The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1949-08-25
The -
American Way
By GEORGE PECK
Back To Work"

An American returning to his
homeland after an absence of 20
or 25 years would wonder what
in the world had happened to the
industrious people he had left be-
hind. He would be saddened at
the spectacle of millions of Amer
leans demanding and getting
more pay and giving in return
work, less in quantity and infer
ior in quality.
The present situation brings
back to mind a motto which I
saw some years ago on the office
wall of business executive. It
read:
"I AM A GREAT BELIEVER
IN LUCK; l FIND THAT THE
HARDER WORK, THE MORE
I SEEM TO HAVE OF TT"
A few days after reading this
brief essay on luck and work,
was the weekend guest of
friend at his shooting lodge.
There above the immense fire
place extending across the end of
the livingroom was another mot
to. 1t seemed to go hand in hand
with the one seen a few days
before. 1t read: "HE WHO
CHOPS HIS OWN WOOD GETS
WARMED TWICE"
Those two mottos, it seems to
me, most tersely and eloquently
describe the America that was;
an America that we must revive
to make it once again a land
where men work and take pride
in doing their jobs well.
1t used to be the American con-
cept that the man who worked a
little harder and a little better
deserved larger reward than his
less industrious and less skillful
fellowworker. Until recently no
one in this country had ever
thought of denying to that better
worker his right to larger COM
pensation. 1t was the competitive
spirit between orleans
whether they were workers or
bosses, which was largely res
, ponsible for making America the
most prosperous country the
world has ever known, with the
highest standard of living for all
classes.
| In recent years, sad to relate.
lcertain individuals and groups
have been trying to upset this
American scheme of things which
ljustly rewards individual effort,
initiative, ability and thrift. They
would have us abandon our right
to pursue individual opportunity
as it presents itself, or as we seek
it out; they would deny to the
individual the right to share in
! the profits of his own personal
, accomplishments. They demand
that we set up here in America
la different system under which
there would be no incentive for
the individual to work and to cre-l
ate.
For lack of a better name we
call this great American system
Free Enterprise" Under it, for
over a century and a half, as
nation and as individuals, we
made great progress. If we cast
out this system our forward pro-
gress will cease, decay will set
in, and we will lose our place at
the head of the parade of nations.
Defeat of Hitler and Hirohito will
have availed us naught, and the
billions of dollars we are now
spending abroad to head off Com
munism will be wasted if we lose
at home those things for which
our armed forces fought so val
iantly and successfully in World
War II, and which our dollars
now fight for overseas.
Let us, therefore, turn deaf
ears to the defamers of our
American System of Free Com
petltlve Enterprise. There is
nothing fundamentally wrong
with this system. True, there are
some individuals who abuse it,
but for one hundred and fifty
years we were gradually elm
mating those abuses. Let us re-
sumo with refining process to
make the best economic system
ever devised in all the history of
mankind, work even better.
Let's have done with something
-for-nothing schemes, let's quit
looking for a daily visit from
Santa Claus, instead of his time
honored annual pilgrimage. Let's
recognize again the odd truth
that "HE WHO CHOPS HIS
OWN WOOD GETS WARMED
TWICE" Let's get back to work.
Hard work brought us luck in
the past and hard work will
bring us even better luck in the
future.