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Show Freedom Is IM a Hatural Oight At this season the economist:"": present their summa'1-jes summa'1-jes of what lias happened in the past and what is anticipation anticipat-ion for the futuro. There are problems and maladjustments, notably in certain brandies of aRruculture. L5ut the overall over-all picture is one of extraordinary material progress and achievement probably the greatest recorded in history. The Secretary of the Treasury, George Humphrey, has described "what millions of Americans have been actually making of our economy." Our total production of goods and services is not far from $400,000,000,000 a year which works out to seven times the 1900 level after allowance allow-ance is made for price rises. It is of the utmost significance that the greatest share of this goes not to the wealthy, but to the people in the lower and middle income groups. Where, early in he century, only one family in 10 earned as much as $4,000 a year in terms of today's prices, now half of our families earn more than $4,000. The fruits of this are found in statistics which are es-tonishing es-tonishing by any standard. At the turn of the century-there century-there were 14 million life insurance policies in force in this country now there are 250 million. In 1900 individuals had liquid savings of all types amounting to less than $10 billion now the total exceeds $235 billion. More than 15 million Americans have over $30 billion invested in pension pen-sion and retirement trust funds which didn't exist in 1900. Close to 10 per cent of all our families today own stock in American corporations, while 55 per cent live in homes of their own. What all this means, in Mr. Humphrey's phrase, is that "the basic interests of the man in overalls are today the same as the basic interests of the man in the business .suit." He uses inflation as an example of that mutuality of trite rrst. Between 1939 and 1953 inflation "stole" $178 out at each $1,000 savings almost half. It did that by cheap-tfnir4j cheap-tfnir4j the dollar by cutting its purchasing power. That brings up an ever-existing danger. It is commonplace common-place to read political programs which propose tax reduction reduc-tion on the one hand and, on the other, all manner of increased in-creased federal expenditures for social security, for roads -nd schools, for public housing, for public power development, develop-ment, and so on. How could such programs be put into effect? ef-fect? In only one way by running the government farther far-ther into debt through a series of huge deficits. Then renewed re-newed inflation would follow as day follows night, and the people would be "robbed" of their savings again. No other results could be expected from a policy of taxing less while spending more. And, along with the material losses, the individual in-dividual would lose opportunity and freedoms a price always exacted by governments which are reckless with the assets of the people, and insatiable in their drive for more and more power over the lives of alii It is far easier to build a system which gives the masses of people freedom along with material well-being than it is to maintain it. Dr. George S. Benson has pointed out that "When you look back down through the pages of history, you will find the wrecks of 19 civilizations. You will find that nowhere in the world at any one spot have people for many generations maintained a good government govern-ment or a good economy." Dcmogogucry, special privilege, successful pressure groups, a gradual wasting away of the principles of individual freedom, responsibility and obligation obliga-tion these were ar.iout the seeds whose crop was disaster. disas-ter. No nation has any natural right to freedom. Freedom must be worked for and earned and everlastingly protected. protect-ed. Material gain is a by-product, so peak, which comes tto those who place the greatest value on the free man and the free society in which lie lives and works. |