“The American Constitution,” wrote Gladstone, “is the most wonderful
work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.”
The first ten amendments, which constitute the Bill of Rights, are a
charter of human liberties which has served as a model to mankind. (See
HAMILTON, MADISON, FARRAND, NORTON.)
COOLEY, CHARLES HORTON. _Life and the Student._ Knopf. 1927. 273 pp.
A volume of aphoristic wisdom on human nature, society, and letters
which deserves to be far more widely known than it is. It recalls the
notebooks of Emerson and Thoreau, and will stand comparison with them.
It is not a systematic defense or exposition of the philosophy of
individualism, but every page breathes the spirit of that philosophy.
Some individual paragraphs alone would justify including the book in
the present bibliography. For example: “There are three irrefutable
reasons why views that seem dangerous, unpatriotic or otherwise
abominable should be freely expressed. 1: Discussion is the only way to
modify or control them. 2: It is the only way to mobilize conservative
views in order to combat them intelligently. 3: They may be right.”
CORNUELLE, HERBERT C. _Mr. Anonymous._ Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton
Printers. 1951. 212 pp.
A biography of William Volker, who rose from a penniless German
immigrant in 1871 to a millionaire businessman in 1906. What was most
remarkable about him, however, was not his rise from “rags to riches”
but his determination to live according to the Golden Rule. “A man
with money,” he declared, “is to be pitied if he cannot give it away.”
So firm was his attitude against any sort of public recognition of
his many selfless charities that it was not until after his death
in 1947 that “Mr. Anonymous” could be identified as William Volker.
Mr. Cornuelle’s story is written with simple directness and has
the readability and charm of an Horatio Alger novel. Indeed, the
real hero of this story resembles in many respects--in diligence,
industriousness, ambition, austere living, kindness, goodness, and
belief in the American system of opportunity--one of Alger’s fictional
heroes.
CORTNEY, PHILIP. _The Economic Munich._ Philosophical Library. 1949.
262 pp.
Philip Cortney is a prominent businessman (president of Coty, Inc., and
of Coty International) who has been a life-long student of economics.
This book falls into three main parts. The first is an analysis and a
rejection of the International Trade Organization Charter (signed by
the United States at Havana) on the ground that its ratification would
restrict international trade and undermine the individual competitive
system. The second part is an illuminating analysis of the causes
of the 1929 depression. The final part is an incisive refutation of
Keynesian fallacies. The author is not only an eloquent defender of
economic liberty but reveals a rare skill in dissecting the specific
policies and ideas that constitute the greatest threat to it.
COUNTS, GEORGE S., AND LODGE, MRS. N. P. _Country of the Blind: The
Soviet System of Mind Control._ Houghton Mifflin. 1949. 378 pp.
A study of the way in which the Central Committee of the All-Union
Communist Party controls Russian cultural and intellectual life by
rigid surveillance and direction of literature, drama, music, science,
and education. Its long quotations from the actual texts of Committee
resolutions and directives make it heavy going at times, but supply the
authentic source material.
COWLING, DONALD J., AND DAVIDSON, CARTER. _Colleges for Freedom._
Harper. 1947. 180 pp.
A study of the purposes, practices and needs, and an evaluation of
the place of the private liberal-arts college in American life, and a
program for its independent survival.
COX, HAROLD. _The Capital Levy: Its Real Purpose._ Westminster:
National Unionist Association. 1923. 71 pp.
“The Capital Levy has never been definitely renounced by the Labor
Party as an item of its program. If a favorable opportunity arises
in the future it may yet again become a live political issue. Mr.
Harold Cox’s book is largely a criticism of what is perhaps the most
formidable defense of the levy, namely, that by Dr. Hugh Dalton.
There is also a very useful chapter summarizing the experiences of
six foreign countries. The author’s conclusion is that ‘All six
countries tell the same story. In each case the levy was tried as a
means of escaping from a financial debt which threatened the nation
with bankruptcy. In no case have the results achieved justified the
departure from sound methods of finance.’”--PI.
COX, HAROLD. _Economic Liberty._ Longmans, Green. 1920. 263 pp.
“A series of lucid essays by a thoroughgoing Individualist. The keynote
is found in the preface. The essays, it is claimed, are all inspired by
one purpose--the desire to defend economic liberty against the attacks
made upon it by men and women who think they can secure progress by
various schemes for curtailing freedom. ‘Liberty,’ it is admitted,
‘can be abused, but it is the business of the community to prevent
this abuse, not to destroy the liberty.’ And ‘It does not follow that
the best form of restraint is the employment of the power of the
State.’”--PI.
