===== PAGE 1 ===== IDEAS ON LIBERTY FEBRUARY 1958 | Can Labor Clean Its Own House? . . . Sylvester Petro 5 Sermon. . . . . . . . . . . . Mallory Cross Johnson 12 | An Imperial Rescript . . . . . . . Rudyard Kipling 13 | Comedy at the Bargaining Table . . . . Sven Rydenfelt 15 How To Work More and Have Less . . . Frederic Bastiat 25 Labor Unions and Liberty . . . . . . Reginald Jebb 26 Free Medicine Can Make You Sick . . . Charles G. Jones, M.D. 31 Popular Causes and Unpopular Effects . . The Guaranty Survey 36 Tothe Moon . . . . . . . . . . Paull. Poirot 4] Renaissance in Responsibility . . . . Vollie Tripp 42 The Preservation of Liberty . . . . . Towner Phelan 47 Shades of Hammurabi . . . . . . . Robert LeFevre 53 Never the Twain Shall Meet . . . . . John Chamberlain 61 THE FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, INC. Irvington-on-Hudson, New York ===== PAGE 2 ===== ax ahh & 3 : ap An economical answer to lowering the cost of machining heavy steel castings. Agreement was reached with the management Specially designed of Morgan Construction Company as to the and bulit for Morgan requirements to machine Morgoil bearings, cool- Construction Company, ing racks, wire mill frames and related rolling Worcester, Mass. mill parts. The machine designed to meet these The rigidly and harsoponer . requirements has the rigidity to pull 150 horse- mae speeds. enable power through any spindle. Morgan's operators to effectively employ carbide MILLING MACHINE COMPANY ROCKFORD, ILL. ===== PAGE 3 ===== by Herbert Hoover The genius of the private enter- prise system is that it generates initiative, ingenuity, inventive- ness and unparalleled produc- tivity. With the normal rigidities that are a part of Government, obviously the same forces that produce excellent results in pri- directing personnel is not in- vate industry do not develop to cluded on their payroll. More- the same degree in Government over, in addition to the fact that business enterprises. most of them pay no taxes, they The Government creates busi- deprive the Government of taxes ness-type enterprises in economic which would otherwise be paid by emergencies, in the emergencies private enterprise if it conducted of war, and for the development these operations. of projects which are not adapted The continuance of such activi- to private enterprise because of ties by the Government must be their nature or their magnitude. madesubject torigid justification; The Government business-type occasionally this can be done, but enterprises, except in a few in- theburdenofproofinallinstances stances, pay no taxes, and pay must be onthe Government. Un- little or no interest on the capital justified continuance is a definite invested; they seldom charge de- injury to the vitality of the whole preciation and frequently their private enterprise system. 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Member —Federal Home Loan Bank—Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp. | COAST FEDERAL SAVINGS | i» JOE CRAIL, PRESIDENT & | ===== PAGE 5 ===== How to reduce taxes by simply pressing a button Here is a powerful machine that you feel—not just about taxes but anyone can buy. It doesn’t cost about everything. Their jobs de- much, fits into your pocket, comes pend on how people back home in pretty colors. It’s a pen. feel about the job they're doing. You can work miracles with a Have you ever used your pen to pen—even help reduce taxes. By let your Congressman know ex- simply pressing a button you can actly how you feel? It might be write a letter to your Congressman ~~ worth trying. You may be pleas- and tell him how you feel about antly surprised at the result. your taxes. It’s the only way your The Timken Roller Bearing Company Congressman has of knowing how Canton 6, Ohio ===== PAGE 6 ===== [reeman A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF IDEAS ON LIBERTY FEBRUARY 1958 Vol. 8 No. 2 LEONARD E. READ President, Foundation for Economic Education PAUL L. POIROT Managing Editor THE FREEMAN is published monthly by the Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., Irving- ton-on-Hudson, N. Y. Any interested person may receive it for the asking. The costs of Foundation projects and services, including THE FREEMAN, are met through voluntary donations. Total ex- penses average $12.50 a year per person on the mailing list. Donations are invited in any amount — $5.00 to $10,000 — as the means of maintaining and extending the Foundation’s work. Additional copies, postpaid, to one address: Single copy, 50 cents; 3 for $1.00; 25 or more, 20 cents each. Permission Is hereby granted to anyone to reprint any article In whole or in part, providing customary credit is given, except ‘‘An Imperial Rescript’’ and ‘Popular Causes and Unpopular Effects.” Any current article will be supplied In reprint form If there are enough inquiries to justify the cost of the printing. Photo credits: pages 27 and 47, A. Devaney, Inc., New York. fa Accepted as controlled circulation publication at Irvington, N. Y., with Fle additional entry at New York, N. Y. Copyright, 1958, The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc. Printed in U.S.A. ===== PAGE 7 ===== / Can Labor Clean Its Own House? -— ane Saat eae stn A 0 Se ns no 2 - prep iret Ye arn IY , Te FREEDOM Sigal Lama had N ww ———p— ~ | - s 41 er ‘ rl HR i ‘ om roti” Hm a 3 f "mt A I HE ANSWER IS that no one else ing, and boycotts. If the workers can. But before any house can are to have any success in the ex- be cleaned, one has to recognize ercise of these rights, they are dirt when one sees it; and one going to need the protection which needs a broom, mop, water, strong governments have so far denied soap, and above all else, the will them. For the sad condition of and the power to clean up. All the house of labor is the conse- these things are now lacking, and quence, basically, of the fact that more. Not only is there trouble governments in this country have about recognizing the dirt. There been failing to protect the basic is even some doubt concerning the rights of free men in the labor identity of the house cleaner, and field. some people seem to be confused The basic rights of free men about where to get the cleansing are the rights of private property materials. and freedom of contract. These The house cleaners will have to rights, when their exercise is pro- be the workingmen of the country. tected by government, give men The cleansing materials will have the freedom to control their per- to be their own free choice and sons and their property. They their right to refuse to join unions mean in the labor field that a or to participate in strikes, picket- worker has free access to all em- Dr. Petro is Professor of Law at New York University School of Law and author of the book, The Labor Policy of the Free Society, (New York: Ronald Press, 1957). This article is from an address before the Congress of American Industry of the N.A.M. in New York, December 1957. 5 ===== PAGE 8 ===== 6 THE FREEMAN February ployment opportunities; that he For government has not been may take work whenever the doing the job for which it was wages and other conditions are ac- created. Certainly it has not been ceptable to him; refuse it when doing the job in labor relations. they are not. They mean that the We have government committees worker’s will and inclination pre- studying all phases of the labor- vail regarding whether and when management field, except the crit- he will accept or continue in em- ical phase — namely, the status of ployment, not the will of anyone law and law-enforcement. The else — unless the worker has come basic job of government every- to some voluntary agreement on where, and particularly in the such matters with someone else. labor relations field, is to protect and promote the rights of private Property and Contract property and freedom of contract. No man can be called a free man Our governments have been unless he has these rights intact. established in order to do three Unless workers are free men, they great jobs: (1) prevent and pun- will not keep the house of labor ish violence, fraud, intimidation, clean. As a matter of fact, unless and coercion; (2) protect the per- they are free men with the rights sonal freedom and the freedom of of free men, they will be unable contract of all persons, including to keep it clean. Men who have workingmen; and (3) in general, learned to accept being pushed make men secure in their persons, around, who have been compelled properties, and opportunities. In to follow outside decisions on a word, we expect government — matters affecting their most inti- and government undertakes — to mate personal affairs and respon- prevent some people from pushing sibilities, are immersed power- others around. lessly in dirt so pervasive that they have trouble remaining conscious Failures of Government of it. They may not even think Trade-union leaders and busi- of cleaning up things. And per- nessmen are undoubtedly guilty of haps they are better off so; for if a good many kinds of antisocial by a powerful exercise of imagina- conduct. Their transgressions, tion and will they should conceive however, are insignificant when of a cleansing operation, they compared with the failures of gov- would be literally incapable of do- ernment. Established to protect ing anything about it, and they private property and freedom of might get badly hurt. contract, our governments have ===== PAGE 9 ===== 1958 CAN LABOR CLEAN ITS OWN HOUSE? 7 themselves been guilty of some of about him. He will have to tread the worst forms of expropriation very softly if he wishes to tread and interference with freedom of at all. Not much house cleaning contract — not only, but especially, can be expected of him. All that in labor relations. Conceived es- can be expected is that, if condi- sentially in order to maintain the tions become absolutely intolerable peace — to prevent and remedy vio- for him, he will go away. When lence and coercion — government such men have no alternative but has abdicated that responsibility to go away, there are left only to a great degree. people who, as a whole, have very Government has taken away little stomach for house cleaning, from workers one of the most if, indeed, they can even recognize valuable aspects of their property dirt when they see it. When our and contract rights. It has told people in government get seriously them that they cannot make their concerned with doing their job in own employment contracts. A labor relations, they will want to worker has to accept the dictate repeal the expropriation inherent of a governmental agency as to his in the appropriate-bargaining-unit “appropriate bargaining unit.” and majority-rule principles. Once he finds himself in this ar- bitrary grouping, he is forced to Violence Goes Unpunished give up his right to bargain for Government action in the labor himself, if a majority of the em- relations field cannot be taken ployees in that grouping so will it. seriously at all, either, until our Indeed, if he has been vigorous duly constituted authorities begin and sturdy in his objection to the acting straightforwardly, vigor- union chosen by a majority, he is ously, and courageously against more than likely to find himself violence in labor disputes. There in a very bad way. But he will be is no excuse whatsoever for the unable to do anything about it be- practically universal failure of cause the government authorized government agents to do this part to protect his property and con- of their work. Governments are tract rights has expropriated him. absorbing about a third of the na- There is no likelihood that such tional income, and I understand a man will have any influence on that there are over seven million the way the union is run. An or- nonmilitary federal, state, and ganization which can control a local employees. In the absence of man’s activity against his will is the most cogent evidence and argu- not going to be very solicitous ment to the contrary, one may ===== PAGE 10 ===== 8 THE FREEMAN February therefore insist that we are spend- is the failure of government to en- ing enough to entitle us to expect force the basic and sensible laws basic protection against brutality, of the land, federal and state. Both violence, and intimidation in labor federal and state laws forbid all disputes. kinds of economic coercion in labor This is not a matter upon which relations. Employers are prohib- reasonable minds may differ; ited from coercing workers in everyone is against violence in regard to their choice of unions. labor disputes. Again, there are Unions are equally prohibited. The no difficult or complicated techni- Taft-Hartley Act and the laws of cal problems; it is necessary only many states, when properly under- to prevent masses of people from stood and interpreted, declare that gathering at a strike-bound plant. unions may not force membership It should be a great deal easier to upon unwilling employees through limit picketing to one or two per- the use of economic pressures. sons than it has been to disperse This means that such plainly coer- the rioting people in Little Rock. cive measures as stranger picket- So far, however, our governmental ing — that is, picketing by a trade authorities have been dismal fail- union which represents none of ures. A more or less futile court the employees of the picketed order after violence has occurred establishment — compulsory-union- is the most that one can expect. ism contracts, and all boycotting As things are now going, an em- techniques are forbidden. ployer can count himself lucky if he doesn’t have to pay unemploy- Compulsory Membership ment compensation when union It is a well-known fact, how- violence discourages people from ever, that the administration of working! law leaves untouched most of Any talk about a clean house for those forms of union coercion. As labor is absurd and ridiculous un- a consequence, one may conclude til violence and the conditions in with confidence that the unioniza- which it breeds are extirpated. tion which we have known for the Peace and order bring one kind past ten years or more has been, of person to the fore; violence and to a considerable extent, coerced intimidation are the conditions in unionization: employees have been which another kind of character compelled, the national labor poli- flourishes. The point doesn’t need c¢y to the contrary notwithstand- any further emphasis. ing, to accept unions not of their What cannot be overemphasized own choosing. ===== PAGE 11 ===== 1958 CAN LABOR CLEAN ITS OWN HOUSE? 9 It is necessary to distinguish between the antiunion coercion of which employers are guilty and the coercive methods of organiza- tion pursued by unions. No one doubts when an employer fires or threatens to fire a man for join- ing a union, that the employer is violating the law. Moreover, there is little doubt that the NLRB will prosecute such cases and, if there is any evidence at all of antiunion coercion, hold the employer guilty of an unfair practice. In fact, in the current investigations of the Senate Committee on Corrupt Union and Management Practices, the Committee is to a considerable extent merely raking over cases in which the NLRB has found em- ployers guilty of unfair labor practices. Organizing Methods As yet, however, the Committee has not seen fit to inquire into the thousands of cases in which the Teamsters and other unions have been using stranger picketing and various kinds of boycotts as meth- ods of compelling unionization. There cannot be the slightest doubt that stranger picketing and boycotts do involve economic co- ercion of precisely the same type as the employer's discharge or threat of discharge. Likewise, there cannot be the slightest doubt that such coercive methods of or- ganization are all clear violations of the Taft-Hartley Act. Yet for more than ten years stranger picketing, “rovingsitus” picketing, hot-cargo agreements, and a number of other techniques of coercive and compulsory unioni- zation have been in constant use all over the country. The number of employees who have been com- pelled against their will to join unions must be of a very large order of magnitude. And for more than ten years, these coercive or- ganizing methods, though plainly contrary to the law, have been held by the NLRB to be not un- lawful. It is true that in October the NLRB took a small step in the right direction by holding unlaw- fully coercive one narrow and illu- sory category of stranger picket- ing. According to the Board a union violates the law if it en- gages in stranger picketing after it has been defeated in an election, provided that it is unwise enough to say that it is picketing for im- mediate recognition. If the union engages in stranger picketing be- fore it has been defeated in an election, and if it is astute enough to say that it is picketing for or- ganizing purposes — not for im- mediate recognition — then, ac- cording to the NLRB, it may not ‘be guilty of unlawful coercion. That is a pure case of tweedle- ~ ===== PAGE 12 ===== 10 THE FREEMAN February dum and tweedle-dee. There is no tices could not, the Board felt, be basis in the law generally, in the intended to mean the same thing. Taft-Hartley Act, or in common And so, while the Senate Com- sense for the distinction which the mittee has been rehashing in the Board has drawn. If stranger case of employer “corruption” only picketing is economically coercive conduct which the Board has since in any case — as it undoubtedly is the very beginning prosecuted, it — then it is economically coercive has curiously refrained, thus far in every case; for its methods, ob- at least, from inquiring into the jectives, and manner of operation methods by which unions are daily are always the same, no matter coercing the free choice of em- when it occurs or what it is called. ployees. To put the matter an- other way, it has been preoccupied One-Way Investigations with the surface manifestations Even if the Board had gone the of trade-union corruption — the whole way, had held that all stran- cheap thievery, double dealing, ger picketing is unlawfully co- and the embezzling. It has not ercive, one might still ask why it been concerned at all with even the is that such a decision came so deeper manifestations of corrup- late. It is more than ten years tion —the violence and the com- since the Taft-Hartley Act was pulsion which underly so much of passed. During that time, as well modern American trade-unionism. as earlier, stranger picketing has More important even than that, been perhaps the most common of the Committee has not revealed all trade-union organizational any understanding at all of the methods. Furthermore, the lan- fundamental causes of both the guage of the statute has not been deeper and the more superficial changed since 1947. The answer, forms of corruption. of course, is that until recently the The causes lie essentially, I re- NLRB has found those parts of peat, in the errors, failures, and the Taft-Hartley Act which define derelictions of government in the unfair practices of unions to be labor relations field. Unions have singularly mysterious and of un- been given special privileges at certain reach and intent. Whereas the expense of the basic rights of the NLRB found it easy to read employees and employers. While the employer unfair practices as employers have been forced to proscribing every conceivable type take a strictly hands-off attitude, of employer pressure, the identi- and while the contract rights of cally worded union unfair prac- workers have been vitiated, unions ===== PAGE 13 ===== 1958 CAN LABOR CLEAN ITS OWN HOUSE? 