The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1950-08-17
when The Devil Was Sick

The attitude of the Administration toward big business
these DAYS brings wildly to mind an old couplet that con-
nature applies to governments just as it does to people:
when the devil was sick,
The devil a monk would be;
When the devil was well,
The devil a monk was he!'
It has been a popular pastime in recent years Tor the So
called 1iberals"-New Dealers or Fair Dealers-to rabble
rouse by jumping on "big business But only between wars!
Just as soon as war breaks out, the first way they turn Tor
help is toward that same American big business.
And SO to these people, to whom bigness is synonymous
with "badness"-that is, bigness in business, not bigness IN
government - whether or not big business is bad depends
altogether upon how "sick' they are, how much help they
A perfect Illustration of this is found in the attitude of
the Administration toward E. l. dupont de Nemours and
tce filed an antitrust suit against Du Pont, accusing the com;
pany of being "the largest single concentration of industrial
power in the United States" Things looked rather peaceful
then. Now we are threatened with another world war. And
10, on August 2, 1860, the Atomic Energy Commission gave
out the information that it had contracted with Du Pont to-
build plants for production of Hbomb explosives-and that
under the contract the builders fee will be exactly one dollar.
Now, this is not a defense of monopoly. The American
people were wise enough long ago-and it is too bad the
British and other peoples didn't exercise the same wisdom
Ito protect themselves against monopolies with antitrust
It is a monopoly. Du Pont has shown very clearly it is not a
monopoly. =,
ege of small businesses in the United States to aspire to be
big businesses. That is their hope, their goal, their ambition.
They must continue to have this aspiration if we are to con-
unue to progress. That is "the American way of life."'
The productive capacity of our big industrial concerns
In time of war has been marvellous. Perhaps more than any
osnSA OHS emIS, ~ has d1GOuHleu . tHe Whining . i II fTSI
and Second World Wars. The atomic bomb could never have
been developed had it not been for the research and organi-
zatlon ability of such names in American big business as Car
BON and Carbide, Eastman, Monsanto, Du Pont, and many
others. Even when we were not furnishing the manpower
during these wars, we were furnishing the goods. It was this
production that gave us the title, arsenal of Democracy"
during those critical times. 1t is in this same productive cap
acity and know how" that lies our greatest hope in the dark
days ahead.
As marvellous and as vital as American big business has
been in time of wal, however, it has been even more important
TO ~ welfare of American people in time of peace. 1t has
h oonsible for development of more new things and
~ Them available to more people at less cost than any
sthcr other phase of our economy.
There are some things that little business simply cannot
do. There are some things that big business cannot do. But
working together, under a free competitive economy, big and
little business have made more jobs for more people at a high
er compensation than any other system and have brought to
me American people the highest standard of living the world
has ever known. We cannot afford to let big bureaucracy de-
stroy this system. 1t is to the interest of all the people that
q be retained. $50
Greenwood Commonwealth