The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-08-06
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

HTTLER's orgy, general strikes the shooting
II Of Dillinger, the Austrian revolt and the
like have distracted our attention from the very
important defense of old-line capitalism by
John w Davis at the Institute Of Politics in
Virginia
It is doubtful that any more authoritative
apology could be offered for the old system.
Mr. Davis is very able man and is ex-
tremely well informed as TO the character and
workings Of capitalism. For many years he has
furnished legal advice to the foremost figures in
the control Of our American economic and
financial system. While a thorough believer in
capitalstic individualism he is a cultivated and
urbane gentleman, far removed from the intem-
perate patrioteer or vulgar plutocrat. If Mr..
Davis can not give a convincing defense Of the
od-style capitalism it is doubtful that anybody
can.
MR. DAVIS paid touching tribute to the
INI achievements of capitalism in the past:
1T would be unfair to overlook the fact that
under capitalism men have risen from small
beginnings to great affairs; new continents have
been opened up and made ready for human
habitation; new inventions and discoveries have
enlarged mans creature comforts and tanned
new forces to his control; whole nations have
been transported over seas; illiteracy has de-
clned; diseases have been conquered and wide
spread famine and pestence have joined the
list of long forgotten evils"
It would be pretty hard for Mr.. Davis to
prove that capitalism has been directly re-
sponsible for the ma jority Of benefits which he
lists. Certainly inventors, engineers, educators
and physicians have had more to do with them
than business men, strictly speaking But we
will not press these points. For the sake Of ar
gument let us concede to Mr.. Davis all these
claims as the capitalistic contribution to modern
civilization.
Painting this attractive picture Of what we
owe to capitalism, Mr.. Davis implies that the
criticisms leveled against it just simply can't
be true:
yet we are asked to believe that under
just such a system the rich must inevitably
grow richer and the poor inevitably poorer; that
private enterprise must become increasingly
hazardous, if not IMPOSSIBLE that the laborer
degenerates into a mere wage slave and the
farmer into a serf, and that capitalism instead
Of lessening has steadily increased the misery of
the world"
IF we propose to face facts realistically, we
l. must admit that this darker picture IS just as
true as the rosy one set forth above. Indeed, it
is doubtful if any one could summarize more
accurately it's trend and effects of capitalism
during the generation.
Most apologsts for the capitalstic system,
even those of the caliber of Mr.. Davis, seem to
imply that capitalism is capitalism only when
its results are obviously beneficial. When it
brings misery and disaster to human beings
then it appears to be something else, though
the system Of economic and financial control re-
mains absolutely unchanged.
1t is only through candid and honest recog-
milton of the defects of oldstyle capitalism that
We can hope to eliminate them and prevent
them from assuming proportions which nearly
or completely offset all the benefits which can
be attributed to the capitalistic system