11 have been given the formal de jure ship. Moreover, it would be ill-ad- power to control employment and vised to expect any real forward- employment conditions, and they looking action from the leadership. have been given the informal de facto power to use violence and Let the Market Decide economic coercion as means of If union leaders are to be kept compelling both membership and in line, they must remain exposed, acquiescence in union policies, pro- like everyone else in a free mar- grams, and tactics. ket, to the loss of their “business” when they do not perform satis- Power Corrupts Leaders factorily. Instead of making a If the house of labor needs union the exclusive bargaining cleaning now, it will continue to representative for all employees in need cleaning until these failures a firm when it has been selected of government are corrected and by only some, the law should see until the formal and informal spe- that those who object to the union cial privileges of unions are eradi- retain their basic right, as free cated. No human agency can be men, to fend for themselves. When trusted with the kinds of power men are forced in the first place which the errors in government to join unions, forced in the second have given trade-union leadership. place to go along with all plans Establish an environment perme- and programs conceived by their ated with coercion and compulsion leaders, and forced in the third and you are bound to attract men place to keep their peace if they who excel in those modes of con- wish to keep their jobs (and may- duct. Those who do not excel will be their health) —it is not at all either have to learn or make way surprising to find a good many for men with richer natural en- trade-union leaders less than re- dowments. sponsive to or honest with their Workers who have become ac- membership. customed to being pushed around, No one should be at all sur- who, owing to the failures of gov- prised either that the Ethical ernments to do their basic job, are Practices Committee of the AFL- used to the rigorous controls of CIO, for all its concern with compulsory union methods, are in ‘“trade-union morality,” has failed a position to do very little about utterly to deal with the violence, cleaning up things. They can do the coercion, and the other mat- nothing but bear the oppression ters discussed here. If it had and exploitation of their leader- dealt with such matters, there ===== PAGE 14 ===== 12 THE FREEMAN February might have been a great many price or quality are poor. If the more suspensions and expulsions house of labor is to be clean, the than there have been. same general principles must be applied there, with the working- Power acquired by force and men of the nation in the position subject to no continuing function- of stockholders and consumers. It al check is bound to corrupt. Cor- is as absurd to expect good clean porate managements are kept in unionism in conditions of exten- line by the right of stockholders to sive compulsory unionism, as it move their equities when they are would be to expect good govern- dissatisfied and by the right of ment in a society where the divine consumers and other purchasers right of kings or the dictatorship to take their patronage elsewhere of the proletariat was the central without let or hindrance when political principle. * 00 What is war but death and taxes? How will killing make men free? Good will never come from evil; As the seed, so grows the tree. Taxes sap the life away from Every source of future wealth, Thrift and honesty discourage — MALLORY CROSS JOHNSON How can sickness bring us health? Nor can bombing draw together Men in friendship in the way Voluntary operations Draw men closer cvery day. If you burn to fight for freedom Know the source wherein it lies: Mrs. Johnson and her husband, formerly of By respecting every person the Foundation staff, continue their study , : Lo of freedom from Malaga, Spain, Each will help the other rise. ===== PAGE 15 ===== Editor's Note: This verse, written in . 1890, apparently was inspired by an International Labor Conference an mpeiial called by Germany. There had been complaints that foreign labor was ) undercutting the level of wage rates esciipt m Germany; and the purpose of the Conference was to set a floor under wages — a world minimum wage. RuUDYARD KIPLING N OW THIS is the tale of the Council the German Kaiser decreed, To ease the strong of their burden, to help the weak in their need, He sent a word to the peoples, who struggle, and pant, and sweat, That the straw might be counted fairly and the tally of bricks be set. The Lords of Their Hands assembled. From the East and the West they drew — Baltimore, Lille, and Essen, Brummagem, Clyde, and Crewe. And some were black from the furnace, and some were brown from the soil, And some were blue from the dye-vat; but all were wearied of toil. And the young King said: — “I have found it, the road to the rest ye seek: “The strong shall wait for the weary, the hale shall halt for the weak: “With the even tramp of an army where no man breaks from the line, “Ye shall march to peace and plenty in the bond of brotherhood — sign!” The paper lay on the table, the strong heads bowed thereby, And a wail went up from the peoples: — “Ay, sign — give rest, for we die!” A hand was stretched to the goose-quill, a fist was cramped to scrawl, When — the laugh of a blue-eyed maiden ran clear through the council hall. 13 ===== PAGE 16 ===== 14 THE FREEMAN February And each one heard Her laughing as each one saw Her plain — Saidie, Mimi, or Olga, Gretchen, or Mary Jane. And the Spirit of Man That is in Him to the light of the vision woke; And the men drew back from the paper, as a Yankee delegate spoke: — “There’s a girl in Jersey City who works on the telephone; “We're going to hitch our horses and dig for a house of our own, “With gas and water connections, and steam-heat through to the top; “And, W. Hohenzollern, I guess I shall work till I drop.” And an English delegate thundered: — “The weak an’ the lame be blowed ! “I’ve a berth in the Sou’-West workshops, a home in the Wandsworth Road; “And till the ’sociation has footed my buryin’ bill, “I work for the kids an’ the missus. Pull up! I'll be damned if T will!” And over the German benches the bearded whisper ran: — “Lager, der girls und der dollars, dey makes or dey breaks a man. “If Schmitt haf collared der dollars, he collars der girl dermit; “But if Schmitt bust in der pizness, we collars der girl from Schmitt.” They passed one resolution: — “Your sub-committee believe “You can lighten the curse of Adam when you’ve lifted the curse of Eve. “But till we are built like the angels — with hammer and chisel and pen, “We will work for ourselves and a woman, for ever and ever, amen.” Now this is the tale of the Council the German Kaiser held — The day that they razored the Grindstone, the day that the Cat was belled, The day of the Figs from Thistles, the day of the Twisted Sands, The day that the laugh of a maiden made light of the Lords of Their Hands. Reprinted by permission of Mrs. George Bambridge and Doubleday & Co., Inc. ===== PAGE 17 ===== NE \ LOM Sv AR NN A NY Q NN A al Ne N oN N AB \® Nt NR SRY SN N ON N WN § N \ R N NR 3 N "1 N NAN NS NR NNN N AS NAN ANI RN NX NA Na NA N N RNR Wn) N NW SVEN RYDENFELT When the publishing firm of Natur American trade unions. They och Kultur, in Stockholm, recently firmly assert that their deep-toned brought out a Swedish edition of pressure at the bargaining table, F. A. Harper's Why Wages Rise, in conflict with employers, forces they asked Dr. Rydenfelt, an econ- higher wages — and, consequently, - omist at the University of Lund, a higher standard of living. But to write a supplement for the book Harper shows convincingly that in which he would test its thesis increased productivity is the basis against Swedish experience. This for the rising wages. He also re- article is extracted therefrom. futes the claim of the unions that reduction of the working week (ranTmicLERR in Edmond Ros- from 70 to 40 hours is their tand’s animal play loudly an- achievement. nounces every day at dawn the How does Dr. Harper’s thesis break of the new day. Shortly agree with Swedish experience after the cock’s crowing, the sun concerning wages and produc- rises. The interesting thing about tivity? Chanticleer is that he firmly and Some understanding of the completely believes that it is his cause of growth in the wages of crowing that makes the sun rise. Swedish workers may be gained In his study, Why Wages Rise, from the investigations reported Dr. F. A. Harper examines this in Professor Svennilson’s classical Chanticleer attitude displayed by work, Wages in Sweden. He thus 15 ===== PAGE 18 ===== 16 THE FREEMAN February describes the development from fairly parallel with productivity, 1860 to 1930: i.e., production per employed per- “On the other hand, the trend son, is clearly shown in the dia- of the wages agrees approximately gram. with the changes in productivity. In other words, wages have de- The Union Claims veloped approximately as if the In opposition to the above fact, basis were purely piecework pay the trade unions have asserted at unchanged rates.”* that the wage increases had the That wages in Sweden, as in the effect of a whip on the backs of United States, have developed the employers which forced them to mechanize and modernize faster *Svennilson, Ingvar. Wages in Sweden, than they would have done with- 1860-1930, Part Two. Stockholm Eco- out the increases in wages. In nomic Studies of Stockholm University. other words, through forcing up English version published by London: . P. S. King & Son, Ltd., 1935. p. 253. wages, the trade unions have been VALUE ADDED AND EARNINGS PER WORKER—SWEDISH INDUSTRY INDEX (1910-13 =100) INDEX 4 400 $= — 400 300 }- ~{ 300 200 \ ee 200 150 —4150 100 ~4100 80 —{ 80 60 —{ 60 50 50 40 rt —f 40 oetng >” 30 LY L 1 | { | ] | 20 1860 1870 1880 1890 1895 1900 1910 1920 1930 ===== PAGE 19 ===== 1958 COMEDY AT THE BARGAINING TABLE 17 able to stimulate production and progressing industrialization. But progress. Such a claim, however, even so, this degree of change in does not fit in with the facts. the distribution of incomes is of For a long period industry has little importance compared with been dominant in our economic the increase in productivity. In- life, and the rise in industrial out- creasing productivity has yielded put has been the strongest force as much for the worker in five or behind our progress. Even if our six years as the entire shift of means of measuring the tempo income from owners to wage of the increase are imperfect, the earners amounted to over a period available statistics would indicate of forty years. that the tempo was faster before The worst of it is, however, World War I and between the two that the change in the distribution wars than it has been since 1945. of income to the advantage of the This shows that the tempo of the wage earners as against the increase slowed instead of ac- owners may have had a very ad- celerated while the trade union verse effect on their welfare. To movement was growing ever the extent that it caused a decrease stronger. in saving — and such an alteration The trade unions are, however, normally has this result in spite free to assert that they have in- of compulsory saving — it means fluenced the distribution of what reduced investment, slower prog- has been produced in favor of the ress, and lower real wages. It wage earners, in other words, that means a lower standard of living the latter have gotten a bigger than an unaltered distribution of slice of the income cake than they income would have given. would have received had there been The groups of workers in our no trade unions. Here they could country that have gotten the rela- point to the ratio of property in- tively highest increases in wages comes to the total national in- during the last fifteen years — come, which from the beginning domestic servants, agricultural of this century to the end of the and forestry workers — have been thirties sank from about one-third the least organized of the occupa- to one-sixth in our country with tional groups. the share going to the working class increasing proportionately, Wages Are a Price Experience from other countries Lastly, wages are a price and, indicates that this altered distri- like all other prices, are deter- bution is a natural consequence of mined in the long run by the mar- ===== PAGE 20 ===== 18 THE FREEMAN February ket situation of supply and de- Every businessman knows that mand. According to a prevalent there is a limit to both price and idea, however, the trade unions, wage increases. If that limit is similar to other strong cartel or- passed, it will inexorably go badly ganizations, have great possibili- for the business. It is the advanc- ties of price-fixing, that is, can ing inflation — from wholly dif- force wages higher than the mar- ferent causes, as we shall soon see ket situation warrants. Even if the — that has created these condi- trade unions have such power, it tions. is generally much less effective than is commonly believed. Trade Unions and Inflation It is obvious that to blame the The trade union myth regarding trade unions for having forced up their power to force wages above wages unduly, that is to say, over the proper level in the market has the “natural” level conditioned by recently brought its own revenge. the market situation, is wrong. We have gotten from these claims Wages are a price. If a price is a “wage inflation theory,” accord- fixed above the market level, the ing to which the foremost cause result will be difficulties in selling of inflation is that trade unions and a surplus of the product. If ‘force wages up at the bargaining wages are set too high, the result table.” Much hard criticism — in will be a superfluity of labor, i.e., certain cases even from Social unemployment. Democratic quarters — has been During the postwar period the directed against the trade union situation has been one of a short- movement, and there have been age of labor — overemployment. In continuous warnings of the need spite of the alleged forcing up of for restraint in wage demands. wages by the trade unions, the Axel Strand, Chairman of the wage level has clearly been below Swedish Confederation of Trade rather than above the market Unions, spoke as follows against level. That would seem definitely the wage inflation theory in the to refute all claims of the ability 1955 report of the proceedings of of the trade unions to force up the First House of the Swedish wages at their own pleasure and Parliament: independently of the state of the Even government departments ap- market. The assertion is just a8 pear to have been caught by the sys- unreasonable as to say that a man- tematic propaganda that inflation ufacturer can raise the price of comes from a bacillus or a virus his products more or less at will. which finds its actual nourishment ===== PAGE 21 ===== 1958 COMEDY AT THE BARGAINING TABLE 19 and possibility of development in the of printing more bank notes the insatiableness of the workers. ... Do gtate is able to requisition a large not be too sure in drawing the con- part of the country’s resources for clusion that inflation arises from carrying on war or for rearma- the workers demands for IMProve- ment. The extraordinary increase ments in wages, a conclusion that is. . . in purchasing power forces up accepted as gospel by large sections . . . prices and wages which in