Evening star., 1946-06-09
A New BromfieId
SpecuIotes Upon
A Worlds Woe
A FEW BRASS TACKS.

~ LOUIS BrOmfetd. (HGrp-
ers; $2.75.)
Louis Bromfield in recent years
has taken up a course fairly typical
of the successful industrialist. He
made his pile by mass sale of a
commercial product of no lasting
value; he retired. And now he
emerges as philosopher. 1t is q
program quite familiar to the Amer
ican public but one which that pub
lie has never particularly admired.
When it has been followed by busi-
ness tycoons of the public-be-
damned variety, it has usually
called forth some sardonic hoots.
Mr.. Bromfields metamorphosis from
manufacturer to mentor, however,
has been observed with respect. The
reason is that in him the change
has been comparatively inconspicu-
Gus. He stands as a writer in both
manifestations of himself. His
manufactured wares were books and
his philosophical finds also appear
in the form of books. The Ameri-
can public, long conditioned to re-
ceiving any successful author as a
person qualified to pontificate on
any subject whatever, sees there
fore little inconsistency in this
spectacle Of the new Bromfield.
The serious student OF the pub
lies habits, on the other hand, may
we'll take an opposing view. He may
with justice point out that, in the
past. Mr.. Bromfield has done as
much as any one man toward cor
rupting the public taste in order to
make his own private fortune and
that, for him then to retire on that
fortune and launch jeremiads at the
people for their false values is not
precisely pretty. 1t could be argued
of course that it is one way of re-
penting but that argument cannot
get very far. Mr.. Bromfield is still
n business. He is selling his
ieremiads-at routine prices. He is
not giving them away. He is not
even issuing them at cost.
That is thought which to me is
inseparable from Mr.. Bromfleld's
activity in his new sphere, no mat
ter what he does And it seems to
me a thought worth writing down.
Once it is written down, however, I
concede that it should not be held
to discredit Mr. Bromfleld's philoso-
phical utterances. They should
stand on their own merits. Their
merits, I further concede, seem to
me considerable.
In the present book he carries on
in general terms from the specific
point which he made in Pleasant
Valley" Our peope, he says, have
fallen into confusion as to the ma
ture of wealth. They think that
wealth is money-cash or invest
ments. But wealth is not money
1t is the materials from which food,
clothing and shelter are derived.
We are engaged on prodigal pro-
gram of squandering these mate
rials, observes Mr.. Brom1eld, and
when they are gone all the money
in the world will not help us.
In the first part OF his book he
assails the British plea for money
aid. Britain fought her war on the
wealth-natural resources-of her
colonies and allies, he says. The
United Kingdom has not enough of
these resources even to support its
own population. 1t is merely proc
essing and banking nation. To
supply It with money so that it may
stay in business is like pouring
money into a suburban grocery
store from which the population has
moved away" The United Kingdom,
to Mr. Bromfield, symbolizes the
false idea of money as wealth, since
it is forced to live by its money in
come. The time of such living is
past he says, and for us to under
write Britain is for us to give our
support to defunct economic
theory.
He then develops the contrast be-
tween money wealth and real
wealth as it should affect the in
dividual in an enlightened future.
Those who read pleasant Valley"
will be familiar with his idea. Let
us return to the land. he says, re-
claim our depleted farms and trans
fer our concept of prosperity from
inf1ationary wages-which bring in
fationary prices-to ownership of
the means of life. The bitter
drudgery which once appertained to
farming has been to great extent
ended. Life on the land can now
be satisfying, spiritually as we'll as
economically.
In final chapter. Mr. Bromfield
contrasts the gospel according to
Marx with the gospel according to
jefferson. Marx, as he reminds us,
derived from Germany. the only
country of the west to escape both
OF the vests great civilizing inf1u-
ences - Christianity and classic
Greece. Germany never took the
Christian religion truly to its heart,
he argues, and it was similarly un-
swayed by the Greek tradition. Both
influences were founded on respect
for the individual. In their place,
Germany developed materialistic
philosophy which had for its center
hatred of the individual and long
ing to reduce him to the status of
q. mechanism. Our own tradition is
diametrically opposite. In Marx and
Jefferson Mr.. Bromfield sees the
two theories symbolized.
1t is so practical a work that it
will probably seem simple to the
people who think of economics as
necessarily theoretical and hard to
understand. The strongest argu-
ment against its effectiveness of
which I can think, however, is that
a public which made Louis Brom-
field rich Tin money! will not be
attracted by its sense. He is typical
proof that as a nation we prefer
the glitter.
RUSSIA.
The Development of the Soviet
Economic System, by Alexander