Gun Play in the Market Place; E. W. Dykes

The farmer has tried hard to get $1.50and isn't too happy as he starts to leave. Suddenly he turns back, whips out a gun, and demands another 50 cents from the consumer. The consumer suggests they call off the deal, but the man with the gun insists on-and gets-another 50 cents. Society observes this action-duly shocked. Then some one calls to the farmer and invites him to discuss his prob[ 166] lem with society. After considerable discussion and voice voting, society persuades the farmer to return the 50 cents, promising to work out a more satisfactory solution to his problems. The obvious leader in this scene of social action is one of the members who wants to do "good') things to everyone. The next scene opens with the farmer and consumer bargaining over another bushel of wheat, arriving as be fore at a price of $1.00. As the farmer looks questioningly at the do-gooder, the latter nods his head; and a man steps from the group wearing a sign, "Tax Collector." He is car rying the same gun previously used by the farmer. Without explanation, he takes 60 cents from the consumer, pockets a dime, and gives the other 50 cents to the farmer. The farmer is pleased. The photographers ask him to pose, shaking hands with the beaming do-gooder. The rest of society is told to align itself as background for the picture.

Meanwhile, the puzzled consumer has stepped to one side and is being quietly interviewed by the narrator. NARRATOR: You seem dissatisfied with this transaction; yet you have a bushel of wheat which cost only a dollar-a price you were willing to pay. CONSUMER: Yes, but there was a 60 per cent tax on the transaction, which means that the wheat cost me $1.60. NARRATOR: But, surely, you do not object to a legal tax! CONSUMER: Legal, perhaps, but it appears to me to be re markably like the other transaction that was deemed illegal. The tax collector also used a gun to take 60 cents from me-the same gun the farmer used before when he robbed me of 50 cents. Now that robbery has been legal[ 167] ized, it costs me even more money; and society no longer seems concerned in helping to protect my money or property from the robber. NARRATOR: How can you describe this democratic action of society as legalized robbery? The people voted for it.

CONSUMER (shaking his head and slowly walking away) : I only know that in both instances my money-the prod uct of my labor-was taken from me against my will and given to a person who did not earn it. (Then he turns to address society): You have taken some of my property to do "good" to one or more mem bers of your group. But you have deprived me of fur ther incentive to work and to accumulate property through service to others. Mark well these words: Your loss is far greater than mine. [ 168 ] THE PRICE OF PRICE CONTROLS THE whole recorded history of man is strewn with the wreckage of the great civilizations which have crumbled underprice controls; and in forty centuries of human ex perience, there has never been-so far as I can discover a single case where such controls have stopped, or even curbed for long, the forces of inflation. On the contrary, in every instance I can find, they have discouraged produc tion, created shortages, and aggravated the very evils they were intended to cure.