was
that the Post Office be converted willing' to introduce it. As one
from a government department to congressman said to me, "Can you
a nonprofit government corpora- suggest any unions we might con-
tion. That might improve matters ceivably persuade to testify in
some, but since the Post Office favor of it?" I could not do so.
would still be a monopoly and a Strong pressure groups will op-
government organization, it would pose changing present arrange-
remain high-priced and inefficient. ments: the postal unions that have
A far better solution is one I sug- become experts in lobbying before
gested many months ago (NeW8- Congress; the users of third- and
week, Oct. 9, 1967) - simply re- fourth-class mail, who fear that
peal the present provision making the subsidy they now enjoy would
it illegal for private enterprise to be threatened if Congress no long-
provide mail service. Competition er finances postal deficits.
No strong pressure groups will devote much effort to promoting
favor the proposed changes-which the bill- or even to have their
serve only the widespread general vote influenced by its introduction.
interest of the public. If the pro- Their vote is likely to be deter-
posed changes were made - if, for mined by the matters with respect
example, private competition were to which they are members of
permitted - pressure groups would special interest groups.
emerge. Enterprises that suc- Many citizens regard it as a
ceeded in the new business and paradox that a democratic govern-
their employees and customers ment, supposed to promote the
would become such groups. But general welfare, should enact so
these are only potential, not ac- many measures that promote spe-
tual. cial interests. It is not a paradox.
A congressman has limited time It is the result to be expected when
and influence. It is wise for him government engages in activities
to husband that time and influence that have concentrated effects on
to promote measures that have small groups and widely diffused
some chance of being adopted, or, effects on the rest of the citizens.
at least, of bringing him some A majority rules in a political de-
political support. What can he mocracy, but the majority that
gain by the purely quixotic ges- rules is typically a coalition of
ture of sponsoring a bill to intro- special interests - not a majority
duce competition into the postal promoting the general interest.
service? Only the active hostility In the heyday of nineteenth-cen-
of present special interests. True, tury capitalism, William H. Van-
many more persons would be bene- derbilt a railroad tycoon, is said
fited than would be harmed and to have remarked, "The public be
the aggregate benefit would great- damned" to an inquiring reporter.
ly exceed any transitional harm. That may have been his attitude
But, and it is a big but, the few but it was never an accurate de-
persons who believe that they scription of how private enter-
would be harmed will be aware of prise behaved. Competition saw
that fact, and each will expect to that. Enterprises that damned
significant harm, so it will pay the public did not survive for
them to fight the bill. Most per- long. But however accurate it may
sons who would benefit will not be have been then, today the phrase
aware of that fact. Even if they fits Washington to a T. ~
were, the benefit to most would be
Copyright Newsweek, Inc., Aug. 5, 1968. Re-
small. Hence, they are unlikely to printed by permission.
EDUCATION
IN
AMERICA
GEORGE CHARLES ROCHE III
1. What Has 'Happened?

IN WHAT must surely be his most It is ominous, a presumption of
quoted remark, the nineteenth cen- crime, that this word Education has
tury novelist, Thomas Peacock, so cold, so hopeless a sound. A trea-
commented that anyone talking tise on education, a convention for
about education was the bore of education, a lecture, a system, affects
us with slight paralysis and a cer-
all bores since his subject lacked
tain yawning of the jaws.
a beginning, a middle, or an end.
Anyone attempting to write on I know what Emerson meant,
the subject would seem, therefore, yet must risk that slight paralysis
to undertake a difficult assign- and yawning of the jaws in my
ment. Yet, what other topic has reader. Why? Because it seems
had so much written about it, so painfully clear that our society is
little of which is read? With his breaking down rather than ma-
usual blunt Yankee insight, Emer- turing and because this trend
son summed up the current atti- seems likely to continue until we
tude on such treatises: face and correct certain funda-
mental misconceptions in our ed-
Dr. Roche is Director of Seminars for the ucational framework.
Foundation for Economic Education. He has
taught history and philosophy in college and In the last century, men of
maintains a special interest in American
education. good will seemed naively confident
that the mere communication of ucation has most conspicuously nur-

knowledge could change the world. tured. 1
All problems, all social difficulties, Modern dictators have made very
could be corrected if only igno- effective use of universal institu-
rance could be conquered. Unfor- tionalized education.
tunately, knowledge and ignorance As universal education has
are at best highly relative terms. failed to provide the utopia ex-
The problem is further aggravated pected of it, the Western World
when we ask the question, "Knowl- in general, and the United States
edge and ignorance of what?" in particular, has begun to sus-
Sadly enough, that issue was all pect that even our advanced, lit-
too seldom faced when we were erate, "modern" civilization on
constructing the philosophy and which we so pride ourselves may
institutions of modern American prove to be mortal after all. We
education. are beginning to suspect that civ-
The Mixed Blessings of ilizations can die as well as grow.
Universal Education Moreover, we are becoming restive
as we see some of the signs of
Following the lead of the nine- decay around us. We are begin-
teenth century, modern America ning to suspect that there are
and most other nations of the other obstacles blocking our path
Western World have established to an ideal society, obstacles de-
universal institutionalized educa- rived from the human condition,
tion. However, there are some obstacles not easily overcome by
signs that ignorance has not yet merely providing larger and larger
been vanquished. There also are schools, more and more books, and
signs that such knowledge as has more and more of all the other
been imparted has brought little trappings of universal institution-
progress toward "the good so- alized education. The differences
ciety." Worst of all, there are we note between an "educated
signs that teaching everyone to man" and a "good man" should
read may be less than an unmixed cause us to re-examine what we
blessing: mean when we use the word "ed-
. . . teaching everyone to read opens ucation."
minds to propaganda and indoctrina- Surely, education should be
tion at least as much as to truths; helpful rather than harmful. Sure-
and on political and social matters
it is propaganda and indoctrination 1 James Burnham, Suicide of the
rather than truth that universal ed- West, .pp. 138-139.
1968 EDUCATION IN AMERICA 605
ly, education should be encouraged ward trend. People expect to be

to the utmost. At least this is the saved by a word when they cannot
way we all talk about the subject. even give content to the word. 2
Do we really mean it? More im- Shortchanging the Students
portant, should we really mean Twentieth century America is a
it? The answer to these questions society in which all children go to
depends on what sort of "educa- school. Yet, today our cities are
tion" we have in mind. populated by children worse be-
Perhaps the most "educated" haved and more socially dangerous
people of antiquity were the than the less "educated" young-
Greeks, yet they destroyed them- sters of former times. Let me
selves. The Germans have been hasten to insist that I am not
among the most literate and most against children learning to read.
completely "educated" people of In fact, one of the complaints
modern times, yet succumbed to which can be leveled against mod-
the siren song of an Adolf Hitler. ern education is that large num-
Despite the fact that much of bers of high school graduates are
what passes for "education" pro- scarcely able to read and quite
duces undesirable results in whole unable to write a coherent para-
nations, despite the results it has graph.
been producing lately among many It'is not that our young people
well-endowed young people within have been underexposed to "edu-
our own society, we still find in cation," but rather that they have
the minds of most people that been badly shortchanged in what
"more education" is the answer they have received. Meanwhile,
to all problems. many of our high school and col-
An alarming percentage of our lege graduates who have learned
citizens, it is to be feared, stop with to read have then been condemned
the word "education" itself. It is to spend their time with books
for them a kind of conjuror's word, and lectures calculated to under-
which is expected to work miracles
cut those human values that make
by the very utterance. If politics
for the good society. The resultant
becomes selfish and shortsighted, the
cure that comes to mind is "educa-
generations of young people with
tion." If juvenile delinquency is ram- little or no knowledge of the na-
pant, "education" is expected to pro- ture of man, and a scarcely better
vide the remedy. If the cultural level understanding of the economics,
of popular entertainment declines, politics, and social concepts that
"education" is thought of hopefully 2 Richard Weaver, Life Without Prej-
as the means of arresting the down- udice, p. 42.
have been produced by the great more of these same people attend
thinkers of the Western World, graduate school as well. In the
continue to pour from our "edu- process we have cheapened the
cational" system. Surely, these bachelor's degree to a level in-
young people cannot be blamed for ferior to what an eighth grade
the direction of our society. Sure- diploma once constituted and we
ly, a system which produces young have made the Ph.D. degree a
people, some of whom cannot read, mere license to teach. "What price
many of whom cannot think, and education 1"
most of whom lack knowledge of Surely, American education suf-
their own heritage and the moral fers from an almost unbelievable
values which underlie it, is a sys- amount of aimlessness and confu-
tem which needs serious attention. sion. We spend more on our edu-
We have been pouring unlimited cational institutions than have
amounts of money into the me- most societies past or present. Yet,
chanics of the education of our as our buildings grow larger and
young. Perhaps it is time we be- larger, the graduates from them
gan to devote a little thought to seem to be less and less prepared,
the subject as well. in either mind or character, for
Meanwhile, we Americans seem carrying on our civilization. It is
to have almost no idea what to do widely assumed, and correctly so,
with our children. School, in many that our prospects as a nation and
cases, seems to be a convenient as a civilization rest upon our abil-
place to file our young people until ity to inculcate skills and civilized
the draft boards or the labor values in our young people. Such
unions absorb them. As parents a task is so important that our
and future employers, it appears society cannot any longer afford
that at least a part of our concern to let it drift as it has been drift-
for more and more years of "edu- ing. As one critic has suggested,
cation" is to get the youngsters "Is it possible that 'education' is
off our minds. This seems to be too important to be left to the
evidenced by more preschool edu- educators?"
cation, by the extension of the
Jeremiahs Seldom Popular
high school years through the
thirteenth and fourteenth grades Of course, it's possible to light-
at junior colleges, by our assump- ly dismiss such questions. Criers
tion that nearly all young people of doom are always warning that
should now attend at least four the end of civilization is in sight,
years of college, and more and but the sun usually seems to rise
the next morning. Isn't it true enon of the condition of unciviliza-

that in our developing technology tion in which we find ourselves.
and in our scientific achievements Our "uncivilization" was attrib-
we have been advancing steadily? uted by Schweitzer to the great
Isn't it true that we have more gap which has opened up between
material possessions than any oth- our material and spiritual under-
er civilization, past or present? standing. He sensed that modern
Yes, but it also is true that history man was becoming dependent upon
is filled with the records of dead larger and larger economic, social,
and dying civilizations; civiliza- and political aggregations of pow-
tions which in most cases achieved er. He warned that, in the process,
the greatest bloom of prosperity the individual man was finding it
and self-satisfaction at the very increasingly difficult to identify
time when they had so lost their and establish his own personality.
way, and so departed from the American education serves as a
very values which gave them di- prime example of modern man's
rection, that their own decline and emphasis upon the material rather
decay had already begun, unno than the spiritual, an emphasis
ticed by most people. upon larger and larger aggrega-
There are usually on the scene tions of collective authority and
some people able to sense the turn organization within which indi-
of events; but Jeremiahs seldom vidual personality finds a smaller
get a good press in their own so- and smaller place. Let anyone who
ciety. People don't like to be told doubts this attend the massive
such things. One of the warnings public high school or gigantic
concerning our own failing as a state university campus of his
civilization comes to us, however, choice. What we teach and how
from a man well publicized we teach it makes it harder and
throughnut the Western World. harder for the individual to find
In 1923, Albert Schweitzer com- and defend his place in the sun.
mented in his Civilization and
Ethics: Progress- and Regress
This peculiar composite of ma-
My subject is the tragedy of the
terial progress and spiritual re-
Western world-view. . . . Our civili-
zation is going through a severe
gress leads us directly to one of
crisis. . . . Most people think that the dichotomies of our age. While
the crisis is due to the war but they technicians and scientists radiate
are wrong. The war, with everything optimism in their prediction of a
connected with it, is only a phenom- glorious future, most of the popu-
lar writers of our time, concerned Over 2,300 years ago, Aristotle
with the human condition, view stated the question most suc-
the present as an absurd joke and cinctly: "Consideration must be
see the future as hopeless. All too given to the question, what con-
many modern writers see the uni- stitutes education and what is the
verse and human life as essen- proper way to be educated." The
tially meaningless. If anyone answer appears to be one for
might doubt such a sweeping which Western man is still search-
statement, let him consider the ing. Perhaps it is time to remind
literature which our young people ourselves of historian Herbert
read today in the high schools and Butterfield's injunction:
colleges of America. The same Amongst historians, as in other
overwhelming impression of the fields, the blindest of all the blind
meaninglessness of human life are those who are unable to examine
can be detected in conversation their own pre-suppositions, and
with many young people, or in blithely imagine therefore that they
even a casual perusal of the press do not possess any. . . . It must be
and theater of our time. emphasized that we create tragedy
after tragedy for ourselves by a lazy
A Dead End? unexamined doctrine of man which
It may be that in our pursuit of is current amongst us and which the
study of history does not support.
"education" we have been pursu-
ing the wrong ideas. Our Ameri- Professor Butterfield would get
can educational system might be little hearing for his remarks
compared to the glorious promise throughout much of the academic
of the nineteenth century frontier community today. Still, he may be
roads leading to the West. They right. We may have become so
offered a majestic appearance as busy discussing "education" with
they left the East, with planted the current cliches and shallow
rows of trees on either side to value judgments which we have
tempt the traveler. But, as Emer- come to accept, that we are over-
son remarked, they soon became looking some philosophic and in-
narrower and narrower and ended stitutional flaws of grave magni-
in a squirrel track running up a tude. Perhaps the time has come
tree. There are some signs that, for a serious and sustained effort
for all of our grand hopes and in thinking through the goals and
great expenditure, our institu- means of American education. It
tional educational framework may is past time for all of us to be-
likewise be leading us up a tree. come interested in the subject,
especially since educators in many society must pass from one genera..
cases respond to criticism "by re- tion to another for its own self-pres-
doubling their efforts and forget- ervation?
ting their aims," as Robert Hutch- (2) How does education fail when
ins has said. Surely, we can do it departs from such an underlying
better. moral framework? What have been
Actually, this soul searching the results of such a departure in
and re-examination of American our own society?
education has been under way in (3) What of the problems of size
this country ever since World and the problems of population
War II. Many people are deeply which confront our schools with
concerned about various practical overcrowding, lowering of standards,
and many related difficulties?
or philosophic aspects of one level
(4) Why is it that child-centered
or another of American education.
But no single level of education education, education essentially with-
out discipline, is a disaster, both
can be considered in a vacuum. for the child and for the society in
The students of colleges are, after which he is to assume a role?
all, the graduates of American
(5) What of the role played by
high schools. The teachers of high the educationists and the largely
schools are the graduates of Amer- dominant philosophy currently pur-
ican colleges and universities. Not sued in American education?
only are various levels of Ameri- (6) What of the failures in higher
can education interrelated, but education, stemming from institu-
the practical and philosophic as- tional inertia, excessive specializa-
pects of the problem feed back tion, the committee mentality, the
upon one another to produce a "publish or perish" syndrome, and
complex of relationships which the other shortcomings of the college
deserves a careful treatment with- and university community?
in the compass of a single study. (7) What of the college revolts
of our age? Who is responsible: stu-
Aspects of the Problem dent, faculty, or society? More im-
Some of the problems we will portant, where do we go from here?
be examining in an effort to (8) What of the problem of public
achieve an improved understand- versus private financing and philos-
ing of American higher education ophy for all levels of American ed-
will include: ucation?
(1) What should we be trying to This listing of vital questions con-
teach? What is the nature of the cerning American education could
underlying moral framework which be extended. What of the public
and private roles in research and An attempt to answer all of

technology? What of the problem these questions is, of course, am-
of vocational training? What in- bitious. But such a task is made
volvement should private indus- far easier by all the modern cri-
try have in this question? What tiques of education on its various
are the wellsprings of that hu- levels which have been undertaken
man creativity which has allowed by so many highly qualified peo-
society to advance as far as it ple. Even more important, the
has and how can those sources whole rationale for a proper phi-
best be safeguarded within our losophy of education derives from
educational system? What of the a large number of distinguished
many good jobs being done by thinkers, past and present, who
good people on various levels of have perceived the basic truth
American education and how can that how a civilization deals with
they best be preserved in a re- its young and creative minds is
vamped system? And finally, what the final key to the future of that
sort of a philosophy of education civilization.
could hest provide for America With a tip of our hat toward
the trained, disciplined, truly hu- all those better men who have gone
man, young people so desperately before, let us examine some of
needed if our nation and the the problems of American educa-
Western World are to survive? tion. ~

"Freedom, Morality, and Education."
Education for Privacy
I SUGGEST that over the door of every academic cubicle there

should hang the sign which Thoreau had over the door of his hut:
"My destiny mended here, not yours." In short, I propose to make
a plea for education for privacy.
MARTEN TEN HOOR
LEAVING THE
PROBLEM
TO OTHERS
BEN H. CARPENTER
IN THIS dynamic country of ours, dreaming of it, wishing for it, not
where things happen so quickly, realizing that if we were to suc-
where situations are changing at ceed in taking ourselves back to
an ever accelerating tempo, it is the period when there was little
extremely easy for us to lose per- change from one generation to the
spective. In our fretting about how next we would have to return to
today differs from yesterday some the Middle Ages - back to the days
of us somehow look back on yes- of the Black Death, of hopeless
terday as being "normal." Actually malnutrition and superstition, of
there has obviously been no such ignorance and tyranny.
thing as normality during the last Let us look at just a random
three centuries for the simple rea- selection of developments which
son that there has been such change has brought us since this
steady and rapid change during Cattle Raisers Association was or-
the entire period. ganized under the Oak Tree at
This is a fact which apparently Graham. These developments in-
escapes many persons. Many of us clude the gasoline engine with all
are constantly looking to the past, its ramifications including auto-
mobiles, trucks and busses, farm
Mr. Carpenter, Chairman of the Board of
Southland Life Insurance Company in Dallas, tractors, piston driven airplanes,
recently concluded a term as President of the
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Associ- motorcycles, motor boats, power
ation. This article is from his address at their mowers, stationary engines, and
~~6~~1 convention in San Antonio, March 26,
mobile construction and military
611
equipment of all kinds; the diesel thoughts and efforts to respond to

locomotive; turbine and jet pow- these new changes as they chal-
ered aircraft; oil-fueled ships; lenge us.
rockets and missiles, industrial The most significant thing about
equipment and machinery of many the changes taking place in our
sorts; oil- and gas-fueled space environment today is the speed
heating and cooking equipment; with which they are occurring. Dr.
air conditioning; the washing ma- Thomas Stelson, head of Civil En-
chine, refrigerator, vacuum clean- gineering at Carnegie-Mellon Uni-
er, incandescent lamps, the phono- versity, tells us that half the
graph, telephone, movie machine, knowledge an engineer had when
radio, television, radar, rotary he graduated in 1958 is now ob-
drill, cream separator, milking ma- solete. At the same rate of change,
chine, commercial fertilizers, anti- today's graduate will find at least
biotics, feed additives, vacuum half his present knowledge obso-
packing and freezing, the cash lete by 1978. Or to put it another
register, the atomic reactor, com- way, half of the technical knowl-
puters and electronic instruments, edge an engineer will need to
x-ray, the heart-lung machine, and know in 1978 is not now available
the iron lung. And there are, of to him. Noone knows what it is.
course, thousands of other amaz- Our society has traveled fast
ing developments, which we are and far in advancing our technol-
quick to become accustomed to ogy, our physical output, and our
and take for granted. material well-being. We have de-
veloped the most productive form
To Respond Intelligently of society that man has ever en-
There can be no progress with- joyed. We have taken long strides
out change. Our task in life is not into the unknown and have ex-
to resist changes but to intelli- tended man's influence upon his
gently respond to changes that environment. But, has the swift-
take place. Many of the problems ness of our material achievement
of our own cattle industry today outrun our moral and spiritual
are a partial result of the reluc- capacity?
tance of many cattlemen to accept In considering this question, W.
this fact. We must not let our- F. Rockwell, Jr., chairman of the
selves become so preoccupied with Board of North American Rock-
resistance to new ideas and with well Corporation, cites the story
dreams of past golden memories of the American hunter who was
that we fail to devote sufficient in search of big game in West
1968 LEAVING THE PROBLEM TO OTHERS 613
Africa. He was getting close to strained the human race upon this
his prey when his hard-running earth. The old virtues which we
native guides suddenly sat down were brought up to respect and
to rest. The American protested to copy in our daily Iives, are now
their leader. He threatenedl:~plead derided and called, at best, old-
ed, offered bribes, but the natives fashioned and out-of-date and, at
wouldn't budge. worst, "square."
"But why," he asked the leader,
Lowering the Standards
"why must they stop now?"
The leader replied, "The men On every hand there are signs
say they have hurried too fast. that we are substituting material-
Their bodies have run off and left istic values for spiritual 'ones -
their souls behind. They must wait the old standards of what is right
now for their souls to catch up." and what is wrong are being dis-
Rockwell has commented that it carded and, in their stead, we are
seems to him that this could be establishing doubtful codes of
happening to Americans today. ethics that, if followed, can only
We may be running so fast that render us impotent as a people
our technology is out-running our and as a nation. Riots, demonstra-
souls. tions, acts which show disrespect
Max Ways, senior editor of For- for our flag, for high government
tune magazine, has given us this officials, and for law and order have
warning: become a way of life for far too
"Unless we change our thinking, many Americans.
we won't be able to cope with the And - here is what also disturbs
change that is taking place. me most of all - instead of being
Change, of course, has always been outraged by what has been going
a part of the human condition. on, many of our leaders on the
What's different about it now is national level seem to be spend-
the pace of change, and the pros- ing most of their time making up
pect that it will come faster and excuses for behavior which we
faster, affecting every part of life, were brought up to consider as
including personal values, moral- obscene, illegal, perverse, irrespon-
ity, and religions, which seem sible, riotous, and even treasonous.
most remote from technology." We hear a lot about freedom
And this is of great concern to these days -.and we hear very lit-
me. Everywhere there seems to be tle about responsibility.
an abandonment of the ancient We hear a lot about the right
values that have sustained and re- to express one's self - and very lit-
tIe about the right of other people 2. Unwillingness of the young

to avoid being offended by such men to bear arms in defense of
expression. their country.
We hear a lot about the under- 3. Overindulgence in luxury.
privileged poor - but very little 4. Widespread sexual immorality
about the underprivileged tax- and easy divorce, which destroyed
payer who is being made the the integrity of family life.
scapegoat for the deserving and 5. The spread of effeminacy-
the undeserving poor alike. girls looking and acting like men,
We pussyfoot among a lot of men looking and acting like girls.
highsounding names. We call 6. Disregard for religion.
drunkards "alcoholics," we call That was Rome, 1,400 years ago.
homosexuals "deviates," we call Does the picture seem to apply to
draft dodgers "card burners," and the United States today?
slackers "pacifists" or "conscien- I have no patience with the com-
tious objectors," we call dope ad- placent Pollyannas who pooh-pooh
dicts "experimenters in personal- the idea that our moral fabric is
ity extension," we call criminals disintegrating, and who claim that
"victims of society." conditions are no worse today than
Some of this may be all right. they were 50 years ago.
Some of it may reflect a more When most of us were young,
compassionate attitude in our so- women didn't live in constant fear
ciety. But I think the time has of assault, robbery, and rape. Par-
come when we should and must ents could send their children
draw a line separating compassion down to the corner store without
from softheadedness, permissive- dying a thousand deaths until they
ness, and timidity. returned. A man could walk his
dog around his neighborhood at
Signs of Decline night without fear of being
Near the end of his great book mugged, or beaten up, or murdered
on the decline and fall of the Rom- just for kicks.
an Empire, Edward Gibbon lists We all remember when a rape
the reasons for the dissolution of was a front page story. Now, in
the great political force which had most large cities, it's a run-of-the-
held the civilized world together mill story tucked away among the
for more than 500 years. The prin- want ads and the minor traffic
cipal reasons included: accidents. If a rapist wants to
1. Excessive spending by the make the front pages, he has to
central government. commit his crime in wholesale lots
and in an especially spectacular sophomore students, an agricul-
manner. The competition is too tural education major and a range
great. science major, ring leaders of
Many of you read about the re- another theft group, operating in
volt last week of a large section three counties, have been indicted
of the student body at Howard with evidence developed by this as-
University when a mob of students sociation's inspectors.
drove the university administra-
tors out of their offices and forci- Seeds 01 Revolt
bly occupied the entire administra- And violence? Violence is too
tion building of the University for common for mention. One need
a period of several days. This only glance at the newspaper head-
- almost in the shadow of the Na- lines to realize that the seeds of
tion's Capitol. revolution are being sown through-
For an example closer to home out the country today. The assault
- would you believe it if I told on a single day last April of 185,-
you that three of the cattle theft 000 demonstrators against the
rings uncovered by this associa,- Vietnam War with displays of
tion during the past year were hatred for our country and con-
composed of students at Texas tempt for its laws and institutions
A&M College? Now, this is some- is example enough. Or the 75,000
thing not to be dismissed lightly who descended on the nation's cap-
with the comment that "boys will itol on Octoher 21st and created
be boys," when, for example, you mass havoc. During the past two
realize that the ringleader of one years more than 128 American
group, a student in the junior class cities have experienced outbursts
now serving five years in the peni- of racial violence.
tentiary, had developed against We can't blame the newspapers.
him convicting evidence on 62 sep- If they were to cover all the vio-
arate theft cases, including cattle, lence in their communities in the
horses, trailers, and saddles. Our way they used to cover it, they
inspectors recovered stolen prop- would have to have a special editor
erty disposed of by this group as for rape, a special editor for armed
far away as Billings, Montana, and assault, and so on.
Fort Collins, Colorado. In between Listen to these statistics for a
this ring's major theft activities, moment. In the United States to-
it stripped automobiles on the day there is a forcible rape every
campus. 26 minutes - and these are just
Since the first of the year two the rapes that are reported.
There is an armed robbery every is being accepted today as freedom

five minutes. of speech. What used to be called
There is an aggravated assault riot and insurrection not so long
every three minutes. ago is today called freedom of as-
There is a car theft every min- sembly. And academic freedom,
ute of every day of the year. as a noted educator recently said,
Violence has become a common "has become a sort of Yalu River
thing in our daily lives. Blatant behind which Educators and Stu-
disregard for the rights and the dents alike are immune from at-
freedom of others has become a tack but from which they are free
commonplace thing. to sally forth to attack everything
Governments like ours were else, including their own school
formed to substitute the rule of and college."
law for the rule of force. A gov-
LaggardsforLeade~
ernment can only lose the respect
for which it is held when for polit- Whose fault is this condition?
ical reasons its public officials do In a way, it's everyone's fault. Too
not fully enforce its laws. many of us have been talking
The freedoms our forefathers about freedom without really
fought and died to obtain are now knowing what freedom is all about.
being used to weaken and divide Educators, politicians, clergy-
our great country. Listen to these men, businessmen, farm groups,
statements which were publicly and almost everyone else - have
made by one of the more militant been demanding more and more
civil rights leaders: freedom for more and more people
"We've got to tell Johnson that as groups - often at the expense of
if we don't get home rule here in individual freedom. But they have
Washington we're going to disrupt failed to emphasize the responsi-
this city completely." bilities of freedom. There has
"In Cleveland they're building been a lot of talk about so-called
stores with no windows . . . all "Civil Rights" and absolutely no
brick. I don't know what they mention of "Civil Responsibili-
think they'll accomplish. It just ties." You can't gain freedom by
means we have to move from Mol- taking it away from somebody
otov cocktails to dynamite." else. Freedom is something you
In Chicago he said: "I'm go- earn and deserve and build and
ing to Washington and take it create for yourself.
over lock, stock, and barrel." But most of all I blame the peo-
What used to be called treason ple who should have been giving
this country responsible leader- the uneducated, and the ignorant

ship and instead have given it along that path are guilty of polit-
meaningless phrases and political ical bribery and blackmail.
slogans. For too long a time all
Instant Morality
decisions regarding the direction
and destiny of our country have Too many of our citizens de-
been politically oriented decisions. mand the right to determine what
Economic decisions have been po- is moral and what is not. They
litical rather than economic, social end up determining that nothing
decisions have been political rather is immoral- everything goes. They
than social, military decisions have feel no obligation toward others
been political rather than mili- who maintain traditional moral
tary, foreign policy decisions have standards. They feel no responsi-
been political rather than diplo- bility for the young who are not
matic, public education decisions prepared for exposure to the kind
have been political rather than of immorality that they desire to
practical. preach and practice. This is not
If conditions were different and freedom; this is irresponsibility.
favorable, these national leaders When men take the law into
would be the first to claim credit, their own hands - when men, act-
so a great deal of the blame for ing as individuals, decide for
the saddening conditions that do themselves which laws they will
exist must be placed at the door- obey and which they will disobey,
step of these same national leaders then we don't have freedom - we
who have all but incited certain have .a direct and aggravated as-
elements of our society to riot ... sault on all freedoms. In every
and have refused to condemn such society of free men there must be
riots until they became a political law-givers and law-abiders - and
embarrassment. there must be penalties for those
They have led too many of our who will not abide.
citizens to regard freedom as The Supreme Court has preoc-
meaning freedom from unpleas- cupied itself for years with the
antness, freedom from work, free- rights of the accused. It has all
dom from discipline, freedom from but rendered our police helpless.
sacrifice, freedom from duty, free- But let us examine the situation.
dom from responsibility, freedom Do we have a serious problem with
from concern for your neighbor. innocent persons being wrongly
That isn't freedom at all. And convicted? Do we really believe
those who lead the uninformed, that our police are seizing every
opportunity to "brutalize" sus- the very act of raping a 22-year-

peets? Is this really the problem? old government employee. This
No, of course, it isn't. The real man had, on two other occasions
problem is the abuse of thousands within the previous six months,
of innocent helpless people by been charged with the same type
hardened criminals. Why, then, of crime. In the first instance the
cannot the Supreme Court ad- case was dismissed because the
dress itself to this problem, rather victim committed suicide rather
than destroying the effectiveness than go through the ordeal of the
of the police who aTe trying to trial. The second case was dis-
protect us? missed by the trial court on the
Not long ago a judge freed a technical grounds that the police
woman who had confessed to kill- had made an illegal search be-
ing her four-year-old child - freed cause of their failure to first ob-
the woman because her attorney tain a search warrant. He was
was not present when she con- finally tried, found guilty, and sen-
fessed her crime. The woman tenced by the District Court, but
thanked the judge and he repri- listen to this: our very learned
manded her. He said "Don't thank U.S. Court of Appeals reversed
me, thank the Supreme Court. You his conviction because the Trial
should go to jail for your crime." Court let the jury see, at their re-
The woman went free. quest, the official weather report
A patrolman in Washington, for the time of the alleged attack,
D.C., answered a fire alarm, and which certified that the weather
found a building burning. When was clear, the temperature in the
he approached the fire, two men low 70's, and the visibility eight
walked up to him and one man miles. The basis for the Appellate
said, "This is the man that did it." Court decision was that the trial
The policeman said to the other judge erred in letting the jury see
man, "What do you have to say the weather report after the jury
for yourself ?" The second man started deliberating, and that the
said, "Yes, I set the fire." The defense counsel had no way of
court threw this confession out on attacking it after he had contend-
the basis that the patrolman ed at the trial that there wasn't
should not have questioned the enough .light to make a positive
second man without a lawyer pres- identification possible.
ent. This is not fiction! This is mod-
Some time ago the Washington ern day America! This is law en-
police arrested a man caught in forcement and justice under the
1968 LEAVING THE PROBLEM: TO OTHERS 619
"Great Society"? Why must it be and "managed" basic fiscal policy
that way? Why cannot the Su- for the last 10 years. It is almost
preme Court turn its resources to impossible today to find in a top
solving the crime problem rather level financial advisory capacity of
than erecting legal means for the our national government men who
criminal to escape? Whose rights believe a debt is a debt and that a
are most important, the general permanent program of spending
public's or the habitual criminal's? above income will bring disaster
Is it any wonder that about 80 per to an individual, a family, a com-
cent of serious crime is by repeat pany, or a government. In our na-
offenders? tionalleadership councils practical
men of experience have been re-
Downgrading the Individual placed by theoretical, academic
But this step-by-step erosion of types. They operate under a far
America's fundamental concepts of different economic and political
patriotism, self-reliance, individ- philosophy from that which pre-
ual dignity, and fiscal responsibil- vailed as the basis for this nation
ity has now reached the point becoming the strongest country in
where it threatens the continued the long history of the world. Their
existence of our great country as philosophy does not countenance
the cornerstone and anchor point such things as balanced budgets
of true freedom of opportunity for and debt retirement. These un-
the individual. principled economists rationalize
Many of our national leaders that "it makes no difference about
have embraced a philosophy which the size of the debt because we
regards the individual as being in- owe it to ourselves." Nevertheless
capable of dealing directly with the continued deficit spending by the
complex problems each one of us national government has brought
faces today. The extent to which inflation, and none of their ra-
government has already assumed tionalizing can deny the fact that
responsibility for basic economic the American dollar has lost about
requirements has truly weakened 60 per cent of its buying power
individual initiative. since 1940 - and appears destined
The present economic situation to lose more.
in which this country finds itself Ladies can rebel, protest, dem-
today must in substantial degree onstrate, picket, and boycott the
be charged to the so-called "New grocery stores - congressmen can
Economics" which have drastically order investigations - but the real
influenced government spending culprit is the "New Economics" of
620 T~E FREEMAN October
government. Some of these econ- computerized age of space and
omists call it a "Government Man- science. Our schools have been in-
aged Economy" and others call it structed to refrain from teaching
a "Government Controlled Econ- our children the power and glory
omy." Whether managed or con- of prayer. We have successfully
trolled, they have made a mess of and shamefully defended in court
the financial affairs of this coun- our children's right to ignore the
try from the towering Federal salute to the flag. Groups are hard
debt of approximately $350 billion at work trying to abolish Christ-
and the swiftly rising cost of liv- mas and Easter programs in
ing to the deficit in our interna- schools - eliminate Thanksgiving
tional "Balance of Payments" and Day and Presidential proclama-
the diminishing of the treasury of tions of prayer - even working to
gold at Fort Knox. remove chaplains from our Armed
Forces.
Back to First Principles I reject these contentions and
We are at a critical point in his- all of this nonsense. I don't be-
tory. On the one hand, dramatic lieve that we can comfortably
and fast changing advances in take pride in the scientific and
technology and science offer mi- technological advances of the day
raculous opportunities to improve amidst the immorality, irrever-
the creative level of mankind. On ence, irresponsibility, and violence
the other hand, the violence, the which exists in such volume in
license, the financial and moral ir- our society today.
responsibility which infest our
land have caused great divisions Toward a Solution
among our people. Do we have the What can we do about it?
emotional stability as a people to There is no quick and easy so-
reject the damaging and negative lution. But we can make a start
tendencies of our society in order by taking our heads out of the
to properly and fully utilize the ground and recognizing the grow-
opportunities that scientific ad- ing crisis around us for wha.t it
vancement holds before us? is. We can start as individuals by
There are those who contend abandoning the philosophy of non-
that old-fashioned creeds, theprin- involvement in matters of public
ciples of our forefathers, the interest - an attitude which too
founding philosophies of this many of us have embraced in re-
country's early days are now out- cent years. We must be willing to
moded and inapplicable to this accept our citizenship responsibili-
ties. We must choose our national breakers of our laws - making up
leaders with more care and cau- excuses for them -looking com-
tion. placently the other way because it
We can start relearning the art is safer and easier to ignore them,
of self-discipline - and insisting or because it is politically expedi-
that all elements within our so- ent to do so.
ciety learn it, also. We have tried the soft approach,
We must relearn and teach oth- and many of us hoped it would
ers that - in the common idiom- make conditions better. This has
"there's no such thing as a free failed. Conditions have become
lunch." worse, not better, and they are
Our American society was based growing worse with every passing
on a system of earned rewards and day.
earned punishments. There is no We must grow tougher in our
place in our society for either re- approach and we must tighten our
wards or punishments that are not financial belt.
earned. We must rediscover for our-
We must learn to call things by selves - and teach to others - the
their right names. Violence is vio- truth that freedom is inseparable
lence - no matter what the cause from responsibility. It is a difficult
in which it is perpetrated. Violence thing to win - freedom; but it is
is a grievous breach of the law even more difficult to live with it
and must be treated as such. - and still more difficult, we are
Treason is still treason and finding, for the individual to
should be treated as such. Anyone keep it.
who gives aid and comfort to an
enemy of the United States is A firm foundation
flirting with the very essence of Freedom is indivisible. Any so-
treason. And this should be true called freedom that impairs and
whether that man is a presidential impedes the legitimate freedom of
candidate, a Negro minister, or a others is tyranny - whether it be
foreign agent. The same goes for in the form of an all-powerful dic-
sedition and for all those who tator, or whether it be in the form
preach sedition, who teach it to of an arrogant, oppressive, and
their students, or who seek to bigoted power structure, or wheth-
arouse sedition in others by burner it be in the form of a violent,
ing their draft cards or defaming lazy, selfish, irreverent, and un-
and disgracing the American patriotic minority.
Flag. We must stop coddling the History has shown us that great
advances have been made in civi- tral government in Washington,

lization where there has been an but in the acceptance of citizen-
acceptance of citizenship respon- ship responsibilities at the grass
sibility by a broad group of people roots level by as many people as
on a grass roots basis. The ancient can be motivated to do so.
empires of Rome and Greece, for A responsible citizen is one who
example, achieved their initial is aware of the creative nature of
greatness when individual citizens man. Of all the creatures that in-
provided advancement in such habit the earth, man is the only
areas as science, medicine, judicial one that is not content to merely
matters, education, and economic ,exist in his environment. God has
trade. Great cities in which the given men the mental capacity to
citizens both took pride and ac- alter or change their environment.
cepted responsibility were the Our Christian training and back-
foundation of these empires of ground teaches us that this superi-
the past. However, as the central or ability should be directed to-
governments became more and ward improving life for our fellow
more powerful, the citizenship of beings on earth. In this sense each
the cities and the countryside ab- one of us has a responsibility to
dicated their responsibilities to be creative; that is, to make what-
provide for their own progress ever contribution we can as indi-
and welfare to these central gov- viduals toward maintaining and
ernments. Arrogant and improp- improving the environment of our
erly motivated but strong central society as a whole. Unfortunately,
governments resulted and contrib- too many of us have been leaving
uted to the eventual crumbling of this responsibility to others, or
once great civilizations, leaving worse still, have been abdicating it
only the ruins of once great struc- to the questionable leadership of a
tures of marble and stone. coalition of professional politi-
We must not let history repeat cians and fogheaded, theoretical
itself, as it sometimes has a habit economists.
of doing. We must learn from the
past and realize that preservation Implementing Good Intentions
of the integrity and dignity of I think most of us have good in-
each man as an individual is vital. tentions, but we have let ourselves
The only avenue for the preserva- become so preoccupied with our
tion of our way of life and its im- own personal day-to-day problems
provement for our fellow men lies and pleasures that we have neg-
not in more reliance upon our cen- lected our individual obligation
for active participation and in- haven't been created overnight. A

volvement in those affairs of so- major trouble is that when these
ciety as a whole which are shap- trends started and have pro-
ing the destiny of our country. gressed, too many of us have been
Good intentions and lofty desires waiting it out - hoping the trends
in themselves will not solve the would change - leaving the prob-
problems that face us today. lem to others.
The trouble with so many of us Each day offers us opportuni-
is that we are always getting ties and one of life's most pre-
ready to act instead of acting; we cious possessions, time itself. It is
are getting ready to participate a shame to forever lose and waste
but never really participate in these- most valued elements of our
public affairs. lives by procrastination, while our
The psychologist, William Moul- society moves headlong toward
ton Marston, once asked 3,000 per- disaster. Resolve on everyday of
sons this question: "What have your life to give full attention to
you to live for?" He was shocked the moment right at hand, for life
to find out 94 per cent were sim- is made up of moments at hand,
ply enduring the present while and only in this way can you live
they waited for the future. They your life to the fullest, and fulfill
were waiting for something to your responsibilities as a creative
happen, waiting for the children citizen.
to grow up, waiting for next year.
They were waiting for another Conditions are not going to
time to take a long dreamed-about change because we want them to.
trip, waiting for someone to die, The only hope for change is for
waiting for tomorrow without you and me, and thousands of
realizing that all anyone has for others like us, to start sounding
certain is today! off about matters of public inter-
The financial mess that we find est. There must be another voice
our country in today, the violence heard hesides that of the Black
and unrest on the domestic scene, Power mobsters and their intellec-
the muddled foreign policy, the tual companions. Nobody can do
soaring crime rate, the disregard our part, as small as it may be, but
for law and order - these things you and me!
CLARENCE B. CARSON
fiEuglaub
8. PAX BRITANNICA
I thank the goodness and the grace

