The Washington times., 1936-02-15

mont, II bu6
cor D grafton EDWIN c. BILL
tiOn were able to call to this
chair scholar preeminent in
the field of political economy.
This vital subject has to do.
take It, with the fundamental
principles which govern human
affairs as they concern the
State and as they concern indi-
viduaIs.
"POlitical economy concerns
itself as much with the behavior
Of man as a social animal as It
does with any known laws Of
industry and trade and agricul-
ture and finance.
"And when 1 speak Of funda-
mental principles. i do not
mean old principles or new ones,
or conservative principles any
more than radical principles, but
rather these principles which
take into account the expert
ences Of the past and are at the
same time alive to the needs and
aspirations Of the present."
Federal Judge Knox, talking to
a group of bankers in New York,
says that American capitalism
must be resold to "the man on the
concrete roads"
Our system of industrial de-
mocracy, continued the jurist, is
responsible for the building up Of
the country into the most ad-
vanced in history.
KNOWLEDGE NEEDED
Alfred P. Sloan, jr., and C. M.
Chester, two leading industrialistS,
are of the same opinion and they
recommend to their fellow buSi-
ness leaders that American indus
try Immediately and vigorously
take the action which Judge
Knox suggests.
I agree with the Columbia gen.
tlemen about the need for our in
struction in economics. In our
system Of education, excellent
though it is, we get little or none
of it unless we think we have
bent for the subject and make
speciality of it.
Consequently, a soap-box orator,
mouthing the printed pages Of
foreign philosophers and foreign
agitatorS, usually is able to silence
the bachelor of arts who has
spent his time with the classics.
Of course, it is not un-Ameri-
can to recommend changes in our
social system, but there is no
denying the fact that most Of
the changes suggested are I'M
American ideas and PHILOSOPHERS
based on social conditions which
have endured for centuries in
other lands but which have never
existed, have never been known
| on the North American continent.
At the time Of the Yale-Har-
ward boat race last year, one Of
the news weeklies published an
| item about Prof. Felix Frank
| furter going to the race as guest
Of the President. It quoted the
professor as saying that the two
books which had influenced him
most in his reading were Karl
Marks 'sDaS Kapital" and Dar-
wins "Origin of Species"
We are not concerned here
with man and monkeys, but only
with the origin of the propa-
ganda which is rife and which
con d e mns the constitutional
American system and offers in
its place the Socialized or com.
muniStic state.
| I do not say that Professor
Frankfurter teaches Marxism at
Harvard. but do say that the
school children Of our cities and
universities are being taught anti
capitalism by teachers whose roots
are not far from alien lands and
whose textbooks come directly
from abroad.
MATTER OF MEN
What propagandists choose to
forget and what we, too, often
fail to remember Is the fact that
Americans are neither serfs, peas
ants nor an oppressed majority or
minority.
II, conceding for sake Of argu.
ment, Socialism, Communism, FaS-
cism or NaziSm may be the best
change after the rule Of the Ro-
manoffs, the Bourbons, the Savoys
or the Hohenzollerns, it does not
follow that any or all Of them
should be introduced in America.
Anyone who has even an ele-
mentary knowledge of the history
Of the United States must realize
that the purpose Of founding this
government of ours was to unite
the 13 colonies in a nation which
should have nothing in common
with the absolutism Of Europe.
The problems which the Rus.
slams, italians, Germans and Span.
iardS are trying to solve today
were solved for us $50 years ago
by washington, jefferson, Madi.
son, Franklin and the rest.
There have been abuses Of
wealth and privilege, and these
will continue, as long as we, the
people, permit them to be in elect
ing men to office who refuse to
serve our interests and to carry
out the purpose Of our form Of
government.
EcopyriRht, 1898. By King Foaturaw