Evening star., 1934-08-12
BY NEIL CAROTHERS,

HERE Is a hackneyed argu-
mentum ad hominem of sci
entific disputation which cited
the two blind men who dis
agreed as to the nature of the
elephant, one having run his hand
over the elephants trunk. the other
over his tail. The temptation to apply
this homely analogy to the contro-
versy over economic planning is
irresistible. Here we have a Govern
ment straining every resource of
propaganda in support of what it calls
a planned economy" Systematically
spreading the idea that We have an
administration which by legislative
and executive schemes will restore
prosperity and bring about a new era
of these social improvements is the
thing they call economic planning.
Opposing this propaganda is large
body of citizens who are extremely
skeptical about economic planning.
The controversy has become the lead
ing political issue Of our time Dis
tinguished pundits of political phi
losophy argue soIeulnly for and
against economic planning. Mark Sui
livan, Walter Lippmann and Glenr.
Frank have lent their acute intellI-
gence to the embattled discussion.
John Maynard Keynes, under circum-
stances family suggestive of the bibli-
cal adage about prophets not without
honor save in their own country, has
made possible the continuance Of our
r,lo Ax- he Drocidaraf
few felicitous phrases approving some
of what has been done.
The quantity humorous truth, I
think, is that there is mo such animal"
as economic planning in this country.
In this particular case there is no
elephant whatever between the tail
and the trunk Like the Holy Roman
Empire, which was not holy, was not
Roman and was not an empire, this
new economic planning" is not new,
is not economic and is not planning.
What we have had in the past 18
months is some highly experimental
and unplanned regulation of finance
and business.
Idea Began Long Ago.
The idea that this sort of thing is
new, in this country or any other, is
just another popular fancy. Regula-
ton OF economic life began in the
Garden of Eden and has been con-
tinuous since. One of the early rulings
was that man should earn his bread
by the sweat of his brow. History is
just one long story of regulation. In
primitive societies it did not take the
form of law, but was embodied in the
rigid regimentation of the mores.
In more developed industrial stages.
with an agricultural and handicrafts
economy, regulation was by custom,
quite as harsh as law and even more
severe in its penalties.
When an advanced civilization ap-
pears, with capital employed on any
large scale in commerce or manufac-
lures, regulation of economic rela-
tionships by law becomes a constant
and universal procedure. When they
deciphered that extraordinary stone
from Susa. with its markings cut just
1000 years ago, it turned out to be a
complete business code for the Baby
lonians. including scale of wages so
OCNdA4CO llihN II 11Il6S a
who had the bad luck to kill a slave
by misJudgment.
Essential Purpose.
This universal regulation is one
kind of economic planning. 1t at
tempts to guide and control the direc-
ton of economic development 1t is
interference, OF course; but it aims
to direct rather than destroy. 1t
affects property rights and individual
freedom, but it tries to do this grad
ually. and BY anticipation. It's essen
tial purpose is TO change the rules of
the game as conditions demand. not
to put players out of the game. Under
this kind of regulation taxation. tar
ifs, banking laws. currency regulation
and trade control can be engines of
social progress and economic reform.
There is a second type of eco
nomic planning of quite different
character. The plan here is to install
a program for the reorganization of
existing economic society, by compul-
sion, in disregard of existing rights,
contracts, interests or guarantees. BY
its very nature such planning means
that the economic activities and rela-
tionships which society has auto
matically developed and by which it
lives are to be torn apart and reor-
ganized TO accord with some theory Of
the pIsnner. This type of planning
is also very old The verdict of his
tory is that this assumption of ability
to set up a superior economic system
out of individual mental processes is a
delusion Of grandeur.
On any extended scale this second
type of economic planning Is possible
only through the establishment of