Bill Clinton: Philosopher­

May 1997 Vol. 10, No.5 $4.00 King?

"The greatest dangers to Liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal. "- Brandeis and

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4 Letters Our readers become our writers. 5 Reflections Liberty's editors celebrate Al Gore's confession to a felony, analyze billionaire capitalist George Soros's attack on capitalism, deconstruct Social Security, and take a second look at cloning.

Features 13 Mysteries the Titanic The night the Titanic sank, a lot of things went with it - such as, Stephen Cox reports, fairness, truth, and duty. 29 The Misunderstood Mr. Jefferson Fashionable attacks on Thomas Jefferson, David N. Mayer finds, obscure his one ruling passion, the "holy cause of freedom."

40 License to Steal Many modem journalists believe they should be above the law. R. W. Bradford doesn't.

43 The Lost Papers of Ludwig von Mises Richard Ebeling finds treasure buried in an obscure warehouse in Moscow.

47 Do Inalienable Rights Outlaw Punishment? John C. Goodman takes a close look at George Smith's argument against capital punishment. 49 The Hollow Ring of Inalienability Timothy Virkkala argues that inalienable rights are fictions.

Reviews 51 The Bloody Hinge of American History The Civil War wasn't any­ thing like what they teach you in school. Robert Higgs considers a new history that uncovers the truth about the war.

57 Blackboard Bungle Two mainstream educators claim that schools are as good as they ever were; Nathan Crow finds this no cause for celebration.

64 Elitism Unbound How to be in the elite: anoint yourself with self­ importance, then rub your eyes until your vision is blurred. Jane Shaw rolls out the eye chart.

65 Rebels vs. the Federation Star Trek's bureaucratic ethos is at odds with the rebel spirit of Star Wars; Todd Seavey knows which side he's on. 69 Booknote Richard Kostelanetz on the marketing of "Latinas."

68 Classified Ads The market, by category.

70 Terra Incognita We couldn't make this stuff up.

71 Notes on Contributors Reduced to a formulated phrase.

cover illustration: painting by William G. Muller, 1981 May 1997

At a recent state LP convention, I Letters asked a panel of LP members whether [ the national party hierarchy had ever J asked them what the national LP could do to strengthen the party. They looked Our Right to Medicine marijuana is not blocked by the FDA, at me like I was from Mars. So I asked Thomas Szasz's bleak assessment of DEA and other drug bureaucracies. In them what they would say if they were the California medical marijuana initia­ upholding individuals' right to produce asked. I received three brilliant ideas: their own medicine, Proposition 215 lib­ tive vastly underestimates its libertar­ (1) a brochure on zoning (and possibly ian implications ("Marijuana Sellout," erates marijuana from the hands of the brochures on other local issues) created March 1997). As one of the organizers pharmaceutical-regulatory complex, by the national LP for local candidates of Proposition 215 who shares Dr. which holds that consumers must be (with a blank space to stamp their name Szasz's aversion to the therapeutic "protected" from their own decisions by and address); (2) an Internet clearing­ state, I can attest that it was specifically government regulation. house in which LP members in one designed to undercut government con­ Of course, Dr. Szasz may still com­ state could learn what members in trols on the drug market. Were Dr. plain that Proposition 215 is only a med­ other states were doing; and (3) a pro­ Szasz to examine the ballot argument ical marijuana measure and requires a fessionally produced videotape on the for Proposition 215, he would find it physician's approval- but any broader LP that could be played on local cable­ blissfully innocent of blatherings about measure would surely have failed at the access stations. "medicalization" and a "more rational polls. The significance of Proposition The post-election situation in the drug policy." Rather, Proposition 215 215 (and Arizona's Proposition 200) lies national LP reflects the mess that comes was focused on guaranteeing people's less in its narrow provisions than in the with Libertarian central planning. The right to medicine. fact that it constituted a popular no­ national LP recently sent out a fundrais­ One of the glories of Proposition 215 confidence vote in current drug policy. ing letter entitled"A Personal Message is that it does not place medical mari­ By calling into question the credibility of from Harry Browne." The letter juana under the control of any state federal drug authorities, the stage has requested money to promote the central drug bureaucracy. Rather, it liberates been set for a wider debate. If they were plan established by the national party marijuana from state control by giving wrong about this, what else might they hierarchy. Shortly thereafter, Browne patients the right to use and obtain it on be wrong about? Already, Czar announced the formation of a commit­ the "written or oral recommendation or McCaffrey has been forced to call for a tee to explore his renewed candidacy approval" of a physician. The allowance review of marijuana by the Institute of for president. for oral recommendations is especially Medicine - the same institution which, A top-down, central plan for liberty radical, since it effectively circumvents in a similar review back in 1982, recom­ - especially one that advances the per­ the existing system of prescription drug mended complete decriminalization. sonal goals of the party hierarchy ­ regulations, whereby physicians must Take heart, Dr. Szasz - Proposition 215 will bring only damage and defeat to fill out triplicate prescription forms so is hardly the last word, but just the first the LP. The party must instead seek out that narcotics authorities can monitor step toward a historic turn-around in and capitalize on the ideas, insights, their practice. Unlike previous reformist drug policy. knowledge, and expertise of thousands efforts, which aimed merely to Dale H. Gieringer of individual Libertarians. Electoral suc­ "reschedule" marijuana as a Schedule 2 Berkeley, Calif. cess at the top depends on a solid foun­ controlled substance, Proposition 215 dation at the bottom. effectively removes it from the schedul­ Libertarian Central Planning Harry Browne's article "Does the Jacob G. Hornberger ing system entirely! Another, equally Ashburn, Va. libertarian provision of Proposition 215 Libertarian Party Have a Future?" is to allow patients to cultivate mari­ (March 1997) reflects what Friedrich Devil's Pact juana for themselves. The purpose of Hayek called "the pretense of knowl­ Would I give up my "favorite" gov­ this is to ensure that patients' access to edge." Harry presumes to possess the ernment program, if it meant that I requisite knowledge to plan the future would never have to pay income tax success of the Libertarian Party. But as again? You're damned right I would! Hayek so often pointed out, such "fatal But I am not on welfare, Social Security, Letters Policy conceit" is doomed to fail. Medicare, Medicaid, a federal retiree, or We invite readers to comment on articles that Thousands of Libertarians all over struggling to finance a college educa­ have appeared in the pages of Liberty. We the country collectively possess infi­ tion. The Harry Browne Libertarian reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. All letters are assumed to be intended for publi­ nitely more knowledge about liberty election 'bargain' was a flawed proposi­ cation unless otherwise stated. Succinct, type­ and electoral strategy than any single tion, because its premise was that the written letters are preferred. Please include your Libertarian planner. Rather than majority of the electorate did not phone number so that we can verify your attempting to centrally plan the future already have a hand deep in some fed­ identity. eral pocket. That is patently untrue. The Send letters to: of the party in a top-down fashion, the Liberty national party hierarchy should instead bulk of federal entitlement expenditures P.O. Box 1181 be seeking out and utilizing the knowl­ goes straight to middle-class Port Townsend, WA 98368 edge and expertise of Libertarians all Americans, who gain far more from the or e-mail us from our pages on the World Wide Web, at http://www.LibertySoft.com/liberty/ across the country. continued on page 12 The campaign justifies the means - In "It shall be unlawful for any person to solicit or receive any their lust for re-election, President Clinton and his henchmen contributions ... in any room or building occupied in the dis­ appear to have violated the laws of the United States as well charge of official duties ... any person who violates this sec­ as common morality. But they had good reason. "I would tion shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not remind you that we were fighting a battle not simply for our more than three years, or both." re-election," Clinton explained, "but over the entire direction This law has been on the books since 1883, and is suffi­ of the country for years to come, and the most historic philo­ ciently well-known to members of Congress that almost any sophical battle we've had in America in quite some time ­ day you can see them walk out of the Capitol to make calls to over the direction of the budget, over our commitment to donors on cellular telephones. It was also well-known to the education, over whether we would dismantle large chunks of administration. In early 1995, White House Counsel Abner our environmental regulations and our public health Mikva sent a memo to all in the White House. noting that regulations." "[c]ampaign activities of any kind are prohibited in or from Philosophy battles, generally fought in the pages of schol­ Government buildings. This means fundraising events may arly journals, used to be quite inexpensive. But now that our not be held in the White House; also, no fundraising phone Philosopher-King is running things, philosophical battles cost calls or mail may emanate from the White House." millions of dollars! But Gore was apparently too busy re-inventing govern­ His immoral and illegal fundraising methods were not his ment and raising some $40 million for the campaign to read fault, Clinton explained. It was the fault of those Americans the memo. who disagreed with him. "I don't regret the fact that we He wasn't the only high-level administration figure who worked like crazy to raise enough money to keep from being didn't realize fundraising in the White House is illegal. The rolled over by the biggest juggernaut this country had seen in day before, the subject had come up on ABC's "This Week" a very long time." He was doing it for the good of the television program. One of the pundits on the program was country. -RWB former White House staffer George Stephanopoulos, who said that the Democrats needed money in 1994 and 1995, and I'd like to thank the cats who made this "of course the vice president was raising money." When asked by Sam Donaldson for more information, In the American century, it has award possible - Stephanopoulos said, "You put in special phones, special often been said that the U.S. is the new Rome, the new faxes, special computers that are for political work, for the Empire dedicated to the defense of civilization against the fund-raiser work." forces of barbarism. And now we have new evidence for this Donaldson asked, "But still inside of a government build­ idea: Hillary Clinton has received a Grammy for the reading ing?" Stephanopoulos replied, "Sure. Absolutely." Another of her book It Takes A Village. Students of classical history panelist said, "You cannot raise money in or from a govern­ might be reminded of the emperor Nero, who received ment building." Stephanopoulos responded, "Well, I mean, awards from all parts of the empire for the public recital of that's nuts." his poems. Nero, of course, had to resort to the threat of the Gore told the press conference he wasn't going to do it arena's lions to help convince people to grant him awards, anymore. But ... "Everything I did, I understood to be law­ while government handouts to equally trailblazing artists do ful. I never did anything I thought was wrong, much less ille­ the job for Hillary. Does this mean that humanity is making gal," he added. "My counsel advises me that there is no progress? Well, at least Nero always knew that he was a bet­ controlling legal authority or case that says that there was ter artist than leader of his country. I wonder if the Clintons any violation of the law whatsoever in the manner in which I have the same wisdom. -DB asked people to contribute to our re-election campaign." (During the press conference, Gore used the phrase "no con­ The law and Mr. Gore - On March 3, Al Gore trolling legal authority" seven times, as if it were a magic tal­ told a press conference that during the past two years, "I isman to ward off danger. Translated from legalese into made calls to ask people to host events and to ask people to English, it mean that no vice-president has ever been charged make lawful contributions to the campaign. On a few occa­ with violating this law in the past.) sions I made some telephone calls from my office in the Four days later, President Clinton told a press conference White House. I never did anything that I felt was wrong, that perhaps he too had made telephone solicitations from much less illegal. I was advised that there was nothing wrong the White House on behalf of his campaign: "I told him to with that practice." With those words, Vice President Gore leave that possibility open because I'm not sure, frankly. I confessed to approximately fifty felonies, punishable by a don't like to raise funds in that way. I never have liked it very total of 150 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. much. I prefer to meet with people face to face, talk to them, Unhappily for the vice president, 18 U.s.C. 607 (a) states: deal with them in that way. But I can't say, over all the hun- Liberty 5 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 dreds and hundreds and maybe thousands of phone calls I've ment regulation and institutions like central banks, to protect made in the last four years, that I never said to anybody us from the outcomes of that incalculable market. while I was talking to them, 'Well, we need your help,' or 'I Soros is wrong from the start. Today's worldwide econ­ hope you'll help us.III omy is hardly laissez faire. In virtually every nation in the The president also offered a novel theory on the meaning western world, the government consumes more than 40% of of the law: "It's clear that what the law is on this going back a the GNP, a condition that hardly suggests a large degree of long time is that it's as if he'd written a letter [to] somebody economic freedom. And existing political barriers to interna­ from the White House. Does solicitation occur when he wrote tional trade are by no means insignificant. the letter or when the letter is received? And the law is Mr. Capitalism also seems unaware that there have been clearly that the solicitation is consummated, if you will, when several revolutions since he took Economics 101. The require­ the personis solicited and where the person is solicited." ment that market participants must have perfect knowledge Meanwhile, a growing number of Congressmen have for an efficient equilibrium has long since hit the classroom asked that Attorney General Janet Reno appoint a special dustbin. And as for the myth of independently given supply prosecutor to investigate the charges of illegal fundraising. and demand, well, the Austrian school debunked that years Reno has refused so far, arguing that if there's any evidence ago. Instead, these free-market economists emphasize the role of wrongdoing by either of her bosses, she will bring the of the entrepreneur, whose alertness to previously unthought charges herself. She hasn't commented on Gore's confession, of (unexpected) wants and opportunities helps move markets nor on Clinton's admission that he cannot remember whether towards preViously unimagined equilibria - a condition we he committed this particular crime. -CAA can expect no well-meaning bureaucrat to anticipate, much less plan for. Six ofone - Bill Clinton says that the era of big govern­ The spectacle of a person with so little understanding ment is over. Judging by his state of the union address, I guess about the system in which he has made his fortune may be we've entered the era of lots of little government. -SR worth a smile. But parts of his article are less than funny. Soros proposes that citizens of the western world pour bil­ Philosophic goulash - Friends of the interven­ lions of dollars into other countries in the name of a"global tionist state are always delighted when a famous capitalist open society," ignoring overwhelming evidence from Africa denounces the "excesses" of the system. The February issue and South America that development aid does not help poor of the Atlantic Monthly gave them reason to cheer. George nations at all, but rather tends to inhibit necessary pro-market Soros, author of its cover story, "The Capitalist Threat," is not reforms. On the whole, Soros strongly resembles other bil­ merely a famous capitalist, he is a billionaire speculator on lionaire families, such as the Rockefellers - who, having international finance markets, and his article is a frontal made their fortune, went around spreading their anti­ attack on laissez faire. capitalist philosophy. Of course, it took the Rockefellers two In the article, Soros extols - but does not explain - Karl generations to decline that far. George Soros appears to have Popper's ideal of an "open society," and contrasts it with the made it in a single lifetime. -OB worldwide laissez faire economy he alleges we live in. The only charac­ If you're so rich, why teristic of the "open society" that he mentions is that it recognizes man's aren't you smart? - Boiled fallibility, thus rejecting the very down to its essentials, zillionaire capi­ notion of an ultimate truth. Because talist George Soros's criticism of free­ free-marketeers boast of the market's market capitalism amounts to the observation that its advocates are efficiency, Soros charges them with quite certain that it is very good at ful­ the hubris of believing they have the filling human needs. Since an open truth. For this sin, he argues, they society is a good thing and necessarily pose a threat to the open society of admits to fallibilism, capitalism is bad. the same sort that the Soviet empire Apparently, Soros read' some Karl posed during the cold war. Popper before he went off to earn his Markets are inefficient, he says, billions as a mega-capitalist. The obvi­ illustrating his point with a discus­ I ous question for Soros is, are you cer­ sion of a subject he knows very well: I tain that an open society is a good financial markets. Because market thing? participants shape the future by their Soros's sophomoric rehashing of present expectations and actions, I Popper's theory illustrates an all-too­ supply and demand independent of I common phenomenon: the tendency expectations is a chimera. And with­ I to believe that a person is smart sim­ out independently determined sup­ ply because he is successful at making ply and demand, he says, the market I money. When I read it, I was cannot achieve the balance that econ­ reminded of a story I read about Niels omists call "equilibrium." This Bohr, the pioneering nuclear physicist. makes a free market inherently t_····_- After a reporter for Life magazine fin­ unstable. Therefore, we need govern- --l-r-..J--....,l: '-. ished interviewing the scientist, he 6 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 noticed a horseshoe nailed above the door to his office. "Dr. build 2,000 or more houses - for fifty years at noncompeti­ Bohr," he said, "you are one of the greatest scientists in the tive prices. Louisiana-Pacific got the contract, which also world today. Surely, a man of science like you does not allowed it to cut most of the timber from the gigantic Tongass believe in the old superstition that nailing a horseshoe over National Forest during the next fifty years. your door will bring you good fortune." Bohr replied, "Of Since then, the company has cut more than six billion course not. But I am told that it brings good luck whether one board feet and paid the u.S. Treasury less than $5 million. believes it or not." Administering the timber cutting has cost taxpayers well over Nor must one understand how free markets work in order $100 million. Virtually all of the wood went to Japan. to benefit from them. For this, Soros can be thankful. -RWB Environmentalists began agitating to stop the cutting and save taxpayers money more than two decades ago. Congress George Bush, meet Ralph Klein - If passed a reform law in 1990 which directed the Forest Service George Bush ever lies awake nights wondering whether to increase cutting fees to competitive rates. But Louisiana­ breaking his emphatic and repeated pledge of "No new Pacific sued, saying that the new fees violated its contract. taxes" cost him the presidency, he should look to the experi­ The contract was probably illegal in the first place, but no one ence of Ralph Klein, in Alberta, Canada. In 1993, Klein faced a had legal standing to challenge it. situation remarkably like the one Bush faced in 1988. His pre­ Then the mill got into trouble because of pollution viola­ decessor had financed increased spending with huge budget tions. Louisiana-Pacific figured that it wasn't worth it to add deficits, and the provincial government's debt was skyrocket­ pollution equipment to the mill unless it could extend the ing. Like Bush, he ran for office on a platform of no new contract another fifteen years. But environmentalists, backed taxes. Like Bush, the only way he could avoid a tax increase by the Clinton administration, opposed such an extension. was to cut spending. The administration also saw that the Supreme Court Indeed, since Alberta is a province, not an independent would probably rule against it if the contract case ever made nation, it could not finance its deficit by inflating its currency. it that far. So the administration cut a deal with the Alaska So Klein had even less room to manuever than did Bush. He congressional delegation: pay $140 million to Louisiana­ therefore promised to cut spending, sell off government Pacific, another $110 million to Ketchikan to develop new enterprises, and balance the budget. He went even further: he industry, and shut down the mill. All those involved got what they wanted. promised to begin to payoff the government debt. Environmentalists got the mill closed, the pollution stopped, As with Bush, Klein's promise to get government under and the harvest of the forest stopped. People in Ketchikan got control and to refuse ever to raise taxes proved to be a popu­ $110 million to fool around with (that's over $13,000 per per­ lar one with voters. He won his election. son). And Louisiana-Pacific got $140 million to walk away But once elected, Klein was no Bush. He cut spending, pri­ from the mill. Everyone is happy. vatized government services, and balanced the budget. And Oh yes, the taxpayers. They'll be paying a quarter of a bil­ Albertans under the government of Klein, unlike Americans lion dollars on top of the $100 million or so that they've under George Bush, suffered nary a tax increase during his already paid to have their forests cut. But they probably tenure. Klein was attacked for his spending cuts and ridi­ didn't pay much attention to something like this. -RO'T culed for his privatizations. But he stayed the course. This year, he faced re-election, as Bush did in 1992. His slogan was "Vote for Ralph Klein because we did what we Doppelgangers 'R' us - The supposed moral said we were going to do. We kept our promises." His cam­ quandaries posed by the prospect of human cloning have paign was lackluster; he didn't even bother to campaign the inspired much public excitement and quasi-theological pun­ final two days, on the theory that voters knew his record. ditry. But how likely is it that people will actually want to make "copies" of themselves? Well, according to the Unlike Bush, he was re-elected in a landslide. Economist, six out of a hundred people admit they are inter­ Meanwhile, 1,000 miles south of Alberta, George Bush's ested in cloning themselves - a figure that is surely lower son George W. Bush was elected Governor of Texas, and was than the real one. So parenting a clone may be more than a already being touted as a possible Republican candidate for president in 2000, running second in the polls behind Colin Powell. He hadn't made the "no new taxes" promise when he ran for office - in the Lone Star state everyone just assumes any ~ MyfH 1N6 ILL(tAL ~tJPA candidate for governor will oppose any tax increase. But AtV D l'Lt NEvEf\ ]/0 ~rJJtOR(jPL[ apparently George W. Bush is his father's son. 11AG~IN ."fRlll! 'A ~dV£ WE LAr,J " In January, George W. Bush sent his first budget to the leg­ 1iJl~r / islature for consideration. It contained a whopping increase in 1ACN{ rl{OJ(1 ,.~,~----z- ~, RRAVO' / the sales tax, already the third highest in the nation. .. '--::-/71 His daddy would be proud. I wonder what Ralph Klein's son is doing. -CAA I"""/:<'~/

