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Show The Price Of Prejudice By Dr. Alfred P. Haako (EDITOR'S NOTE: Alfred P. Haake, Ph. D.; Mayor of Park Ridge, Illinois, is a noted economist, econ-omist, business consultant, lecturer lec-turer and author.) Among the comments explaining explain-ing the election upset was this one from a labor union member in Illinois: "No wbrkingman has a right to vote for a Republican, because Republicans are for the big1 money." One might declaim against the ignorance of that man in failing fail-ing to know something of the "big money" which Mr. Truman and his predecessor recognized and to which, on occasion, they even bowed. One need only scan Mr. Truman's appointments to see that. Among them, a former organizer of the Liberty League, rolling in cotton wealth by blessing bless-ing of the Truman administration, administra-tion, is "big money." And there are plenty of others. But, that is not what should really concern us. Able men make money and qualify for important im-portant jobs. There will always be some big men, with "big money," in any administration. The serious aspect revealed by the quotation opening this article ar-ticle is the prejudice it reveals, the crass ignorance of and indifference indif-ference to the issues that really count. Whoever persuaded that labor union member to look upon all Republicans as his enemies and only on Democrats as his friends, did not help him to understand what really makes a country prosperous. He overlooked the true explanation, if he knew it, of inflation, and how utterly futile and misguided were Mr. Truman's election proposals to stop inflation. Mr. Dewey did not do a much better job in meeting that issue. He apparently thought it unwise to take the time and energy to explain inflation accurately, to take the precious time needed for such a job He wanted votes, too, and perhaps did not want to risk them in explaining something some-thing people did not want to believe. be-lieve. So the real issues of collectivism collectiv-ism versus the, American Way, individual freedom versus growing grow-ing government control, the fascism fas-cism of labor monopoly versus the right to work guaranteed by our Constitution these and other issues were neglected, while one candidate frothed at ' the mouth with impossible promises prom-ises and erroneous statements , and the other tried to lift the discussion to a level in which most people were not interested, 1 In either case, the campaign did not really enlighten us. Most of us voted on pure prejudice pre-judice or for the trivial reasons that make us like or dislike people, peo-ple, or for sheer personal selfish- j ness. Farmers still want high prices and subsidies. Labor still wants more pay for no more work. Teachers and preachers have vague notions about monopoly which does not exist and seem unaware of that which does. And when businessmen add their prejudices to the collection, we get a beautiful mess. The price of our prejudice is continued and in-creased innfla- j tion, further excursions into th2 land of make-believe and fan-' cicd big-business ogres. We live on diminishing fat and build up a huge reckoning to be paid off later. For a day of reckoning is coming. Perhaps, as some of us have believed for a long time, nothing noth-ing less than the most terrible depression we have ever had, somewhere ahead of us, will convince con-vince the people at last of the soundness of old-fashioned virtues vir-tues long discarded under the New Deal industry, integrity, self-denial and the telling of simple truth. It was work that made America a great country, work multiplied by tools. And it will take work, much work, to restore what we are undermining day by day. |