Breaths of Freedom

Organized in the Midwest last fall, NFIFO is composed of farmers who simply want the federal government to let them alone. The mem­bership pledge reads in part:

… believing that all government subsidies and controls on agriculture or any other business are unconstitutional and socialistic, hence, un-American, I do hereby promise not to apply for nor accept any kind of subsidies or direction from the government in my farm program and will … make every effort to prevent Agricultural Stabilization Committee represent­atives from entering my property for any purpose.

Mr. John G. Woods, Rural Route No. 1, Lucas, Ohio, is the president of this group organized in protest of the fact that last year 14,000 farmers were fined $8,500,000 for refusing to let the federal govern­ment dictate and subsidize their farming operations.

Business Brings Unity in Europe

A British visitor, driving through several European countries last sum­mer, reports a growing homogeneity — evidence of a single economy —that reminded him of driving across the United States. He found a uniformity of traffic signs for the convenience of travelers. The same brands of gasoline, with attendants in uniform, were seen as "big business’ inevitable contribution to making the continent one."

"While the Council of Europe meets in Strasbourg and the High Authority pursues its laborious task in Luxembourg and statesmen come together to discuss Euratom and the Common Market, the inte­gration of Europe is proceeding apace, naturally, inevitably." And he concludes that "one day the politicians will wake up and discover that their job has been done for them."

A Courageous Step

"Be it resolved," the Directors of the Madison County (Ohio) Unit of The American Guard unanimously concluded, "that Anderson’s civic and governmental leaders be encouraged to formulate and execute plans for financing an adequate municipal airport with local funds and re­ject the proffered federal grant."

The list of conditions leading up to this resolution fully recognized Anderson‘s need for adequate aviation facilities and the temptation of a federal grant of $162,500 to cover half the cost of the proposed proj­ect, but added:

WHEREAS a study of the federal grants-in-aid program reveals that many communities could have built adequate aviation facilities for less than their half-shares of the federal-aid projects, and

WHEREAS the federal government is obliged to collect money by various forms of taxation before it can grant money to a community or state, and

WHEREAS the federal government’s indebtedness currently approaches the $280 billion mark, and

WHEREAS the federal government cannot be expected to ease its burdensome taxation of the American people if communities and states continue to make demands upon the federal treasury, and

WHEREAS the continued reliance of states and communities upon the federal government for assistance in financing various projects will hasten the centralization of absolute governmental power in the nation’s capital, and

WHEREAS the perpetuation of the federal government’s grants-in-aid programs can work only to the detriment of the United States as a whole, and

WHEREAS the cost of a municipal airport to the people of Anderson will be inconsequential when compared with the economic and moral benefits which will be realized by all residents of the community….

A group so enlightened as to see the need for this first courageous step away from government control — the rejection of federal aid —should find it comparatively easy to take the remaining steps. A pri­vately owned and operated airport, like any other business venture, requires no coercion at all.

A Man of Convictions

John H. Cooke, candidate for re-election to the Senate of New York State from the 57th District, campaigned last fall in these words:

I believe in the principles on which this country is based — free enter­prise, individual decision, individual effort, rather than reliance on gov­ernment. I am firmly opposed to the welfare state.

I am a politician and I would like your votes. But I have these convic­tions and I am sticking by them. I am not going to change in order to be re-elected. If you don’t believe in my convictions, don’t vote for me.

Senator Cooke was returned to office by an overwhelming majority.

* Against Textbook "Nationalization" in India

India, too, has problems of textbook control — plus the voice of editor and journalist, K. R. Malkani, to speak in protest. In a recent issue of Swatantra, published in Madras, he says:

We have been so long subjected to servitude that we hardly feel it when encroachments are made on our liberties. Any person from a demo­cratic country will be appalled by some of the things happening in this country. But all the time we are so inured to subordination that we see no abrogation of our liberties. The British quit on August 15, 1947. The country became free. But the citizenry did not get any more freedom than it enjoyed before. The new government assumed more powers than the British government itself.

Several provinces in India already have adopted "nationalized" text­books prepared by "government servants who will write to order." The alleged excuse has been "the incompetence of textbook writers and publishers, the poor quality of books produced, and underhand means to influence textbook selection agencies." But Mr. Malkani charges that these vices are due to government interference, and sees no merit in further control. Then he adds:

Textbooks are the most influential literature in our country. Can we afford to consign this great instrument for molding the popular mind to the hands of politicians who will exploit it for party purposes?

Textbooks must be written by free men… and they must be selected freely in open competition. No attempt should be made to condition the national mind or to propagandize in favor of the party in power. The stakes involved are the minds of children, and the only ultimate safe­guard of integrity is the widest freedom of choice for the school, the teacher, and the parent.