The Washington times., 1936-08-20

phEIS.
Each one contributes to the
total output. The miner, the
farmer, the workingman, the
manufacturer, the banker, the
merchant, the railway-all these
are useful and indispensable
parts in this great economic
machine. They are partners.
Each one adds his share to pro-
duction, and should have his
share in the product.
Whenever one of these part
nerS is ill-rewarded or depressed,
the whole economic life of the
country is depressed. When the
factory worker is unemployed,
the farmer suffers. When the
farmers are in distress, our
banks fail and our railroads are
bankrupted.
Group Hatred Fostered
In the face Of these simple
economic truths, the fundamen-
tai partnership of labor and
trade and agriculture and indus
try is not everywhere recognized.
There has been a growing tend
ency toward group rivalry, group
hatred, and group legislation.
There has even been tendency
on the part Of Government to
take sides and to pass legiSla-
ton favoring one group at the
expense of the others. Not so
long ago, high Government Of
ficial urged a political alliance
between workers and farmers to
take over the Government Of
this Nation.
Such a proposal is monStrouS.
1t is un-American. The foment-
ing Of class hatreds in this
fashion leads to disaster. In
Self-defense. every occupational
group is forced to organize
and fight every other group.
1t makes us nation of armed
camps, snarling and fighting to
obtain special advantage from
government. This is not the
American way. In Europe, this
tendency has developed into
class strife, revolutions and
relationships.
SurUtUal of FitteSt
In our economic system Of
free enterprise, there is an
automatic direction of industry
and trade. In the main the
rewards of each group are in
proportion to it's contribution
to the product. Automatically,
society determines what groups
should survive, what parts of
the machine must be altered.
If a producer makes a poor
commodity, his competitor gets
his market. If a store-keeper
carries poor goods, his com
petitor gets his customers. If
a farmer grows the wrong
things, another farmer gets his
sales.
And under this system Amer
lea produces the greatest out
put Of wealth, pays the high
est rate of wages, gives the
finest standard of living, in
the history Of the world.
You have been nearing a lot
lately about economic royaliSts.
1t is a nice phrase, but what
does it mean? Take your own
retail business. There are a
million and a half retail stores
in the country. The average
number of employees is two. If
the retail business Of this coun-
try is run by econo:-- C royal
lists, there are a million and
a half of them.
MIRA Asoiled
You can not be very much of
a king when you boss just two
people. The nearest approach
to economic royalists we have
had in this country was the
bureaucracy of the NRA. They
were economic royalists for
quite a while, but toward the
end, they looked like kings suf-
fering from delirium tremens.
This economic system Of ours
IS founded on free enterprise. It
works, even in depression. It
does not break down, although
it may be badly wounded by a
world depression. It is the only
system that will work. We have
been giving the other system a
trial. We have tried government
RECOMMENDATION, and we shall be
years recovering from the expert
ment. We tried government
control of industry, and it de-
layed recovery. We tried crack
ing down on business, and it
paralyzed investment.
We tried to control farm pro-
duction and cattle starved in
the fields. We plowed up cot
ton, and thousands Of cotton
workers we're on relief. We
paid farmers to not to grow
wheat, and had to import mil
lions of bushels to get bread.
We paid rich sugar corporations
in Hawaii millions of dollars
not to grow sugar, and had to
import millions Of pounds from
foreign sugar-growers.
Lesson Is Simple
What is the lesson from all
this? 1t is a simple one. It is
the lesson that the business Of
this country can not be run from
Washington. 1t is the lesson
that a million and a half re-
tailerS kn0u hnttar hou tn rim