The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-06-10
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

DRESlDENI ROOSEVELT rightly contends
that the Supreme Court decision on the NRA
has taken us back to the horse and buggy stage
OF economical control. If must start again
from scratch, We should have a clearer view of
the problems ahead than that which has guided
Mr.. Roosevelt 20 date
The clearest brief analysis of the American
economic system today which has ever come to
my attention is the admirably illustrated primer
by R. A. and o. P. Goslin, Rich Man. Poor
Man: Pictures of a Paradox" (Harpers) 1t was
prepared under the editorial supervision of
Stuart Chase, Henry Pratt Fairchild, Harry A.
Overstreet and Willard A. Atkins
1t is the implied contention of this book that
we must know our economic A B C's before we
plan our NRAS. The book is an amazingly i'm
preSSive portrayal of the contrast between what
we do have in America today and what we
might have if service and science, rather than
greed and piracy. dominated our economic be-
havior!
"As nation we are rich. There is plenty to
go around. Our lands are fertile We can grow
more food than we can eat. There are plenty of
factories. and lots of power to run them. We
make more clothes than we can wear, more auto
mobiles than We can ride in, more gadgetS than
we can use. There is plenty of lumber and
steel and stone. We can build more houses than
we can live in. There are lots of doctors and
hospitals and laboratories to cure our diseases
and help us keep well. There are thousands Of
schools and colleges and libraries and museums
to train minds and make life more inter
eSting
" A ND yet we-you and I-are not rich We
4 n must do without this that We spend
our lives trying to make living and worrying
about the future. Even if we have enough
today, we can not be sure about tomorrow. Why
is this?"
THE purpose of any economic system is to
supply the necessities and as many comforts as
possible to all the people who live under it. Our
system fails to do this People have not been
able to exchange their labor their goods for
the labor and goods Of other people This eX-
change has been impossible largely because the
medium of exchange-money-ha become an
end in itself instead of a means to an end
The manufacturer makes cloth, not to provide
people with Clothes but to make money.
I'VE must again make it possible to exchange
labor and goods. 1t can be done, if instead of
producing goods for profit that is. to make
money We distribute goods as a service Money
will then be what it once was merely method
of exchange. The production and distribution of
goods for use would then be the chief purpose of
all activity.
IF people were not interested in making
money, they would not have to destroy goods, or
pay low wages, or make war. 1t would not mat
ter then whether the dollar bills and checks
which we use as counters in exchange we're
made to earn interest The really important
of everything waiting to be traded-coal, OIL
cotton. food clothing, houses labor, art, music,
education, medical care, and all the other
things that make up our wealth The more
goods We. produce, the more We would have to
distribute, and the higher the standard of living
would become. And because there is more than
enough to go around, such an exchange would
bring the age of abundance
A GROUP of go engineers appointed by the
4 n Federal government, recently made a study
of all the resources energy, man. power and fac
tories that were available in 1929 Instead of
an emergency or a subsistence diet, every family
in the country could have all they want to eat
Instead of part of suit of clothes, every man
could have whole new suit every year. Instead
of living in novels and slums, every family could
be comfortable and decently housed.
And science could provide inventions more
amazing than any We have yet seen. The full
use of our labor saving machinery would release
men and women from physical work that en-
slaves and deadens the mind. There would be
time and energy for the cultivation and enjoy
ment OF literature music, art and science. The
guarantee of economic security would eliminate
the fears that dstort and destroy the fineness of
human nature.
Here then in the United States We have
chance to organize an economic system that
would fulfill its purpose This is not a Utopian
dream, but scientific reality No other country
i'll the world has ever faced such an opportunity"
In their "High-Level Consumption" INC
Graw-HilD, w. L. Tough and M. r. Gains
brugh. deal technically with the important issues
of consumer capitalism. One of the clearest
and sanest summaries of advanced Christian
thought on economics is contained in F. Ernest
Johnson's ECONOMIES and the Good Life" (Asso-
citation Press, Sl.75) The Unofficial Observer"
presents his impressions of those American
MeSsahs" who have been stimulated by the in
sdequacies of the Roosevelt program Simon and
Schuster). IN his The Boom Begins Simon
and Schuster). Major L. L. B. Angas booms his