Tongass morass - In 1954, Congress prodded the ~/~~, //, , ,,'/t' Forest Service to promote some industry in the then-territory ~ 'w~/~£iO£L./;':'-'/...... :.-...... ,- of Alaska. The agency agreed to let a single company cut about 160 million board feet of wood per year - enough to Liberty 7 Volume 10, Number 5 fantasy; it could be the title of a future New York Times bestseller. Having a clone instead of a child will interest several kinds of people. First, there are those so convinced of their own Liberty Live •• • uniqueness, brilliance, charm or beauty that they cannot bear to see such a pre­ Intellectual sparks flew at "Cultivating Liberty," Libertjs 1996 cious gene configuration snuffed out. Of Editors' Conference. course, in some cases - such as that of shockingly smart British biologist Now you can see and hear Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw on their Richard Dawkins - such a self­ battle with the FDA, Wendy McElroy on the rights ofwhores, Bill evaluation may be justified (and Kauffman on the new nationalism, and many other powerful speak­ Dawkins says he's interested). ers - David Friedman, Douglas Casey, Bill Bradford, Jane Shaw, In others, however, the desire to and others - explaining and debating the most exciting topics in the clone would generally be a manifestation of delusional narcissism, most likely of worlds ofpolitics, economics, law, history, and libertarianism. Pick the wounded kind. Thus, clone-parents and choose the audio/video tapes you'd like - or get the whole set will surely include a large proportion of at an incredible discount! people who believe that but for the ill­ will, incompetence, or neglect of parents, New Advances in Free Speech. Renowned Life Extension authors Durk Pearson school, society, etc. they would have and Sandy Shaw describe their gloves-off battles with the FDA. Lively! (Audio: achieved great things, or at least not AlOS; Video: V20S) spent their entire lives as sniveling neu­ rotics. For these folks, the opportunity to Should We Abolish Criminal Law? What ifall law were offered by entrepreneurs? do their lives over again (so it will be David Friedman shows how the criminal justice system could be liberated by free imagined) by parenting a clone would be markets. (Audio: Al02; Video: V202) very attractive ~ offering not only the The Prostitutes' Rights Movement in America. Wendy McElroy, author ofXXX opportunity to see themselves grow up and Sexual Correctness, vindicates the rights ofwhores. (Audio: AlIO; Video: right, but the opportunity to prove that V2IO) mom and dad, Miss Smith, and Father Flaherty were wrong, wrong, wrong. The New Nationalism. Bill Kauffman takes a hard-hitting look at the Buchanan Could you have been another Rubinstein movement. (Audio: A209; Video: V209) if pleas for lessons had not fallen on Education Rhetoric: Anatomy ofa Pseudoscience. Nathan Crow exposes the stingy ears? See that your clone is les­ unsound teaching methods sweeping the country - and how more sensible soned daily, starting at age three. Have alternatives are being suppressed. (Audio: A215; Video: V215) recently recovered memories convinced you that your serenity was ruined by The Liberty Group. R.W. Bradford conducts an outspoken libertarian roundtable on molestation? Padlock your clone's today's hottest topics, with Bill Kauffman, Jack Shafer, Douglas Casey, and Durk underwear. Feel sure that public-school Pearson. (Audio: AlOl; Video: V20I) bullying and look-say reading wrecked The Fruit ofInfamy. Bettina Bien Greaves shows how government your character and your English? incompetence led to the debacle at Pearl Harbor. (Audio: A2II; Video: V21I) Homeschool your clone. r hope I don't sound too facetious; all The Human Genome Project: What's Happening Now? Ross Overbeek elucidates some such terrors, abuses, and deprivations are cutting-edge developments in biology. (Audio: A203; Video: V203) serious matters and have blighted lives, How I Found Slavery in a Free World Douglas Casey's acerbic tales of and the opportunity to do right by your government's failure - at home and far, far away. (Audio: A208; Video: kids where you were done wrongby your V208) brutal peers and ostensible protectors deserves no scorn. The reason I question Libertarianism As 1f{the Other 99% oj) People Mattered Ifwe're so right, why ain't the motivation has more to do with its we free? Loren Lomasky offers some advice about communicating to the obstinate practicality than its nature; for as most of people ofan unfree world. (Audio: Al04; Video: V204) us learn, our parents' endeavors to pro­ The Unappreciated Politics ofLudwig von Mises. R.W. Bradford makes the tect us from the kind of damage they Misesian case for democracy. (Audio: A206; Video: V206) themselves experienced (even when suc­ cessful) often spawn hurts they did not Recollections ofMises' NYUSeminars. Bettina Bien Greaves takes you back to the anticipate. Besides, a sense of bitter regret famous Mises seminar at New York University, which she attended with several other over one's own history is not the founda­ libertarian notables-to-be. (Audio: Al07; Video: V207) tion ofchoice for successful child-rearing. The Rhetoric ofReform. Fred Smith, fiery head of the Competitive Enterprise Such concerns are not,· however, the Institute, tells how to advocate freedom so people listen. (Audio: A212; Video: primary source of objections to human V212) cloning (already illegal in some coun- 8 Liberty Share the Excitement!