turn of our people. There is much to show ) ‘th bi that the workers’ demands are noth- creates a boom with big profits ing more than a reflex of what has and full employment. already happened in the economic While the state after previous sphere, that is, that enterprises work periods of war normally ceased its to a great degree with profit mar- requisitioning of the resources of gins that are themselves inflationary. society — resulting in a stabilizing ...To demand in such circumstances, of the value of money — after the and to make reference to the balance close of World War 11, it continued of our economy in so doing, that the policy of expansion, the same as leaders of the trade union move- during the war years. The re- ment should make an appeal for re- straint to the workers is unreason- duced cost of defense has been able. more than offset by other expenses, especially for so-called welfare In our view Strand is quite schemes. right on one point: the wage This “wartime economy in. earners’ demands are nothing peace” has had exactly the same more than a reflection of the situ- consequences as the earlier war ation within industry and society economy: the demand for goods as a whole. But he is wrong when and services has steadily tended he tries to cast the inflation re- to exceed the supply. Business has sponsibility on the employers and enjoyed a boom with big profits their profits. They too can rightly which led businessmen to outbid reply that their profits are nothing one another for both manpower but a reflection of the situation and goods. Raising wages and within society and business life. prices have been the consequence. Another cause of inflation dur- . ing the postwar period was the If one studies the history of in- state’s policy of holding interest flation, he finds that it follows war levels low and giving tax allow- like a shadow. During wartime ance for interest paid, while the the economic activity of the state value of money declined, so that expands enormously, and by means borrowers in reality paid nothing Inflation Follows War ===== PAGE 22 ===== 20 THE FREEMAN February at all for their loans, and those the consequences — the symptoms who saved got no real compensa- — of the state policy. tion for their contributions. Those who want to describe in- Wage increases are, in our view, flation according to its symptoms exactly like any other price in- can choose between three different creases, symptoms of more pro- theories, all equally fallacious: the found changes in the state’s eco- profit inflation theory, the wage in- nomic policy. Wage earners can flation theory, and the price infla- seldom obtain for themselves more tion theory. Which of these money than is represented by theories one chooses usually de- their contribution to production. pends upon one’s place in society. If one belongs to the wage-earning The State and Counterfeiters group, he prefers the price or We have been able to find only profit inflation theory. If he be- two categories in society which longs to the employers’ group, he understand the art of “creating gladly accepts the wage inflation money” without producing: the theory. state and counterfeiters. The ac- If the wage inflation theory tivity of the latter is, however, of were correct, the prevention of in- very modest proportions, which flation would seem hopeless. Em- cannot be said of the state's. ployers bid against one another Instead of the wage inflation to push wages up. To try to pre- theory, the above analysis would vent employers from raising substitute a state inflation theory. wages is unthinkable in a demo- According to this theory, the vari- cratic state. On the contrary, it ous stages in the inflation illness is very much in their interest to are as follows: raise wages, so that they can get 1. The state’s policy of economic the necessary labor in competition expansion results in an increase with other employers. In a wage- in the total purchasing power in earning society such as ours, one relation to supplies of goods and cannot put an employer in prison services. for doing something so popular 2. The increased purchasing as paying good wages. power leaves room for higher It is highly regrettable that so profits in undertakings, higher many employers now deem it their wages for workers, and higher patriotic duty, considering the prices for goods. social and economic balance, to try Higher profits, higher wages, with all their means to prevent and higher prices are therefore rises in wages. When they are ===== PAGE 23 ===== 1958 COMEDY AT THE BARGAINING TABLE 21 nevertheless forced to raise wages, sentatives, on the other side of the they do it with a bad conscience, table, just as consistently play the instead of gladly, as they should. hero's role by indefatigably fight- ing for higher wages and thus a The Comedy at the Bargaining Table higher standard of living. There is nothing so practical In spite of the annual comedy, as a good theory, said a wise man. everything shows that it is ac- One can alter the sentence and af- tually the competition on the labor firm that there is nothing so im- market that decides the wage level. practical as a false theory. In our If negotiations with the trade opinion the very popular wage in- unions were discontinued entirely, flation theory is false. It draws employers still would be forced by suspicion away from the real vil- competition with other employers lain in the inflation drama and to pay about the same wages as makes us point our guns in the they now do. Why is it that, in wrong direction. such circumstances, the employers’ During the sixteenth and seven- agree to take part in the annual teenth centuries the “commedia comedy around the bargaining dell’ arte,” an Italian form of table and, in front of the whole drama, was very much in fashion country, play the part of villains in our part of the world. Charac- — reactionaries who are trying to teristic of this drama were such put the brake on progress? standardized roles as the deceived An employer who was also a and ludicrous husband, Pajazzo; negotiator once described as fol- the cunning servant, Harlequin; lows the negotiations he had just the comic fat man, Pulcinella; the concluded: “The demand for in- blustering soldier, Il Capitano; creased wages that the workers’ the coquettish young woman, representatives in the negotiations Colombine. presented us with at the begin- The annually recurrent comedy ning were so moderate considering around the bargaining table, the good economic situation that where employers and employed we actually wanted to accept it play the main parts, reminds one without more ado. But such a of the “commedia dell’ arte.” The course of action on our part would employers always play the part of have been against the rules of the the villain in the piece by appear- game. It would have made our op- ing to oppose with all their might ponents’ representatives lose face the workers’ demands for wage in- before their members and be dis- creases. The trade union repre- graced for not having been sen- ===== PAGE 24 ===== 22 THE FREEMAN February sible enough to ask for a suffi- day we need in a high degree their ciently large increase. They would cooperation and loyalty, and the never have forgiven us such a price we pay for that is to play breach of the rules. a villain’s role. This is just a hy- “Anyhow, we loyally followed pothesis, and I hope our social sci- the rules of the game, that is to entists and sociologists will tackle say, we labeled their suggestion as the study and analysis of this completely unreasonable and ruin- strange comedy around the bar- ous. After days and weeks of hard gaining table.” tussle, finished off in due order It was undeniably an interest- with all-night sessions, we finally ing insight given by this employer succeeded in haggling a little. The into an otherwise blacked out, if trade union negotiators could re- not tabooed, domain. His account turn to their members and de- could be completed by a reference scribe their pitiless and tireless to the great social survey, Man fight night and day. They could in the Industrial Society by T. S. take all the credit for the rise in Segerstedt and A. Lundquist wages — and the increase in the (Stockholm 1955). When the per- standard of living — which had re- sons interviewed were asked what sulted. It was not enough that we they thought was the basic cause consented to stand in the pillory of the improvement in the before the whole country as the workers’ conditions during the last villains in the drama; we also lost 40 to 50 years, by far the most in the final agreement, as it re- general answer was: the trade sulted in a lower wage than we union movement (44 per cent). were actually willing to pay. In Next came the answer: the spite of trying to put right the workers’ political movements (23 mistake by individual wage in- per cent). Only 8 per cent gave creases over the level of the agree- the answer: technical progress. It ment, we had great difficulty in is clear that the trade unions have getting the necessary labor. succeeded very well in their ap- “Why do we take part in this plication of the old ‘“commedia apparently silly comedy? Well, dell’ arte.” that question is very hard to answer. Firstly, we are following The Trade Unions and Leisure the old established rules of con- As in the U.S.A., the Swedish duct, and also it is very impor- trade union and labor leaders tant for us to have good relations claim that the shorter working with the trade union leaders. To- week is largely their achievement. ===== PAGE 25 ===== 1958 COMEDY AT THE BARGAINING TABLE 23 Let us examine this assertion a a natural law and quite indepen- little more closely. dently of the contribution of the Judging from the available sur- trade unions, the latter could justi- veys,* the average working week fiably claim a considerable part of for industrial workers gradually the credit for the large reduction sank from about 70 hours in 1860 in 1920. to about 65 in 1880. During that period both the trade union and A “Natural” Development the political labor movement were Did the working week, in spite practically nonexistent. During of the abrupt notch in the curve the next twenty-year period, 1880- representing the graph of work- 1900, the working week was fur- ing hours, continue to sink in the ther reduced to about 60 hours. same way as before? During this period the workers’ The answer is no; the develop- movement grew in significance, ment practically stopped. In 1957, but was still comparatively weak. the working week in industry, During the next twenty-year with few exceptions, is still 48 period, 1900-1920, the labor move: hours. In other words, develop- ment gained power rapidly, but ment ceased for 87 years. It is the decrease in hours of work con- true that a law has recently been tinued at about the same pace, the passed according to which the working week sinking to about 55 working week will be down to 45 hours. in 1960, but that only means, in In 1920, however, the “natural” fact, that we will then have about development was interrupted. The the same working week as we ap- labor movement, with the help of parently would have had with a liberal groups, forced through a free, “natural” development. 1 law on hours of work, which at From the employers’ viewpoint, one blow reduced the working it would seem to be a matter of week in industry to 48 hours. indifference whether the em- While the earlier reductions be- ployees take out their share of tween 1860 and 1920 from about the continuously increasing pro- 70 to 55 hours took place with duction as higher wages or shorter something of the relentlessness of hours. If the workers had taken *See, for example, The Industrial Prob- up the demand for a 45-hour week lem, 1950, published by the Institute before 1956, it is difficult to see for Economic Research in Industry, what the employers could have and the Official Investigation Concern- had against the claim, on the as- ing Shorter Hours of Work, SOU, . 1956:20. sumption, of course, that the rise ===== PAGE 26 ===== 24 THE FREEMAN February in wages would have been propor- proceeds in the form of higher tionately less. wages, higher pensions, or more leisure time. The employer was An Interlude on Pensions nevertheless made to stand in the The same thing holds good re- corner and charged before the garding pensions for workers. A whole nation with being stub- decent provision for workers in bornly opposed, not only to higher their old age is a matter that most wages, but also to higher pensions, employers certainly have very and more leisure time. much at heart. If the employers It is clear that the standard of could have had a say in the matter, living of the workers is decided it is very likely that they would by the productivity and their have been willing to put aside a share in the proceeds of produc- considerably larger part of the tion. It is also clear that this proceeds of industry for pensions share is decided by the competi- for the workers —and a corres- tion of the employers for labor in pondingly smaller part for wages. the market. A pension is rightly regarded as The conclusion must be that deferred pay. But as the workers the standard of living of the have hitherto clearly preferred workers would be about the same higher wages to larger pensions, even if there had been no trade the employers have given in on union movement. The division be- that point. From the purely eco- tween wages, leisure time, and nomic aspect, it has not mattered pensions might have been differ- much whether the employees ac- ent, but the total amount would cepted their share of the increased by and large have been the same. Dr. F. A. Harper's Why Wages Rise, now available as a 124-page book with tables, charts, and index, first appeared as a series of twelve ar- ticles in THE FREEMAN. “To our knowledge this is the simplest and clearest explanation on wages for the businessman as well as the student. If the reader really wants to understand both the theory and the facts about wages, he ought to study this most informative little book.” LAWRENCE FERTIG, Newspaper Columnist Clothbound copies $2.50 each Paperbound, single copy $1.50; 10 for $10.00 THE FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON, N. Y. ===== PAGE 27 ===== AND HAVE HOW TO woux pve yy 0 YOU remember how Robinson FREDERIC BASTIAT (1801-1850) Crusoe made a plank on his plank. I must make sure that I al- desert island? Since he had no ays have work to do. Now that saw, he used his axe to cut down 7 think of it, I can even make ad- a tree." Then he chopped the trunk gitional work for myself by going of the tree, first on one side and gown and kicking that plank back then on the other, until he reduced into the sea! it to the desired thickness. This Now you might think that plank cost him 15 days of labor. In Robinson’s reasoning was absurd. addition, he dulled his axe and con- Nevertheless, it is the same rea- sumed much of his food supplies. soning that is followed by every Now here is a footnote to that pation that uses tariffs and other story that is not generally known. yegtrictions against trade in an Just as Robinson was striking the e¢fort to make more jobs at home. first blow with his axe, he saw a The nation rejects the foreign plank thrown by the tide upon the plank that is offered in exchange seashore. His first impulse was to for a little work, in order to insure run and get it, but then he stopped ore work by manufacturing its and reasoned as follows: own plank at home. Such a nation If I get that plank, it will cost even sees a gain in the labor of me only the time and trouble of the customhouse officials — much going down’ to the water's edge |jke Robinson's decision to return and carrying it back up the cliff. {the sea the present it had given But if I make a plank with my axe, pimp. I shall give myself 15 days of If you think of a nation as a labor. In addition, I shall also dull .gjective being, you can’t find an my axe, which means that I shall tom of difference between the have the job of sharpening it. Also, yeasoning of the tariff advocates I shall have to replace the provi- ji; yeal life and the reasoning of sions that I consume during my Robinson Crusoe in this fable. labor. Now everybody knows that l ) h. it is cl abor 1s wealth. So it is clear that Translated by Dean Russell from Select- I would be doing a disservice to ed Works of Frederic Bastiat, Volume 1, myself if I accepted that free Paris: Guillaumin, 1863. pp. 243-244. 