Show I Noted Historian Sees fi ti Swan 5 wan S Song ong at H Hand an d t tl l For Dubious H Business if- if f Age of Over Inflation A Will WillI I t Give Way to Systematic Planning Savant Says Editors Editor's Note Nok In the following It t article written exclusively for tor the i United Press Charles A A. Beard 1 noted noUe hb historian applies the historian historians historian's his his- torian's torian objective point of view I. I r to the great problems problem confronting the United States today Beginning Begin Begin- t. t ning nine where The Rise of American Ii Civilization of which he It Is co coauthor co co- author left Id off he finds unmistakable unmistakable unmistakable trends trend toward concentration 1 tion of ot wealth and toward state stat i planning to raise ralie the standard of Hying r f By fly CHARLES A. A BEARD BEARDt It t Copyright 1931 by United Press Pre i NEW MILFORD Conn Oct 5 5 We are arc in the midst of trends so plain that no student of American life Ufe can fail fall to see sec them One is 15 the steady growth of corporate enterprise the concentration of business wealth in inthe inthe the hands of immense combinations On this point the statistics of our economists are indubitable as the hills The second trend is the extent extension exten exten- t sion slon of federal state and municipal undertakings in the economic field regulation planning and enterprises enterprise designed to create better standards standard of living In other words we are at the close clos of the age in which business can In in- in hate expand float dubious issues o of stocks and bonds gather ather UP un the sav say ings of the multitude cut melons and then burst leaving millions of ot men and women who tended its wheels to shift shUt for themselves to sink to degradation degradation dation if it not starvation LAWS IN W WAY YOur Y Our sighted far-sighted economic leaders such as Gerard of the General Genera Electric company see sec the handwriting lag ing on the wall and arc are prepared to accept the new responsibilities But standing in the way of prudent planning are the antitrust acts de designed designed designed de- de signed to force the very kind of disastrous disastrous disastrous dis dis- dis- dis and uncontrolled competition which produces inflation and col col- col- col lapse If there is to be planning in industry then these laws must be re re- re pealed But Is it con conceivable that the people peo peo- pIe of the United States will allow the corporation managers an absolutely absolutely absolutely free tree hand to consolidate merge and stabilize prices No one familiar with American politics can answer in inthe inthe the affirmative If the laws are arc to be repealed then other measures measures measures meas meas- ures will be substituted No single industry can be exempted from the law aw The legislation n must be general and inevitably based upon another system of ot economy than that Incorporated incorporated incorporated in the Sherman and Clayton acts It will accept planning in industry as distinguished from enforced competition competition com corn petition and will wm provide the outlines within which planned economy can proceed and the measures of control necessary to protect public interest Here then seems to be the Inescapable inescapable able ble issues the issues the irrepressible conflict and nd the solution of the contradictions which confront us will call for the best talent the country can an afford Are we equal to it No one can an spend years studying the growth growth- of this bis nation from a few straggling colonies on the Atlantic seaboard to its Ls present proportions without believIng believing be- be lievIng ieving that it is capable of heroic work Whatever r its faults it itis is not defeatist In philosophy hy |