Show free competition in foreign trade ends for U S if britain falls says lippmann Itt leased by western newspaper union that a free De DECLARING economy conomy such as americans have known 0 cannot in a world that is else az siere ere under a regime of military socialism walter lippmann writing in life emphasizes that there are four great industrial concentrations in the world the american the european the russian a d the japanese that if britain is conquered the european the russian and the asiatic industrial systems will all be operated by military governments as severely regimented collectivist systems the following is a summary of the ideas presented by walter lippmann the american manufacturing area 1 l around such centers as chicago qa letroit et cleveland pittsburgh wil mf agton new york birmingham and ana so forth may soon contain the only aray primary workshops on earth in alich ach private property still persists anier constitutional guaranties guarantees guaran ties in which the managers the workers th the shareholders are re not under the direct command of an all powerful national socialist or communist government in this american industrial du region alone private firms may still be bargaining collectively workers may still be tree free to quit their jobs and great industrialists like henry ford may still be free to refuse to make the airplane motors that government policy calls bails for banks insurance companies and private primate capitalists may still be free to invest or not to invest in this or that enterprise in the other industrial regions none of these liberties remain and if the british commonwealth is conquered and subjugated and revolutionized none of these liberties which are normal in the american way of conducting industry will be reestablished established re no private rights even though nominally and in appearance pe arance some of the outward forms of capitalism may still survive in fact totalitarian industry is regimented and directed by a dictatorial government there is property but it has no rights as against the government there are contracts but there are no contracts private or public that the government may not modify or break there is no competition among exporters and importers except that which the state cartels and the government which controls foreign exchange will permit the export prices of goods are controlled by the government they are fixed in order to further the political purposes of the government imports are controlled by the government ern ment imports are not bought by business men but by political agents of the government the wages of labor the hours of labor the movements of labor are set by the de decrees creek of the government the conquered peoples work as prisoners of war industry as a whole is directed for the purposes of the state to produce armaments to obtain supplies abroad to establish political power abroad there are no rights of the no rights of property no rights of corporations no rights of localities that are allowed to interfere with what is in substance a gigantic monopoly operated by and operated for the dictatorship in contrast with our system which is based on property contract rights under the law competition in markets and the free exchange of goods and services the other three industrial regions in the world will be if britain is conquered run by a regime of military socialism trade by government monopolies it if this system established itself finally in europe and asia our own manufacturers auf rs our own farmers and miners and the farmers and miners of south america will no longer be trading and competing with private firms and private producers they will be competing and trading with these gigantic government monopolies managed by dictators and backed by enormous armed forces under these conditions it is absurd to imagine that american manufacturers farmers miners working men and investors can return to normalcy and do business as usual if the rest of the worlds industry accepts or sinks under totalitarian rule no doubt we shall have somehow to do some business with the rest of the world but for any public man to tell the people that they can do normal business by normal methods in such an absolutely abnormal condition of affairs is to mislead 1 e ad the people cruelly to blind them to the need for the extraordinary measures of protection that they will have to have to render them defenseless and then to take them down the road to ruin the plain fact of the matter is that if britain falls then europe asia and africa will be ruled from berlin moscow and tokyo the american manufacturers will then be allowed to supply the totalitarian hemisphere with those products in which the totalitarian empires are temporarily deficient as a matter of fact to supply them with those products which will be immediately necessary in order to make totalitarian industry entirely independent of american industry american farmers and miners will be allowed to supply the totalitarian empires with the food and raw materials temporarily needed to tide them over until they can make themselves independent of american supplies and these temporary supplies will be paid for either in goods manufactured by the enslaved labor of europe or in gold obtained by conquest gold that we shall then have to bury in kentucky or on credit asked of us in the name 0 of f humanity and of reconstruction credit that will never be and can never be repaid many difficulties ahead at the same time the totalitarian industrial monopolies will take possession of the export markets of the world their industry will produce with enslaved and sweated labor it will have no overhead costs because the private shareholders will have been expropriated it will obtain its raw materials at a price dictated by the conquerors it will be subsidized where necessary we shall be left with canada and the small republics around the caribbean as the only region in which 1 I V L 4 loading of ships wilh american products for sale abroad may become a rarity if the british empire falls before the onslaught of the axis powers for the export markets of the world will then be dominated by the totalitarian industrial monopolies and america will ivill face a menacing economic future this is the belief of walter lippmann noted writer and economist we can still do business on equal terms and under something like normal conditions and even this much will remain to us only it if we have sufficient military power to defend this region against invasion from abroad and against internal revolution fomented abroad finally our domestic economy in the U S will face unprecedented difficulties the disposal of the surpluses of agriculture mining and industry will have to be done in competition with the products of the enslaved subjugated or vassal regions of europe asia africa and south america the important raw materials in which we are deficient will have to be obtained from the totalitarian monopolists inevitably we shall have to transform into armament industries dus tries many industries that now produce for export inevitably we shall have to take hold of our food and raw material surpluses and use them as instruments of economic warfare to do this we shall ine inevitably vi bably tably have to bring all foreign trade under government control inevitably we shall therefore have to bring domestic industry under a control that fixes quotas allocates raw materials and regulates prices inevitably we shall have to reduce the american standard of life the price of independence for these measures which are inexorably exor ably necessary if the nation is to maintain its independence are the indubitable price we shall have to pay for deciding to let ourselves become isolated in a totalitarian world americans attempting to do business under a free co competitive unorganized and unmanaged industrial system would be like naked soldiers trying to stop a charge of tanks the alternative that some politicians offer us namely that we can pretend that nothing has happened and that normalcy will be with us again if the fighting ceases this al ter native would be even more costly and uncomfortable than the very costly and uncomfortable business of organizing america to maintain itself it if wo we take no measures of economic defense and let everything drift this country will suffer the unemployment and the economic losses caused by the collapse of its foreign markets and the dislocation of its own industry agriculture mining shipping and finance dangerous seeds of discontent in this condition of acute economic distress the country will be invaded by foreign agents seeking to make deals with helpless frightened ignorant and shortsighted private interests te rests these deals will be at the expense of other private interests they will set one section of the country against another one industry against other industries private industries that do manage to sell to the totalitarian agents can be paid only by imports produced by enslaved labor which will compete ruinously in the domestic market for other american industries or these private interests will be paid in stolen gold that cannot be spent and will have to be buried and if the oppressed industries that are threatened by this competition object then the few interests that might have done business with the totalitarian agents will clamor and complaint thus the nation will be demoralized and divided and the seeds of a truly revolutionary condition will be planted in the soil there may still be complacent politicians who will say that though the worlds business and the worlds law and the worlds social system are revolutionized here all things can be and will still be normal there are still people it is said who think the earth is flat because it is flat where they happen to be living but the complacent prophets of another era of normalcy will not be making their foolish prophecies much longer for events are moving swiftly and if the people allow themselves to be lulled into a false sense of security the people will soon learn from events how grievously they have been misled by misguided men |