The Vital Secret; P. L. Poirot

It is true that we have more capital invested per worker, more kilowatt hours of electricity avail able per worker, more and better machinery and tools per worker. Yet, these are but part of the fruits of industrial progress; these are effects of progress, just as our high level of living is an effect. And the cause of these con sequences must lie deeper still. Those who will see clearly enough may discover that freedom lies behind these material accom plishments, this high level of liv ing. Freedom means release from governmental regulations and con trols, or from any form of coer cion or compulsion, the release of human energy, where each man is free to try, to succeed or fail with his own property and his own effort, according to his own choice, with the full right to the fruits of his success and the full liability for his failure. And perhaps underlying the practice of freedom are the con cepts of respect for private prop erty, respect for the life and the dignity and the rights of each and every human being, the self-respect that is becoming to a man as a creature of God.

So, if we would share our ma terial achievements and our in dustrial progress with those less fortunate than ourselves, either within the United States in so ca.lled pockets of poverty, or in other countries, let us try to bet ter understand the nature of self respect, learn to practice it more faithfully and fruitfully, in due humility, so that others may choose to do the same. From true and humble self-respect stems re spect for the property and the lives of others. Once a people un derstand the importance of life and property, and come to respect another's as they respect their own, then they are in a position to organize a government of lim ited powers, knowing full well the limitations of coercive methods. And then, but not before, they are ready to practice freedom and en joy such blessings of freedom as tools, machinery, electrification, automation, and a high and ris ing level of living.

Perhaps, if this were the secret of American progress that we un dertook to share with the rest of the world, we might come to un derstand it well enough to pre serve our own freedom. ~ LEONARD E. REAl} THERE IS NO RESPECT in which any two persons are identical-physi ologically, psychologically, philo sophically, ideologically. Nature decrees variation in everything-no exceptions. In the animal world it seems. that the more advanced the species, the greater the differences. As to man, this rule also holds true: the more advanced the individuals, the more distinctive are their dis similarities. Yet, regardless of this fact, we do generalize about our fellow hu mans; we attempt to categorize each other, to lump men and wom en under neat little labels: bril liant, muddled, idealistic, cussed, black, white, religious, inventive, and so on. All generalizations are oversimplifications; nonetheless, we couldn't get along without them. Communicating one with the other would be out of the question were minute particulari zation a requirement. Categories are tools of thought and are es sential to communicable writing, talking, even to thinking for our selves.