Which on my birth have smiled,
And made me in these Christian days
A happy English child.
English Children's Textbook, 1855
THE WESTERN WORLD enjoyed of Europe, or beyond. In the early

nearly a hundred years of peace years there was trouble in Spain
from the Congress of Vienna and with her American colonies and
(1815) to the outbreak of World the hostilities in Greece. In the
War I (1914). Indeed, this peace mid-century, there was the Cri-
spread over much of the earth, as mean War to he followed shortly
the impact of European civiliza- by the most devastating war of
tion was felt to the far corners the century, the American Civil
of this planet. Of course, the tenor War. War even came briefly to the
of peace was frequently disturbed European center with the Franco-
by rumors of war, and on occasion Prussian War of 1870-1871. And
hostilities even broke out at some the tempo of the conflicts picked
point. Such wars as occurred, how- up toward the close of the era,
ever, were usually at the periphery with the Chino-Japanese War,
Russo-Japanese War, the Boer
Dr. Carson, Professor of History at Grove City War, the Spanish-American War,
his earlier FREEMAN series, The Fateful and the Balkan Wars.
Flight from Reality. Nevertheless, peace had become
624
1968 PAX BRITANNICA 625
the norm and war the ,exception. might shortly be banished from
Such wars as occurred were usu- the earth. In this context, Alfred
ally brief and limited to a partic- Tennyson, Poet Laureate of Eng-
ular locale. Threats to the peace land, did not appear so much to
were frequently met by a concert be dreaming in the lines that fo1
of powers to restore accord, such low as describing what was short-
as the ones resulting from the ly to be:
Congress of Verona and the Con-
Till the war-drum throbbed no long-
gress of Berlin. Moreover, insti-
er, and the battle-flags were furled
tutions and practices for main- In the Parliament of man, the Fed-
taining accord and extending eration of the world.
friendly relations among nations There the common sense of most
were developing apace: respect shall hold a fretful realm in awe,
for nationals in other lands, hon- And the kindly earth shall slumber,
oring of treaties, observing diplo- lapt in universal law.
matic niceties, respect for terri- One history book refers to this
torial boundaries of a country by ninety-nine years as "The Golden
other nations, and so on. Organi- Age of the West." Of the era, the
zations for promoting peaceful authors say:
interchange were formed on an
international basis increasingly: The growth of parliamentarianism
the International Red Cross accompanied the advance, of indus-
(1864), Universal Telegraph Un- trialization. In one country after
another representative institutions
ion (1875), Universal Postal Un- were established and personal free-
ion (1878) , a convention for doms were recognized, while new
standardized patents (1883), and libertarian ideals undermined the
a convention for uniform copy- time-honored theories of royal ab-
right laws (1887).1 The movement solutism. In its hour of triumph the
for peace reached its peak, in many emancipated bourgeoisie extended
respects, with the international the suffrage, abolished religious dis-
peace conferences at'the Hague abilities, ended human bondage, pro-
in 1899 and 1907. Moreover, senti- claimed freedom of thought, and en-
ment was spreading that wars couraged a rugged social individual~
were an atavistic throwback to ism. Its faith in the beneficent effects
of political and economic freedom,
our brute past, that civilization moreover, found support in the ris-
was spreading, and' that .wars ing standard of living of the masses.
1 Carlton J. H. Hayes, Contemporary As the advance of technology com-
Europe Since 1870 (New ,York: Mac- bined with the progress of' science
millan, 1958, rev. ed.) ,po 307. to create an unprecedented physical
well-being in the lands of the Occi- pire. Britain had an empire

dent, the privations and fears which throughout, but it was not the
had haunted mankind throughout source of her greatness. Rome's
its history began to recede. 2 might was in the force of the
The peace that prevailed gen- Roman legions. Britain never had
erally from the Congress of more than a tiny army by the
Vienna until World War I can standards of the age, and even
justly be called the Peace of Brit- her vaunted navy was not usually
ain. During these years Britain an instrument of conquest. Brit-
was the leading nation in the ain's greatness did not stem from
world. Carlton J. H. Hayes has her empire nor have its greatest
said, "Right through the nine- effect in the navy that ruled the
teenth century and until the world seas.
wars of the twentieth, Great Brit- There was a time when Brit-
ain enj oyed a preeminence among ain's rulers sought greatness by
the nations comparable. with that way of conquest and empire. In-
of Spain in the sixteenth century deed, they did so off and on for
or of France in the seventeenth."3 more than two centuries. Britain's
His comparisons understate the pre-eminence was an amazing phe-
case. Britain's pre-eminence in the nomenon, considering the small
nineteenth century should be com- physical base for such greatness
pared with that of France in the and the historical remoteness of
High Middle Ages, with Rome at England from the centers of civ-
the height of empire, with Athens ilization, but it did not come over-
in Greece during the classical -age. night. England's thrust to become
That is, Britain was leader at the a world power began during the
time of the flowering of the West. reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603),
when an augmented navy began
A Different Source of Strength
to contest with other countries.
But while Britain's leadership The navy consolidated its arrival
resembled that of Rome in that to great power status by the de-
it came at the peak of a civiliza- feat of the Spanish Armada in
tion, it was unlike Rome in very 1588. Thereafter, the appurte-
important ways. Rome's pre-emi- nances of England began to ap-
nence came by conquest and em- pear on distant continents, ever
more prominently. Successful col-
2 Chester G. Starr, et. al., A History
of the World, II (Chicago, Rand Mc- onization began in the Americas
Nally, 1960), p. 337. in the early seventeenth century.
3 Hayes, Ope cit., p. 40. During that century British naval
power contested with that other the choicest of her colonial pos-
great naval power, Holland, and sessions. Though the monarch re-
was generally successful. There tained some colonial possessions,
followed a number of major wars these ceased generally to be con-
involving England and France, ceived of as sources of wealth and
among others, in the late seven- power. Indeed, for perhaps two-
teenth and throughout much of thirds of the nineteenth century
the eighteenth centuries. So far Englishmen were given to think-
as the thrust to eminence by way ing of colonies as a burden and
of conquest and empire by Eng- responsibility rather than any
land was concerned, these wars considerable advantage. One his-
reached their culmination with the torian notes that "most Victorian
Treaty of Paris (1763) which statesmen as well as spokesmen
ended the Seven Year's War of the Manchester School pro-
(known in America as the French fessed a distaste for 'Empire' and
and Indian vVar). By the terms talked of colonies as a 'millstone
of this treaty England acquired or round our necks....'''4
consolidated its hold upon a vast At any rate, at the moment of
and extensive empire: all of North the nadir of imperial prestige in
America east of the Mississippi 1783, England was set on a new
as well as the vast area of Canada. road to greatness. The industrial
These were in addition to other surge occurred most dramatically
colonial holdings acquired over the in the 1780's, and may well have
years. been spurred by British ingenuity
turned away from the exploitation
Open for Business
of colonies to constructive indus-
But the imperial greatness of trial pursuits. Increasingly there-
England was short-lived. The old after, Englishmen sought markets
English continental American col- instead of empire, conversion in-
onies revolted in the 1770's, and stead of conquest, free trade in-
were able with the aid of France stead of protection, and produc-
to effect their independence. In tion rather than restriction. This
that conflict, however, Britain became emphatically so after the
faced not only a Franco-American Napoleonic Wars. The stage had
Alliance but also a hostile Spain been set for England to pursue
and a League of Armed Neutral- this course with developments in
ity of northern European powers.
4 Asa Briggs, The Age of Improve-
At yet another Treaty of Paris ment (London: Longmans, Green and
(1783), Britain was divested of Co., 1959), p. 385.
ideas, with limitations on govern- wealth fertilized the barren places

ment, with liberty and property of the earth and promoted mate-
secure, and with a people morally rial progress in backward lands."5
revived. No doubt, it was this commercial
superiority which made England
The Peace of Britain so imitable and influential. But we
The age of England's greatness must look elsewhere to discover
has been variously described: for why the nineteenth century should
Europe and America generally it be called the Peace of Britain.
was the Age of Liberalism and Commerce was more of a conse-
Nationalism; forEngland much of quence than a cause of this.
it is comprehended in the reign It was the Peace of Britain be-
of Victoria (1837-1901), and is cause England followed the ways
known as the Victorian Era; in of peace generally during the pe-
foreign affairs the spirit is best riod, was imitated by other na-
captured by calling it the Palmer- tions, and influential upon them
ston Era; in economic terms, Eng- in ways that made for peace. What
land became the Workshop of the makes for peace, we may gather
World, the World's Shipper, and from this experience, is stable and
London the World's Banker. To limited government, the counter-
sum it all up in its most impres- balancing of power both domestic
sive aspect, it was the age of the and foreign, free trade and the
Pax Britannica. turning of the energies of peoples
England's leadership was most to constructive pursuits, inhibi-
obvious and demonstrable in the tions upon trespassing either upon
commercial realm. Industrializa- individuals or upon nations, and
tion had taken place there first a humane ethos. It was in these
on a large scale. English produc- areas, at least, that England's in-
tivity and commercial activity con- fluence was so great and effective.
tinued apace in the nineteenth cen- A Shining Example
tury, though it need only be al-
luded to here. As Lipson says, "In Britain's influence was subtly
the nineteenth century she stood exereised upon much of the rest
pre-eminent as the leading com- of the world in ways that made
mercial nation on the face of the for peace by the example of its
globe, as the possessor of the larg- form of government. Peoples tend
est mercantile marine, and as the
5 E. Lipson, The Growth of English
universal banker, insurance and Society (London: A. and C. Black, 1959),
commission agent.... Her surplus p.332.
to imitate what they reckon to be of government, its stability, and
successful. They imitated Britain's even a modicum of prosperity. Not
industrialization because of its ob- only that, but England fought a
vious success in productivity. In long war against France and what
like manner, they tended to adopt that country had come to repre-
and adapt to themselves the out- sent. Such repressions as were
lines of Britain's system of gov- adopted in England to forestall
ernment. One historian declares revolutionary subversion were
that "most peoples abroad looked generally mild. Of equal impor-
upon Britain as the exemplar of tance is the fact that when the
what was highest and best in po- other victors in the Napoleonic
litical achievement ... ," that the Wars turned to unmitigated reac-
British system "was consciously tion (circa 1815-1830) , Britain
copied, in full or in part, by al- frequently stood for liberty and
most every country of western against the excesses of repression
and central Europe. . . ."6 associated with the reaction. It be-
The reason for this is not hard gan to appear that England had
to find. There was a great thrust found a way to liberty without
toward liberty in Europe in the revolution, "the means of peace-
latter part of the eighteenth cen- fully reconciling liberty and au-
tury, the impetus to which would thority, monarchical and constitu-
eventually spread to the rest of tional government, aristocracy and
the world. The massive push in democracy."7
this direction was made first in England had a stable and bal-
the French Revolution and associ- anced government within whose
ated events. It was an abortive framework an extensive liberty
undertaking. Instead of liberty existed in the nineteenth century.
and fraternity the French Revolu- The key idea for describing the
tion produced disorder, violent government was balance, a balance
and destructive divisions, and in the House of Commons between
eventuated in a new absolutism the landed gentry and the towns-
which made the onesrit was sup- men (made more effective by the
posed to supplant pale by conlpari- Reform Bin of 1832), a balance
son. between the elected house and the
hereditary house in Parliament, a
Stability and Balance
balance between the prerogatives
Amidst the turmoil of these of the Crown and the powers of
years, England retained its form Parliament, a balance between the
6 Hayes, Ope cit., pp. 80-81. 1 Ibid., p. 80.
parties, as Liberals and Conserva- adaptation, was that of the United

tives alternated frequently in or- States of America in the eight-
ganizing governments after 1830. eenth century. True, the United
It was almost typical that most of States abandoned monarchy, but
the thrust to free trade should be it kept the form and much of the
accomplished under a Conserva- function in an elected president.
tive Prime Minister, Sir Robert Nor did Americans adopt a cabinet
Peel, though the ideological im- system. Otherwise, the imitation
petus to it came from the Liberals. was obvious, a two-house legisla-
ture, the separation and counter-
A Heritage of Freedom
balancing of powers, limitations
The central features of the Eng- on government power in a consti-
lish government were a separa- tution which went beyond the limi-
tion and counterbalancing of pow- tations of the British, initiation
ers, a limited monarchy, constitu- of money bills in the more demo-
tional restrictions on the execu- cratic house, and so on. In addi-
tive power, initiation of money tion, the Americans kept from
bills in the elected house, cabinet their English heritage trial by
government with ministerial re- jury, the common law, and the
sponsibility to the Parliament (but right to a writ of habeas corpus.
whose head was chosen by the Moreover, they fitted this into
monarch), and the separation of their own history of colonial ex-
powers. Governments imitating perience by keeping the states
Britain could and did abstract within a federal system.
these and combine them in vari- Many other countries were to
0us ways, hopefully suiting them follow the British example in re-
to their own experience. Indeed, arranging their governments in
if they did not fit them into their the nineteenth and into the twen-
own heritage and tradition there tieth century. As provinces broke
would be missing what was prob- away from old empires to form
ably the most important aspect nation-states or as other provinces
of the British example, for the were linked together in nation-
British had shown that it was states these were apt to imitate
possible to attain liberty within a England. Of Belgium, Hayes says:
framework of inherited institu- "The liberal constitutional mon-
tions. archy which had been instituted
The first foreign imitation of in 1831 in conscious imitation of
the British form of government, the British - with a King who
and possibly the most imaginative reigned but did not rule, with a
bicameral parliament representing sides assuring the authority of the
the upper and middle classes and emperor, provided for a cabinet
making the laws, and with a and a two-house legislature con-
cabinet of ministers conducting sisting of a Chamber of Peers and
the administration and responsi- a House of Representatives elected
ble to the parliamentary majority by Japanese males of suitable
-this regime actually functioned property qualifications."lO
more nearly like the British than
did any of the other governmental Trade Barriers Removed
systems which Continental na- British free trade policies in-
tions copied from the 'mother of fluenced other lands in that direc-
parliaments.' "8 When the kingdom tion as well. The British had
of Italy was formed in 1871 it taken the lead in trying to remove
"represented a continuation and mercantilistic restrictions. "In
extension of the Sardinian consti- fact, commercial men in London
tutional regime which had been signed a petition for free trade in
copied from Great Britain's...."9 1820 and William Huskisson, who
Other nations were to follow was President of the Board of
this example more or less closely: Trade . . . , from 1823 to 1827
Denmark, NoTway, Spain, Portu- worked arduously for the aboli-
gal, France, Germany, and, of tion of the worst impediments to
course, the self-governing prov- trade."ll
inces or dominions within the Such arguments from successful
British Empire, Canada, Aus- British businessmen plus the ac-
tralia, New Zealand, and so forth. tual reduction of tariffs by the gov-
Indeed, any land that had a cab- ernment made a considerable im-
inet system of government in the pression elsewhere. "In fact, in
nineteenth and twentieth centur- the United States tariff rates were
ies had derived it from the British lowered steadily from 1833 to the
model. The full extent of this in- War between the States. . . . The
fluence is brought out by an event Netherlands virtually abolished
such as the promulgation of a con- customs duties from 1845 to 1877.
stitution in Japan in 1869. While Belgiurn greatly reduced its rates
it is said to have been modeled after 1851, and Sardinia did away
upon the German system, the debt with excessive forms of protection
to the British appears in this de- under the leadership of its great
scription. The "constitution, be- 10 Starr, et. al., Ope cit., II, 449.
11 Shepard B. Clough, European Eco-
8 Ibid., p. 107. nomic History (New York: McGraw-
9 Ibid., p. 125. Hill, 1968, 2nd ed.), p. 356.
statesman, Count Cavour." An powers approved intervention in
Anglo-French treaty was worked Spain in the 1820's, George Can-
out in 1860 which lowered rates, ning, his successor, "announced
and thereafter both countries that Britain would in no circum-
worked out similar treaties with stance permit the permanent mili-
other countries. By way of "a net- tary occupation of Spain, the vio-
work of most-favored-nation lation of Portuguese territory, or
clause treaties, the lowest rates the appropriation of any part of
which Western culture had ever the Spanish American colonies."14
known became generalized."12 Indeed, Canning had proposed a
joint British-American declara-
A Balance of Powers tion at the time that the President
Britain's foreign policy for much of the United States set forth the
of the century is the most direct Monroe Doctrine.
reason for calling the peace that On the other hand, Britain gen-
generally prevailed the Pax Brit- erally did what it could to advance
annica. Just as balance was the constitutional regimes. Lord Palm-
key to the greatly admired and erston, whose hand usually
imitated English government, so guided English foreign policy in
was balance the key to a very ef- the mid-decades of the nineteenth
fective foreign policy. There were century, was most outspoken in
several facets to this policy, how- this regard. He told the House of
ever. In the first place, England's Commons in 1832 that "the inde-
foreign policy makers maintained pendence of constitutional States
a rigorous independence of other . . . never can be a matter of in-
powers. Of the Viscount Castle- difference to the British Parlia-
reagh, the great British statesman ment, or, I should hope, to the
at the time of the Congress. of British public. Constitutional
Vienna, one historian says that he States I consider to be the natural
"refused to identify Britain too Allies of this country." He was to
closely with the policies of the show that he meant this in regard
European powers.... He resisted to Belgium, Switzerland, Italy,
Russian attempts to convert the and so on. 15
congress system into a means of Britain did, of course, partici-
imposing a programme of con- pate actively in international af-
certed anti-revolutionary interven- fairs. Her representatives sat in
tion. . .."13 When a concert of the great congresses and helped to
12 Ibid., p. 358. 14 Ibid., p. 347.
13 Briggs, op. cit., pp. 345-46. 15 Ibid., pp. 351-52.
arrive at common decisions on oc- Britain would intervene in the
casion. Britain made treaties with Crimea to throw her weight
other lands, engaged iIi diplomatic against Russia, would counteract
niceties, and protected her na- the weight of France in Spain,
tionals abroad. But the most di- would favor the Greeks against
rect and important participation the Turks, and so on. It should be
was in attempting to maintain a noted, too, that for. much of the
balance of power, a balance of century Britain's weight was used
powers on the continent and in in opposition to territorial expan-
western Europe, a balance be- sion and in favor of trade being
tween the powers of the East and open to all countries, particularly
the West. As the author of one of England, of course.
the volumes in the Oxford His-
Humane Reforms
tory says, "To the statesmen of
the nineteenth century the bal- England's leadership was so
ance of power meant an equilib- general in the nineteenth cen-
ri um or ratio between states or tury that examples only can be
groups of states, a. ratio estab- given. One major impact was in
lished in due form by treaty set- the spread of humanitarian ideas
tlement, affirmed by public declara- and the advancing of humane
tion and giving to each state, or measures. Within England itself,
group of states, a position based there were notable humane re-
upon a rough assessment of its forms. The penal code was revised
material and moral strength." to eliminate the death penalty for
It was in establishing such a numerous offenses. This did not
balance of powers that Britain's indicate .less concern for protect-
independence was so important. ing property, though many of the
"Great Britain could not dictate penalties reduced were for such
to the powers of Europe the policy things as stealing and. picking
which seemed most favourable to pockets, for a police force was
the peace of the Continent; she authorized to supplement penalties
could always throw her wealth and with surveillance. Attempts were
influence into the scale against made also at prison reform.
any Power or combination of Under the humanitarian animus,
Powers likely to disturb the exist- efforts were made at providing
ing equipoise."16 So it was that education for poor children, some
factory legislation was passed,
16 Llewellyn Woodward, The Age of
Reform (London: Oxford University and reforms were made in caring
Press, 1962, 2nd ed.), pp. 193-94. for the sick under Poor Law care.
The humanitarian interest spread greatness of her people. Certainly,

to concern with peoples in the col- the great men of Britain's age of
onies and those in far away places. greatness should be credited with
Missionaries went forth in large much of the nation's influence
numhers from England to many upon and prestige around the
places in the world to bring not world. Britain's statesmen stood
only Christianity but the pecu- out above those of other nations
liarly humanitarian application of and generally took the lead in the
it in the nineteenth century. international conferences: the
Englishmen acting for their Duke of Wellington, the Viscount
government frequently introduced Castlereagh, George Canning, Sir
humane reforms in lands that they Robert Peel, Lord Palmerston,
administered. The increasing in- William Gladstone, Benjamin Dis-
trusion of the British into India raeli, and many, many others. It
in the course of the century was fitting, too, that Que.en Vic-
brought many western reforms to toria, that doughty, highly moral,
that exotic land. "Reform meant and dignified lady should reign
the destruction of criminal bands during so much of this epoch.
and the gradual establishment of But statesmanship was only one
an unprecedented degree of law facet of this leadership. British
and order over much of India.... philosophy had been on the rise
Reform meant also the abolition since the seventeenth century with
of a number of traditional Hindu Bacon, Locke, and Newton, would
customs such as female infanti- playa major role in the eighteenth
cide, suttee, and thuggee. 17 The century with David Hume, and
British took the leadership gen- would be adorned in the nineteenth
erally in abolishing the slave trade, century by Spencer, Mill, and
in seeing to the abolition of slav- Bradley. Economics was almost a
ery in their colonies, and in at- British invention, and certainly
tempting to stop the international its development as a science owes
slave trade. most to Adam Smith, David Ri-
cardo, Thomas Malthus, John Stu-
The Greatness of England art Mill, Jeremy Bentham, and
found in Her People Stanley J evons. Probably the ma-
England's greatness, such as it jor work of Edmund Burke should
was, was in the final analysis the be called sociological; in any case,
his conservative philosophy made
17 Walter L. Arnstein, Britain: Yes-
terday and Today (Boston: Heath,
a deep imprint on political thought
1966), p. 105. in the era that followed.
British scientific leadership was bend the minds of men toward
already well established before the totalitarianism.
nineteenth century, with the work
of Newton, Boyle, Harvey, Halley, The nineteenth century was
and so forth. But later scientists truly a Golden Age, if man ever
left as great an impact: Charles had such. Hope abounded, and im-
Darwin more than any other, but provements appeared to be occur-
in chemistry there were Davy and ring in every direction. And Eng-
Faraday, in geology Charles Lyell, land was surely the center of it
and that jack-of-all-trades scien- from which radiated so much that
tist, T. H. Huxley. The British ex- made for peace. The symbol of
celled in literature more than the England's greatness was the navy,
other arts, and the century is filled but with equal aptness it should
with illustrious poets, novelists, have been or included the mer-
essayists, and historians: Words- chant marine. The ships that plied
worth, Shelley, Keats, Byron, the seas from their home base in
Dickens, Carlyle, Macaulay, Buck- the tight little isle carried not
le, the Brownings, Thackeray, the only the abounding goods of a
Bronte sisters, Ruskin, Arnold, productive nation but statesmen,
and others. Even Karl Marx thinkers, ideas, and men confident
sought out the freedom of Vic- in the superiority of their ways
torian England from which he was and institutions to teach others in
to poison the intellectual air and the arts of peace. ~
The next chapter of this series pertains to

"The Workshop of the World."
Liberty and Peace
VIOLATION of liberty, and nothing else, is the basic cause of con-

flict. The violation of liberty may affect either the person or his
property; it may be in the form of either a loss of liberty or the
threat of a loss, real or imagined. Under any of these conditions,
man's will to be free impels him to strike at that force which is
infringing on his liberty or threatening to do so.
F. A. H A R PER. Liberty: A Path to Its Recovery
Justify
LARRY ARNHART
THE ROAD to socialism is paved power, and rat control to cure "in-
with noble words. Every extension justice." It is time that individual-
of state control flourishes in the ists clarify and reclaim justice as
public mind in proportion to the a basic concept of the free society.
adjectives pinned on it. Liher- The classical definition of jus-
tarians, by contrast, have been tice was submitted by Plato. In
the "realists," tending to shun Book IV of his Republic, he as-
pompous language in their argu- serted justice to be "everyone do-
mentation. This characteristic is ing his own work, and not being
a virtue, but it can he an unneces- a busybody . . . ," and he added
sary hindrance. Libertarianism is that each should receive his proper
dynamic, and it should be sup- reward. Each should perform his
ported with the enthusiastic rhet- own work and receive his own re-
oric it deserves. Libertarians ward. Thus justice was not equal-
stress freedom, and properly so, ity, though each should have equal
but they have neglected corollary access to justice. As Edmund
ideals long monopolized by the col- Burke explained, "all men have
lectivists. One of them is the con- equal rights; but not to equal
cept of justice. things." This was not merely a
No other philosophy has a more principle for privileged elites. It
valid claim to justice than liber- did demand special rewards when
tarianism. Yet most of the inter- they were earned, but the proper
ventionist nostrums have been reward for some was a humble
proposed in the name of this ideal. and quiet life. A simple peasant
Government has regulated prices, could find happiness without os-
wages, farm production, electric tentation or material riches. The
common goal was that each man
Mr. Arnhart is a sophomore at Harding Col-
lege in Arkansas. be himself.
1968 LET'S JUSTIFY FREEDOM 637
What Is Justice? state redistribute private wealth
Philosophers have established while allowing everyone to do his
various types of justice. The most own work and receive his own re-
misunderstood has been distribu- ward? A just state is a noninter-
tive justice. Egalitarians have in- ventionist state. A government
terpreted this as state redistribu- can plan the affairs of its citizens,
tion; but Book V of his Nicoma- or it can be just by restricting it-
chean Ethics contains Aristotle's self to those duties necessary for
observation: preserving order. To those who
visualize a state both philan-
Distributive justice, which deals thropic and just, Bastiat would
with common property, always fol- warn, "These two uses of the law
lows the rule of proportion we have are in direct contradiction to each
described. When, for instance, dis-
other. We must choose between
tribution is made to two or more
people out of a common fund, it
them. A citizen cannot at the same
will be in accordance with the ratio time be free and not free."
of the contributions which they have The state planner would respond
severally made to that fund. that citizens can be both free and
not free. At least they must yield
Would today's social planners some freedom to the state so that
distribute government appropria- they might be "free" from hun-
tions proportionate to each tax- ger, unemployment, poor housing,
payer's donation? To those who inadequate education, and other
remain convinced that redistribu- such ills. In freeing its people
tion from rich to poor is just, from these "injustices," the plan-
Aristotle would answer, "If it ner believes, the welfare state pro-
were, all the acts of a tyrant must motes freedom as well as justice.
of necessity be just; for he only The libertarian replies that this
coerces other men by superior same reasoning could excuse any
power, just as the multitude coerce slavery as long as the slaves were
the rich." economically secure. As George
State redistribution rests on the Santayana retorted, the collectiv-
premise that government largesse ists talk of freeing the people,
and social justice are synonymous. "but of freeing the people from
They are not. Those championing what? From the consequences of
justice as the sole purpose of the freedom."
state have usually been adamant While Plato and Aristotle for-
in excluding philanthropy as a mulated their ideas of justice,
governmental pursuit. How can a multitudes were starving. Even
more lived in ignorance, eking out A productive economy is a use-

a living through crude skills. To- ful tool. But few are those who
day a few nations are more ad- would deem it an end in itself,
vanced, but the ancient afflictions even if it is essential to most
remain. The just state acknowl- other ends. An enterprising entre-
edges these conditions, while ac- preneur may discover an innova-
cepting man and not the state as tion to increase his workers' pro-
the appropriate agent for wres- ductivity and permit a shorter
tling these problems. Since the work week. His employees may
state can produce nothing but then satisfy their interests in
force, it helps best by maintaining philosophy, art, music, or what-
a just order. Man remains under ever their natures dictate. But
the restrictions of nature and cir- until an efficient economy raises
cumstance, but under political them from mere subsistence, their
freedom he can struggle for new lives must be narrow and their
achievement and find satisfaction freedom limited. Economic effi-
in his struggle. The just man does ciency, though, will come from
not expect immunity from the just individuals, not an unjust
pains of life; he only asks gov- state.
ernment to refrain from adding to
his distress. Justice must be restored to its
proper meaning. The equation of
The Libertarian Ideal social justice and government
The first element of justice is philanthrophy is a blatant distor-
the negative role of government, tion. Compulsory redistribution
and the second is the positive by government in the name of so-
role of the just individual. Each cial welfare is neither just nor
man "is to do his own work; and charitable. Political promises to
each man, as he orders his own free the people from their mala-
life without infringing on others, dies are equally false. Both of
is just. This is the affirmation of these sophisms would exchange
the unique individual; it is the genuine justice for an illusory
right to be oneself. Private prop- substitute. The legitimate duties
erty and economic competition of the state are still summed up
allow man to pursue his material as justice - allowing each man to
interests and receive what is due do his own work. This is the liber-
him from the free market, but tarian ideal. Let us propagate it
libertarians know that this is and return justice to the lexicon
only one side of his nature. of freedom. ~
EARLZARBIN
SOMEONE to set our troubled world and in the view of millions like
aright! Someone else, that is ! them, is for a man on a white
Not me! I'm overwhelmed by the charger to come bounding onto the
difficulties. Who am I to cause scene. They want someone in whom
an end to racial inj ustice, to re- they can put their faith, behind
juvenate the cities, to diminish whom to unite. They want him to
crime, to end the war in Vietnam, issue instructions, to transform
to lower taxes, to replace poverty the unthinking, to wave a lance
with wealth? Me? How can I do and thereby imbue all around him
all of these? Obviously, I can't, with their idea of right thinking.
but there has to be someone who But there's the catch: to imbue
can! all around him with their idea of
How often have we heard that right thinking! Little chance of
thought expressed. Not in just their agreeing among themselves,
that way, perhaps, but something aside from their universal desire
like it. James Reston recently said to create a utopia and to have
in the New York Times, "The someone else - if they are not
American conscience is not quiet picked - lead the way. This doesn't
these days. It would like to be stop them, though. What they want
eased by some political savior...." now is the messiah. They can quar-
Holmes Alexander, in his column, rel about substance later.
wrote, "Somewhere along the road There is, of course, no end to
ahead we must find a turning, or the list of men ready to take on
find a leader to perform some mir- the role of the Glorious Knight.
acle of rejuvenation." (Emphasis Even a semi-Glorious Knight
supplied) would do : just someone, some-
What is necessary, in their view, where (within the democratic tra-
Mr. Zarbin is a newspaperman in Arizona. dition, naturally) to rescue us
from ourselves and set us on the son would be a savior and leader
loving path of brotherhood and in his own right, for he would
righteousness. have saved himself.
This is the wish, but it is also We may understand and admit
the defect; for there is no one per- that this condition is unlikely to
son capable of doing what they occur very soon. But, unless each
wa.nt. There are, however, millions mounts his own white charger-
of persons who individually can if men insist on finding a savior
mount their own white charg.ers. instead of doing what is right
They can do this by insisting upon themselves - the goal of freedom
right thinking and right action in all areas of our lives will be
for themselves. Thus, each can be impossible of achievement.
his own man on a white charger. If our troubled world is to be
If each does this, there will be no set aright, it is to be done by our-
need for a "political savior," no selves, by each of us setting him-
need to "find a. leader." Each per- self aright. ~
CORRECTION: The review of William Rusher's Special Counsel

(Arlington House, 1968) in the September 1968 .FREEMAN errone-
ously listed the price at $10.00. The correct price is $6.00.
the
Freeman
VOL. 18, NO. 11 NOVEMBER 1968
Food' from Thought Charles W. Williams 643

. How ideas flower and bear fruit, if men are free.
To the Liberator James E. McAdoo 649

No pushing, please.
Instead of Famine - Thanksgiving! Henry Hazlitt 650

An early American lesson that bears repeating.
Moral Education: Ends and Means Frederick A. Manchester 652

Producing a man of character requires attention to instruction, environment,
example, discipline, and habit.
The' Devil You Say! Robert M. ThGrnton 660

Concerning the nature of man and his perfectibility.

9. The Workshop of the World Clarence B. Carson 663
A review of the improved human condition accompanying industrialization in
England, world leader in' that regard.
How to Win a War Ed Lipscomb 673

To find inner peace through personal achievement and self-control may be the
first step toward ending international conflict.
The Meanings of "Monopoly" Harold M. Fleming 681

The law lacks continuity when economists change the meaning of words, and
judges rule accordingly.
2. Freedom, Morality, and Education George Charles Roche III 691
An examination of the moral, ethical, and other cultural values underlying
Western civilization and human freedom.
Book Reviews 701

"Death of the Dollar" by William F,Rj.c-k.enbacker
"The Soviet Economy: Myth and Reality" by Marshall I. Goldman

the
Freeman
A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF IDEAS ON LIBERT'
IRVINGTON-ONcHUDSON,. NEW YORK TEL.: (914) 591-7230

Economic Education
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mand to cover printing costs. Permission is hereby granted to' repri
any article from this issue, providing customary credit is given, exce
"Moral Education: Ends and Means" and "The Rise and Fall
England."
CHARLES W. WILLIAMS
FOODFROMTH
How ideas flower
and bear fruit,
IMPORTANT EVENTS in the exciting In 1904 Thomas Sullivan, a tea

history of food have interesting, merchant, sent samples of his
divergent, and often accidental various blends of tea to a few of
beginnings. his customers packed in little,
In 1856 a boy in Pittsburgh hand-sewn silk bags. To his
grew some extra horseradish in amazement, orders began pouring
his mother's garden. He borrowed in by the hundreds for his tea
a wheelbarrow, which he filled put up in bags. His customers had
with bottles of ground horseradish discovered that tea could be made
and sold to local grocers. The boy quickly without muss or fuss by
was Henry Heinz; and from this pouring boiling water over tea
first bottle of horseradish sauce bags in cups. Thus, quite by acci-
grew the intricate world-wide dent, was the start of a million-
business of the H. J. Heinz Com- dollar innovation in the sale of
pany. Before 1900 that one variety tea.
had grown to 57, which today
In 1890 a salesman living in
numbers close to 570 in this far-
Johnstown, New York, while
flung food empire. watching the time it took his wife
Mr. Williams, now retired from an executive to make some calf's-foot jelly, de-
role in the food industry, has written numerous
articles concerning that field. cided that powdering gelatin would
644 THE FREEMAN November
save a lot of time in the kitchen. for use in a prison in Munich.

Charles B. Knox put his idea into This proved so efficient and work-
operation, hired salesmen to go able that many wealthy people
into peoples' homes to show how commissioned Count Rumford to
easily his gelatin could be dis- replace their open hearth type of
solved in water and used. His wife cooking apparatus with these new
worked out recipes for aspics and contraptions in their manor kitch-
desserts to be given away with ens. By 1850 many American man-
each package. This was the begin- ufacturers had adapted Rumford's
ning of Knox Gelatine known to- invention and were producing cast
day by every American housewife. iron ranges in many sizes and
shapes, lavishly decorated. From
Peter Cooper, the inventor of an experimental prison range, the
the "Tom Thumb" locomotives, modern stove industry was born.
also invented a process for mixing
powdered gelatin, sugar, and fruit In 1914 a young scientist from
fla vors. This was fifty years be- Brooklyn, New York, named Clar-
fore it began to appear on grocers' ence Birdseye joined a scientific
shelves as J ell-G. He was too expedition to Labrador. He was
early; merchandising methods had also an avid sportsman, so he lost
not been developed to convince no time. He cut a hole in the thick
housewives of the need for ready arctic ice to try his hand at fish-
prepared foods. Just before the ing. The fish froze as soon as they
beginning of this century spec- were exposed to the subfreezing
tacular advertising for its day air, often before he had them oft
pointed out how many desserts the hook. To his surprise, thE
could be prepared from this in- fish could be kept frozen for weekE
expensive, neat, clean package of and then defrosted and cookec
J ell-G. Recipe booklets were dislike a fresh fish without any los~
tributed by the millions, as many of texture or flavor. After return
as 15 million in one year, unheard ing to the United States, BirdseYE
of in that day. Another billion- made the same discovery while
dollar food business was launched. hunting caribou. The steaks fran
the quick-frozen caribou coul<
Count Rumford, born in Mas- later be broiled to a juicy, flavor
sachusetts, who later migrated to some rareness. Because of Worll
England, was a leading physicist War I, he had to drop many addi
of the nineteenth century. He built tional experiments in quick-freez
the first kitchen range designed ing all kinds of food. After th
1968 FOOD FROM THOUGHT 645
war he went into the fishery busi- Many people believe Aunt Jemi-
ness in Gloucester, Massachusetts, ma to be a fictional name repre-
and experimented with fast freez- senting an old-fashioned Negro
ing on the side. With a tremendous mammy. On the contrary, the
amount of good salesmanship, he name of this ever-popular pancake
raised money for the first quick- mix was inspired by a real, live
frozen food company. The first person. A widow who lost all her
Birdseye package went on sale to money and could no longer pay
the public in 1930. It would have wages to the faithful old family
been difficult to believe, at that cook worked out a formula with
time, that within a relatively few her real-life Aunt Jemima and
years almost every segment of our managed to borrow enough money
giant American food industry so they could jointly put their
would be in quick freezing. product on the market. The mix
brought fame and fortune to the
In Boston in 1894 a boarding- real Aunt Jemima and her former
house keeper was criticized by a penniless mistress.
sailor in her rooming house be-
cause her puddings were lumpy. Chiffon cake was billed in huge
Insulted at first, she became in- cake mix ads in the 1940's as the
terested when he explained that "first really new cake in a hun-
the South Sea island natives dred years." Harry Baker was a
pounded tapioca to a smooth con- professional baker and owned a
sistency and suggested that she pastry shop in Hollywood, Cali-
experiment by running some fornia. For years celebrities had
through her coffee grinder. Sure flocked to his store and raved
enough from there on her pud- about his cakes. Many cooks feel
dings were as smooth as silk. Soon that their personal recipes should
she was putting up her finely be very valuable to some big food
ground tapioca in bags and selling manufacturer but are shocked to
them to her neighbors. She chose find that variations of nearly every
a very magic name - "Minute recipe have already been tried in
Tapioca" - and soon found a big the research kitchens. Harry
business on her hands. Many Baker was one of the lucky ones;
quickly prepared foods have since he sold his recipes for many thou-
copied the word "minute," but sands of dollars to General Mills.
today a minute does not seem fast The valuable secret of his chiffon
enough and has been replaced by cake was that instead of shorten-
"instant." ing he used salad oil.
Going back many years to 1520, lives was further assured. Later,
Cortez, the Spanish conqueror of it was found to be an excellent ad-
Mexico, observed native Mayan dition in many food recipes, and
Indians treating tough meat with today Angostura Bitters is found
the juice of the papaya, a common on almost everyone's food shelf.
fruit in most tropical lands. He
noted this in his writings about Early traveling merchants from
his conquest. Strangely enough, the city of Hamburg, Germany,
this find lay dormant until recent learned from the Tartars in the
years, when the tenderizing ele- Baltic Sea area how to scrape raw
ment in papayas was turned into meat, season it with salt, pepper,
a powder, put up in jars ready to and onion juice to make what is
sprinkle on the surface of meat to still called tartar steak. The peo-
make chuck and round steaks as ple of Hamburg soon adopted the
tender as sirloin and porterhouse. tartar steak. After many years
From this long-forgotten idea some unknown Hamburg cook
came Adolph's Meat Tenderizer, a made patties out of the raw meat
necessity in many homes. and broiled them brown on the
outside and still pretty raw on the
In 1824 a German doctor living inside - a true hamburger. Today
in Venezuela had a Spanish wife in the butcher shops of America,
who had been sickly for years. De- ground hamburger meat accounts
termined to cure her, he worked for 30 per cent of all the beef sold
for over a year on a formula of to consumers.
herbs and spices until he invented
a tonic that he claimed brought The Toll House was a country
her back to health. Sailors stop- inn in Massachusetts noted for
ping at the little port of Angos- good food. In the early 1940's Ruth
tura found that this blend of Wakefield, who was then mistress
herbs, spices, and the blossoms of of the inn, started serving a crisp
the blue Gentian plant would cure little cookie studded with bits of
seasickness. They spread the fame chocolate. Miss Wakefield readily
of Angostura bitters around the gave her customers the recipe,
world, the process being speeded and all of a sudden, bars of semi-
when they learned to add it to sweet chocolate began vanishing
their ration of rum. When it be- from the shelves of the stores in
came an essential part of a Man- the area. It didn't take long for
hattan cocktail, its place in our the Nestle Company, and later
Hershey, to smoke out the fact lies coming to America. During

that. everyone was making the the trip several infants died in
cookie recipe tram the Toll House; their mothers' arms from milk
and soon they were selling millions from infected cows, which were
of packages of chocolate bits spe- carried on board most passenger
cifically so people could make these vessels to furnish milk, cream, and
wonderful cookies. Today it is butter for the passengers. Borden
America's most popular cookie, was sure there was a way to pre-
available frozen, in ready-to-use serve milk for long voyages; but
cookie mixes, and already made in many before him had tried and
packages. failed, including Pasteur. After
four years of intensive research,
The early Chinese found that Borden perfected a process of con-
seaweed dried and ground into a densing milk. In 1856 his patent
powder and added like salt to food was approved in Washington.
had a magical effect on meats and After much work selling the idea
vegetables - all their natural fla- to skeptics, the first canned milk
vor was enhanced. That's why was introduced to the American
Chinese food became so popular market and formed the corner-
all over the world. Eventually our stone of the vast and diversified
chemists discovered the flavor- Borden Company.
enhancing element and called it
glutamate. Today this product, In Battle Creek, Michigan, Ellen
monosodium glutamate, made from Gould White had a dream one
beet sugar waste, soy beans, or night in which she was told by
wheat, is a staple item in every the Lord that man should eat no
market. It is known to American meat, use no tobacco, tea, coffee,
shoppers as Ac'cent. or alcoholic beverages. As a
Seventh Day Adventist she estab-
Gail Borden, the son of a fron- lished the "Health Reform Insti-
tiersman, went to London in 1852 tute," a sort of sanitarium, where
to sell a dehydrated meat biscuit her guests ate nuts disguised as
at the International Exposition meat and drank a cereal beverage.
being held in England. He used This beverage was the creation
all his money trying to put over of one of her guests named
his idea and had to travel steerage Charles William Post, who was
to get home. He was appalled at suffering from ulcers. He named
the crowded, miserable conditions his beverage Postum. Post also
imposed on the immigrant fami- invented the first dry breakfast
cereal, which he called "Elijah's Pepperidge Farm Bread was in

