The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1950-03-23

=. WOulQ nave
made little or no material pro-
gress.
During the century and a half
following the War of Independ-
ence we Americans amazed the
rest of the world by the almost
miraculous things we accomp-
lished. This was only partially
due to the fact that Almighty
God had endowed our domain
with a wealth of raw materials
iron, coal, minerals, timber
and fertile farm land. Russia
had all these things in mex
haustable quantities but failed
to progress because that country
did not have the free, open COM
petition that we enjoyed here in
America.
The Constitution which was
drawn up at the birth of this
nation gave every man an equal
opportunity and as a result
Americans worked, planned and
created, because they knew that
what they created was in large
part to be theirs-that much of
the fruits of their labor were to
be theirs in compensation for
the extra and efficient work
they did in order to become sue
cessful in whatever occupation
or line of business they engaged.
The eyes of the entire world
look longingly and enviously to-
ward America. Millions of men
and women tore up stakes in
their native lands and migrated
to America, to start life anew in
a land where a workingman by
applying himself could become a
foreman, by further application
a superintendent, a general man.
ager, even president of his COM
pany.
That a small minority of these
immigrants should now be agi-
tating against this ideal system
Combination of liberty and
open competition) is a sorry *
hibition of ingratitude toward a
nation which welcomed them
with open arms and gave them
an opportunity to attain a higher
standard of living for themselves
and their families than they
ever could have attained in the
lands from whence they came.
n. And even worse than this is
the spectacle of native-born
Americans agitating that we
should abandon the system that
has made us great, to take on
some impractical, impossible
economy.
Currently, our Department of
Justice seems to have become a
bit mixed up about u Compel
tive system. 1t is confusing COM
petition with monopoly. The
suits which it has entered against
many of our largest business
concerns which r guilty of no
other crime than giving the con-
sumers quality products at rea-
sonable prices, would also indl-
cate that they are confusing eff
ficiency with monopoly.
Those of us who still believe
in liberty and free competition
should advise our legislators that
the government, and especially
its Justice Department. must
cease its interference with the
natural laws of competitive pro-
gress-because such meddllng,
superinduced by autocratic, po-
litical control. is creating a
stumbling block to u present
national welfare, and if contin-
ued will eventually destroy us.
At a time when this nation is
losing out in its "cold war" with
Russia and the ever-increasing
danger that its temperature may
turn to "hot". it behooves us to
keep ourselves economically
strong. That certainly cannot be
accomplished by prosecuting in
dustries, whether they be little,
middIe-sized or big.
Whether the Department of
Justice is deliberately misinter-
preting our antitrust laws, or
simply does not understand
them, it might be well for the
Congress to revise them. This
revision could state in clear and
simple language that just be-
cause a business has grown "big"
it does not necessarily follow
that it is "bad'. Even a bureau
crat ought to be able to interpret
that.