The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-06-08
WASHINGTON CALLING s
by Nm
MARQUIS CHILDS -

wAsHINGTON - During the ere
.he new deal, big business me1
o. 0llo 'r hurt feeling that ne
eil. appreciated them. Perhap:
s o,is is why they have taken ur
ll4 such enthusiasm an apostle
wiz. a seems TO champion them.
S', Tbis is Prof. Friedrich A. Hayek,
Az AUSTRIAN emigre who since 1881
~ lived in London, where he is
ns' The faculty of the Londor
s Sr Of Economics.
II may seem strange that big
,.;ness should turn to a profes'
0u'' one of the tribe so despiseo
w. WI csricatured Under the new
s .nol But this professor speaks a
, u, that seems to accord
ld !ts +be nreiudices of big business
10 is of the liberal school Of
onnonics. He believes that gov
. .rO planning extended to all
..l'- of economic life is almost
se .sts;n to lead to absolute state
e,trols His book, 1.-The Road to
e eorfdon" is an exposition of this
point Of view.
pV Not long ago, after he had com:
-,.tsd a tour of this country, dur
ias which he was feted by cham
ha s of commerce and bankers
0ssociations, Hayek was brought to
Washington. Senator Albert W.
uswkes of New Jersey, former
ta Of the U. S. Chamber of Com
w, got together leading repub-
leans for a dinner in honor OF
.ss anostle of free enterprise.
"a Al the dinner, Hayek made a
,peech in which he discussed in
.cbolarly language his economic
views But this was not quite what
h;s audience had come to hear.
Thev wanted something more con-
,rpte and so the chairman threw
the meeting open to questions.
One of the first questions came
trom former Senator John A. Dan
,her, the s20,O0O-a-year shepherd
n the republican flock in Con-
sress Danaher asked what Hayek
thought of the Administrations re-
cjurocal trade program. For a
moment the professor seemed
startled by this question.
Gentlemen" he said, 'if you
have any comprehension of my
philosophy at all, you must know
that one thing 1 stand for, above
all else, is free trade throughout
tbe world. The reciprocal trade
program is intended to expand
world trade, and so naturally I
would be for such a measure.
At this, the temperature in the
room went down at least 10 de-
grees, since the republican party
had decided to take stand
against extension of the trade pro-
gram. The cooling-off process con-
tnued when a little later Hayek
said that, while he did not like
many of it's features, he was in
favor Of the Breton Woods none
tary agreement. The alternative to
such an agreement, he said, was
too grim to contemplate.
If the republicans in his audi
ence had read his book with any
care, they would not have been
startled by these answers. Hayek
recognizes that some degree of
government intervention is neces-
sary. He is not, in other words,
an anarchist who would abolish all
government. On the other hand,
he does not approve of private re-
straints and restrictions-such as
the tariff-which give special priv
ileges to special groups and re-
strain the flow of the worlds
trade. Hayek tries to be consist
ent. He tries to set a reasonable
middle Of the road course.
Many who today talk so glibly
about free enterprise are the
very ones who advocate govern
ment privileges and favors for