Manna." He decided to go into demand all over the East Coast
business producing his inventions; and other bakers were making
but the name Elijah's Manna ran similar loaves - another small be-
into consumer resistance, so he ginning for a nationally-known
changed it to "Grape Nuts." company, Pepperidge Farms.
In this same sanitarium was a One night Teddy Roosevelt, who

surgeon named Dr. Harvey Kel- had been visiting the home of
logg, whose name along with Post's President Andrew Jackson,
was destined to be on millions of stopped for dinner at the Maxwell
cereal packages every year. One of House, a famous eating place
Dr. Kellogg's patients had broken nearby. Roosevelt, a great extro-
her false teeth on a piece of vert, was so delighted with the
zwiebach, so he invented a paper- coffee that when he finished he re-
thin flake cereal from corn. Break- placed the cup in the saucer with
fast cereals immediately became a formal gesture and cried out
a rage, and at one time there were heartily, "that was good to the last
as many as forty different com- drop," a phrase destined to make
panies in Battle Creek competing quite famous the coffee named
for this new health food business. after the Maxwell House.
So began the vast cereal business
of today. St. Louis, Missouri, was the site
of two important developments in
Margaret Rudkin was the wife the realm of food. In 1904 an Eng-
of a stock broker and her son suf- lishman was tending a booth at
fered from allergies. She made the St. Louis International Exposi-
an old-fashioned loaf of bread tion demonstrating the virtues of
from stone-milled whole wheat a hot cup of tea. This was an in-
flour, hoping to build up her son's surmountable task during the hot
health. The bread helped her son; July days in the Mid-West. Our
so her doctor persuaded her to Englishman, Richard Blechynden,
bake the bread for some of his disparagingly wiped the perspira-
patients, and soon she was in tion from his face as he watched
business. When this bread was in- the crowds pass him by. Finally,
troduced in the thirties, it com- in desperation, he threw some ice
peted at 25 against the spongy into the hot tea urn and the
white variety selling at 10. crowds began to swarm around his
Within 10 years, Maggie Rudkin's booth. The drink was a sensation,
and iced tea quickly became one mother who isn't thankful for
of America's most popular thirst healthful peanut butter when
quenchers. nothing else seems to tempt her
children's appetites.
Still in St. Louis, but back in
1890, a physician ground and So, with these anecdotes, one
pounded peanuts to provide an can see that almost every great
easily-digested form of protein for food company or food idea had a
his patients. The result was pea- small but fascinating beginning.
nut butter, which was quickly and Some came quite by accident,
rightly adopted by food faddists others from diligent perseverence,
all over the country. Today it is a reflecting the drive and ingenuity
staple found in almost every of the human race - free enter-
American kitchen. It's a rare prise among free men. ~
To the Liberator
No gun, no harsh harangue, no threat of force

is necessary to divert my course
from narrow, unenlightened paths I tread
to better ways, wherein my heart and head
are won to higher causes you espouse.
I seriously doubt that when my house

is leveled in the name of brother-love
I'd much consider that a proper shove
along the road you'd like to see me take.
The will you wish to win, you try to break.
But if you know your way is really best,

try living it, and I will do the rest.
JAMES E. McADOO
Sarasota, Florida
MOST of us have forgotten that
when the Pilgrim Fathers landed
on the shores of Massachusetts
they established a communist sys-
tem. Out of their common product
and storehouse they set up a sys-
tem of rationing, though it came
to "but a quarter of a pound of
bread a day to each person." Even
when harvest came, "it arose to
but a little." A vicious circle
seemed to set in. The people com-
plained that they were too weak
from want of food to tend the
crops as they should. Deeply re-
ligious though they were, they
took to stealing from each other.
"So as it well appeared," writes
Governor Bradford, "that famine
must still insue the next year also,
if not some way prevented."
So the colonists, he continues,
"begane to thinke how they might
raise as much corne as they could,
and obtaine a beter crope than
they had done, that they might not
still thus languish in miserie.At
length [in 1623J after much de-
bate of things, the Gov. (with the
advise of the cheefest amongest
them) gave way that they should
set corne every man for his owne
perticuler, and in that regard
trust to them selves . . . And so
assigned to every family a parcell
of land ...
"This had very good success; service did repine that they should
for it made all hands very indus- spend their time and streingth to
trious, so as much more corne was worke for other mens wives and
planted than other waise would children, with out any recompense.
have bene by any means the Gov. The strong, or man of parts, had
or any other could use, and saved no more in devission of victails
him a great deall of trouble, and and cloaths, than he that was
gave farr better contente. weake and not able to doe a quar-
"The women now wente will- ter the other could; this was
ingly into the feild, and tooke thought injuestice ...
their litle-ons with them to set "And for men's wives to be
corne, which before would aledg commanded to doe servise for
weakness, and inabilitie; whom to other men, as dressing their
have compelled would have bene meate, washing their cloaths, etc.,
thought great tiranie and oppres- they deemed it a kind of slaverie,
sion. neither could many husbands well
"The experience that was had brooke it ...
in this commone course and con- "By this time harvest was come,
dition, tried sundrie years, and and instead of famine, now God
that amongst godly and sober men, gave them' plentie, and the face
may well evince the vanitie of of things was changed, to the re-
that conceite of Platos and other joysing of the harts of many, for
ancients, applauded by some of which they blessed God. And the
later times; -that the taking away effect of th'eir particuler [private]
of propertie, and bringing in com- planting was well seene, for all
munitie into a comone wealth, had, one way and other, pretty
would make them happy and flor- well to bring the year aboute, and
ishing; as if they were wiser than some of the abler sorte and more
God. For this comunitie (so farr industrious had to spare, and sell
as it was) was found to breed to others, so as any generall wante
much confusion and discontent, or famine hath not been among:est
and retard much imployment that them since to this day."
would have been to their benefite Let us be thankful for this
and comforte. valued lesson from our Fathers-
"For the yong-men that were and yield not to the temptations of
most able and fitte for labour and socialism. ~
I BEGIN with a few expressions of
opinion I have recently come
across. By Dr. Rohert E. Fitch:
"It is certainly true that moral
confusion is growing"; and, speak-
ing of what is needed to restore
health to a prevailingly sick na-
tion: "Then there must be change
in the American home to end this
long, Spockian period of ultraper-
missiveness. We must bring up our
offspring with some sense of the
moral imperatives that they will
confront in life, and with the
sense that a real authority does
exist in the world."1 By Mr.
George F. Kennan: "To correct
these conditions [conditions caus-
ing "some deep emotional discom-
fort, approaching at times a mass
hysteria" in the "radical stu-
dents"] will indeed require a rev-
olution - a revolution in the social
and intellectual and spiritual en-
vironment of American childhood
and early youth . . ."2 By Gov-
ernor Nelson Rockefeller: "So I
believe very strongly in getting
these young people [the "prede-
linquents"] - in the kindergarten,
in the prekindergarten, even - and
then intensive help in the first
three grades. Maybe we could cut
our classes to 12 children - no
more than 12 - where they can
really get the help they need to
1 u. S. News & World Report, June 10,
1968, p. 49.
2 Ibid., June 17, 1968, p. 68.
652
1968 .. MORAL EDUCATION: ENDS AND MEANS 653
establish the patterns, the mores, be counted on, in any and all cir-
the standards, the moral fiber cumstances, to represent a high
which is essential for free citi- standard of conduct.
zens."3
Theologian, diplomat, aspirant Overcoming the Lower Self
to the Presidency of the United And the means? When we come
States: in the quoted words of to inquire into these, we soon
each of these prominent men as realize that to get beyond vague
regards one or another element generalities we must know the
in our current turmoil, there is fundamental facts about man's
included a call, specifically or in moral nature. To the first thinkers
effect, for moral education. It onfhe subject the problem in-
seems probable, when more and volved must have seemed hope-
more people trace to its source lessly complex and elusive - in-
the ultimate cause of much of deed well-nigh insoluble. Happily,
this turmoil, that this call will be the first thinkers did their work
increasingly heard and that it will thousands of years ago, and what
have behind it increasing earnest- they and their many successors
ness and force. accomplished can, in its essentials,
First, conviction of a need; be readily summed up. The inner
then, consideration of how the man is not one but two. There is
need can best be met. Such would the lower, the ordinary, self; and
appear to be a natural sequence. there is the higher, the extraor-
In what follows, I assume that dinary, self. The lower self is the
moral education is widely felt to self of the elemental lusts, urges,
be a major requirement of our instincts, passions, appetites, im-
time and venture some remarks pulses, desires-including all those
on two topics relating to it: (1) we commonly associate with what
What are we to understand by the we call the lower animals. Our
phrase - what in short is the end reference to these animals, it may
that our moral education should be noted, is sometimes both inac-
have in view? and (2) What are curate and unjust. "The beast that
the means by which we may en- lies within us" - some such words
deavor to attain this end? I recall reading only the other day,
The end seemS plain and can be where the allusion was probably
expressed in the simplest of words: to actions of a kind or degree that
it is to produce the man of char- beasts never dreamed of. A beast
acter - the man whose actions can has desires, but desires that are
3 Ibid., June 24, 1968, p. 53. definite and limited; when these
are satisfied he is content until and now we are in a position to

they again demand satisfaction. name specifically his primary
Man has not merely animal de- quality. That is self-mastery - in
sires but aninlal desires that can at least a high degree.
be multiplied a hundredfold - and But why "in at least a high de-
often are so multiplied - by a gree"? Why not self-mastery ab-
boundless imagination. solute? Is not self-mastery in all
The higher self, on the other degrees an easy thing to attain?
hand, is the self of the "noble Most emphatically, it is not!
cravings" as opposed to the "igno. What says the Christian Bible?
ble cravings" of the lower self. (The - "He that is slow to anger is bet-
quoted phrases are BuddHist.) ter than the mighty; and he that
Here is the seat of man's moral ruleth his spirit than he that
impulses, of all the self-denying taketh a city" (Proverbs, 16 :32) ;
virtues, of all aspiration to spirit- and, in full corroboration of the
ual excellence. Here sits the court saying, we read in the Buddhist
which finally determines what con- Dhammapada (Chapter VIII-
duct in given circumstances is just Irving Babbitt translation): "If
and right; and associated with it is one man conquer in battle a
its executive agent the conscience, thousand times a thousand men,
whose responsibility it is to see, and if another conquers himself
to the utmost extent of its power, [that is to say, his lower self], he
that the decision arrived at is is the greatest of conquerors. One's
carried out, no matter how strong own self conquered is better than
the opposition offered by the low- the conquest of all other people;
er self. 4 When a man's higher self not even a god or a demigod or
has complete dominion over his Mara with Brahma can change
lower self, he is said to have into defeat the victory of a man
achieved self-mastery. who has vanquished himself."
These words from the scriptures
Achieving Self-Mastery of two of the world's most famous
We can now return to our man and most widespread religions are
of character. It is he that we want not extravagant or idle words:
our moral education to produce, they may be taken to mean ex-
4 I should perhaps warn the reader
actly what they say.
that the preceding particularized and The Buddhist passage praises
somewhat fanciful account of the role the man who has conquered him-
of conscience is the product, not of
scholarship, but of introspection. He can self. If conquest is here taken to
test it in his own experience. signify conquest only - that is,
1968 MORAL EDUCATION: ENDS AND MEANS 655
the act of overcoming, rejecting, The reason is to be sought in

denying the evil impulses of the man's deep-seated proneness to in-
lower self, and no more - there dolence - though here a major
would appear to be a degree of distinction must be made. There
self-mastery superior to even this. are two kinds of indolence: or.;.
To this higher degree Confucius dinary indolence, one might call
says he attained - but, it will be it, and extraordinary indolence.
noticed, though he doubtless was The first, we all know, is con1mon
of all men one of those most pre- - whence the saying "every man
disposed by nature to practice the is as lazy as he dares to be" - and
moral life, it took him seventy may readily become a knotty prob-
years to do it! lem in statesmanship. Roughly
"At fifteen," he tells us, "my speaking, it is physical. The sec-
mind was bent on learning, At ond, on the other hand, is spirit-
thirty, I stood firm. At forty, I ual: it is the indolence that keeps
was free from delusions. At fifty, a man from working on himself
I understood the laws of Provi- to the end of regulating, control-
dence. At sixty, my ears were at- ling, holding in check the expan-
tentive to the truth. At seventy, I sive sallies of his lower nature.
could follow the promptings of my The early Buddhists had a name
heart without overstepping the for it - pamada. Of this all-im-
mean."5 portant distinction probably no
At seventy, in other words, he better illustration could possibly
had achieved his moral ideal, be found than in the character of
which was to observe in all his Napoleon Bonaparte as this is
conduct "the mean"; but at this viewed in Emerson's Representa-
age he not only observed it, he ti've Men. I present two contrast-
found that in so doing he was fol- ing groups of quotations:
lowing the "promptings" of his Napoleon "wrought for his
"heart." His regeneration was crown. Having decided what was
thus complete. to be done, he did that with might
and main. He put out all his
Two Kinds of Indolence
strength." - "He fought sixty bat-
But why the prodigious diffi- tles. He had never enough." - "His
culty the quotations imply? Why achievement of business was im-
is it so very, very hard to master mense, and enlarges the known
one's lower self? powers of man. There have been
5 Lionel Giles, The Sayings of Con- many working kings, from Ulysses
fucius, The Wisdom of the East Series,
p.83. to William of Orange, but none
who accomplished a tithe of this tinental Europe, but conquered

man's performance." himself..- doubtless a gigantic un-
Napoleon "proposed to himself dertaking - how much better it
simply a brilliant career, without would have been, not only for him
any stipulation or scruple concern- and for countless other individ-
ing the means." - He "was sin- uals, but possibly also for all man-
gularly destitute of generous sen- kind!
timents. The highest-placed indi- If, then, moral education is to
vidual in the most cultivated age produce the man of character, and
and population of the world, - he the primary mark of such a man
has not the merit of common truth is self-mastery, it is clear that its
and honesty. He is unj ust to his task is indeed formidable and that
generals; egotistic and monopoliz- all the means that can forward its
ing; meanly stealing the credit of accomplishment - every influence,
their great actions from Keller- every force, every power - should
mann, from Bernadotte; intrigu- so far as possible be employed.
ing to involve his faithful Junot Among the means available at
in hopeless bankruptcy, in order to least five can be distinguished:
drive him to a distance from instruction, environment, example,
Paris, because the familiarity of discipline, habit. Though the five
his manners offends the new pride are distinguishable, they probably
of his throne. He is a boundless seldom, if ever, work separately;
liar." - "To make a great noise is and all of them may, especially in
his favorite design." - "He would the early period of life, work
steal, slander, assassinate, drown simultaneously and together.
and poison, as his interest dic-
Instruction
tated. He had no generosity, but
mere vulgar hatred; he was in- Instruction, including counsel,
tensely selfish; he was perfidious; warning, exhortation, persuasion,
he cheated at cards ..." is, generally speaking, indispensa-
But enough! In the first group, ble. People must sooner or later be
astonishing industry, initiative, told, and made to understand, what
drive - the very antithesis of or- is right and what is wrong, what
dinary indolence; in the second, is just and what is unjust, and
an ego of egregious proportions, urged so to control their lower
subject to no restraint - a spirit- selves as to do the one and avoid
ual indolence, in short, that is doing the other. Obviously, such
monumental. Had Napoleon, in- teaching should be given as early
stead of conquering much of con- as possible to all children. (Are
anything like all American chil- yond his own or anyone else's con-
dren getting it today? One won- trol. Where a favorable environ-
ders. May there not indeed be mil- ment is not obtainable, it is plain
lions of them who have never re- that more than ordinary reliance
ceived it and who are therefore must be placed on other means of
destitute of a mental basis for ac- moral education.
ceptable conduct?) But direct in-
culcation of morals is by no means Example
for the young only. It has its Example, with the exception of
place, or should have it, in all habit, is probably the strongest
formal education, to the very end and most effective of the five
of a four-year college course; and means I have listed. Precept, how-
impressive testimony to its im- ever eloquent, is no match for it.
portance is a widespread practice "Example," Edmund Burke is
of religion - the frequent expo- quoted as saying, "is the school of
sure of the devotee of nearly all mankind; it will learn at no
ages to the reading of scriptures other." Its importance scarcely
and the preaching of sermons. needs elaboration, though I cannot
resist mention of what is, so far
Environment
as I know, the most imposing ap-
Environment unquestionably is plication of the principle involved
a powerful force, and, in the ab- that has ever been made. The hu-
stract at least, is no doubt gen- man tendency to imitate what it
erally recognized to be so, though looks up to and admires is the
it seems less certain that in prac- very core of the Confucian phi-
tice the measures it suggests re- losophy of the state. A single quo-
ceive adequate attention. It is our tation from one of the Five Class-
environment that inevitably deter- ics will suffice byway of illustra-
mines in large part the kinds of tion:
influence, including moral influ- A ruler "questioned Confucius
ence, to which we are daily sub- on a point of government, saying:
jected. If a man is to be educated Ought not I to cut off the lawless
to self-mastery, it is therefore ob- in order to establish la,v and or-
vious that he should be surrounded der? What do you think? - Con-
by social forces consistent with fucius replied: Sir, what need is
such an aim, not by social forces there of the death penalty in your
inimical to it. Unfortunately, in system of government? If you
the practical world a man's en- showed a sincere desire to be good,
vironment may sometimes be be- your people would likewise be
good. The virtue of the prince is curtly - some might think a bit
like unto wind; that of the people, barbarously - in once familiar
like unto grass. For it is the na- words: "Spare the rod and spoil
ture of grass to bend when the the child."
wind blows upon it."G
Example, though it can operate Habit
independently of environment - as Habit-for a reason that will la-
when a "deprived" boy of the ter be apparent - I take up last of
ghetto happens by chance to at- my five means. The topic is one fa-
tract the interest of a man of miliar to us all ("That's a habit I
character who becomes for him a must break myself of" ; "The young-
model - is closely related to it, ster has frightfully bad habits";
and is likely to be the factor in "Unhappily, endless telephone
any milieu that exerts the great- conversations have become for her
est influence. a daily habit") - and no wonder,
if the Duke of Wellington was
Discipline right in saying that "habit is ten
Discipline - the use of external times nature." Some twenty-three
pressure, physical if necessary, to hundred years ago its importance
mold conduct - is a means having was already fully recognized by
to do chiefly, in the present con- Aristotle, who made it the very
text, with the training of chil- cause or condition of virtue. Moral
dren. That, within proper limits, excellence, he said, "is the result
it has its place in the moral edu- of habit or custom": "by doing
cation of the young will be denied just acts we become just, and by
only, I think, by those to whom doing acts of temperance and
the doctrine of supine permissive- courage we become temperate and
ness has become less a mere doc- courageous" ; "acts of any kind
trine than a saving gospel. It is produce habits or characters of
surely desirable, even at the ex- the same kind."7 With the young
pense if need be of some slight he would take no chances: it "is
disagreeableness, that children clear," he said, "that in education
should be brought up "with some habit must go before reason ... "8
sense of the moral imperatives In other words, to give the re-
that they will confront in life, and mark a moral application, we
with the sense that a real author- should not wait till children are
ity does exist in the world." The
7 The Nicomachean Ethics (Peters
gist of the matter is expressed translation), Book II.
6 Ibid., p. 42. 8 Politics (Jowett translation), 1338b.
old enough to exercise their inde- ence to a suggestion fitted to ex-

pendent judgment before instil- cite it."9
ling in them good habits, since in J ames begins the concluding
the interim they may have become paragraph of the chapter with
the victims of bad ones. these words of warning:
If anyone cares to realize (or The physiological study of mental
realize afresh), in terms of his conditions is thus the most powerful
physical brain, what it means to ally of hortatory ethics. The hell to
be the unfortunate victim of a be endured hereafter, of which the-
bad habit (a possibly more or less ology tells, is no worse than the hell
terrifying experience) , or the we make for ourselves in this world
by habitually fashioning our charac-
fortunate beneficiary of a good
ters in the wrong way. Could the
one, he perhaps could not do bet- young but realize how soon they will
ter than to consult Chapter IV of become mere walking bundles of hab-
William James's The Principles of its, they would give more heed to
Psychology. If he did so, he would their conduct while in the plastic
read that the phrase "our nervous state. Weare spinning our own fates,
system grows to the modes in good or evil, and never to be undone.
wh'ich it has been exercised ex- Every smallest stroke of virtue or of
presses the philosophy of habit in vice leaves its never so little scar.
a nutshell"; also "that any se- The drunken Rip Van Winkle, in
J efferson's play, excuses himself for
quence of mental action which
every fresh dereliction by saying, "I
has been frequently repeated
won't count this time!" Well! he
tends to perpetuate itself; so that may not count it, and a kind Heaven
we find ourselves automatically may not count it; but it is being
prompted to think, feel, or do what counted none the less. Down among
we have been before accustomed to his nerve-cells and fibres the mole-
think, feel, or do, under like cir- cules are counting it, registering and
cumstances, without any conscious- storing it up to be used against him
ly formed purpose, or anticipa- when the next temptation comes.
tion of results"; also that "It Nothing we ever do is, in strict
scarcely, indeed, admits of doubt scientific literalness, wiped out.
that every state of ideational con- Habit, we may now observe,
sciousness which is either very bears a special relation, a kind of
strong or is habitually repeated supplemental or terminal relation,
leaves an organic impression on 9 The second and third of the preced-
the cerebrum; in virtue of which ing quotations are from an authority
that same state maybe reproduced cited by James; and the italicized words
in the first he attributes to the same
at any future time, in respond- source.
to all the other means of moral recur to and further emphasize

education that I have identified. one idea. This is the idea that
Instruction, environment, example, moral excellence is a quality which,
discipline, working separately or generally speaking, cannot be
together, can start us on the path readily or quickly arrived at; on
of self-mastery, but only habit the contrary, it is normally the
can make it certain that we reach result of long and assiduous train-
our destination; or, to shift the ing. This being the case, nothing
image, the four other agencies could be less wise than to assume
may entice or coerce us into the - as now seems widely assumed-
chamber where spiritual regenera- that youth can get all the ethical
tion takes place, but only habit culture it needs, by a species of
can complete the process and osmosis, from the surrounding at-
make permanent its results. mosphere. Such a notion, the sur-
It would seem, then, that moral rounding atmosphere being what
education, intended to produce the it is (illustrations I omit as stark-
man of character, should place ul- ly superfluous), would surely be
timate and supreme emphasis on chimerical in the extreme. It
the formation of right habits. seems clear that moral education,
By way of concluding this brief in any area, had best be preceded
treatment of a subject of im- by vivid realization of the true
mense importance, I should like to magnitude of the task. ~
The Devil You Say!

ROBERT M. THORNTON
THE FOUNDING FATHERS held to ercise of power; and further - as

an unsentimental view of the na- John Jay observed - they believed
ture of man. They regarded him that any form of government that
as a flawed creature, peculiarly fails to consider men as they
liable to be corrupted by the ex- really are will soon prove abortive.
Mr. Thornton is a businessman in Covington,
The elaborate system of checks
Kentucky. and balances written into the
1968 THE DEVIL YOU SAY! 661
United States Constitution reflects to many persons that you think a
this opinion of human nature, bered creature with horns and a tail
ing an effort to contain power and is running around with a pitch-
disperse its exercise. They sketched for/k chasing people. But properly
the structure of a tolerable society, understood, the Devil stands for
knowing full well that imperfect the very real existence of evil in
men cannot create a perfect one. the world, and we can expect him
Even Jefferson, more optimistic to be around as long as the world
than most, pooh-poohed the idea is. So, then, those who believe
of the natural goodness of man man may achieve perfection are
when it comes to questions of saying, in theological language,
power. "Bind him down from there is no Devil.
mischief with the chains of the
Constitution," he cried. Dangerous Consequences
But what do we say today about What are the consequences of
the nature of man? The prevailing this idea, consequences that should
view, it is safe to say, is that man concern not only philosophers and
is not a flawed creature at all. It theologians but all men? Perhaps
may take lots of time and money the most dangerous, especially to
and planning, we are told, but the libertarians, is the willingness to
shortcomings of men can be cor- grant more and more power to
rected. Man is perfectible, but a the state to plan for and conse-
faulty social environment has kept quently control the lives of indi-
him wretched. We now have the vidual citizens. We falsely believe
means of perfecting the environ- that there are some men so good
ment and breeding the kind of men we can trust them with unlimited
to suit. The knowledge is at hand, powers and so wise we can ex-
and the next step is to grant the pect to live better lives after we
state the necessary powers to put submit to their direction. Deny
it to practical use. the reality of evil and we come to
N ow this is an important believe that the imperfections of
change in our understanding of man and his societies can be cor-
human nature. What we are deny- rected once "social engineers"
ing, although perhaps not in so backed by the state succeed in de-
many words, is the reality of evil, termining our environment, and
the Christian symbol of which is even our heredity. Government ac-
the Devil. Of course, this symbol, tion will eliminate poverty, broken
like most, has been misused and to homes, prejudice, poor schools, eco-
say you believe in the Devil means nomic inequality, and similar im-
pediments, and usher in utopia. Today's view of man's nature

The assumption is that man's represents a 180-degree change
problems are somehow external to from that of the Founding Fath-
him. The older view, on the other ers. But even today, some of us
hand, regarded man himself as the believe that a man need not be
problem, and this insight tied in sick, physically or mentally, to
with free will. The tiger cannot commit a crime whether it be
choose to be untigerish, Ortega murder or something less serious.
remarked somewhere, but a man A murderer may very well be
can choose to be unhuman. It is rational, intelligent, polite, well-
this capacity for choice that is the poised - in many ways a likable
distinctive mark of humanity, and fellow - but yet so evil that he
which enables a man to rise above does wrong. Or, in theological
his environment where animals language, he succumbs to the
simply adapt to theirs. Devil's temptations. Not every hor-
When environmentalism takes rible deed is done by a "nut."
over it lessens the sense of re- Utopians have for a long time
sponsibility. What do many of us been ridiculed, and properly so,
say when, for instance, a senator but it is more important to refute
is shot down? Our ancestors would the premise underlying all utopian
have regarded the murderer as a schemes: the erroneous idea that
tool of the Devil or as a terrible man is perfectible, that evil is not
sinner, but we think of him as a inherent in the nature of man.
sick person, that is, a man not Although we may not care to use
responsible for his crime. Society old symbols, we must once again
is somehow to blame. Alter so- reaffirm our belief that evil in the
ciety, then, and such persons will world is a very real thing, that,
be cured by the political medicine if I may put it so, the Devil is
man. still with us and is likely to stay.
~
Passions Forge Fetters
SOCIETY cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and

appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within,
the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal
constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be
free. Their passions forge their fetters.
EDMUND BURKE, 1791
CLARENCE B. CARSON
iuglau~
9. THE WORKSHOP OF THE WORLD
MOST COMMONLY, leadership with- quite often to accept the military

in a civilization has gone to that superiority of the conqueror as
country most successful in prac- an indication of the general su-
ticing the arts of war and bring- periority of his way. At any rate
ing others under its sway by mili- and for whatever reasons, they
tary conquest. The armies of Alex- learn, imitate, and adopt his ways:
ander the Great preceded the his language, his arts, his eco-
Hellenizing of the Mediterranean; nomic system, and so on. Thus,
the Legions of Caesar spread the military conquest frequently has
civilization of Rome; French pre- resulted in leadership within a
ponderance in the High Middle civilization.
Ages rested in part upon the work By contrast, England's leader-
of such as William the Conqueror; ship in the nineteenth century
and the armies of Louis XIV con- was based hardly at all upon suc-
solidated French leadership in the cess with the arts of war. It is
seventeenth century of our era. true that England was on the
Indeed, conquered peoples appear victorious side in the Napoleonic
wars. It is also true that the
Dr. Carson, Professor of History at Grove City British navy maintained a pre-
his earlier FREEMAN series, The Fateful ponderance on the seas through-
Flight from Reality. out the century. It should be ac-
knowledged, too, that Britain be- greatest export trade in manu-

came more expansive and con- factured goods of any kind from
quest-minded toward the end of any country in the world.'''1
the period. But England's suc- One estimate has it that there
cesses were mainly in the arts of was in general a tenfold indus-
peace, and it was for these pri- trial output increase between 1820
marily that she was admired and and 1913. 2 One area of dramatic
imitated. Britain's leadership was increase was coal production.
commercial, not military, and it "From an approximate ten mil-
was in such areas as form of gov- lion tons in 1800, the output of
ernment, free trade, and manu- British mines rose to forty-four
facturing that her ways were ini- million tons in 1850, and, under
tially followed. the gigantic stimulus of the thirty
years of prosperity which fol-
Growth in Manufacturing lowed, to 154 million tons in
Britain's commercial leadership 1880."3 Iron production rose
was first asserted in the realm of mightily throughout the century,
manufacturing. It was this par- too. It is estimated that in 1740
ticular leadership that led J. D. a little over 17,000 tons was pro-
Chambers to refer to Britain as duced. "Between 1827 and 1840
The Workshop of the World from the annual production of pig in
around 1820 to 1880. The spurt Great Britain increased from
in the growth of manufacturing 690,000 tons to 1,390,000. It more
began in the 1780's, as has already than doubled again by 1854, when
been shown, and would continue it reached 3,100,000 tons."4 By
to mount for much of the nine- the end of the century production
teenth century. England had long had reached 8 million tons. 5 In the
been a major producer of woolen course of the century, " precision
goods, but now took the lead in 1 E. Lipson, The Growth of English
cotton textiles. They were the ma- Society (London: A. and C. Black, 1959,
jor export item throughout the 4th ed.), pp. 330-3l.
century - "amounting to one-half 2 M. W. Flinn, An Economic and So-
cial History of Britain (London: Mac-
of the value in the early nineteenth millan, 1965), p. 235.
century and about one-quarter a 3 J. D. Chambers, The Workshop of
hundred years later. . . . In 1912 the World (London: Oxford University
Press, 1961), pp. 43-44.
an English economist declared
4 Gilbert Slater, The Growth of Mod-
that 'the export trade in manu- ern England (London: Constable, 1939,
factured cotton goods from this 2nd ed.), p. 345.
country is in money value the 5 Lipson, Ope cit., p. 335.
1968 THE WORKSHOP OF THE WORLD 665
toolmaking had come to he a ma- countries, the gold capital, and

jor British industry and the man- the center for the major insurance
ufacture of interchangeable stan- firm, Lloyd's of London.
dard parts and the use of machine Though agricultural products
tools which could adjust measure- played little role in British ex-
ments to a thousandth of an inch ports, it is indicative of general
had become commonplace."6 British productivity that for much
of the century production contin-
Compared with Other Nations ued to rise. Despite the great
To show Britain's place of lead- growth in population, up until the
ership in the world, however, it is middle of the nineteenth century
necessary to compare British eco- Britain grew most of the wheat
nomic activity with that of other consumed in the country and al-
leading countries. Great Britain's most all animal products. One his-
percentage of manufacturing pro- torian notes that the increasing
duction in the world was 31.8 in productivity could be "attributed
1870. By comparison, that of the to the employment of capital in
United States was 23.3, that of improving the soil, in draining,
Germany 13.2, and that of France manuring and above all in taking
10.3, among the leading countries. 7 in new land suitable for mixed
In 1860, Britain had 23 per cent farming."lO
of world trade, compared with 11 The period when England was
per cent for France and 9 per most clearly the workshop of the
cent for the United States. 8 In world falls roughly between the
1880, Britain had more than 61h late 1840's and the mid 1870's.
million tons of shipping plying This was, in many ways, the
the seas, compared to less than golden age of British leadership
1 1h million by the United States, and affluence. It fell between the
the nearest competitor. 9 Britain, repeal of the Corn Laws and Navi-
too, was banker for much of the gation Acts and the onset of pro-
world, as investments poured out tectionism abroad once more. It
to developing and undeveloped was a time when the energies of
Englishmen were released by lib-
6 Walter L. Arnstein, Britain: Yester-
day and Today (Boston: D. C. Heath, erty and turned to constructive
1966), p. 73. efforts in the arts of peace. "For
7 Shepard B. Clough, European Eco- most Englishmen, these two dec-
nomic History (New York: McGraw- ades were ... years of prosperity.
Hill, 1968, rev. ed.), p. 397.
8 Ibid., p. 338.
All things considered, it ,vas a
9 Ibid., p. 346. 10 Chambers, Ope cit., p. 77.
period of social harmony in which workers fare in the workshop of

both talk and consciousness of the world? More specifically, did
class division subsided. It was an the toilers in field, factory, and
age when underlying assumptions mine receive their due reward for
about the necessity for a high de- their contributions to English pro-
gree of individualism at home, ductivity? To put the question in
free trade abroad, and progress more answerable terms, did the
in the affairs of mankind were ac- English people benefit generally
cepted by most.... "11 from this great productivity, or
The commercial leadership of was the productivity achieved at
Britain in the world was not the the expense and by the exploita-
achievement of a few men, some tion of a large portion of the pop-
of whose names adorn the pages ulace, as is sometimes alleged? To
of history. It was, rather, the put it yet another way, did indus-
accomplishment of very nearly a trialization redound to the benefit
whole people. England became the or the harm of many of those who
workshop of the world not only wrought it?
by the efforts of statesmen, in- These questions have been the
ventors, entrepreneurs, financiers, subject of intense investigation
large farmers, industrialists, and over many years, by economic his-
shippers but also by the applica- torians and others. Positions about
tion of the energies of miners, them have been woven into or
factory workers, sailors, steam made the bases of ideologies. They
fitters, mechanics, field hands, have long since become grist for
weavers, smelters, and so on the mills of politicians, and po-
through an almost interminable litical polemics and parliamentary
list of employments. Not all con- studies have poured forth, fre-
tributed in the same degree to quently indistinguishable from one
this great productivity, but all another. Scholarly studies of the
who employed their minds, hands, last several decades have done
and/ or savings in constructive much to place these developments
activity played some part in it. in perspective and to mediate the
claims and counterclaims of in-
How Did the Workers Fare? terested parties.
This brings us to what is prob- From the outset, there were
ably the most controversial ques- those who believed or claimed that
tion about nineteenth century En- the results of industrialization
glish history. Namely, how did the were greatly harmful to England.
11 Arnstein, Ope cit., p. 69. As Lipson says, "It was a common
view that, bad as was American The historical record is clear

slavery, 'the white slavery in the that there was much hardship
manufactories of England was far and suffering in nineteenth cen-
worse.' Robert Owen asserted that tury England. Men, women, and
the effect of all the 'splendid im- children did frequently work long
provements,' had 'hitherto been to hours at exacting tasks and in un-
demoralize society through the pleasant surroundings. Employ-
misapplication of the new 'wealth ment did fluctuate, and there were
created.' "12 The following is a periodic depressions. Families did
recent statement of the impact of live in squalid factory towns and
early industrialization. "The ini- in housing with meager appoint-
tial growthof these industries ments. A leader of Chartism in
could only be achieved by the reg- the nineteenth century reported
imentation of vast armies of cheap the following about the lives of
labour. Herded together in the slum some of the poor in London. "In
towns of the nineteenth century, whole streets that we visited we
these victims of industrial prog- found nothing worthy of the name
ress had to wait until hard-won of bed, bedding or furniture. . . .
experience in handling the new Their unpaved yards and filthy
problems of urban life slowly res- courts, and the want of drainage
cued them from their unhealthy and cleansing, rendered their
squalor ."13 houses hotbeds of disease; so that
fever combined with hunger was
Despite the Hardships, committing great ravages among
Conditions Steadily Improved them."14
In view of all that has been No doubt, too, workers were de-
written upon the subject, and par- pendent upon employers for their
ticularly of lengthy and thorough livelihood, and if they were laid
scholarly studies, it is unlikely off they might have little or no
that anything new can be added. resources until they found new
What can be done is to review employment. Wages were hardly
briefly the arguments, try to dis- such as to lead to early affluence.
cern in what direction reason and Thomas Carlyle spoke of "half a
evidence points, and bring the million hand-loom weavers work-
weight of expert judgment of ing fifteen hours a day in per-
those who have studied it to bear petual inability to procure there-
on the question. by enough of the coarsest food;
English farm labourers at nine
1:2 Lipson, op. cit., p. 244.
13 Flinn, op. cit., p. 234. 14 Lipson, op. cit., p. 245.
shillings and at seven shillings a suffering have been the common

week."15 lot of most men throughout the
That hardship and suffering ages. Hours of work have been
abounded in the nineteenth cen- long and unremitting for those
tury, even in the midst of rising who would produce much for so
productivity, there is no reason to long that the memory of man
doubt. That suffering existed is runneth not to the contrary. Wom-
not the issue, however. The rele- en and children have usually
vant question is: What was the worked alongside the men, or at
relation of industrialization and other tasks. Periods of employ-
greater productivity to the ma- ment have always alternated with
terial well-being of workers and periods of inactivity for most
of the populace generally? Did people. Farming, which has en-
they suffer in consequence of it, gaged most workers at most times,
or was their lot ameliorated by it? is by its very nature seasonal.
Much of the year there is little
Poverty Always a Problem productive work to be done. Other
Of all the interpretations of his- employments have rarely had
tory, it would be difficult to find greater regularity, if household
one more perverse than that which servitude is left out of account.
ascribes the suffering to indus- Depressions have occurred off
trialization. Such an interpreta- and on throughout history, in
tion flies in the face of both rea- consequence of wars, market
son and evidence. How could great- changes, changes in the money
er productivity result in an in- supply, and so on. Housing has
crease of hardship? It flies in the been squalid from time imme-
face, too, of the actions and de- morial. Death by disease and mal-
cisions of the workers themselves, nutrition greatly antedates the
of economic theory, of the judg- awareness of these as causes of
ment of nations, and of what men death, and, indeed, goes back no
generally have sought to imitate. doubt to the very appearance of
Yet, such an interpretation has life on this planet. The squalid
frequently been offered, from the housing of industrial towns was
beginning to the present day. probably superior to that in the
The first thing to be noted is countryside from which many of
that most of the hardships pointed the inhabitants came. Most work-
to by critics were not new to the ers have ever been dependent upon
nineteenth century. Hardship and someone for employment, whether
15 Ibid., p. 244. landlord or master.
Signs of Progress Far from being the cause of
What was new in the nineteenth toil and hardship, then, the in-
century, then, was not toil and dustrialization and increased pro-
hardship. On the contrary, it was ductivity were the means of which
the beginning of the amelioration these were relieved or made less
of these. It was only in the wake burdensome. That this was so from
of the much greater employment the beginning needs to be made
of machinery that hours of work clear. Many writers who attest
could be reduced without result- that many improvements eventu-
ing in increasing deprivation. It ally came from industrialization
was only as work was organized maintain that in its early stages
in factories, and large companies there was much harshness. Harsh,
became common, that employment things may have been, but this
began to be regular rather than should in no sense be attributed
seasonal and intermittent. Regu- to the industrialization. Even if
lar employment became common, life was harsher for some than it
too, after predictable transporta- had been for their forebears, this
tion was developed, particularly should not be attributed to the
the railroad, and world-wide mar- industrial changes. Let us turn
kets were opened. Indeed, it is now to the evidence for the im-
probable that some of the discon- provements which followed upon
tent among workmen arose from the use of new techniques and
a lack of enthusiasm about the machinery.
regularity, punctuality, and dis-
Population Explosion
ciplined character of factory work.
Sanitary conditions only came to One of the best evidences for
prevail after causal relationships the general improvement which
were discovered between filth and came in the wake of these develop-
refuse, on the one hand, and dis- ments is the growth of popula-
ease on the other. Making towns tion. Estimates indicate that there
and cities habitable places was were about five and a half million
also greatly aided by cheap pipes, people in England and Wales in
lighting, and transport facilities, 1700, and that the population had
themselves a part of the indus- increased to about six and a half
trialization. As to wages, they million in 1750.16 When the first
could and did rise as the produc- census was taken in 1801, the
tivity of workers increased through
16 See T. S. Ashton, The Industrial
the use of new techniques and Revolution (New York: Oxford Uni-
mechanical aids. versity Press, 1964), p. 4.
population was a little under running water; knowledge of