CREEL, GEORGE. _Russia’s Race for Asia._ Bobbs-Merrill. 1949. 264 pp.
A warning--which proved to be completely in vain--that if the United
States, by sins of omission or commission, allowed the Chinese
communists to gain a victory over the National government of Chiang
Kai-shek, it would put Russia in a position of mastery over half the
world’s population.
CROCE, BENEDETTO. _Historical Materialism and the Economics of Karl
Marx._ Macmillan. 1914. 188 pp.
A collection of essays on the philosophical aspects of Marxism. Marx
borrowed a great deal from Hegel, and yet reacted from him. The
distinguished Italian philosopher here tries to separate the true from
the false in Marx’s particular form of Hegelianism and anti-Hegelianism.
CROCE, BENEDETTO. _Politics and Morals._ Philosophical Library. 1945.
204 pp.
A collection of essays by a distinguished Italian philosopher.
Included are: _Liberalism as a Concept of Life_, _Free Enterprise and
Liberalism_, and _The Bourgeoisie: An Ill-defined Historical Concept_.
The last, a critique of a German book _The Bourgeois Mind in France_,
is particularly instructive.
CROSSMAN, RICHARD (ed.). _The God that Failed._ Harper. 1949. 273 pp.
This is a collection of essays by former communists or communist
sympathizers explaining the history of their disillusionment. The
contributors include former “initiates”--Arthur Koestler, Ignazio
Silone, Richard Wright--and former “worshippers from afar”--André Gide
(presented by E. Starkie), Louis Fischer, and Stephen Spender. Some of
the contributions are more interesting psychologically than for any
light they throw on economic or political philosophy. Several of the
disillusioned communists have remained socialists.
CROWTHER, SAMUEL. _Time to Inquire._ John Day. 1942. 353 pp.
This seeks to answer the question: “How can we restore the freedom,
opportunity, and dignity of the average man?”
CUNNINGHAM, W. _The Growth of English Industry and Commerce._ Vol.
1: _Early and Middle Ages_. Fifth edition. 1922. Vol. 2: _Modern
Times._ Sixth edition. 1922: Part 1, _Mercantile System_; Part 2,
_Laissez-faire. The Industrial Revolution._ 1922. (A reprint of
sections from the _Mercantile System and Laissez-faire_.) Cambridge
University Press. 3 vols. 1,679 pp.
“Standard works on economic history. Archdeacon Cunningham was one of
the founders of economic history as a regular branch of study in the
Universities. The most important of his other works are: _Progress
of Capitalism in England_ (second impression, 1925); and _Western
Civilization in Its Economic Aspects._ (1924. Fourth impression. 2
vols.)”--PI.
CURTISS, WILLIAM MARSHALL. _The Tariff Idea._ Irvington, N. Y.:
Foundation for Economic Education. 1953. 80 pp.
Dr. Curtiss carefully analyzes the principal arguments for protective
tariffs and disposes of them. He also points out that the protective
tariff philosophy is the source of a host of other political and
economic errors.
DALLIN, DAVID J. _The Real Soviet Russia._ Yale University Press.
1944. 1947. 325 pp.
An acknowledged authority, who was himself a member of the Moscow
soviet from 1918 to 1921, analyzes the communist tyranny. The first
edition appeared in 1944, when Russia was still America’s “ally” in
the war against Germany. Dallin tries to show the workings of the huge
apparatus of government, of the secret police, of the Army, and of
the party within the party of peasants and workers. He emphasizes the
contempt of the Russian leaders for human life and suffering.
DALLIN, DAVID J. _Soviet Espionage._ Yale University Press. 1955. 558
pp.
“Undoubtedly the major work on Soviet spy activities.”--Igor Gouzenko,
in _The New York Times_.
DALLIN, DAVID J., AND NICOLAEVSKY, BORIS I. _Forced Labor in Soviet
Russia._ Yale University Press. 1947. 331 pp.
“A conscientiously documented and appalling report on slave labor
in the corrective camps that the Soviet secret police runs for the
government.”--_New Yorker._
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. Anonymous. With a preface by T. S. Eliot.
Scribner’s. 1947. 299 pp.
