SiebenbuÌˆrgisch-Amerikanisches Volksblatt. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1917-1971, 1943-05-06
KEEP GOVERNMENT
THE SERVANT, NOT
THE MASTER

this country and the free world
will depend upon unleashing the
enormous energies and resources
Of free men and free industry. 1t
is necessary to have a semifas-
cist economic system to win the
war; it will be necessary to return.
with full vigor. to free economic
system to win the peace.
Paul F. Cadman, economist o!
the American Bankers Associa-
ton. recently touched on what lies
ahead. "A considerable number OF
modern economic theories are now
in the process of liquidation," he
said. Sound finance is like sound
government; it rests upon the in
tegrity of the promiser. One rea
| son we can bear a S2OO,OOO,OOO,-
600 debt is that those who put up
a large part of the money have
unlimited faith in the contract
under which it is borrowed. An
other reason we can support q
iS2OO,OCO.OO0,OOO debt is that we
have the productive capacity to
produce enough wealth after the
war to service that debt, to meet
he interest charges on it, and
ultimately, to pay it. But that
task envisages an industrial and
agricultural output greater than
anything heretofore achieved. 1t
means world markets, as we'll as
domestic markets. 1t means a new
economic statesmanshihp fully
Iconscious of the fact that the
ghost of isolationism has been
laid. 1t means an independent
American people. released from
the dead hand of bureaucracy
freed from the multiplicity OF exc
icutive controls which are a neces-
sary but nonetheless un-Ameri-
can adjunct of war.
1T means the rebirth of initia-
tive, courage, and dare, in the field
of enterprise. =. At this moment,
1--WE have all of life to win or all
lose! We shall never win it by
pessimism or despair. We shall
surely win it by faith and con-
lfdence in our destiny"
| Dictatorial government, in times
of peace, is in itself a form OF
lpessimism and despair. 1t is
biased on the premise that liberty,
freedom and individualism have
failed, and that form of slavery
for all men is the only solution
I he whole history of this great
nation is a magnificent denial of
that terrible dogma. 1t is an affir-
nation of the fact that free peo-
pie can outstrip the world in any
undertaking.
! Some people think that the
term free enterprise refers t.
big business. 1t does. And it
also refers, with equal force, to a
zone man business. to all busi-
lness of all kinds. The true strength
of this country lies in the cumu-
lative power, the cumulative re-
solve, the cumulative ambitions,
of every man who works, every
man who employs, every man
who invests, every man who looks
ahead to great achievement.
After this war, we will have
he greatest industrial plant the
world has ever seen. Then, if we
are to win the peace, that plant
r,lust be freed of all the authori-
tartan controls forced on us by
the war. Our natural resource in
dustries, manufacturers of all
kinds, our fnacial institutions,
our agencies of distribution, trans
portation, power and communi-
cation-these and all other enter
prises must be given new free
dom and new life. We must say
20 them: Build, expand, take
chances, pioneer-so that the end
will be a permanent freedom, and
a higher standard of living for all.
The haunting fear of growing
government competition with pri-
vate endeavor must be laid by the