The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-08-10
LOOKING
AHE4D
! GEORGE S. BENSON
! PresideAf--Hardiag college
Sfarry. .4rkaHsas
Fear This


Political developments in England
this summer have made a show,
profitable for americans to watch.
Peace in Europe is really felt in
England; terror and bloodshed
ceased for a time-for long time
we hope. Britain's postwar prob
lens are upon her and TOW arc al
most exactly like ours will be when
our war is over in the Pacific. There
is however one big difference.
The difference lies in what the
working people think. British labor
is socialistic, in large part; Ameri-
can labor is not. The British work.
ers don't think they Jared very well
under the system in which private
capital owned the factories and pri-
vate management operated them
in so-called competition. English la
borers figure they would be better
off if the government owned every
thing.
Workers Prosper
Workers in America still favor the
system of free enterprise. Most of
our labor is in favor of open COM
petition. The reason is that working
people in America see how they
have Jared all right with private en-
terprise. Labor leaders express
themselves freely in favor of CAPT
talism. Our workers probably will
not turn against the American sys-
tenn since it has not turned against
them.
Nobody has the working people
of either country fooled. They have
the truth in both cases. In Eng
land, labor has had a pretty shabby
deal; in America the worker has
lived well. The important question
is this: British workers oppose capt.
talism and American workers favor
it-can it be possible that they are
talking about the same thing?
Have Same Name
Prior to World War II, the eco
nomic system in Britain was called
private enterprise - same as in
America. Moreover, the two were
quite little alike, at first glance,
except that wages on this side of the
ocean were high and American
workers earned more than twice as
much as the British workers, trade
for trade. The difference was that
private enterprise in Britain was
not free.
Private enterprise in England was
hog-tied. Competition there was not
actually open. Wasteful nonopolies
operated within the law. Private
business concerns were fenced in
with legal restraints on this and
government restrictions on that.
What they had was government
bossed private enterprise. Business
men couldn't make any money and
therefore couldn't pay their work.
erS.
SociaIistic Labor
Working as hard as they could,
British workers could not earn
enough to live well. They needed
new tools and modern methods so
they could produce more; so their
employers could pay them better,
but the employers couldn't buy bet
ter tools. They were so restricted
that they couldn't make any profit.
Result: Labor unions formed So
cialist party and now are bidding
strongly for control of the govern
ment for the third time.
The same thing can happen here.
America can keep free private en-
terprise and the prosperity that
goes with it. With prosperity and
progress, American firms can pay
their workers well. But silly restric-
tons and heavy taxes can choke out
profits. Without profits there will be
no new tools, no progress, no better
wages. Unhappy workers bring So
cialism. Socialism. nowhere in the
world, has brought wages half as
high as America now enjoys.