The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-10-01
Liberal Viewpoint
-BY DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

MIR. HERBERT AGAR won the Pulitzer
Iva prize in history last spring for his book,
The Peoples Choice" which aimed to prove
that the mass of American voters have failed
notably in their choice of leaders of the re-
public, particularly in most of the chief exec
utives whom they have placed in the White
House.
In the current issue of The American Scholar,
the national magazine of the famous Phi Beta
Kappa society, he offers an Interpretation of
private property which will prove equally up
setting to conventional minds.
Mr.. Agar contends that capitalism itself in
its developed form is the very antithesis of a
system of real private property. He summarizes
his interesting thesis in the following fashion:
lone error underlying American liberal
American thought is the belief that the United
States now is engaged in struggle to preserve
a system of private property against the men,
ace of Communism. In fact. the traditional
American social order, which was based on the
institution of private property, already has been
supplanted largely by thorough-going capital
ism.
A ND the essence of capitalism" he goes on
N land this has been true ever since its
origins in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries is that property in significant amounts
is not owned by the ordinary citizen Every
body in America still may own something. But
only small proportion of the population owns
share in the means of production-land, tools,
natural resources
1T is only when private property in this real
sense is widely distributed that the institution
of private property can be said to exist; it is
only then that the benefits of that institution
such as responsibility, enterprise, family stabil-
ity can be expected. But when the means of
production are owned by very small percentage
of the population it is vain to expect the watch
ing millions to be filled with enterprise or en-
dowed with responsibility or hope.
ct is this latter state to which America has
come today. And the name of the state is
capitalism. And capitalism is the negation of
private property. But the liberal continues to
talk and plan as if capitalism meant private
property, which explains why the liberal finds
it hard to solve the problems raised by capital
ISM"
A amusing example Of this lack of real
"A ISM" continues Mr.. Agar. was offered by
Mr. William Writ when he complained that the
members of the Presidents Brain Trust were
| out to destroy the America OF Washington
jefferson and Lincoln. Mr.. Writ might just as
reasonably have been shocked if some rash youth
had suggested destroying the America of POGO
hontas."
Mr.. Agar believes that we can restore private
property without resorting to either Commu-
nsm or Fascism.
IF American people made up their minds
| that they really WlSneG 10 return 10 system
/ of private property it would be quite possible
for the modern tools of production to be owned
on a share-system by companies whose shares
had a real meaning.
The first step toward such system would be
TO break the existing credit-monopoly, which
gives finance the power to make all So-called
ownership joke The second step would be to
pass laws to foster and protect the small owner,
creating artificial disadvantages IN the path OF
enormous concentrations of ownership.
The details of such a program have been
worked out and can be found in the copious
| literature Of diStributism; they need not be re-
peated here. But what does need constant rep
/ itition is that there is nothing about modern
machine technique which makes the system of
distributed private property impossible"