Milford chronicle., 1947-09-19
4 FEW MONTHS AGO the Newburypor

FEW MONTHS ACO the 4NSWUuAJ PVAN
plan was enthusiastically ballyhooed from
coast to coast. 1t was scheme TOT seOpplng
imitation in it's tracks by cutting retail prices;
Within few weeks the fuss died down and
the plan was dropped. Hot air and good IN
fentions are poor weapons to combat econ0m-
ic law ~
Another scheme has now appeared. The
government has launched series OF anti
trust suits against basic industry, with the
clear implication that these industries nave
been substantial factor in bringing prices
TO current levels. Regardless OF the legal Jus-
tification for the suits, promotion OF the idea
that any basic industry today has deliberate
IN raised prices on the obsolete theory OF
charging all the traffic will bear, is just plain
political menauvering -an effort to md
scapegoat. And it is doomed to failure, as
was the unworkabe Newburyport plan.
Our present imitation is deeply rooted IN
events Of the past Is years. 1t began with
the idea that modern governments do not
need balanced budgets, that expanding pubic
debt is beneficial 1t began with the develop
1l1ent of the philosophy that the public treas
urv be pledged to forever abolish the respon-
sibility of the individual to provide for HIM
self. It has simply moved faster since the
war which saw the public debt jump to near
: Nv three-hundred-billion dollars. 1t will not
end until every community and every lndl-
vidual finally comes to realize that govern
ment, even the immensely powerful Y. ).
government, must learn to spend less than
it takes from the people In taxes
If the government is going to start blam-
ing various groups of private citizens for the
imitation which was largely brought on by It's
own actions, why not start with the labor
unions. Or better yet, why not start with an
educational program TO show people tnat
when congressman are patted on the back for
securing unnecessary appropriations for
hometown activities, the ground IS being
prepared for still higher prices to come.
No, imitation of the kind we have IN AM
erica today is not a superficial ailment, and
it cannot be corrected by superficial treat
ment.
ONE CHARACTERISTIC of socialism is
It's inefficiency.
The best current example of that at pres
ent is England, where the Labor government
has been attempting to make the enormous
transition from free enterprise system to a
sOcialistic system with unusual speed. The
result has been a severe decline in production
The British mines are producing less and less
coal-and for the first time in her history
England is having to import coal from us. The
British mills are producing less Steel The
threat of immediate socialization is dampei
on the British electric industry. And the out.
put of export commodities, which was de-
pended upon to revitalize England as fnan
cial power, has been far below the forecasts
This inefficiency is implicit in the socialist
system. First of ALL socialism destroys initia
tive-what rewards there are go to the state
and the best the individual can hope for is 1
political job. Second, socialism depends up0I
the use of force of one kind or another tC
achieve it's ends. Labor is compelled to &C
cept certain kind of employment whether i
wants it or not-and the man who works
under compulsion never does his best. Third
socialism ties up all the energies of the coun
try in an impenetrable jungle of rules regula
tiOns, red tape priOrities, ration schemes, ant
so on. Again, initiative is smothered
We hear much of Russian production
But here again. it is the result Of mass effor
--of an unlimited supply of slave labor will
an incredibly low standard of living Judges
by any American standard, Russia is abys
mally inefficient.
Only under free enterprise do we attain
maximum efficiency, the maximum standar
of living for all-and, most important, maxi
mum freedom for ALL That is the one fac
Americans must never forget when scheme
for further government ownership of indus
try are presented here
MANY PROPOSALS TO INVEST govern
ment with wide powers over the people stel
from lack of faith in the ability Of individual
to solve their own problems by voluntar.
democratic action. An apt Illustration of tn
is the continuing effort of minority polite
groups to saddle the country with a compu
sorry state medical system. These groul
simply do not believe that the majority of tt
American people are competent to meet tt
responsibility of caring for themselves in
medical way It might just as well be argue
that the American people are not competel
to feed and clothe themselves except at tt
direction of the state.
It is from this fear of incompetence thi
dictators are born.