An account, written anonymously, of what Soviet Russia did to the
Polish people when, as a result of the 1939 pact with Germany, the NKVD
entered Poland, arrested thousands, and deported them to labor camps in
Siberia. “One of the most affecting and important books published in
many years.... Revelation of how the Soviet pattern of life is imposed
upon a conquered people.”--Harry Schwartz, in the _Political Science
Quarterly_.
DAVENPORT, H. J. _The Economics of Enterprise._ Macmillan. 1913. 544
pp.
“One may glean from this book only a moderate reflection of one of
the greatest classroom teachers Cornell University ever had--one of
those rare persons, able to use the Socratic method masterfully.
Before concentrating on Economics, H. J. Davenport had first become
accomplished in English, mathematics, law and logic--a rich background
from which he taught.
“A jealous guardian of economic discipline founded in logic, his work
strongly upheld the precepts of individualism. To him any such concept
as the ‘social organism’ was anathema. And from that base he went on to
develop the concept of the processes of the market at their best, in
terms of human freedom. He defined the science of economics as ‘little
more than a study of price and of its causes and its corollaries.’
Price was, to him, central to all economics. And that meant price
freedom for _individuals_. Without freedom of pricing, therefore,
economics was not operative. He therefore disclaimed all theoretical
sympathies with the Socialists, whom he considered to be, in fact, the
ultraconservatives.”--F. A. Harper.
DE JAEGHER, RAYMOND J., AND KUHN, IRENE C. _The Enemy Within._
Doubleday. 1952. 314 pp.
An eyewitness account, by a Catholic priest, of the communist conquest
of China, covering the period of their methodic climb to power in North
China in the long years of war against Japan. “It makes a grisly story
and will come as a surprise to those who have the notion that Reds of
the Chinese species are less cruel than their cousins to the west; if
anything, according to Father de Jaegher, they are worse. The book
winds up with a discussion of the ill-fated Marshall mission to China,
a chapter that is certainly as depressing as any in the book.”--_New
Yorker._
DEWAR, HUGO. _Assassins at Large._ Beacon. 1952. 203 pp.
“This book sounds, in parts, like a collection of detective and mystery
stories. Actually it is a well-documented, though far from complete,
report on political murder and kidnapping cases perpetrated by Soviet
secret agents all over the world that have become known during the last
fifteen years.”--Vladimir Petrov, in _Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science_.
DICEY, A. V. _The Law of the Constitution._ Oxford. 1885.
“A classic study of English constitutional law. The eighth (1915)
edition (Macmillan), with its comprehensive and luminous introduction,
should be utilized. The chapter on ‘Parliamentary Sovereignty and
Federalism’ is especially important for American readers.”--Felix
Morley. “We are all servants of the laws,” wrote Cicero, “in order that
we may be free.” Dicey called attention to the modern threat to freedom
in the incursions that were being made into The Rule of Law.
DICEY, A. V. _Law and Public Opinion in England._ 1914. Macmillan.
1948. 506 pp.
“A work of fundamental importance. It traces the transition from the
old Toryism or ‘legislative quiescence’ to Benthamism or Individualism,
which was characteristic of the middle of the Nineteenth Century,
and the subsequent gradual reaction to Collectivism, from about 1870
onwards.”--PI. It also discusses such questions as judicial legislation
and the right of association.
DODD, BELLA V. _School of Darkness._ P. J. Kenedy & Sons. 1955. 262 pp.
The repentant ex-communist teacher, Bella V. Dodd, calls communism a
“school of darkness.” “This volume of experiences and confession has
more value than most books written by former Communists, because it
gives the clearest picture yet of how communism was able to recruit
intelligent, educated persons during the twenties and thirties.”--Irene
Corbally Kuhn, in _The Freeman_.
DOS PASSOS, JOHN. _The Grand Design._ Houghton Mifflin. 1949. 440 pp.
The final volume of a trilogy, the first two volumes of which were
_Adventures of a Young Man_ (1939) and _Number One_ (1943). This novel
tells the story of the New Deal years in American life. Some of the
characters are evidently based on well-known figures. “_The Grand
Design_ is ... respectful of the inner core of New-Deal idealism,
contemptuous of the politics, confusion, jealousy, corruption, and
inefficiency which accompanied it.”--Orville Prescott in the _Yale
Review_.
EAST, EDWARD M. _Mankind at the Crossroads._ Scribner’s. 1923. 360 pp.
An authoritative study of the population problem.
EASTMAN, MAX. _Reflections on the Failure of Socialism._ Devin-Adair.
1955. 128 pp.
