September

THEFREE IDEAS ON LIBERTY 324 The Census: Eyes of the Intrusive State Erik A. Iohnson How did the elementary"enumeration" of the U.S. Constitutionbecome the compulsorycategorizationof today? 328 What's Happened to Community Spirit? James L. Payne Movingtoward a societyof helpful,caringindividuals. 330 Ezekiel's Job RidgwayK. Foley, Ir. Wisdomconcerningthe differencesbetweenproper beliefand proper respect for the beliefsof others. 335 The Strongest Man Gary McGath Standingalone in oppositionto governmentencroachment. 338 School Budgets and Town Meetings R. W Boehm The involvementof governmentin matters beyond its proper role. 340 Mandated Airline Safety Seats Won't Increase Travel Safety John Semmens Attempting to forceeveryoneto make the same choice diminishesindividual freedom and enlargeshidden risks. 341 Air Bags-More Govemment Hot Air? Anthony Young Regulationof the automobilehas taken on alife of its own.

343 Aquaculture: The Birth of an Industry I. BrianPhillips A look at fish farming. 347 What Makes a Market? Ross C. Korves Individualfreedom is vitalto the developmentof a market. 349 The First Civil Right Is Safety ScottC. Matthew The core functionof governmenthas been nearlyforgotten. 350 Rights, Law, and Morality DouglasB. Rasmussen What is the fundamentaldifferencebetween moralityand law? 353 Freedom of SpeechlFreedom of Ownership BillAnderson Preserving"artisticfree expression." 354 Another World RichardL. Lesher Welcometo the inefficientworldof bureaucracy. 355 Book Reviews John ChamberlainreviewsBreakingWith Communism:The Intellectual Odysseyof BertramD. Wolfeedited by Robert Hessen.Also reviewed:The Farm Fiascoby James Bovard; The ComingSovietCrash by Judy Shelton; Economicsand the Environmentedited by WalterBlock. CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 1990 VOL. 40 NO.9 THEFREEMAN IDEASON LIBERTY Published by The Foundation for Economic Education Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533 President of The Board: Bruce M. Evans Vice-President: Robert G. Anderson Senior Editors: Beth A. Hoffman Brian Summers Contributing Editors: Bettina Bien Greaves Edmund A. Opitz Paul L. Poirot Copy Editor: Deane M. Brasfield 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 champi on 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; Philip M. Spicer, vice-chairman; Paul L. Poirot, secre tary; Don L. Foote, treasurer. The costs of Foundation projects and services are met through donations. Donations are in vited in any amount. Subscriptions to The Freeman are available to any interested per son in the United States for the asking. Addi tional 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 mail ing costs. Copyright © 1990 by The Foundation for Economic 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. 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 Univer sity Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.

The Freeman considers unsolicited editorial submissions, but they must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Our author's guide is available on request. FAX: (914) 591-8910 Cover: "Ezekial Prophesying," by Gustave Dore. © Dover Publications. pERSPECTIVE Oil Spills The Exxon Valdez in Alaskaspilledover10 mil liongallonsofoilintothe ocean.Thiswas the third largestoilspillin history.In 1978theAmoco Cadiz spilled68 milliongallons,and the largestspillwas on the Yucatanin Mexicowherean offshoreoilrig spilled155milliongallonsofoil.But theseare only the tip of the iceberg.For every giganticoil spill, there are dozensof smallerspillsof 10,000gallons or more. These spillsprovide great danger to the shore line and to marine life. Concernedenviron mentalistsoften chargethat the market has failed and we need more governmentintervention. I think the causesare verydifferent.Firstof all, in the case of the Exxon Valdez, the proximate cause was the fact that the captain allegedlywas drunk and was in his cabin while the third mate, who wasn't qualifiedto operate in those waters, was pilotingthe ship when it went aground. You mightask yourselfwhy Exxondidn't take greater care to be sure that an alcoholicwasn'tgivensuch an important task. What economicincentivedid thisfirmhaveto actso irresponsibly?Is Exxonrun by peoplewho don't care-even about the bottom line? Certainlynot. One of the problemsis that in the U.S.,and increasinglyin Canadaas well,there are laws against firing people who are handi capped.Alcoholismhasbeen declareda handicap.

