The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-12-01
Liberal Viewpoint
--BY or HARRY ELMER BARNES

---Bf DIX HARRY ELMER BARNES
OFTEN have said that whatever the instabiI-
Il ity of the capitalist system in any longtime
view, little enlightened selfshneSs would re-
vive 1t and perpetuate It for generation or
more in the United States.
At last I have found a capitalist who recog-
nizes this and states his convictions In most
forceful language. He is Milo Perkins, manu-
facturer of Houston Tex, and he sets forth his
contribution in the Nation.
He frankly admits that the capitalists only
have themselves to blame If the people have
lost confidence in them:
after all, as class, we business men are
offering no program Of action to the American
people which would make tomorrow seem more
attractive than today. We who have done such
an amazing job of selling the public everything
from soap to radios are failing miserably in
selling ourselves. Small wonder people turn in
strange directions for their inspiration"
Nowhere have I read a better piece of ridi-
culing the bourbon attack upon the alleged rad
calism and bureaucracy of the Roosevelt adj
ministration:
This talk about a Communist brain trust
trying to undermine American institutions comes
from political nursemaids who are trying to
frighten us American children with stories about
new many-heady bogy man.
Every big corporation has its engineering de-
partment and its research men, and every gen.
eral manager throws away more OF their Sugges-
tons than he uses. But he puts out good hard
cash for those he keeps, because it pays. The
public has sense enough to know that President
Roosevelt is doing the same thing, and they ex-
pect the policy to pay dividends to the people.
TT is equally silly to tell the average voter
l. that the New Deal has deprived him of his
constitutional rights He knows congress has
not tempered with his religious freedom, or per-
mitted the quartering of soldiers in his home
To ctin hIIU he iIxryof1 yoo Tood md
the Wall Street Journal from the same news
stand anywhere in the country"
Mr. Perkins has realism enough to recognize
that capitalism is not yet out of the woods and
that it will require intelligent direction if it is
ever to get out:
Of March, 1888, we capitalists are not awake, as
a class, to the crisis which faces us. Men and
women have right to jobs that are interesting
and homes that are fit for their children. The
whole private ownership of production is failing
as a system to provide those fundamental
things foR our people.
Revolution has been averted by government
help for the unemployed, but If capitalism is
unable effectively to work out a program which
will solve these problems, our people will de-
nland their solution from other sources. Every
child knows that we have the machinery and
resources to raise our standard of living enor-
mously if things were properly managed"
Perhaps most unusual but most sagacious of
all Mr. Perkins observations is his statement
of the fundamental fact that capitalism can not
operate unless the masses have money to buy
the goods that are produced:
THE majority of our customers always have
been found in the group working for us. On
the whole they have spent their earnings OF one
week before the next Saturday night rolled
around The so-called white collar class has
made much the same contribution on monthly
basis.
!"NPEN shop fanatics may gloat over the
~ achievements of their brain trust, but
only the stupid can feel secure. We capitalists,
aided by science, have reduced the number of
men to whom we need to pay salaries or wages.
They are off our individual pay rolls, but they
are also lost customers for capitalism as sys-
tenn.
I'VE have deprived them of income in
civilization where money is needed to buy what
one wants. 1t can't go on. Plants can not
be run without customers, and customers can
not buy without money from capitalists trying
to turn their wheels at profit"
How different is Mr.. Perkins recovery pro-
gram from that of the average short-sighted in
dustrialist:
Capitalism should fight for a thiry-hour
week and fiat Is per cent increase in all sal
aries and all wages. That is the only way in
which it can finance the working public so that
they can buy the products it has machines to
make. Any lesser plan, such as a 10 per cent
ueCIedSe III hours anu a III per CeIlI pay III
crease, will be self-defeating compromise. 1t
is destined to fail because it does not go far
enough.
This plan will be opposed by richards who
will insist that they not afford to pay higher
wages. The job of progressive capitalists is to
move forward over such tories, just as our fore
fathers moved forward over their kind in the
adventurous days of the revolution"
If American capitalism wishes to get out of
the red" and to be safe from the Reds. here
is its program and its spirit.