Why the Great Depression Lasted So Long. Robert Higgs long-term consequences oftheir "new urbanist" designs. (Audio: explains how government caused the Great Depression; how A220; Video: V220) the New Deal prolonged it; and why World War II didn~t Religion and Liberty. Jane S. Shaw, Timothy Virkkala, bring the Depression to an end. An eye-opening expose ofa David Friedman, Richard Stroup, and R.W. Bradford key myth ofstatism. (Audio: A213; Video: V213) debate the historical and philosophical relations ofman, Radicalism vs. Pragmatism. Bruce Ramsey, R.W. God, and state. (Audio: A221; Video: V221) Bradford, David Friedman, and Fred Smith debate Technology ofTax Limitation. Scott Reid shows practical ways to whether we should smash the state or erode it. (Audio: cut taxes, and discusses the ways politicians have frustrated the A214; Video: V214) best-laid plans of tax-limiters. (Audio: A222; Video: V222) Liberty and the Press. Reporter Broce Ramsey and Slate editor Market Incentives in Public Policy. Richard Stroup explains Jack Shafer join R.W. Bradford and Jane Shaw to figure out the recent trend toward "incentives" in environmental what's wrong (and right) with the media. (Audio: A216; regulation and other public issues. (Audio: A223; Video: Video: V216) V223) Inside the Browne Campaign. True tales ofthe Browne Law as a Private Good David Friedman gives an economic campaign from insider Jon Kalb. (Audio: A21?; Video: defense ofanarchism. Thought-provoking and radical! (Audio: V21?) A224; Video: V224) $5.95 per audiotape. Civil Society Chic. Jesse Walker explains the new "civil Each audio cassette is only $6.95, each video only $19.95. society" rhetoric - and why most ofits users seem to hate Or get the complete Liberty conference or only actual existing civil society. (Audio: A218; Video: V218) $150.00/390.00! Is Greener Really Better for Business? Could r ______environmental regulations actually boost bottom lines in Conference Set Video @ $390.00 = the long run? Richard Stroup, Jane S. Shaw, David I ----Conference Set Audio @ $150.00 = Friedman, Ralph Smeed, and R.W. Bradford give their ---- answers. (Audio: A219; Video: V219) I Rand Set Video @ $105.00 = --- The Threat from Metro. Randal O'Toole exposes the Rand Set Audio @ $ 35.00 = ---- arrogance of"urban planners" - and reveals the disastrous +- I The Rand Set is not included in the Conferenceset. I Individual sessions (list by number): I The conference also includeda special series oftalks andpanels aboutAyn Rand. For only $105, you can I have allsix videotapes in this series - or, forjust $35, all the same talks on audiocassette! I Total audiocassettes @ $ 6.95 = _ Total videocassettes @ $19.95 = _ The Problems and Challenges ofWriting Rand's Biography. I Postage & Handling ($3 per entire order)* = _ Featuring Barbara Branden. (Audio: A225; Video: V225) I *foreign orders: $1.00 per audio, $2.50 per video Arguing with Ayn Rand Featuring Rand's friend, Total: _ eminent philosopher John Hospers. (Audio: A226; I Video: V226) == I enclose my check or money order (payable to Liberty) Ayn Rand's Ethics. Is egoism ancient? Featuring Nietzsche I == Charge my =Visa =Mastercard Expires: _ scholar Lester Hunt. (Audio: A22?; Video: V22?) I Signature _ That Fountainhead Rape. A discussion ofRand's sex Account # _ scenes, featuring Barbara Branden. (Audio: A228; I Video: V228) Name: _ Ayn Rand and Libertarianism. Featuring R.W. Bradford. I Address: _ (Audio: A229; Video: V229) I City, State, Zip: _ What Is Living and What Is Dead in the Philosophy of Phone Number: _ Ayn Rand Featuring Barbara Branden, John Hospers, I Lester Hunt, and R.W. Bradford. (Audio: A230; Video: V230) Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 tries). To the extent that clone-dreaders are not simply loveliness. It will be interesting to see whether something still responding to the subconscious legacy of bad science fiction more precious may yet emerge in the relation between clone­ movies, what they probably resent is the overt narcissism of parents and their children. -NC parenting a clone. This resentment is particularly fierce because such narcissism merely reflects what is found in Where pork grows on trees - I rarely make "normal" parents, but which people would prefer not to look political predictions, but I am now predicting that the Forest at. Millions of parents live through their kids, and it isn't just Service, founded in 1905 and leader of the Progressive move­ tennis moms who are guilty. Sons may be rejected because ment, won't survive until its 100th birthday. The agency is so they are unpopular, or gay, or awkward at sports; daughters demoralized and its long-time supporters so alienated from it because they are too plain, too nervous, or too beloved of the that it will probably be merged into the Department of the other parent. What are these but reactions to the wounded Interior and lose its identity. narcissism of a parent whose best-laid plans have gone awry? The Forest Service's historic placement in the Department And setting such psychological issues aside for a moment, of Agriculture helped insulate it against political meddling by consider the scientific interest of cloned parent-child pairs. administrations because the Secretary of Agriculture tradi­ Cloning is as close as we are going to get to finding out how tionally doesn't spend much time worrying about forests or many of our virtues and failings really are due to nature, how western resources. By comparison, agencies in the many to nurture. (How many are due to our own choices, of Department of the Interior, such as the Park Service and course, will always remain in doubt.) Bureau of Land Management, have traditionally been much Even the suggestion of a scientific interest here will, to be more political and have been kicked around by presidents sure, strike many people as monstrous - and not simply and secretaries of the interior for decades. because they would rather not know the answer to the nature­ Several secretaries of the Interior, including Harold Ickes nurture controversy. Their objections will take the form of (under FDR) and Cecil Andrus (under Carter), have resented sympathy for the plight of the clone-child, who, they suppose, the Forest Service's independence and have proposed hostile would be fated to grow up without his "own" identity. But takeovers of the agency. But the Forest Service's friends, this seems specious, on several grounds. First of all, it is hard including both industryand environmental interests, strongly to see what justification a clone could make to having been defended it. brought into the world, considering the alternative - i.e., not But in 1993 the Clinton administration took the almost ever existing. It is not, after all, as if a clone could be "born as someone else." You, you lucky devil of a clone, are you; and if unprecedented step of firing a chief of the Forest Service. The you hadn't been cloned, you wouldn't be here to complain. only other president to have done so was Taft, who fired the (Try telling that to your fourteen-year-old clone-child.) agency's founder, Gifford Pinchot, a decision that cost him There is, of course, one situation in which a clone might his re-election. (It inspired Teddy Roosevelt's third party legitimately complain about having been brought into the challenge, and the former president actually .outpolled the world: that is, if his clone status makes him so miserable that incumbent Taft.) The fact that Clinton's new chief was a he wishes, literally, never to have been born (the fate which, a career Forest Service employee made the firing palatable and Greek poet famously thought, was the most devoutly to be few people protested. wished - just before dying young). Such a miserable state is Late in 1996, however, that replacement retired and all the more likely to be brought about by the panicked con­ Clinton hired someone who is little more than a political demnation of clone-children by religious fanatics, whose con­ hack. If Reagan had proposed this, the protests would have cerns I have not yet addressed. (Let it suffice to say that no been heard in the deepest wilderness areas in the country. major religion's texts forbid it: conclude, therefore, that either But no one even bothered to question Clinton. the gods are indifferent to the problem, or overlooked it, or So when the next Secretary of the Interior proposes trans­ employed scientist-gods who insisted, like their human coun­ ferring the Forest Service to that department, it is likely to terparts, that mere mortals could never do the trick.) happen. This will mean that the national forests, already the I can't help wondering, finally, whether being a cloned victims of Congressional pork barrelling, will also be a proud child might actually augment one's happiness, by increasing source of presidential pork. -RO'T closeness between parent and child. Many identical twins report feeling a unique and precious bond with each other; The rules of the game - The phrase "govern­ and parent-child relations are in all lands lauded for their ment ethics" is an oxymoron, so it's rather difficult to take seriously any of the brouhaha over ~.://.-;V."".3;~;'~ /' ~.:: //"/ " Newt Gingrich's ethical problems. ~::~:y;,~,/ // /'i;/r; , // You'd need dozens of hours to /(,.::y" .. read through transcripts and other '/" ~~ documents to discover whether ~' ~ Gingrich or the Democrats are more /,: '/ 001 /" right - or less wrong - in their /~ ". i/ argument about whether he acted A~'ft\ unethically. And even if you were I \ sure which side was speaking for the angels, what difference would it make? 10 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997

