Evening star., 1932-10-07
Must Be q Loser
For Every Winner
To the Editor Of The Star.

To the Editor OF The star.
It is all right to assume, for the mo-
ment at least. that speaker or writer
is honest ard sincere. but it is folly to
assume that he is right because the
disposition Of people to accept ready
made opinion, usually supplied by men
who are overrecommended, is the
greatest weakness in our form of gov
ernment. The best brains at ones dis
posal are those within his own skull
and 1t Is because, as a people, we DO
not use them that America finds her
self In such a sorry plight, although
we can have about anything We want
II enough OF us use our political influ-
ence studiously.
One Of our early Presidents wrote:
Il want keen, observing eye.
An ever-listening ear,
The truth, through all disguise to spy
And WisdomS voice to hear"
Now that propaganda has reached
such psychological perfection, there is
far more need Of such equipment.
In your editorial column Sunday you
said: 1T is automatic that whenever
there Is a winner there must be
loser" This is conspicuously self
evident" as applied to an ordinary bet,
of which it has been said that the man
who bets when he knows 1t is con-
temptible and the one who bets wher
he doesn't is a fool-but, like most epi-
grams, this isn't always true. AS We
approach the more complicate arrange
ments that involve winning We must
keep the word whenever" as used in
the axiom, persistently in mind. In a
stock exchange speculation the apph
cation Of the axiom is not quite as OBJ
vious, but it Is equally true, and the
loser in bet or speculation Is entitled
to Scant sympathy because he volun-
tarily matched his cupidity against an
others avarice.
1t is not automatic, but 1t Is an ad-
mitted economic fact. that there are
but three ways Of acquiring wealth.
One must either earn it, win it, or
steal it and there is one speculative
field wherein the loser Is defeated by a
thief, perhaps, rather than by a win
ner, because there is no possibility Of
his being the winner. The transaction
is SO thoroughly established, accepted
and made lawfully legal that it has the
appearance of being right. If one buys
land for very little, as a speculation,
and city grows up around it, he may
sell it and put, perhaps, million dol
| ldIS ultO Ills pocket precisely as ne
would if he had won bet of that mag
nitude, and lit is automatic that
whenever there Is winner there must
be loser
| II We could indicate and specify in
dividual losers and the awful predica-
ment into which they may be plunged
by the loss while they had nothing
whatever to do with the speculation,
our sense Of justice and fair play
would stimulate legislation designed to
mitigate the wrong-legislation is never
designed to Cure a condition. because
that would be radical legislation, and
propaganda has taught us to be very
fearful Of anything radical AS mat
ter OF fact, this particular loss Is in
f1icted upon society as a whole and alb
serbs a considerable portion Of all the
earned wealth. Those who have abun-
dance may not be aware Of the abstrac-
ton. those who have sufficient barely
notice it, but those who have less than
sufficient are reduced to dire poverty
by the abstraction OF. perhaps. 25 per
cent Of their earnings 1t was very
likely this particular transaction that
prompted the Conspicuous Radical to
say: He that hath not. from him
shall be taken even that which he
hath. j. B. CHAMBERLAIN.