8,900,000. 17 By 1831, it had reached medicine and surgery developed;
13,897,000; by 1851, 17,928,000; hospitals and dispensaries in-
by 1901, 32,528,000.1 8 Even if creased; and more attention was
conditions had worsened in the paid to such things as the dis-
early years of industrialization, posal of refuse and the proper
then, it should be ascribed to the burial of the dead."19 Another his-
pressure of population. But there torian says, "Even in the slums
is no reason to read the history of the new industrial towns ex-
of these years in this fashion. pectation of life was better than
On the contrary, the increase in ever before. People were already,
population should be ascribed to on the whole, better fed, better
improved and improving condi- clothed, less likely to contract dis:-
tions. Ashton notes that the rising ease and better cared for when
population should not be attrib- they did, than during the eight-
uted to any extensive change in eenth century."20 He is speaking
the birth rate, for it remained at of the situation as it existed in
about the same level for the years 1815.
1740 to 1830. Nor does inward
migration explain the increase in How Workers Behaved
population, for there were prob- One of the best evidences of the
ably more people leaving England impact of industrialization is the
for other shores than were coming behavior toward it of those in
in. The increase should be attrib- need. There is no doubt that those
uted to the decline in the mortal- looking for employment flocked
ity rate due to the "substitution to the new factory towns from
of wheat for inferior cereals... , the outset. Far from being re-
an increased consumption of vege- pelled by conditions in factory
tables. . . ," better "standards of towns which writers have since
personal cleanliness, associated deplored, they were irresistibly
with more soap and cheaper cot- drawn to them. The most notable
ton underwear. . . ," the "use of movement of workers was into
brick in place of timber in the northern England. "Technical im-
walls. . . . The larger towns were provement in the newly develop-
paved, drained, and supplied with ing industries of these regions
17 J. Steven Watson, The Reign of 19 Ashton, Ope cit., pp. 4-5.
George III (London: Oxford University ~o David Thomson, England in the
Press, 1960), p. 517. Nineteenth Century (Baltimore: Pen-
18 Arnstein, Ope cit., p. 378. guin Books, 1950), p. 11.
1968 THE WORKSHOP OF THE WORLD \)71
served as magnets to attract not prices. 22 In the third quarter of

only capital _but population as the nineteenth century there was
well. . . . Large numbers were probably the most dramatic sus-
attracted from the surrounding tained improvement in wages and
agricultural regions.... But large living conditions that had ever
numbers came from regions more occurred in English history.
remote. . . ." They came from "Money wages, with a few slight
southern England, from Scotland, lapses, rose steadily between 1850
and from Ireland. "Officials in the and 1874. From a base of 100 in
growing industrial centers often 1850 it has been calculated that
became alarmed, in fact, by the the general level rose to 156 by
rapid influx of laborers, and . . . 1874. . . . For these reasons the
even made attempts . . . to check standard of living and prosperity
the flow from the vast reservoirs of the mass of the workers rose
of unemployed in other regions.":!1 greatly throughout the period."23
There was a general trend over Another measure of the relative
the years for wages to rise. Of prosperity of workers was the
course, this trend was not uni- amount of saving. Records of the
form throughout nor universal. growth of savings are to be found
Machinery was adopted at differ- in the increase of membership in
ent paces in different industries. what were called "friendly soci-
There were always workers and eties" and in deposits in savings
processes that were marginal or banks. Membership in friendly
becoming submarginal, and wages societies increased from some-
would reflect such situations. where between six and seven hun-
Nevertheless, the trend was up. dred thousand in 1801 to 1,500,000
One survey indicates that if wages in the late 1840's. There were over
in 1790 be taken as 100 they had a million depositors in savings
risen to 137.4 by 1845. Money banks in 1844, with 27 million
wages had gone much higher than pounds to their credit. 24
this during the Napoleonic wars, The indications are, too, that
but after the war prices fell. The living conditions continued to im-
over-all trend during most peace- prove. The death rate per year
time years was stable or higher continued to fall: in London from
money wages coupled with lower
:l:2 Llewellyn Woodward, The Age of
Witt Bowden, Industrial Society

:.!1
Reform (London: Oxford University
Press, 1962), p. 11.
in England Tpward the End of the
Eighteenth Century (New York: Barnes :2:3 Thomson, op. cit., p. 143.
and Noble, 1965, 2nd ed.), pp. 95-96. :2-1 Chambers, op. cit., pp. 210-11.
23.8 per thousand in 1841-51 to 21 employee, he could, perchance,

per thousand in 1871-81; in north- save his wages and go into busi-
ern industrial towns for the same ness for himself. Some did, and
period from 28.1 to 24.6. One many more could have. If he did
writer notes, "Lord Shaftesbury not like conditions in England, he
on his eighty-third birthday in could migrate. English workmen
1884, remarked on 'the enormous could hope, and they were free.
improvement' in the housing and Of course, England was not
sanitation of London during the utopia, not even in the halcyon
previous thirty years, and it may days from 1850 to the 1870's.
well be true that London was the There was much and long toil;
healthiest large town in the wages were less than one might
world."25 desire; people still died as a result
of accidents and disease; there
Not Utopia-
was tragedy and grief, as in all
But Marked Improvement
ages. The hardship and suffering
How did the workers fare, then, were surely due mainly, however,
in the Workshop of the World? to the human condition, to the
They fared well, indeed. They fact that man must earn his keep
fared well in comparison with by the sweat of his brow in tem-
workers of other ages and times. perate climes, to the fact that
They fared well in comparison there are numerous other organ-
with their parents and grand- isms preying upon him and vying
parents. They fared well in com- with him for the limited suste-
parison with workers in, most nance on this planet, to the scar-
other countries, if not all other city of goods and services and the
countries. Their wages were ris- insatiability of human wants and
ing in relation to the costs of desires. Change in processes and
what they bought. Housing and equipment could not make this
sanitation were improving. If a earth other than what it is - a
workman did not like his em- place of trial and tribulation - but
ployer, he could seek out a differ- it could bring improvement. That
ent one. If he did not like to be an is what industrialization did, even,
25 Ibid., pp. 188-89. or especially, for workers.. ~

"The Victorian Way: Affirmed and Rejected."
How to Win a War
En LIPSCOMB
EVERY newspaper you read, every mine the nature of civilization and
newscast you hear, gives day-to- the conditions of human life for
day attention to THE WAR. generations to come. From the
Authors write books about it; poli- standpoint of the United States,
ticians issue statements about it; we must either win this war or
and men on public platforms witness the death of our nation.
bring it into every presentation. In the midst of multitudinous
It is still essentially, as it has speeches and statements, reports
been for more than 20 years, a in print and on the air, and analy-
massive, long-range Cold War, in- ses by politicians, military chiefs,
terspersed with hot subsidiary en- space scientists, and the headline-
gagements intended among other seeking experts who write columns
things to test America's will, de- and commentaries for public me-
plete its resources, and furnish dia, I must admit that I cannot
ammunition for world-wide propa- come up with any very intelligent
ganda. appraisal of our current status in
Here is an international conflict this fateful conflict with commu-
which ~~ryone agrees will deter- nism that means national survival
or servitude for us all.
Mr. Lipscomb is Public Relations and Sales
Promotion Counselor of the National Cotton I can, however, tell you posi-
Council of America.
This article, slightly updated here, first
tively. how we can win it - the
appeared. in the August, 1960, FREEMAN. only way we can win it - and it
Events of the intervening eight years demand
reconsideration of its important message. is not merely by appropriating
673
more billions for defense, or even shchev - all have declared again
by insisting that we get as much and again that this would be the
defense as we already are paying pattern of our disappearance as a
for. world power.
We can win it only by winning
a second war - a decisive war- We March Toward Insolvency
that is going on inside our own I said I could not tell you much
boundaries. It is a war between about how we are doing in the
forces which would keep us pow- military race. I find no such prob-
erful by maintaining the initia- lem in connection with the war at
tive, the independence, and the home. We are losing it. Let me call
self-respect of our individual citi- your attention to just three areas
zens, and forces which through ex- of evidence.
altation of the godhood of the First is our over-all trend. All
group would assure the economic of us know that it is definitely and
cataclysm and accompanying rapidly in the exact direction our
ideological collapse on which our communist opponents have so
foreign enemy depends to leave us often insisted would bring our
and our allies incapable of success- total defeat.
ful resistance. The trend, for example, is to-
Amazingly, we tend to under- ward national insolvency. We take
emphasize the relationship be- counterfeit comfort in the fact
tween the intercontinental Cold that we are staying within a so-
War and the conflict within our called "temporary" Federal debt
own country. We have become so limit - a limit that recently was
conscious of comparisons in mili- raised three times in one year.
tary strength and international State and local governments
influence that we fail to follow the search frantically for more funds
signs and significance of our vic- - the purchasing power of our
tories and defeats on a far more money continues to decline - key
important front. We tend to be- industries are undercut by in-
come so afraid of Moscow that we creasing inability to meet foreign
are not sufficiently afraid of Wash- competition - and thoughtful men
ington. wonder how so much domestic
This is the war which every ma- stability and world leadership
jor communist leader has pre- could have been converted into so
dicted we would lose, and in los- much confusion so quickly.
ing it insure our national destruc- The trend also is toward de-
tion. Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Khru- struction of incentive.
1968 HOW TO WIN A WAR 675
A man of exceptional compe- petual programs of private life by

tence and ability finds that the public plan.
more hours he works the less he Again and again we have seen
earns per hour of effort. the whole sorry story of political
The investor in corporate equi- paternalism paraded before us-
ties finds that half his profits are the design for the nursemaid state
absorbed before he sees them and - the plan for government by
that a further major portion must fairy godmother - the promise of
be surrendered after that. heaven-on-earth through ballots
The factory worker finds that if cast on Capitol Hill. We are famil-
he exceeds the approved rate of iar with the philosophy that the
production, he is disciplined by his answer to every difficulty is more
union or frowned upon by his fel- legislation or larger figures in ap-
lows, and that his progress de- propriations bills - that all we
pends on the passage of time need to do is turn over our prob-
rather than on his energy, his in- lems, our pay checks, and our in-
telligence, or the merit of his per- dependence to political agents, and
formance. everything we should have will be
The man who works intermit- provided.
tently qualifie's for public compen- The trend, then - the trend
sation between jobs. If his earn- toward national insolvency, toward
ings are small enough, he qualifies destruction of personal incentive,
for admission into a communal toward accomplished but unadmit-
housing unit. If he stops work at ted socialization and regimenta-
65, regardless of health and abil- tion - this is a major reason for
ity, he qualifies for social security serious, even desperate, concern
payments. over our home-front war for sur-
From the mental anesthesia of vival.
the television screen to the use of
A Vested Interest in Conflict
ever-greater leisure for the mod-
ern equivalents of stick-whittling A second reason is one we do
and cracker-barrel-sitting, we see not hear much about. It is the ex-
around us a glorification of medi- tent of our vested interest in a
ocrity and deification of the un- high level of international tension,
productive which reflect loss of in- and in the waste and extravagance
tellectual ambition, decline of cru- that accompany it. The connection
sading spirit, and decay of per- between our posture of prosperity
sonal incentive. and a continuation of Russian
The trend also is toward per- sword-rattling is so obvious that I
have wondered at times why the in the name of defense mobility -

coyotes of the Kremlin do not seri- the contracts for building ships
0usly array themselves in sheep's and submarines, and even for
clothing, agree to drastic disarma- sirens in every city.
ment, abandonment of any form Think of labor - the political de-
of aggression, and establishment mands of the unemployed - the
of an international atmosphere of quick absorption or bankruptcy of
peace and serenity. Certainly I can public compensation funds - wage
think of no quicker or surer way scales no longer buttressed by
in which they could' throw us into high-priced military buying.
the financial tizzy and tail spin The point here, however, is not
they so greatly desire,. to speculate on possibilities, but to
Think about these vested inter- express the conviction that the
ests for a moment. The most tremendous vested interest of in-
powerful, perhaps, is the interest fluential and important American
of our bureaucracy - the hundreds groups in the maintenance of in-
of thousands of officials and clerks ternational tension - and the part
required to give away billions of which that interest plays in giv-
dollars, prepare multitudinous pro- ing our economy a hue of rosiness
grams, and operate all manner of - is a second reason for concern
red tape in the much-maligned on the domestic front.
name of defense. In a wholly re-
laxed atmosphere, what would hap- Matching Our Words with Deeds
pen to military aid for our allies, A third and tremendously sig-
the bulging State Department, the nificant reason why I say we are
Office of Civil Defense, and the losing the home war is that prac-
most extensive "peacetime" fight- tically nobody is fighting wholly,
ing establishment we have ever sincerely, and unreservedly on the
sought to maintain? Half the Fed- side of the forces that would keep
eral budget, more than half our us strong. Our defense is depend-
Federal employees, and arguments ent largely on men and groups
for all manner of Federal sub- who either fight on one side one
sidies would no longer be justified. day and the other the next, or who
Think of industry - the con- fight with one hand while accept-
tracts for airplanes, missile parts, ing bribes from the opposition
guns, and equipment - the con- with the other. Since such divided
tracts for military construction, loyalty invites defeat, I want to
housing units, and a multibillion- explain exactly what I mean.
dollar highway system promoted If you will ask around, you will
find that practically everybody is I would like to make a state-

opposed to national insolvency, to ment here which I want you to
destruction of incentive, and to correct, if I am wrong. I do not
political domination of private and know of a single businessmen's or-
economic life. You will find that ganization, of any kind, which
he is opposed to pre-emptive stat- customarily passes resolutions on
ism, and to the fiscal irresponsi- public policies, whose record will
bility that can bring it upon us. At not reveal support for programs
least he will say he is, and the or projects which are part of our
chances are he really is - except trend toward defeat.
the part that applies to his own Here, then, are three reasons
community or puts a few tempo- for solid conviction that as of this
rary extra dollars into his personal moment we are losing, and losing
pocket. at a fearsome pace, the second
I can cite you illustration after war - the domestic war - on which
illustration, and you can add more the outcome of the Cold War de-
from your own experience, of the pends: (1) the trend toward ex-
howls that go up when a man faces actly the conditions which our
the specific application, to his own mortal enemies have predicted
pocketbook, of the very principles would bring our defeat; (2) the
of national strength to which he vested interest of large and influ-
claims allegiance. ential groups in the perpetuation
Try to close a military installa- of international tension; (3) the
tion because of the economies absence of sincere, honest, whole-
which can be made by consolidat- hearted support for the simple
ing it with one in another area- principles and practical policies
try/to cut a subsidy of any kind - that would keep us strong.
try to eliminate the expense of
Federal involvement in real estate The War Inside Each of Us
mortgages, or pork-barrel proj- The most vital question which
ects, or loans at less than cost- confronts us, however, is not that
try even to merge two offices in the of losses already sustained in this
same city if the merger reduces second war, or even the question
payrolls . . . and you will hear of our current status, but the all-
screams from sources that range decisive question, "Can we win
from corporation heads and bank it ?"
presidents to the lowliest tenants If we can, and if we do - if we
of public apartments, depending are truly victorious here - we will
on who is personally touched. defeat foreign communists and
international gangsters on any to the age-old and unchangeable

front they choose, be it military, law of cause and effect.
economic, diplomatic, ideological, On the other side are our con-
or what you please. We will conscience, our judgment, and our
found the hopes and contradict the knowledge that throughout all his-
prophecies of our enemies, and tory no nation has ever survived
earn the respect and admiration of which continued much farther
our friends. than we already have come down
How, then, can we win this sec- the road we are traveling.
ond war? We can win it, and win Neither I nor any other man can
it only, if you and I and others tell you how you are coming along
like us can win still another war - with your own personal war. I
a third war. It is the "val' which can, however, tell you how you can
each one of us must fight inside win it, and in winning it achieve
himself. personal invincibility which no
Here is a war where it is im- amount of legislation can bring,
possible for you or me to be spec- and no amount of persecution by
tators or bystanders. It is impos- either fellow-citizens or outsiders
sible even to be neutral, for we can overthrow.
ourselves are the battleground.
Our decisions, and ours only, will Practice W hat We Believe
determine the outcome. First, you can practice what
Arrayed on one front in this you profess to believe. You can
personal war is a tremendous apply in private and business life
force of animal inclinations and the principles you publicly es-
natural desires - the appeal of im- pouse. Three out of every four
mediate benefits, business advan- average Americans, when asked
tages, or personal profits from po- about the principles they support,
litical programs. Here also is the will give the answers which you
power of inertia. Here is reluc- and I know to be right. Among
tance to get involved. Here is businessmen, the figure is more
temptation to kid ourselves into likely to be four out of four.
believing that just one man Hence, I say that the first battle
doesn't make any difference - or you and I must \vin is to practice
that because we don't get a direct \vhat we profess to believe. To do
dole or handout every month we otherwise means not only to lose
are not a part of the problem- our personal war, but through our
or even that we and our fellow- hypocrisy to influence others to
Americans are somehow immune lose theirs also. Just as the tem-
perance lecturer who gets drunk is You and I may not be able to
a greater liability to his cause do a thing about the personal wars
than is the admitted barfly, so the of people in distant places. We may
businessman who preaches free not be able to help everyone in
enterprise while he participates in our own state, or even our home
programs of political intervention town. But there is not one of us
is a greater liability than the ad- who cannot be effective, both by
mitted socialist. example and by precept, among
You can join the WCTU, vote the people we see and talk to every
for prohibition, circulate resolu- day.
tions to close liquor stores, and How much good will you be able
wear a tall black hat and swallow- to do individually? I do not know,
tailed coat complete with cane, but I know that neither you nor I
but your neighbor still will not nor any other man on earth can do
think you believe in temperance if anything except individually. I
he sees you staggering around further know that we cannot wash
your yard or patio at cocktail time. out our responsibility with a sig-
You cannot convince him that you nature on a bank check, when our
are opposed to statism if you sup- brains and talents and personali-
port resolutions calling for Fed- ties are more important than our
eral funds for local projects, or money. And I know still further
make him think you believe in in- that if you will work among those
dividual freedom and independ- about you with the aggressive, in-
ence if you expect Washington to telligent, result-getting leadership
underwrite, directly or indirectly, which is you at your best - if you
your personal or business risks. ,vill work with the same crusading
Unless you and I are willing to spirit, the fire and the zeal, the
fight and win this very first battle, loyalty and drive which you know
all three of the wars I have men- to be typical of a dedicated com-
tioned are already lost as far as munist - you will be amazed at
we personally are concerned. what you can do, and you will be
amazed at how overwhelming will
We Can Help Those Around Us be your own inner victory.
The second thing you can do is How many of us will have to win
to initiate, in your own particular our personal wars - in order to
area of influence and knowledge- win the bigger war on the national
be it large or small- a conscious front, and in turn the Cold War
effort to help those about you to itself?
win their personal wars also. The answer to that depends on
the completeness of our personal tribute my utmost to similar vic-

victories and the amount of en- tories for those around me. And I
thusiasm with which that conquest cannot be beaten, no matter how
inspires us. Not many are needed other fronts come out, if I know
if we are sufficiently on fire. Karl that I have applied to my daily life
Marx, one man, was a misan- the principles in which I believe,
thropic ne'er-do-well. Saint Paul and have given my utter best to
was a puny epileptic or otherwise those within my reach.
physically handicapped man. Hit- For my own part, I can give
ler was a psychopathic paper you my answer. I am going to win
hanger in Austria. Certainly no my war, and I am going to try so
reader of these words would hard to help others to win theirs
consider himself inferior to any that I am going to know, down in-
of them - or to any of the twelve side, that if everyone who reads
whom Christ himself assembled- this did the same, along with others
before these became dedicated across this land who feel and pro-
men. Perhaps we cannot match fess exactly what we do, there is
them in dedication, but the degree no question as to the outcome of
to which we succeed will determine both our domestic and our Cold
the number who are needed. War campaigns.
May I urge that you join me
Personal Victories Needed in the prayer and determination
Here, then, is our war - a war that we, each through his own
that is going to decide the nature victory and the effort which that
of civilization, and the conditions victory inspires, may achieve the
of human life for generations to invincibility of soul which makes
come. I have broken it into three personal defeat impossible - that
parts, but for you and me it is not together we shall make a vital and
in reality three ,vars. It is one war. conceivably decisive contribution
The outcome of it is wholly de- to our cause and to our country-
pendent on whether or not you and that with others of like pur-
and I and others like us are vic- pose and spirit we may demon-
torious on the battlefront that lies strate to all the world that an in-
inside ourselves. dividual man must be respected,
I won't win, no matter how the when he earns the right to respect
domestic front and the interna- himself.
tional front come out, if I don't This is the war we are in. This
win my personal war and .con- is the way to win it. ~
HAROLD M. FLEMING
The meanings of
"MONOPOLY"
UWhen I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a
scornful tone, Hit means just what I c1hoose it to mean-
neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make
words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "1vhich is to
be master - that's all."
CHARLES L. DODGSON, English mathematician
PERHAPS there is an important haven't applied this general con-

word somewhere in the English cept through one or other of the
language that is used as loosely variety of meanings they have
as "monopoly." But it would be given it.
hard to find. Though the overtones and con-
Yet this word - with its deriva- notations of "monopoly" are,
tives, "monopolize," "monopo- strangely, all to the bad, Ameri-
listic," "monopoly power," and so can business could shrug this off
on - is basic to orthodox economic if it were not for one fact. The
theory. And there is scarcely any academic economists have, through
aspect of the American industrial the Federal Trade Commission
economy to which the economists and the Antitrust Division of the
U. S. Department of Justice, sold
Mr. Fleming, for many years New York
Business Correspondent of the Christian Sci- their ideological jargon to the
ence Monitor, is a prominent free-lance writer
on business and economics. Federal courts. In the 1960's, with
681
alarming speed, the U. S. Supreme II Monopoly" = Size?

Court has frankly begun to cite But in the late nineteenth cen-
economic theory as a basis for its tury the word "monopoly" was
antitrust decisions, rather than cut loose from its etymological
legal precedents. moorings. It was used synony-
And "monopolizing," "attempt- mously with "trust" and "com-
ing to monopolize," "conspiring bine." As Supreme Court Justice
to monopolize," or possessing Holmes put it in his dissent in
"monopoly power," can be crimes the Northern Securities case in
under the Sherman Act. So the 1903 -
free-wheeling use of the words
. . . it has occurred to me that it
by the economists can spell trou- might be that when a combination
ble for any business - at least of reached a certain size it might have
any size and financial strength. attributed to it more of the char-
acter of a monopoly, merely by vir-
"Single Seller"?
tue of its size, than would be at-
By its etymology, from its tributed to a smaller one.
Greek roots, "monopoly" means 193 U. S., at 407
"one seller;" or "single seller," or Thus the Standard Oil Company

"sole seller" - just as "monotone" never did more than 90 per cent
means one tone, "monorail" one of the nation's kerosene business.
rail, and so on through such words Over the decades the meaning of
as monogamy, monologue, mono- the "mono-" in "monopoly" has
plane, and monomania. Historical- been considerably further diluted.
ly, this was its original meaning; A 104-page draft complaint is on
and in the case of the Elizabethan, file in the Antitrust Division
Stuart, and Hanoverian monop- against General Motors Corpora-
olies, there was an "or else. . ." tion, charging that it "monopolizes
implied. The early monopolies the manufacture, sale, and dis-
were legally enforced; they were tribution of automobiles." GM's
exclusive grants. "market penetration" usually runs
(Those were monopolies - lit- 50-55 per cent. An antitrust ex-
eral and legal - that contributed pert recently remarked that "mo-
to the exodus of Puritans from nopoly is a matter of degree...."
England to Boston; to the English (Edward S. Mason, in Monopo-
Civil War in the 1640's; to Adam listic Competition Theory, John
Smith's diatribes in his Inquiry Wiley, 1966, p. 80) The classic
into the Wealth of Nations; and statement of this looser meaning
to the American Revolution.) for monopoly was that of Judge
1968 THE MEANINGS OF "MONOPOLY" 683
Learned Hand in the Alcoa case. ory of Monopolistic Competition

He said that 90 per cent "is was a tremendous success in the
enough to constitute a monopoly; Washington and academic worlds,
it is doubtful whether 60 or 64 and subsequently went through
per cent would be enough; and six editions with scarcely a change.
certainly 33 per cent is not. . . ." The book put into circulation two
(148 F.2nd 416) (1945) His per- now fashionable notions - "mo-
centages, incidentally, were based nopolistic competition," and "joint
on the three separate choices of monopolization" ("oligopoly").
relevant maTket available in the Chamberlin went back to the
case.) pure meaning of "monopoly"-
Of far more fundamental im- that is, sole seller. He then pointed
portance, however, in the econ- to the obvious fact that, in this
omists' historic recoinage of sense, everybody has a "monopoly"
"monopoly," has been their equat- of his own location, reputation,
ing, since the 1880's and 1890's, brand, personality, and so on-
of today's unprotected monopoly, whatever is unique about his prod-
with the legally protected monop- uct or service. Thus all forms of
olies of the sixteenth through the "product differentiation" were
eighteenth centuries. The differ- "monopolistic."
ence is as important as the differ-
With differentiation appears mo-
ence between the former mer- nopoly, and as it proceeds further,
cantilist systems and modern cap- the element of monopoly becomes
italism. If it isn't important, greater . . . .
Adam Smith wasted over 25 years ... Where there is any differentia-
on his Wealth of Nations. ation whatever, each seller has an
(Of course it might be said absolute monopoly of his own prod-
that even in those earlier days, uct, but is subject to the competition
hardly anyone ever had a real "100 of more or less imperfect substitutes.
per cent" monopoly. But in those (italics added)
days the irrepressible price-cut- Since each is a monopolist and
yet has competitors, we may speak
ting competitor had to be a law-
of them as "competing monopolists,"
breaker- usually a smuggler.)
and of the forces at work as those
II Monopolistic Competition I I of "monopolistic competition."
Theory of Monopolistic Competition, 1st
But the really skillful semantic Edition, 1933, page 9.
treatment of "monopoly" came in Since modern business competi-

the early 1930's. Harvard Profes- tion is very largely waged in the
sor Edward H. Chamberlin's The- form of product improvement,
quality, reputation, service, and book through its developing of

other non-price forms, this the theory of "oligopoly."l This
amounted to an intellectual judo, theory says that where a few
in which the business community's firms do most of the business in
greatest competitive strength was a given industry, they keep prices
converted to an all-out polemical up for fear of price wars, and
weakness. But Chamberlin went so work like a joint monopoly.
considerably further than that. Said Chamberlin:
He wrapped up "monopolistic com-
Since the result of a cut by any
petition" with an extraordinary one is inevitably (sic) to decrease his
conglomeration of other factors own profits (sic), no one will cut,
and said the result was excess in- and, although the sellers are entirely
dustrial capacity. Included in this independent, the equilibrium result
conglomeration were is the same as though there were
a monopolistic agreement between
... formal or tacit agreements, open
them. . . . No one will cut from the
price associations, trade association
monopoly figure because he would
activities in building up an esprit
force others to follow him, and
de corps, "price maintenance," the
thereby work his own undoing. . . .
imposition of uniform prices on (pp. 48, 49)
dealers by manufacturers, and ex-
cessive differentiation of product in Thirty years later, the Supreme
the attempt to turn attention away Court, in vetoing a merger of
from price. . . . (p. 106) large banks, said:
Also "business or professional That "competition is likely to be
'ethics,'" the disguising of price greatest when there are many sel-
cuts, and "custom or tradition." lers, none of which has any signifi-
"The common result of this as- cant share," is common ground
semblage," he said, "is excess among most economists. . . .
productive capacity . . . perma- u. s. vs. Philadelphia National Bank,
374 U. S. 321 (1963)
nent and normal ... and the result In this decision the Court was
is high prices and waste... These relying on the Chamberlin theory
are wastes of monopoly - of the of "oligopoly," or joint monopoli-
monopoly elements in monopolistic zation.
c01npetition." (p. 109) (italics Thus, in a generation the con-
added)
1 Chamberlin uses the word "oligop-
"Joint Monopolization" oly" on page 8 of his first edition, writ-
ten in 1932, and states in a footnote:
But a much greater impact was " . . . as to the word 'oligopoly,' I have
achieved by this modest-sounding never seen it in print..."
cept had moved from the ivory from pressure to reduce costs, to
towers of Harvard to the august develop new products, or otherwise
chambers of the Supreme Court. to innovate, and to diffuse the bene-
Totting up all these meanings fits among customers.... p. 316
for "monopoly," we now have This is an extremely myopic
five: - view, which no modern "monopo-
1 - an exclusive Crown grant; list," no matte1~ how defined, could
2 - a sole producer, but without afford to act on. It is short-sighted
government protection; in time, in the sense that a varsity
3 - a "dominant" or large pro- racing crew, having pulled ahead
ducer; of its rivals, still cannot rest on
4 - a unique selling point its oars. It is short-sighted in
(brand, reputation, location, form, because it ignores two ma-
skill, selling method, or oth- jor hazards to the single seller,
er peculiarity) ; which orthodox economics brashly
5 - a lack of aggressive price overlooks.
competition among several The first of these two hazards
large competitors (joint mo- is obsolescence. It is the single
nopoly pricing). seller's risk, in a modern economy,
"The question is," (as Alice that the rug may at any time be
said) "whether you can make pulled out from under his lovely
words mean so many things." monopoly by some innovator. The
The Monopolist's Alleged
second hazard is that, if he doesn't
Excessive "freedoml/
keep "reaching for volume," the
"monopolist's" market may rapid-
The trouble with the monopolist, ly outgrow him and his prices,
the orthodox economists say, is and move into the hands of more
that he has too much freedom; imaginative sellers.
he sits too comfortably. As a sole Orthodox economics, being all
seller, he has no competition; or but blind to these factors, vastly
as a "dominant" seller, he hasn't overstates the power and impor-
enough. So he can charge a "mo- tance of monopoly, and vastly un-
nopoly price"; and he has H mo- derstates the power and impor-
nopoly power." tance of competition.
Thus the Attorney General's
National Committee to Study the Innovation, Obsolescence, and the
Antitrust Laws, in 1955, said: Economists
Monopoly power . . . implies the Innovation has become a way
monopoly seller's relative freedom of life in the modern American
economy. In the less than a quar- rival products, may allow real posi-
ter-century since World War II, tions of monopoly to develop. (p.
American industry has poured 328)
two-thirds of a trillion dollars
into new plant and equipment- (In plainer English, this means
a large proportion of that for that any new product, like, say,
. making new products, which, for an integrated circuit, so good as
leading industrial corporations, to be "in a class by itself," auto-
now account for from a third to matically puts its owner into a
nine-tenths of dollar sales. The class by himself, which means
research lab and the "Ne,v Prod- that of a sole producer, which
ucts Division" have become prin- means, a "monopolist.")
cipal engines of competition both As for obsolescence, the ortho-
defensive and offensive. Interin- dox economists not only don't dis-
dustry competition has brought cuss it. They don't mention it.
"everybody into everybody else's For instance, it is not in the index
pasture." The mortality of prod- of Chamberlin's book, nor of the
uct markets is estimated in terms widely-discussed 1959 Antitrust
of a prospective "product life cy- Pol'ic,y of Kaysen and Turner, nor
cle" which ends in the graveyard in the index of the most widely
of obsolescence. sold of all first-year college eco-
Not a glimmer of this is re- nomics textbooks, that of Paul A.
flected in orthodox economics. It Samuelson.
all but ignores this innovation- Yet this is not at all strange.
and completely blanks out on the Orthodox economics does not pre-
unmentionable subject of obso- tend or purport to deal with dy-
lescence. Innovation appears only namics. It is a statical theory. It
as "product differentiation," which has always been a statical theory.
is "monopolistic," as we have seen. Its idealized competition consists
Radical innovation, of the sort of hosts of small firms making the
that makes up Schumpeter's fa- same products forever and a day.
mous "perennial gale of creative In the treadmill of static econom-
destruction," is even more "mo- ics the producers go on, like the
nopolistic." Said the Attorney figures on a Grecian urn, endlessly
General's Committee in 1955: turning out the same kind of
goods - except, perhaps, for a sly
Extreme product differentiation, occasional use of "product differ-
by tending to insulate the demand entiation" to beat the boredom of
for one product against that for pure price competition.
(For in this tinker-toy body of Adam Smith's words, "the high-

theory, no competition is theo- est price which can be got."
retically countenanced except that Thus the following are typical
of price - and even there, the quotations from the orthodox eco-
"competitors" take what they can nomics department.
get. There is no marketing - only
sales; no R&D; no "raiding" of The monopolist produces less and
less and gets a higher price. . . .
competitors; no experimental price Benjamin Ward, Elementary Price The-
cutting - in short, no, innovation ory, MacMillan, 1967; page 93.
and no obsolescence.) In general, a monopolist taking
Thus Professor Alfred Mar- over a previously competitive indus-
shall, the Victorian grandfather try would find that profits could be
of this Victorian way of thinking, increased by reducing his output be-
wrote: low, and raising his price above, the
level selected by those competing
No doubt there are industries . . .
which ... are in a transitional state, firms. . . .
Antitrust Law & Economics Review:
and it must be conceded that the Vol. 1, No.1, 1967; page 137.
statical theory of equilibrium of nor-
mal demand and supply cannot be . . . monopolistic interference re-
lJrofitably applied to them. duces output needlessly. The fact
that it produces such scarcity is re-
But such cases are not numerous.
flected in the higher price it creates.
(italics added)
Samuelson, Economics: An Introductory
Principles of Economics, 8th Edition, p. Analysis, 5th Edition, 1961, page 428.
50!.
If few industries were "in a A monopolist tends to produce too
transitional state" then, (a notion little because of his fear of "spoiling
hard to accept) many are now, the market." He connives and con-
and late-Victorian economics, by trives to produce scarcity.
Samuelson, page 579.
the confession of its own founder,
"cannot be profitably applied to These pronouncements have the
them." In fact how many indus- earmarks of imaginative demonol-
tries today are not "in a transi- ogy. Certainly they are not sup-
tional state"? ported by the preponderance of
evidence on record in the scores
/I Monopoly Prices"
of thousands of pages of testi-
The orthodox economists have mony given in the major anti-
an obsessive notion that "monop- monopoly court cases since the
oly" always means higher prices Sherman Antitrust Act was passed
and scarcity. In fact they use the in 1890.
term "monopoly price" as, in Fact may be stronger than fic-
tion, but in contrast to the above Henry Ford cut, year after year,
is the following early statement from an initial $850 to an ultimate
of policy of one of the most fa- low of $290 - making himself a
mous monopolies in American in- billion dollars in the process.
dustrial history. (Ford, incidentally, had a "mo-
The selling price for the year has nopoly" by a couple of the econ-
been a gradually lowering one, not omists' usages of that word. For
on account of competition, but on one, of course, he was the sole
account of our own voluntary wish producer of the Model T. For
to encourage new customers for our another, he was for years much
very much larger output for alumi- the "dominant" producer of cars
num which we intend to produce. in the lowest price slot in the
The above is an excerpt from business.)
the 1895 annual report of a very The self-same reach-for-volume
small corporation which, 50 years philosophy was restated in 1968
later, had become a very large by President Fred Borsch of the
corporation and was still the sole General Electric Company. He
producer of aluminum ingots in said:
the United States.
We will continue to trade current
Such marketing policy is some- earnings for future growth.
times called "reaching for vol- You aren't going to get growth
ume." It has been characteristic in earnings unless you get the
of the capitalist system since it growth in volume on which to get
superseded the mercantilism of. the earnings.
the eighteenth century. Business Business Week, March 30, 1968.
firms aim the policy at

The Economists Forget
a larger total profit from a smaller
unit profit. The idea has been that Orthodox static economics is
lowering prices might result in large largely based on the assumption
volume, which might result in lower of get-rich-quick business policies.
per-unit costs, which might result in Nevertheless the basis of the
larger total profits. Often it did. The above business thinking is- not
big money has been made, and the entirely beyond the ken of the
big companies built, on this "mass- orthodox economists. They express
production-for-the-masses" principle. it, obscurely, under the rubric of
Fleming, Gasoline Prices and Competi- "elasticity of demand."
tion, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1966, p.
34. In esoteric charts and jargon,
A famous example was the they teach that when a producing
Model T Ford, the price of which firm, by cutting the price of its
1"968 THE MEANINGS OF "MONOPOLY" 689
product, can increase its total dol- in Smith's day the typical pricing
lar sales, that product has an of the protected monopolist was
"elastic demand" ; but if, on the for high and quick profits.
other hand, by cutting the price "The monopolists," thundered
it will decrease total sales, the Adam Smith-
product has an "inelastic demand."
What they mean by "elastic de- "by keeping the market constantly
under-stocked, by never fully sup-
mand" is, in somewhat plainer
plying the effectual demand, sell
English, a price-sensitive market their commodities much above the
in which there is more money to natural price, and raise their emolu-
be made by offering the product ments greatly above their na-
cheap, than by offering it dear. tural rate "
But for some strange reason, Book 1, Chapter 7, P. 61, Modern Li-
brary.
when they get on the subject of
"the monopolist," they seem to But Smith, in this famous
forget all about their "elasticity paragraph, said explicitly that he
of demand." They seem to think was talking about "a monopoly
that single sellers (sole pro- granted either to an individual or
ducers), unlike other business a trading company." And in the
firms, either concentrate on prod- language of modern business, such
ucts with inelastic demand, or, in monopolists could "raise a price
producing for price-sensitive mar- umbrella" and then rely on the
kets, are too stupid to reach for law and its enforcement agencies
volume. to exclude would-be competitors
Chamberlin, for instance, talks from rushing in "under the um-
throughout his book as though brella."
elasticity of demand made no dif- Is it not obvious that the econ-
ference to "the monopolist" - that omists' mighty mistake is a pen-
is, as though the single seller has alty they pay for confusing such
no reason to reach for volume by protected monopolists with today's
selling cheap. In fact he makes unprotected sole producers?
the astonishing flat statement that The "monopolists" described in
"it is not to [the monopolist's] the textbooks today are figments
advantage that the demand be of the economists' imagination-
elastic." (page 66) fantasy firms pursuing policies
It seems likely that the ortho- of high price and contrived scar-
dox economists have borrowed city well calculated to be such
their obsessional fear of "monop- firms' own undoing in short order.
oly prices" from Adam Smith. For Modern orthodox economists
should brush up on their economic Schumpeter in his often-quoted

history. Such policies were thor- remark that a single seller with-
oughly tested by businessmen in out legal protection can achieve
the years just after the great his position (and then hold it for
wave of horizontal mergers around decades) "only on the condition
1900 - and the policies didn't that he does not behave like a mo-
work. Consider the case of the nopolist. 2 What he meant was that
American Can company in its one cannot become or remain a
first postmerger year. "monopolist" by behaving the way
the economists say that monopo-
. . . business was good. The food- lists behave.
canning industry was growing. So The confusing multiplicity of
the new management took steps to meanings, and the inaccurate as-'
capitalize promptly on its 90 per sumptions and connotations, which
cent control of the can-making busi- the economists have given to "mo-
ness. It raised prices for cans, in
nopoly," condemn it as a menace
gradual steps, by about 25 per cent
- and in the middle of the canning to clear thinking. The economists
season. claim it as among their "tools of
The results were about what you analysis." But it is shot through
would imagine. Not only were cus- with emotional overtones; and so,
tomers angered, but also, everybody in practice, has come to be a tool
and his brother decided to go into of confusion.
the can-making business - or go "There is a natural obstacle to
back into it. Competitors sprang up progress in abstract thought,"
like mushrooms. The new Company once wrote Isabel Paterson, "which
bought up a few of them, and sev- has often delayed rational inquiry;
eral million cans, to get them off the
an erroneous concept or theory
market, and then quit trying. With-
in two years competitors had in-
may be expressed in terms which
creased their share of the can busi- embody the error, so that thinking
ness from less than ten per cent, to is blocked until the misleading
40 per cent. words are discarded from the
- William C. Stolk, Chairman of the givert context,"3
Board, American Can Company, speech,
"Revolution in Containers," before the "Monopoly" is one such mis-
Newcomen Society, New York, 1960.
leading word. ~
Whether it is striving to be or 2 Joseph Schumpeter, Capita,lism, So-

to remain a sole producer, no firm cialism and Democracy, Harper's, 1947.
p.99.
can afford such policies. This was 3 The God of the Machine, Caxton
stated, with a twist of irony, by Printers, 1964, p. 99.
EDUCATION
IN
AMERICA
2. Freedom, ..7V!orality; and Education

