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Show &woxing $gh AHZAD -r BV GEORGE S. BENSON V rmtdtHl-MardiHj dlhgt . ' A1' v,, i Stung. Arlauut which are driven by millions of Americans, are 50 limes better than the high priced car of 1910 which only the few wealthy people could own. In my opinion, this adequately illustrates the umnatcable benif-its benif-its to the whole population of our inicue American economic system Willi its profit motive, and its free market. Other nations, at times have had some of these three elements in their economic system, but never all three of them together to the' extent that they have been fune-, tionirig in our country. And what about the comparative results? Automobiles serve as a good example. exa-mple. With its free market, keen competition and g'reat incentives. America produces 85 per cent of the world's total automibles, though we have but 7 per cent of the world's population. Do your children know these vitally important facts about the American economic system? If they do not appreciate the worth of our system in bringing about further human progress, then our American heritage is to that extent jeopardized. Let's be sure such facts are taught in our homes and in our schools. WHAT A SYSTKM! When theoriginal 13 states of the U.S.A. began to function as a Constitutional Republic in 1789, the private enterprise economic, system had already demonstrated its great worth as a creator of material welfare wel-fare for a nation's people. Although hampered by the many economic restrictions imposed by Great Britain, the system had revealed several of its basic assets to be unmatched in previous human history. And these assets began to flower when the yoke of Britain's regimentation was thrown off. The most important assets are: The Principle of Private Owener-ship Owener-ship of Property: This most fundamental fund-amental of the elements in the American economic system pro-. pro-. vides the basic incentive that brings from each individual his most productive effort. What each French Guiana, only French pos-spsison pos-spsison on the mainland of North or South America, is France's oldest old-est colonial outpost. The Delcware Riv.r forms a natural boundary for four eastern east-ern states: Deleware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. person produces is his to do with as he pleases. He can work harder and produce more, and have more. And that's what successful Americans Ameri-cans do: they put forth their best effort, and are rewarded. Creating New Wealth The Profit Motive: Profit is property, pro-perty, in one sense. It is a small fraction of created wealth. Therefore, Theref-ore, it comes from production. When an individual produces more than the basic living requirements of himself and family, he turns the surplus into profit which he can use as he sees fit. An automobile is not a basic requirement for survival, nor is a radio set; but most Americ-can Americ-can families want them, and have them because the privileage of earing and keeping enough wealth to afford them. The Free Market: This is not only of benift to business and individual ind-ividual as well. In a free market the individual worker's ability goes to the highest bidder. Tens of thousands of agriculture workers have left the farms and have learned learn-ed industrial skills that bring them bigger cash income. Any employee can advance on his individual efforts ef-forts in a free market system. And of course, the competition existing exist-ing for business and industry constantly gives the consumers a bigger dollar's worth. For the Few How well do I remember the first automible that came to our town 40 years ago. It was a chain driven Metz, a one-seater.- You cranksd it on the side. It had a rubber-bulb horn, high pressure tires, and a buggy top. It broke down constantly. Yet its owner was envied far and wide. Of course, he was the richest man in the area. Only the wealthy could afford an automible when I was a boy. And yet today the're are more autombi-les autombi-les in America than there are families fam-ilies and almost every family owns one. Competion the free market did this. And what it has done in the production of automible,. it has done in many other things, too. When Henry Ford began making his "tin lizzie," automibiles were still beyond the reach of most Americans. But he was determined to outstrip other manufactures, and produce a car that all Americans could own. He won the low-price market but not for long. Chevrolet, Plymouth and others competed. And they competed so well that the product continued constantly to improve. For the Money ? The low priced cars of today, |