Evening star., 1934-06-23
To the Editor of The Star:

To tine Editor of The Star:
The Senate's confirmation of Prof
Rexford Tugwell as Undersecretary of
Agriculture brings up the thought of
national planning. of which he is an
advocate The numerous books on
economics and sociology published
within recent years indicate that the
national planning idea has been under
consideration in the minds Of few
have been university professors. for
heretofore the planning idea has been
in its academic stage.
With the fundamental aim Of ma
tional planning few will disagree. Its
aim is to rid our country of depres-
sions and make prosperity a perma-
nent condition.
National planning, however presup-
poses that those in charge of our
Government shall be capable of doing
the planning. We must have officials
who shall be able to know in advance
just what is needed to produce pros
perity and just what measures are
required to maintain it, Experimental
ton presupposes that those who are
doing it are not sure of the results.
experimentation as a permanent pol
icy is not, therefore, desirable and
would not be tolerated after it once
failed.
Ours is large country In more
section differ from those in another.
The industrial conditions in the East
differ from the plantation conditions
in the South, and both differ from
agricultural conditions in the West.
One may be willing to concede that
the brain truSters" are brilliant and
that collectively they possess almost
inerrant accuracy and yet seriously
doubt their ability to so plan our
national economy as to make our land
depression proof in all sections.
Assuming, however, that it would be
possible for a few bright men so to
manipulate public affairs as to make
prosperity a permanent condition in
our land, it would seem to follow that
a few bright men in each Of the other
countries could make prosperity a
permanent condition in theirs. The
entire world would then be depres-
sion-proof The millennium bag OF
gold at the rainbow's end, which
others have chased in vain, would
then have bcen se'zed by few bright
men of the world.
National planning for permanent
prosperity would necessitate an exer-
else of power over the lives of private
citizens. Farmers must be told what
they can and what they cannot pro-
duce; labor must be told how many
hours it can work, child labor must be
prohibited or regulated and industry
must be told what wages it can pay
and what prices it can charge for its
output. And perhaps the birth rate
should have to be increased or de-
creased as the conditions of prosperity
might require. It seems. therefore,
that national planning would neces-
state a loss of freedom.
In his memoirs, Carl Schurz, who
had lived in both Germany and the
United States, stated that he pre-
ferred to live here because here we
had more liberty. In Germany, he
said, a policeman was stationed at
every mud puddle to warn the people
not to step in it.
The American Revolution was
fought because the colonists objected
to taxation without representation. p"
With respect to future generations, the
staggering national debt which is now
being incurred involves taxation
without representation" Future gen.
erations who had no voice in incur
ring this debt shall have to pay it.
Owing to the diversity OF condi-
tions in our country. our forefathers
thought that local men could handle