To FULLY appreciate the short- An important part of education
comings of our present educational centers on the attempts of society
framework and face realistically to transmit its culture to the ris-
the task of rebuilding it requires ing generation. What are the ac-
a careful and complete understand- complishments of past genera-
ing of the concepts we value in tions? What have been the goals
society - a "thinking through" of and values by which society has
our own first principles. What kind lived? What guidelines should be
of educational goals do we really available to the rising generation
desire? as it faces its own inevitable prob-
To Plato, proper education of lems?
the young consisted in helping Still, education must be far
them to form the correct mental more than the mere indoctrination
habits for living by "the rule of of the young into the methods of
right reason." But, how do we de- the past. A hallmark of Western
fine right reason? civilization is its educational focus
upon the development of the indi-
Dr. Roche is Director of Seminars for the vidual's capacity to function as an
taught history and philosophy in college and individual, tempered by recogni-
maintains a special interest in American edu-
cation. tion of the common characteristics
691
imposed upon all civilized com- The behavior of children toward

munities by the unchanging as- their parents, toward their respon-
pects of human nature. In this sibilities, and even toward the
sense, the proper goal of educa- learning process itself is closely
tion is everywhere the same: im- tied to such a framework of values.
prove the individual as an individ- Thus, in the long run, the re-
ual, stressing the peculiar and lationship we develop between
unique attributes each has to de- teacher and pupil, the type of
velop, but also emphasizing the learning we encourage, the man-
development of that "higher side" ner in which we organize our
shared by all men when true to school systems, in short, the total
their nature. This educational goal meaning we give to the word "edu-
might be described as the quest cation," will finally be determined
for "structured freedom," free- by our answers to certain key
dom for the individual to choose questions concerning ultimate
within a framework of values, values.
values universal to all men simply Those who built the Western
because they are human beings. World never questioned this conti-
nuity of our civilization nor at-
A Framework of Values
tempted to pluck out the threads
Education in this best sense re- that run through its fabric. Ever
quires no elaborate paraphernalia. since the Hebrews and Greeks made
It is characterized, not by elabor- their great contributions to Western
ate classrooms or scientific "meth- thought, it has been taken for
ods," but by an emphasis upon the granted that through the life of the
continuity and changelessness of mind man can transcend his physical
the human condition. The effort being and reach new heights. Self-
realization, discipline, loyalty, honor,
to free the creative capacities of
and devotion are prevailing concepts
the individual, to allow him to be- in the literatures, philosophies, and
come truly himself, must recognize moral precepts that have shaped and
the values which past generations Inirrored Western man for cen-
have found to be liberating, ask- turies. I
ing that each new generation make
The necessity for such an un-
the most of inherited values while
derlying value system has been
striving to enrich that heritage.
True education is society's attempt well established in the work of
such eminent social critics of our
to enunciate certain ultimate val-
ues upon which individuals, and 1 Thomas Molnar, The Future of Edu-
hence society, may safely build. cation, p. 30.
1968 . FREEDOM, MORALITY, AND EDUCATION 693
age as C. S. Lewis and Richard Christian, the striving of the past

Weaver. The case for such an un- to discover the higher side of man
derlying systeI!1 must not depend and man's conduct, must not stand
upon the whims of debate with in the path of "progress." Thus,
the relativistic, subjectivist the "revolt" of the "Now Genera-
spokesmen who today dominate so tion."
much of American education and Advances in technology account
thought. Those who hold that cer- in part for the denial of our herit-
tain civilized values are worthy of age. Since scientific and tech-
transmission to the young, that nological knowledge tends to ac-
some standards are acceptable and cumulate (Le., be subject to em-
others are no~, are on firm ground pirical verification as correct or
in their insistence that such val- incorrect, with the correct then
ues and standards must be the added to the core of previously
core of any meaningful educational verified knowledge), many people
framework. assume that man's scientific prog-
ress means he has outgrown his
Truth past and has now become the mas-
The late C. S. Lewis, an urbane ter of his own fate. Moral ques-
and untiring critic of the intellec- tions are of a different order.
tual tendencies of the age, used Wisdom, not science or technology,
the word Tao to convey the core points the way for progress here.
of values and standards tradition- For an individual to be inspired
ally and universally accepted by by the wisdom and moral recti-
men, in the Platonic, Aristotelian, tude of others, he must first make
Stoic, Christian, and Oriental such wisdom his own. This is edu-
frameworks. The Tao assumes a cation in its finest sense.
fixed standard of principle and
sentiment, an objective order to Plato's "Rule of Right Reason"
the universe, a higher value than To grasp the accumulated moral
a full stomach. As such, the Tao wisdom of the ages is to become
presupposes standards quite in- habituated to such concerns and
compatible with the subjective, rel- to their claims upon one's per-
ativist suppositions of "modern sonal conduct. At that point, the
man. We are told by the relativists rule of right reason, the goal
that the Tao must be set aside; which Plato set for education, be-
the accumulated wisdom of cen- comes the guiding light of the
turies, the values of East as well individual.
as West, of Christian and non- This rule of right reason could
provide the frame of reference so passes for "education" in our time

lacking in today's society. Many either denies this accumulation of
modern existentialists complain past wisdom or belittles it in the
that the world is meaningless and eyes of the student. Truth, after
absurd. It is not surprising that all, is a measure of what is, a
the world no longer has meaning measure of an infinite realm with-
for those who recognize none but in which the individual is con-
materialistic values. The world of stantly striving to improve his
reason and freedom, the real world powers of perception. As the in-
in which it matters a great deal dividual draws upon his heritage
what the individual chooses to do, and applies self-discipline, he
is revealed only in the spiritual comes to recognize more and more
quality of man that so many mod- of that truth and to understand it.
erns deny. It is this higher spirit- The individual is thus able to find
ual quality of the individual, evi- himself and his place in the uni-
denced in his creative capacity to verse, to become truly free, by rec-
choose, which alone can give mean- ognizing a fixed truth, a definite
ing to life and transform the world right and wrong, not subject to
of the individual. This is the rec- change by human whim or politi-
ognition of those higher values cal dictate. The individual can
that lead to Truth. Such an aware- only he free when he serves a
ness on the part of the individual, higher truth than political decree
such a rule of right reason, will or unchecked appetite.
be, in Berdyaev's words "... the Such a definition of freedom in
triumph of the realm of spirit over consonance with a higher law has
that of Caesar ...." This triumph its roots deep in the consciousness
must be achieved anew by each of civilized man.
individual as he strives for ma-
turity . . . and his struggle for In early Hinduism that conduct in
maturity constitutes the educative men which can be called good consists
process. in conformity to, or almost partici-
pation in, the Rta-that great ritual
A Higher Law or pattern of nature and super-
nature which is revealed alike in the
Despite our vaunted "modern
cosmic order, the moral virtues, and
breakthroughs in knowledge," it is the ceremonial of the temple. Right-
doubtful that anyone now alive eousness, correctness, order, the Rta,
possesses more wisdom than a is constantly identified with satya
Plato, an Epictetus, a Paul, or an or truth, correspondence to reality.
Augustine. Yet much of what As Plato said that the Good was
1968 FREEDOM, MORALITY, AND EDUCATION 695
"beyond existence" and Wordsworth and Mary) were all of religious
that through virtue the stars were origin. Such was the early Ameri-
strong, so the Indian masters say can view of education.
that the gods themselves are born
of the Rta and obey it. Human Freedom and the Soul of Man
The Chinese also speak of a great
There is a measure of truth in
thing (the greatest thing) called the
Tao. It is the reality beyond all
the Grand Inquisitor's assertion
predicates, the abyss that was be- that many people do not wish to
fore the Creator Himself. It is Na- be free. FreedOM can b~ pninful,
ture, it is the Way, the Road. It is and someone like the Grand Inquis-
the Way in which. the universe goes itor usually is at hand, quite will-
on, the Way in which things ever- ing to take over the chore of mak-
lastingly emerge, stilly and tran- ing decisions for others. Those
quilly, into space and time. It is also civilizations which have prospered,
the Way which every man should however, have been peopled by
tread in imitation of that cosmic and those who appreciated the trans-
super-cosmic progression, conform- cendent importance of their indi-
ing all activities to that great ex-
viduality and who valued the free-
emplar. "In ritual," say the Ana-
lects, "it is harmony with Nature dom necessa.ry for its expression
that is prized." The ancient Jews and fulfillment. "Education is not,
likewise praise the Law as being as Bacon thought, a means of
"true."2 showing people how to get what
they want; education is an exer-
Thus, the Christian insistence cise by means of which enough
that man must order his affairs ac- men, it is hoped, will learn to want
cording to a higher law is far what is worth having."3
from unique. Such a view has been Education is an exercise by
held in common by all civilized which men will learn to want what
men. Our own early institutions is worth having. This is a recur-
of higher learning were deeply rent idea among Western thinkers.
committed to the transmission of Aristotle wrote that the proper
such a heritage. The nine colleges aim of education was to make the
founded in America in the seven- pupil like and dislike the proper
teenth and eighteenth centuries, things. Augustine defined the
(Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dart- proper role of education as that
mouth, Columbia, Princeton, Penn- which accorded to every object in
sylvania, Rutgers, and William the universe the kind and degree
2 C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, 3 "Science and Human Freedom,"
pp. 27-28. Manas, Feb. 28, 1968, p. 7.
of love appropriate to it. In than the whole physical universe.

Plato's Republic, the well-educated Dependent though we may be upon
youth is described as one . . . the lightest accidents of matter, the
human person exists by the virtue
who would see most clearly what- of the existence of his soul, which
ever was amiss in ill-made works of dominates time and death. It is the
man or ill-grown works of nature, spirit which is the root of per-
and with a just distaste would sonality.4
blame and hate the ugly even from
his earliest years and would give de- Our Choices Affect Our Lives
lighted praise to beauty, receiving it
Some of those who espouse the
into his soul and being nourished
idea of freedom are quick to de-
by it, so that he becomes a man of
gentle heart. All this before he is claim such terms as soul, God, or
of an age to reason; so that when Higher Law, feeling that such
Reason at length comes to him, "mysticism" denies the individual
then, bred as he has been, he will the capacity to freely choose since
hold out his hands in welcome and it binds him to a higher Authority.
recognize her because of the affinity This is a groundless fear. In fact,
he bears to her. the whole idea of a higher law and
What is this higher side of 'hu- a God-given capacity for individ-
man nature which can be culti- ual free choice only opens the
door into a world in which man
vated, this higher side of man
is constantly remaking the world
which will learn to want what is
as he modifies and expands his
worth having? According to the
own horizons. It is precisely the
standards of Western civilization,
fact that the soul of the individual
it is the human soul.
derives from a higher order of
If we seek the prime root of all nature that allows man to con-
this, we are led to the acknowledg- stantly remake the world and his
ment of the full philosophical re- own life according to his own un-
ality of that concept of the soul, so derstanding and his own percep-
variegated in its connotations, which
tion. This is the source of the self-
L\ristotle described as the first prin-
ciple of life in any organism and discipline which produces honor,
viewed as endowed with suprama- integrity, courage, and the other
terial intellect in man, and which attributes of civilized man. This
Christianity revealed as the dwell- is the source of the framework
ing place of God and as made for within which all meaningful, civi-
eternal life. In the flesh and bones of lized choice takes place.
man there exists a soul which is a 4 Jacques Maritain, Education at the
spirit and which has a greater value Crossroads, p. 8.
Still, the existentialists may be but he should also note that at the
right about one point. It is true same time he is the prisoner of the
that man finds himself encased others. This would serve to warn us
within a body and a material ex- that what has passed is not merely
istence which he did not choose. the past and nothing more, that we
are not riding free in the air but
It is also true that he finds him-
standing on its shoulders, that we
self limited by the ideas peculiar are in and of the past, a most def-
to his time. Even if he chooses to inite past which continues the hu-
fight such ideas, the very nature man trajectory up to the present
of that choice and struggle is de- moment, which could have been very
termined by the ideas he finds different from what it was, but
around him. This is why man is at which, once having been, is irremedi-
once the molder and the molded, able - it is our present, in which,
the actor and acted upon of his- whether we like it or not, we thrash
tory. Weare all a part of an exis- about like shipwrecked sailors. 5
tential situation that is, and yet
Unless he seeks only the free-
is not, of our own making. In a
very real sense of the word, we dom of shipwrecked sailors, free-
are shaped by generations long dom to drown in an existential
sea, the individual desperately
past, yet have a role to play in the
~haping process for generations to
needs to recognize that his truly
liberating capacity to choose is
come. It is this capacity to choose,
hinged upon a moral framework
limited by the framework we have
inherited, which man must come and certain civilized preconditions
which at once limit and enhance
to understand and deal with if he
his choice. It is this recognition
is to be truly "educated."
that constitutes civilization.
In principle, therefore, it does not Civilized Man
matter whether one generation ap-
plauds the previous generation or What is it then, that civilized
hisses it - in either event, it carries man comes to value? One possible
the previous generation within it- answer is given by Harold Gray,
self. If the image were not so ba- the creator of Little Orphan Annie
roque, we might present the genera- and of the equally delightful Maw
tions not horizontally but vertically, Green, Irish washerwoman and
one on top of the other, like acrobats homey philosopher par excellence.
in the circus making a human tower. In one of Gray's comic strips, he
Rising one on the shoulders of an-
other, he who is on top enjoys the 5 Jose Ortega y Gasset, M an and
sensation of dominating the rest; Crisis, pp. 53-54.
confronts Maw Green with a slob- discipline inherent in such a fixed

bering, unkempt, aggressive boob, value system, a world finding self-
who shouts, "I got rights, ain't congratulation in its illusory man-
I? I'm as good as any 0' those big made heaven on earth, a heaven
shots! Nobody's better'n mel I say blending equal portions of sub-
all men are born equaU Ain't that jectivism and relativism.
right?"
Maw Green maintains her Man Must Be Free to Choose
boundless good humor and agrees There have been among us those
that all men are indeed born equal, men of intellect and integrity who
but she turns aside to confide to have challenged the dominant men-
the reader, "But thank Hiven a tality of the age, warning that
lot of folks outgrow it!" man must be free to choose and
Perhaps that civilizing task of yet properly instructed in the mak-
"outgrowing it" is how the educa- ing of his choice. They have in-
tive process can best help the insisted that proper values can
dividual. Yet in a time of collaps- emerge and be defined by the pass-
ing standards, of "campus re- age of time and the accumulation
volts," such a task for the educa- of human experience. This accu-
tive process seems impossible of mulated wisdom, this framework
fulfillment. If so, Mario Savio and of values, thus provides an en-
lVlarkRudd may be samples of hancement of meaningful choice,
things to come, of tomorrow's not limiting but rather clarifying,
torchbearers upon whom our civili- the individual's power to decide.
zation depends. Such individual choice, plus the
Surely, such a prospect is fright- framework within which that
ening to most of us. If we are choice takes place, is a reflection
to avoid such a fate, the underly- of higher values than society it-
ing problem must he faced squar- self:
ly: Does a proper definition of the
Freedom of the human personality
nature of the universe and the na-
cannot be given by society, and by
ture and role of man within the its source and nature it cannot de-
universe presuppose the existence pend upon society - it belongs to
of a fixed standard of value, uni- man himself, as a spiritual being.
versally applicable to all men at And society, unless it makes totali-
all times? To accept such a view tarian claims, can only recognize
is to challenge directly the root this freedom. This basic truth about
assumption of the modern world freedom was reflected in the doc-
... a world unwilling to accept the trines of natural law, of the rights
of man, independent of the state, of Nock was not alone in his in-
freedom, not only as freedom within sistence upon such standards for
society, but freedom from society the education of future genera-
with its limitless claims on man. 6 tions. He stood in the distin-
To a maverick like Berdyaev, guished company of such men as
freedom was the key word, but Paul Elmer More, T. S. Eliot, C. S.
even he admitted that man was Lewis, and Gilbert K. Chesterton,
a spiritual being and that nature to name but a few of the defenders
had her own laws demanding re- of the Great Tradition. These have
spect from the individual as he been the civilized men of our age.
made his choices. With Canon Bernard Iddings
Many others in the civilized tra- Bell, the distinguished Episcopal
dition of individual freedom and a clergyman who saw so clearly the
fixed moral framework have per- tendency of our times, we might
ceived that the individual must be ponder our future:
not only free, but sufficiently edu-
cated in the proper values to per- I am quite sure that the trouble
mit intelligent choice. Albert Jay with us has been that we have not
Nock, for instance, believed that seriously and bravely put to our-
selves the question, "What is man?"
. . . the Great Tradition would go or, if and when we have asked it,
on "because the forces of nature are we have usually been content with
on its side," and it had an invincible answers too easy and too super-
ally, "the self-preserving instinct of ficial. Most of us were trained to
humanity." Men could forsake it, believe - and we have gone on the
but come back to it they would. They assumption ever since - that in order
had to, for their collective existence to be modern and intelligent and
could not permanently go on without scholarly all that is required is to
it. Whole societies might deny it, avoid asking "Why am I?" and im-
as America had done, substituting merse oneself in a vast detail of
bread and buncombe, power and specialized study and in ceaseless
riches or expediency; "but in the activity. We have been so busy go-
end, they will find, as so many so- ing ahead that we have lost any idea
cieties have already found, that of where it is exactly that we are
they must return and seek the re- going or trying to go. This is, I do
generative power of the Great Tradi- believe, the thing that has ruined
tion, or lapse into decay and death."7 the world in the last half century.8
6 Nicholas Berdyaev, The Realm of
Spirit and The Real'l1J- of Caesar, pp. We have lost our philosophic
59-60.
7 Robert M. Crunden, The Mind & Art 8 Bernard Iddings Bell, Crisis in Edu-
of Albert Jay N ock, p. 134. cation, p. 162.
way in the educational community. framework produce neither auto-

We have often forgotten the moral matons nor hellions. The individ-
necessity of freedom, and have usual must be free to choose, yet
ually forgotten the self-discipline must be provided with a frame-
which freedom must reflect if it work of values within which mean-
is to function within the moral ingful, civilized choice can take
order. As parents, as human be- place. That two-fold lesson must
ings, as members of society, we lie at the heart of any renaissance
must insist that our educational of American education. ~

"Scientism and the Collapse of Standards."

WILLIAM F. RICKENBACKER called has persisted ever since men first

the turn on silver in this country: began to work metals.
it became too valuable industrially But now, in the technological
and commercially to permit' its use age, the properties of gold are be-
for currency at the rate the U. S. coming prized for all sorts of uses
Treasury was willing to pay for that have nothing to do with the
it. A simple proposition in supply monetary needs of governments
and demand. and central banks, the shipping of
Now, in a book which bears the gold bars to settle international
ominous title, Death of the Dollar balances, or the desires of maha-
(Arlington House, $4.95) , Mr. rajahs for ornament. The heart of
Rickenbacker says that gold is Mr. Rickenbacker's book is surely
bound to go the way of silver. those pages about the increasing
Once upon a time gold had two demands for gold in industry.
primary uses. Since it did not rust Since this is the news in his book,
and was suitably scarce, it made let us summarize a bit of it.
the most desirable store of value
that human beings could find. It Gold in the Space Age
kept better than cattle, tobacco, or There is the new science of
even wampum. Ergo, it became space-age electronic circuitry, for
the preferred backing for curren- example. All of a sudden we dis-
cies, the most satisfactory means cover that 23 per cent of domestic
of settling differences in interna- gold consumption is in electrical
tional trade balances. It also had and electronic applications. Gold is
the appeal that goes with great used in diodes, in transistors, and
beauty. The economist doesn't have as small-diameter "whisker" wire.
to become an esthetician to know In salt or solution form it is in
that women and the likes of In- demand for the electroplating of
dian princes prize gold for decora- printed circuits, resistors, trans-
tive purposes; all he has to do is ducers, silicon wafers, and connec-
to take this a.s a phenomenon that tors. The radioactive gold isotope
701
198 is used in cancer therapy. per gold." In the light of his sharp
Gold-platinum alloys are used as and terse sections on the use of
rayon spinnerets. Nuclear reactors gold in industry, the somewhat
are safer when their structural overextended chapters which Mr.
parts in contact with the fuel solu- Rickenbacker devotes to such
tion are plated or clad with gold. things as the International Mone-
This sort of catalogue could be tary Fund and the failures of the
extended beyond the capacity of Federal Reserve Bank to copewith
this or any magazine to print it. inflation seem somewhat windy.
Because the catalogue of indus- This isn't the fault of Mr. Ricken-
trial uses grows bigger every year, backer's styIe, which is always
it is amazing that no book has yet lively, impertinent, and succinct.
been written to explore its rami- The windiness derives from Mr.
fications. The statistics are inter- Rickenbacker's excessive use of
esting. Back in 1957 the industrial quotations from "group think"
consumption of gold was 1.46 mil- documents and from the so-called
lion ounces. In 1966 the figure had experts. The historian may prize
jumped to 6.1 million ounces. Go- Mr. Rickenbacker's collection of
ing up at the rate of 15 per cent other people's words, but the gen-
per year, the domestic consump- eral reader will find himself try-
tion of gold for nonmonetary pur- ing to pry his eyes open as the
poses has more than quadrupled New York Federal Reserve dis-
within a decade. It is now four closes that the mechanism of in-
times the annual U.S. domestic ternational payments "has been
gold production. In the world out- under constant study and review
side the U.S. the production of by a number of official bodies, in-
gold is leveling off and may actu- cluding the IMF, the central
ally decline. Says Mr. Rickenback- bankers who meet regularly at the
er, "The day of gold as the play- Bank for International Settlements
thing of central bankers is ended." in Basle, Working Party 3 of the
Economic Policy Committee of the
A Knotty Problem Organization for Economic Devel-
In view of the facts, Mr. Ricken- opment (OECD) in Paris ... and
backer is amazed that Washington national treasuries and central
thinks it can hold the price of gold banks." What came out of all this
down to $35 an ounce. He is also "constant study and review"? The
amazed that great thinkers wrack :B'ed solemnly sums it up as fol-
their brains to come up with such lows: "The central bankers em-
self-incriminating phrases as "pa- phasized that even strong cur-
1968 AS GOLD GOES 703
rency defenses cannot be a substi- "supposition" that the dollar is

tute for the eventual correction of "equal to a fixed number of marks
major underlying payments im- or francs or guilders" is simple
balances - a point heavily stressed idiocy. W:e won't solve our exter-
at the IMF meetings as well. In nal difficulties, and those of ~ther
this respect, the continued balance- countries as well, until the Amer-
of-payments deficits of the United ican economy accepts Federal bud-
States have been a source of con- geting discipline at home. It is the
cern." domestic monetary policies of the
In other and shorter words, the various important nations that
bankers say that we won't get well count, not the attempts of inter-
until we find a cure. But we knew national monetary authorities to
that already. devise means of establishing new
"drawing rights" and the multi-
Too Many Controls plication of "paper gold."
As a believer in the quantity Mr. Rickenbacker is attracted
theory of money, a belief which by Milton Friedman's ideas about
he shares with Milton Friedman, free floating exchange rates, which
Mr. Rickenbacker doubts that the would let the price of gold fluctu-
"cure" will be found by people who ate in accordance with free mar-
try to restrain and redirect the ket dictates. A new fixed price for
movement of gold, goods, and serv- gold, he thinks, would only create
ices across international bound- the necessity of re-pegging the
aries by offering "controls." This dollar to gold every other genera-
points the way to Hjalmar Schacht- tion. As a believer in free choice
ism, autarky, and declining pro- and the philosophy of libertarian-
duction on a world scale. It ends ism or voluntarism (if such awk-
by substituting the gun standard ward words must be used), I am
for the gold standard. Controls attracted to the Friedman idea
breed more controls, and we need myself. But in a world that shies
fewer of them, not more. The away from any disciplines at all,
world will remain in trouble as wouldn't it be a boon to get a.
long as the American economy, stable relationship between the
which is the strongest on the dollar and gold at a realistic new
planet, remains inflationary. As rate even if it only promises to
currency and credit are pumped last for twenty years?
into the U.S. system at a rate that This is the question that Mr.
vastly exceeds annual increments Rickenbacker really poses. I wish
in productivity, the continued he had done more to answer it. ~
~ THE SOVIET ECONOMY: man thinks it unlikely that Marx

MYTH AND REALITY by Mar- ever intended that peasants should
shall 1. Goldman (Englewood be expropriated on the scale prac-
Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968), ticed by the Soviets. Estimates
have run as high as 10 million
176 pp., $1.95.
deaths as a result of Stalin's col-
Reviewed by Gary North lective farm program.
UP UNTIL NOW, probably the best In recent years, the author
brief introduction to the Soviet shows, there have been moves
economy has been Robert W. toward decentralization of the
Campbell's Soviet Economic Power economy. Such capitalistic fea-
(Praeger, 1966). Now, a second tures as rent, interest, and a
must be added to the list, Profes- limited profit system have been
sor Goldman's study of myth and imposed. Nevertheless, Goldman
reality in the Soviet economy. is under no illusions as to the
In each of the thirteen cOlnpact nature of these innovations: "It
chapters, Goldman examines a is unlikely that private ownership
myth. For example, he demon- of the means of production will
strates that the economy of Czar- ever be tolerated, except perhaps
ist Russia was growing, and that in a few small service industries
by 1913 it was in no sense a back- or trades." Thus, chapter ten is
ward country economically. In devoted to a refutation of that in-
fact, it was not until 1953 that the creasingly prominent myth: "The
real wage income of the urban Soviet Union is becoming capital-
Soviet worker equalled the 1913 ist, and, in a few years, there will
level! be no differences between the So-
Not only was Lenin's October viet and American systems." Un-
Revolution not a legitimate Marx- less, he fails to add, America de-
ist one, by Marx's own standards, cides to meet the Soviets more
Goldman shows that subsequent than halfway.
economic practices of the USSR The book is no diatribe. Where
have not conformed to Marxist he thinks the Soviets have ac-
teachings conc~rning a "people's complished something important
democracy." Planners have con- (often by employing nonsocial-
tinually resorted to capitalistic istic means), he says so. This
measures in order to make the book is a healthy corrective for
system function at all. In spite of those myths that have as their
Marx's hostility to the conserva- foundation the worship of collec-
tism of Europe's peasantry, Gold- tivist economic practices. ~
the
Freeman
VOL. 18, NO. 12 DECEMBER 1968
Know Thyself - A.Revisitation Daniel R. Dixon 707

A recognition that the unknown is infinite, affording the individual unlimited
opportunity to learn and grow.
"Born Free"? E. F. Wells 718

"No man is born free; it is enough that he lives in a country where he can
become free."
Zoning: A Case Study John J. Roberts 721

A reporter's review of the nature and consequence of power-planning of the
lives and property of people.
3. Scientism and the Collapse of Standards ' George Charles Roche III 729
The abandonment of everything but material objects and objectives leaves man
with no reason to try to think or learn.
The Good Life W. M. Curtiss 739

,If all men were agreed as to what constitutes lithe good life," no one would
need to be free.

1O. The Victorian Way: Affirmed and Rejected Clarence B. Carson 745
How romantics and reformers cast off the measures by which England had risen
to greatness.
Book Reviews 758

"Government in the Power Business" by Edwin Vennard
Index 761

the
Freeman
IRVINGTONON-HUDSON, N. Y. 10533 TEL.: (914) 5917230

Economic Education


Any current article will be supplied In reprint form upon sufficient de-
mand to cover printing costs. Permission Is hereby granted to reprint
II 'Born Free'?" and liThe Rise and Fall of England."
DANIEL R. DIXON
OUR COUNTRY is wracked by agony mopylae Pass, left a monument in

and distress when the cornucopia the imperishable phrase, "Stran-
of food and products was never ger, go tell the Lacedaemonians
greater. The bewildering and that we lie here, obedient to their
frightening erosion of spiritual, commands." Some kill, some suffer
moral, and ethical standards of death. But to kill or he killed is
yesterday leaves us lost and dis- not of concern. The question is,
traught. The standards of yester- "By whose mandate?" Whose law
day, like yesterday itself, are ir- shall one obey?
retrievable. Could it be, that Is there a source of guidance,
among this welter of discord and a body of law, to provide the rules
confusion there is rhyme or rea- of life? The prevalence of order
son or understanding? With te- in the physical universe is so man-
merity and naivete, it is believed ifest as to preclude denial. The
that there is. green grass grows all around and
A murderer fires a single shot no one knows why. Neither atheist
and becomes an outlaw. A bom- nor agnostic can deny the exist-
bardier pulls a switch and returns ence of grass-growing power,
to a hero's welcome while thou- though the reasons why be dis-
sands perish. The ancient Spar- puted. Our environment is sur-
tans, while dying to hold Ther- rounded and controlled, and in-
deed locked, by the complex laws
Mr. Dixon is an attorney in Raleigh, North
Carolina. of the universe. Every step, from
707
708 THE FREEMAN December
cradle to grave, is predicated upon and as the sun rises each day it
the assumption that the "law of seems that the infinite, or cosmic
gravity" and innumerable other force conventionally described as
"laws" will not change. Man has God, is conducting business as
not created, and cannot alter or usual.
change, one law of nature. His
Integrating New Discoveries
abilities are restricted exclusively
with the Infinite Law
to the discovery and implementa-
tion of existing law. The world of Of course, the dogmas and
science exists and expands upon teaching of all religions are con-
the predicate of a consistent pat- fronted with the obvious necessity
tern of natural law. New "knowl- of reconciling with the new. The
edge" is but a new discovery of 'concept .of Heaven is threatened
pre-existing law. The possibility by a penetration of space. A re-
of exhausting the universe of orientation of concepts is needed,
knowledge is inconceivable. Man's not a denial of the existence of
knowledge is yet but a spark of infinite law. Reassurance in this
light in the dark and limitless respect is everywhere obvious.
universe. The unknown is in- The laws of the universe have
finite as the infinite is unknown. been consistent by permitting
Life has meaning only on the passage of interplanetary craft
assumption. of the continuing con- into the reaches of space. Such
sistency of order in our environ- craft continue their remote jour-
ment. Some achieve this status of neys operating on the same laws
belief by religious faith. Others of science and physics which per-
unwittingly arrive at the same mitted their departure from earth.
status by a shallow cynicism and The question is, does the Great
self-deceit. Those who deny God Plan span the moral and spiritual
do so with the arrogant compla- as well as the physical and scien-
cency, or belief, that no change tific? The laws of science are per-
will develop in established order. suasive only by reason of statis-
The avowed cynic thereby avows tical consistency. One and one ap-
a faith more absolute than the pears to equal two however many
professed apostolate. The state- times it is tested. Gravity appears
ment, "God is dead," is a puerile to invariably pull downward.
and senseless expression. The Knowledge is such only so long as
planets continue to whirl through variance in the pattern is not de-
space in their accustomed order. tected. The discovery of a variance
Day and night follow successively then initiates a search for a new
1968 KNOW THYSELF - A REVISITATION 709
pattern of consistency with the existence of many moral codes is

belief that such a pattern exists. clear; but the proper. content of
The rules for human behavior, a moral code is not clear nor is
if such exist, are more difficult to the evidence clear of the existence
identify. The moral, legal, and re- of any satisfactory or durable
ligious mandates against killing, moral code. In what, then, can one
stealing, lying, bigamy, and other believe? Man must worship some-
"crimes" are subject to much dis- thing. The finite seeking of the
sent as to nature and degree of infinite is compulsive. Idolatry,
prohibition to be imposed. The hero worship, admiration, ideal-
variables attending their applica- ism, or religious devotion, all are
tion breed violent dispute. The derivative from the assumption
current controversy over the abo- there exists a higher order. This
lition of capital punishment is compulsive force to understand is
typical. However great the dis- a lifelong struggle, a constant
parity in the moral codes of diff- search for verities.
erent people, the essentiality of The solace of prayer has sus-
some moral code is a universal tained the tormented since the be-
need for every rational creature. ginning. Is this a meaningless and
The need is one absolute. In the empty endeavor, art insult to in-
process of rejecting one rule, telligence? To pray for alms is a
another is inadvertently selected shoddy entreaty. But to seek guid-
in its stead. Thus, by default, all ance seems a valid endeavor, even
subscribe to some code. Such if evaluated solely from psycho-
adopted codes have limitless vari- logical. standards. Its power stems
ations but all are compilations of from a passionate desire to par-
the concepts controlling and guid- take of infinite knowledge that
ing such persons. we sense exists but know not how
to attain. A penetration is sought
The Role of Religion beyond one's normal, more tangi-
Religion has provided most of ble abilities.
the civilized rules of conduct. It is a quest for truth that as-
Witch doctor, Code of Ham- sumes the existence of some
murabi, Law of Moses, sun god, greater knowledge which can be
monkey worship, sacred cow, or made known to the supplicant. The
sacrificial lamb, whatever its form, soilrce of such knowledge may be
there is a universal supplication subject to dispute and may not be
to the powers that be. The need the domain of man to know, but
for a moral code is clear, the the, existence of such storehouse of
knowledge is manifest and. there with justification. There seem to
for the taking. Every day brings be few, if any, avowed persons of
new discoveries, some dramatic evil. Alibis are erected to justify
some prosaic, but each reassures each and every "wrongful" act.
there are many others yet to be Why? Does this not constitute a
revealed. The search for verities, tacit admission of the dominance
be they physical, chemical, elec- of good over evil? Is a "natural
trical, spiritual, ethical, or other- law" applying a gentle but relent-
wise, is a valid undertaking. less pressure too subtle for dis-
cernment to seek a "better" way,
Natural Law
even within the most callous? How
In the realm of jurisprudence, else could man "rise" after each
rules of conduct have long been black orgy of history or have rea-
sought from the guidance pro- son to hope for a better way of
vided by "natural law." This con- life in the future?
cept, like religious belief, is de- Logic is widely. espoused, but it
fended only to the extent that it is a most perilous foundation. Man
is observed that civilized society has no standards for discerning
has long held a compelling feeling what is logical or illogical. He has
that nature provided the rules for only the capacity for conviction
ou~ behavior, if we but had the that something is right or wrong,
wisdom to decipher them. How- good or evil. That which we label
ever, all codes of behavior embody as logical is simply the evidence
concepts of right and wrong, of presented to the mind which must
good and evil. These are counter- ultimately pass final judgment on
balances essential for man's sta- something as right or wrong, as
bility. The implicit evaluation of good or evil. There are no other
some degree of good or evil criteria. All decisions are thus
touches and colors every human moral judgments. In seeking
act. meaning to life and the relation
Here then is the vortex of all hetween physical and ethical, let
individual struggle for a way of us note that our complex compu-
life, and there is neither escape ters similarly solve all their prob-
nor simple solution. Those who lems with a positive force and a
escape to the refuge of an ivory negative force, and nothing more.
tower avoid but do not conquer.
Common Sense
In this relentless struggle it is in-
teresting to note that the foulest There seems to be a natural
acts of human behavior are draped synapse in the minds of the young
and the illiterate which translates imposed rituals enhance the per-
acts or positions into an immedi- sonal sense of identity. This com-
ate posture of conviction as to the pulsion to conformity often suf-
rightness or wrongness of that focates the innovation needed for
which is under judgment. This so- further development. Change, in
called "common sense" approach is and of itself, is abhorrent and
a common characteristic of per- frightening above all else.
sons of strength. and stability. In-
Acce/erat~d Change
tense intellectual study must de-
stroy this synapse depriving such During the long years of the
persons of a valuable stabilizer. agrarian economy, change was rel-
The disagreements of the "ex- atively slow. The harsh struggle
perts" are legend. Their mistakes for survival left little time for
are frequently both mystifying metaphysical speculation. The
and monstrous. It is believed that daily mechanism of chores and
prolonged study which focuses on duties gave a sense of meaning
data eventually displaces and de- which was satisfying, even if un-
stroys the ultimate basis for solu- realistic. The dogmas of Puritan
tion: a final conviction as to the Christianity provided stern and
validity of the position taken. The positivistic guidelines for conduct.
logician loses or forgets that all A strong sense of destiny gave our
decisions are but moral judg- nation drive and direction. But
ments. He indulges in the fallacy change is now upon us as never
of the capacity of the brain to before.
contain sufficient data to be "logi- Science and technology are irre-
cal." sistible forces which are not to be
The existence, as distinguished denied. Massive change is produc-
from the content, of a set of rules ing massive social trauma. The
for human behavior has not been dogmas and orthodoxy of religion
alleged. However, the need for are eroding under the impact of
such a set of rules is everywhere new knowledge derived from many
apparent. Man finds repose and sources, particularly space travel
security in a way of life which is and technology. The amalgama-
stabilized and protected by estab- tion of churches and modification
lished order. He strives forever to of church codes bear clear _evi-
fabricate such an environment by dence of this trend. The mass mi-
making certain that which is un- gration from rural to urban areas
certain, to transmute the infinite must produce generalized acute ap-
into the finite. A variety of self- prehension. Recent studies of the
instinct of territorial imperative leadership appears to be, diverting

provide some understanding of the a powerful drive for a more ideal-
degree of distress which must ac- istic life into destructive and dan-
company such relocation. In addi- gerous practices. It is recognized
tion, man is frightened by the re- that many prominent persons and
lease of time itself. His prior pre- leaders are corrupt, that many in
occupation with the burdens of high places are more adept at in-
survival left little time for self- trigue than performance; yet the
contemplation. He now flees the renunciation of principles and
time vacuum' by a frantic and standards is not the answer nor
childish pursuit of superficial en- does rationalization for escapism
tertainment, stereotyped social en- afford a solution. The beatnik
gagements, and the anesthesia of mentality appears to be that of
alcohol. These, and other evidences withdrawal, a surrender to defeat
of the impact of change,are every- without ,struggle. In the end it
where apparent. only achieves debasement in the
name of pacifism with an ultimate
In Search of a Code reward of nonentity in lieu of
The loss of, the moral code of fulfillment.
Pnritap.' philosophy is most mani- It is not difficult to understand
fest among our young. The need that many of our most gifted and
for amoral code is as essential as talented youth, those most in need
ever.. In fact; it. is so indispensa- of a moral philosophy, caught in
ble that our young are seeking to the vacuum ofa waning native
create' a set of standards satisfac- ideology, listen to new cults, in-
tory to themselves. Their present cluding the sinister appeal of so-
distress is almost an hysteria cialism' and communism. Their
which is evidenced .by a compul- talents are being lost for lack of
siveand violent rejection of those a sense of meaning and purpose.
who cannot. provide or practice a Abandonment of society is not a
satisfying moral code, in short, solution either for society or for
conventional society in toto. those withdrawing. It takes
The observation that our young, stamina to stand in the mud and
as exemplified by the "beatniks" fight back; and therein lies the
or other similar groups, are high- challenge of today which is dif-
ly immoral by conventional stand- ferent only in degree from the
ards is not the point. By their challenges of yesterdays.
standards, a code is being fol- How shall one proceed, then, in
lowed. Unfortunately, shallow seeking guidance in this age when
the cynic dominates, when the plicable to the contest for intel-
rules of society suffer constant lectual .achievement.
affront, and the specter of. rebel- Itcan be inspiring to believe
lion hangs on the horizon? The that the Great Plan provided to all
laws of the infinite are not easily the capacity to think perfectly and
comprehended. Paradox widely thereby to learn, to unravel some
prevails, and agony and effort are erstwhile unknown secret of the
needed to achieve some satisfac- universe, to make discovery, to ex-
tory rapport with life's dilemmas. press a new thought, to build, to
partake of the process of creation.
Validity of Thinking ys. The sanctity of personal dignity
Rapidity of Learning would seem to be associated with
"Nobody is perfect" is a sooth- this quality of humanity. Our
ing balm for careless error. Colos- form of government and way of
sal error frequently results from life is predicated upon its pri-
overlooking the manifestly obvi- macy. The deadly struggle in the
ous. Self-deprecation results in opposing worlds of communistic
most overlooking that the Infinite versus democratic institutions is
endowed all rational creatures formed along this line, an ultimate
with perfect minds. In this sense, and unrelenting contest for vin-
validity of thinking is to be care- dication of the state or the people
fully distinguished from rapidity \vithin the state. It is a personal
of learning. Few have the intellec- belief that Western society shall
tual capacity described as genius. succeed or fail in this endeavor in
But all, or nearly so, have the ca- direct proportion to the degree we
pacity to learn, even. though are validly dedicated to a defense
slowly. The "perfect" answer to of individual dignity. The growing
one plus one is two and, therefore, and spreading awareness of indi-
can be "learned." Learning is viduality is a product of democ-
available to all. With adequate en- racy. The world is in ferment for
deavor, its accomplishments ap- the reason that the concepts of
proach the miraculous. Often, the individualism are growing deeper
slow, plodding, meticulous effort and stronger. Democracy would
of a less gifted person makes the thus appear to be working.
discovery his more "intellectual"
but less patient colleague misses. Frustration and Revolt
Discovery, like gold, is wherever Violence is a product of fear, a
found. The ancient fable of the rage of retaliation, and would
tortoise and the hare is also ap- seem an almost inevitable by-
product of the massive changes person is beneficial whatever one