Politicians treat government and politics as a game - a charges. The evidence is extraordinarily strong for several of very serious game, but a game nonetheless. The purpose of these, but most Americans are indifferent. Sure, he probably the game isn't to discover the truth or to change America for stole some, they say, but don't most all politicians do that? So the better. The object is to put more points on the scoreboard what if he has a roving eye, they say - he's an attractive than one's opponents do. And one scores points by catching man, and, besides, he's married to liillary. Sure he solicited one's opponents in contradictions or embarrassing situations and accepted campaign contributions from illegal sources, - or by taking their words out of context - or by making but that's just politics. them seem less concerned for what's right than the scorer is. There is, however, one offense that Americans seem You may enjoy the game, and you may find yourself root­ unwilling to forgive Bill Clinton: he allowed people who gave ing for one side or the other. But you should never forget that his campaign substantial donations to sleep over in the it is a game - and never let yourself believe that the future of Lincoln bedroom of the White liouse. Unlike the others, this America depends on which side wins. It doesn't - anymore involved no cost to the public, involved no sexual predation, than America's future depends on the outcome of a Lakers­ and didn't sell out American interests to foreign powers. Bulls basketball game or the Super Bowl. Indeed, it is probably not even illegal. In the court of public Should you care whether Newt Gingrich comes through opinion, Bill Clinton thus finds himself in a strange position the attacks in one piece? You might want to see him survive - not unlike that of Al Capone, who was never convicted of - if you're eager to see him raise the minimum wage again, his various beatings, extortions, and murders, but was finally continue to trash American health care with more "reforms" convicted of tax charges. like the Kassenbaum-Kennedy bill, pass budgets that make liow can this be? Why do Americans care far more about the government bigger and bigger far into the future, and the renting out of the Lincoln bedroom than they care about keep on threatening to execute drug dealers. theft, assault, and treason? But, then, if he doesn't survive, his successor probably This strange behavior, I submit, is understandable only to will do the same things. So what difference does it make? those who grasp that politics is a new, but not revolutionary, By the way, has anyone heard who won the Bulls-Lakers religion. Traditional religions hold that there is an other­ game? -liB worldly, non-corporeal being (a god or gods) not bound by the laws of nature, but able to intervene in human life and Separating cash and state - Everyone's cry­ perform magic. The new political religion has secularized this ing about the influence of money in politics and proposing worldview: it holds that there are special corporeal entities in limits on liberty as a solution. liow easy it is to overlook the this world that are exempt from the laws of nature and able obvious. You want money out of politics? Get politics out of to perform magic. These secularized gods are called govern­ the business of giving away other people's money. -SR ments, and they perform miracles every day. They can create wealth out of nothing (by inflation), bestow moral value to Felony, mystery, and authority - Okay, acts of wanton destruction (by declaring war), and take let's review things. There is credible evidence that Bill Clinton money from all of us, somehow redistributing it so that we has done the following: are all better off. 1. Stolen somewhere around $100,000,000 from the tax­ Bill Clinton is the Elmer Gantry of this new religion. He is payers to fund his own personal investments and the invest­ the evangelist who came to town and brought the flock back ments of his business partners; into the churches, renewed their wavering faith, mesmerized 2. Used the state police as procurers for his sexual them with sermons far better than the regular preacher (bor­ escapades; ing old George Bush, or Jimmy Carter, or Ronald Reagan or 3. Sexually assaulted a young state employee after she Bob Dole). Everyone pretty much knows that not all the failed to respond to his invitation that she have sex with him money collected when they pass the plate is turned over to in exchange for career advancement; the church, and it's a little embarrassing when the preacher 4. Offered another sexual partner a state job for which she gets caught with his hand up the choir director's skirt. But was unqualified in exchange for her keeping their sexual rela­ you gotta take the good with the bad. After all, when he's in tionship secret; the pulpit, the pews are filled, the sale of liquor temporarily 5. Accepted campaign contributions from the government declines, and everyone feels a little more virtuous. of mainland China, in exchange for providing it with secret But like Elmer Gantry, Clinton seems to have gone too far. intelligence information that was the property of the u.s. Not content to skim the collection plate and have his way government; with impressionable young devout women, Clinton has 6. Accepted a campaign donation from an American busi­ decided to rent out the sacred relics for cold hard cash. nessman doing business in Paraguay, in exchange for our This is sacrilege! -RWB government intervening on behalf of Paraguay's beleaguered president. Actuarial actualities - Social Security has Each of these is an outrage. Each involves plundering brought a new dimension to such concepts as annuities, insu­ from the citizenry for the aggrandizement of Clinton's own rance, and retirement. No long, complicated contracts. No political power, wealth or sexual pleasure. One throws in sex­ actuarial tables to pore over. Social Security operates on a ual assault, and another, arguably, treason. If even one of the very simple principle: the politicians take your money from charges is true, Bill Clinton is unfit for public office. you and squander it. Nevertheless, it appears that for the most part the It really is ludicrous that you should be asked to buy an American public doesn't much care about any of these annuity on terms that require your premiums to rise when- Liberty 11 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 ever the insurance company runs out of money, and without scheme (or force us to display our teeth for government your having any idea what pension you'll receive - if any ­ hygiene inspectors) simply because some people won't take when you retire. responsibility for their own lives. Some might say that it is Orwellian to call this an insu­ If it weren't for government-induced inflation and the tax­ rance program. I believe it's more appropriate to think of it as ing of interest income, those who don't understand invest­ Monty-Pythonian. ments could do quite well just by leaving their money in bank The system is back in the news because a government com­ savings accounts. mittee has proposed ways to reform it. But if you understand Consider two young men, each 25 years of age, beginning that the purpose of the scheme is simply to provide another their careers today. Mr. Faith-in-Government has the usual way for the politicians to get their hands on your money, you Social Security taxes taken from his paycheck as his salary won'tbe tempted to think that any reform will succeed. grows over the years, and he finally retires on a Social Various "privatization" proposals have been suggested. Security pension at age 65. Meanwhile, Mr. Go-It-Alone - by And some people point to the Chilean scheme of partial pri­ some miracle - is exempt from Social Security. So he puts vatization as a model for the U.S. But all these schemes exactly the same amount aside as Mr. Faith-in-Government ­ involve very long transition periods - in which taxes would except that he puts it into a savings account paying 4% a year. be gradually reduced and we would gradually be given more At age 65, here's how they stand, using the current Social and more control over our own money. Security rules: But a transition program lasting years is a recipe for politi­ • Mr. Faith-In-Government will receive $1,100 a month cal meddling. Can you imagine how much mischief the politi­ for the rest of his life. When he dies, he will leave no capital cians could get into during those, say, 30 years or more? How for his heirs. many times they would change the rules? How they would • Mr. Go-It-Alone will receive $2,328 per month - twice react to the first stock market crash that caused some people as much. And he won't even have to touch his capital, which to lose their savings? means he'll leave $698,359 for his heirs. Or, if he doesn't care One suggestion from the government committee is to let about his heirs, he can at age 65 use his savings to buy a life­ the Social Security Administration invest some of its meager time annuity from an insurance company, which will pay him reserves in the stock market - instead of having them all in $4,015 per month for as long as he lives. government bonds, as they are now. This would increase the (In both cases, it is assumed the individual puts aside yield and supposedly reduce the constant pressure to in­ 15.30% [the combined employee and employer contributions] crease the Social Security tax. of the first $60,600 he earns each year, that he starts at age 25 Of course, this would give the government dangerous lev­ making $25,000 a year, and that he receives a 5% raise every erage over companies in which it holds stock. But something year until he retires at 65.) more important is overlooked when it's suggested that the The biggest reason that any private pension plan out­ Social Security system generate additional revenue by invest­ shines Social Security is that very little money is invested ing in stocks. What if it does? However much the added reve­ through Social Security. Most of it is spent a's soon as it is nue, the politicians will just squander it - as they've taken from the individual. Thus the capital has no opportu­ squandered the money already available to them. So they'd nity to grow, as it would in a private plan. still come back every few years - pushing another tax So long as Social Security remains in government's hands, increase to bail out a bankrupt system. it will be in trouble. We can't leave our Every proposal from the government retirement money lying around on the, committee allows the politicians to continue Liberty's Editors because the politicians will grab it and to run your retirement for you. We're told Reflect spend it to please those with the most politi­ the government has to do this because, oth­ CAA Chester Alan Arthur cal importance. erwise, some people won't take care of HB Harry Browne The only way to make Social Security themselves properly. OB Oliver Becker safe is by getting the government completely Of course, some people wouldn't pro­ RWB R.W. Bradford out of it, by selling off government assets to vide for their own retirement - just as NC Nathan Crow acquire the capital to purchase lifetime some of them won't brush their teeth. But it SR Sheldon Richman annuities for those who are dependent on is wrong to hold the rest of us hostage - to RO'T Randal O'Toole Social Security today - and let everyone force us into a fraudulent Social Security else out of bondage. -HB

LettersI continued from page 4 breaks their own rice bowl. soul. An LP of 200,000 members will not Browne proposes greater collective be the same entity it is today. There will present system than they ever payout action as an answer to present political be compromise after compromise, and in annual federal income taxes - $5.3 defeat: expansion of Libertarian Party desertion of one principle after another, trillion dollars worth, to date - and membership, accumulation of anenor­ until in the end one can no longer dis­ they know it. Browne might as well mous political war chest, more extensive tinguish Democrats from Republicans have attempted to garner votes from advertising, and Widespread media from Libertarians. Then, and only then, American soldiers and sailors by ask­ exposure, leading step by step towards will we start to place candidates into ing, "Would you agree to abolish the another major party influencing political office. For that is the collective military establishment, if you never had American politics. In other words, beat price of collective success. to pay any income tax again?" The them at their own game. The devil's pact Carl D. Alexander, Jr. question is absurd. Nobody willingly - where success means you lose your Port Angeles, Wash. 12 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997

Inguiry Mysteries of the Titanic by Stephen Cox

Guilt and innocence 85 years after the tragedy.

Time: 1:40 a.m., Monday, April 15, 1912. Ismay developed into a cranky, psychologically isolated Place: The deck of a steamship lying motionless in the adult. He was tall, well-built, well-dressed; but he was shy North Atlantic. The sky above is gaudy with stars, and self-defensively arrogant, full of inhibitions and inabili­ like the arch of an enormous stage. ties. He would not speak in public (his father had enjoyed Action: A man is looking at a lifeboat. He is making a public speaking). He would not ride a horse (he had once decision. accidentally ruined his father's horse). He would not drive a car, and he would not give advice to his chauffeur, because, What this man decides will strike many people as a very he believed, the chauffeur "is in charge, and if he thinks we unpleasant surprise. It will make him as hated and reviled as should go so fast it is not for me to interfere."2 any private figure of his generation. His act will be studied Thomas Ismay died in 1899. Three years later, Bruce by the investigative commissions of two great nations. It will be reproduced, and distorted, by every medium of popular Ismay arranged the sale of White Star to J.P. Morgan and his information and entertainment. And it will remain - like associates, retaining a managerial role but surrendering ulti­ thousands of other decisions that were made that night - a mate financial responsibility. Morgan was trying to monopo­ subject of endless controversy, an emblem of the mysteries lize North Atlantic shipping. His effort failed; the French line that surround moral judgments. and the mighty Cunard line remained outside his grasp. But The ship was the White Star liner Titanic. The man was J. Ismay had a plan for improved competition. White Star Bruce Ismay, Managing Director of the White Star line. If you would not try to rival the speed of Cunard's liners; it would want to try making sense of the Titanic disaster, and of the build somewhat slower ships, but they would be larger and countless other attempts to make sense of it, you might start more attractive. with the comparatively simple story of J. Bruce Ismay. The Titanic was Ismay's triumph. 883 feet long and 93 feet broad, she was the largest movable object ever constructed. In "There Is No Time to Waste" keeping with Ismay's purpose, the Titanic offered luxurious Ismay's life was inseparable from that of the White Star first-class accommodations and unusually comfortable line. In 1867, when he was five years old, his father Thomas, a arrangements for second-class and third-class passengers. self-made capitalist, bought White Star in a liquidation sale. Another great selling point was the Titanic's promise of It was a mere name; there were no ships attached; but he dependability. The vessel's enormous power could drive her built it into the symbol and the reality of modern progress­ through any Atlantic storm. Her hull, which was divided into a fleet of great steamships providing fast, dependable, and 16 watertight compartments, was designed to stay afloat ifany comfortable service between England and America. two contiguous compartments were flooded. Since this was Thomas Ismay was a hard man. When he left his house (a the worst accident her builders thought they needed to pro­ work of pigheaded ostentation that was staffed by 32 ser­ vide against, they regarded Titanic as virtually unsinkable. She vants but possessed neither decent heating nor modern bath­ seemed immune even from the effects of political problems. tubs), he would place a stone on any fallen leaf that defaced When transatlantic shipping was disrupted by a coal strike in his grounds. If the leaf remained in place when he returned, Britain, White Star procured coal from other ships and gave it he would assemble his ten gardeners and "demand to know to Titanic. The great ship began her maiden voyage as sched­ what they had been doing all day."l uled, at noon on Wednesday, April 10, 1912 - bound from Bullied and occasionally humiliated by his father, Bruce Southampton to New York. Ismay went along for the ride. 3 Liberty 13 Volume 10, NumberS May 1997