25 ===== PAGE 28 ===== REGINALD JEBB LABOR UNIONS A careful student and reporter of coming antisocial and antieco- the union movement in Britain of- nomic —a force encouraging con- fers some observations for those tinuance of the cleavage between who would hold the British as a labor and management and so a model for improved labor relations brake on production, used by the in the United States. men that control them to con- solidate their own new-found N RECENT YEARS the power of power. the British labor unions has In the years immediately follow- increased enormously. They have ing the war the majority of strikes developed into a formidable pres- were unofficial, that is to say, not sure group which is fast losing its backed by the union management. voluntary nature and, like all pres- They arose from various causes, sure groups, is using its power to sometimes from disappointment of benefit a section of the community exaggerated hopes about postwar at the expense of the nation as a conditions, sometimes from dis- whole. Nor is the benefit sought a ruptive propaganda, sometimes real one, but something more like from disinclinations to work after a bribe to keep the organization the strain of war, and not infre- intact. quently through interunion rival- Though the movement in Great ries. Union officials at that time Britain is not yet unified under a found themselves in a difficult single control (the Trades Union position because a Labor govern- Congress has only advisory ment was in power, which they powers), general policies are supported and in which many of usually determined by the three them participated. or four biggest unions; and those But since 1950 the situation has policies not only go far beyond the been different. Under a Conserva- competence of those that frame tive government the union bosses them, but also frequently do not had no such inhibitions, and they coincide with the wishes of the headed straight for personal rank and file. Indeed it can be power. This they sought in vari- said that their influence is be- ous ways, partly by putting for- Mr. Jobb is a British educator, editor, and journalist, 26 ===== PAGE 29 ===== AND LIBERTY ward, with the threat of a strike, trade union organization of labor, annual claims for increases in pay, and that means a universal “closed and partly by tightening control shop” or at all events a “union over their members. The annual shop.” The union shop would make wage claims, irrespective of any membership in the union compul- increase in production and regard- sory after the first few weeks of less of the inflationary effect of a man’s employment. The closed such action, were in many cases no more than a bid for popularity among members. The attempt to impose a “closed shop” on the movement was not only calculated to increase their bargaining power with employers, but also to give the bosses almost despotic power over all persons gaining a liveli- hood from industry. It is the aim of the Trades Union Congress to get 100 per cent 14) SE er ragI™ 1 Se TL ===== PAGE 30 ===== 28 THE FREEMAN February shop would go further, insisting together excessive use of majority on the right of the union to be the rights; but, individual freedom sole agency for placing a man in does not fit in with consolidation employment, in other words the of the union executive's power. power to reject any recruit disap- This power, though so jealously proved by the union and, of course, guarded and extended wherever any worker who left it. That aim possible, is by no means secure. In has not yet been successful except order to get the funds necessary in isolated cases, but it is easy to for a strong organization and for see that, were it to succeed, the strike pay when needed, the unions union claim that it fights for the have to attract as many members rights of the wage earner would as possible and ensure their sup- be blown sky high, for the latter port. That means delegation of would cease to be free agents and authority to leaders on the shop might be deprived of the right floor, known as shop stewards, to practice their trade anywhere whose duty it is to instill into all in the country. workers the approved propaganda. Unfortunately the communists and A Struggle for Power near-communists have seized their But though the closed shop is opportunity and secured many of very far from being universal yet, these posts. The result is that sub- the position is bad enough. Take versive communist propaganda is a single instance (there have been often substituted for that of the hundreds of a similar kind) from big bosses, and that the power of the recent bus strike that caused the shop stewards tends to sup- innumerable hardships to the pub- plant that of their superiors. A lic. One of the bus conductors who good instance of this occurred in opposed the strike did not report the recent dispute at Brigg’s for work when the strike was Motor Bodies, where it became called through fear of the conse- clear at a Court of Enquiry that quences. However, he refused to the shop stewards had got com- act as a picket to prevent others plete control into their own hands, from working if they wished. disregarding orders from above, When the strike was settled, his running their own magazine, and fellow workers refused to return extracting money from the to their jobs as long as this man workers to finance their self-ap- continued to be employed. He was pointed activities. called a black-leg and ostracized. That is one weak link in the Majority rule? If so, it was an al- chain of union power — divided ===== PAGE 31 ===== 1958 LABOR UNIONS AND LIBERTY 29 authority and the threat of com- does the general public escape its munist subversion. Another is in- tyranny. They are the victims of ter-union rivalry. A strike at the strikes and unreasonable wage Liverpool docks last year had as claims through interference with its sole cause the friction between their work and a continual rise in two unions over an alleged illegal prices. transference of men from one The situation is a tragic one. A union to another. On another oc- movement that started with the casion shipbuilding was held up intention of championing the free- for months owing to a quarrel be- dom of its members is using the tween unions representing metal power it has won to curtail free- workers and joiners as to which dom everywhere. Instead of build- should carry out a particular job. ing up the strength of the indus- try to which it is attached, it is Threat to Freedom weakening it. The fact is that But neither of these difficulties trade unionism in its present form confronting the union bosses is is out of date—a drag on the going to lessen the danger threat- country’s economy and a threat to ening the community and individ- the liberty of its members. In spite ual workers. That danger is a loss of the influence it wields, there of freedom. A shift of power to are signs that it will either have the communist elements in indus- to change its character or cease to try would make things worse than exist. For even if it achieves its they are, and the only result of a aim of universalizing the closed war between unions would be that shop and extending its control the larger ones would absorb the over every industry in the country, smaller and a greater effort than the result would be a State within ever would be made towards con- a State — an irresponsible author- centration of power. The threat to ity that no government could toler- freedom would remain and become ate for long. intensified, and it is a serious one. It undermines an employer’s right Internal Weaknesses to hire or dismiss a man, and pre- But its chances of success in vents the production increases that this final bid for power are viti- could lead to lower prices. It keeps ated by the very methods it an iron hold on union members adopts. One of the most prevalent through their fear of being practices in trade unionism is in- ejected from the union and losing sistence on all kinds of restrictions all chance for employment. Nor on the nature and amount of work ===== PAGE 32 ===== 30 THE FREEMAN. February their members are to do in return an instrument of vengeance rather for a full day’s pay. Besides whit- than a principle of unity. The man tling away the actual time given who asserts his right to carry on to work by prolonged intervals for with his job when a strike has rest, go slow tactics, and time off been called is subjected to in- for preparation to quit work, the human treatment. His fellow union authorities see to it that the workers refuse to speak to him allocation of work to be done in a and do everything to make his life day — such as the number of intolerable. Yet, when it comes to bricks to be laid or the amount of loyalty to the movement as a coal to be cut in a mine — is much whole, solidarity breaks down. At smaller than what an average man the present time there is a fierce can do in the time. Anything done war between the Transport and beyond that limit has to be paid General Workers Union (the big- for at overtime rates. A good gest of them all) and the National bricklayer can lay about 1,200 Amalgamated Stevedores and bricks in a day. His allocation is Dockers, both of which have 400. Similarly, a miner can finish dockers working at the Port of his allotted “stint” in half the Liverpool. The NASD complain time he is supposed to work at it. that a TGWU man has been Naturally this waste in the po- giving certain work instead of a tential of production hits the member of the stevedore’s union owners of industrial firms; and as who, they claim, is senior to him. a countermove, a number of small The TGWU report that they will businesses are employing non- refuse to work with anyone who is union labor and finding that it is not a member of their union. That to their advantage to pay higher can hardly be called loyalty to wages. They have also discovered trade union principle. that men who are free from re- The fact is that the frustrations gtrictions and not pinned down to of the workers, where they exist, a single kind of task escape the are not being remedied by the feeling of antagonism and frus- unions. Rifts are appearing in a tration too common in unionized solidarity maintained more by a firms. narrow self-interest than by a de- There remains the problem of sire for justice. the traditional loyalty of members The unions have outlived any to their union. This is in itself an usefulness they might have had. admirable quality, but it is losing They are becoming a menace to its spontaneity and is becoming liberty. LC I ===== PAGE 33 ===== CHARLES G. JONES, M. D. MONG the socialistic wedges ized medicine are depressing and eing driven into the heart of alarming and ought to guide us our \openly competitive society is away from similar mistakes. government controlled medicine. One of the most glaring facts is Its advocates describe it in glow- that government medical care in- ing colors. “It is the moral obliga- variably costs more than had been tion of a civilized nation,” they expected. During the first four maintain, “to care for the indi- years of socialized medicine in gent, aged, infirm, physically Great Britain, the demands for handicapped, and mentally ill.” free service and for costly though They talk as if only the State could often unnecessary medically re- discharge this obligation. In my lated items resulted in trebling the belief, government medical care yearly budget. The taxpayer — who unwittingly prolongs the suffering still has to foot the bill — had his of those already ill, and even annual tax burden increased by causes illness to develop. 12 per cent. This on top of already A widespread public compla- heavy taxes makes the system al- cency reflects lack of serious most prohibitive. thought as to the possible conse- The deleterious effects of the quences of socialized medicine in system are to be noted everywhere. the United States. Many are lulled There are so many free dental by a false sense of security be- patients that dentists no longer cause they hear so much about the have time for their customary benefits and so little, if anything, work with school children. Ob- about the costs — the price to be viously, this condition need persist paid. Experiences from other for very few years to affect seri- countries which have tried social- ously the dental health of the king- Dr. Jones is a surgeon in Grove City, Pennsylvania. 31 ===== PAGE 34 ===== 32 THE FREEMAN February dom. Waiting lists for admission living until the bone is healed. But to hospitals become staggering. there is the rub. If a man suffers The increased volume of patients no material disadvantage from invites second-rate care for many sickness, there is no material in- instead of first-rate care for the centive for him to recover rapidly. truly ill. The burdensome cost of But if loss of income goes with caring for those who are ill, plus the broken leg, he will be anxious those who pretend, leaves no funds to have it heal so that he can get for research or preventive medi- back to work as soon as possible. cine. Along with these and other And doubly so, if he pays his own details of administration, there is hospital and surgical bills. Doctors the problem of selecting from the know that a broken leg heals very long lists the patient who needs slowly in a Welfare State. And immediate or emergency care. The for the same reason, the recovery system not only involves huge of most patients “protected finan- cost, but it also constitutes a cially” by insurance companies menace rather than a means to proceeds slowly and painfully. health. In other words, “You can- Mrs. A and Mrs. B underwent not buy good health.” operations for benign fibroid tumors of the uterus on the same The Voluntary Way day; they were in the same semi- Even though the American sys- private room, were about the same tem is still voluntary, in that hos- age, and had almost identical oper- pital and health insurance can be ative procedures. But from the selected at will, some of these evils very first postoperative day, any are beginning to make themselves similarity between the two women known in an insidious way. If our ended abruptly. Mrs. A recovered health insurance were to become rapidly and was eager to get home compulsory, it is easy to see how to her family and her work. Mrs. these defects might multiply and B seemed to revel in her long re- actually jeopardize the health of covery because her husband had the nation. told her that the whole thing was A system of socialized medicine covered by insurance and she tends to weaken one’s reasons for should stay in the hospital as long being well. A struggle for liveli- as she wanted. “Don’t let them hood is no longer required. If a send you home too soon,” he said. leg is broken, the State pays medi- Mrs. A went home on her sixth cal, hospital, and operation costs, postoperative day, which was rou- and advances adequate funds for tine for her operation; but Mrs. B ===== PAGE 35 ===== 1958 FREE MEDICINE CAN MAKE YOU SICK 33 complained and stayed four days government care of the sick and longer, until she “was good and support for the family as well. If ready.” Though her bill exceeded this support amounts to approxi- Mrs. A’s by more than sixty dol- mately the same as the man can lars, the insurance company paid earn from his own daily labor, he for all but a few extras. is tempted to be sick continuously. A routine office visit one month The temptation would be the later revealed that Mrs. A had greatest for people in low income been doing her house work and brackets, illness actually being other chores for almost a week. preferable to good health. This Mrs. B was not able to climb stairs may sound strange, but doctors and had attempted no work beyond can observe the fact in their daily drying some dishes the previous practice. Many people want to be day. The prolongation of her re- sick, or sicker than they actually covery, in my opinion, must be at- are, because material advantages tributed to insurance coverage. in the form of compensations and liability payments are involved. Recovery Postponed In accident cases where the re- There are many examples of covery period is unusually long, comparative amputees, showing the question of insurance liability that the one obliged to pay his own and possibly future litigation is bill and earn a living recovers likely to be present. When refer- faster and learns to use a pros- ring to the man who has been thetic device earlier than the one limping unnecessarily for several who is waiting for an insurance months, doctors sometimes jok- settlement. This sort of thing hap- ingly say that John has nothing pens far too often to be pure coin- the matter with him that a prompt cidence. and substantial settlement An individual can become ill by wouldn’t cure. But it occurs so just imagining he is ill, or, he often that it is less joke than may be a malingerer from the very reality. Patients who are waiting beginning. The psychiatrist will eagerly and selfishly for the settle- tell you that the incentive for ment of their claim recover slowly either is the thought of increased in spite of all treatment. And usu- recompense for being ill. At any ally their complete recovery coin- rate such persons manage to bring cides with the final settlement of misery upon themselves and to all the claim. It is easy to see why about them. there are so many cases for the Socialized medicine includes compensation lawyers, referees, ===== PAGE 36 ===== 34 THE FREEMAN February and juries. Just imagine the job ment calling for investigations. of sorting all of these malin- The doctors are accused of high- gerers from the real needy if so- handed methods, the druggists cialized medicine were available! are accused of charging too much The advocates of government in for the pills, the people themselves medicine point to our overcrowded are accused of being too sick. So hospitals as though they have in finally, more and more there creeps mind a solution for the problem. into the picture police controls — But the fact is that much over- ‘the last refuge of self-bankrupt- crowding is traceable to increased ing, socialist planning.”