which are in progress. Today's is building, whether it be knowl-
violence, certainly to a substan- edge, skills, or things. In the proc-
tial degree, is an expression of ess, one absorbs a sense of affinity
frustration and revolt against the with the Infinite. Time and ma-
absence of a viable ethic as such. terials are mystically converted
Our young are dissatisfied with into a product, or a skill. Individ-
the standards of their leaders and ual effort is converted into prod-
parents. Cynicism and hypocrisy ucts and becomes a part of the
in high place is widespread and is universe of creation in the com-
provoking wide revulsion. Deci- parable sense that energy is mys-
sion by expediency is the order of tically mutated into matter. "I
the day and dominates the think- exist; therefore, I am" expands
ing of both business and govern- into "I do; therefore, 1 am more."
ment. Like short-term credit, its
effect as a palliative is short-lived Heroes or Idols?
and each cycle of crises is more Hero worship plays a vital part
acute than the preceding one. Per- in the character formation of our
haps, an excess emphasis on ma- youth. The search for standards
terial possessions is partially re- becomes personalized in a form of
sponsible. The struggle for personal idol worship. A Lincoln, a Ken-
achievement strips men of their nedy, a Christ, or a Machiavelli is
more gracious qualities. Survival deified as an encoded model. We
in the market place is intolerant cannot thus delegate the forma-
of charity, in the same manner tion of ourselves to another. Each
that nature ordains the survival must shoulder his own burden for
of the fittest. In the contests of shaping his mind. Men are not to
life, this law breeds competence be hallowed or enshrined, admira-
and harshness even though legal ble as their qualities may be.
and social concepts of humani- Their acts and deeds can only pro-
tarianism restrict its unbridled vide guidelines for study.
application. One must look inward to de-
Suppression of violence may be velop one's own standards. IIeroes
necessary but is not a cure. The and idols are a source of inspira-
antidote for violence is construction but their deification carries
tive endeavor that imparts a sense the danger of disillusionment. The
of fulfillment. Violence cannot repercussions from the de-Stalin-
flourish among those who have ization of the /Soviet Union, for
learned to build. The effect on the example, posed a serious threat to
the continuing effectiveness of tude with which one accepts such

communist ideology, and it has concept varies widely. Rational
manifestly weakened "strict com- acknowledgment of a universal or-
munism." Every rational mind der would seem a contributing fac-
can seek for itself those principles tor to personal stability. Without
which are enduring and. satisfy- such a belief man has no way to
ing, provided, of course, one first locate or identify himself and he
believes in the .existence of such is lost, a creature tossed and buf-
principles. There is no proof that feted by the vicissitudes of life,
such rules exist which can be of- without meaning or direction.
fered to the skeptic. But it is In a subjective sense, "virtue is
repugnant to consciousness to be- its own reward." "To thine own
lieve that man, apparently the only self be true" is an inspiring moti-
rational creature, would be left vant. But objectively, a moral code
without guidance and left to act must be bulwarked by the concept
upon his own resources while plac- of retribution. In spite of denial,
ing him in an environment com- mortals must eventually succumb
pletely controlled by immutable to an apprehension of retribution.
laws of nature. The unknown, by reason of being
unknown, is an affliction of all, and
Principles of Consistency potentially carries the threat of
The search for knowledge as- being capable of producing a re-
sumes the existence of principles taliatory force. Belief in retribu-
of consistency which can be dis- tion is an expression of submis-
covered and implemented. One is sion to cosmic forces. Personal
thus confronted with the need of tranquillity is related to one's be-
accepting the concept of universal lief in the omnipotence of such
order as embracing human be- forces and their impact on mor-
havior. Man's essence and being tals. Newton's law of motion pro-
are matters of relation to the per- vides, "to every force there is an
sons, things, and creatures around equal and opposite reaction." In
him which we describe as environ- finances, credits are balanced by
ment. Acceptance of this concept debits. In a chemical reaction, "the
is almost inescapable. It would initial mass of the reactants is
seem that even the most arrogant equal to the final mass of the prod-
and materialistic of minds must ucts." In jurisprudence, every
eventually sense our status of de- right is balanced by a duty. Justice,
pendency on the immutability of to be psychically satisfying, must
universal law. Obviously, the atti- administer punishment. It must
not only hold the .transgressor to has inhibited normal and natural
account, but it also rewards the punishment and thereby deprived
compliant.Justice is thus meas- the child of the cleansing sense of
ured not only by .the quantum suffering a just retribution. The
and nature of punishment imposed Puritan philosophy, even with its
on the culprit; it must also cause harshness, was highly positivistic
the conformist to feel his position and provided certainty for coping
is ultimately improved by his with life's problems. Indulgence
obedience. and coddling are breeding neuroses
in children who are otherwise nor-
The Rule of Law mal and healthy. Parents should
In a society that fetishly de- learn that love and respect are
claims the rule of law, the en- poured from the same pot. With-
forcement of law would seem to holding proper punishment, under
be an obvious objective. Law is a the unfounded fear of losing the
product or" moral concepts, and child's love, eventually causes a
ideas of right and wrong provide loss .of both love and respect. In
the genesis of legislation. Statutes time, the harvest reaped is dis-
are specifications of ethical con- obedience, rebellion, and contempt.
cepts and, with all their infirmi- The errant child must surely call
ties, are still our best effort to to account the conscience of the
capture rules in harmony with. in- parents with the persisting ques-
finite law. It is this which makes tion of wherein they failed.
sacred the "rule of law" as op-
posed to the "rule of men."Prin- Survival and Retribution
ciple is intended to take preced- in the World of Business
ence over persons. There is one area in which the
One may wonder why criminals natural laws of survival of the
are treated with such laxity. Could fittest and retribution have here-
it not be that the enforcers are tofore been allowed to operate
themselves so lost as not to know with some degree of freedom. This
what to enforce? Such laxity is is in the business world of free
symptomatic of the general break- enterprise whereby the penalty
down of imposed retribution. In for violating the rules of good
the home, the child frequently management inexorably brings in-
dominates the parent. The intel- solvency with final dissolution of
. ligent, but confused, parent has the business.
lost a conviction of right and Under the influence of socialistic
wrong. "Progressive" psychology and Fabian doctrines, our govern-
ment seems possessed by some sions can be drawn? Essentially,
mania to destroy this last strong- that we are unhappy passengers
hold of freedom that has hereto- i~ an era of unparalleled transi-
fore been allowed to operate to tion. The impact is too great for
our advantage. The subsidy, .the historical comparison. The need
special tax advantage, government for individual stamina and stabil-
management of business, and other ity was never greater. If man can-
artificial restraints on the econ- not live by bread alone, he will
omy are violating natural law and surely forge new standards to
are manifestly dangerous to a carry himself into the future. The
healthy economy. Their use should current fetish of supinely sub-
be indulged with reluctance and scribing to the idea that modern
restraint. They are doubly iniqui- complexity defies solution is
tous when they constitute a forced thwarting our better capabilities.
charity procured by political in- An intense search for more funda-
fluence and distributed as a dole mental guidelines in lieu of shal-
to an undeserved member who in low expedients will hasten our
turn can control his own dispen- progress to better and more en-
sation. The present plight of the during answers to many problems,
British Empire should provide both personal and national. The
ample lesson of the effects of so- cradle of civilization of ancient
cialization of government with its Greece gave us a great assist, two
related restrictions on free enter- thousand years ago, with a simple
prise. It is no secret that the com- phrase, "Know thyself." Today, as
munist countries have repeatedly then, this message is suggesting
needed help from the "free world" that we refortify ourselves with
to avoid widespread starvation. an enhanced sense of our endowed
In summary then, what conclu- capabilities. ~
Truth and Faith Endure

WITH EACH WINTER SOLSTICE since the proud days of. Imperial
Rome the age-old legend of the nativity reminds us of the endless
resurgence of the soul beneath the burden and the suffering
perennially imposed upon mankind by those who seek to master
it by some demented dream of might and glory, or some empty
promise of peace and plenty without price. . . . By this ancient
symbol of the silent strength of the unnumbered humble and
obscure we may remember always that only truth and faith will
endure.
VIRGIL JORDAN
"BORN FREE"?
E. F. WELLS
DURING a Fritz Kreisler concert, Nijinsky's tragedy was that,

a young violinist sat enthralled. having gained the ultimate in
"Ohh," she sighed, "what I would freedom, he destroyed himself by
give to have such finger dexterity, giving in to indulgences that tore
such mastery, such freedom !" his moral fiber, until the freest of
Later she told the incomparable mortals passed the latter part of
:Kreisler that she would give her his life confined to the narrowest
life to playas he did. The violinist of worlds.
looked at her compassionately, "A good poem is not made,"
then said, "But, my dear, I did." said Robert Frost. "It is born-
Soaring, unbound by the chains complete." Surely this would be
of gravity, Nijinsky, the world's freedom - to think in a rush of
greatest dancer, expressed the ul- words so perfect that, when the
timate of personal freedom. Yet thought finished, it would be
before he could abandon himself poetry. But before this can be
to the dance, Nijinsky had to cur- achieved, a mind must be dis-
tail, deny, restrict. Only through ciplined as Nijinsky's body was
the strictest of discipline could a disciplined, as Kreisler's hands
man gain such freedom of move- were disciplined. No poem is ever
ment. born complete to the mind that
has not carefully trained itself.
Mr. Wells has been an educator and cur- Knowingly or unknowingly,
rently is a free-lance writer and supervisory
training consultant. through countless attempts, the
'71Sl
1968 "BORN FREE"? 719
poet has disciplined his thoughts unrestrained anarchy is a man's
to flow in rhythmical, striking freedom. When a meeting is in a
patterns. He has prepared his state of uproar, no one can be
mind for the moment of inspira- heard. When a handful of students
tion, and the harder he works, the riot, the rights of all students are
more gloriously his mind can soar. abused. After the Berkeley move-
A man who has not disciplined ment, begun with sincere idealism,
himself to read has narrowed his degenerated into license, one stu-
freedom to choose between ideas. dent said, "In the future when I
He is confined to what he hears. defend to the death anyone's right
He is at the mercy of the propa- to be heard, I'm going to make
gandists. He has limited his free- sure he's not trying to muzzle
dom to think. "I thought I'd been mine."
freed from jail," said a young As long as he is compelled to
friend, "when I quit school. But denounce, to defy, to violate, the
now I know a drop-out has no young rebel cannot choose; he can
freedom of choice in the job mar- only discard or destroy. Scorning
ket." all he sees, he denies himself the
heritage of the ages. He mistakes
Self-Discipline an Essential lack of responsibility for freedom,
First Step to Freedom crassness for honesty, and the
Nineteen-hundred years ago, ability to shock or astound for
Epictetus recognized the para- talent.
dox. "No man is free," wrote that Called down for unseemly con-
wise Greek, "who is not master duct, a contemptuous young medic
of himself." The struggle for self- said to television's Dr. Kildare,
mastery is the great battle of life. "What you're asking of me is
Yet how often modern man thinks conformity!"
of freedom as a state of total un- "N 0," replied Dr. Kildare.
restraint. Young men and women, "What I'm asking of you is pro-
eager to be free, confuse unbridled fessional conduct."
passion with freedom, and so be- The young need to be taught
come a slave to passion. Anxious that subtle distinction. In a free
to live unrestricted, they rush to society it is possible - yes, it is
experience all things and fall piti- necessary - to fight for what one
ful victims to their vices. They believes. But it is meaningless to
are chained as no prisoner is. talk of civil rights without rec-
Recent campus demonstrations ognizing civil responsibilities. A
showed that the first loss under free society has the right to ex-
pect its citizens to act as responsi- value of freedom lies in what men
ble adults. In fact, its very con- do with it.
tinuance depends upon it. "I have on my table," said the
Nobel P~ize-winning poet, Sir
Freedom from Responsibility Rabindranath Tagore, "a violin
Writing of the decline of Athens, string. It is free. I twist one end
historian Edith Hamilton said, of it and it responds. It is free.
"When the freedom they wished But it is not free to do what a
for most was freedom from re- violin string is supposed to do-
sponsibility, then Athens ceased to produce music. So I take it,
to be free and was never free fix it in my violin and tighten it
again." until it is taut. Only then is it
Often the freedom to think and fr'ee to be a violin string." Each
the freedom to indulge are ene- of us is free to choose if he wishes
mies, as history has shown in the to be an unhampered piece of cat-
decadence of Rome, in the van- gut or a free and performing vio-
ished glory of Babylon. The once lin string - adding to the world's
brilliant mind of Henry VIII was waste or the world's music.
dissipated by pandering to whims, "Even if you live in the freest
until a gouty king no longer had country in the world," wrote Ig-
the freedom of will to deny him- nazio Silone in Bread and Wine
self anything. A man who cannot "and are lazy, callous, apathetic,
deny himself, can.n.ot choose. irressolute, you are not free but a
Wishes often conflict and the be- slave, though there he no coercion
ginning of wisdom is the realiza- and no opposition." No man is
tion that short-range desires must born free; it is enough'that he
often be sacrificed for long-range lives in a country where he can
dreams. become free. This is his American
Our forefathers who prized birthright, this, his opportunity.
freedom above all else were not Such an opportunity ought not
unbridled men. They did not re- to be squandered. It ought to be
volt merely for the sake of re- fulfilled by everyone through his
bellion. They recognized that own patient and dedicated labors,
breaking old chains was not for if it is not cherished and won
enough. If a man was to rebel, it anew by each succeeding genera-
must he for the sake of some tion, so splendid a birthright
mightier aim. They knew that the could be lost. ~
.ttNINt~
A CASE STUDY
JOHN J. ROBERTS
Zoning has spread itself across the nation since first tried in
New York City in 1916. This study of its growth and effect in
one community may help to reveal its general nature. The
author is a reporter for The Emporia Gazette in Kansas, and
the affairs of the zoning board have been on his "beat."
THE NATURE of government bears This malignant growth is clear-

a strong resemblance, it has been ly visible in the history of Em-
said, to that of Topsy: it just poria's zoning experience. The
grows and grows. This should be town's first zoning ordinance was
no mystery: when government ex- passed in 1927. That ordinance
pands beyond its legitimate areas provided for three zoning classifi-
of protection of life and property cations - one-family residential,
rights, it cannot fulfill these addi- apartment residential, and com-
tional functions as efficiently as mercial- and for a three-man
can the free market; when the board to administer the ordinance.
inevitable problems then arise, the The zoning board now has nine
same mentality which urged gov- members, not three, administering
ernment intervention in the first a complex set of zoning ordinances
place can conceive of no cure but with nineteen different classifica-
more of the same medicine. More tions, not three; and since 1953
government is called for to cure zoning has applied to the county
the ravages caused by misdirected area around Emporia as well as
government in the first place. A to the town itself~
vicious cycle is started, the closest Another index to the Topsy na-
thing to perpetual motion yet de- ture of government zoning in
vised by man. Emporia is revealed in its history
721
of comprehensive planning. The petty but bitter squabble whether
acceptance of zoning led naturally package liquor stores should be
to the further approval of com- included among the some 120 dif-
prehensive planning, with zoning ferent businesses explicitly allowed
as only one phase of the total under the new classification.
picture. The first master plan for Such arguments are nothing
Emporia was approved in 1941, new under the sun. Almost imme-
fourteen years after the intro- diately after the first zoning or-
duction of zoning. dinance in Emporia was passed,
That plan was soon declared a large corner lot owned by the
obsolete and, at least in part, im- local sheriff touched off a veritable
practical. As a result, those who comedy of errors.
had pushed for zoning and a com- Property owners in the neigh-
prehensive plan now urged - of borhood held that the lot should
course - another master plan. A be zoned one-family residence
major fight developed over which while the mayor and his associates
city-planning firm should get the at City Hall said the proper zon-
lucrative contract, however, and ing was commercial. The spat
the new master plan was not pre- came to a head one fine morning
sented to the City until 1966. Its when the irate property owners
cost was more than twice that of marched on City Hall for a heated
the first plan, and the book con- confrontation with the nlayor.
taining the new plan comprised While this was transpiring, how-
220 pages, 27 maps, 11 figures, ever, the sheriff was over at the
and 37 tables. Not bad, for a town court house filing papers which
of only 20,000 inhabitants! clearly placed his property in the
third classification, apartment dis-
Decision-Making Transferred trict.
This gradual but thorough A favorite justification for zon-
transfer of owner decision-making ing is the claim that it provides
to a political planning board was stability. Beyond its legitimate
not accomplished without inci- functions, however, the state
dents, and some of these provide brings anything but stability.
explicit illustrations of further One of the manifestations of
theoretical fallacies in zoning. such instability comes in the form
The most recent classification of spot-zoning. Edward M. Bassett
to be added to the zoning regula- wrote in 1936 that the pioneer
tions was passed earlier this year, New York zoning ordinance (1916)
and immediately exploded into a never could have heen passed
1968 ZONING: A CASE STUDY 723
without requirement in the enon the tendency of power to cor-
abling act for uniform application rupt. Behind-the-scenes political
of the restrictions within a dis- jockeying is a major cause of
trict. This rule of uniform treat- zoning instability, if for no other
ment soon fell by the wayside in reason than its sweeping perva-
New York; in Emporia, spot-zon- siveness.
ing by the planning board and by Home owners who believe that
the appeals board began almost they are protected by zoning fre-
immediately after the local or- quently are stunned to find classi-
dinance was approved. fications changed, apparently to
accommodate those who know the
Instability by Compulsion "right" people in the "right"
The nonadherence to uniform places.
standards obviously introduces an This coercion can be merely
element of instability. Other con- irritating. One Emporia man could
tributing factors also are involved. not get clear title for several
Emporia is a two-college town, months to a house he had pur~
and until a few years ago was chased, because a legal survey
drastically short of student hous- found that the building extended
ing. The zoning board decided to a couple of inches into a six-foot
help relieve the problem by using buffer area stipulated by zoning
its powers to encourage property law between the house and the
owners to provide student .apart- property line.
ments. But in December of 1966,
the zoning board and the district Star Chamber Tactics
court jointly began cracking down The more dangerous aspects of
on zoning violations involving too power misdirected were bared in
many student roomers in houses. 1961 when the zoning board in
The same property owners who Emporia adopted Star Chamber
earlier had cooperated with the tactics. The planners began hold-
zoning board now were penalized ing closed sessions, which they
for having cooperated. justified publicly as an effort to
This example of capricious gov- avoid offending property owners
ernment illustrates an even more in areas under consideration. The
important maxim: The essence of next step, which followed soon
government is coercion. The sine after, was refusal to divulge how
qua non for coercion, of course, individual board members voted.
is power; and nearly everyone is When the City Commission then
familiar with Lord Acton's dictum asked the zoning board to report
"some indication" of the votes rejected the petition but admitted

cast, the planners approved a reso- that the ordinances had been in-
lution calling the City Commission terpreted "in different ways to
"out of order." meet specific needs."
Lord Acton could hardly have
wanted more clear-cut confirma- The New Shopping Center
tion of his thesis. Unfortunately, The most blatant example of
the history of zoning in Emporia misuse of zoning authority in
bears yet further witness. Emporia concerned a major shop-
A proposal for a zoning change ping center development on the
to allow construction of a new edge of the town. The plans were
professional building, for instance, announced in early 1966 by an
stirred up nearly unanimous outside firm. The developers went
neighborhood opposition in 1964. to the planning board for a zoning
The chairman of the zoning board change, and were refused, partly
vigorously supported the proposed on grounds that the town was not
rezoning, however. For two years large enough for a shopping cen-
the argument dragged on. Every ter. Obviously, this would have
time the matter was placed on the been one of the first concerns of
zoning board agenda, large groups the developers, and they had de-
of protesters trooped to the hear- termined that the demand was
ing; finally, the matter was sufficient to bring them a profit
brought up one evening without with their shopping center. Com-
earlier notice, and under the whip petition was the real objection, of
of the zoning board chairman was course.
approved. Noone seemed very sur- The battlefields included the
prised when the construction firm City Commission, the County Com-
owned by the chairman received mission, and the district court, as
the contract for constructing the well as the planning board, and
new building. finally split the entire town. One
Nor was that an isolated case. key issue in the next election was
Later that same year, s.eventy-six whether to allow the shopping
Emporia property owners pre- center; the people elected new city
sented a petition to the City Com- and county commissions, which in
mission charging that the plan- turn appointed a new planning
ning board had shown favoritism board, more favorably disposed
to another local construction com- toward the shopping center.
pany on no less than seven differ- During the prolonged struggle,
ent apartment projects. The mayor however, the old planning board
had been approving several rezon- through such techniques. as spot-

ing requests to allow neighbor- zoning, they are in effect admit-
hood shopping centers by local ting the failure of zoning itself.
developers. The upshot of this ma- Moreover, they open anaddi-
neuvering is that although the tional Pandora's box, for the arti-
original shopping center devel- ficial flexibility and imitation di-
opers finally have obtained their versity of a collective planning
green light, the smaller centers board decree will never match the
constructed in the meantime prob- productive fruits and natural re-
ably have destroyed the current sponses to market conditions pro..
feasibility of the large project. vided by thousands of continuing
individual land-use decisions by all
The Planner's Inflexibility of the individual property owners.
Even when the power of the In determining the use of each
planning board is used for benev- piece of land in an entire com-
olent purposes, the results often munity, planners are further un-
are mischievous. When framing qualified by their limited liability.
the original zoning ordinance for Sole responsibility for an indi-
Emporia in 1927, the planners vidual's decisions leads to careful
thought they were being consider- consideration of the probable con-
ate in restricting the business dis- sequences involved. If the decision
trict along the main thoroughfare is economically wise, the profits
to protect residential property. will go to that individual; on the
Immediately after publication of other hand, if the decision is
the zoning, however, a dozen irate wrong, he alone will suffer for his
property owners informed the error. These two factors lead to
planners that they did not want the most responsible kind of de-
such protection - they preferred cisions. Responsibility breeds wise
being in the "business" district. economic judgments; irresponsi-
Zoning ordinances prescribe bility begets haphazard decisions.
.monotonous uniformity to large Planners are not bound' by such
districts of land, each lot of which responsibility; as appointees, they
is unique. When planners admit are not even directly answerable
this fact of uniqueness, they face to the electorate. Too often, their
a new quandary: how to inject judgment is clouded by adherence
flexibility without utterly shatter- to such fictional will-o'-the-wisps
ing the fa~ade of uniform rules. as "the greatest good" or "the
When the planners attempt to en- best use for the community as a
courage the necessary diversity, whole." If their decision is wise,
they do not profit directly; and without the owner's consent, of

if their conclusion is unwise, the an owner's right to his property.
entire community suffers for their Zoning, by definition, is an inter-
mistake, although the blame usu- ference with the right of owner-
ally falls upon the owners and ship. If the majority of the people
managers rather than upon the accept theft, that may make theft
planners. democratically "respectable," but
Even the decisions made by the it does not make it morally just,
property owners themselves are nor does it cancel the effects of
hamstrung by government inter- immorality.
ference in the form of zoning reg- One of the effects of making a
ulations. This intervention reduces little theft "respectable" is that
them to the status of property the line cannot be held there.
owners with only partial owner- When zoning first came to Em-
ship rights because their range poria, it would have been unthink-
of choic,e is limited to that allowed able for one person to attempt to
by government. restrict his neighbor's right to
This points up another crucial his own property without going
fact about zoning: it becomes ef- beyond the pale of the law.
fective only when it prevents the Now, whenever a zoning change
owner from implementing a de- is contemplated, a public hearing
cision which he has reached after is scheduled, letters are mailed
the full exploration of consequences to those persons Iiving in and
that responsibility entails. If his adjacent to the affected property,
analysis of market conditions in- and these neighbors then may
dicates a given land-use, and that legally testify in favor of or in
land-use is allowed by the zoning opposition to the proposed land-
regulations, the regulations are of use. It is appalling how many
no effect. It is when that particu- people take this opportunity to
lar land-use is prohibited by the help determine how their neigh-
zoning regulations that they be- bors' property is to be used.
come effective. Zoning thus The most common wail at such
thwarts economic use and insures hearings is, "We were assured
waste of scarce resources. when we bought that the zoning
would remain the same." This is
The Immorality of Zoning an indictment, first, of the speak-
The fundamental objection to er: He placed his trust in zoning
zoning, however, is moral. Theft - government intervention - be-
may be defined as a reduction, cause he did not want to have to
keep up with changing market intervention to shore up his arti-

conditions. When faith is put in ficial "protection" and to prevent
false gods, the believer need not the exercise of the entrepreneur's
be surprised to find himself else- ownership rights.
where than in heaven.
But that wail also is an indict- Prelude to Urban Renewal
ment of government intervention. Finally, there is no doubt that
Zoning encourages men to think zoning helps prepare the way for
of their decisions as "safe." Apart that greater evil, Federal urban
from the unnatural intervention, renewal. Three years ago, urban
this false sense of security has oth- renewal nearly came to Emporia.
er stultifying effects: It leads the The attempt failed only because
property owner to ignore the sig- copies of the preliminary plans
nificance of those changing eco- were obtained and published by
nomic conditions which enhance the press, with the result that an
his investment; and conversely it ad hoc organization of property
leads him to ignore those circum- owners carried petitions to force
stances which damage his invest- an election in which urban re-
ment. In either case, the result newal was shut out of Emporia
must be a certain mismanagement for a ten-year period.
or partial waste of his resources; Urban renewal never would
and the loss extends beyond him, have been considered in Emporia
although he is hit hardest. if zoning had not already worn
All men are subject to influences down the resistance to such legal-
beyond individual control; sound ized theft. The zoning philosophy,
economic management seeks to with its subtle undermining of
keep abreast of such changes and private ownership and its encour-
to mold them to the individual's agement of government suzerain-
benefit. No government can pro- ty, erodes the safeguards against
tect a person against his own more pervasive central planning
negligence or poor management- schemes such as Federal urban
regardless of the promises made. renewal. The temptations to cor-
Zoning, then, encourages the in- ruption and the possibilities for
dividual to relax his vigilance in misuse of government power are
following changing market con- infinitely greater under urban re-
ditions, through a false sense of newal than with zoning, of course.
security. The zoning philosophy Zoning, consistently adhered to,
further encourages the individual leads not only to Federal urban
to clamor for more government renewal but ultimately to cen-
tralized world government. If the in respect of the use and occupa-

use of one lot of land may be de- tion of private lands in.. urban
termined by government fiat, why communities."
should planning be restricted to This is simply the cliche that
one district or to one community? an increasingly ,complex society
Indeed, why should coercive plan- requires increasingly complex gov-
ning be limited to massive urban ernment. Actually, if society is
renewal projects? Why not gov- becoming more complex, that is
ernment planning for the entire sufficient reason in itself for less
nation? The world? government, not more. Men can
The constitutionality of zoning govern only in proportion as they
was upheld by the United States can fully and responsibly compre-
Supreme Court in the Euclid, hend that which they govern; and
Ohio, Case in1926, although the the more complex that which they
court admitted that zoning regu- govern becomes, the less fully can
lations "a century ago, or even they comprehend it and the less
half a century ago, probably would responsible they are in their gov-
have been rejected as arbitrary ernment of it.
and oppressive." The decision came The Supreme Court justified
on an appeal from the village of zoning with the utopian promise
Euclid, a suburb of Cleveland, that such planning "will increase
where the district court had, upon the safety and security of home
complaint of a real estate com- life, greatly tend to prevent street
pany, thrown out the entire zon- accidents, especially to children,
ing ordinance of Euclid as taking by reducing the traffic and result-
property without due process of ing confusion in residential sec-
law. tions, decrease noise and other
The high court's justification conditions which produce or in-
of its decision - three justices dis- tensify nervous disorders, preserve
sented, by the way - is quite in- a more favorable environment in
teresting. which to rear children, etc."
"Until recent years urban life In the four decades since that
was comparatively simple," the decision, the arguments mustered
opinion stated, "but with the great in favor of zoning have grown
increase and concentration of somewhat more sophisticated, but
property, problems have developed basically remain just as .emotional,
and constantly are developing, ill-considered, and indefensible.
which require, and will continue The free market stands as the only
to require, additional restrictions alternativee ~
EDUCATION
IN
AMERICA
3. Scientism and the Collapse of Standards

IF THE IDEAL of an educational cation as we defined it earlier,
system is to give children a sense based upon the individual's free-
of their individuality and a sense dom to choose and upon a mean-
of proper values, the next ques- ingful moral framework within
tion arises: "How well is our pres- which the individual makes his
ent educational system fulfilling choices, thus becomes doubly im-
these fundamental tasks ?" The possible of achievement.
answer is far from encouraging. As science and technology have
Our modern "system" seems performed their wonders in ma-
bent upon violq,ting freedom (thus terial achievements, it has been
denying the concept of the indi- easy to dismiss moral questions
vidual) while also violating the (and those who deal with such
framework of values within which questions) as unimportant since
the individual exercises his free- they apparently do not contribute
dom (thus denying the concept of to "Progress." Such a view has
a transcendent reality). True edu- been so largely accepted in our
time that the validity of the whole
Dr. Roche is Director of Seminars for the
moral framework has been called
taught history and philosophy in college and into question. We seem to have
maintains a special interest in American edu-
cation. reached a point in our society
729
where science and technology have at least in part to abstractions that

so advanced our material fortunes go beyond the merely material.
that we feel we need look no The man who perceives the pres-
further for guidance or salvation. ence of only the mat.erial soon
Such scientistic values have finds himself indistinguishable
played a larger and larger role in from the stones around him.
our modern educational processes.
Let me hasten to draw the dis- The Authoritarian Type,
tinction between the scientistic Determined to Manipulate Society
and the scientific outlook. Man's As our technological civiliza-
pursuit of an improved under- tion advances further and further
standing of his material world is in its study of things as a substi-
an important and legitimate scien- tute for the study of men and
tific activity, an activity of prime their ideas, a new sort of per-
interest to all inquiring minds who sonality comes to occupy the cen-
have lived on this earth. Scien- ter stage. This new personality
tism, the assumption that modern sees the entire universe and all
man may now find all his values its components, individuals in-
in science, to the exclusion of any cluded, as portions of a great ma-
other guideline, is a totally differ- chine which can be manipulated
ent concept, a concept peculiar to according to preconceived notions.
our materialistic times. One of Men who thus begin to fancy
the men perceiving this tendency themselves qualified to serve as
was the late Mahatma Gandhi: manipulators of others, men who
feel bound by no higher authority,
Modern education tends to turn
become narrow and bigoted.
our eyes away from the Spirit. The
possibilities of the spirit-force there-
Cardinal Newman described
fore do not appeal to us and our such a man in the middle of the
eyes become riveted on the evanes- last century:
cent, transistory and material force. The various busy world, spread
The modern barbarian produced out before our eyes, is physical, but
by such scientistic educational at- it is more than physical; and, in
making its actual system identical
titudes remains blind to a lesson
with his scientific analysis, such a
learned long ago and transmitted Professor as I have imagined was
from one generation to the next betraying a want of a philosophical
in all civilized communities: The depth, and an ignorance of what a
world in which man finds himself University Teacher ought to be. He
can be understood only if he turns was no longer a teacher of liberal
1968 SCIENTISM AND THE COLLAPSE OF STANDARDS 731
knowledge, but a narrow-minded ulator; Jack could do with a chemi-

bigot. cal attention-span stretcher; Rachel
needs an anticholinestrase to slow
Such bigots are poor judges of down her mental processes; Joan,
what constitutes a decent educa- some puromycin - she remembers
tional framework. They are likely too many details, and gets lost.
to assume that man is no more To be. sure, all our data thus far
than the final result of the forces comes from the brains of goldfish
acting upon him. This leaves no and rodents. But is anyone so cer-
room for personality, individual- tain that the chemistry of the brain
ity, or free will. Once such a view of a rat (which, after all, is a fairly
of the individual is adopted, the complex mammal) is so different
from that of the brain of a human
idea that men can be manipulated
being that he dare neglect this chal-
for social goals never lags far
lenge - or even gamble - when the
behind. stakes are so high?2
Thus, we come to accept a start-
lingly new concept of education. Make Others in Their Image
Perhaps it is still premature to It seems that man is not to be
predict that we will, within the next exempt from the new manipula-
generation, be able to produce, tors. In that same issue of Satur-
through drugs or manipulation of day Revie'w, Joseph Wood Krutch
the environment, very significant reported a speech by a professor
changes in memory and learning of biophysics:
capacity of children and even adults.
Nonetheless, the current research Robert Sinsheiner, professor of
with mice indicates that such things biophysics at Cal Tech, ... declared
are theoretically possible, and it is before his institution's 75th anni-
therefore not too early to begin to versary conference that the scientist
discuss the social and philosophical has now in effect become both Nature
problems that such possibilities will with a capital N and God with a
generate. 1 capital G. Until today, he stated,
Both the biochemist and the teach- prophecy has been a very chancy
er of the future will combine their business, but now that science has
skills and insights for the educa- become "the prime mover of change,"
tional and intellectual development it is not unreasonable to hope that
of the child. Tommy needs a bit the race of prophets employing its
more of an immediate memory stim- methods may have become reliable.
1 Peter Schrag, "Education in Amer- 2 David Krech, "The Chemistry of

ica," Saturday Review, Jan. 20, 1968, Learning," Saturday Review, Jan. 20,
p. 45. 1968, p. 68.
Science has now proved beyond ques- condition entirely, putting its own
tion that there is no qualitative goals and means in place of the
difference between the animate and individual human being and his
the inanimate, and though we don't feelings, aspirations, and qualifi-
yet know exactly how the inanimate cations. C. S. Lewis has predicted
becomes conscious, there is every
that such a change in our educa-
reason to believe that we will soon
be rid of that bothersome mystery tional and social philosophy is a
also. "It has become increasingly move toward "the abolition of
clear," Professor Sinsheiner said, man."
"that all the properties of life can
be understood to be simply.inherent The Transcendent Order
in the material properties of the The story is told that one of our
complex molecule which comprises leading physicists concerned with
the cell." Already we make proteins; nuclear projects spied a turtle one
soon we will make viruses, and then day while taking a walk with a
l~ving cells - which will be, as he
friend. Thinking he might take it
calls it, "the second Genesis."
home to his family, he picked it
up and carried it with him for a
What better examples could be few steps. Suddenly, he stopped,
given of the scientistic hubris retraced his steps, and, as nearly
which today dominates so much as possible, replaced the turtle
of our thinking 1 We are being where he had first discovered it.
confronted with Faust's bargain- "Why did you do that 1" his
give up our souls and gain power friend asked.
in return. The reply: "It just struck me
Traditionally, education has not that perhaps, for one man, I have
been concerned so exclusively with tampered enough with the uni-
the mere manipulation of the in- verse."
dividual. The teacher found him- It is a sobering thought. There
self within a framework of values, are signs that our power over na-
within a situation faced in com- ture may become uncontrollable.
mon by all men. To teach, there- The size, complexity, and uncer-
fore, did not mean to manipulate tainty of the choices available to
the young into some "socially ac- us might become so great that no
ceptable" pattern. Instead, teach- one is qualified to make those
ing meant sharing with the stu- choices. Could it be that each time
dent the mystery of being human. we apparently subdue a part of
Today's scientistic approach prom- the natural order, we merely cause
ises to do away with the human a dislocation of natural processes
which will return to haunt us in We have been "scribbling around

a new form? Could it he that our on the surface of things" and
polluted atmosphere and our pol- wondering what was happening to
luted water are symbols of an our civilization. We have been try-
ecological equation in which na- to get along without God and at-
ture herself will have the last tempting to put society, scientism,
laugh? Could it be that man, in and political manipulation in his
his denial of a higher power than place. We may yet discover that
science, threatens to destroy him- despite television, air condition-
self? ing, and all the other trappings of
Is it possible that the end result modern material civilization, man
of scientism will be the destruction cannot survive such self-idolatry.
of all values, including the very In our attempt, we are, in Georg.e
human beings who hold those val- Schuyler's phrase, "like a colony
ues? Man's search for meaning in of ants riding on the end of a log
his life has always centered on floating down the Mississippi,
discovery of a higher truth, some- while discussing destiny."
thing even more certain than his If we have no values to trans-
existence as an individual. It is mit to our young, we need not be
the denial of any possible higher surprised that we live in an in...
reality that finally leads scientism creasingly valueless age.
to deny the individual as well.
Some modern men have perceived The Academy and the
this necessary' connection between Collapse of Values
the identity of the individual and Nowhere is the collapse of val...
the existence of a higher reality. ues which plagues our educational
One such flash of insight was community and our society more
granted to the playwright Eugene apparent than in the academy.
O'Neill: That we live in an age of tremen-
dous activity may be but a sign
Most modern plays are concerned of decay. As Ortega y Gasset
with the relation between man and has commented, "In the world to-
man, but that does not interest me day a great thing is dying; it is
at all. I am interested only in the truth. Without a certain margin
relation between man and God. Any-
of tranquillity, truth succumbs."
one trying to do big work nowadays
must have this big subject behind Perhaps the reason for all the
all the little subjects, or he is simply "sound and fury, signifying noth-
scribbling around on the surface of ing" is that somehow we have
things. lost our common sense and sub...
stituted a total intellectual an- with constantly new "facts," sup-

archy in its place. Man has never posedly implying a constantly
been more problematic to himself changing world view, such an em-
than in modern times. We no pirical paradise can hardly accom-
longer seem to know what we are; modate itself to immutable values.
and the growing body of scientific Finally, the fact chasers must
thought engaged in the study of reject the concept of value alto-
man seems to do far more to con- gether.
fuse than to clarify the problem Those who would abandon all
for us. Never have we possessed the old standards of good, those
more facts, but never have we who would condition the human
suffered such a poverty of insight race to accept their new system,
into the hu:rnan condition. Thus, are faced with a terrible dilemma.
we seem to run faster and faster If the conditioners have no fixed
in pursuit of a progressively more standards of their own, what
illusive truth. Indeed, many people standards can they inculcate in
have given up the search entirely, the human raw material they con-
and today regard truth and the trol? The blind are leading the
meaning of life as "metaphysical" blind.
concepts, insisting that really "sig- If we can indeed "see through"
nificant" scientific investigation first principles, if we can "see
must center on the mere gathering through" everything and anything,
of information. then everything and anything
And what information we have must be transparent. C. S. Lewis
been gathering! The isolation pro- has reminded us that a wholly
duced by the jargon of the various transparent world is an invisible
disciplines, each busy gathering world, and to "see through" all
facts quite apart from any higher things is finally the same as not
standard of truth, has often ren- to see at all.
dered the work of these specialists A patron saint of the intellec-
unintelligible to one another or to tual climate of twentieth century
the society of which they are a America was J. Allen Smith (orig-
part. Indeed, any unified view of . inator of the "debunking" view
culture is totally unattainable for of the Founding Fathers and the
the modern scientistic mentality. United States Constitution, later
Unity implies standards; stand- made famous by Charles Beard's
ards imply a scale of values which An Economic Interpretation of
can be universally applied. When the Constitution). Smith, in a mo-
scientism promises to vrovide us ment of reflection, apparently had
misgivings about the course of a quotation from Aristotle. But if

events: "The trouble with us re- we are asked our opinion, we reply
formers is that we made reform a with historically documented quota-
crusade against standards. Well, tions which may reveal a good many
things - for example, how widely
we smashed them all, and now
read we are - but fail to reveal
neither we nor anyone else have one thing alone; what we ourselves
anything left." hold to be the truth. 3
Nothing left! Strong words,
coming from a prophet of the mod- Such a tendency is painfully ap-
ern academy. If Smith was right, parent in modern philosophy. One
if standards are all smashed, then of the latest "isms" to catch the
to what can we turn in educating fancy of modern philosophers is
our young people? structuralism. Dr. Michel Fou-
cault, for example, insists that
What Is the Truth? each thinker can be no more than
This failure of standards within the point of condensation and ar-
the modern academy can be easily ticulation of the total thought
demonstrated. One of the fore- structure, within which he finds
most students of St. Thomas his place. The philosopher, then,
Aquinas, Professor Josef Pieper, can possess no original insight
gives graphic illustration: into the nature of things. Instead,
he reclassifies thoughts and words
The medieval philosophers, in according to the thought processes
studying Aristotle and Plato, wished
within his civilization. It is this
to know all those things and only
those things which were true. Where
total social process which gives
the truths of these philosophers man his structure. For the struc-
were not complete, they asked them- turalist, man without this social
selves how to complete them. structure would be "a mere figure'
There is an enormous difference in the sand whose forms are
between this attitude and that usu- washed away by the sea."
ally held nowadays and which we Such totally valueless thought
consider the sole possible and re- processes are increasingly typical
sponsible attitude toward "sources." of the age in which we live. In-
For the student especially, that dif- deed, we might ask the structur-
ference is of vital importance. Any-
alists one question. If a philoso-
one who asks Thomas his opinion
receives a reply which makes per- pher's insight is no more than a
fectly clear what he, Thomas, con- series of essentially meaningless
siders to be the truth - even when 3 Josef Pieper, Guide to Thomas
his reply is couched in the form of Aquinas, p. 52.
shufflings and reshufflings of perior to itself, which would be