What he did during the voyage was not remarkable tain. Smith told him to "go ahead." With Ismay's assistance, enough for anyone to remember in detail. He slept in his Pitman loaded passengers into lifeboat No.5. Ismay called beautiful suite on B deck. He came to dinner with the other out twice, "Are there any more women before this boat first-class passengers. He walked the decks, enjoying the goes?", and a last woman shyly approached. "I am only a unusually calm weather. When the ship stopped at stewardess," she said. "Never mind," Ismay responded. "You Queenstown, Ireland, on April 11, he conferred with the are a woman, take your place." Chief Engineer about the possibility of trying her out at top But the crisis was beginning to tell on him. As No.5 began speed on April 15 or 16 - a trial that was never to take place. its descent to the water, he hung from the davit, shouting Just before lunch on Sunday, April 14, Captain E.J. Smith excitedly, "Lower away! Lower away! Lower away! Lower found Ismay on A deck, talking with some other passengers. away!" It was too much for Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, who Smith silently handed him one of several wireless messages was down on the deck, trying to work the ropes. Lowe shouted at Ismay, "If you will get to hell out of that I shall be able to do something." Ismay did not reply. "Do you want me to lower away quickly?" Lowe dem~nded. "You will have me The Titanic was 883 feet long and 93 feet drown the whole lot of them." broad, the largest movable object ever con­ Ismay walked silently away, and Lowe went on lowering No.5. Once it was safely in the water, he turned to the next structed. boat in line, No.3. At that moment, there was an explosion and a brilliant flash of light. The Titanic was firing distress rockets. In the sudden brightness, Lowe saw Ismay standing received that day, warning of ice near Titanic's course. Ismay quietly beside him, prepared to help with another boat. "glanced at" the message and put it in his pocket. About 7 By 1:40, a last lifeboat remained in the davits on the star­ p.m. that evening, when the captain was walking out of the board side; Ismay thought it was the last one left on the ship. smoking room, he saw Ismay sitting there and asked him to It was a boat with a wooden bottom and canvas sides ­ return the message. Ismay did so. The Titanic continued mov­ "collapsible" lifeboat C. It could carry 47 people. Ismay ing at 25 miles an hour - not her top speed, but a very helped load the boat with twenty-seven women and children. respectable one - in the direction of the ice. All, or almost all, were third-class passengers. Hiding some­ At 11:40 p.m., while Ismay was sleeping, an iceberg where in the shadows at the bottom of the boat were four emerged from the moonless darkness directly in Titanic's men later described as Chinese or Filipino "stowaways." Six path. As the ship swerved to port, the little dark-blue moun­ crewmen also entered.4 tain passed quietly along her starboard side, leaving at least An.officer called out for more women. No one responded. 250 feet of gashes below the waterline and opening at least Ismay looked around. His view to port was blocked by deck five watertight compartments to the sea. Two hours and forty houses, but he could see the forward part of. the starboard minutes later, the Titanic sank. deck. No other passengers were visible. The sea was climb­ Ismay's actions now become visible in brief, dramatic ing up Titanic's bow. The lifeboat was starting to move. This flashes. About 11:50, he appeared on the bridge, two decks above his cabin, wearing an overcoat hastily thrown over his pajamas. He asked Captain Smith if the ship was seriously damaged. Smith replied, "I am afraid she is." Ismay started to If First Officer Murdoch had decided to hit walk down into the vessel, but he encountered the Chief the berg head-on, Titanic would not have Engineer, who said that he thought the pumps would keep her afloat. Ismay returned to the bridge. There he overheard received any fatal wounds. The 200 people who the captain saying something about lifeboats. The White Star were sleeping closest to the bow would have line and its shipbuilders had considered the Titanic so safe as died; but that would have been many people to be "a lifeboat in herself." They had therefore not provided enough lifeboats for all the people on board. Ismay knew this. fewer than the 1500 who did die. The Managing Director next materialized on the port side of the boat deck. Crewmen had begun to uncover the boats, but no passengers were waiting to use them. Ismay stood was the moment. Ismay climbed in. A certain Mr. W.E. alone and silent. At perhaps 12:35 a.m., Third Officer Herbert ("Billy") Carter, a man from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Pitman was uncovering a lifeboat on the starboard side when appeared and climbed in too. he found himself standing next to a man "that was dressed in During the next five minutes, Collapsible C traveled with a dressing gown, with slippers on." The man said to him difficulty down the side of Titanic, now listing sadly to port. "very quietly, 'There is no time to waste./I' The man was J. Thirty-five minutes after the boat reached the water and Bruce Ismay. rowed away, Ismay could have seen Titanic plunge beneath Not recognizing him, and convinced that the ship was in the ocean. But Ismay did not see it. He did not want to see it. no danger, Pitman proceeded with his work "in the usual He was rowing with his back to the ship. Afterwards, he was [presumably slow] way." But the mysterious stranger insisted glad that he had done so. that the lifeboat should immediately be loaded with women Just before dawn, the Cunard liner Carpathia arrived at the and children. Pitman told him sharply that he was awaiting scene. She had picked up Titanic's wireless distress call and the captain's orders. "Very well," said Ismay. Pitman was had raced toward her position through a sea filled with ice­ now unsettled enough to walk to the bridge and ask the cap- bergs. The Carpathia's decks were lined with lookouts, her 14 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 lifeboats were swung out, her sides were hung with electric White House, only to discover that President Taft's concep­ lights, her gangways were open, and she was firing rockets. tion of duty was not entirely up to date. The president was Ismay climbed aboard the Carpathia at 6:15 a.m. He was safe. mourning the loss of his confidant, Major Archie Butt, a vic­ tim of the disaster. Nevertheless, Taft planned no immediate "He Ought to Have Gone Down with the Ship" government action; the Titanic, after all, had been a vessel of But Ismay's troubles had barely begun. He soon learned British registry and had never managed to enter American that two-thirds of the Titanic's passengers and crew (more waters. So Smith decided that Congress should become than 1500 people) had perished. They included the Titanic's involved, in the person of himself. His intention, as it captain, one of her designers, most of her crew, most of her matured, was to enable passengers or their survivors to sue third-class passengers, and most of the male passengers in White Star under the provisions of the Harter Act, which was first and second classes - among them, such prominent peo­ ple as John Jacob Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim. The lost also included Bruce Ismay's butler and his secretary, Mr. Harrison, whose presence on the ship had apparently slipped When Captain Smith maintained Titanic's his mind. Ismay was especially horrified to learn that many speed, despite ice warnings, he was not being women had died. In a state of nervous collapse, he repaired mindlessly irresponsible; he was following the to the cabin of the ship's doctor and refused to leave. The doc­ tor provided opiates. Ismay "kept repeating that he ought to custom of his prOfession. have gone down with the ship."s Many people agreed. In New York, where the Carpathia was heading, the newspapers were intensely interested in the helpful to plaintiffs who could show that officials of a steam­ question of why, as the Wall Street Journal put it, "the greatest ship company had been aware of negligence, even though or least official of the line" should have been saved while pas­ they had not caused it. 9 sengers were lost. Soon the papers would be calling Ismay Ismay began his testimony before Smith, his natural "The Most-Talked-of Man in the World" - a dubious honor, enemy, in the worst possible way. His description of his own especially when the title appeared in conjunction with such conduct went as follows: ominous terms as "public opinion," "on trial," and "pariah."6 I was in bed myself, asleep, when the accident happened. The intellectuals were also starting to work themselves The ship sank, I am told, at 2.20. up. Admiral A.T. Mahan, the distinguished historian and That, sir, I think is all I can tell you. 10 theorist of naval power, wrote to a newspaper criticizing This could not have satisfied anyone's curiosity, let alone Ismay for failing to accept the duty of evacuating everybody Senator Smith's. To the delight of future historians but the else before saving himself. According to Mahan, Ismay had severe discomfiture of Ismay, Smith demanded information undermined the essential principle of "individual responsibil­ on every conceivable point of contact between the disaster ity." Brooks Adams - historian, descendant of presidents, and the Managing Director, including his possible influence and. distinguished meddler with many theories - pro­ on, and therefore responsibility for, the ship's navigation; his nounced Ismay morally "responsible" for everything that had conduct on the boat deck; his conduct on the rescue ship; and gone wrong with the Titanic. Adams said he could recall his frustrated attempt to return to England. Smith called a "nothing at once so cowardly and so brutal in recent history" long series of crewmen and passengers to testify about their as Ismay's escape in Collapsible C. Ismay should at least have experiences, with particular attention, whenever possible, to "prove[d] his honesty and his sincerity by giving his life." the conduct of Mr. Ismay. Adams hoped Congress would "make it plain that such men What emerged from this testimony was proof that Ismay cannot be kept in control of passenger ships if we can help had exerted very little influence on anything. For better or it."7 worse, he had not told the captain what to do about icebergs. The politicians were already in motion. An investigating He had not incited him to try for a speed record; he had spe­ committee of the United States Senate, hastily organized by cifically not wanted that to happen. He had not attempted to William Alden Smith (Rep., Michigan), was determined to direct the launching of lifeboats, though he had tried to help grab Ismay before he could get back to England. When the where he could. He had not deprived any other passenger of Carpathia reached New York on April 18, Senator Smith a means of escape. He had not directed actions aboard the marched onto the ship, ignoring the "Please Do Not Knock" rescue ship. He had not tried to direct any coverup of any­ sign on Ismay's quarters, and summoned him to attend a thing. As to the number of lifeboat accommodations, his ship hearing scheduled to open the very next morning.8 had met, and even exceeded, the regulations of the British If Bruce Ismay typified the business elite of the early Board of Trade. twentieth century, William Alden Smith typified the populist But should Ismay have gotten into a lifeboat? political power. Starting out in life as a popcorn seller on the Out in the provinces, where towns named "Ismay" were streets of Grand Rapids, he had become a wealthy lawyer, a considering a change,l1 the moral issue may have seemed that newspaper owner, and a crusader against the House of starkly personal. But to Senator Smith, the real issue Morgan and other big-business interests. He was an ingenu­ remained that of corporate guilt - in many possible forms. ous busybody, cherishing the typically twentieth-century He demanded evidence that White Star officials had not tried American assumption that if anything goes wrong, the to fool the public into believing that Titanic had survived, so United States government ought to do something about it. that they could try to reinsure her. He demanded stockhold­ Smith reacted to the sinking of the Titanic by calling the ers' records from the Morgan holding company. He Liberty 15 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 demanded that Dow, Jones furnish complete information on he had provided one precedent for all those far-reaching the (minor) fluctuations of the company's stock subsequent inquisitions to which subsequent generations have become to the disaster. He demanded to know how Dow, Jones han­ accustomed, inquisitions inspired by elected officials' expan­ dled the news. sive idea of their moral as well as legislative authority. Smith even pursued the Marconi Company, whose wire­ In Ismay's case, however, the moral inquisition came to less operators had saved the surviving passengers by sum­ naught. Smith could find no evidence that Ismay (or any moning Carpathia's aid. He subjected company officials, other corporate official) was directly responsible for what among them the great Guglielmo Marconi himself, to tireless happened to the Titanic or was privy to any negligence. and almost incredibly hostile questioning. He wanted to Neither could he find a way to grapple with the problem of know whether they had connived with Ismay or White Star Collapsible C- the problem of determining whether Ismay, to block the news of Titanic's fate. He also attempted to the managerial and familial embodiment of the White Star line, had a responsibility to stay with Titanic until all the other passengers had gone. Many ofthe crew worked hard to get passen­ In fact, Smith gave up looking for ways to grapple with such problems. The most he could say, in his concluding gers up to the boat deck; afew decided to do the speech to the Senate (May 28, 1912), was that Ismay's pres­ opposite and tried to keep third-class passengers ence had "unconsciously" IIstimulated the ship to greater speed than it would have made under ordinary conditions." from crossing first-class and second-class terri­ Smith regarded this kind of stimulation as something that tory. Others had no idea ofwhat to do. "the restraint of organized society" should contrive to pre­ vent. He was not able to demonstrate that Ismay had done anything wrong, but he could not bring himself to forgive arouse public indignation about the help that Marconi offi­ Ismay's existence as a corporate leader emanating "uncon­ cials had given Carpathia's operator, and the surviving Titanic scious" influences. operator, to sell their personal reminiscences to the New York Smith's treatment of Ismay was in striking contrast to his Times. treatment of the Titanic's captain, who had incomparably Smith's moral concerns seem to have been exacerbated by more to do with the disaster but whom Smith was very reluc­ envy of Marconi's reputation: "As [Smith] later confided to tant to criticize. He had known the captain; he had liked him. friends, he could never resist swinging at 'handmade Besides, the captain had not been a corporate official but a halos."'12 It did no good for Marconi and his fellow execu­ mere employee. Smith held that the captain's failure to tives to show, over and over again, that they had not profited reduce Titanic's speed had helped to cause the deaths of 1500 from the transaction with the Times, that they had facilitated people; nevertheless, he eulogized him as "strong of limb, it because they believed that their heroic employees deserved intent of purpose, pure in character, dauntless as a sailor a chance to make some extra money, and that the arrange­ should be." The captain's excessive speed was just the defect ment, which was suggested to the operators when they were of his dauntlessness. entering New York harbor and had resulted in the immedi­ In fact, Smith argued, "laxity of regulation" on the part of ate publication of their stories, had not exactly delayed the the British Board of Trade was "largely" responsible for the nation's news. Marconi reminded Smith that people had the right to sell their stories. But Smith cudgeled him into agree­ ing that the practice should be discouraged, and he made W. T. Stead, who had published stories about him repeat, like a schoolchild, a declaration that he was testi­ fying before Smith "voluntarily." Then Smith bullied liners running into icebergs and running out of Marconi's subordinates about their "vicious" practice. 