! voluntary insurance benefits, a With the obvious increase in the situation that would only be ag- number of insured persons who gravated if all beds were “free.” are demanding medical care and The waiting lists for the hospitals hospitalization, a “doctor short- of England and Germany are so age” becomes more or less inevi- long that many patients finally table. Doctors are overwhelmed gain admittance only to have for- with the demands of people who gotten why they applied. feel that their insurance is wasted The hue and cry of overcrowded if they don’t use it. Minor and hospitals is a twisted statistic, for even imaginary ills demand im- the beds are overburdened with mediate attention. If doctors could people who are not really sick. The only confine their attention to third party in the form of health patients who are really ill, the insurance has entered the picture. present quota of doctors should But the present sad picture, with have ample time for leisure. If only part of our population volun- there were the same insurance tarily insured, would surely be coverage for plumbing services as magnified if health insurance cov- for health and accidents, I am con- erage were made universal and vinced that there would be a plumb- compulsory. er shortage before the signatures Experience with socialized med- were dry on the policies. icine shows hospitals so over- Socialized medicine tends to crowded that the situation becomes overwork and tire the doctors un- near impossible, doctors so over- til they lose interest in the welfare worked that their patients get less of their patients and are no longer and less real treatment, the cost inspired by their original dedica- of drugs reaching astronomical tion to ideals. When this situation figures, the total cost of the social “Palyi, Melchior, “How Sick Is Socialized system soaring, and the govern- Medicine?’ in The Freeman, June 1952. ===== PAGE 37 ===== 1958 FREE MEDICINE CAN MAKE YOU SICK 35 arises, there may be some patients have always thought that giving who never get to see their doctor inferior drugs to increase their and finally recover because they profit, or performing less than have no recourse. This leads some their best because the pay was pre- persons to ask, “If this condition determined was beneath their pro- persists, will not socialized medi- fessional dignity. All of these cine, at least in part, cure some of shortcomings exist in all of the its own ills?” There may be some presently functioning systems of merit to this idea on the surface, socialized medicine. but when we digest it, we find that If the loss of the hardy physical it involves quite an expensive cure and mental attributes of the pio- for people who would get well neer —to make of us weak and without help. At the same time, dependent wards of the State — is some would die for lack of treat- an incurable disease, then our fate ment and others would suffer for is inevitable. If our youth are to lack of the medicine they need. be deprived of the incentive to So the self-correcting features of dedicate their lives to the healing socialized medicine are really no art, and devote their years to excuse for its adoption. It should learning their profession, then our be remembered that under our diseases will be treated by automa- present system, most patients may tons and our health will deterio- call one or more of several doctors rate. If the important work of doc- in their community ; but the “bene- tors, nurses, technicians, and allied ficiary” of socialized medicine skills is to be minimized and even waits for the doctor to whom he denied by political charlatans, then has been assigned. these same youths will refuse to enter this noblest of professions except by edict. If we eventually There are many reasons why accept all of these proven evils as doctors cry out against socialized a system of government and a way medicine. First, as individuals, of life, then we can blame our- they abhor the regimentation which selves for inferior physical and is inevitable under socialism. mental health and weak proto- Second, they feel that initiative, plasm. To maintain our health and research, and humane care of the strength, we had best insist on our ill will gradually be replaced by present high quality of training, robot dispensing, complacency, and zealous research, and devotion to the treatment of a number rather the prevention and cure of diseases than a human being. Third, they of body and of mind. eo 0 Why Doctors Prefer Freedom ===== PAGE 38 ===== HERE is an old story about a perennially re-elected legisla- tor who attributed his lifelong political success to the fact that he had never voted for a tax bill or against an appropriation bill. He had grasped the elementary fact that people dislike paying taxes but like to receive handouts. They = enjoy getting something for noth- ing, in other words, and tend to — vote for candidates who promise them opportunities to do so. - A quarter century ago most of the world’s leading governments, sorely beset by the practical diffi- AND culties of economic depression and encouraged by the theoretical blessing of Lord Keynes and his disciples, adopted something like the old legislator’s philosophy. They cast off the “snuffling ortho- doxies and petty taboos” of classi- cal economics and proceeded to give the people what they wanted. pa The Popular Causes Reduce taxes they emphatically pu did not, but they did the next best thing: they threw as much of the direct burden as possible upon business concerns and individuals in the higher income brackets, the easy targets, the financially vul- nerable and politically defenseless minority. Then they distributed the proceeds under the names of numerous “social programs’: farm subsidies, unemployment compen- The Guaranty Survey ===== PAGE 39 ===== 1958 POPULAR CAUSES AND UNPOPULAR EFFECTS 37 sation, old-age benefits, public more so. Artificially easy money, housing, and many others. huge Treasury deficits, and new They sought to strengthen the forms of economic regimentation bargaining position of labor were accepted without protest. unions in their dealings with em- Even when the war was over, ployers. They more or less fully the situation retained much of its accepted responsibility for “full emergency character. Large areas employment,” that is, for keeping were physically devastated and business prosperous, or at any economically prostrate. The war- rate active. time military alliance fell apart, The keystones of the whole and the “cold war” began. The structure were easy money, free economic future looked very ob- spending, and political regulation scure. Under such conditions, the of various phases of the people’ S return to economic orthodoxy, the economic lives. relinquishment of emergency stim- It would be unrealistic and un- ulants and controls, was rendered fair to suppose that these meas- doubly difficult. ures were inspired solely by dema- Moreover, men were tempted to gogic considerations of political ask, why should the emergency advantage. To some extent, they stimulants and controls be relin- arose from genuinely good inten- quished? Had not economic ortho- tions. The economy was function- doxy broken down in practice? ing badly. Human beings needed Had it not been superseded by a relief. Business recovery needed, new economics that made easy or seemed to need, stimulation. money, free spending, and politi- Economic institutions that were cal controls and regulations the- rightly or wrongly blamed for the oretically defensible? Who could collapse appeared to require re- quarrel with such manifestly de- form. sirable objectives as fair prices, adequate housing, full employ- ment, high wages, and security The semicompulsive nature of and welfare for all? Why should the inflationary and regulatory not the people in their collective measures of the depression years capacity, functioning through the became even stronger during the State, endeavor to promote these war period. If the joint objectives objectives, substituting purpose- of relief, recovery, and reform ful action for the “economic drift” had seemed imperative before, of the prewar and predepression winning the war was now even years? War Is Forever ===== PAGE 40 ===== 38 THE FREEMAN February The Unpopular Effects ices” demanded of them, are find- Experience is providing some ing themselves under insupport- answers. It is being discovered able financial pressure. Taxpayers that good intentions are not demand relief while pressure enough. If good intentions are to groups demand larger benefits. accomplish anything, they must be Despite intermittent campaigns of translated into concrete economic retrenchment, national budgets measures, and such measures may rise inexorably to new heights. In or may not produce the intended some countries, taxpayers simply effects. Even if they do, they are refuse to bear the burden, and almost sure to produce unintended deficits mount. In some, a tempo- ones as well. Where some groups rary expedient is found in exorbi- are benefited, others are hurt. tant drafts on reserves of foreign Competition for productive effi- exchange. In still others, a pre- ciency tends to degenerate into a carious fiscal equilibrium is main- scramble for political favor. Gov- tained by postponing promised tax ernment of, by, and for the people relief. Almost everywhere, the tends to become government of, by, purchasing power of money de- and for pressure groups. The clines with varying degrees of promise of cradle-to-grave secur- speed and regularity. ity weakens economic incentive, To accelerate the inflationary tends to make men financially ir- process, the labor unions whose responsible and reduce them to the growth governments have fostered moral level of dependent children. demand higher wages under pain Why should a man strain nerve of strikes on such a scale as to and muscle to provide for himself, cripple whole economies. The wage to keep his job, to lay something demands and strike threats in- by for a “rainy day,” to make pro- crease with every rise in the cost vision for his old age, to protect of living; and when the wage de- his family from want, when a pa- mands are granted, the cost of liv- ternal state promises to do these ing rises again. And to make effec- things for him? Every personal tive resistance more difficult, re- financial misfortune, every source strictive credit policies can be in- of dissatisfaction with one’s eco- voked only at the risk of precipi- nomic lot, tends to become a griev- tating business recession and thus ance against the State. colliding with the ‘“full-employ- Even worse, if possible, is the ment commitment,” perhaps the fact that governments, in their ef- most cherished of all the “social forts to provide the “social serv- programs’ welfare states espouse. ===== PAGE 41 ===== 1958 POPULAR CAUSES AND UNPOPULAR EFFECTS 39 Intentions and Consequences should be encouraged and pro- When the United States govern- tected by law, it initiated the ment undertook to determine what growth of a colossus that rigidi- were “fair” prices for farm prod- fied costs, encouraged layoffs, pro- ucts and to insure that such prices duced the national - emergency were actually received by farmers, strike, forced the government into the unintended effects were over- the position of virtual arbitrator, production, underconsumption, the and served as the most powerful loss of foreign markets, the use of engine of inflation in the economy. substitutes, the accumulation of Almost the only thing it did not do surpluses, a governmental “dump- is what it was presumably in- ing” program that involved heavy tended to do, namely, cause real losses and aroused foreign resent- wages to rise faster than produc- ment, and a level of farm prices tivity. that was certainly unsatisfactory When our own and other gov- to farmers and probably lower ernments assumed or accepted the than would have prevailed in free responsibility of protecting the markets. people against the risks of unem- When the government tried to ployment, disability, old age, and protect tenants against high hous- other hazards, they built into their ing costs by retaining rent con- economies an inflationary bias trols after the war, the unintended against which they are still striv- effects were that new building and ing, in most cases with very in- even normal maintenance were different success, and which, un- discouraged, the housing shortage less arrested, must eventually was prolonged, and people were bring hardship rather than wel- obliged for years to live in anti- fare, insecurity rather than se- quated structures. curity, to the intended benefici- When the government inter- aries. vened in the interests of ‘ade- quate” housing, the construction Bitter Medicine industry and its suppliers were Thus the popular causes that overloaded, building costs rose to governments espoused a genera- unprecedented heights, and it be- tion ago are having some highly came virtually impossible to pro- unpopular effects. One of the most vide housing for low-income fami- unpopular, and rightly unpopular, lies except by outright subsidies. is inflation, because inflation nulli- When the government decided fies the security and welfare at that the unionization of workers which the popular causes are ===== PAGE 42 ===== 40 THE FREEMAN February aimed. In resisting inflation, how- The basic difficulty is that, al- ever, governments are finding though inflation is unpopular, the themselves forced to take meas- causes that are producing it re- ures which run counter to the pop- main popular. Men still cling to ular causes and which are nearly the belief that governmental au- or quite as unpopular as the in- thority and governmental largess flation itself. can somehow bring them economic In Great Britain and the United benefits that free private enter- States, monetary authorities seem prise cannot bring them. The di- determined to effect price stabili- lemma will be resolved only when zation, even at the risk of some the people realize that true eco- sacrifice of the “full-employment nomic progress can come only commitment.” This policy, how- from higher productivity, and that ever, is arousing strong opposi- higher productivity can come only tion, and the political repercus- from saving, investment, and in- sions that might occur in the event vention which are achieved by in- of a substantial business down- dividual effort in an environment turn are not pleasant to contem- of freedom and incentive. This plate. In France, government after progress takes time, but there is government has tried to meet the no substitute for it. Attempts to demand for price stabilization, hasten it by means of artificially only to fall because its proposed easy money, extravagant spend- stabilizing devices were politically ing, and political intervention in unacceptable. Conditions in other economic affairs only produce in- countries show similar variations, dustrial and monetary disorder, but almost everywhere the same which at best retards progress and dilemma, the same necessity of at worst can stop it altogether. choosing between irreconcilable LJ objectives, 18 being experienced n From The Guaranty Survey, November 1957, one form or another. Albert C. Wilcox, editor LEAS OR waenoy | W hile Men Sleep S0 LONG as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men. VOLTAIRINE DE CLEYRE ===== PAGE 43 ===== [1 a\® “£80 ® \ _.TOTHE MOON X “AT YOUROWN € CERTAINLY NOT TO THE MOON PAuL L. PoIroT If they have a Sputnik and our side has none, And this be the measure, which method has won, Let him who counts this a great blow to his pride Pack up and join hands with the opposite side. May those who insist that this life is a race, To beat all the others in conquering space, Be free and unhampered to do of their best; But why, for their purpose, should they tax the rest? Why is it that everyone must play the game By rule of that tyrant — majority aim? If man can’t be trusted to master his fate, What magic can save him as slave to the State? Some persons have chosen as their highest goal, A search for the meaning within each man’s soul; And constantly strive so to live and to move, Themselves to control — thus, the world to improve. Not all men insist upon showing their might, Among us are some who prefer to do right. And each, in the network of human events, Must follow his pathway to its consequence. 41 ===== PAGE 44 ===== Renaissance RESPONSIBILITY VOLLIE TRIPP of intelligent decisions and sound direction of the worker’s energies. In sheer desperation the people HERE ARE several ways of deal- would call upon a dictator to bring ing with financial problems — a semblance of order to the mess. learning to create more, learning Once again they would have bread to live on less, ganging up on the — and slavery. well-to-do. Learning to live on less is a Agide from the moral aspects, much better way to attack the per- the last method is the least satis- sonal financial problem, and many factory way of all. In the first are doing it with considerable suc- place, if all the money and prop- cess. This involves simplification erty of the rich were taken and in many aspects of life, but de- divided up equally among every- mands no sacrifice of dignity or one, the difference it would make political freedom. Those who have in anyone’s fortunes would be min- been obliged to live on less not imal. It is our guess that the “di- infrequently rediscover faculties vider upper” might find himself for happiness within themselves, fifty dollars better off. At best this and within the great nature drama bounty would solve his financial all around them. problems for only a few days. Learning how to create more Very soon he would find himself and have more is, of course, the in real trouble, as people with best way of all. Wealth, honestly brains, industry, and daring be- earned and wisely used, is the took themselves off to some island greatest of blessings. Not only retreat in the middle of the South does wealth enable a person to live Pacific. on a higher economic, intellectual, Commerce would stagnate in a and social plane, but it vastly in- week. Chaos would ensue for want creases a person’s usefulness to Mr. Tripp, retired from the building business, now devotes full time to travel, writing, and promotion of free enterprise. 