A lucid and brilliant analysis of the fallacies of Marxian and Fabian
socialism. Mr. Eastman argues that socialism has failed over the last
century in every nation and in every form in which it has been tried.
He explains why political liberty depends upon a democratic competitive
market and the price system. His arguments are all the more persuasive
because of his personal history. He began as an extreme left-wing
Socialist. As editor of the _Masses_ and later of the _Liberator_,
he “fought for the Bolsheviks on the battlefield of American opinion
with all the influence my voice and magazine possessed.” This book
explains the reasons for his gradual disillusionment. The most powerful
chapter is “The Religion of Immoralism,” a devastating exposure of the
peculiarly mystical but systematic rejection of morality which “is the
one wholly original contribution of Karl Marx to man’s heritage of
ideas.”
EASTMAN, MAX. _Marxism: Is It Science?_ Norton. 1940. 394 pp.
Mr. Eastman, once a Marxist, here argues that scientific socialism,
so-called, is not science but religion. “Max Eastman’s book is, as
readers of his earlier philosophical writings would expect, a work of
art.”--A. N. Holcombe, in _Books_.
EBON, MARTIN. _World Communism Today._ Whittlesey. 1948. 536 pp.
A useful reference work which attempts to give a survey of communism in
every country in which it has been an important political factor.
ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES COMMISSION OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
MANUFACTURERS. _The American Individual Enterprise System._
McGraw-Hill. 1946. 2 vols. 1119 pp.
These two volumes were prepared by a committee of fifteen authors,
about evenly divided between professional economists and business
executives. They were asked to submit to the National Association of
Manufacturers “a thorough analysis of the philosophy, operations and
achievements of the American economic system.” There are chapters on
the individual enterprise system, employment relations, agriculture,
savings and capital formation, money and credit, profit and loss, the
role of prices and price determination, competition and monopoly,
government regulation, public finance, business fluctuations, etc.
Among the authors were W. W. Cumberland, Willford I. King, Harley L.
Lutz, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Shields, Bradford B. Smith, Rufus S.
Tucker and Ray B. Westerfield.
EDMUNDS, STERLING. _The Struggle for Freedom._ Milwaukee: Bruce
Publishing Co. 1946. 309 pp.
The history of Anglo-American liberty from the charter of Henry I
to the present day. “The author was for many years a lecturer on
constitutional law at St. Louis University. Professor Edmunds is
convinced that the American people have been losing control over their
lives and liberties. The Federal Government, in his opinion, with its
increasing use of boards and administrative law, constitutes a threat
to freedom.... Administrative boards rather than courts of law now
direct the lives of the American people.... The background material
which he presents in the field of constitutional law is perhaps
unsurpassed by that found in any other book.”--_The Commonweal._
EINAUDI, LUIGI. _Greatness and Decline of Planned Economy in the
Hellenistic World._ Bern, Switzerland: A. Franke. 1950. 48 pp.
Luigi Einaudi, the former President of Italy, is a distinguished
liberal economist. Out of a dozen books written by him, this is the
only one, to my knowledge, that has been made available in English.
EKIRCH, ARTHUR E., JR. _The Decline of American Liberalism._ Longmans,
Green. 1955. 401 pp.
The author, Professor of History at the American University in
Washington, argues that the main trend since the American Revolution
has been to augment concentration of economic and state power and thus
whittle away individual freedom.
ELLIOTT, W. Y., AND MCDONALD, NEIL A. _The Western Political
Heritage._ Prentice-Hall. 1949. 1027 pp.
“An excellent work of reference.”--_Human Events._ “This book ought
to find its way into the library of anyone who has any curiosity
about the origins and development of the struggle between tyranny and
freedom.”--_San Francisco Chronicle._
EMERSON, RALPH WALDO. Essays on _Wealth_ and _Politics_. Many editions.
Emerson was not only a strong individualist in the broadest sense of
the word, but a strong advocate of the free enterprise system (although
it was not known under that name in his time) and a strong advocate of
limited government. These two essays are outstanding illustrations, as
the following excerpt from _Politics_ will show:
“This is the history of governments--one man does something which is to
bind another. A man who cannot be acquainted with me, taxes me; looking
from afar at me ordains that a part of my labor shall go to this or
that whimsical end--not as I, but as he happens to fancy. Behold the
consequence. Of all debts men are least willing to pay the taxes. What
a satire is this on government! Everywhere we think they get their
money’s worth, except for these. Hence the less government we have the
better--the fewer laws, and the less confided power.”