13 lifeboats, settled down by himself to read a book. Bullying tactics were also applied to Ismay. Rejecting his He would die doing what he thought was vigorous requests that he be allowed to return to England, Smith angrily insisted on reserving him for future testimony. important. Smith then tried to get him to confess that he had been accorded complete fairness and courtesy. During smoking breaks in the halls, Ismay had entertained reporters with loss of life. Following a course that has become well-traveled angry remarks about Senator Smith's procedures and with by American politicians, the Senator steered straight from the outbreaks of revived confidence in his own innocence. But he land of moral responsibility to the land of technical fixes. publicly acquiesced, testifying that he had met with no "dis­ Once safety was assured by regulation, there would be no courtesy" and had "no fault to find."14 need to wonder who was responsible for disasters. There Smith had used political power to humble Ismay and (in would be no disasters. the vernacular expression) make Ismay like it. Smith had also After praising the virtues of regulation, Smith proposed done something more important. In the words of a friendly far-reaching new regulations on shipping. He also warned commentator, he had "bent an instrument, constitutionally against "concentration of control" in the maritime industry, a intended for the sole purpose of obtaining data useful to legis­ matter which, of course, had precisely nothing to do with lation," into a means of "mobilizing the power of public opin­ Titanic's misfortune. With equal irrelevance, he demanded a ion" about social and moral issues. 15 One should not higher proportion of American citizens in the u.s. merchant exaggerate Smith's inventiveness; he was part of a trend. But marine. In his Senate speech of May 28 and in his written 16 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 report of the same date, Smith also demanded vigorous regu­ speed; captains and corporations obliged. lation of wireless communication. Given his treatment of And there was only so much that could be done with con­ Marconi, that was predictable. sumers, even consumers like Mersey himself. When one of Smith's investigation was not much help to plaintiffs seek­ the attending lawyers, W.D. Harbinson, suggested that regu­ ing redress for White Star's negligence. The inevitable law­ lations require the posting of certain instructional notices to suits were settled out of court, years later, for a small fraction passengers, Mersey responded: of the money sought.l6 Smith's legislative proposals did lead Exercise your own common sense. Do you think, Mr. to a general tightening of regulation over navigation and Harbinson, that if such notices were stuck up, any body communication. It is interesting, however, that the reforms would ever read them[?] Judging for myself I do not believe most closely connected with the Titanic disaster were already anyone would ever read them; I never should. Perhaps I being implemented by the shipping companies themselves. ought to. The question is, What would happen, not what Immediately after the disaster, Ismay and virtually every ought to happen. Have you ever been on board a ship? other manager of a shipping line ordered enough lifeboats Harbinson: I have never been to America, but, if I may relate my personal experience, every time I go across the and liferafts to accommodate everyone on board their vessels. Channel one of the first things I do is to read the notices. By mutual agreement, the lines also moved their shipping Mersey: You are one of the most extraordinary men I have track farther south in iceberg season. White Star spent 250,000 ever come across. The first thing I do, if it is about the mid­ pounds refitting Titanic's sister ship, Olympic, so that she dle of the day, when I get on a cross-Channel steamer is to could float with six watertight compartments flooded. Harold get some lunch, and the notion that I should go about the SaI)derson, Ismay's corporate assistant, stated that even if decks or about the ship reading all the notices that are stuck such reforms were neither "wise" nor necessary, they had to up never occurred to me. 20 be carried out in order "to satisfy the public, on whom we are Mersey was quite prepared to advocate new regulations, dependent for our living."17 if he thought them useful. But his mind focused on risks. In any event, Senator Smith escaped from his hearings with the legislative proposals that he desired, and Ismay escaped for the second time from the Titanic. He took ship for England, leaving the great liner sinking behind him in a sea Benjamin Guggenheim and Victor Giglio of regulatory proposals. helped at the boats. Then they took off their life­ "Exercise Your Own Common Sense" belts and sweaters and appeared in evening But Ismay was not free yet. On reaching home, he was clothes. "We've dressed up in our best," summoned to appear before another body of investigators, a . Guggenheim said, "and are prepared to go court convened by the British Board of Trade. Lord Mersey, a canny old judge who looked exactly like down like gentlemen." the little man in the Monopoly game, presided over the court as Wreck Commissioner. He was assisted by Attorney­ General Sir Rufus Isaacs and attorneys representing White There was a risk to every form of travel - even walking. 21 Star, the third-class passengers, labor unions, and various Safety could not be guaranteed. Regulation also had its risks. other interests. The record of the 36-day British inquiry is a It might be unwise or even harmful. To Senator Smith, the monument of intelligence and fairness. Mersey and the law­ "laxity" of current lifeboat regulations was an obvious reason yers practicing before him showed distinguished analytical for stricter regulations. To Lord Mersey, apparent "laxity" ability, whether they maintained, with Attorney-General might represent an adjustment to risks that he didn't under­ Isaacs, that the Titanic was lost through "negligent naviga­ stand. He was approaching a hazardous area, and he would tion," or they insisted, with Sir Robert Finlay, counsel for proceed with caution. White Star, that she was lost to "circumstances which are Along the way, he amassed twice as much evidence as quite unprecedented, and could not have been anticipated."ls Senator Smith, although he was constantly trying to exclude Lord Mersey took nearly an opposite approach from that irrelevant or unhelpful information. He was reluctant, for of Senator Smith. Smith began with moral outrage and ended example, to summon passengers to testify, thinking that they with proposals for government regulation; Mersey empha­ would provide a less educated view of issues that crew mem­ sized problems of regulation while trying - without success bers and technical experts had already developed. For - to avoid issues of moral culpability, which he considered Mersey and the Attorney-General, Ismay was not a high pri­ beyond the competence of his court. Morality kept slipping ority. They wanted to know how the Titanic was built, what away from Smith's inquiry; it kept slipping into Mersey's. happened in her engine room, how hard it was to reach her Mersey was skeptical, as Smith was not, about the useful­ boat deck, what risks were involved in launching the boats, ness of regulation. He even entertained a thought that the what risks were run in the whole affair. Mersey did not know twentieth century would come to regard as virtually heret­ if rules could reduce such risks; he meant to find out. ical, the thought that consumers might bear some responsibil­ Nevertheless, he believed that neither the presence of ity for their own protection. Reflecting on evidence that ships risks nor the presence of regulations could relieve responsible customarily proceeded at full speed despite the danger of ice, individuals of their duty to use good judgment - whoever Mersey asked, "Have you ever considered who the people the individuals were. When Ismay was finally examined, on are who are really responsible for it, if it is a wrong custom or days 16 and 17 of the British investigation, this was the issue. practice? Is it not the passengers?"19 Passengers desired high Was Ismay responsible, in some sense, for the decisions made Liberty 17 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 on board the Titanic, and if so, did he use good judgment? invited Mersey to analyze the risks that Ismay confronted on Mersey's inquiry turned up some evidence of a degree of the boat deck. Ismay could have gone searching for other pas­ involvement, which, though slight, might imply responsibil­ sengers to put into Collapsible C- but was there any chance ity. Hadn't Ismay suggested that a speed trial be held at some that he could have brought them to the boat in time? No; and time before the ship reached New York? That was consulta­ there was every chance that he would have sacrificed his own tion, perhaps supervision. And hadn't the captain shown him life. That wouldn't have been duty; that would have been the wireless warning that ice might be encountered at such "suicide."25 and such a place? In response, Ismay claimed that he "had Mersey devoted one paragraph of his report to Ismay and nothing to do with the navigation," that he intentionally kept the affair of Collapsible C. He rejected the argument that away from it, and that he didn't even understand "latitude Ismay had a "moral duty ... to wait on board until the vessel and 10ngitude."22 He demonstrated his innocence of naviga- foundered.... Had he not jumped in he would merely have added one more life, namely, his own, to the number of those lost."26 The report recommended that vessels slow down at Officer Lowe gathered volunteers from other night in the presence of ice. It recommended that vessels be boats and steered toward the people in the required to carry lifeboats for all, whenever practicable. It rec­ ommended various other regulatory reforms, and further water, although he waited to do so until lithe study of still others. drowning people had thinned out." Ismay had escaped again. "Well, Boys, Do Your Best" After the conclusion of the British inquiry, the Managing tion by a number of absurdly uninformed comments. If Director of the White Star line began to fade from the popular Ismay had been in charge of the Titanic, she would never consciousness. But an impression remained, and it was not have gotten as far as she did. very flattering. It was associated with a certain general But what about the lifeboats? Do you remember discuss­ impression of Titanic herself. Scholars of the disaster have ing the number that Titanic should carry? "No, I do not." routinely recorded this impression, and perpetuated it. "The When you got into Collapsible C, you saw no other passen­ Titanic," one says, gers waiting to enter - but do you know whether there was an attempt to call more of them up to the boat deck? "That I was the incarnation of man's arrogance in equating size do not know." Did you inquire? "No, I did not." Why didn't with security; his pride in intellectual (apart from spiritual) you yourself go to see whether there were more passengers mastery; his blindness to the consequences of wasteful for the boats? "I presumed that there were people down extravagance; and his superstitious faith in materialism and technology.27 below who were sending the people up." So you thought that everyone had already come up? "I knew that everybody This view gained authority from the technocratic propo­ could not be up."23 sals that resulted from the two great inquiries. If the sin of It was a bad moment. A worse one followed. Where do Ismay and his associates was blind faith in technology, the you think all those other people were? "I can only suppose occasion for sin might be removed by new regulations on the the passengers had gone to the after end of the ship." You could not see them? "I presume they went there. I was really not thinking about it."24 Suddenly, the issue had transformed itself from a problem When all the women and children in the of action to a problem of thought. It was hard enough to say vicinity had entered a lifeboat, it was lowered whether Ismay had a responsibility to save everyone before away, whether it was full or not. Men who trying to save himself. Many people said that he had such a responsibility; no one had succeeded in demonstrating it. But could have been saved were left to perish. it would be much harder to say whether he had a responsibil­ ity to think through this issue of responsibility, to try the case within himself, weighing all the available evidence, while he use of technology. The post-Titanic age could congratulate was standing next to Collapsible C. itself on the provision of lifeboats for all, while marveling at The question embarrassed Ismay. It embarrassed every­ the arrogance of people who had once believed in "unsinka­ one. The problem was basic; the tools for handling it were ble" ships. The mystery here is why advocates of technologi­ hopelessly inadequate. Mersey put an end to Ismay's reminis­ cal solutions should regard other people's faith in technology cences and proceeded, with obvious relief, to aspects of the as a moral problem. investigation more closely linked to possible regulatory And this is far from the only mystery. Almost all the pre­ reforms. sumably unsinkable judgments about who or what was to Much later, during final arguments, A. Clement Edwards, blame for the Titanic disaster, and why, are as fragile and vul­ one of the labor lawyers, went after Ismay. He, Edwards nerable as Titanic herself proved to be. This fact was demon­ claimed, had been no ordinary passenger on the Titanic, and strated again and again by the British investigators. They he had had "special moral obligations" to the other passen­ were obsessed with the technical analysis of risks in naviga­ gers. Mersey replied, "I do not think I can deal with moral tion and ship construction. But their research into the risk fac­ duties." This did not stop White Star's counsel from defend­ tors persistently discovered evidence that complicated the ing Ismay's decision about the extent of his moral duty. He issue of moral responsibility. Their investigation showed that 18 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997