42 ===== PAGE 45 ===== 1958 RENAISSANCE IN RESPONSIBILITY 43 humanity at large. So everyone perous, and respected because, un- should consider it a duty to suc- til a few years ago, the principle ceed, in a material sense, to the of personal responsibility and ac- best of his abilities. countability had near universal ac- But how can we go about the ceptance. Our high production and business of creating more wealth, high living standards were not or more bluntly, making more achieved by government, but money? Is there a formula, rule, rather because there had been so or system? little government. The progress of Obviously it is not possible for the past 25 years — there has been all to get rich, or even near rich. some — has been won in spite of In the first place, a surprising government. But the tremendous number of people have no desire advances during the first 150 years to do so. But many millions of of our history were possible be- people, discontented with their lot, cause, for the first time in his long could greatly improve their fiscal career, man found himself free. position if they purposely set He was free to grow, develop, ex- about to do it. pand, experiment, create, and keep If disgruntled wage earners the rewards of his creation. could be persuaded to attack their It is true he often pooled his problem on a personal basis, in-. efforts with others, but this did stead of wistfully looking to gov- not dull his concept of himself as ernment — including their own ef- a free and responsible agent, who forts at organized compulsion — must, in the long run, solve his to bail them out, many would find own problems if he were to keep an answer, or a partial answer, to his hard-won freedoms. their dilemma. This was a brand new idea in government, and it sprang from a brand new idea of man himself. Success, financially, is not all a It was an idealistic and Christian matter of brains, or even ability, concept of humanity such as had though of course a good noodle not been known in recorded his- is no drawback. More often than tory. But, above all, it was a prac- not success, and all it implies, is tical philosophy, too. It worked. It the reward of ordinary men will- squared with man’s universal ing to put forth extraordinary ef- quest and hope for happiness, and fort. In this game, persistence belief in himself. But in the course is better than pulsating genius. of time it became an old idea, or Our nation became great, pros- so it seemed, so fast did events Because Men Were Free ===== PAGE 46 ===== 44 THE FREEMAN February move in this new America. Sooner government to make them secure. or later this idea, this new concept, I am reminded of an Indian had to collide with the worshipers whose wagon tongue was much too of all things new. short for his team. “I cut him off Of course there is nothing new and cut him off. Still he too short,” about slavery. There is nothing complained the Redman. new about a system which makes Perhaps, in an abstract sort of the individual a total subject of way, both the Indian and the folks the State, takes away his free- under discussion are right. Maybe doms, prerogatives, responsibili- it ought to be possible to make a ties, along with his problems, and thing longer by cutting it off. places his fate at the pleasure of Maybe government ought to work others. But it was a new idea in these things out for us, give us America, anyway, and, ergo, it security, good health, happiness, must be good. achievement, even a pleasing per- This division of responsibility sonality. Perhaps if we could find was fully upheld and extolled in a couple of million people with the the schools, with more and more brains of a genius and the morals emphasis on “team work,” “work- of a saint, and give them all power, ing with the group,” and similar they could do it. But where are we slogans, less and less stress on in- to find so many nice, profound dividual effort and the expression folks? of the individual personality. And I don’t think we're likely to find all too soon that same individual them under a system that wor- came to see his problems less and ships mediocrity and glorifies “the less as personal challenges, but as common man.” something others ought to resolve As government grows bigger for him. By “others” he meant the and assumes more and more of the “guv'mint.” Who else? citizen’s prerogatives, it must seek more and more personnel from an “Give Us Security” ever dwindling supply of eligible Now a peculiar thing happened. material. More and more people Just as soon as Mr. and Mrs. with no basic fitness or training American Citizen placed their se- in the exacting business of gov- curity, and their financial prob- ernment must be taken on the pay- lems, in the hands of others, mean- rolls. So we may as well get recon- ing the State, they began to feel ciled to the fact that big govern- insecure. And the more insecure ment will always be, and by its they felt, the louder they yelled to very nature must be, inefficient, ===== PAGE 47 ===== 1958 RENAISSANCE IN RESPONSIBILITY 45 corrupt, arbitrary, irresponsible, away. Nature abhors a useless ap- and often just plain stupid. pendage or an unused faculty. As Looking to this kind of a gov- we look more and more to govern- ernment for security in our old ment, to “society,” for answers to age, for the solution to all sorts of problems which affect us person- personal, social, and economic ally, we become ever less able to problems is a most grave mistake, cope with them, and require more I believe. I realize some problems and more outside help. This could are difficult, perhaps a few insolu- lead to a “chain reaction” of fatal ble by the individual, working scope, more and more needing alone by himself. In such cases he help, fewer and fewer to do the should have help, and no odium helping. should attach to that help. But the help should be of a kind cal- Education Needed culated to restore him to useful- However, powerful forces are ness and self-respect. This is not at last at work to rekindle the con- only the best kind of help; it is cept of individual responsibility, the only real and permanent help. reward, and personal freedom, Certainly most problems can best which blazed brightly on this con- be solved by the individual him- tinent as man proclaimed the self, if he were permitted and strange doctrine that “that gov- once more encouraged to do so. ernment governs best which gov- He cannot solve his financial erns least.” And that government problem so long as government was made to serve man, rather taxes away from 20 to 91 per cent than the other way ’round. of his earnings. But even with in- The most difficult part will be come taxes at near confiscatory to “sell” freedom to millions of levels it is still possible, for those young people who have never who need to do so most, to greatly known freedom, and to prove to improve their fiscal status by deal- them that the only real, perma- ing with the problem on a personal nent, lasting security is that which basis. the individual can create for him- Probably the most ‘insidious self, acting as a free and account- thing about looking to others for able human being. the solution to problems and diffi- People never miss what they culties is that we could, in time, have never known. Millions of lose all power to do for ourselves, young people have never known like the gulls of St. Augustine what it means to be able to start when the shrimp boats moved and operate a business without a ===== PAGE 48 ===== 46 THE FREEMAN February corps of lawyers at their elbows, But not hopelessly mixed. There and to keep what the business are still avenues for escape, made. Millions of young farmers through a man’s own efforts. His have never known what it means problem as an individual is part to be free to plant crops of their of an even bigger problem which choosing, as much as they choose, he has, in most cases, blithely to sell to the highest bidder. Few created for himself. He can best young people have ever held a gold begin to set his own affairs in piece in their hands, or known order when he is better informed any incorruptible money. These, I of the problem in its total aspects. submit, are formidable obstacles. But they are not insurmountable. I believe a renaissance of per- What the people once lightly gave sonal, individual responsibility away, they can take back. But first and moral accountability is the there must be desire. thing most needed today. Some- day we shall have to stop blaming Personal Development “society” for our failures, stop Serious inroads have already blaming the other fellow when our been made on our precious liber- personal affairs go haywire. Gov- ties and freedoms, yielded by us ernment can only solve one per- a bit at a time on a thousand son’s problem by adding to the fronts. But we have time— problem of another. It cannot get enough, if we will use it — to an- at the root of your difficulty, or chor those freedoms we still have my trouble, never has, never will. and to regain some of those lost. Vexing as our personal financial Here, indeed, is one field where state may be, the only practical ap- “group action” is loudly indicated. proach is still a personal one, Here the most individualistic indi- using our resources and intelli- vidual should find a common rally- gence as best we can. While we ing ground, not to merge and sub- may not have to do the job all merge himself in the mass, but to alone, we had best assume we shall guarantee his survival as a per- have to do so. Many people have sonality. achieved great things simply by So we see that the fate and prob- depending on themselves and hav- lems of the individual are badly ing faith in themselves. But no one mixed with the modern misnamed has ever gotten very far by pur- “liberalism” which rules today. suing an opposite course. eo eo eo ===== PAGE 49 ===== he Preservadion of Liberty TOWNER PHELAN 11 T 18S of vital importance that the public or over world capitalism. American people understand Khrushchev put Lenin’s funeral the nature of our epic struggle dirge in slightly different lan- with the Soviet Union. It is likely guage when, at a reception in to continue for generations. Its Moscow, he told Western diplo- scope is world-wide. It is not lim- mats, “We shall bury you.” ited to foreign affairs but includes Lenin wrote: “Force alone can our domestic institutions. Qur ob- settle the great problems of polit- jectives are twofold: first, to pro- ical liberty and class struggle, tect our national independence — and it is our business to prepare our freedom from Soviet con- and organize this force.” quest; second and scarcely less im- “The revolutionary dictatorship portant, to preserve the institu- of the proletariat is power won tions of a free society. We shall and maintained by violence of the not win that struggle if we be- proletariat against the bour- come a totalitarian country even geoisie, power that is unrestricted though we preserve our national by any laws.” independence. “Until the final issue is decided, - The announced objective of the the state of awful war will con- Soviet Union is world conquest. tinue.” It has never been renounced but Khrushchev in his report of the has been constantly reiterated. EE—— Leni tlined that obiecti Lenin, V. 1., Selected Works. Moscow: emn outhn JECUIVe corporative Publishing Society, 1935, clearly: Vol. VIII, p. 297. (Note: This and many “As long as capitalism and so- other quotations from communist sources ali ist t li . taken from Struggle on a New Plane cla 1Sm exis , We cannot live In yy gj Edgar Hoover, Director of the peace: in the end, one or the other F.B.L) will triumph — a funeral dirge will /bid. Vol. III, p. 54. : . 3Ibid., Vol. VII, p. 123. be sung either over the Soviet Re- «iq. vol. 1X, Patz. Mr. Phelan is a banker and a leading libertarian from St. Louis, Missouri. 47 ===== PAGE 50 ===== 48 THE FREEMAN February Central Committee Twentieth Con- every level —it penetrates every gress of the Communist party of institution of our society. A dec- the Soviet Union, February 14, ade ago the Harvard economist, 1956, said: Sumner H. Slichter, wrote this “Today our party. . . is confi- about the United States: dently leading the country along “Its institutions are under at- the path pointed out by the great tack. In fact the attack against Lenin.”® them is the best organized and “Revolutionary theory is not a most carefully planned that has collection of petrified dogmas and ever been launched against eco- formulas, but a militant guide to nomic and political arrangements. action in transforming the world, It has its purpose of destroying in building communism.” these institutions and replacing Lenin explains why the smiles them with very different ones.”$ of the “Summit Conference” and talk of “peaceful coexistence’ have been followed by the savagery of The target for the organized at- Hungary and the unrelenting tacks against our institutions is struggle of the Soviet Union to individual liberty — the immediate take over the Middle East. He ex- point of attack is directed against plains why the present Soviet tac- private property. This is true be- tics will in due time again be fol- cause the most effective way to lowed by a revival of the “popular destroy liberty is to do away with front” tactics again to befuddle private property. Without private and entrap our gullible liberals. property every man would be a Lenin’s explanation is expressed slave of the State. He would be a in these words: slave because he would depend “Without concessions we shall upon the State for his livelihood. not be able to carry out our pro- In 1950 Senator Paul H. Douglas, gramme — concessions do not mean who is no conservative, wrote: peace with capitalism but war on “Men will not be free . .. [if] a new plane,”” the same group that controls jobs Our struggle to prevent world will control the government.”? conquest by the Soviet Union is He suggested that the then Brit- not limited to the fields of diplo- "Slichter, Sumner H. The American macy and war. It is fought on Economy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, — Inec., 1948. p. 4. “Soviet News, London, England, p. 79. %PFrcedom and the Diffusion of Power” %1bid., p. 89. in P'roceedings of the Academy of Politi- "Lenin, op. cit., Vol. VIII, p, 298. cal Science, May 19650, p. 126. The Target and the Attack ===== PAGE 51 ===== 1958 THE PRESERVATION OF LIBERTY 49 ish Labor Government would “use property and the responsibility to their power to crush...their polit~- manage it faithfully. This involves tical opponents’ if the Labor Gov- the private possession and man- ernment were to take over all agement of tools, sometimes British industry instead of the 20 known as ‘capitalism.’ The denial per cent then nationalized.l® of the right of ownership is the Capitalism is, by definition, pri- precise condition of bondage.”