The Power of an Idea; R. L. Buell

The American Revolution was in the main a revolt against mercantilism, against the exploitation involved in the Navigation, Molasses, Sugar, and Stamp acts. Britain [214 ] denied the right of the colonies to develop trade, manufac tures, and even land when they did not directly enrich the merchants of the home country. The same revolt against mercantilism was going on in Britain. It was led by the Whigs, whose greatest leaders (including the elder Pitt) pleaded for conciliation with the American colonies. In 1776,the year of the Declaration of Independence, a Scotsman named Adam Smith published his Wealth of Na tions. This was a powerful attack upon the whole theory of mercantilism. He demolished the contention that a nation profited by a favorable balance of exports, and argued that prosperity could best be secured by encouraging competi tion and initiative in the largest market possible. Describ ing the free market, he said: "Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pur sue his own interest in his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men."

But before the ideas of Adam Smith became its domi nant economic policy, Great Britain was destined to wage a long war against Napoleon. When the war finally ended in 1815, Britain plunged into a·series of depressions. In this period of stress and widespread suffering, reform movements arose. The most radical were the Owenites and the Chartists. Robert Owen, a reforming employer who preceded Marx, denounced the evils of competition and of organized religion and demanded a collectivist society. Chartism moved also into the economic field. cCSocial Equality" became its motto. "All shall have a good house, to live in with a garden back or front, just as the occupier [215 ] likes; good clothing to keep him warm and to make him look respectable, and plenty of good food and drink to make him look and feel happy." Chartism was the first class movement in modern history. An entirely different type of reform movement arose in the Anti-Corn-Law League led by Richard Cobden and John Bright and financed by Manchester. Its central point of attack was the Corn Laws, which aimed, unsuccessfully, to keep up the price of grain by prohibitive tariffs. But the League's philosophy was much broader and held that the welfare of Britain depended upon expanding its mar kets through individual competitive effort. Free trade meant cheap food and new employment for the workers; it meant new markets for the employers. Free trade would also lay the basis for a more prosperous and peaceful world.

The free-trade campaign started under the most difficult odds. Four-fifths of the members of Parliament represented landlords benefiting from protection-even though the av erage farmer and the farm laborer did not. The Chartist movement also opposed Corn Law repeal, charging that the League wanted the reform in order to reduce wages. Nevertheless, as a result of Cobden's energy, Bright's elo quence, and the influence of Adam Smith and his disciples, Parliament finally repealed the Corn Laws in 1846-under the leadership of the great Tory statesman, Robert Peel. Britain now gradually abandoned protectionism in favor of free trade. The ideas of Adam Smith had triumphed over mercan tilism; the appeal of the Anti-Corn-Law League, stressing individual effort and increased production, had triumphed [216 ] over the collectivist movements represented by Owenism and Chartism. As a result, Great Britain now entered into its greatest period of prosperity, which lasted, except for cyclical inter ruptions, until World War I. Large areas of the world profited materially. The British workers profited as much as the employers.

[217 ] TO COMMUNISM ... VIA MAJORITY VOTE b!f Ben moree!! THE American Petroleum Industry, with vital interests dis persed in all parts of the world, must be concerned about current trends in forms and procedures of government everywhere but, most particularly, in our own country. Therefore, I am glad to have this invitation to speak to you today because it gives me the opportunity to discuss with you what I consider to be the most vital problem of our times. It is this: t:t:How can you and I best fight com munism?" I believe that communism is an evil thing, every trace of which should be rooted out of American life. Most Americans are of the same mind. In fact, the· American people are now aroused against communism as they have seldom been aroused before. They fear the danger to our freedoms. And they want to do something about it. As one who has spent most of his adult life in our mili tary service, I want to enlist for this battle, too. So, over the past few years I have been studying our enemy-com munism-in order to prepare myself for the struggle. Dur ing the course of those studies I made a shocking discov ery, which I am now going to share with you, in the hope [218 ] that we can help each other solve this problem. But first let me give you the step-by-step account of that discovery.