PAGE SIX
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1949
The Editorial Page-
Anti-Trust?
Recent actions by the federal government against the Atlantic and Pacific Tea company for violations of the anti-trust laws have caused much discussion across the country. Is the government attacking a harmful trust, or is it attacking low-cost, low-profit mass distribution, which A&P has pioneered?
Both independent grocers and those belonging to smaller chains have risen in defense of their chief competitor; for if the suit is won by the government, and A&P is split up into seven independent companies, it may be a sign of the end for all large business institutions, including enterprising retailers.
One independent grocer in a small West Virginia town said of the A&P: "It is the competition of large chain stores which keeps me on my toes. Any small retailer is capable of competing with a chain store if he is smart enough to capitalize upon the same smart merchandising methods that they put into practice." The other 600,000 retail grocery stores in the country furnish proof that A&P can never control the food market.
This charge, in itself, is contrary to the economic definitions of a monopolist, who attempts to control both supply and price. The Sherman Anti-Trust law was not meant to throttle free enterprise, such as is being fostered both by large chains and small, independent retailers.
It is also charged that the company is excessively lowering its prices. If by smart merchandising and mass distribution, the chain can compete with the services and convenience of the independent grocer, A&P should be praised.
It is almost impossible for a retailer to be a monopolist, for success in retailing comes by means of competition. There seems to be an increasing tendency for the government to attack institutions just because they are big. In a country where free enterprise and the right to be a millionaire is the rule, such action is almost tyranny. —Emlin North
In the first case brought against the company several months ago, the federal lawyers said that A&P was not to be prosecuted for combining manufacture with distribution. They now reverse their position by wanting to chop the company into various subsidiaries.
One point of view is that enactment of President Truman's "Fair Deal" program would start us down the road to totalitarianism. His critics say this:
The Fair Deal
"From the coddling of the welfare state, it is a short step to socialism. From socialism, the move to communism is inevitable."
Like Mr. Truman's critics, we like this country and the system in it. We'd like to keep it. However, we're afraid we won't have it at all if the country goes through another period of depression such as the 1930's. History shows that prosperous people have no interest in communism or fascism. History also shows that hungry people who can't find work will follow the 'dictates of the first demagogue who comes along and offers them food for their liberties.
Hitler and Mussolini came to power in times of economic crisis. Would communism have found adherents in Russia in 1917 and in China now, if all had been well for the overwhelming majority of the people? Dean Acheson has said that "in no small measure, the predicament in which the National government (in China) finds itself today is due to its failure to provide China with enough to eat. A large part of the Chinese Communists' propaganda consists of promises that they will solve the land problem."
Ten million people were unemployed in America during the last great depression. A great many more were in anything but comfortable straits. What if a man of lesser stature than Franklin Roosevelt had been in a position to come to power in 1933? What it had been, instead, a Huey Long or a Mussolini? That Roosevelt took no more power than he did will always be to his credit. In the bewildered, panicky year of 1933, he could have obtained a great deal more authority than he asked for.
The next time we may not be so fortunate. Our own Mussolini or Stalin might be ready then.
Someone once said that "you can't fill the baby's bottle with liberty." This pretty well defines the public frame of mind during a depression, so it would seem that the obvious thing is to see that the baby's bottle doesn't become empty.
If this must be done through expanded social security, price supports, some regulation of production and distribution, then let's have them—surely we have learned by now that a complete hands off policy won't work. It never has.
We like our present system. We'd rather change it a little now than lose it altogether later.
A Letter to the Editor: Dear Sir: I will graduate from high school next spring. I want to attend K.U. and thought that you might be able to tell me a little about it. What I want to know is can I get training that will let me go into work like nursing, being an airline hostess, or perhaps the stage. . . . Would the boys at K.U. be resentful toward a girl that has a car? My father has been pretty lucky lately in some oil land and I have a new car. Should I bring my car to school? My mother wants me to go to a private girl's school, but my father says I should not do this. He said I would have a devil of a time finding a man at a girl's school, but of course he is just joking. . . Let me know what you think about the car. Sincerely yours, Betty B.
One Apple Makes One Pie
West Plains, Mo. — (U.P.)—M S.
Miller reports he picked an apple measuring 14% inches around. Miller said the apple was so big it made one extra large apple pie.
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Press Assn., and the Associated Collegeate
Press. Represented by the National Ad-
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Editor in Chief... James W. Scott
Managing Editor... Marvin Rowlands
Asst. Managing Ed... Ruth Keller
Asst. Managing Ed... John Riley
Asst. Managing Ed... Ralph Olsen
Asst. City Editor... Norma Hunsinger
Asst. City Editor... Robert Overton
Asst. City Editor... Keith Leslie
Feature Editor... Doris Greenbank
Workshop Edit... Wendy Wilson
Asst. Sports Editor... George Brown, Jr.
Asst. Sports Editor... Jim VanKalbenburg
Telegraph Editor... Kay Dyer
Asst. Telegraph Ed... Leafford Miller
Asst. Telegraph Ed... Dominic Moore
 Society Editor... Alain Bright
Asst. Society Ed... Frankie Waits
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Candidate ... Dean McIntosh
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Negro Teacher Demands
Same Paw As White Teachers
Jackson, Miss. — (U.P.) —A suit in which Gladys Noel Bates, a former Jackson Ngro teacher, seeks equal pay with white teachers for all teachers of her race, will be heard in federal court here during November.
Mississippi's 8,366 white classroom teachers drew an average salary of $1,731.05 for the 1948-49 school term, while the average for the state's 6,164 Negro teachers was $659.49.
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