Judge — November 1937 — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

JUDGE ON HY all the jitters? The stock market goes off for no reason whatever, and immediately we have a nightmarish memory of the last un- lamented depression. People become cautious overnight. Legitimate business waits until the market adjusts itself and pumps up some courage for the watchers and partakers of its ups and downs. That's New York. To a slightly lesser degree, that is also Philadelphia, which is so closely related to New York finan. ~~ » cially. As the distance from the financial center increases, the jitters decrease. In Detroit and Cleveland, in Chicago and Kansas City, in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the business communities are not in the doldrums. There the state of the market concerns comparative hand- fuls who are in it. The majority are oc. cupied with industry and commerce and agriculture. And these are healthy, thank you. , When the spirit of the financial dis. trict goes to pieces, we realize the wis- dom of the founding fathers in placing the political capital in a wilderness on the Potomac, where its changes would not permeate the life of the metropolis. It is too bad that the founders of the various ‘changes did not isolate them, too, so that the great body of workers and officers in the financial district would not carry their Pema! feelings and re. actions into all status of business and infect the whole structure with their pessimism. For no matter what the market does, the basic wealth and strength of this nation remain real and vital. Away from New York they realize this fully. They go about their business with little or no fears. They have seen these flurries be- fore and have weathered them. Even the worst of them had to end. So let's face long-range facts, not passing ticker tape figures. A HASTY inventory of the main as- sets in our balance sheet shows the United States is better self-contained, so far as the raw resources for maintaining modern civilization are concerned, than is any nation of the world. We lack only certain tropical productions and a few rare minerals. Some day Russia may come up to our level, but on any present com. arison we are substantially in the lead. he British Commonwealth is in third place, but only through a geography as scattered as ours is concentrated and 18 THE BENCH homogeneous. No other country, even with colonies all over the world, can maintain itself nearly so well. True as this is of raw materials, it is equally applicable to the other major re- quirements for an ample economy. Our productive plant is so adequate that much of our recent distress has arisen from our inability to make full use of it. This is true of both our agricultural resources and our industrial plant. Under scientific methods, the arable land of the United States can feed, clothe and pro- duce the industrially useful agricultural materials for much larger than our pres- ent population. Our industrial plant is more than competent to produce or process the goods and services to sustain an improve L patos living standard. The United States leads the world in the labor available for mass production. Not only do we have a great pool of un- skilled labor, and competent trades jour- neymen, but likewise we have unusual resources of technical staffs and of ad- ministrative management. Our skill at the organization of man to machine, and product to market, is the envy of the other nations, Furthermore, this country has a money and credit mechanism which can be made to provide the financial fa- cilities for our economic plant. So far as concerns our governmental instrumentality, the last few years have brought some interesting things: at long last, we are generally agreed that this is a nation instead of a league of States. Recognizing it as a nation, we have ceased to regard government as a mu- seum piece, and are beginning to equip it with the powers needed for insuring the general welfare. The lurid flames of controversy play about these changes now in process, but we can see the pure metal beginning to flow from the cru. cible, Thus we can start with the knowledge that the United States has all the requi- sites for an adequate standard of living and a free and happy society. Raw materials, plant, labor, manage- ment, capital, public power through government—all are present. What we need to do is to find out how to use these raw materials for a better America. Our essential political philosophy re- mains that of a private property democ- racy. The people of this nation believe in individual ownership and in the own. er's responsibility for the proper em. ployment of his property, as well as his right to enjoy it. They likewise respect the profit motive, as among the main in. centives for individual initiative and en. terprise. We are now, as we were, a capitalistic democracy. Both totalitarian extremes, whether Communist or Fascist, are abhorrent to our tolerant, liberal, middle-of.the-road natures. JN this we are both unique and fortun. ate. The United States is the great laboratory where, if anywhere in the world today, capitalism has the chance to prove itself a really admirable scheme of economic and social organization. No other nation has such resources of the necessary materials, machines, skills and management. In none does such an abundance of capital seek employment. In none does the democratic process retain greater vitality. In none is the mind and mood of the people more compatible to the success of such a sys. tem. The test of success, of course, is the general well-being of the people— the greatest good of the group. Indeed, this is the only justification for a system of society, anyway. Now that is not to say that a capital. istic democracy is the only form of social organization that can succeed. There is more than one road to Rome, and one suspects that any organized technique of social control—whether it be called cap. italism, Communism, Fascism, feudal. ism, or even matriarchy—can be made to work successfully, if only enough will, energy and social intelligence be put be- hind it. It is our firm belief that this democ- racy of capitalism of ours can be made a real success. Even so, we are quite will. ing for the Russians to experiment with their state socialism, and hope they can make it yield an ampler living for the inhabitants of the Steppes, who knew hunger and oppression under the Czars and know it today. We do not object to the disciples of autarkie bowing down before the principle that authority comes from above and obedience from below, if by employing this dogma of dictator. ship they can lift the living levels of (oe their peoples. But these roads are not our roads, and we should follow through on our own experiment. It has here the best of chances to succeed. Judge comicbooks.com