The sea was climbing up Titanic's bow. The lifeboat was starting to move. This was the moment.

statements about this issue ran a considerable risk of encoun­ Their assumption was correct. In the 20 years preceding tering what may be called the black iceberg. Titanic's maiden voyage, over nine million passengers Icebergs are popularly regarded as white. But when a crossed between Britain and the United States or British melting iceberg becomes top-heavy and capsizes, it turns North America. The great majority crossed in British vessels. dark blue until the water runs out of it. At night, icebergs But only 82 of those vessels' passengers were lost. 29 undergoing this metamorphosis are exceptionally hard to see. Furthermore, the "unsinkable" Titanic was unsinkable, The iceberg that struck the Titanic was probably one of these within the intended meaning of that word. Investigation indi­ "black" icebergs. It was invisible until it was only a third of a cated that she would have floated if three of her forward mile away, and it looked dark as it passed the ship. 28 compartments had been flooded, and her builders did not Facts in the Titanic case are like that iceberg. At first, they imagine a crisis that could involve more than two. seem phosphorescently clear. Then, suddenly, they invert But surely one could have imagined an iceberg slicing 250 themselves and re-emerge with a very different color, directly feet of gashes in a modern ship? Yes, indeed. But imagination in the path of whatever theory you have afloat. would have been greatly aided by some examples of this hav­ Consider the theory that the Titanic exemplified an arro­ ing happened, and there seem not to have been any. Several gant overconfidence in the works of human hands, an arro­ modern ships had crashed head-on into icebergs - Arizona gance that was demonstrated by the shocking events of April in 1879, Concordia in 1899, Columbia in 1911 - but they had 14-15, 1912. It is a fact that the events were shocking; but it is not sunk. This was no miracle; it was modern technology. not clear that the shock wave, which devastated Ismay and And yet (here the iceberg of fact inverts itself again) all his company, the officials of the British Board of Trade, and this is known because the ships survived. Before the advent many other people associated with Titanic, was produced by of wireless communication, ships might be lost to icebergs any revelation of prevailing arrogance and blindness. Better and the world never know. evidence of these things would have been a lack of shock, a recognition that the disaster was nothing more than the latest On board the Pacific from Liverpool to N.Y. - Ship going symptom of the prevailing vice. But what the shock wave down. Confusion on board - Icebergs around us on every actually registered was the unusual nature of the event. side. I know I cannot escape ... People were shocked because they had assumed that modern So runs a message found in a bottle on the shore of the technology had made travel in the North Atlantic remarkably Hebrides, after the liner Pacific disappeared in 1856. On safe. February 11, 1893, the White Star cargo ship Naronic sailed Liberty 19 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 from Liverpool, bound for New York. On March 4, two life­ might have inferred one of two things: either that he was boats were sighted, 300 miles apart. They were empty. No thinking intently, or that he was not thinking at all. They took one knows what happened; it could have been an iceberg. 30 the risk of inferring the former. A fatal encounter with ice was a small risk, to be sure, but Nobody knows exactly what Smith thought about his own one not easy to calculate. What does one do in the face of risks on that strangely calm Atlantic night. Nobody knows such risks? One consults experience - one's own experience what he had in mind, earlier in the voyage, when he failed to and the experience preserved in custom. A long parade of exercise such humdrum duties as holding lifeboat drill and North Atlantic captains testified before Lord Mersey that developing plans for managing emergencies. The cause of his when they sailed under Titanic conditions (iceberg warnings, neglect may have been hubris, an arrogant faith in his vessel's darkness, but good weather, with clear visibility) they never safety. In light of what I said above, it may have been a well­ slowed down, and neither did anybody else. They could still founded faith that simply happened to be wrong. Some peo­ see no reason to slow down. So when Captain Smith main­ ple believe it was an old man's forgetfulness - yet Smith was tained Titanic's speed, despite ice warnings, he was not being only 62 years of age and was not necessarily, as is usually reported, on the verge of retirement.34 Whatever one believes about that issue, neither hubris nor Most people in the lifeboats showed little forgetfulness can explain the mistakes he made after he real­ desire to go back and save anyone, even they ized that his ship was sinking. He was intent on getting peo­ if ple into the lifeboats, but he failed to give any clear might be close enough, and even if they might organization to the effort or to mobilize his officers to act in have friends or relatives dying in the water. concert. Many of the crew worked hard to get passengers up to the boat deck; a few decided to do the opposite and tried to keep third-class passengers from crossing first- and second­ mindlessly irresponsible; he was following the custom of his class territory. Others had no idea of what to do. On deck, profession. volunteers wandered from one boat station to another, help­ But the talk of weather introduces more hazards to deduc­ ing out as best they could. tion. The weather on April 14 was exceptionally good; there Meanwhile, Smith appeared and disappeared in various were no waves. Such conditions, Mersey was repeatedly told, locations, giving brief orders to various individuals and might be seen only once in a lifetime. This good weather involving himself personally in a variety of tasks. He pro­ meant good sailing. It also meant that no surf would break at vided an example of stoic calm. But none of this amounted to an iceberg's foot. Icebergs would therefore be doubly hard to effective leadership, which would have required distinct and see. comprehensive delegation of authority. Captain Smith knew that.31 But he believed that an iceberg Did Smith's final mistakes result from a failure to assume could still be seen if the night remained clear. This sounds personal responsibility, or from an attempt to assume too very foolish, until one reads the testimony of the British much? No one can say. None of the testimony that emerged inquiry's old sea dogs. They maintained that the glow of a white iceberg would be visible even on the darkest night. But what about a black iceberg? Ah, that might be a prob­ lem. But how often does one see such a thing? A very experi­ Captain Lord took account of every risk enced captain told Lord Mersey that he had never even heard except the risk of being the kind of person who of black icebergs until he read about them "in the papers." cares only about the risks. Perhaps, suggested the Attorney-General, people don't know how many black icebergs they encounter without being able to see them.32 Unless, of course, they run into them. Assume, however, that black icebergs are rare. A flat calm from the disaster sheds any light on this; testimony could not on the North Atlantic is also rare. The conjunction of a black even establish how he came to die. According to one witness, iceberg, a flat calm, and a large, fast ship is an exceptionally He said, "Well, boys, do your best for the women and chil­ rare, perhaps an unprecedented, circumstance. Now, what dren, and look out for yourselves." He walked on[to] the 35 deduction do you make from that? Do you agree with coun­ bridge. sel for the White Star line, who argued that unprecedented Soon after, the ship went down. circumstances cannot be guarded against? Or do you agree It seems certain, however, that considerable loss of life with the Attorney-General, who argued that "unusual condi­ resulted directly from an excess of moral responSibility on the tions necessitate unusual precautionsJJ ? Well, said Lord part of people who were working to save lives. The captain, Mersey, unusual conditions don't excuse you unless they are and everybody else, believed that the policy in regard to life­ so unusual that you are not even aware of them. 33 boats should be "women and children first." They thought Captain Smith's moral responsibility must bear some rela­ that was the right principle. But what exactly did it mean? On tionship to his awareness of risk, but no one has ever been the starboard side of the boat deck, where Bruce Ismay hap­ able to compute either the risk or the awareness. After 85 pened to be, it meant "women and children first, then men." years of Titanic books, and one full-length biography, Smith People on the port side were more puritanical. Their interpre­ remains an enigmatic figure. There was something about him tation was "women and children only"; when all the women that inspired his passengers' trust. Probably it was his self­ and children in the vicinity had entered a lifeboat, it was low­ contained, professional manner. From this fact, passengers ered away, whether it was full or not. Men who could have 20 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 been saved were left to perish; some of the men who enforced training of crew members, twice as many boats might have the rule proceeded to die by it.36 As one of Lord Mersey's been launched, if they had been provided. But this fact, like assistants suggested, "women and children first" may also so many other facts about the night of April 14-15, can be have produced the kind of delays that allowed boats to be delusive. Weather on the North Atlantic is seldom calm, and launched with unused spaces. Time had to be taken to separ­ if a ship is going to sink, it can sink quite rapidly. It will also, ate women and children from associated males·37 Then, since quite probably, develop a list so severe that lifeboats on one time was short, there was pressure to launch the boats, even side cannot be lowered, because they will hit the hull, and if they were not full. lifeboats on the other side cannot be loaded, because they are An excess of moral responsibility also led officers to swinging too far from the deck. If there is any sea running, worry about lowering boats that were filled to capacity, for boats can probably be launched only on the lee side, so "boats fear they would buckle and dump their passengers into the for all" will mean boats for all on both sides of the ship. sea. The boats were perfectly sound, but the Titanic's officers The ideal complement of lifeboats for Titanic would there­ did not know that, or trust their knowledge. They wanted to fore have been about 60 on each side. This would mean a line save people, not to kill them; as a result, they killed many of boats over 2000 feet long, over four times longer than people who would have fitted safely into the boats but who Titanic's boat deck. Arrangements could be made to swing were not invited to enter. Moral principles helped to create a situation in which boat accommodations meant for 1178 peo­ ple were used by only about 700. Like most other things con­ The Titanic sank in two hours and 40 min­ nected with the Titanic, morality showed both a bright surface and a dark and dangerous one. utes, the length ofa classic play. We have now moved very far from the conception of the Titanic that lingers in the popular imagination, that of a ship whose passengers were doomed by technological arrogance more than one boat from each pair of davits, or to stack boats and corporate greed. That Titanic belongs to the world of and rafts on deck. But as the number of boats increases, so do myth. The Titanic of fact, the Titanic on which we are now the difficulties of working with them; and any lifeboat is a sailing (or sinking), was imperilled by obstacles much more dangerous thing to work with. If there are serious time con­ difficult to chart - the incalculability of certain risks, the straints, or a heavy list, the results are predictable. The opaqueness of certain intentions, the unpredictability of Cunard liner Lusitania, which was torpedoed in 1915, sank in results from even the best intentions, and the reversibility of only 18 minll~tes. The scene of horror was rendered yet more "obvious" deductions from "known" facts. horrible by lifeboats crashing into the ship, the sea, and crowds of passengers.39 UMake Your Ship as Unsinkable as You Can" Even in the "normal" circumstances of a North Atlantic While we are considering reversibilities, let us look at the sinking, it is virtually inconceivable that lifeboats could help most notorious example of the Titanic's supposed moral everybody escape from a very large ocean liner. The Andrea failure - her neglect to carry enough lifeboats for all on Doria, like every other post-Titanic liner, carried lifeboats for board. all, but after she was injured in a collision in 1956, she listed If there is blame here, there is blame enough to gratify all so badly that few of those boats could be used effectively. tastes. Enemies of corporate greed can say that accommoda­ Ninety-seven percent of the people on board were saved ­ tions for 1178 out of a possible 3547 people (of whom, luckily, chiefly because other ships soon arrived and transferred pas­ Titanic was carrying only about 2200) look like a bad joke. sengers with their own boats.4o In 1912, lifeboats were valued Enemies of government regulation can reply that the Board of primarily for their ability to ferry a few people at a time from Trade required an even less handsome provision of 962 a distressed liner to a rescue ship. The point was to build lin­ spaces. But people on each side will be left to wonder what ers that would stay afloat until help arrived. White Star and the Board of Trade could possibly have had in The idea that every great liner should function as "its own mind. lifeboat" was sensible and widely shared. It was the basis for One thing they had in mind was keeping costs as low as the apparently bizarre regulatory system commonly in use, in possible. As churlish as it may be to mention this, even life­ which the required number of lifeboat accommodations was saving equipment can, at some point, have a prohibitive cost. based on the tonnage of ships, not on the number of people Mersey asked, rhetorically, "If vessels are made by different they carried. The largest liners had the best chance of staying devices so secure that they cease to be commercially valuable, afloat, so they could do with a smaller proportion of lifeboat they cease to go to sea at all?" The answer, of course, is spaces than other vessels. Considering the dangers of decks "yes."38 But lifeboats did not represent a major cost; nor was overcrowded with "lifesaving" equipment, it was thought the space required for lifeboats an indispensable financial that liners that could carry several thousand people probably asset. The Titanic's builders provided all classes of passengers should not have boats for all. with advantages that were much costlier than lifeboats, and That was the reasoning. Even after the Titanic disaster, not all of these advantages were strictly necessary to attract the editor of Scientific American published a book called An business. Unsinkable Titanic, in which he emphasized the hazards of The basic question was, How many lifeboats can be used relying on lifeboats and argued that unsinkability should effectively? In the Titanic's case, the answer was, Enough life­ continue to be the goal. During the British inquiry into the boats to carry everyone. The Titanic took a fairly long time to Titanic disaster, Attorney-General Isaacs took it for granted sink, and the weather was perfectly calm. Given adequate that "it is much more important to make your ship as near as Liberty 21 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997

