February

57 America Needs Organic Farming-And Pesticides John Hood Caution: Government intervention into farming can be hazardous to economic decision-making. 59 Crop Controls and Indian Raids in Colonial Virginia Gary M. Pecquet Additional costs of production arise to eliminate the benefits of crop restrictions to the recipient. 61 The Failures and Fallacies of Foreign Aid David Osterfeld What are the results of foreign "aid"? 72 ProgressivismComes to Houston J. Brian Phillips A growing acceptance of controls on private property is paving the way for com prehensive restrictions in thisunzoned city. 76 The Flag and Freedom: Which Should We Protect? DouglasMataconis Upholding the principles of individual liberty that the flag is supposed to sym bolize. 77 Readers' Forum 78 Book Reviews John Chamberlain reviews The SecretofAmericanSuccess:Africa'sGreatHope by Ndabaningi Sithole. Also featured: OpeningUp the Soviet Union by Jerry E Hough.

CONTENTS FEBRUARY 1990 VOL. 40 NO.2 THEFREEMAN IDEAS ON UBERTY PERSPECTIVE Published by The Foundation for Economic Education Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 Bound volumes of The Freeman are available from The Foundation for calendar years 1971 to date. Earlier volumes as well as current is sues are available on microfilm from University Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI48106. Copyright © 1990 by The Foundation for Eco nomic Education, Inc. Printed in the U.S.A. Permission is granted to reprint any article in this issue, provided appropriate credit is given and two copies of the reprinted material are sent to The Foundation. The costs of Foundation projects and services are met through donations. Donations are invited in any amount. Subscriptions to The Freeman are available to any interested person in the United States for the asking. Additional single copies $1.00; 10 or more, 50 cents each.

For foreign delivery, a donation of $15.00 a year is required to cover direct mailing costs. Marxism is wrongfor a variety of reasons, but most importantly because Marx never appre ciated the role individuality has in human life. He was a thoroughgoing collectivist who said, "The human essence is the true collectivity of man." This is dead wrong. Man is by nature both human and an individual, a self-developing, choosing, di verse creature. This is not part of the Marxist Leninist ideology. And since it is not, Soviet lead ers make no plans for this in their conception of the future. They think you can have a little taste of freedom, for practical purposes, and then re turn to totalitarianism. But that will not work. - TIBOR R. MACHAN,Auburn University The SovietFuture Economically our country, and much of the world, is in better condition than at any time since World War II. We have not had anything comparable to the Great Depression in half a century and have avoided a repetition of World War II for more than four decades. Econometric data show the cyclic nature of business, but it is flourishing at present. Despite this good overall picture, we have a problem that is perhaps best expressed by Leonard Read's acronym LOOT: living off others thoughtlessly. We have a massive transfer economy imposed by government whereby money is taken from groups of people (generally taxpayers) and given to other groups.

Let us follow not only the Golden Rule but also the Freedom Rule: Do not force others to do for you what you would not wish others to force you to do for them. Living by these rules would im prove ourselves, our community, and our country. -WILLIAM J. ELLENBERGER,Washington, D.C. The FreedomRule Bruce M. Evans Robert G. Anderson Beth A. Hoffman Brian Summers Bettina Bien Greaves Edmund A. Opitz Paul L. Poirot Deane M. BrasfieldCopy Editor: President of The Board: Vice-President: Senior Editors: Contributing Editors: The Freeman is the monthly publication of The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 (914) 591 7230. FEE, founded in 1946 by Leonard E. Read, is a nonpolitical educational champion of private property, the free market, and limited government. FEE is classified as a 26 USC 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization. Other officers of FEE's Board of Trustees are: Thomas C.

Stevens, chairman; Ridgway K. Foley, Jr., vice chairman; Paul L. Poirot, secretary; Don L. Foote, Treasurer. The Freeman considers unsolicited editorial submissions, but they must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Our au thor's guide is available on request. FAX: (914) 591-8910 On Discrimination American law has ruled that minorities and women are what they always were in the eyes of God-equal, as to basic human rights-but com mon sense tells us that every person is different as to talents, qualifications, character, etc. It is lu dicrous for civil rights activists to expect appli cants to be hired because of their race or gender alone. As a woman, I have no desire to simply satisfy a quota on someone's spreadsheet, but rather to fill a position because I happen to be best suited for the job. If in the workplace I am an equal, then I should be prepared to be judged according to the same standards as all other ap plicants and hired because of my qualifications, not in spite of them. This same line of thought would hold for racial minorities as well. Being a woman, or black, or Asian, or WASP male, for that matter, should not make or break a prospec tive employee.

-ELLEN GILLETIE,Fort Pierce, Florida ProjectionsWithoutPrices Don't Come True Projections based on "if present trends contin ue" are usually wrong. Such projections depend on "baseline data" that are often drawn from too short a period. Baseline data on racquetball court construction in the early 1980s, for example, would predict that the entire earth would be cov ered with racquetball courts by the year 2010. And nature is even less linear. Height projec tions, for example, based on a baby's growth rate up to age two, would predict teenagers 20 feet tall. Projecting U.S. forest depletion based on log ging rates in the late 1800swould predict that the last tree would have fallen years ago. But projec tions based on logging and growth rates in the late 1900s would predict that forests would cover every square inch of America in the next century. Projections of future resource scarcity go off the mark when they fail to include: 1) the effects of future prices on the supply of and demand for that resource, and 2) the effects of new technolo gydeveloped in response to higher pricesto find, conserve, recycle, or discover substitutes for that resource.

The difficulty of accurately forecasting future resource scarcity is not new. According to economists Charles Maurice and Charles W. Smithson, "Forecasts of doom and gloom have existed for as long as civilization has existed. The important fact is, however, that all of these fore casts of doom have been wrong. No civilization has collapsed due to the depletion of a resource. PERSPECTIVE Instead, freely functioning markets with people acting in their own self-interest have eliminated the shortages." (The Doomsday Myth, Hoover Institution Press, 1984) -GREGORYE REHMKE,writing in the April 1989 issue of Econ Update. The Essenceof the Market After several decades of uninterrupted govern ment programs in Bolivia, we are forced by events to recognize that this state of affairs must be halted. Another policy must be adopted to permit economic freedom and private initiative to develop fully and to be transformed into the "engines" of social and economic development.

Private enterprise in our country has developed under a system of economic restriction in which government intervention distorts the economy and limits the freedom of the market. In those countries where the free market has flourished, everyone-the entrepreneur, the pro fessional, the worker, the butcher, the baker, the plumber, the policeman, the bureaucrat-eats well and dresses well. They can count on having essential services, travel by various means, partic ipate in world events through the communication media. And finally they have access to all those benefits which make their and their family's lives more comfortable. The essence of the free market system is free dom-freedom to imagine, to think, to discover, to produce, to buy and sell, to own property, to be, and to believe. This freedom is the basis of the system of justice which permits every individ ual to attain what he wants, to pursue his goals, and to gain by his own efforts. Under this system neither total nor interventionist government is called for; all that is needed is for the legal body to see that the rights and obligations of each indi vidual are respected. Under this system acting in dividuals may efficiently carry out the basic mar ket function, that is to cope with scarcity and transform it into abundance. This is why the free market is necessary if our country is to be strengthened.

-from an editorial in Mundo Empre sario, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Translated by Bettina Bien Greaves.