Evening star., 1937-12-11
Lesson in-The Farm Bill
Authoritarian Government and Individual Freedom
Won't Mix. Writer Declares

seriously or concretely held for any
length Of time the intention Of dis
placing the old American system by
the new European one. But after he
had made some progress in the au-
thoritarian direction he discovered
that II he was to go on in that di-
rection he must get rid of fundamental
features Of the American system. 1t
WAS this that led him to the attempt
at court measure which would have
destroyed the function Of the courts
to protect the individual against
government.
Some within the administration, or
close TO 1t, undoubtedly have wanted,
most seriously and most definitely, to
take America into collectivism. They
knew where they wanted to 90, and
they knew the ways to get there. One
way to get to collectivism Is to make
individuslism unavoidable. There is
an ancient adage in this field to the
effect that Ito make an omelet one
must break eggs" And the present
advocates of eollectiyism in America
knew that once you break an egg it
cannot be recreated; and that If
enough Of the eggs Of individualism
were broken. individualism rs . whole
would be destroyed.
II We are 10 get out of the mess in
which We now are. Mr.. Roosevelt and
Congress must make up their minds
whether they want individualism or
collecGvism. If they understood their
situation and their problem. nineteen
twentieths Of Congress would favor
individualism, would be shocked at
the notion of collectivism. And having
made up their minds which way they
intend to 60. they must proceed on
that path and keep upon it.
Toward Individualism.
Mr.. Roosevelt at the moment is
going along the path toward indivi-
dualism, rather strongly. At his press
conference yesterday one would have
got the impression that he is a sin
cere believer in the capitalist system,
earnestly trying TO save it. Indeed,
at the moment, he seems to be trying
to save more than can be saved or
ought to be saved. He seems disposed
to consider saving some of the capital
Of some railroads which are over
capitalized
But-and this is a truth which
ought to be more widely recognized
saving capitalism as q system does not
mean saving all the existing forms OF
capital as they now are Saving cap
italism as a system means keeping
enterprise fluid, with all the risks that
go with fluidity Capitalism as
system does not mean the preserving
OF all investments. 1t means that the
individual shall have the right to in
vest his savings and his capital as he
sees fit-and this includes the right
to make mistakes. to mis-invest Pre-
serving capitalism as a system means
preserving a competitive society in
which the ambitious, the talented and
the hard-working shall have opportu-
nifty to rise to the top. Those at the
bottom could not get to the top If
those already at the top were kept
there by preserving all their invest
ments and all their ms-investments.
However, If Mr.. Roosevelt seems for
the moment to be going farther than
is practicable or proper to 60, in pre-
serving existing forms Of investment,
that alteration, that leaning back
ward, on the conservative side, is de-
cidedly not the major defect OF the
New Deal in its existing phase It's
major defects consist of having gone
too far in the direction of collectivism.
Copyright, 1872