The union times. (New Haven, Conn.) 1941-1948, 1944-01-22
Free Enterprise" Discussed
By President William Green
And Chamber Executive
Both That Plan Work
Industry Must Comparable Labor
Full Freedom, GeenSays

If the Gree Enterprise system
were interpreted by all who advo-
cate its establishment as a postwar
measure in the same manner it is
by William Green, president of the
American Federation of Labor, and
Eric Johnston, president of the
u. S. Chamber of Commerce, there
would be no difficulty i'm under
standing its aims, objects and pur-
poses-and there would be no sus-
picion that the RADIO commentators,
newspaper columnists and prOpa-
gandists have something ''up their
sleeves" which they are planning to
put over ON working people after
the war.
The actual Interpretation of the
system was ably and sincerely ex-
planned in a Labor for Victory"
broadcast last week over the NBC
network, when Messrs. Green and
Johnston participated in an infor-
NAL, across-the-ta table discussion on
postwar problems.
Mr.. yohnston's Interpretation of
the 'sFree Enterprise" system DUR
ing the discussion came when MIR.
Green said the ''interests of the
ALL. and the Chamber of Com
merce are identical; our fate is in
terdependent; not only that,
there's another important factor to
remember; that is, we can't look at
anyone else-even the government
to do the job for us; we must do
it ourselves if we hope to maintain
our way of life and the s'free enter
prise" system.
Misunderstanding of Term
In answering Mr.. Green, Mr..
Johnston said as follows:
I'm glad you mentioned free en-
terprise' first, because to my mind it's
the key to our postwar success. Yet,
there exists enormous misunderstood
ing of the term. Some people interpret
it as meaning unbridled capitalism, of
the dog-eat-dog kind. | fear that in
some labor quarters free enterprise
is regarded as a fancy name for let
ting big business pursue its own
sweet way and the public be damned
That's not it, at all.
ssFree enterprise, as modern bust
men see it, is synonymous with serv-
ice-service to labor, to the public
and to the Government, in time of
peace as well as in time of war. In
order to render these service more
effectively business and industry
must be free-free from unneces-
sary Government restriction and
free to break new ground and make
new advances. And in order to be
able to continue to render such
services, business and industry and
capital are fully entitled to fair
profits.
IT don't mean to soft-pedal the
profit motive by putting it last Far
from it. The chance to make a fair
profit is the best inducement-the only
practical inducement- the invest
ment of new capital in the postwar
period and to the widest possible ex-
pansion of peace-time production"
Mr.. Green Agrees
81 agree with you as far as you
Co." said MIR. Green, ''but Labor
insists on a much broader definition
of the term free enterprise. In
other words, free enterprise is not
a one-way street. Labor claims a
vital stake in free enterprise, too.
Industry cannot expect to enjoy the
benefits of free enterprise in our
democracy without extending COM
parable benefits to the workers.
THE American Federation of La
Dor sincerely believes in the free en-
terprise system. We recognize the
right of private ownership and man
agement of property. We concede that
the owners and managers of prop
erty are entitled to fair profits. We
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