Evening star., 1945-01-28
CONTINUED From Page C-1.)

assumption OF its social, humanitar-
ian and economic responsibilities.
Mr.. Brownells discussion of a
creative" enterprise system is neces-
sarily Of considerable interest, since
he Is heading the Republican ma
tional organization. He said:
For our economic way Of life we
have chosen what is sometimes
called free enterprise I prefer to
call it creative enterprise do not
think that we believe in creative
enterprise just because we tradi-
tionally have lived under that kind
OF an economic system. In fact,
believe exactly the opposite. I be-
lieve that II the American people,
with their intelligence and under
standing of economic processes, de-
cided that some other economic sys-
tenn would result ip greater economic
achievements without impairing
their political liberties and institu-
tions, they would gladly choose such
other system. We have adapted our
selves over the last so years to the
most profound economic and techno-
logical changes which the world has
ever seen and I know of no reason
why, if the American people so de-
sired, they could not equally we'll
adapt themselves to different kind
of political or economic system If
they thought that in SO doing they
could better the economic methods
and principles under which we now
live. Admittedly, we. as a Nation
have not yet found all the solutions
to the effective administration and
operation of our economic system
Certainly, the administration now
in Washington does not have all the
answers.
1--WE have heard lot of bad
things said about the so-called profit
motive. I think we are all intelli-
gent enough to know that the profit
motive in and of itself, without
overall Government regulations and
supervision on the public policy
level, will not produce the desired
social and economic results which
the people want and are entitled to.
But, nevertheless, the profit motive
is the core and center of our eco
nomic system and in my opinion will
remain SO for one simple. pregnant
reason-it is the most efficient We
have often heard Government criti-
cized by private industry because of
it's inefficiency. While most of this
criticism is justified, much of it is
not, because these critics overlook
a very important fact, namely, that
in Government there is no profit or
loss control. If department or
division in private business, large
or small, starts losing money, the is
sue presents no argument and the
decision can be quick and to the
point In this respect the profit mo-
tive throughout our economy has an
effect which might be compared to
that of gravity. 1t automatically
and effortlessly tends to hold things
in place. In non-profit economy
on the other hand, there is no such
automatic gravitational effect and
complicated controls have to be in
stituted; people have to be en-
ployed to find out if department is
running efficiently, detailed proceed
ures of personnel and policy have to
be followed, more people have to be
employed to check up on the check
eruppers, and SO on. In sense, the
situation is comparable to what
would happen if there were no grav-
ity in the world and we had to. de-
wise complicated devices to hold
everything in place. Imagine the
Government trying to run and op-
crate all the retail businesses of the
country.
Hits Totalftarian Ways.
Il think in the long run even our
most brilliant theorists of the left
will have to agree that authorization,
totalitarian, socialistic or, to use an
American term, State, operations
are in many if not most fields Of
endeavor bad-bad not because of
any moral but because Government
operations in such fields are just
plain inefficient. In the productive
or creative areas of an economy our
system of free and creative enter
prise is so much more efficient and
produces so much more wealth than
any other system now operating in
the world that We would be unimag-
Unable fools if We ever thought of
giving it up or changing it for some
other system which might have a
prettier or more modern name.
when we speak of the American
economy or the American economic
way of life in which we believe, we
aren't talking about a social or a
moral or a political abstraction; we
are talking about a very effective.
efficient and sensible way of pro-
ducing the maximum national
wealth with q minimum of wasted
effort.
1--WE want to use our political and
economic institutions for the pur-