!! vate ownership and control of business. Its only alternative is Private Property Threatened State ownership and control of Private property is the only business. Under State ownership effective safeguard to individual “one set of men” would control liberty. The persistent and well- both “jobs” and “government.” organized attacks upon private Senator Douglas says that, if this property and hence upon individ- happens, “men will not be free.” ual liberty are both domestic and If all power is concentrated in the world-wide. In the main they are State, it is of no importance, in carried on, at least in the United the long run, whether that State States, by noncommunists. They represents communism, fascism, have wide-spread support in aca- British socialism, or Welfare Stat- demic and church circles. For ex- ism carried to its logical conclu- ample, in 1948 the World Council sion, or any other “ism.” The men of Churches meeting at Amster- who control such a State may start dam adopted a report which said: with the best intentions — but “The Christian Churches should they will end as bloody tyramts. It reject the ideologies of both com- is impossible to reject capitalism munism and laissez-faire capital- except in favor of its only alterna- ism.” tive, the omnipotent State, under This naive and unrealistic view which man cannot be free and his equates Soviet slave labor camps dignity will not be respected. and the brutal suppression of the We quote from a statement of Hungarian revolt with the right Jasper E. Crane to the National to own property which is the foun- Council of Presbyterian Men: dation of democracy and freedom. “Liberty is the individual per- In rejecting capitalism it rejects son’s control of himself, his free- the only kind of organization of dom of choice, his responsibility society within which man can be for his own actions. . . . Human free and his dignity respected — rights include the ownership of "Christianity vs. Totalitarianism” in rbid., p. 124. Faith and Freedom, May, 1950. p. 6. ===== PAGE 52 ===== 50 "THE FREEMAN February that is, a society in which the prise or by government regulation ownership and control of the in- and control. struments of production are in The Federal Power Commis- private hands. sion’s regulation of the price of In the United States the spear- natural gas at the wellhead is the head of the attack on private prop- opening wedge in an attempt to erty is directed against privately make the oil industry into a regu- owned electric power companies. lated public utility. If the price of The immediate objective of those gas is regulated at the wellhead, who oppose the human right to then it would be equally logical own property is to create a gov- to regulate the price of coal at ernmental monopoly of the genera- the mine. It would be equally logi- tion and distribution of electric cal to regulate the price of oil. power. Public power advocates are Gas, coal, and oil are all used for looking to the future and are home heating and for the genera- bending every effort to have tion of electric power. Heretofore, atomic power remain a 100 per regulation has been limited to cent government monopoly. common carriers and to public utilities. Until the government reached out to regulate the price The ultimate objectives of the of gas at the wellhead, regulation self-styled “liberals” go far be- had not been extended to cover the yond the socialization of the power commodities that the carriers and atomic energy industries. The transport or the fuels public goal is the eventual socialization utility companies distribute or use of all large-scale industry. to generate power. A free society rests upon volun- Only during wartime has the tary action — a totalitarian society public been willing to accept gov- upon direction of individual ac- ernment rent, wage, and price tivity by the State. The efforts of controls. But liberal economists those who call themselves liberals have consistently advocated large- are unremittingly directed toward scale government spending, deficit restricting the area of voluntary financing, and government created choice and voluntary action by the easy money — all of which gen- individual and increasing the area erate inflation. Then they wish to of governmentally directed ac- attempt to control the conse- tivity. This can be accomplished quences of planned inflation by cither by government ownership permanent price and rent controls. and operation of business enter- When one of the first acts of the Regulation and Control ===== PAGE 53 ===== 1958 THE PRESERVATION OF LIBERTY 51 first Eisenhower Administration on a crash and a depression. They was to abolish rent and price con- always have done so in the past. trols, liberals filled the air with The admitted inflationists in- dire predictions that unrestrained cluding many legislators, the ‘lib- inflation would follow. Instead, we erals” who are constantly clamor- had a period of relative price sta- ing for bigger government spend- bility and unparalleled prosperity. ing programs, the public power The abolition of rent and price lobby, the school lobby, the home- controls was accompanied by a les- building industry which wants sening of inflationary pressure due subsidized low interest mortgage to Eisenhower’s multibillion dollar credit, and the old-fashioned log- cut in the budget proposed by rolling political pork barrel are Truman. among the formidable forces ex- erted to promote further inflation and its ultimate consequences of Unfortunately, the budget is direct controls —loss of liberty again so large as to generate in- and a depression. flationary pressures notwithstand- In the rest of the world “na- ing the fact that it is balanced. tionalization” of industry and na- And the so-called ‘‘tight money” tural resources, coupled with the policies of the Federal Reserve rejection of basic principles, are authorities have not, as is popu- undermining the right of private larly believed, cut the volume of ownership of property upon which credit outstanding — they have individual liberty depends. In the merely slowed down the rate of so-called undeveloped countries na- Inflationary Pressures increase. tionalization is a thinly veiled dis- Formidable political and special guise for outright expropriation interest pressures are building up — that is, seizure without any com- to add fuel to the inflationary pensation, or only a token pay- fires. Their purpose is to keep our ment, to the former owners. inflationary boom going on an ever-increasing volume of credit. [Intervention Abroad In a word, it is to promote infla- The doctrine is growing in for- tion, which in turn may lead to eign countries — particularly in the imposition of direct price, undeveloped countries — that it is wage, and rent controls and the the duty of the United States and loss of individual liberty. There is other advanced countries to supply also the danger that inflationary investment capital on a continuing booms will sooner or later bring basis through outright govern- ===== PAGE 54 ===== 52 THE FREEMAN February ment grants or loans that could is far more difficult to determine. not stand the scrutiny of ordinary The basic principle is that gov- standards of investment prudence ernmental expenditures, and there- — in a word, loans that are never fore governmental functions, intended to be repaid. should be strictly limited and the Whether or not such intergov- total “tax take” from our citizens ernmental gifts promote interna- should be the minimum amount tional friendship and peace is a necessary to carry on proper and highly debatable question. But necessary governmental functions. those who debate the question Obviously, aiding indigent nations should know that any govern- is nota proper governmental func- mental foreign aid program tends tion. to undermine the right to own Furthermore, in the case of for- private property. The government eign aid, seldom, if ever, has the that gives a gift must first have recipient government used such a taken private property from its gift to develop or defend private own taxpayers. This is likewise ownership of property within its true of any other government ex- borders. All too often the aid goes penditure. Therefore, it is evident to countries which expropriate that the question of foreign aid is private property, as did Egypt merely one segment of a broader with the Suez Canal and Mexico question, namely: What limits with the properties of foreign oil should be placed on the amount of companies. It is of the utmost im- governmental expenditures and on portance to recognize that liberty the purposes for which such ex- and freedom can exist only when penditures should be made? the means of production are in The basic principles involved are private hands. Otherwise, all men easy to express — their exact ap- would be slaves of the omnipotent plication to a particular situation State. LI [10 © EY aov | Each Man’s Duty THE DEFECTS of every government and constitution both as to principle and form must be as open to discussion as the defects of a law, and it is the duty which every man owes to society to point them out. THOMAS PAINE, The Rights of Man ===== PAGE 55 ===== Shades 0 ammurabi ROBERT LEFEVRE A Ralph W. Allhorn stood few weeks. As the party’s senior straight and tall in the vesti- officeholder within the state, he bule as he held the door for his had been the principal speaker. wife, Sarah, and her sister, His ears still thrummed pleas- Martha. He had the feeling of antly to the words of the chairman supreme accomplishment, a trace as he had been introduced. “Fel- of which feeling pushed up the low Americans and loyal party corners of his mouth as he stood workers: Tonight I have the great there gallantly waiting for the privilege and honor to bring you ladies to precede him. the man who . . .” The Senator The dinner meeting held by the glowed inwardly at the bountiful party had had a magnificent turn- recognition that had poured from out. In his mind’s eye he could the lips of Steve Crain, attorney still see the immaculate linen, the and head of the 34th assembly dis- glittering goblets and silver, and trict. Steve had laid it on a little the upturned faces of his fellow thick. But that was politics for party members. It had been not you. And it wasn’t that what he only a victory dinner, in honor of said was overdone. Steve simply the party’s accomplishments dur- had reference to his record in ing the past legislative season, but checking off some of the irrides- also, in essence, an opening salvo cent phrases: leader of patriots; for the new campaign which would emblem of statesmanship; prime get underway in earnest within a mover for good government; lover Mr. LeFevre, President of The Freedom School, Inc., also writes the editorials for the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph. 53 ===== PAGE 56 ===== 54 THE FREEMAN February of the common man; fearless ing over and standing proudly be- champion of equal rights. Of side him. “Don’t you think so, course, when things like this were Martha?” brought up in public, they always “Indeed, I do.” Martha was most sounded a trifle garish. But, the emphatic. “In fact, I just don’t Senator asked himself candidly, see how the other party can ac- how could his achievements have complish a thing with you doing been brought to the attention of such an outstanding job.” the party without descriptive The Senator smirked a bit. phrases which told the story? “Well, quite candidly, Martha, Actually, Steve had chosen his they don’t seem to be doing too words wisely and with economy. much in any case. But, of course, That was it. Economy of words. we can’t say that their own fail- Clearly, concisely, Steve Crain had ures to measure up can be traced let it be known how much the to me.” party, the state itself, even the This was surely an invitation, whole of the American people owed and Martha accepted it with good to the Senator's courageous grace. “Don’t belittle your own efforts. efforts, Ralph. You're good. You : know you are. And the people INSIDE the expansive and friend- should be grateful for the fight ly drawing room of the Senator’s you have made all these years for home the two ladies were flutter- them.” ing about, checking drapes and Into the drawing room now turning on lamps. came the Senator's two children, The Senator preened himself Robert, 14, with horned-rimmed before the large mirror over the glasses and a studious expression, mantel of the fireplace, which was and Barbara, 12, pretty but with now aglow with flaming gas jets braces on her teeth and a provoca- shedding their warmth and cheer. tive upturned nose generously Gray at the temples, with large freckled. features rather craggy but lined Barbara ran to her father and with purpose, he well knew that threw her arms around him in some of his popularity could be girlish joy. Robert, on the other traced directly to that rather rug- hand, halted in the doorway and ged physiognomy with which na- with a teenage show of dignity de- ture had equipped him. clared, “Greetings, pater. Hello, “Oh, Ralph, you were simply Mom and Aunt Martha.” wonderful,” sighed his wife, com- “Goodness,” said Sarah, “why ===== PAGE 57 ===== 1958 : SHADES OF HAMMURABI 55 aren’t you children in bed?” Reluctantly Barbara pulled her- “Ah, Mom,” protested Barbara, self away from her father, and snuggling her head against her the two children retired to a cor- father’s vest, “it isn’t late. And ner of the drawing room where I’ve just got to talk to Daddy.” some bookshelves held works of She looked up into her father’s considerable fascination, at least face with adoration. “You're away insofar as the scion of the family so much I hardly ever get to see was concerned. you.” The Senator sighed and ran his WITH the children temporarily fingers absently through the long effaced, Sarah turned again to her locks so close to him. Life was husband. “Your speech was won- very good, he decided. A fine wife. derful, Ralph. The people love you Wonderful children. And a suc- and trust you. And I'm very cessful career. What more could proud.” any man want? Further, he had to “Yes,” said the Senator expan- admit, his wasn’t just any career. sively, “it was a pretty good He had always placed public serv- speech.” ice ahead of everything else. He “Pretty good!” snorted Martha. had seen his duty and he had done “It was magnificent. 1 particu- it. larly liked that part about pre- But Robert from the doorway venting the strong — the free en- was looking disdainfully at his terprisers — from oppressing the sister. “Aw, Barb . .. cut out that weak. That was superb.” mush with Dad. Don’t beso... so “Did I say that?” The Senator juvenile.” beamed with pleasure. “Where- Sarah was not to be put off. abouts in my talk was that?” “It’s a way past your bedtime, “Just ask Martha, Ralph,” youngsters. Off you go.” chimed in Sarah. “I think she just “Don’t be like that, Mom.” about memorizes everything you Robert was as stiffly erect as his say.” father. His voice was changing “All right, Martha. Just how and the unexpected soprano notes did I put it?” that intruded occasionally gave > “You said,” and Martha couldn't him considerable embarrassment, resist a hint of the Senator’s own but he manfully strove not to histrionics as she spoke, “ ‘We notice. “It’s only ten. And besides, must cause justice to prevail in I've got some studying to do. the land. To obtain justice, the Come, Barb.” wicked and evil must be destroyed. ===== PAGE 58 ===== 56 THE FREEMAN February This means that the selfish inter- the businessman against unfair ests, the free enterprisers who competition, the student by insist- have fought so diligently to pre- ing on larger, more modern, and vent the building of the great Con- more adequate school construction. swerve Dam, had to meet the full And as God is my witness, I stand measure of their own wrong doing. forever on the firm rock of inter- This I have done. I have prevented national peace and good will by the strong from oppressing the means of the United Nations.” ” weak. I have furthered the wel- Even the Senator was moved by fare of the people. The dam is go- this mirror of his own eloquence. ing forward, backed by federal He was speechless for a moment; funds so that all the people shall Sarah sighed and leaned against benefit by the free use of what all him, and the world was his. the people own.” ” The Senator nodded. “That BuUuT THERE WAS a disturbance was pretty strong. But it was true. from the corner into which the two I'm glad I put it just that way.” children had retired. Martha was now in her element. With an intense whisper Bar- “That wasn’t the only part of bara was saying, ‘“He did not!” what you said that was strong And with equal intensity her and to the point. Really, Ralph, brother hissed back, “He did, you were tremendous. You even too!” brought tears to my eyes. You “He did not!” said: ‘God has seen fit to grant “He did, too!” that the people, in their wisdom, “Children!” Sarah was most have returned me to office a second stern. “What is that all about?” time. This, as I interpret it, be- “Well, Mom,” explained Robert, stows upon me a sacred trust, or- “Barb says that Hammurabi never dained from the Most High. It is said anything at all like what Dad my solemn pledge that I shall sup- said at the meeting tonight. But port the people in their need. I he did!” shall stand foursquare for govern- “Who, in heaven's name, is ment owned and operated water Hammurabi?” inquired the Sena- power, water conservation, irriga- tor. The name sounded foreign. tion, and flood and storm control. Probably some congressman from Let it be emblazoned on my record a neighboring state. He never that I have stood for the abun- could keep track of the names of dance of my constituents. I have all the congressmen. There were supported the farmer in his plight, so many of them. ‘“Has someone ===== PAGE 59 ===== 1958 SHADES OF HAMMURABI 57 been parroting my remarks?” named by Bel, am I, who brought Barbara was almost in tears. about plenty and abundance; who “It’s not fair. Rob is trying to... made everything for Nippur and to belittle Daddy. He's . . . he’s Durilu complete . . . who gave life smearing him, that’s what he's to the city of Uruk; who supplied doing!” water in abundance to its inhabit- Martha was aghast and Sarah ants .. . who made the city of was frowning seriously. “Tell me Borsippa beautiful ... who helped this minute what this is all about. his people in time of need; who I will not have you children sitting establishes in security their prop- in judgment on your father. He erty in Babylon; the governor of is a great man. Much of what he the people, the servant, whose talks about is away over your deeds are pleasing to Anunit.” heads, so don’t you try to... to There was silence in the room, . well, to compare him with intruded upon only by the gentle others. You just don’t know what hissing of the gas jets in the fire- you are talking about.” place. “But I do know, Mom.” Robert was firmly in charge of the situa- THE SENATOR was the first to re- tion. “It’s all down in writing.” cover. “Let me see that.” He came from the corner lug- Dutifully, Robert handed over ging a large volume bound in the volume. black. “See, it’s right here.” “It’s not at all like what Daddy The book was Our Oriental Her- was saying, is it?” cried Barbara. itage by Will Durant, and Robert “It is 80,” insisted Robert. “It’s had it open to page 219. “Let me almost exactly alike. That’s all I'm read it to you.” trying to show you.” Clearing his throat and striking “Let me look too, Ralph.” Martha a dramatically awkward pose, came forward and the three adults Robert proceeded: “At that time bent their heads over the large Anu and Bel called me, Hammu- pages. rabi, the exalted prince, the wor- “Well. ..er,ah ...well...” shiper of the gods, to cause justice The Senator was struggling for to prevail in the land, to destroy