Show i NEWS IA By Au LON Released by Western Newspaper Union f V WAR VAR AR EXPERIENCE HAS liAS t DEFEATED SOCIALISM WASHINGTON They say Mr Churchill blundered when he he- claimed socialism would bring a gestapo to the British rob the individual individual individual indi indi- vidual of his rights and make him a slave to the state state state-at at least the political political political cal experts exports say it in chorus here herer r T and a abroad b r 0 a d. d As Ast t P they sec see it Churchill Church Church- i. i il I ill is the man who f t r f rY r. r I i won the war war and yr should have have run for 1 I il reelection on that f. f I platform I wonder j The very day he he- spoke a British- British spirited province in 1 Canada voted on socialism so so- In Ontario a a straight out socialist so so- Churchill r movement called the Cooperative Coopers tive Commonwealth federation had won astonishing success last time gaining 34 seats more than a third of the provincial parliament The program was government ownership ownership owner- owner ship shin of banks insurance companies rai railways ways and and certain heavy heavy indus indus- ind tries This was to be the new rising political movement of the postwar Canadian world but it was nipped far below the bud and in fact killed frost when the people of industrial industrial industrial in in- Ontario where labor is strong cut its power to an insignificant insignificant cant 6 seats in a parliament of 90 votes All Canada is furnishing another test of socialism and you can check the results but if cannot win in the British labor center of Ontario Ontario Ontario On On- tario it cannot hope for much anywhere anywhere anywhere any any- where outside the radical far west farming provinces 1 In Britain the Labor party leader lead lead- er Mr Atlee answered Churchill directly defending the theory of socialism socialism socialism so so- against the ideal of private enterprise for private private pH- pH vate profit While Churchill may have taken political li license license li- li ii- ii cense tense with the gestapo gestapo F tapo deduction he did not exaggerate the basic issue which has been Atlee Alice laid Do you want socialism or free enterprise The war experience of people has not b been en favorable to socialism The he lack of competition among sellers has destroyed the interests of the consumers today and government management has nowhere been satisfactory to the people Unless a buyer can walk out of a store and go to another to purchase what he wants he can never be protected as asto asto asto to the quality of merchandise he buys or as to price no matter how much the government regulates it Every man and woman has found that out to his great discomfort during during during dur dur- ing this war not from books or propaganda but out of his own o daily experience in living Competition is the only thing which protects the consumers who are all the people Government ownership ownership ownership own own- and operation is as noncompetitive noncompetitive noncompetitive non- non competitive as a trust a cartel or ora ora ora a business monopoly Once any single force gets the power of exclusive exclusive exclusive ex ex- operation the buyer must accept the terms Where competition competition competition compe compe- is most active the buyer is best protected Consider the service service service ice the public gets on those western railroads where some are bemoaning bemoaning bemoaning bemoan bemoan- ing the parallel lines It is much better than upon eastern roads which control a monopoly of travel This is true of the buying of all allgoods allgoods allgoods goods or services It is true of hotel accommodations of buying cigarettes cigarettes cigarettes ciga ciga- of renting a house or buying a dress If one power poyer government or private owns all the business or oris oris oris is in control of the operation for any re reason son th the p public lic interests are ae not well served ui Ul course they iney attribute at- at a ai tribute our experiences to a shortage shortage shortage short short- age of goods or help That is true but the economic effect has been the 1 destruction of competition The consumer consumer consumer con con- 1 sumer could be told what to buy and at how much He could not get it across the street cheaper or better In my opinion government ownership ownership ownership owner owner- ship is in the public interest only when it is in itself competitive- competitive competing with private interests to serve the public better Consider the two Canadian railroads one private and one government owned The public gets much better service than if ff the government owned both and j railroading became a business of of government bureaucracy having political political po po- directors decide policies Economically socialism cannot generate like business-like competition In a competitive economy a great I portion of business develops from the necessity of one concern to get ahead of another This stimulates interest interest interest in in- terest in products and sells more of them The very incentive of competition competition competition compe compe- adds to national income I suspect Churchill who was never never nev nev- never er much of a politician may have seized upon the most popular valid issue he could present The labor leaders who took up a proposal to togo toN toNgo go halfway to communism have certainly not chosen the best time Lt f M r S. 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