So if we want to lay blame on someone,let us not lookto Exxon.A largeshare of the blamebelongs to theseunwiselegislativeenactmentswhichmake it verydifficultto fire peoplewho are identifiedas handicapped. There are other problemsas well. The liability ofcompanieswho spilloilinto the oceanis limited to the valueof the cargoand the ship.Thisdoesn't makeanysense.Youwouldthinkthat in anyratio nal set of laws the liabilitywouldbe limitedto the damages.Perhapsone of the reasonsExxondidn't double-hull its ships is because the liability was limitedartificiallyby unwiselaws. Another aspect of the problemis that fishermenhave no standing to sue becausetheyare not deemedto be the own ers of the fish, even though they certainlyare fi nanciallyvictimizedby oil spills. I am not saying that if we had a legal system more consonant with free enterprise principles there would be no oil spills.The market is not a guaranteed cure for everything. As long as there are human beings involved, there willbe mistakes.

But certainly, were we allowed to use market prin ciples to help safeguard ecological systems, our so ciety would be a lot better off than under the pre sent system where we are not. -WALTER BLOCK The Fraser Institute Vancouver, Canada (Note: Please see p. 359 for a review of Eco nomics and the Environment: A Reconciliation, edited by Walter Block.) Homelessness Rent controls, building restrictions, zoning, arti ficially restricted and high-priced labor all con tribute to the problem of the homeless. Anything that discourages building, imposes rules and regu lations to make housing more expensive, plays a role. For instance, the village where I live just de nied a builder's request to subdivide a large tract of land and construct 89 new homes; he will be per mitted to erect only 59. On that account, 30 fami lies who would have bought houses in this village will not be able to do so.

lf these 30 families had not been deprived of the opportunity to move to new and better housing, they would have offered their present homes on the market, making them available to others who could afford only secondhand housing. As 30 other slightly less affluent families then moved up to those 30 somewha.t better homes, their homes would become available. And so on down the line. At some stage in the process, 30 residential units, PERSPECTIVE vacated by their present occupants, would be con verted into smaller apartments or rooming houses for the very poor. In a free market economy, housing is continually being shuffled in this way from the present occu pants to wouldbe homeowners and tenants across the entire economic spectrum. In time, even the demands of the very poor are met. When govern ment interferences raise the cost of construction, this process is hampered. The poor who are the least able to pay for housing are the ones who suf fer the most.

-BEITINA BIEN GREAVES FarmSubsidies Farm subsidies-roughly $25 billion a year in Federal handouts and $10 billion more in higher food prices-are the equivalent of giving every full-time subsidized farmer two new Mercedes Benz automobiles each year. Annual subsidies for each dairy cow in the United States exceed the per capita income for half the population of the world. With the $260 billion that government and con sumers have spent on farm subsidies since 1980, Uncle Sam could have bought every farm, bam, and tractor in 33 states. The average American head of household worked almost one week a year in 1986and 1987simply to pay for welfare for few er than a million farmers. -JAMES BOVARD The Farm Fiasco (Note: Mr. Bovard's book is reviewed on pp. 356-357of this issue.) 324 THEFREEMAN IDEAS ON LIBERTY The Census: Eyes of the Intrusive State by Erik A. Johnson I n 1790, David Howe of Hancock County, Maine, accepted the responsibility for count ing the number of people in an area of his state loosely defined by such natural boundaries as foothills, forests, and streams. When he had fin ished, he posted in several public places his list of the "Whole Number of Persons Counted" (9,549), naming only heads of households and offering as his only statistical analysis the fact that he had included in the enumeration inhabitants of "some isles" not part of "named towns." In a letter to the federal government whichaccompanied hissimple report, Howe opined that he had adequately dis charged his duties merely by doing the best possi ble job under the circumstances.