Milford chronicle., 1952-04-11
WHAT MADE AMERICA sTRONG?


communist aggression.
Many Americans, however, have no
clear idea of what made America strong. |
Some accept the theory that we are power
full merely because our land is rich in ma
tural resources. This belief ObScures the
fundamental truth that Americans built a |
strong, productive country because they
were free to utilize those resources under a |
private enterprise system that was not ham,
ergy and ambition
For example, a tiny business was launch
ed half century ago by handful of en-
plOyees and stockholders. If this young COM
pany had been caught up in the government
tai interference that harnesses all business
today, would it now be a worldwide enter
prise with millions of customers, 10000 en-
plOyees and more than 113, 900 stockholders
or would the infant company have strang-
led in its crib on mass of red tape thrown
at it by the bureaucrats?
The answer is obvious. Because this
cOmpany's founders, like all American bus
ineSSmen in the past, were free to spend
their time developing the buSinesS-inStead
of battling government reStrictiOns-they
were able to transform rich natural re-
sources into products that are vital to the
nation IN both peace and war.
All of us must learn that free enterprise
made our country strong and use this knOW-
edge in the domestic battle against creep
ing socialism. If we do not win this fight at
home, our resources, productivity, and
strength will, under encrOachng bureau
cracy, degenerate into StagnatiOn and pow
erty here-and the Free Worlds defenses
against tyranny and enslavement will be IA
tally weakened
~O0O%%
WASTE CREATES CORRUPTION
Defenders of the proposed Federal bud
get frequently challenge critics to point out
specific places where substantial cuts can
be made without weakening essential gov
ernment activities. And sometimes they get
away with this challenge, for the reason that
the budget is so complex that the average
man can hardly make head OF tail of it,
Luckily, however, there are experts who
can read and analyze even an $85, 900, ,OOO, 900
budget, and find out where money would be
needlesSly Squandered. One such expert is
Senator Byrd, who has specialized in fiscal
matters during his whole public career. The
Senator has submitted detailed, step-by-
step trimming program which would re-
duce the budget as whole by the huge sum
OF OO,O0O,OO0. Other individuals and or
ganlZatlOns have also presented detailed an
alySes showing where the budget can be
reduced by comparable amounts-without
eliminating or in any way weakening ''nec-
eSSary government undertakings and poll
are
simply designed to rid the government of
routine administrative waste, resulting from
duplication of effort in efficient purchasing
methods, eXceSSeS of red-tape, and so on.
Others go farther and would prevent the
government from spending our tax money
on jobs that should and can be done by pri-
vate enterprise. These last would do more
than just save money, important as that is
they would be a barrier to the blight of
state hot hoe
over the past 20 years.
A WaSteful government inevitably be-
comes q corrupt gOVernment-as recent sOr-
did revelations OF scandals and graft in high
places have proved. And a corrupt govern
ment can destroy a nation. All the signs
indicate that the American people are aWak-
ening to that fact at last.
5000
RECIPE FOR NATIONAL DISASTER
In one of his recent Newsweek columns
Henry Hazlitt reviewed several new and
authoritative pamphlets on the subject OF
government price fixing. These pamphlets
ne wrote, "shOw how price ceilings curtai
and distOrt production, encourage wastefu
consumption, create shortages and necessi
tate prlorlties, ratiOning, and subsidies tt
make them work at all over a long period
They point out that price control inevitably
means profit control and gives a government
industry"
Ihat is strong indictment, but the rec
ord fully justifes it. We saw it under OPA
We are seeing it again under OPS! OPS ac
tually attempted to force a form of profit
control on retailing which undoubtedly would
have forced many stores out of business
and made others drastically curtail their ser
vices. This effort was blocked by Congress
fortunately for the workers, consumers anc
enterprises of America.
In the realm of theory, no less than il
the hard world Of fact. the case for price
control is weak one. 1t rests on the premise
that an economic system can be run by fiat
and that the arbitrary, often-capricious or
ders OF a group of political appointees art
better than natural laws and experience
which have governed human undertaking.
since civilization began. Price control ha!
been tried time and time again over the cen
turies-in the Rome of the Caesars no les.
than the America of today In every cas-,
it has bppn 6at fai1Iro oDd 11,boD Iov,