A Friendly View of Dealing; T. Machan

While liberty is the highest political goal, it is not life's highest objective. Moreover, while a liberal, in the classical sense, economic and political system is the finest one available, it will·operate best if nestled in a virtuous social environment. And forming that environment requires sustained effort, including bringing social pressure against businessmen in the marketplace-the purveyors of gangster rap, for instance. Those who believe in both a free and virtuous society face serious challenges in the coming years. But neither cause willbe helped by playing them off against each other. In the end, neither is likely to survive without the other. 0 A FriendlyView of Dealing by Tibor R. Machan W hen people set out to buy or sell in the marketplace, they do so with some terms in mind. But they don't know the exact terms they will accept before they start bar gaining or as they compare different offers (among stores in a mall, for example). Indeed, considering a trade is itself only the first step to establishing its terms. As the process cul minates, prices and other mutually acceptable conditions are determined.

Some view this as if the parties would need to compromise, since they do not usually end up with the terms they initially have in mind. There is, however, no compromise involved at all since there is no such thing as one party to the trade alone knowing what the price is. As in any necessarily cooperative venture, all participants, together, establish the crucial features involved. (In language, for instance, no one individual sets the precise meaning of concepts or words.) They may stick to some Dr. Machan, on leave from Auburn University, is educational programs director for Chapman Univer sity and Freedom Communications. He is working on his next book, Business Bashing, Why It's Hazard ous to Your Health. minimum requirements without which they will refuse to trade, in which case no price will be agreed to. Finding the right price is a necessarily mutual process, since it is some thing that registers the terms of agreement, as it were.

Sometimes people feel awkward about not accepting another's terms right from the start. It seems like asserting themselves too much. This is more a sign of lack of confidence in their own role in the market process, as if the parties didn't have justice on their side by asserting their own interests. Well, one fea ture of justice is that when two or more parties consider coming together on some matter, they do so on mutually agreed terms rather than compelling someone to comply with the demands of another in the process. This is because justice is, in part, respect for another's standing as a full human being, a person with his or her judgments to make about his or her conduct in life, including whether and on what mutual terms to join others in certain endeav ors. This kind of justice, however, is conditioned on a more basic moral principle-that one's 286 THE FREEMAN • MAY 1997 ownlife is not only for one to govern but ought also to be enhanced, for example, via trade.

This is the practice of prudence. There can be occasions when the virtue of prudence is not so urgent as would be generosity or courage. Still, it is normally vital to livinga good human life, so justice must make room for it, for example, in the course of commerce. Now some interesting points follow from this. One is that obtaining what is deemed a high price for one's goods and servicesis going to depend, in part, on how those kinds of things are being received throughout the marketplace. Another is that most attempts to obtain a high price need to be understood as perfectly justified, unless, of course, they are outrageous (in comparison to how such goods or services fare in the marketplace). Even when folks find a price annoying, say when it is raised comparatively high in times of crises, they need to recall that such a move is often an honest expression of hope for some extra revenue for the seller in the light of a rare opportunity. This is nothing to scoffat. No one scoffs at it when done for people by their representatives in contract negotiations or when an agent embarks in one's behalf in selling real estate. Some do call it gouging when folks try to cash in on the sudden need of others, but such is not the case unless deceit or fraud is perpetrated.

Furthermore, the derided business practice of advertising is best understood as a kind of hopeful "holler" to us from sellers who are trying to put meals on their tables, kids through school, or insurance payments in the mail by attracting us to their goods and services.They are calling out to us-on radio, TV, magazines, billboards, flyers, catalogues (what we so harshly call "junk mail")-so we might pay attention to what they are offering and we could well use. One should never get upset with advertising-it's just the cosmetics employed by the sellers in the course of seeking out a trade, calling attention to their good features in the attempt to attract a good reception from potential buyers. It can misfire in some ways,including outright deception or, less drastically, tastelessness or stupidity. It would be very nice, more generally, if many people didn't have a one-sided view of the pursuit of economic wellbeing. This one-sidedness consists in finding one's own pursuit honorable but that of others nearly always degrading. Such an adjustment of attitude would do a lot to raise the reputation of the free market and, thus, of the prospects of general prosperity. D The Link "KID Comfortable" Homeschool Conference June 21-22, 1997 • Cal lutheran University (ClU) Thousand Oaks, California ......... Speakers/Presenters: 1····\ John Gatto ~ David Be Micki Colfax • Pat Be Day Farenga a Many Others Workshops • Panel Discussions Activities for Children Take Advantage of our pre-registration rates!

-For Information CallThe Link tr (805) 492-1373 THEFREEMAN IDEAS ON LIBERTY Benefit Societiesin America: The Way It Used to Be by Michael L. Probst C onventional historical wisdom might suggest that there was very little poverty relief in the United States prior to the emer gence of the government welfare state. This is not so. Before welfare assistance became institutionalized, a network of private frater nal organizations provided economic security to workers and relief to people in need. Those voluntary societies rendered support services based on the principle of mutual aid. By the end of the second decade of this century, 18 million adult Americans-including nearly 30 percent of the male population-held mem bership in fraternal societies.1 The fraternals offered such services as death and burial benefits, medical care, unemployment and sick relief, and education. These mutual aid societies are referred to in a variety of ways-as benefit, fraternal, benevolent, or friendly societies. Some bore elaborate or unusual names. Many have dis appeared, but others, including the Masons, Elks, Odd Fellows, and Eastern Star continue their work today, providing medical and scholarship assistance for the young and residential care for aged members.