Sisyphus; L.E. Read

People who perpetuate obstacles in order to maintain conditions of scarcity in their own line of pro1 See especially The Law, Economic Sophisms, Economic Harmonies and Se lected Essays on Political Economy by Frederic Bastiat (Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y.: The Foundation for Economic Ed ucation, Inc.).

1973 SISYPHUS 367 duction, thus keeping their efforts profitable at the expense of others, and who make the task of achiev ing abundance an endless one are, in Bastiat's estimation, s,isyphists. "There isn't work enough in our line for all you fellows wanting in. Keep out! By closed shops, closed unions, and closed associations we can create prosperity for our selves and make our tasks in these enterprises unending." Selfish sisyphists! "Slow down on this job, fel lows, and take more vacations, so our work will last longer." Lazy sisyphists! "Competition is ruining our business. Let's put a stop to it and keep prices up by embargoes and trade barriers. If these don't work we have political power enough to get legislation that will impose discriminatory taxes on our competitors. And failing this we can always command a govern ment subsidy for ourselves." Power-crazed sisyphists! "Let's have Federal aid for projects to which we are unwil ling to devote our own resources."

Wasteful sisyphists! "Let us have national unem ployment compensation so, even if we do no work, we can get paid anyway." Money-mad sisyphists! "Let us have wage, price, pro duction, and exchange controls eliminate market pricing as a guide to production and consump tion - so that all may labor for ever at posts assigned by govern ment." Slavish sisyphists! Enough of this. Each of us should make it his game to spot these persons who would magnify the effort required for a given result. They are to be found every where - on the farms, in pulpits and classrooms, in labor unions, in private offices, in governments and, alas, too often in the mirror. They are the friends of scarcity and the enemies of abundance. Antisocial sisyphists! Let's make sisyphism a part of our mythology instead of our na tional policy! ~ IDEAS ON LSP LIBERTY To Each, His Own My FAITH in the proposition that each man should do precisely as he pleases with all which is exclusively his own lies at the founda tion of the sense of justice there is in me. I extend the principle to communities of men as well as to individuals. I so extend it be cause it is politically wise, as well as naturally just: politically wise in saving us from broils about matters which do not concern us.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN Speech at Peoria, Ill., Oct. 16, 1854 . ;._','.~;,.. TheReformationand, , .:: ,"%,:,,",:'.:f,";.,)'l~",,,,,:,~.,.;i~~K~·,"(!·-$1· 'l"-c ' • ._ ,1 "",~j',#-,'1?' c._' '4'Economlc ,>t~,:c",·;\;0~' <"Development'z~ ,,,,"',.",-,,,,,."'""~""";""""''\'''''':'':'-'''~''';i' ",'';jf''':>';,'",/c.*•.c,.-;i.,.".:[Q,QClY EDWARD COLEsON' ".. ",:::'.' In 1943 Bengal and Calcutta suffered another ghastly famine, just as they have for millennia. One report stated: "All over the province rice was dear and life \vas cheap."l The starving col lapsed and died in the streets, while the bloated dogs feasted on their corpses and dragged their bones about the city. Certainly the age-old problem of too many peo ple and too little food was aggra vated by the fact that there "was a war on" just beyond their bor ders in Burma, the Japanese inva sion of Southeast Asia. However, the chronic problem of human need in India which had become acute in this hour of crisis proDr. Coleson is Professor of Social Science at Spring Arbor College in Michigan. This ar~ tide is reprinted by permission from the Spring 1972 volume of Fides et Historia, journal of The Conference on Faith and His~ tory, and copyright by them.