previous words and values, why equivalent to esteeming and admir-
should the thinking of the struc- ing them and venerating the princi-
turalist himself present any ex- ples by which they were inspired.
ception to the rule? But to deal Our age would then have clear and
firmly held ideals, even if incapable
in these terms is to play their
of realising the,m. But the truth is
game, admitting that all is ulti- exactly the contrary; we live at a
mately pointless and meaningless time when man believes himself fab-
and without direction. Our very ulously capable of creation, but he
conversation with one another does not know what to create. Lord
comes to mean less and less until of all things, he is not lord of him-
it finally means nothing. Ortega. self. He feels lost amid his own
quotes a seventeenth century sati- abundance. With more means at its
rist who put his finger squarely disposal, more knowledge, more tech-
on the final results of such think- nique than ever, it turns out that
ing: the world to-day goes the same way
as the worst of worlds that have
The Creator made everything out been; it simply drifts. 4
of nothing,
This one [man] nothing out of Thus, the world drifts, without
everything, and in conclusion, a moral code. It is not that we
The one made the world and the have exchanged an antiquated pre-
other has destroyed it. vious code for a bright new mode
of behavior. Instead, modern man
An Age Without Roots aspires to live without any moral
How, then, shall we characterize code. Much of the talk about the
our age? "new morality" is better charac-
Our age is characterised by the terized as a departure from any
strange presumption .. that it is su- moral standard whatsoever. More
perior to all past time; more than precisely, it might be defined as
that, by its leaving out of consider- the desire to call the old im-
ation all that is past, by recognising morality the new morality. We
no classical or normative epochs, by are not contrasting a rising
looking on itself as a new life su- new civilization with the de-
perior to all previous forms and clining old one, a rising new stan-
irreducible to them. I doubt if our dard replacing a dying code. In
age can be understood without keep-
Ortega's words: "If you are un-
ing firm hold on this observation,
for that is precisely its specialprob- willing to submit to any norm,
Iem. If it felt that it was decadent, 4 Jose Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt
it would look on other ages as su- of the Masses, (Norton, 1957), p. 44,
you have ... to submit to the norm Art and the Modern World
of denying all morality, and this While it is true that most critics
is not amoral, but immoral. It is and many minor scribblers are
a negative morality which pre- true sons of our present society,
serves the empty form of the it is also true that Henry James,
other."5 T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Thomas
C. E. M. J oad suggests that the Mann, Marcel Proust, and the
principal characteristics of a so- other major literary figures of our
ciety without moral standards are time have consistently devoted
"luxury, scepticism, weariness, their art to a bitter rejection of
and superstition." He adds that the modern spirit. It seems that
another sure sign of a decadent meaningful literary production
society is an individual preoccupa- can only arise in those- who possess
tion with self and a totally sub- some value system, who reject the
jectivist view of the world and all flaccid and valueless spirit of the
higher values. Once the individual age. Never have we had more
comes to believe that he may think novelists and poets ... never have
whatever he likes with equal valid- there been fewer great novels and
ity, that any value is no better or great poems.
worse than any other value, then Meanwhile, what sort of art
the decadent society must indeed has been produced? Work filled
be at hand. largely with hate, hate directed
Such a society, of course, will not merely at individuals but at
allow no limitation upon individual an entire universe which must be
sexual mores, and will also under- hated simply because it is mean-
cut other traditional patterns of ingless.
action. This is readily observable Coupled with this hatred of all
in our own society in the decline men and all things, so-called "ar-
in genuine individual charity, tistic freedom" has released a flood
mercy, pity, honesty, and unself- of sexuality, violence, and perver-
ishness. We live in an age which sion without a peer in man's re-
has not so much rejected these corded history. J oseph Wood
values as it has simply refused to Krutch has commented on a list of
bother to think about the subject one hundred books representing
at all. We are becoming, in the this modern tendency that while
truest possible sense of the word, the list "does include certain works
an age without standards. which are neither beatnik, sadis-
tic, existential, nor sexually per-
5 Ibid., p. 189. verse, at least half - and perhaps
two-thirds - of them might, I welfare of our institutions, and

think, be classified as guideposts the welfare of all individuals de-
to perdition." pend directly upon the values
What, it might be asked, has which we inculcate in our educa-
all this to do with education? tional system. If we deny to our
Even granted that scientism had children the philosophical frame-
stripped us of all values and that work of values by which they may
this is reflected in our philosophy order their conduct, we are deny-
and our art, what possible connec- ing them a true education and
tion does this have with what our guaranteeing the decline of our
children are learning in school? civilization. There are other di-
Unfortunately, the connection is mensions to our problem, but this
painfully direct. Before we can matter of the rejection of value
begin to discuss the improvement is of prime importance in fully
of individuals and of the society appreciating the sad estate unto
which they compose, we must first which we have fallen.
of all grasp the fact that there is One hard-headed Yankee who
a difference between the good and perceived the proper place of moral
the bad. values and the close connection be-
If the object of education is the tween self-restraint and freedom
improvement of men, then any sys- was Ralph Waldo Emerson:
tem of education that is without'
values is a contradiction in terms. All our political disasters grow as
A system that seeks bad values is logically out of our attempts in the
bad. A system that denies the ex- past to do without justice, as the
istence of values denies the possibil- sinking of some part of your house
ity of education. Relativism, scien- comes of defect in the foundation.
tism, skepticism, and anti-intellectu- One thing is plain; a certain per-
alism, the four horsemen of the sonal virtue is essential to freedom;
philosophical apocalypse, have pro- and it begins to be doubtful whether
duced that chaos in education which our corruption in this country has
will end in the disintegration of the not gone a little over the mark of
West. 6 safety, so that when canvassed we
shall be found to be made up of a
Our national prosperity, the majority of reckless self-seekers. The
6 Robert M. Hutchins, The Conflict in
divine knowledge has ebbed out of us
Education in a Democratic Society, pp. and we do not know 'enough to be
71-72. free. ~
The next article of this series will discuss "The Decline of Intellect"
The
Good Life
W. M. CURTISS
WHAT CONSTITUTES "the good Hope and faith that something

life"? The question has engaged pleasant will happen in the future
writers and thinkers through the has been the good life for many-
ages. But the search continues and religion, in its various forms.
a moment's reflection reveals why. Abundant food, streets paved with
The good life is a highly per- gold, freedom from pain and suf-
sonal and individual concept, fering, eternal life - these are
meaning something entirely dif- some of the dreams or hopes for
ferent to one person than to an- the good life.
other. And its meaning to any The feeling of power over men
person may change from time to must constitute the good life for
time. Walden Pond was most im- some, while others find it revolt-
portant to Thoreau, though .not ing. Pursuit of knowledge may be
to some of his contemporaries. highly rewarding to some persons.
The good life for a small boy Leisure may seem either heaven or
is likely to differ greatly from that hell. The point is that each has
for his father or his grandfather. his own answer to what is the
One worker may look upon the good life. Or, as Thoreau expressed
compulsory 40-hour week as a it: "If a man does not keep pace
chance to get away from distaste- with his companions, perhaps it
ful work; another finds the short- is because he hears a different
ened workweek a signal to take on drummer. Let him step to the
a second job. music which he hears, however
measured or far away."
Dr. Curtiss is Executive Secretary of the Foun
dation for Economic Education. Many persons feel a responsi-
739
bility to help arrange the life of come to them if only they have
others as well as their own. Par- an abundance of material things
ents, of course, do this; and or the money to buy them. Who
rightly so, up to a point. But hasn't dreamed how he would use
some elected officials, dictators, a million dollars or the winnings
teachers, church leaders, and a from a huge lottery? "Boy, what
host of others feel they have the I wouldn't do with all that
right, the responsibility, and the money!" Or, more modestly, how
wisdom to determine what shall much better life will be when I
be the good life for others. As get that raise, or when the mort-
Dean Acheson commented re- gage is retired!
cently: "Conscience used to be an But, we know that material pos-
inner voice of self-discipline; now sessions alone do not guarantee a
it is a clarion urge to discipline good life. Such things contribute
others." History records the fail- to the good life, but the circum-
ure of such arrangements, whether stances under which material pos-
attempted by parents or by dicta- sessions are acquired make a lot
tors, the reason being that the of difference.
good life is so very personal, and
so highly variable from person Beyond Material Things
to person. Parents, hoping to If, by the good life, we mean
bring about the good life for their an inner satisfaction, contentment,
children, often do precisely the or happiness, then the acquiring
opposite. Elected officials may hon- of material things is hardly an
estly believe that "an affluent na- appropriate measure of such sat-
tion can surely assure a minimum isfaction. If it were, we could say
income of $3,500 for every fam- that a man who has a better home,
ily." The belief, of course, is that finer clothes, more television sets,
this would bring about the good and better cars, has more of the
life. good life than his less wealthy
Many "utopian" arrangements neighbor. Or, we could say that
have been tried over the years. the life of an average American
The fact that most were based on is twice as good as that of his
the communal principle, "from English or French cousin. But we
each according to ability and to know that the good life as meas-
each according to need," was a ured by inner satisfaction and
major reason for failure. pride of accomplishment is not
Individuals often think that the determined by the amount of
good life - heaven on earth - will things a person has.
1968 THE GOOD LIFE 741
Our attempt to help people who help an individual attain the good
seem less well off than we are life? Bear in mind that individ-
often consists in giving them ma- uals include the young as well as
terial things or the money to buy the old, the poor as well as the
them. Our government poverty rich, blacks as well as whites,
programs are largely based on the schooled as well as unschooled,
assumption that some people have leaders as well as followers. A
too much and others have too key, to be so universal, must then
little: Take away from those who have something to do with man's
have and give to those who have basic nature; and it does, indeed.
not. Thus, "the good life" would
seem to be shared, though it hasn't Inner Contentment
worked out that way. Instead, it The secret is self-responsibility.
appears that everyone loses - the Recall that the good life does not
givers and the receivers. result from an accumulation of
It is not our purpose to dis- material things but involves rather
parage the accumulation or pro- the inner-contentment of living
duction of wealth on the part of one's own life - of developing one's
an individual. The relatively free own potential and being respon-
economy of the United States over sible for the results.
a period of 150 years, together It follows that the forceful re-
with a heavy investment of capi- moval or denial of self-responsi-
tal in the tools of production, en- bility will diminish the good life.
ables a worker to purchase a pair The satisfactions which come from
of shoes or a suit of clothes with being self-responsible must bewell
one-fifth to one-tenth the hours of known to almost everyone, out of
work required in many other coun- his own experiences. Experts in
tries. This suggests a possible cure human behavior have documented
for the poverty found in many the fact again and again. Who
parts of the world. But it does hasn't witnessed the unmistaken
not follow that the good life of joy that comes over a child in tak-
individuals in such countries will ing his first unassisted step or
automatically be improved if trying to tie his own shoe? "Me
wealth is forcibly extracted from do it!" is often the response to
individuals in wealthy countries offers of adult help, and persistent
and given to those in less wealthy interference or "help" may pro-
countries. duce tantrums.
What then, can be said about The words change as the indi-
how government or society can vidual ages, and resistance to out-
side help may be less vocal; but the various governmental welfare
the basic attitude is still there. measures. Administrators of such
This is not to say that when programs, together with law-mak-
one is offered the choice of doing ers, observe that some persons are
something for himself or of ac- poorer than others; they insist
cepting a handout, his response that those of the lower third are
will always be: "I'd rather do it "entitled" to a better life and
myself!" There is much evidence that the cost to the other two-
to the contrary. But, it seems to thirds will hardly be felt. Be-
be human nature to gain satisfac- sides, much of the help can come
tion from being self-responsible from Washington where the cost
- doing things for oneself. The will be diffused among other gov-
wealth of one's family or of the ernmental expenditures.
"affluent society" contributes to a It is but a short step from
something-for-nothing attitude in "they're entitled to it" on the part
many people and is at the root of of administrators to "we demand
many of today's problems. The it" on the part of recipients. Thus,
fault is not so much in the wealth, we see demonstrations of the "we
per se, as in the easy way it allows demand" type, with leadership to
a person to escape self-responsi- turn such demonstrations into
bility. looting and burning and other
In the agricultural economy of types of violence. "We're entitled
our colonial period, the family's to it; we're just getting our
living was practically limited to share."
what it produced. We were an The greatest tragedy of this
underdeveloped nation by today's type of welfare is not its cost in
standards, with little in the way dollars but its effect on the re-
of foreign handouts. But the sat- ceiver as well as the giver. With
isfactions of the good life were the denial of responsibility for
found in being self-reliant and self goes a loss of self-respect.
self-responsible. Children as well The appetite for such handouts
as adults had their responsibilities. is insatiable and the effect on the
moral fiber of a people is tremen-
Denials of Responsibility dous. As one person aptly said:
There are today a great many "A man deprived of the opportun-
different ways in which persons ity of paying his own way, of
are heing denied the right and supporting his children and pro-
privilege of self-responsibility, viding the nurture that will give
chief among these denials being them healthy bodies and a foun-
1968 THE GOOD LIFE 743
dation of self-respect - a man who a job is not a one-sided contract.
cannot accomplish these things It implies that someone else has
through hard work and thrift, the obligation to supply that job.
must become a revolutionary." Job tenure is of a similar na-
The basic satisfaction of doing ture. Some jobs, especially in aca-
for oneself seems to be matched demic circles,carry what amounts
by a willingness to accept hand- to a guarantee that the holder can
outs. It takes courage on the part have the job as long as he wants
of wealthy parents to refuse to whether or not he performs re-
indulge their children. And the sponsibly. Or consider the effect
same order of discipline applies of a minimum wage on the person
in an affluent society with respect incapable of earning it in open
to its poor. competition. This person may be
We can say, over and over perfectly willing to work for $1.00
again: "It is for your own good an hour, but when the law says
that you earn your own way." But he must be paid $1.60, he may be
few adults can rise above the forced out of work and onto relief.
temptation of a handout - some- This is hardly the way to develop
thing for nothing - if it is offered. self-respect.
The inj ustice is primarily to the The guaranteed annual wage or
receiver in denying him satisfac- the negative income tax, as a
tions through his own efforts. method of meeting welfare needs,
While we cannot do much about can only compound the serious
the over-indulgent parent, we can problem of gaining self-respect
recognize that it is not a proper through individual responsibility.
function of government to deny Higher education has been much
its citizens their self-respect or to publicized of late because of cam-
encourage the "something for pus disturbances by students. It
nothing" philosophy. is easy to pass this off as a "lack
of communication," or the "gen-
Something for Nothing eration gap," or the result of an
There are other ways in which unpopular war. But, how many of
self-responsibility may be denied. these student demonstrators show
Consider the whole area of jobs any real sense of responsibility
and labor relations. A man may for gaining an education? Doesn't
strike against his employer and, society owe them an education!
by violence or threat of violence, Once upon a time, parents strug-
keep some other willing worker gled and saved to provide educa-
from taking his job. The right to tional opportunities for their chi!-
dren, and most children under- and the assistance which young
stood that sacrifice. There was no people can give their elders volun-
generation gap on the point. How tarily can be an important part
can a comparable responsibility of the good life for all concerned.
be aroused in students for whom The gradual weakening of family
the government provides? ties has ma~y causes, but high on
Laws to "protect the consumer" the list must be the exorbitant
also have a tendency to deprive a amount of government welfare.
person of his self-responsibility.
True, it is a valid function of gov- The erosion of self-responsibil-
ernment to do its best to prevent ity and self-respect surely con-
fraud and stealing, and to enforce tributes to the general decline of
contracts. But there are some risks morality in our time. Respect for
a person can and should assume others stems from self-respect;
for himself. For instance, I am the self-responsible person re-
not interested in having a serious spects his neighbor's property as
driving accident or getting killed. he would his own. He is not likely
If I believe seat belts will help to throw bricks through school
protect me, I'll install and use windows, or destroy college prop-
them. Why should anyone ~ave to erty, or join gangs in looting and
compel me to do that - and de- burning. Such respect for prop-
prive me of the responsibility? erty is the essence of law and
Compulsory social security like- order.
wise deprives people of their own Pride in one's accomplishments,
responsibility for thrift and sav- responsibility for what one does,
ing. It also destroys the good life and respect for self and others
of the family as a unit. Self-re- constitutes inner satisfaction, con-
sponsibility and self-respect run tentment, happiness - in short,
from the individual to the family; the good life. ~
Ed Howe
BEHAVE YOURSELF; let others go to the devil, if they so please.

If you behave yourself and do well, that will be the most power-
ful preaching you can indulge in; noting your example, many on
the way to the devil will turn back and follow you to safety.
CLARENCE B. CARSON
1uglault
10. THE VICTORIAN WAY:

AFFIRMED AND REJECTED
THERE WAS a saying among Amer- new arrival who had not experi-
ican troops in Europe after World enced the rigors of war. If so, he
War II, something like this. If a was saying, in effect, that the
soldier complained about some- griper should be glad that he could
thing, anything, he was berated in sleep in a building instead of out-
the following fashion. "What are side, that he was not subject to
you complaining about? You never strafing, artillery fire, and rockets,
had it so good. You know what that his hours were regular rather
your trouble is? You just can't than determined by the exigencies
stand prosperity." Quite likely, of war, and so on.
many of those who taunted It is possible, too, that the words
gripers in this fashion meant to were directed to a combat veteran.
be using irony. Soldiers rarely For the memory of pain and hard-
think of their lot as a happy one. ship is exceedingly short-lived. A
But, given the context, the words man who has been suffering almost
were probably spoken straight at unbearable pain will fall to com-
first. They may have been deliv- plaining of trivialities shortly
ered by a combat veteran to a after it is relieved. It is the way
of human beings to lose sight of
their blessings and complain of
his earlier FREEMAN series, The Fateful their inconveniences. That which
Fli4ht from Reality. has only lately brought great re-
lief may itself shortly become an got so quickly. The nagging, ques-
object for scorn. tioning, and doubting of the valid-
ity of the Victorian Way did get
Familiarity Breeds Contempt underway in the midst of its tri-
So it was for some of the Eng- umph. Its inception and spread
lish, in any case. All indications forms a part of what is to be told
were that in the middle of the here. At the outset, however, this
nineteenth century the lot of most challenge to the Victorian Way
Englishmen was vastly improved was made by a minority, most
over what it had been. Signs likely a tiny minority, whereas the
abounded that they were better vast majority accepted and prized
paid, better fed, had more leisure, it. Indeed, there were clergymen
and could avail themselves of more who pointed out the moral char-
of the things which adorn life acter of the Victorian Way, his-
rather than merely sustain it. Nor torians who wove it into its place
was there any reason for doubt- in English history, statesmen who
ing that these benefits could be expounded and defended it, philos-
attributed, directly or indirectly, ophers who claimed it within gen-
to Britain's stable and balanced eral theories of progress:, a.nd
government, to the security of writers who advocated the expan-
persons and property, to the free- sion of it. This story should be
dom of trade, to the moral code alluded to before attending to the
which prevailed, to hard work, to critics.
capital investment, and to tech- Though Frederic Harrison was
nological innovations. Yet, in the exaggerating when he wrote the
midst of this spreading prosperity, following in 1882, and obviously
these very things began to come more than a little piqued by it
under attack. A shorthand phrase all, his words do indicate that
for those conditions and means by there were many who saw virtue
which prosperity was achieved is in the developments which brought
"The Victorian Way." The Vic- England to greatness:
torian Way came under assault
during the Victorian period, Surely no century in all human
though its repudiation would not history was ever so much praised
be completed until early in the to its face for its wonderful achieve-
twentieth century. ments, its wealth and its power, its
But it would be unjust to the unparalleled ingenuity and its mi-
English people and historically in- raculous capacity for making itself
accurate to suggest that they for- comfortable and generally enj oying
1968 THE VICTORIAN WAY: AFFIRMED AND REJECTED 747
life. British Associations, and all Robert Southey, Poet Laureate of
sorts of associations, economic, scien- England:
tific, and mechanical, are perpetually
executing cantatas in honour of the It would be scarcely possible for
age of progress. . . . The journals a man of Mr. Southey's talents and
perform the part of orchestra, bang- acquirements to write two volumes
ing big drums and blowing trum- so large as these before us, which
pets. . . .1 should be wholly destitute of infor-
mation and amusement. We
Macaulay's Whig Interpretation have, for some time past, observed
of the History of England with great regret the strange infatu-
Thomas Babington Macaulay, ation which leads the Poet Laureate
to abandon those departments of
the historian, is usually credited,
literature in which he might excel,
or blamed, for being the leading and to lecture the public on sciences
apologist for the Victorian Way. of which he has still the very alpha-
He was the man who first made bet to learn. He has now, we think,
what is usually called the Whig done his worst. 3
interpretation of history. He did
so in his History of England which It is not surprising that his own
made its appearance in the middle works have come in for strong
of the nineteenth century. It sold criticism. Be that as it may, his
unusually well for a history, or work pointed out the improvements
for anything else. When the first that had occurred in England since
two volumes appeared, 13,000 the Glorious Revolution and as-
copies were sold in four months. cribed these to the security of lib-
The next two volumes sold 26,500 erty and property and stable gov-
copies in ten weeks. 2 Macaulay ernment, among other things. He
certainly was not one to hide his opened his History by declaring
light under a bushel; whatever that "the general effect of this
views he held, he held firmly and chequered narrative will be to ex-
expressed forthrightly. One gets cite thankfulness in all religious
a sense of the measure of the man minds and hope in the breasts of
in this reference to a work by all patriots. For the history of our
country during the last hundred
1 Quoted in Walter E. Houghton, The and sixty years is eminently the
Victorian Frame of Mind, 1830-1870 history of physical, of moral, and
(New Haven: Yale University Press,
1957), p. 39.
2 David Thomson, England in the 3 Thomas B. Macaulay, 1lJiscellaneous
Nineteenth Century (Baltimore: Pen- Essays and Poems, I (Philadelphia:
guin Books, 1950), p. 103. Porter and Coates, 1879), p. 475.
of intellectual improvement."4 In the development of political econ-
short, he maintained that "the his- omy as a science as well as in me-
tory of England is emphatically chanical inventions. "It is not sur-
the history of progress."5 In ex- prising," he said, "that a land
plaining the difference between which has attained this double su-
England and France - the France premacy, and which possesses at
of the July (1830) Revolution- the same time almost unlimited
Macaulay ascribed it to the politi- coal-mines, an unrivaled navy,
cal institutions of liberty: and a government that can never
long resist the natural tendency of
To what are we to attribute the
unparalleled moderation and human- affairs, should be pre-eminently
ity which the English people have the land of manufacturers."7Lecky
displayed at this great conjuncture? was an enthusiastic follower and
The answer is plain. This modera- expounder of developments in po-
tion, this humanity are the fruits of litical economy from Smith
a hundred and fifty years of liberty. through Say, and ascribed the
... For many generations we have peace of his times to the appli-
had the trial by jury, the Habeas cations of these doctrines, par-
Corpus Act, the freedom of the press, ticul~rly to the freeing of trade.
the right of meeting to discuss pub-
He declared that an understand-
lic affairs, the right of petitioning
the legislature. A vast portion of the ing and application of political
population has long been accustomed economy is the corrective to the
to the exercise of political functions. evil of war. Political economy
. . . Thus our institutions had been denies, he said, that one nation's
so good that they had educated us gain in trade- is another's loss.
into a capacity for better institu- Instead,
tions. 6
It teaches . . . that each nation
Lecky and free Trade has a direct interest in the prosperity
In like manner, W. E. H. Lecky, of that with which it trades, just as
who published his prodigious a shopman has an interest in the
wealth of his customers. It teaches
History of Rationalism at the age too that the different markets of the
of 27, was unstinting in his ad- world are so closely connected, that
miration for and praise of Eng- it is quite impossible for a serious
lish leadership and economic de- derangement to take place in any
velopment. He pointed out that one of them without its evil effects
England has been the leader in
7 W. E. H. Lecky, History of Rational-
4 Quoted in Thomson, Ope cit., p. 104. ism in Europe, II (London: Longmans,
5 Quoted in Houghton, Ope cit., p. 39. Green, and Co., 1904, originally pub.
6 Macaulay, Ope cit., p. 769. 1865), p. 351.
vibrating through all.... Each suc- others, a sobriety and perseverance
cessive developement of political of character are inculcated.9
economy has brought these truths
into clearer relief. . . . Every fresh In such fashion, the Victorian
commercial enterprise is therefore Way became a part of the histori-
an additional guarantee of peace. 8 cal perspective for many.
The "scheme of progress which from Throne and Pulpit

political economy reveals" goes Men in other walks of life af-
something like this, according to firmed the Victorian Way also.
Lecky. Men form habits of thrift Prince Albert, consort to Queen
and self-restraint in order to im- Victoria, declared in 1851:
prove their material condition. As
"We are living at a period of most
that improves, they develop the wonderful transition, which tends
gentler ways of civilization. rapidly to accomplish that great
. . . And the same principle that end to which indeed all history
creates civilisation creates liberty, points - the realization of the unity
and regulates and sustains morals. of mankind. "10
The poorer classes, as wealth, and In a speech before Parliament,
consequently the demand for their Lord Palmerston said:
labour, have increased, cease to be
the helpless tools of their masters. "We have shown the example of
Slavery, condemned by political econ- a nation, in which every class of
omy, gradually disappears. The stig- society accepts with cheerfulness the
ma that attached to labour is re- lot which Providence has assigned
moved. War is repressed as a folly to it; while at the same time every
and despotism as an invasion of the individual of each class is constantly
rights of property. The sense of striving to raise himself in the so-
common interests unites the different cial scale - not by injustice and
sections of mankind, and the con- wrong, not by violence and illegality,
viction that each nation should di- but by preserving good conduct, and
rect its energies to that form of by the steady and energetic execu-
produce for which it is naturally tion of the moral and intellectual
most suited, effects a division of la- faculties with which his creator has
bour which renders each dependent endowed him."ll
upon the others. Under the influence Speaking from the pulpit, the
of industrial occupations, passions
9 Ibid., p. 367.
are repressed, the old warlike habits
10 Quoted in Thomson, Ope cit., pp.
are destroyed, a respect for law, a 102-03.
consideration for the interests of 11Quoted in Asa Briggs, The Age of
Improvement (London: Longmans,
8 Ibid., p. 356. Green, and Co., 1859), p. 404.
Reverend Charles Kingsley pro- Spencer Optimistic

claimed the reasons why English- Herbert Spencer rendered at
men should give thanks to God. least a part of the Victorian Way
He tells how others' have been be- into a philosophical framework.
set by wars and destruction- There was probably much about
mid-Victorian England that Spen-
and yet here we are, going about cer did not approve, but he ap-
our business in peace and safety in proved the general trend toward
a land which we and our forefathers establishing greater freedom, and
have found, now for many a year, mainly wanted the principle ex-
that just laws make a quiet and
panded until it became universal.
prosperous people; that the effect of
righteousness is peace, and the fruit His statements on free trade illus-
of righteousness, quietness and as- trate this penchant in his works:
surance for ever; - a land in which
Fortunately it is now needless to
the good are not terrified, the indus-
enforce the doctrine of commercial
trious hampered, and the greedy and
freedom by any considerations of
lawIess made eager and restless by
policy. After making continual at-
expectation of change in govern-
tempts to impro:ve upon the laws of
ment; but every man can boldly and
trade, from the time. of Solon down-
hopefully work in his calling, and
wards, men are at length beginning
"whatsoever his hand finds to do,
to see that such attempts are worse
do it with all his might," in fair
than useless. Political economy has
hope that the money which he earns
shown us in this matter - what in-
in his manhood he will be able to
deed it is its chief mission to show
enjoy quietly in his old age, and
- that our wisest plan is to lei
hand it down safely to his children,
things take their own course. An in-
and his children's children. . . . Oh,
creasing sense of justice, too, has as
my friends, who made us to differ
sisted in convincing us. We haVE
from others, or what have we that
here learned, what our forefather~
we did not receive? Not to ourselves
learned in some cases, and what
do we owe our blessings. . . . We
alas! we have yet to learn in man~
owe it to our wise Constitution and
to our wise Church, the principle of only does the above quotation not indio
which is that God is Judge and cate any socialist sentiments, such a!
Christ is King. . . .12 we have come to recognize them, bu1
there is good reason to believe that h~
12 Charles Kingsley, Sermons for the was a pre-statist socialist. "He looke<
Times (London: Macmillan, 1890, first rather to the extension of the co-opera,
pub. by Macmillan in 1863), pp. 195-96. tive principle and to sanitary reforn
This is the same Charles Kingsley who, for the amelioration of the condition 0:
along with F. D. Maurice, was an early the people than to any radical politica
Christian socialist. This description of change." Encyclopedia Britannica (Chi
him, however, may be misleading. Not cago, 1955), XIII, 399.
more, that nothing but evil can arise nineteenth century who did indeed
from inequitable regulations. The approve the Victorian Way, and
necessity of respecting the principles who devoted his pen to elucidating
of abstract rectitude - this it is that its virtues. The titles of his works
we have had another lesson upon.
show what he considered some of
Look at it rightly and we shall find
that all the Anti-Corn-Law League those virtues to be: Self-Help,
did, with its lectures, its newspapers, Thrift, Character, and Duty. He
its bazaars, its monster meetings, placed great emphasis upon work,
and its tons of tracts, was to teach saving, honesty, perseverance,
people - what should have been very charity, and self-help. Self-Help
clear to them without any such made its appearance in 1859 and
teaching - that no good can come of sold 20,000 copies that year. In
violating men's rights. By bitter ex- addition, some 130,000 copies were
perience and a world of talk we sold in the next thirty years. But
have at length been made partially the reference here will be to an-
to believe as much. Be it true or not
other work, in which he discusses
in other cases, we are now quite
certain that it is true in trade. In saving, capital, and labor:
respect to this at least we have de-
clared that, for the future, we will The men who economize by means
obey the law of equal freedom. 13 of labor become the owners of capi-
tal which sets other labor in motion.
Spencer was optimistic in think- Capital accumulates in their hands,
ing that the British had learned and they employ other laborers to
their lesson about trade once and work for them. Thus trade and com-
for all, but this was the one thing merce begin.
that libertarians managed to get The thrifty build houses, ware-
houses, and mills. They fit manu-
almost all parties to agree to as a
factories with tools and machines.
cardinal principle for so long.
They build ships and send them to
Samuel Smiles on Thrift various parts of the world. They
put their capital together, and build
This examination can be closed
railroads, harbors, and docks. They
by referring to the man who has
open up mines of coal, iron, and cop-
often been singled out as the per; and erect pumping-engines to
stereotype of the apologists for keep them clear of water. They em-
the Victorian Way, Samuel ploy laborers to work the mines, and
Smiles. Samuel Smiles was a popu.;, thus give rise to an immense
lar writer in the latter part of the amount of employment.
13 Herbert Spencer, Social Statics
All this is the result of thrift. It
(New York: Appleton, 1865), p. 334. is the result of economizing money,
and employing it for beneficial pur- cism was certainly grist for the
poses14 mills of socialists, and they man-
This was surely an abstract of the aged somehow to identify them-
English experience, put into lan- selves with all of it. Socialism was
guage that every man could under- a product of the nineteenth cen-
stand. tury, and it remains stuck in the
The Victorian Way was not grooves of the nineteenth century.
without its exponents, apologists, More, it is the hybrid product of
and defenders, then. Indeed, num- two contradictory strains in nine-
bered among them were some, or teenth century thought. It is a
most, of the illustrious names of hybrid because it is infertile and
the century. But they were unproductive (having always to
matched, and eventually over- borrow from freedom such inno-
matched, by a rising chorus of vations as it adopts). It is the
critics in the course of the nine- product of abstract rationalism,
teenth and early twentieth cen- on the one hand, and romanticism,
tury. In the wake of this mount- on the other. To put it another
ing criticism, the work of many way, socialism is the stubborn
of the most able exponents fell mule sired by the donkey, abstract
into disrepute, in many circles rationalism, bred to the flighty
anyhow. It happened to Macaulay, mare, romanticism. Like the mule,
to Spencer, and, of course, to socialism has some of the worst
Smiles. More importantly, the traits of its forebears: it is as
ideas, principles, and practices unimaginative as the donkey and
which were at the heart of the as irrational as the horse.
Victorian Way became suspect, Nonetheless, socialism has an
and were eventually rejected. almost irresistible attraction to a
certain turn of mind. It attracts
Hybrid Nature of Socialism because of its criticism and re-
To understand the character of j ection of the way things are, and
this attack on things Victorian its promises of the way things
and its eventual impact, some ob- will be when they have been re-
servations about socialism are in constructed. Socialism appeals
order. Not that the critics were particularly to those who are
necessarily socialists: some were, alienated from and thus do not
and some were not. But the criti- feel a part of the society in which
they live. Its greatest attraction
14 Samuel Smiles, Thrift (Chicago:
Belfords, Clarke and Co., 1879), pp. 20-
is for intellectuals, particularly
21. those of a literary and artistic
bent. It is probable that, in ear- but at the same time trying to
lier times, most such men found prescribe for society. When they
some religious vocation. But in sought to do this by governmental
the eighteenth century, they be- action, they ~sually became so-
gan to be more numerous as lay- cialists of some sort.
men. Since that time, they appear There was a great range and
to have increased greatly in num- variety to the criticism of Vic-
ber and influence. torian England, from the criti-
cism of flaws to the wholesale
Enter, the Critic condemnation of the social order.
Much of the initial criticism of Charles Dickens was one who
Victorian society -came from liter- highlighted many of the flaws in
ary romantics, from poets, from his numerous novels. He satirized
architects, from essayists, from "poor law institutions, Chancery,
novelists, and from dilettanti and judicial procedure in general,
who dabbled in all these things. profiteering private schools, and
They not only justified their alien- many other social ills of his times.
ation from society but also gloried . . . Having been a poor boy him-
in it. To be alienated from so- self he had an instinctive and
ciety was a badge of distinction burning sympathy with the
to many romantics; it was a sign poor."15 Nor should there be any
of superiority. Society was vulgar, doubt that he frequently had a re-
insensitive, unaesthetically in- formist purpose in mind. "In all
clined, materialistic, practical, and my writings," he said on one oc-
almost wholly unattractive. -More- casion, "I hope I have taken every
over, society has a way of impos- available opportunity of showing
ing its standards, however subtly, the want of sanitary improve-
upon all within its orbit. Many ments in the neglected dwellings
romantics had subsumed liber- of the poor."16 Even so, it is not
tarian ideas into their outlook and clear thatDickens had much more
would think of themselves as liber- in mind than that men should re-
als; but they went beyond seeking form their ways, and that the
freedom from governmental re- poor should struggle to better
straint; they also sought freedom themselves.
from the prescriptions of society.
They tended toward anarchy. But 15 Thomson, op. cit., pp. 113-14.
some romantic intellectuals went 16 Quoted in G. D. Klingopulos, "The
Literary Scene," From Dickens to
even further, seeking not only to Hardy, Boris Ford, ed. (Baltimore: Pen-
be free from social prescription guin Books, 1958), p. 70.
Thomas Ca.rlyle was quite dif- Matthew Arnold's "Populace"

ferent from Dickens and a much Matthew Arnold was a much
deeper critic of his age..He saw clearer case of the rejecter of Vic-
the age as common and unheroic, torian England. He satirized and
and lacking in leadership or tra- held up to scorn the Englishman's
ditions that make for greatness. fascination with ma.chinery, his
One of his characters exclaims: worship of wealth, and his vaunted
liberty to do as he pleased. The
"Thus, too, does an observant eye middle class, he said, we-re Philis-
discern everywhere that saddest tines. "For Philistine gives the
spectacle : The Poor perishing, like notion of something particularly
neglected, foundered Draught-Cattle,
stiff-necked and perverse in the
of Hunger and Over-work; the Rich
still more wretchedly of Idleness,
resistance to light and its chil-
Satiety, and Over-growth. The High- dren; and therein it specially
est in rank, at length, without hon- suits our middle class, who not
our from the Lowest; scarcely, with only do not pursue sweetness and
a little mouth-honour, as from tavern- light, but who even prefer to them
waiters who expect to put in the bill. that sort of machinery of busi-
Once-sacred Symbols fluttering as ness, chapels, tea-meetings, and
empty Pageants, whereof men addresses from Mr. Murphy [Mr.
grudge even the expense; a World Murphy was depicted as boorishly
becoming dismantled: in one word, intolerant of Roman Catholics] l
the Church fallen speechless, from which makes up the dismal and
obesity and apoplexy; the State
illiberal life on which I have se
shrunken into a Police-Office, strait-
ened to get its pay! "17
often touched."19 The Englisll
aristocracy he calls the Barbar-
Of Carlyle's impact, an historian ians. In a passage dripping witll
says: "By the strength of his con- satire, Arnold describes some 01
victions and the extraordinary the salient features of this class:
language in which he clothed . . . The Barbarians, to whom WE
them, he caused many English- all owe so much, and who reinvigo-
men to share his dissatisfaction rated and renewed our worn-oui
with the materialism of the age Europe, had, as is well known, emi-
and to give more thought to moral nent merits. . . . The Barbarianf
and social issues."18 brought with them that staunch in
dividualism, as the modern phras~
17 Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus
(New York: Dutton, 1908), pp. 174-75. 19 Matthew Arnold, Culture and An
18 W. E. Lunt, History of England archy, R. H. Super, ed. (Ann Arbor:
(New York: Harper, 1957, 4th ed.), p. University of Michigan Press, 1965), P
752. 140.
is and that passion for doing as one - to the loss of cohesion, to disin-
likes. . . The Barbarians, again, tegration. England would be saved,
had the passion for field-sports; and if at all, he taught, by turning to
they have handed it on to our the State.
aristocratic class, who of this pas-
sion too, as of the passion for assert- Thus, in our eyes, the very frame-
ing one's personal liberty, are the work and exterior order of the State,
great natural stronghold. . . .20 whoever may administer the State,
is sacred; and culture is the most
He would classify as Philistines, resolute enemy of anarchy, because
too, all that portion of the working of the great hopes and designs for
class which either by its ambitions the State which culture teaches us
seeks to be a part of the middle to nourish. But as, believing in right
class or by organizing in labor reason, and having faith in the prog-
unions hopes to occupy the place ress of humanity towards perfec-
of dominance held by the middle tion, and ever labouring for this
cla.ss. end, we grow to have clearer sight
of the ideas of right reason, and of
... But that vast portion, lastly, the elements and helps of perfection,
of the working class which, raw and and come gradually to fill the frame-
half-developed, has long lain half- work of the State with them, to fash-
hidden amidst its poverty and ion its internal composition and
squalor, and is now issuing from its all its laws and institutions con-
hiding-place to assert an English-
formably to them, and to make the
man's heaven-born privilege of do- State more and more the expression,
ing as he likes, and is beginning to as we say, of our best self, which is
perplex us by marching where it
not manifold, and vulgar, and un-
likes, meeting where it likes, bawl-
stable, and contentious, and ever-
ing what it likes, breaking what it varying, but one, and noble, and se-
likes, - to this vast residuum we cure, and peaceful, and the same
may with great propriety give the for all mankind. . ..22
name of Populace. 21
Arnold is a near perfect ex-
What was the point of all this,
and much more besides? What ample of the confused joining of
was the point of describing Eng- abstract rationalism and roman-
ticism to reach a conclusion with
land as divided into Barbarians,
Philistines, and Populace? Mat- deep inner contradictions. He ab-
stracted society so as to arrive at
thew Arnold was saying that Vic-
disintegration in his description,
torian England lacked true culture
a disintegration which his very
and was tending toward anarchy
analysis produced. Then, he turned
20 Ibid., pp. 140-4l.
21 Ibid., P. 143. 22 Ibid., pp. 223-24.
off his analytical powers, such as however clumsily; but the carpenter
they were, when he looked at the and smith, trained to perfectest work
state, and made it an object of in wood and iron, are to be em-
romantic adoration. He wa.s, of ployed on the parts of houses and
course, following the path already implements in which finish is essen-
tial to strength. The ploughshare
trod by many German romantics
and spade must be made by the
and by the spiritual godfather of smith, and the roof and floors by a
all romantics, Jean J a.cques Rous- carpenter; but the boys of the house
seau. must be able to make either a horse-
shoe, or a table. 23
Ruskin's Romanticism
The final step from the rej ec- Ruskin could, of course, be pre-
tion and denunciation of the Vic- cise and analytical, as in his dis-
torian Way can be illustrated by courses on political economy, but
reference to John Ruskin. Ruskin when he visualized the society to
disliked machinery, repetitive supplant the present one, he be-
tasks, mass produced articles, came a full-fledged romantic. That
. laissez-faire, competition, the law he became a socialist, of some va-
of supply and demand, and just riety, will appear from the fol-
about everything associated with lowing. "The first duty of a state,"
Victorian 'England. He longed, he said, "is to see that every child
mainly, to see- medieval society re- born therein shall be well housed,
stored, or, at least, medieval clothed, fed and educated, till it
craftsmanship, and things of that attains years of discretion." To
sort. He described his' ideal so- accomplish this, "the government
ciety in this way: must have an authority over the
people of which we do not so much
I have already stated that no ma- as dream."24
chines moved by artificial power are Of course, the above only
to be used on the estates of the so-
touches the surface of the cri-
ciety; wind, water, and animal 'force
are to be the only motive powers em-
tiques, attacks, denunciations, and
ployed, and there is to be as little rejection of the Victorian Way.
trade or importation as possible; the Many other people and works
utmost simplicity of life, and re- would have to be examined to get
striction of possession, being com- to its full flavor, and many other
bined with the highest attainable re- facets of the attack examined. For
finement of temper and thought. 23 John Ruskin, Ruskin's Views oj
Everything that the members of any Social Justice, James Fuchs, ed. (New
household can sufficiently make for York: Vanguard Press, 1926), pp.29-30.
themselves, they are so to make, 24 Briggs, Ope cit., p. 473.
1968 THE VICTORIAN WAY~ AFFIRMED AND REJECTED 757
eventually everything Victorian ugly love, ugly clothes, ugly furni-

became suspect: the architecture, ture, ugly houses, ugly relationship
the furniture, the morals, the pro- between workers and employers.25
ductive system, the government, The English people, then, did
and so on. The debunking of not simply forget the principle,s
things Victorian reached its peak and practices which had made
in the 1920's, following the pub- England great. They were turned
lication of Lytton Strachey's against them. The attack upon the
Eminent Victorians (1918) and Victorian Way was kept up until
Queen Victoria (1921). In the the very thought of it began to be
wake of this rejection, D. H. distasteful, at least to anyone of
Lawrence said: literary ,or artistic awareness.
Now although perhaps nobody Those who had defended it and
knew it, it was ugliness which really expounded its principles became
betrayed the spirit of man in the suspect also. The rejection of ex-
nineteenth century. The great crime isting society was but a prelude,
which the moneyed classes and proof course, to a vision of a new so-
moters of industry committed in the ciety to supplant it. Such visions
palmy Victorian days was the con- were most effectively pushed by
demning of the workers to ugliness, socialists. To that part of the story
ugliness, ugliness: meanness and
we may now turn. ~
formless and ugly' surroundings,
ugly ideals, ugly religion, ugly hope, 25 Klingopulos, Ope cit., p. 14.
The next article in this series will pertain to

uThe Fabian Thrust to Socialism."