words. “This does seem to para- the wicked and the evil, to pre- phrase what I was getting at to- vent the strong from oppressing night, doesn’t it, Martha?” the weak . . . to enlighten the land “What if it does?” Martha was and to further the welfare of the defiant. “As far as I'm concerned, people. Hammurabi, the governor it just goes to show how truly ===== PAGE 60 ===== 58 THE FREEMAN February it RE “i re n Hammurabi, King of Babylon, stands before the sun god, Shamash, who is ordering him to establish just and righteous laws. This relief was at the top of the Code of Hammurabi, written about 2000 B.C. Though scholarly historians may differ as to Hammurabi's exact role, there seems little doubt that he meant to “do good” to the people and that price controls, minimum wage laws, and numerous other regu- lations were among the “welfare” de- vices he employed. Arnold Toynbee refers to him as “the Diocletian rather than the Trajan of Sumeric history.” Photograph, Courtesy of the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago great you are. This Hammurabi, I'm not trying to say that Dad is whoever he was, must have been a liar. I'm just trying to show you a very great man.” that Hammurabi was a liar. And “Isn’t that true, Robert?” His it’s true that what Dad said and mother was accusing. what Hammurabi said were the “Well, in a way, it is true.” same.” Robert now felt that everyone was “That will be all!” Sarah’s eyes against him and that in some way were blazing. “Your father, the he was personally responsible for Senator, is loved and respected by what Mr. Durant had written. everyone. I will not have him held “But actually, he was a liar.” up to scorn and ridicule in his own “Oh, Robert,” gasped Sarah, home. Go to your room!” “how could you ever say such a But the Senator intervened. thing?” “Now, Sarah. Robby doesn’t mean “But it’s true, Mom. Honest. to make it sound as badly as it did. ===== PAGE 61 ===== 1958 SHADES OF HAMMURABI 59 Tell us about Hammurabi, son. to have established a permanent Why do you say he was a liar?” government and peace and secu- Robert stood his ground. “My rity for all future time to come. history teacher said he was a And that makes him a liar, Dad, liar, Dad. And what he said and because the civilization he was what happened afterwards prove talking about is no more. So he it. That part in there that I read couldn’t have done what he said to you is just something taken he did, because if he had, it would from a big stone cylinder that still be there.” Hammurabi had made when he This was quite a speech for was king in Babylon. That was Robert. But now that he'd said about 2000 B.C. Hammurabi, my what he had, his position seemed history teacher said, was a ‘do- suddenly immaterial. He didn’t gooder.” He.caused all the people want to hurt his father. He just to be taxed so that big expensive had a passion for truth and it had palaces could be built for him to seemed to him that his father had live in. He said he was doing it for been a little too self-satisfied. Now the people, but the people lost their he was afraid. And tears came to money and lived in bondage under his eyes, which the adults didn’t him and the other kings who came gee because of those enormous after him. glasses. “He said he brought water to “Very interesting,” commented the people of his area. But that the Senator. But his mind was in isn’t true. Some French archeolo- a whirl. If some opponent of his gists dug up the remains of a very had made charges such as this, he ancient civilization not far from could have employed all of his po- the site of Babylon. And they dis- litical sagacity and charm in skirt- covered in the mummified remains ing the issue, misleading the au- of some workmen that they found, dience, ridiculing his opposition. grains of millet. And by that proc- But in his own home . . . he didn’t ess they were able to determine know where to begin. And there that the land around Babylon had was a most uncomfortable feeling been irrigated with lots of water which was beginning to bring a for centuries before Hammurabi flush under his collar that Robert was made king. He just took the was right. credit for things other people had Sarah now took charge. “All done. right, Robert. Thank you for help- “And then, if you read further ing us with our education. I don’t in there, you’ll see that he claims see that anything you have said ===== PAGE 62 ===== 60 THE FREEMAN February makes any difference at all.” And After a few awkward moments with a real show of authority she Martha, too, excused herself and bustled the children out and up- retired to her room, leaving the stairs. Senator alone with his thoughts. Cc oo In addition to Will Durant’'s Qur Orien- Jastrow, Morris. Civilization of Baby- tal Heritage (New York: Simon & Schus- lonia and Assyria, Philadelphia: Lippin- ter, 1935), the following references may cott, 1915. throw further light on the nature of Rawlinson, George. The Five Great Hammurabi’s reign: Monarchics of the Ancient Eastern Harper, R. F. Code of Hammurabi. World. London: Joseph Murray, 1862- Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1867, 4 volumes. Callaghan & Co., 1904. Dawson, Christopher. Enquiries into Assyrian and Babylonian Literature. Religion and Culture. New York: Sheed New York: D, Appleton & Co., 1901. and Ward, Inc., 1933. We invite your subscription to MODERN AGL A CONSERVATIVE REVIEW VoL. 11, No. 1 (Winter 1957-58) Edited by RusskeLL Kirk A special number on Education and Society: “The Restoration of American Learning” Contains a Symposium on “INTELLECTUALITY AND Wispom” “Intellectuals, Experts, and the Classless Society” by Thomas Molnar; “The Foremost Philosopher of the Age” by Francis Graham Wilson; “A Footnote on Academic Freedom” hy Robert Raynolds; and “The Present Impasse of the ldea of Progress” by Peter Stanlis. Three dollars per year One dollar per copy Address: FounpaTion ror ForeigN Arrairs, INC. 64 East Jackson Boulevard, Chicago 4, Illinois Free sample copy ===== PAGE 63 ===== So A REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK vo J oo \ \, N ASE oe N a yd 7 N . \ : IN N CS “OH, EAST, IS EAST AND WEST IS WEST, AND AY ' / ; . AN NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET” ) IN N, \, Fi John Chamberlain \\% HEN those of us who are now Fiscal and Political Education middle-aged were in school, (Van Nostrand, 424 pp., $4.95) is we took specific courses in history, an extremely welcome interruption government, civics, and the like. of an all-too-pervasive trend. This Today the “specifics” are fre- book is an excellent introduction quently merged into an all-embrac- to the facts of international life ing category called “social stud- in the epoch of the Cold War. ies.” The loss of precision and After reading it and digesting it, definition is important, for as the no teen-ager with a slightly better- elastic band stretches, basic prin- than-average IQ will ever be de- ciples become vague, and even luded by a speech of Khrushchev or facts cease to have weight. One the propaganda of some of our learns that the UN is “where the more vociferous “peace” societies. nations cooperate” (my ten-year- If UNESCO were a living force old son’s description), not that co- for education, it would have this operation depends on finding a book translated and distributed in common objective (as in the case many countries. of a military alliance). Democracy Versus Communism Since it seems to be the prime makes it indelibly plain that the intention of a vast number of world is divided; that communism American “educators” to keep the and freedom are irreconcilable young in a state of suspended ani- concepts; that communists en- mation insofar as learning the gage in falsehood on principle; principles of international politics that words as used by communists is concerned, a book such as are frequently distorted to cover Kenneth Colegrove’s Democracy a reality that is quite opposite to Versus Communism, edited ‘by what the words themselves actu- Hall Bartlett for the Institute of ally mean; et cetera, et cetera. All 61 ===== PAGE 64 ===== 62 THE FREEMAN February this is very much to the good. The the history or principles of the illustrations (cartoons, drawings, American Republic that certain models) are sprightly; the little shortcomings begin to bulk large. boxes (see the one on “The Sick The author has fully understood Chicken Case” which tells about the meaning of “communism.” It the Supreme Court’s invalidation cannot be said that he has reached of price-fixing codes) make for a a fundamental understanding as refreshing variation of the main to the meaning of “democracy.” text. As for the body of the writ- He starts out bravely enough ing, it is pitched to the supposed when it is a question of dealing mentality of boys and girls of high with the origins of free govern- school age. Whether one ought to ments in the West. He knows what purge high school texts of the Locke and Jefferson said. He literary pleasures of suggestion, knows that John Adams approved allusiveness, irony, humor, and of the Massachusetts State Consti- sheer good spirits may be ques- tution because it provided for a tioned. But if the prime virtue of “government of laws, not men.” good high school teaching is lucid- He knows that the property right ity, Democracy Versus Commu- is just as much a human right as nism must stand high on the list. freedom of religion or of the press. He knows that minorities should Doubts About Democracy be protected — which means that The book is, of course, “intro- he is not for ‘“majoritarian” de- ductory.” Right here there arises mocracy. an important question: just what But when the book, in its his- was the full intention of its author, torical aspects, approaches the its sponsors, and its numerous present, its acceptance of the “advisory” editors (including Dr. Benthamite theory that law should Erling M. Hunt, chairman of the promote ‘the greatest happiness Department of Social Studies in of the greatest number” tends to Teachers College, who contributes introduce a note of confusion. Who an introduction) ? Considered as a can really know anything about preparation for future courses on “happiness” in respect to ‘“num- international relations, Democracy bers”? What, to cite an extremity, Versus Communism could hardly if 51 per cent of the people were be bettered. It tells why Moscow to define their happiness as can- is bound to be a continuing nibalism? The ‘greatest happi- menace. It is only when one thinks ness” test, since it must be a sub- of the book as an introduction to jective guess where it is not a ===== PAGE 65 ===== 1958 A REVIEWER’S NOTEBOOK 63 crude matter of plebiscite, can lead own fortress of freedom is vulner- to all manner of tyrannies. The able? “The line,” so the author author of Democracy Versus Com- insists, “shifts with the need of munis is clear on the point that the times.” And he quotes that Jefferson posited some unalienable hoary old chestnut of Mr. Justice natural rights, but he is not at Holmes that the ‘right of free all clear that a right should not speech” does not include the right be’ subjected to the Benthamite to shout “fire” in a crowded test. An “unalienable right” must theater. be beyond the reach of numbers, Mr. Justice Holmes was, of or it is no right. It is merely a course, quite correct in his obser- convenience that is sanctioned for vation. But what the author of the moment by the positive law this book fails to perceive is that of majoritarian legislators. the quotation of the Holmes’ dic- tum usually leads to a confusion of categories. A theater may be a The test of the author’s convic- public place, but it is also private tions (or lack of convictions) is property. And the owners of prop- his treatment of the idea of the erty are privileged to formulate “general welfare.” He asks: “How the rules of behavior which are far should government go?” But to govern its use by those who in the case of such things as com- pay rent or fee. Clearly any pulsory union shop, the TVA prin- theater owner who would give his ciple, and the right of government patrons permission to cause a to limit the cut of timber in a stampede by shouting “fire” on the privately owned forest, he has no premises should be put under sur- answer to his own question. Is veillance as a potential menace to “democracy,” then, anything that the right to life and limb. “democracy” cares to do? Again, the author of Democracy The question becomes important Versus Communism justifies state to any consideration of what it is intervention in the economic proc- that we are supposed to be defend- ess by observing that “we have ing against the Moscow-directed traffic laws to regulate automobile drive to take us all over. If, as the and truck travel.” Here, once author says, “there is no exact more, is a confusion of categories. dividing line between individual Roads are owned by the state, or liberty and government author- the community, and the owners ity,” how are the students who have the right to formulate rules read this book to know where their to cover the use of their property. Are There No Limits? ===== PAGE 66 ===== 64 THE FREEMAN February “’Necessity’’ versus Rights into the Gulf of Mexico to make If we are sharp enough to dis- new land. Is this any reason why tinguish between such things as the people should be taxed to do the right to free speech and the it? right to formulate rules for the On page 303 the author says use of property, there should be that “public housing for small-in- little difficulty in determining such come families has become a neces- larger issues as the “dividing line sity.” Well, such housing may between individual liberty and seem a “necessity” if the govern- government authority.” There ment has made costs prohibitive will, inevitably, be twilight zone by inflating the currency, or by areas and twilight zone questions, allowing a painters’ union to limit such as the right to take unlimited the size of paint brushes, or by oil from an underground pool insisting that the thickness of ply- which is not contained by property wood walls shall be governed by boundaries. But when the editors building codes designed originally of Democracy Versus Communism for brick. But if one is to use justify the TVA on the ground “necessity,” not rights, as the that the government has the right gauge with which to test govern- to engage in business activity ment economic activity, where “when private enterprise lacks the does one stop? And by what - resources for...a huge develop- standard does one have a right to ment,” they are clearly crossing complain when the communists the proper dividing line between seize the kitchen gardens of the individual liberty and government peasants? Khrushchev has just authority. Private enterprise done that in the name of ‘“neces- might be reluctant to undertake sity.” the job of leveling the Rocky It may seem ungracious to Mountains and dumping the earth single out certain passages of Democracy Versus Communism for attack. But the book is so good Any book reviewed in this Book Section (or as an Introduction to sonten- any other current book) supplied by return porary international affairs that mail. You pay only the bookstore price. We one wishes it could be commended pay the postage anywhere in the world. . . Catalogue on request. as a proper introduction to the THE BOOKMAILER, Box 101, New York 16 | Practice of government at home. ® Oo ===== PAGE 67 ===== i] -. . = r [EN Lei e » : SS ine even ce ome Who gave the party for Mary? Her parents, of course. And they and women who supply electric had the help of hundreds of other service for Mary’s house. It’s hard people—men and women that to imagine life without the electric- Mary’s parents don’t even know. ity they provide—for everyone de- These people helped Mother bake pends on electricity for dozens of the cake and cook the party food. jobs all over the house. They helped freeze the ice cream, If you add up all the ways you sew Mary's dress, and wash and put electricity to work, you'll be iron it. They helped heat, light and ~~ surprised. Can you think of any- clean the house for the party. thing else that gives so much value, These busy people are the men day in and day out, for so little cost? America’s Independent Electric Light and Power Companies * Company names on request through this magazine ===== PAGE 68 ===== FROM A LIBERTARIAN’'S LIBRARY Te PRICE SYSTEM is the control board, the regulator, the ther- mostat — as it has been variously put — by which economic conduct is determined in a private-enterprise economy. The guidance provided by prices has two main aspects. In the first place, by setting up judgments as to the significance of each factor the price system calls forth and allocates the available | productive resources. Under the influence of price each factor flows into the channel which — according to the market's evalua- tion — promises the greatest result. In the second place, through the same market appraisal that directs the utilization of pro- | ductive factors, the price mechanism awards shares in output to those who furnish personal services of various kinds, to those who — by accumulating and investing — provide the tools, and to all others who make contributions in the opinion of the market. Moreover, prices chart the course of the consumer as he utilizes the general claim to output which has been awarded to him. \ A selection from Shirtsleeve Economics: A Commonsense Survey by \ William A. Paton, Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., New York. 460 pp. $4.50.