ERHARD, LUDWIG. _Germany’s Comeback in the World Market._ Macmillan.
1955. 276 pp.
An exposition by the German Economics Minister of Germany’s postwar
economic policies. Dr. Erhard describes how the stabilization of the
currency and the removal of price controls beginning in June of 1948
brought the “miracle” of German recovery. “It was the initiation of
the market economy that awakened entrepreneurial impulses. The worker
became ready to work, the trader to sell, and the economy in general
to produce. In this way alone the conditions making possible a genuine
foreign trade were provided.”
ERNST, MORRIS L., AND LOTH, D. G. _Report on the American Communist._
Holt. 1952. 240 pp.
“The stated purpose of this book is to provide a better understanding
of Communism in America and to prevent the growth of party membership.
The authors interviewed nearly three hundred former Communists, asking
why they joined and why they left the party.”--_Library Journal._
EUCKEN, RUDOLPH. _Socialism: An Analysis._ Scribner’s. 1922. 188 pp.
“A philosophical analysis of Socialism by an eminent German
philosopher. This book is in two parts. The first consists of an
extraordinarily fair statement and explanation of Socialist ideals, and
the second part of an examination and rejection of those ideals. The
whole spirit as well as the methods of Socialism are here opposed.”--PI.
EUCKEN, WALTER. _This Unsuccessful Age._ London: Hodge. 1951. 96 pp.
The author, a German thinker of stature, integrity and courage,
summarizes the experiences of the first fifty years of the age of
economic experiments. He points out the lessons that can be learned,
in particular, from the lengthy experiments in planning, government
direction, and price-fixing in Germany. He concludes that we can
now know at least how _not_ to attempt a solution of the problem of
economic power, how _not_ to try to achieve social security, and
how _not_ to “plan.” He particularly stresses that a policy of full
employment leads directly, through inflation, to a centrally planned
and therefore totalitarian society. There is an introduction by John
Jewkes of the University of Oxford.
EUCKEN, WALTER. _The Foundations of Economics._ London: Hodge. 1950.
358 pp.
The late Walter Eucken was, among German economists, the foremost
opponent of the Historical School. He contributed greatly to the
revival in Germany of interest in economic theory. The first German
edition of this book appeared in 1940; the present English translation
is based on the sixth German edition. The central theme is the dual
aspect of economic problems, which has led to a dual approach to
them--one historical, the other theoretical. The author attempts to
clarify the respective roles of these two methods. The excesses of
Nazism and of the early stringent controls in Germany after World War
II led Eucken to emphasize more and more the advantages and urgency of
a free market system.
FAIRCHILD, F. R., AND SHELLY, T. J. _Understanding Our Free Economy._
Van Nostrand. 1952. 589 pp.
Perhaps the best introduction to economics ever written for high school
students, and certainly the best in existence now. Even many adults
will find it an ideal elementary introduction to the subject. It is
outspoken and unapologetic in its defense of free markets and free
private enterprise as against government planning and socialism.
FAIRCHILD, FRED R., BUCK, W. S., AND SLESINGER, R. E. _Principles of
Economics._ Macmillan. 1954. 780 pp.
A standard introductory college textbook. The 1954 edition has been “so
thoroughly rewritten and revised that, in the opinion of the authors,
it is virtually a new book.... It seeks understanding of the working
of the modern free economy, while acquainting the student also with
other economic systems and certain recent trends toward collectivism.”
Especially noteworthy are two chapters on “Government in Industry.”
These deal with such matters as price and wage controls, the Tennessee
Valley Authority, and agricultural subsidies.
FARADAY, W. B. _Democracy and Capital._ London: Murray. 1921. 314 pp.
“A popular and exhaustive exposure of Socialism. It is argued that
Socialist movements are definitely retrogressive, as the trend of
social progress has been, in a juristic sense, away from status and
towards freedom of contract, and that ‘Our liberty has grown with the
idea of the inviolability of property and the increased individuality
of the man as opposed to the State.’”--PI.
FARRAND, MAX (ed.). _The Records of the Federal Convention._ Yale
University Press. 1937. 4 vols.
“This is the definitive record of the Constitutional Convention,
supplementing Madison’s reports and correcting them wherever later
evidence warrants; indispensable for thorough study of American
governmental origins.”--Felix Morley.
FAWCETT, HENRY. _Manual of Political Economy._ Macmillan. 1883. 631 pp.
“A textbook on the lines of Mill, but more severely
individualistic.”--PI.