The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-07-21
DESTROYING THE ENTERPRISE
PRINCIPLE


DR.. Virgil Jordan, President OF the Ma
tional Industrial Conference Board, in an
article entitled Brass Collar Security,
concludes with these paragraphs:
A compulsory collective security system, intel
ligently constructed and efficiently operated,
may assure bare minimum Of uniformly ra-
toned economic security and stability II ITS SUD-
jeets are willing to pay the price, That price Is
growth, progress, freedom and strength OF char
acter which the enterprise principle makes pos
sibie. It may provide the brass-colar security
and stagnant stability of the robot or slave So
ciety, the ratoned equality of the shipwrecked
on a desert island. 1t can never bring the peace,
the tightening Of labor, the lengthening leisure,
the. expanding and widening prosperity and rls-
ing standard of living that the spontaneous, ere
alive cooperation of free men under the enter
prise order has brought to the American people
in the past century. rEH. ...
The destruction of the enterprise principle
will mean fundamental change in the charac-
ter of the American people and in their ways OF
life and work; but it viii not alter the inescapa-
BILE conditions of their prosperity and security.
1t will make every one of US mere cell in a
political body, subject to the spreading bureau
cratic cancer of the state that will sap the vi
tally and creative power of the people and ult-
mately destroy them.
Destruction of the enterprise princi.
ples" which is rapidly being accomplished
in this country, will cause fundamental
change in the character of the American
people and their government, but will not
alter certain unacceptable conditions. No
doubt DR.. Jordan was thinking of social
and economic laws and consequences which
are as certain as those laws of the universe
usually termed natural laws" These
laws cannot be changed. They cannot be
changed by the fat Of politicians, by the
passage of laws to control and regulate
everything under the SUN. They are simply
beyond the power of men to control and
manipulate. ',. .'., ''-''
So, the thing DR.. Jordan is saying is that
impractical dreamers and experimenters
may delude themselves with the thought
that they are changing the country, the
world or the universe, but they are sadly
mistaken. They can change the character
of government and the ideas of the people
concerning that government, but the fixec
conditions of the universe are unchange
able and the conditions imposed by funda
mental laws are unacceptable.
Phis country has achieved economic
greatness, social advancement, the larges
and most satisfying degree of human lib
erty and opportunity ever known in any
country In the world, in civilization baset
on the enterprise principle" That is thu
principle the devotees Of outworn theorie!
and discarded schemes are seeking to an
initiate They are striving to make every
human being mere cell in politica
body, subject to the spreading cancer o.
bureaucracy, as DR.. Jordan asserts. Tha
course will undoubtedly sap the. vitality
and creative power of the people and uIti
mately destroy them. 't'
Teaching the people to depend on poll
tics, politicians, political manipulation anc
government subsidies in every time of neet
will finally render them helpless and max,
them the easy prey of scheming leaders.
freedom, equality of opportunity, tn,
guarantee of inalienable rights to the de
velopment of the individual, the buildin,
of character, and the pursuit of happiness
all rest ON the enterprise principle,
which, in this country has been given it
only full and free chance to dernonstrat,
what it can accomplish for mankind. '
Shall we discard the enterprise prin
ciplep at the ibehest of 1experimenters?