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Show A LESSON IN CONTRASTS From liberated areas of Europe and Italy have come stories of shocking contrasts in the living standards of the people. While some groups enjoy luxury and plenty, others slowly starve in utter degradation. According to news reports, the former are members of a small minority with enough money to secure comforts in the black market. Perhaps this is the inevitable aftermath of war and economic collapse in which civilization gives way before the brutal law of the dog eat dog. Whatever What-ever it is, Americans, who have been raised in a nation where the emphasis has been on an ever wider distribution distrib-ution of necessities and luxuries, will shudder with compassion com-passion and thank God they are here and not there. It is not an accident that his nation is the best fed sed in the world. That is the result of free mar- kets and unrestricted competition. For example, a few years ago retail merchants developed the chain store idea of merchandising because they realized that expanded expan-ded low cost service to customers was the only answer to the demands of competition. In meeting these de- i mands, they helped introduce healthier living standards. : Today the retail industry is keyed to the needs of the , masses. The same is true of other industry in the , United States. Never before have the productive activities act-ivities of a nation been directed so exclusivly toward benifiting all the people. The tragic fate of Europe's peoples has brought this fact into bold relief as nothing else could. Irrespective of temporary risks or theories, the United Un-ited States must reestablish free markets and unrestricted un-restricted competition after the war or the American people will not continue to reap the full benefits of mass preduction and distribution. |