Government in the Power Business
FIFTEEN, ten, or even five years itics as such. He accentuates thE

ago Edwin Vennard's Government positive,relying on careful cos1
in the Power Business (McGraw- studies which he sets forth n01
Hill, $7.95) would have been an only in clear prose but in a serief
unpopular book. But not now. Its of admirable tables and charts. }
double-edged thesis is that private closely-knit chapter shows in de
- or investor-owned - electric pow- tail how the investor.. owned powel
er companies can deliver good companies fought to change thl
service at the cheapest possible ideological climate by emphasizinJ
market prices where government- such factors as quality of servici
owned and operated facilities can and price.
only give the consumer a competi- The story more or less tells it
tive edge at the expense of the self. In 1943 fifty-five per cent 0
taxpayer who is forced to make up the people favored government
for a hidden subsidy. In 1964, ownership of power stations; onl;
Barry Goldwater was hooted down 31 per cent were for private pow
for suggesting that the Tennessee ere But the intensive sales an
Valley Authority steam plants and marketing efforts of the investol
distribution systems, which have owned companies during the earl
nothing whatsoever to do with postwar years, coupled with
navigation and flood control, good public information progran
should be sold to private investors. began to take hold in a slow bt
But even in 1964 the notion that sure manner. By the time th
ther(; is something inherently no- early fifties had rolled around, th
ble and untouchable in public pow- curves on the graph had crosse(
er was fast becoming a cliche. N 0- and by 1955 a survey showed th~
body was out crusading for more 46 per cent of the people had corr
TVAs. to favor investor-owned plants ~
Mr. Vennard, who is the Man- against 40 per cent who were stj
aging Director of the Edison Elec- for government ownership. In 19(
tric Institute, does not mention pol- the figure for investor-owned sel
1968 GOVERNMENT IN THE POWER BUSINESS 759
timent became a majority figure, equivocally to the Senate Appro-

at 51 per cent. Those who were priations Committee that power
for government-owned power had production was the major purpose
declined to some 35 per cent, an of the Authority."
ebb-tide figure which would have In 1935, two years after the
been incomprehensible to such old- passage of the TVA Act, Commis-
time public power enthusiasts as sioner Stanley Reed, representing
the late Senator George Norris of the TVA, told the Supreme Court
Nebraska. At this rate the TVA that "the Act would be invalid"
steam generation plants and trans- unless it were assumed that the
mission lines, exclusive of some dams were primarily to improve
facilities which serve the Atomic navigation. Nevertheless, in spite
Energy Commission's Oak Ridge of the Constitution, the TVA even-
nuclear development, may some tually went into the power busi-
day be sold to investor-owned ness with a vengeance, building
power companies serving the steam plants to supplement its
southern Appalachian area. water power and competing with
In a long chapter on the TVA investor-owned companies.
and other government ventures in The TVA has made certain pay-
the power business, Mr. Vennard ments in lieu of taxes to state and
proves that public power is usu- local governments, but never in
ally a cheat. The word is mine, the same amounts that have been
not Mr. Vennard's, but when a exacted from the purely commer-
public project which pays no Fed- cial suppliers of electricity. "On
eral income taxes claims "yard- the average," says Mr. Vennard,
stick" value how can you describe "electric companies pay 2.33 per
it as anything other than dishon- cent of their gross plant invest-
est? The TVA was born in du- ment in state and local taxes
plicity, the excuse being that flood yearly. This is about two-and-one-
control, navigation, and "national half times the rate paid by TVA."
defense" required a series of dams Moreover, the investor-owned com-
along the river system in ques- panies pay on the average 2.64 per
tion. The sales of electricity gen- cent of their gross investment in
erated at the dam sites were sup- Federal income taxes to TVA's
posed to be incidental to the main zero amount. When you figure that
purposes of the development. But, the cost of money to a Federally-
as Mr. Vennard says, "within a owned power installation is much
year, Dr. Arthur E. Morgan, the less than what private companies
first chairman of TVA, stated un- have to pay in the capital market,
the argument that the "public" Vennard is not the sort of person
benefits from government-owned to say he is outraged by this, but
facilities stands exposed for the he lets the reader know how he
sham that it happens to be. feels by a measured display of
In the West, the needs of irriga- statistical proof that the taxpayer
tion may provide a comprehensible is being cheated again.
reason for building big dams at In the last analysis it might be
the taxpayers' expense.. Certainly said that the public power ideo-
the reason seemed compelling in logues have lost the battle because
the thirties, when capital was they have been outflanked. Time
scarce and only the government was when a seemingly good case
seemed willing to dam rivers in could be made out for municipal
Texas, in Arizona, and in the Pa- power plants. But the technology
cific Northwest. But the attempt of long-distance power transmis-
to blanket the nation with seven sion kept improving, and whole
regional authorities along. the regions were benefited by inter-
lines of the TVA died a prolonged connected grids which could sup-
death in Congress. The feeling de- ply their needs at constantly de-
veloped that a small group of creasing prices for volume use.
politicos were bent on using the The lone municipal station couldn't
TVA method to bring about gov- keep up with the parade. So the
ernmentcontrol of the economy political steam went out of the
without ever letting the people public power movement.
vote directly upon it. Norman Mr. Vennard has great hopes
Thomas, the veteran socialist, gave for the future of investment-
the show away when he said that owned power companies, for the
the TVA is "the only genuinely percentage of government-owned,
socialistic act" in the New Deal. power-producing capacity, which
It was in the thirties, too, when grew so rapidly in the thirties and
it seemed reasonable for farmers the forties, has recently been level-
to ask for government help in the ing off. People are becoming aware
for'11 of the REA-financed generat- of their stake in an enterprise
ing plants and transmission lines. system. The day of cheap atomic
But now that the nation's farms power is dawning, and good dam
are thoroughly electrified, the sites are running out. All of this
REA has been trying to expand means that the demagogues are
into densely populated areas, us- running out of excuses for power
ing 2 per cent money to do it. Mr. socialism. ~
THE FREEMAN - Volume 18, January-December 1968
Prepared by BETTINA BIEN of the Foundation staff
NOTE: In page references, the number preceding the colon designates the month, the number
following the colon refers to pages. All articles have at least three entries-author, subject, and
title, except in a few cases .when title entries seemed repetitive. Books reviewed are listed on
page 768.
ACCESS to the press: who decides? BEST wishes! (Buker) 4:247-248

(Merrill) 1 :48-53 BIDINOTTO, Robert James
ADAMS, John Quincy, 1767-1848 (Thornton) Exploitation of the virtuous, The.
1: 18-19 9:568-572 .
ADAMS, Paul L. BLEIL, Gordon B. See Book reviews
Moral premise and the decline of the (Ardrey; Lorenz)
American heritage, The. 3: 170-178 BOHM-BAWERK, Eugen-ideas of
ADMINISTRATIVE .law I agencies Does labor create capital? (Lipton)
Separation of powers and the Labor Act 2: 118-122
(Petro) 7:402-414; 8:497-506; and "BORN free"? (Wells) 12:718-720
9:553-566 BOYD, William B.
Meanings of "monopoly,". The (Fleming) Steel imports and basic principles.
11:681-690 3: 158-159
No more drinks on the house! (Read) BRADFORD, Ralph
6:323-327 Ticket to the future. 2:67-74
Task confronting libertarians, The Where in the world? 8: 484-493
(Hazlitt) 3: 131-142 BRADFORD, William - quoted
Where burglars get better break than busi- Instead of famine - Thanksgiving!
nessmen (Mason) 8:478-483 ( Hazlitt) 11: 650-651
ADVANCE to the rear (Skidmore) 8:494-496 BREESE, Edward Y.
ALCINDOR, Lew, and the gold crisis Equality? 5: 308-311
(North) 4:237-246 BROZEN,Yale
ALSOGARAY, Alvaro C. Untruth of the obvious, The. 6:328-340
Gold and the failure of the "sorcerers". BUKER, Raymond
10: 579-586 Best wishes! 4:247-248
AMERICAN Heritage (publication)
Misrepresentations of capitalism (Nelson) CAPITALIZATION cures poverty
9:515-524 (Kershner) 3:185
ARGENTINA CARPENTER, Ben H.
Gold and the failure of the "sorcerers" Leaving the problem to others. 10: 611-623
(Alsogaray) 10:579-586 CARSON, Clarence B.
ARNHART, Larry Rise and fall of England, The
Let's justify freedom. 10: 636-638 (1) This sceptered isle. 3:147-157
ARTIST under socialism, The (Lipton) (2) Pre-industrial England. 4:219-231
6: 341-346 (3) Political foundations of liberty.
AS far as possible (IPA Facts) 3: 143 5:282-292
AVIATION and government regulation (4) Intellectual thrust to liberty, The.
No more drinks on the house! (Read) 6 :359-370
6: 323-327 ( 5) Liberty and property secured.
AYAU, Manuel F; 7:428-438
Wanted: manager for new society. (6) Moral base, The. 8:467-477
3: 182-184 (7) Industrial surge, The. 9: 532-543
(8) Pax Britannica. 10: 624-635
BABSON, David L. ( 9) Workshop of the world, The.
Government vs. private operation. 2: 83-87 11 :663-672
BENNETT, Mary Jean. See Book reviews (10) Victorian way, The: affirmed and
(Friedman & Roosa) rejected. 12:745-757
BEST things in life are not free, The CAVEAT emptor (Winder) 1: 54-56
( Sparks) 4 :195-200 CHAMBERLAIN, John. See Book reviews
762 THE FREEMAN Decembe1
CHAMBERLIN, E. H. - ideas of CURTISS, W. M.
Meanings of "monopoly", The (Fleming) Good life, The. 12: 739-744
11: 681-690
CHAMBERLIN, William Henry DEMAND deposit inflation. . . . (Reinach)
Forgotten man, The. 2: 105-111 1: 38-45
Liberty and property: one and inseparable. DEMUNICIPALIZE the garbage service
1 :20-25 (Dykes) 4:216-218
Making travel a crime. 5: 293-298 DEVIL you say! The (Thornton) 11: 660-662
Some lessons of Rhodesia. 7: 417-423 DEVOLUTION (McAdoo) 9:567
CHEATING without knowing it (Poirot) DIXON, Daniel R.
9:544-547 Know thyself - a revisitation. 12: 707-717
CHRISTENDOM, roots of leftism in DOES labor create capital? (Lipton)
(Kuehnelt-Leddihn) 2: 89-100 2: 118-122
CITY, local government DONWAY, Roger
Demunicipalize the garbage service In defense of the college. 2: 114-117
(Dykes) 4:216-218 DYKES, E. W.
Roots of democracy, The (Mater) 1:31-35 Demunicipalize the garbage service.
Zoning: a case study (Roberts) 12:721-728 4 :216-218
CIVIL Aeronautics Board
No more drinks on the house! (Read) EACH on his own white charger (Zarbin)
6:323-327 10: 639-640
CIVILIZATION/culture, history of ECONOMIC development, progress and
Education in America (Roche) 10:603-610; savings
11:691-700 Does labor create capital? (Lipton)
God bless our ancestors (Oliver) 2: 101-104 2: 118-122
Higher education: the solution or part of Failure of politics (Hagedorn) 9: 524-526
the problem? (Linton) 6:347-358 Progress means change (Fertig) 1: 35-37
Rise and fall of England, The (Carson) Rise and fall of England, The (Carson)
3:147-157 9: 532-543; 12: 745-757
CLARK, Neil M. Tools (Crane) 3:160-165
What censors prefer to forget. 6: 371-377 War on poverty, The (Opitz) 8:451-461
COERCION, compulsion EDUCATION in America, See Roche.
Advance to the rear (Skidmore) EDUCATION, theory of
8:494-496 Commitment, concern, and apathy (Wallis)
Cheating without knowing it (Poirot) 1:5-13
9:544-547 Freedom (Phillips) 3:179-181
Pseudo puppeteers (Read) 1:14-17 Higher education: the solution or part of
COLESON, Edward P. the problem? (Linton) 6:347-358
Freedom: "wave of the future"? 5: 259-268 Moral education - and history
COLLAPSE of self, The (Read) 8:462-466 (Manchester) 7: 387-396
COMMITMENT, concern, and apathy Moral education: ends and means
(Wallis) 1:5-13 (Manchester) 11: 652-660
COMMUNISM ELECTORAL College
Artist under socialism, The (Lipton) In defense of the college (Donway)
6:341-346 2 :114-117
Freedom: "wave of the future"? (Coleson) ENGLAND. See Great Britain
5:259-268 EQUALITY? (Breese) 5:308-311
Liberty and property: one and inseparable EXPLOITATION of the virtuous, The
(Chamberlin) 1: 20-25 (Bidinotto) 9: 568-572
CONFISCATION and class hatred (Hazlitt)
7:415-416 FAILURE of politics (Hagedorn) 9:524-526
CRANE, Jasper E. FEDERAL Reserve System
Tools. 3: 160-165 Demand deposit inflation. . . . (Reinach)
CRIME and violence 1 :38-45
Leaving the problem to others FEDERAL Trade Commission
(Carpenter) 10: 613ff Where burglars get better break than
Untruth of the obvious, The (Brozen) businessmen (Mason) 8:478-483
6:331ff FERTIG, Lawrence
Where in the world? (Bradford) 8:484-493 Progress means change. 1: 35-37
1968 INDEX 763
FLEMING, Harold M. Great Britain (continued)
Meanings of "monopoly", The. 11: 681-690 Practical liberal, The (Powell) 2:75-76
FOOD from thought (Williams) 11:643-649 Rise and fall of England. See Carson.
FORGOTTEN man, The (Chamberlin)
2: 105-111 HAGEDORN, George
FREEDOM (Phillips) 3:179-181 Failure of politics. 9: 524-526
FREEDOM: "wave of the future"? (Coleson) HAZLITT, Henry
5:259-268 Confiscation and class hatred. 7: 415-416
FREEDOM cuts two ways (Tyson) 9: 548-552 Instead of famine - Thanksgiving!
FREEDOM 11:650-651
Best things in life are not free, The Task confronting libertarians, The.
(Sparks) 4:195-200 3: 131-142
"Born free"? (Wells) 12: 718-720 Tourists and investors as scapegoats.
Each on his own white charger (Zarbin) 4:205-206
10:639-640 HELLO I (Wilke) 1: 3-4
Hellol (Wilke) 1: 3-4 HIGHER education: the solution or part of
FREEDOM of the press vs. censorship the problem? (Linton) 6:347-358
Access to the press: who decides? (Merrill) HISTORY, interpretation/writing of
1 :48-53 Misrepresentations of capitalism (Nelson)
Artist under socialism, The (Lipton) 9:515-524
6:341-346 HOFF, Ole-Jacob
Rise and fall of England, The (Carson) Politics is other people's money. 1: 29-30
7:431ff HOW to win a war (Lipscomb) 11:673-680
What censors prefer to forget (Clark) HOW welfarism has led to Britain's troubles
6:371-377 (Lejeune) 5:277-281
FRIEDMAN, Milton HUMAN nature and environment
Public be damned, The. 10:601-602 Devil you say! The (Thornton) 11:660-662
Moral education: ends and means
GOD bless our ancestors (Oliver) 2:101-104 (Manchester) 11: 652-660
GOLD and the failure of the "sorcerers"
( Alsogaray) 10: 579-586 IDEAS, ideologies
GOOD life, The (Curtiss) 12: 739-744 Demunicipalize the garbage service (Dykes)
GOVERNMENT interference/intervention 4:216-218
Cheating without knowing it (Poirot) Freedom: "wave of the future"? (Coleson)
9:544-547 5:259-268
Freedom: "wave of the future"? (Coleson) Latin America in perspective (Kuehnelt-
5:263ff Leddihn) 4:207-215
Lesson in time, A (Nelson) 5: 303-307 IDEAS, innovations, changes
Old and new interventions (Sennholz) Food from thought (Williams) 11: 643-649
3: 166-169 Meanings of "monopoly", The (Fleming)
Progress means change (Fertig) 1: 35-37 11 : 685ff
Statistics and poverty (Smith) 5:272-276 Power that serves, A (Upson) 7:424-427
Task confronting libertarians, The What censors prefer to forget (Clark)
(Hazlitt) 3:131-142 6:371-377
Ticket to the future (Bradford) 2: 67-74 IN defense of the college (Donway) 2:114-117
Threat of wage and price controls, The INDIVIDUAL rights
(Schmidt) 10:587-591 Right to life, The (Tuccille) 8: 507-508
Untruth of the obvious, The (Brozen) Rise and fall of England, The (Carson)
6:328-340 7 :428-438
War on poverty: a critical view, The Sovereignty (Patrick) 2: 112-113
(Opitz) 8:451-461 Where burglars get better break than
GOVERNMENT vs. private operation businessmen (Mason) 8:478-483
(Babson) 2: 83-87 INDUSTRY, "Industrial Revolution"
GREAT anomaly, The (Read) 2:77-80 Tools (Crane) 3: 160-165
GREAT Britain - history, economics, Rise and fall of England, The (Carson)
government 4: 219-231; 9: 532-543; 11: 663-672
Confiscation and class hatred (Hazlitt) INE'QUALITY, human variation
7:415-416 Higher education: the solution or part of
How welfarism has led to Britain's troubles the problem? (Linton) 6:347-358
(Lejeune) 5:277-281 Still life on fire (Otterson) 7:397-401
Inequality (continued) Liberalism (continued)
To be different - and free (Moreell) Rise and fall of England, The (Carson)
1 :26-29 6:359-370; 7:428-438
INSTEAD of famine - Thanksgiving! LIBERTARIANS, The task confronting
(Hazlitt) 11: 650-651 (Hazlitt) 3:131-142
IPA Facts (Institute of Public Affairs) LIBERTY and property: one and inseparablE
As far as possible. 3: 143 ( Chamberlin) 1: 20-25
LIFE begins at seventy (Read) 9:527-531
JUSTICE and judicial practice LINTON, Calvin D.
Caveat emptor (Winder) 1:54-56 Higher education : the solution or part of
Know thyself - a revisitation (Dixon) the problem? 6:347-358
12:715ff LIPSCOMB, Ed
Leaving the problem to others (Carpenter) How to win a war. 11:673-680
10:611-623 LIPTON, Dean
Let's justify freedom (Arnhart) 10:636-638 Artist under socialism, The. 6: 341-346
Separation of powers and the Labor Act Does labor create capital? 2: 118-122
(Petro) 7:402-414; 8:497-506; 9:553-566 LITERATURE and art
Where burglars get better break than Artist under socialism, The (Lipton)
businessmen (Mason) 8:"78-483 6:341-346
What censors prefer to forget (Clark)
KERSHNER, Howard E. 6:371-377
Capitalization cures poverty. 3: 185 LOVE or selfish interest? (Moreell) 2:88
KIRZNER, Israel - ideas of
Progress means change (Fertig) 1: 35-37 McADOO, James E.
KNOW thyself - a revisitation (Dixon) Devolution. 9: 567
12:707-717 To the liberator. 11: 649
KUEHNELT-LEDDIHN, Erik V. MAKING travel a crime (Chamberlin)
Latin America in perspective. 4: 207-215 5:293-298
Roots of leftism in Christendom, The. MANCHESTER, Frederick A.
2:89-100 Moral education: ends and means.
11:652-660
LABOR, wages and employment Moral education - and history. 7:387-396
Commitment, concern, and apathy (Wallis) MARX, Karl - ideas of
1: 10ff Does labor create capital? (Lipton)
Rise and fall of England, The (Carson) 2: 118-122
11: 666ff Freedom: "wave of the future"? (Coleson)
Untruth of the obvious, The (Brozen) 5:259-268
6:328-340 Roots of leftism in Christendom, The
LABOR laws and unions (Kuehnelt-Leddihn) 2: 89-100
Separation of powers and the Labor Act MASON, Lowell B.
(Petro) 7:402-414; 8:497-506; 9:553-566 Where burglars get better break than
Steel imports and basic. principles (Boyd) businessmen. 8:478-483
3:158-159 MATER, Milton H.
LAND, ownership and control Roots of democracy, The. 1:31-35
Misrepresentations of capitalism (Nelson) MEANINGS of "monopoly", The (Fleming)
9:515-524 11:681-690
Zoning: a case study (Roberts) 12:721-728 MEDICINE, medicare
LATIN America in perspective Best things in life are not free, The
(Kuehnelt-Leddihn) 4: 207-215 (Sparks) 4: 195-200
LAW, William L. MERRILL, John
To save our hides. 4: 232-236 Access to the press: who decides? 1: 48-53
LEAVING the problem to others (Carpenter) MISREPRESENTATIONS of capitalism
10:611-623 ( Nelson) 9: 515-524
LEJEUNE, Anthony MONEY, inflation and the "gold crisis"
How welfarism has led to Britain's Best wishes! (Buker) 4:247-248
troubles. 5:277-281 Demand deposit inflation. . . . (Reinach)
LESSON in time, A (Nelson) 5: 303-307 1:38-45 .
LET'S justify freedom (Arnhart) 10:636-638 Forgotten man,Th~ (Chamberlin) 2:1l0ff
LIBERALISM (classical) Gold and the failure of the "sorcerers"
Practical liberal, The (Powell) 2:75-76 (Alsogaray) 10: 579-586
1968 INDEX 765
Money (continued) OPITZ, Edmund A.
Lew Alcindor and the gold crisis (North) War on poverty, The: a critical view.
4:237-246 8:451-461
Making travel a crime (Chamberlin) See also Book reviews (Andrews, Dietze,
5:293-298 Matson)
Old and new intervention (Sennholz) OTTERSON, John
3: 166-169 Still life on fire. 7: 397-401
Ticket to the future (Bradford) 2:67-74
Tourists and investors as scapegoats
P A TRICK, William Penn
( Hazlitt) 4: 205-206
Sovereignty. 2:112-113
MONOPOLY, monopolists PETRO, Sylvester
Meanings of "monopoly", The (Fleming) Separation of powers and the Labor Act.
11: 681-690 ( 1) Congressional policies versus Labor
Misrepresentations of capitalism (Nelson)
Board policies. 7:402-414
9:515-524 (2) "Expertise," separation of powers,
MORAL education - and history and due process. 8:497-506
( Manchester) 7: 387-396 (3) Judicial courts versus administrative
MORAL education: ends and means courts. 9: 553-566
(Manchester) 11: 652-660 PHILLIPS, H. B.
MORAL premise and the decline of the Freedom. 3: 179-181
American heritage, 'the (Adams) 3: 170-178 PLANNING, central
MORALS, morality Wanted: manager for new society (Ayau)
Education in America (Roche) 11:691-700; 3:182-184
12:729-738 POIROT, Paul L.
Freedom (Phillips) 3: 179-181 Cheating without knowing it. 9 :544-547
Freedom cuts two ways (Tyson) 9 : 548-552 Progress through'travel. 4:201-204
Higher education: the solution or part of Recipe for failure. 10:592-600
the problem? (Linton) 6:347-358 Why worry? 1: 46-47
Know thyself - a revisitation (Dixon) POLITICS, political practice
12:707-717 Exploitation of the virtuous, The
Leaving the problem to others (Carpenter) (Bidinotto) 9: 568-572
10:611-623 How to win a war (Lipscomb) 11:675ff
Right to life, The (Tuccille) 8:507-508 John Quincy Adams, 1767-1848 (Thornton)
Rise and fall of England, The (Carson) 1: 18-19
8:467-477 Practical liberal, The (Powell) 2:75-76
MOREELL, Ben Theory of political escalation, The
Love or selfish interest? 2: 88 (Wessels) 2:81-82
To be different - and free. 1: 26-29 POLITICS is other people's money (Hoff)
1:29-30
NATIONAL Labor Relations Board. See POVERTY and government programs
Petro Capitalization cures poverty (Kershner)
NELSON, John O. 3:185
Lesson in time, A. 5: 303-307 Exploitation of the virtuous, T'he
Misrepresentations of capitalism. 9: 515-524 (Bidinotto) 9: 568-572
NO more drinks on the house! (Read) Recipe for failure (Poirot) 10:592-600
6:323-327 Statistics and poverty (Smith) 5:272-276
NOCK'S job, Albert (Silia) 7:439-440 Untruth of the obvious, The (Brozen)
NORTH, Gary 6:328-340
Lew Alcindor and the gold crisis. 4:237-246 War on Poverty, The: a critical view,
(Opitz) 8:451-461
See also Book reviews (Goldman)
POWELL, J. Enoch
NORWAY
Practical liberal, The. 2: 75-76
Politics is other people's money (Hoff)
POWER that serves, A (Upson) 7:424-427
1:29-30
PRACTICAL liberal, The (Powell) 2:75-76
PRICE is NOT right, The (Raley) 5:269-271
OLD and new intervention (Sennholz) PRICES, controlled/regulated
3: 166-169 Real price wars, The (Read) 3:144-146
OLIVER, Rebekah Deal Threat of wage and price controls, The
God bless our ancestors. 2: 101-104 (Schmidt) 10:587-591
766 THE FREEMAN DecembE
PRIVATE property, right to SCHMIDT, Emerson P.
Liberty and property: one and inseparable Threat of wage and price controls, The.
(Chamberlin) 1: 20-25 10:587-591
Rise and fall of England, The (Carson) SCIENTISM
7:428-438 Education in America (Roche) 12: 729-73
Zoning: a case study (Roberts) 12:721-728 Higher education: the solution or part
PROGRESS means change (Fertig) 1:35-37 the. problem? (Linton) 6:353ff
PROGRESS through travel (Poirot) SELF-IMPROVEMENT, self-respect
4:201-204 Albert Nock's job (Silia) 7:439-440
PSEUDO puppeteers (Read) 1:14-17 As far as possible (IPA Facts) 3:143
PUBLIC be damned, The (Friedman) Collapse of self, The (Read) 8:462-466
10:601-602 Good life, The (Curtiss) 12: 739-744
How to win a war (Lipscomb) 11: 678ff
RAILROADS (l9th century) Life begins at seventy (Read) 9:527-531
Lesson in time, A (Nelson) 5:303-307 Moral education: ends and means
RALEY, Jess (Manchester) 11: 652-660
Price is NOT right, The. 5: 269-271 Still life on fire (Otterson) 7:397-401
READ, Leonard E. SEMANTICS, language, terminology
Collapse of self, The. 8: 462-466 Advance to the rear (Skidmore) 8: 494-49
Great anomaly, The. 2:77-80 SENNHOLZ, Hans F.
Life begins at seventy. 9:527-531 Old and new intervention. 3: 166-169
No more drinks on the house! 6:323-327 SEPARATION of powers and the Labor Ac
Pseudo puppeteers. 1: 14-17 See Petro
Real price wars, The. 3: 144-146 SILIA, Nicholas, Jr.
Sure-fire remedy, A. 5: 299-302 Albert Nock's job. 7:439-440
REAL price wars, The (Read) 3:144-146 SKIDMORE, David
Advance to the rear. 8:494-496
REAM, Norman S. See Book reviews
SMITH, Adam - ideas of
(Evans, J. R.)
Freedom: "wave of the future"? (Coleson
RECIPE for failure (Poirot) 10:592-600 5:263ff
REINACH, Anthony M. Rise and fall of England, The (Carson)
Demand deposit inflation. . 1: 38-45 6: 368ff
RESPONSIBILITY, individual SMITH, Harry Lee
"Born free"? (Wells) 12:718-720 Statistics and poverty. 5: 272-276
Caveat emptor, (Winder) 1:54-56 SOCIAL Security
Collapse of self, The (Read) 8: 462-466 Why worry? (Poirot) 1: 46-47
Freedom cuts two ways (Tyson) 9: 548-552 SOCIALISM. See Communism; Great Britah
Good life, The (Curtiss) 12:739-744 Welfare state philosophy
RHODESIA, some lessons of (Chamberlin) SOME lessons of Rhodesia (Chamberlin)
7:417-423 7:417-423
RIGHT to life, The (TucciIIe) 8:507-508 SOVEREIGNTY (Patrick) 2: 112-113
RISE and fall of England, The. See Carson SPARKS, John C.
ROBERTS, John J. Best things in life are not free, The.
Zoning: a case study. 12:721-728 4:195-200
ROCHE, George Charles III STATISTICS and poverty (Smith) 5:272-27
Education in America STEEL imports and basic principles (Boyd
(1) What has happened? 10:603-610 3:158-159
(2) Freedom, morality, and education. STILL life on fire (Otterson) 7:397-401
11:691-700 SURE-fire remedy, A (Read) 5: 299-302
(3) Scientism and .the collapse of stand-
ards. 12: 729-738 TASK confronting libertarians, The (Hazlitt
See also Book reviews (Williams) 3: 131-142
ROOTS of democracy, The (Mater) 1:31-35 TAXES, taxation
ROOTS of leftism in Christendom, The Confiscation and class hatred (Hazlitt)
(Kuehnelt-Leddihn) 2:89-100 7 :415-416
Forgotten man, The (Chamberlin)
SAFETY legislation 2: 105-111
Price is NOT right, The (Raley) 5:269-271 Old and new intervention (Sennholz)
SAMUELSON, Paul A. - ideas of 3: 166-169
Recipe for failure (Poirot) 10:592-600 Statistics and poverty (Smith) 5:272-276
1968 INDEX 767
THANKSGIVING! instead of famine UPSON, Walter L.
(Hazlitt) 11: 650-651 Power that serves, A. 7: 424-427
THEORY of political escalation, The UTILITIES, privately-owned
(Wessels) 2:81-82 Government vs. private operation (Babson)
THORNTON, Robert M. 2:83-87
Devil you say! The. 11: 660-662 Power that serves, A (Upson) 7:424-427
John Quincy Adams, 1767-1848. 1:18-19
See also Book reviews (Buckley, Flexner, VOLUNTARY exchange, free choice
Krutch, Parkinson, Ross, Ro,yster) Advance to the rear (Skidmore) 8: 494-496
THREAT of wage and price controls, The Cheating without knowing it (Poirot)
(Schmidt) 10:587-591 9:544-547
TICKET to the future (Bradford) 2:67-74 Great anomaly (Read) 2:77-80
TO be different-and free (Moreell) 1 :26-29 Price is NOT right, The (Raley) 5:269-271
TO the liberator (McAdoo) 11:649
WALLIS, W. Allen
TO save our hides (Law) 4:232-236 Commitment, concern, and apathy. 1:5-13
TOOLS (Crane) 3: 160-165 WANTED: manager for new society (Ayau)
TOURISTS and investors as scapegoats 3:182-184
(Hazlitt) 4: 205-206 WAR on poverty, The: a critical view
TRADE and travel (Opitz) 8:451-461
Making travel a crime (Chamberlin) WELFARE state philosophy, welfarism
5:293-298 Commitment, concern, and apathy (Wallis)
Progress through travel (Poirot) 1:5-13
4:201-204 Exploitation of the virtuous (Bidinotto)
Rise and fall of England, The (Carson) 9:568-572
10:624-635 Good life, The (Curtiss) 12: 739-744
Steel imports and basic principles (Boyd) How to win a war (Lipscomb) 11: 673-680
3: 158-159 How welfarism has led to Britain's troubles
To save our hides (Law) 4:232-236 (Lejeune) 5:~77-281
Tourists and investors as scapegoats Let's Justify Freedom (Arnhart)
(Hazlitt) 4: 205-206 10:636-638
TUCCILLE, Jerome Love or selfish hlterest? (Moreell) 2:88
Right to life, The. 8:507-508 Recipe for failur (Poirot) 10:592-600
TURKEY Sure-fire remedy, A (Read) 5:299-302
Roots of democracy, The (Mater) 1:31-35 WELLS, E. F.
TYSON, Robert C. "Born Free"? 12: 718-720
Freedom cuts two ways. 9: 548-552 WESSELS, Walter J.
Theory of political escalation, The.
U. S. CONSTITUTION, principles of 2:81-82
In defense of the college (Donway) WHAT censors prefer to forget (Clark)
2:114-117 6:371-377
Moral premise and the decline of the WHERE burglars get better break than
American Heritage (Adams) 3: 170-178 businessmen (Mason) 8:478-483
Separation of powers and the Labor WHERE in the world? (Bradford) 8: 484-493
Act (Petro) 7: 402-414 WHY worry? (Poirot) 1:46-47
To be different-and free (Moreell) 1:26-29 WILKE, Joan
Where in the world? (Bradford) 8:484-493 Hello! 1:3-4
U. S. POST Office WILLIAMS, Charles W.
Government vs. private operation (Babson) Food from thought. 11: 643-649
2:83-87 WINDER, George
Public be damned, The (Friedman) Caveat emptor. 1:54-56
10:601-602 WITONSKI, Peter P. See Book reviews
U. S. SUPREME Court (Jewkes)
Meanings of "monopoly", The (Fleming)
11:681-690
Separation of powers and the Labor ZARBIN, Earl
Act ( Petro) 9: 553-566 Each on his own white charger.
UNTRUTH of the obvious, The (Brozen) 10:639-640 '
6:328-340 ZONING: a case study (Roberts) 12:721-728
768 THE FREEMAN Decembe?
BOOK REVIEWS
(Reviewer's name in parentheses)
ANDREWS, Donald Hatch. The symphony JEWKES, John. The new ordeal by
of life (Opitz) 4:252-256 planning: the experience of the forties an(
ARDREY, Robert. The territorial imperative the sixties (Witonski) 7: 444-446
(Bleil) 3: 190-192 KRUTCH, Joseph Wood. And even if YO'L
BLACK, Hillel. The American schoolbook do (Thornton) 2: 126-127
LORENZ, Konrad. On a,ggression (Bleil)
(Chamberlain) 6:378-381
3: 190-192
BUCKLEY, William F. Jr. The jeweler's MATSON, Floyd W. The broken image
eye (Thornton) 9:576 ( Opitz) 4: 252-256
DIETZE, Gottfried. America's political PARKINSON, C. Northcote. Left luggage,
dilemma (Opitz) 6:381-384 a caustic history of British socialism from
EVANS, James R. The glorious quest Marx to Wilson (Thornton) 2:127-128
(Ream) 1: 63-64 READ, Leonard E. Accent on the right
EVANS, M. Stanton. The future of (Chamberlain) 8:509-512
conservatism: from Taft to Reagan and RICKENBACKER, Edward V. Rickenbacke1
beyond (Chamberlain) 4: 249-252 (Chamberlain) 1:57-60
RICKENBACKER, William F. Death O/thE
FLEXNER, James Thomas. George
dollar (Chamberlain) 11:701-703
Washington in the American Revolution ROSS, Walter S. The last hero: Charles A.
1775-1783 (Thornton) 7:446-448 Lindbergh (Thornton) 5:319-320
FRIEDMAN, Milton and. Robert V. Roosa. ROYSTER, Vermont. A pride of prejudicell
The balance of paymen~s: free versus fixed (Thornton) 3:189-190
exchange rates (Bennett) 5:316-319 RUSHER, William. Special counsel
GOLDMAN, Marshall I. The Soviet economy: (Chamberlain) 9: 573-576
myth and reality (North) 11:704 SCHEIBLA, Shirley. Poverty is where the
HACKER, Louis M. The world of Andrew money is (Chamberlain) 7:441-444
Carnegie: 1865-1901 (Chamberlain) VENNARD, Edwin. Government in the
power business (Chamberlain) 12:758-760
5:312-316
WILLIAMS, Roger J. You are extraordinary
JANEWAY, Eliot. The economics of cT'ts~s: ( Roche) 1: 60-63
war, politics and the dollar (Chamberlain) WRIGHT, David McCord. The trouble with
3:186-189 Marx (Chamberlain) 2:123-126

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THE FREEMAN JANUARY 1968

Vol. 18, No. 1

"'" Another facet of freedom, explains """ Rickenbacker by "Captain Eddie"

Anyone wishing to communicate with authors may send

LEONARD E. READ President, Foundation for

THE FREEMAN is published monthly by the

Copyright, 1968, The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. Printed in

not an encroachment on it. It is a Freedom is nourished by expec-

ONE of the special privileges of a An illustration: About a decade

conform to his own advice to be immediate purpose of being re-

particularly appropriate at this claiming that today's activist stu-

The other inscription reads: haps; not sufficient progress, sure-

social problems and committed to vated by apathy. Student activists

reach. A grievance is most poignant are affected by our minimum wage

lieve that at $1.50 per hour-about niary motives are satisfied in a

workers or see their businesses irresponsible if he is not thor-

S01ne References on the Economics of Discrimination

WE THINK of a puppeteer as an Unworthy of admiration are the

in you, for you are unique, extra- Resistance to puppeteering might

WILLIAM HENRY CHAMBERLIN

Two FAMILIAR left-wing cliches number of causes, drought, trans-

holds of free enterprise and pri- occupation, without external coer-

Arctic climate of Northern Russia ligious and political persecution

happiness." Property, in Locke's to the archives of history and no

cation of the Constitution. He may use his dollars as ballots to

Inner Restraints - The American tradition holds

money, and who is to spend it- the authorities intervened as ex-

The Duty of Private Judgment

close to the people, are supposed television. Each mayor controls

It turned out that the same was I think of my discussion with

truly exist in workable form with- an invitation to a computerized,

A TRIP ABROAD for discussions with

CHANGE has a therapeutic value. It acts as

troIs, investment controls, ex- In this month [October, 1967J

Recipe for Inflation You. And have my wife throw me

Reserve Requirements "under-reserved" (has more than

calation of wages do not. A popu- most money velocity increases are

Reprints available, 10 cents each.

WHEN CHARLES STEVENSON ques- Apparently, the 24 (out of 25)

From among all the "minority" Beyond this, there is anothel

THIS is true liberty, when free-born men,

"CAVEAT EMPTOR" is a principle of will decide many legal action~

for applying the rule of "Caveat an inch of the diameter at whicl

Rickenbacker (Prentice-Hall, age. He came from the wrong side

There was no electricity in the ed a course with the Internationa

the thirties, Eddie proved to his who aspires to understand thl

his twenty-four-day ordeal on a NORMALIZED STATISTIC"

modern social thought is premised point out that attempts to divorCE

seven principles by which to judge by another young businessman.

HANDSOME BLUE LEATHERLE)

Order from: THE FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, INC

Anyone wishing to communicate with authors may send

LEONARD E. READ President, Foundation for

T H E.F R E E MAN is published monthly by the

Copyright, 1968, The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. Printed in

TODAY we are writing the ticket In politics, in economics, in

high, we are plagued with debt quence so long as the purchaser

corporate enterprises, like most of Inflation in Two Countries

by one-third in the same period. and contrary to all humanexperi-

reason, and must do penance. And at Harvard?) to decide what por-

in a great society, if by our deci- one is opposing real economic

neither possible, nor necessary, questioned and apparently unques-

PROGRESS and regress occurring bring about economic well-being.