Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1936-07-23
MEN MAKE ECONOMIC LAWS
Mile Laos County Times)

Government and u
should work together harmon
iously. Business should not UNI
duly influence government, and
government should avoid as much
as possible interference with
business. The ups and downs in
the tempo of business depend
upon economic law, which should
not be artificially restricted or
stimulated. And when govern
ment proceeds to make rules and
regulations for guiding business
beyond those necessary to protect
the rights of citizens, disaster
can usually be predicted"
Artificial stimulation to divert
the effects of economic law
usually brings severe penalties.
Temporary suffering may be
avoided, but the prolongatiOn Of
the associated difficulties can be
accurately predicted"
MacFadden in Liberty Magazine.
The question arises, of course. as to
what is meant by business" 1t is
very evident that by business Mr.. Mac
Fadden means the system of private
corporations that have grown up in
this country without any warrant in
| the constitution of the United States.
The government of the people has
never had to interfere with the opera
tion of business as between individ-
uals and there was no problem of the
kind when this nation was founded.
1t has been only after the develop
ment of the private corporation sys-
tenn with it's resultant monOpOlies that
the people have been obliged to take
steps through their government to
protect themselves from the exactions
of business" as represented by pri-
vate corporations. TIE corporation
system permits small groups to con-
centrate capital wealth and power in
few hands which enables them to
wipe out competition and strangle in
dividual initiative. This is the reason
why the peoples government has had
to take a hand in business"
The defenders of the system of mon
opOly extortion that has developed in
this country under the private corpor-
alton system are prone to talk of eco
nomic law" as if there is some kind
of a natural law existing that affects
the business relations of mankind
a law that is immutable and un-
changeable. This is nothing but sheer
nonsense. There is no economic
law" in that sense at all, and eco
nomic conditions are dependent on
actions of mankind, and the passing
of legislation frequently determines
great changes in economic law"
For instance there is no funda-
mental, economic law in nature which
should enable great private corpora
lions to strangle competition and set
up mOnopolies in their lines of bus
mess. There is no Interchangeable eco
nomic law that requires that big cor
porations be permitted to evade pay
ment of their share of the taxes and
not contribute their share to the sup
port of the government. There is no
fixed economic law at all, as is illus
trated by the various economic sys-
TENS that have been set up in nations
of the world. The people and their
government determine what "ecO-
nomic laws" shall govern their Lives.
There is no fundamental economic
law" that establishes the great sys-
tenn of private corporations in the
United States. This system is wholly
an artificial system created by man
made laws resulting in great advan-
tages of small groups over the people,
giving them a control over the lives
and destinies of the people Of the ma
ton that they could never gain under
an individualistic system.
One great nation has established an
economic law that says He who
does not work shall not eat" And
they have been making it work for
nearly twenty years. In the United
States you can be loafer and a para
site, doing nothing of value to the
nation, and yet pile up a huge for
tune by various schemes that are
within the law of the country. You
can, if you are lucky enough to con-
trive the right kind of a scheme that
will work, take away the wealth from
those who have produced and created
it, and give them nothing in return
In the United States today the ques-
ton is How can the worker, the
producer of wealth, get enough of his
product to be able to eat?"
Such is the situation created by the
private corporation system with its
monopoly control and destruction OF
individual initiative. The people will
some day awaken to this condition
and will repeal all laws that permit
private corporations to exist.