The Washington times., 1938-07-13
America Can Stay American

SAVE AMERICA FIRST, by Jerome Frank Harper Bros
VOU can find several things of great value in the
4 above-named book. 1t contains some of the most
brilliant and penetrating analyses of various questions
puzzling Amercans-American foreign trade sola-
ton collective security monopoly competition over
production underconsumption, etc.-that know of.
Its last eighty pages may prove to be blueprint for the
future of the United States.
Its greatest single value to the American who wonders
where we're headed-as what American doesn't?-ies
in Mr. Franks belief expressed and over and backed
by impressive facts and figures that America can stay
American.
We don't have to go Communist eventually, he says;
the Communists talk about the evolutionary inevabty
of Communism is the bunk and can be proved so. Nor
do we have to go Fascist and tighten belts and take
insults to intelligence from some Americanzed Hitler
Mussolin
We build fairly we'll stabilized prosperity, based
economics of abundance rather than of scarcity and
do it with materials methods and ideas now avail
able in the United States and the end product will prob
ably be better than any results Communism or Fascism
will ever show That is Franks philosophy; and this is
a book which we hope lot of Americans will read.
Mr.. Frank points out that America is not Russia and
that it is not Europe The profit system-captalism-
never was highly developed in Russia; Russians always
o have liked to be kicked around by
~" 4" tyrants. Europe is cut up into twenty
NOf RUSSin' SIX small nations, each surrounded by
tariff wall and most of them eaten
up with envy hatred and malice toward one or more of
their neghbors.
Most OF us believe in the profit system, and hate
tyrans which are two why we aren't like Russia
We got over Europe's multiple nation trouble in 1889
when our Constitution went into effect and therehv
turned thirteen Independent and quarrelng little nations
into thirteen States under a central government
So the background for neither Communism nor Fas-
cism exists in the United States.
Save America First contends that we have merely
made stupid of the profit system; that the profit
system itself is fundamentally sound The author pro-
Too1uf: MAJ poses that we devote our ef-
"100 forts mainly toward build
PurchnSinn po1ror Ing up mass buying power
and driving costs and prices
down. paws
He wants the United States to forget about goino ont
and grabbing all the foreign markets it cam saws the
Hull reciprocal trade agreements should bring lis all the
foreign trade we need, while mperialistic qrahs for
foreign trade only lead to war
Mr. Frank admits that his proposals for BOOSTING
buying power and driving down costs and prices are
necessarily sketchy. But his central idea is that of in
dustrial carels cooperating under Government suner
vision and dedicated to increasing production and 1oo
ing costs and prices, plus the AAA plus strong and
and maximum hour legislation
By these means, he believes can-gradually and
Iaborousy without any of the overnight magic promised
by Communists, Fascsts, Technocrats, managedmonev
wizards, etc.-adjust consumption to our enormous
productive apparatus and lift the standards of living
of all the people. tFrom tn. New York Daily N,