Evening star., 1934-10-27
To the Editor Of The Star;

To the Editor of The Star;
Our friend, Mr.. G. W. Butt, sets
forth some peculiar ideas in q recent
letter to The Star. He states that
"our present greatness has been
achieved under the present so-called
capitalist system" 1t would be more
correct to say that our past progress
was accomplished despite the natural
and inherent timidity of the privately
owned money system and the private
ly owned public utilities and key in
dustries. The fact Is that the pres
ence of great reserves OF undevelopeo
natural wealth in the early days and
the further fact that We did not re-
strict immigration until 1920 are the
real and vital factors in the progress
of the Nation as q whole. 1t was the
Creator. otherwise called God, who
is to be given credit for the vast
natural resources Of the United States.
Capitalism creates nothing OF itself.
Labor is the basis of all wealth.
Capitalism collects this wealth; some
times it uses 1t, but just as often 1t
misuses it, as In the case OF loans to
foreign capitalist powers.
Capitalists utterly failed to get to-
gether sufficient moneys to finance
the railroads when 1t became neces-
sary to build the tranScontinental
lines. So, as usual, the Federal Gov
ernment was called upon, as 1t Is In
Government
gave to the railroad corporations out
right great screages Of land on botn
sides Of the rights of way. The land
was sold to the new settlers at clear
profit. State Legislatures and cities
made substantial grants in money ana
more land. So the people themselves
paid for the railroads before they
were built, and have as shippers and
passengers and taxpayers been paying
ever since. 1t looks as though the
more the people pay in the less the
roads are worth!
The Panama Canal was not built
through private initiative"
The French capitalists tried 1t, but
felt down on the job badly. American
capitalists made a start at 1t. but
gave up in disgust. Finally, Uncle
Sam himself got busy on the PROPOSE
ton, placed his health experts in the
Canal Zone, cleaned it up. eliminated
the fever, and was highly successful
in the construction work. Socializa-
ton works well. 81.
Mr.. Butt also tries to give the capi-
talist system credit for all OF the
marvellous inventions and the advance
generally in science. The capitalists
had nothing to do with those. Most
of the inventions were initiated by
low-paid workmen who tired OF being
drudges and 80 were more or less di-
vinely inspired to try to figure out
ways and means to do things in some
easier, mechanical way. Many OF the
original inventors had their valuable
inventions stolen by the greedy capi-
talists, others had to sell their in
ventions for little or nothing because
they were too poorly paid to be able
to finance their own inventions. SO
the scheming money hounds often
bought our now most valuable in
ventions at ridiculously low prices.
Many inventors, Of course. did not
realize how valuable their experiments
really were. since under feudalism, and
to o lesser extent under capitalism,
we are taught to worship some big
banker or industrialist who In all too
many cases merely acts in the capac-
ity of a flea on dog, the function OF
a parasite, largely.
Capital will always be necessary In
society, probably. but capitalism is
not necessary. Capital is only frozen
labor, since labor is the basis Of all
capital. The capitalist tries to make
us believe otherwise. as do his satel-
lites, but the fact remains, never
theless, capital should not be owned
and controlled by few individuals