Milford chronicle., 1957-08-23
. A SOClALIZED ECONOMY is A
DANGEROUS ONE

We are approximately One-thlrd social
lied. And if the trend continues at the rate
it has followed since 1929, in so years 80
per cent of our economy will be socialized
and only one person out of zoo will be prl-
vately employed.
That startling observation comes from
Emerson P. Schmidt, Director of Economic
Research for the Chamber Of Commerce of
the United States. He points out that last
year nearly one-third of the national income
was channeled through government, either
federal state or local. He adds: "Just as
human wants are unlimited and Unsuitable,
it appears that the pressure for government
Intervention and expenditures is unlimited
and insatiable.".
DR.. Schmidt is particularly concerned
with. the continuing effort to load more and
more activities and functions on the federal
government. AS he sees 1T, 'sWeVe seeming
ly become incapable of distinguishing be-
tweent national problems and nationwide
problems" Washington now runs 81 grants
in-aid program and 13 new ones are in the
current budget-including one for assisting
states to plant treesl The results are inev-
table. The government bureaucracy grows.
The proportion of our earnings taken by
government tends to increase. More and
more government controls and regulations
come into being, to the dertiment of the free
market. AS a consequence, he finds, g.
our growth rate has not been what it could
be under more favorable tax treatments and
less debilitating regulations. According to
him, since 1916 our per capita real income
(Which is income adjusted for changes in
taxes and in prices) has increased only $182,
or about $18 per year per person.
y. DR.. Schmidt deals in considerable detail
with the steady growth of governmental in
tervention in the fields of money and bank
ing. Intervention has taken various forms
at various times, including the forcing down
of interest rates., guaranteed loans, easier
borrowing arrangements, etc. And this, he
writes, i'puts the economy under constant
inaatiOnary pressures and creates political
pressures for direct government lending,
direct controls, and RECOMMENDATION. 1t must
finally lead to capital investment ratiOning,
compulsory saving, price and wage controls,
profit controls, the ALLEGATION of labor to spe-
cifc assignments regimented economy"
1t is frequently said and commonly be-
lieved that the demand for new services and
interventions by government comes from the
people and so is irresistible. DR.. Schmidt
characterizes that as almost 100 per cent
bokum and buncombe." He is convinced that
The demand comes instead, from compar-
atiVely small number of researchers, writers
and intellectuals They get their ideas wide
ly talked about-and then g. the politi-
clans latch on to them and make them their
own"
Is the situation hopeless? 1t is not, in
Dr. Schmidt's view. Today, he feels, the
basic drift of thought in the Western World
is toward more coHservatisnl-an that this
drift can be capitalized upon. We can, ne
argues, get better representation at ali lev
els of government. He makes his final point
i'm these words: "If we each begin some
where at the local level, within few years
we can change the socio-political climate in
the direction of greater productivity and
more freedom for all.