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Show The National Enterprise, April 28, 1976 Page Three Myths of American Capitalism by Milton Friedman tory. It was an era in which, except for the Civil War, spending by the federal gov- This article has been adapted from a William Arthur ernment never exceeded nineteenth century really set the United States on the road to laissez-fair- e. While the nineteenth cen- more dramatic wray by the numbers of people who came to the United States during that period. That was a period feet. The fact that East Germany had to build a wall to keep people from going from East Germany to West Germany is dramatic evidence in which country the conditions of life w ere better. In the same way, the fact that year after year hundreds of thousands of people left the countries of Europe to come to this country and to make their home here was dramatic evidence that they were coming here to improve their lot and not to worsen it. Far more effective evidence, I believe, than any statistics on per capita real income which show that real income went up decade after decade at a rate of about 2, 3! per year. They came here with empty hands. They came here from the most deprived groups in the old Maddox Memorial Lecture at about 3 percent of the national tury was a period of rugged when wre had completely Rockford College, given by income, a sum which is deri- unrestrained individualism, unrestricted immigration, Mr. Friedman in December sory by today's standards almost every other feature of when anybody could come to 1974, and printed in Rockford when federal government the myth is false. Far from these shores and the motto on College's Widening Horizons. spending is approaching 30 being a period in wrhich the the Statue of Liberty had some The Enterprise reprints it by percent of the national poor wrere being ground under real meaning. This was a permission of the Alternative, income. It wras an era in which the heels of the rich, exploited country of hope and of promthere was, for most of it, n o unmercifully and the like, ise for immigrants and their Jan., 1976. ICC, no FCC, no SEC, and you' there is probably-n- o period in children, and as many as a This morning Im going to pick out any other three letters human history in this or any million immigrants a year deliver a sermon, and my of the alphabet and it wasn't other country in which the came in By 1914 theme comes from Josh Bil- there either. man a of as had third the populaordinary simple roughly It was a period when about large an increase in his stan-- 1 tion of the United States was lings, the famous American humorist of the nineteenth the only interference with dard of living as in the period foreign-boor the immediate could what aside between Civil who do, the War and the descendants of foreign-bosaid, the trouble people century with people aint ignorance, from the taxes that were being First World War, the period Did people come to this its what they know that ain't imposed to finance a small when unrestrained individual- country to be ground under ism was most rugged. The the heels of merciless capitalso. 1 propose to discuss five armed force, courts, legislaand the consisted evidence of this is to be found ists? Did they come to this like, myths about American society tures, which are very widely accep- of a protective tariff on in the statistics that economist country to make their own econo- have constructed of what wras conditions worse? There is no ted, which have a great deal of imports. Laissez-fair- e influence on public attitudes mists objected then as they happening to national income, more dramatic way in world, from Czechoslovakia, and public opinions, and yet object now to such tariffs, but but it is documented in a much people can vote than with their continued on page Ten in of level case the the which in my opinion are any mild tariff was compared to wholly false. The first myth that I want to the duties that wrere imposed talk about is what you might later on. This situation did not call the robber baron myth. In develop, interestingly enough, out of any philosophical belief your courses in history-ordin- ary It developed political history, to a lesser in laissez-fairThe appointment of William recovered all its expenditures WICHITA, Kan-Ene- rgy extent even in courses on much more simply. In the Wichita-baseL. d Husk as coal operations will 1830s, state governments Reserves Group, relating to the properties. economic history--yo- u oil and have learned that the nine- throughout the' country progas producer, manager for Energy Reserves Richard W. Volk, president Group was also announced by teenth century in the United ceeded to engage in what we has announced the final closStates was an era of rugged, would call socialist enterprises ing for the purchase of all and chief executive officer of Volk. Husk will serve as vice unrestrained individualism in They built canals, set up stock of Coal Search CorporaEnergy Reserves Group said, president and general manwhich heartless monopoly commercial banks and exten- tion, the assets of which are completed core drilling and ager of Coal Search Corporacapitalists exploited the poor sive banking systems, they coal leases on 16,000 acres of geologic studies and engineer- tion, the wholly owned subsiing evaluations indicate pro- diary responsible for Energy unmercifully, ground the financed railroads, they put up land in Sevier County, Utah. Energy Reserves Group ven recoverable steam coal Reserves Groups coal mining helpless under their heels, industries. There wras no reserves in excess of 40 mil- operations. and profited at the expense of objection to doing this; this acquired the option to purlion for chase tons. cash and the stock Formerly chief engineer and the rest of the community. The was a great era of government later manager of exploration rich got richer and the poor enterprise. But in the reces- notes totaling $6 million in The construction of one or and properties for Island got poorer- - Wall Street was sion, panic, depression, what- August, 1975 from the Alumet possibly two conventional Creek Coal Company, Lexingset against the working man. ever you want to call it, of Partnership, a group composed of Earth Sciences, Inc., underground mines will com- ton, Ky., Husk has been You will have learned from the 1837, many of these governstandard history book that the ment enterprises went broke. National Steel Corporation mence as' soon as mine plan associated with the mining farmers in the Middle West They turned out to be ineffi- and Southwire Company. The studies and federal permits industry for over 40 years. Sevier County is located in were being ground between cient in the same sense in Alumet Partnership retains are available, he added. the millstone of falling prices which all government enter- certain rights to recoup Because of the long lead times the center of Utah, 150 miles necessary for obtaining gov- south of Salt Lake City. The for the products they sold and prises have been inefficient exploration expenditures for mine acreage is approximately 20 higher prices for the products from that day to this. By when coal mine development ernment permits construction and for securing miles east of Salina in a coal they purchased. You yvill have contrast with the situation commences. The Partnership learned that that was the today, however, they were will also receive a working desirable markets, actual coal basin on federal and private reason for interest in the allowed to go broke and fail. It interest in the leases after production is not expected for land in the Fishlake National Forest. has at least two to three years. greenback political movement was this experience that in the Energy Reserves Group -- ' V the reason for the development of the Populist sentiment in the Middle West and the South, the reason for that magnificent speech by William Jennings Bryan in 1896 when he asked whether mankind shall be crucified on a cross of gold. Thats the myth, and there is hardly any myth, I believe, that. is more deeply imbedded in peoples attitudes. The myth was spread by the reformers, the muckrakers of the early twentieth century, by the intellectuals who contribu-e- d to the drastic change that has occurred in our attitude With over 1600 stock quotations, news articles, earnings reports, corporate profiles, toward the market on one market columns and feature stories, the National Enterprise covers the OTC securities market hand and government on the from coast to coast. other, which has in turn behind closed doors of We make it our business to know what's going on in the industry-fro- m produced such a drastic our of We'll laws in and character the securities keep you posted on the regulations. change corporate board rooms to changing latest developments and abreast of current trends. society in the past forty or fifty years. The National Enterprise gives your investments the kind of coverage they deserve. There is only one element of that myth that is correct. It r Please send me a subscription to the National Enterprise. Enclosed is $18.00. was an era of rugged unresNAME. Mail to: trained individualism. It ivas THE NATIONAL ENTERPRISE ADDRESS. an era with the closest approP.O. BOX 11778 STATE. CITY ZIPSALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84147 ximation to pure economic 1906-07-0- 8. m m. 2-1- 2, h Energy Reserves Consummates Stock Purchase from Alumet Group e. k -- Weve got you Covered one-yea- laissez-fair- e in American his-- i I - |