unsinkable as you can than to provide boats," and Lord that there was an iceberg dead ahead, Murdoch turned the Mersey answered, "Of course it is.''41 That exchange reflected ship to port. Titanic nearly missed the iceberg. She did miss the wisdom of shipowners and regulators almost every­ the violence of a head-on collision. Testimony showed, how­ where. ever, that if Murdoch had decided to hit the berg head-on, When Mersey finally recommended the requirement of Titanic would have repeated the famous experience of the lifeboats for all, he was bowing to public opinion, the author­ Arizona: her bow would have crumpled, but she would not ity to which shipowners had already bowed. So far as public have received any fatal wounds to her starboard side. She opinion was concerned, the provision of those boats was a would have remained afloat. Even Ismay knew that. The 200 risk-free moral necessity. The decision to provide them may people who were sleeping closest to the bow would have have been right (on balance, I think it was), but it wasn't as died; but that would have been many people fewer than the 1500 who did die.42 One could easily conclude that the ideal officer would cal­ Even in the "normal" circumstances of a culate the risk of swerving and the risk of not swerving, and decide to hold his course. Unfortunately, however, no one North Atlantic sinking, it is virtually incon­ would have hailed such a person as the savior of 1500 inno­ ceivable that lifeboats could help everybody cent people. Instead, everyone would have damned him as escape from a very large ocean liner. the murderer of 200 innocent people. This problem tormented Mersey and his assistants. They did not know what to do with it. Attorney-General Isaacs tried going at it head-on. He said that if a liner were pur­ simple as the public thought. Like some of the other morally posely driven into the ice, "I hope I am not on it, that is all." fraught decisions I have mentioned, it represented a juggling Sir Robert Finlay, counsel for White Star, was determined to with risks, risks that were no more calculable after the Titanic have things both ways, and in the strongest terms. He argued than before it. that "it would have been outrageously bad seamanship" for "It Would Have Been Murdoch not to have swerved, even though, "as things Outrageously Bad Seamanship" turned out," what he did "was unfortunate - most unfortu­ Juggling with risks can have some very odd effects on nate." Mersey conceded that Murdoch exercised "good sea­ moral judgment. Risks can be juggled away as if they had no manship." Still, he reflected, if Murdoch had held his course weight at all; or they can become the focus of attention, until he "would have saved the ship." Like White Star's lawyer, all that people can see is the heavy objects that keep landing Mersey was juggling madly; but he was by no means happy h~ in both their hands. with his act. Finally even surrendered: The first of those two effects appeared in the American It is not worth while discussing it. Have we got anything to public's response to Bruce Ismay's moral problem. Before the do with it? We are all agreed that Murdoch was quite right Titanic disaster, it was universally agreed that the managers in doing what he did. 43 of a steamship company had no business interfering with the That was that. Yet Mersey was not just trying to escape. management of the ships themselves. The risk was too high. He was being very careful. He had been thinking about the (Given Ismay's ignorance of navigation, it was stupendously relationship between risk and moral responsibility. He was high.) There would also, quite obviously, be heavy risks aware that his own inquiry could change that relationship. A involved if a corporate official tried to assume responsibility running of risks that was quite innocent before the disaster for the evacuation of a ship. Such a person could easily do more harm than good. As it happened, Ismay assumed none of these risks. When he was handed the iceberg warning on April 14, he did not Senator William Alden Smith was an ingen­ advise Captain Smith to slow down. When the Titanic was uous busybody, cherishing the typically twenti­ sinking, Ismay helped other people enter the lifeboats, but he felt no duty to manage the operation or to go down with the eth-century American assumption that if ship as a consequence of his management responsibility. He anything goes wrong, the government ought to acted like an ordinary passenger and entered a lifeboat when he saw no other passengers competing for the space. But popu­ do something about it. lar opinion noticed only the fact that Ismay failed to make the Titanic slow down and failed to make sure that his fellow­ passengers escaped. It took no account of the risks that he (and might now, with improved awareness of one set of possible everyone else) would have run ifhe had tried to take charge. consequences, transform itself into "negligence of a very Lord Mersey and his investigators experienced the second gross kind." That is what Mersey thought about Captain effect of a juggling with risks. They never lost sight of the Smith's way of dealing with the risk of ice. But Mersey was risks inherent in any decision, including the risk of pronounc­ clearly not prepared to tell seamen that they should take the ing moral judgment. Sometimes, they were simply mesmer­ risk of running their vessels into icebergs. He let that alone; ized by the risks appearing on either hand. They were he was too careful to run such risks. And yet, as he said, "a particularly impressed by the strange case of the Titanic's man may make, as we all know, a mistake which is due swerve. sometimes to too great care."44 The risks remained heavy on When the lookouts told First Officer William Murdoch both his hands. 22 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997

But what should one conclude about the too great care over, and he went to his assigned lifeboat, No. 11. But instead exercised by Captain Stanley Lord, master of the steamship of staying there, he started forward to work on the other Californian, and provider of yet another strange episode in the boats. By the time he returned to No. 11, there was no room Titanic story? Here was risk management, of a very conscien­ for him. Attorney-General Isaacs asked him if he had had tious kind - but neither Mersey nor any of the other investi­ "orders" to help with those boats - if he "had to do it." Lee gators was of two minds about it. replied, "I knew it was my duty, and that is why I went there. The Californian was a vessel of the Leyland line. It was I did not have any orders myself." Lee went to assist with No. 47 owned, ironically, by the same Morgan holding company that 13, was ordered into it, and was saved. owned White Star. On April 14, the Californian encountered Chief baker Charles Joughin was listed as the crewman field ice and stopped for the night. Another ship appeared in who was supposed to enter boat No. 10 and take charge of it. the vicinity and started firing rockets. But Lord neglected to But he busied himself by going downstairs to find more awaken his wireless operator to find out what was wrong. women and children, bringing them to the boat deck, and The Californian sat still until morning. Then one of Lord's offi­ cers woke up the operator, who immediately discovered that the Titanic had foundered. Lord got the Californian going and Senator Smith warned against "concentra­ maneuvered around the ice until he arrived, several hours tion of control" in the maritime industry, a too late, at the site of Titanic's wreck. He kept all mention of rockets out of his log, and he hoped that no one would be the matter which, of course, had precisely nothing wiser. to do with Titanic's misfortune. Unfortunately for Captain Lord, two of his crewmen informed the American press, and he was left to explain him­ self, somehow. He claimed that the Titanic was not visible assisting or "thrOWing" them into the lifeboat. At 1:10, the from the Californian; it must have been some other ship that boat left without him. "Why," he was asked by one of was firing rockets. This made people wonder why Captain Mersey's assistants, "did you not go, seeing that you were in Lord had not tried to assist that other ship.45 charge?" "I would have set a bad example," he replied. After The real explanation, as Attorney-General Isaacs sur­ the departure of No. 10, Joughin went to his room and took a mised,46 was that Captain Lord, meeting field ice for the first drink, apparently a nice long drink. When the ship sank, he time in his career, had decided that he did not want to test his was sufficiently fortified to step off the stern, swim out to a own ship against the unaccustomed risk. It is possible that boat, and wait until the people on it were inclined to help him Lord was hesitant to rouse his wireless operator because he aboard.48 did not want to confirm the fact that another vessel was in At 2:05 a.m., while Captain Lord was sitting tight in the distress and find himself obligated to do something about it. chartroom of the Californian and Titanic's last boat was being He weighed the risks, both from ice and from moral responsi­ lowered, Captain Smith walked to the wireless cabin where bility, and he tried to reduce them to the lowest possible the young operators, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, were level. still sending distress calls. Smith told them, "You can do no For this he was censured by both Lord Mersey and more ... You look out for yourselves." But, as Bride testified, Senator Smith, and he was fired by the Leyland line, which "Mr. Phillips took the 'phones when the Captain had gone discovered that his inordinate skill at risk management made away and he started in to work again." The two boys kept him a distinct liability to public relations. working, and they kept writing their wireless log. Water was But lurking near this episode is yet another glittering fact coming into their cabin on the top deck. Bride went into their that can reverse itself and become a hazardous black berg. bedroom for a moment, and when he came back he found a Why is it, one may ask, that Captain Lord of the Californian crewman trying to steal Phillips's lifebelt. He and Phillips was blamed for moral irresponsibility, while Captain Rostron fought with the intruder and knocked him out. "I did my of the Carpathia was applauded as a moral hero? Lord had a duty," Bride said. "I hope I finished him." The wireless boys duty not to risk his ship and the lives of his crew. So he sent their last message three minutes before Titanic sank. didn't. But Rostron took that risk, and more: Lord carried no Then they swam to an overturned lifeboat. Bride lived; passengers; Rostron carried almost 800. Would Rostron have Phillips died.49 become the hero of April 15, 1912, if he had driven Carpathia None of the people in these stories was heedless of risks, at full speed onto one of the icebergs that littered her path? but none of them equated moral responsibility with risk man­ Should Rostron have been praised for assuming such a seri­ agement. They were not self-sacrificing altruists. There were ous risk, while Lord was denounced for refusing it? Perhaps limits to what they would do for others. They would save public opinion was wrong again. themselves if they could. They might even kill to preserve Once you reach this longitude, the sky darkens and the their lives. But they measured risk to their lives against what ocean fills with ice. There is danger here, the danger of losing was most valuable to them within their lives - a sense of all memory of what morality is. To avert disaster, we will duty. This, it appears, was their difference from Captain have to make a hard turn to starboard and then try to find a Lord, who took account of every risk except the risk of being safer course. the kind of person who cares only about the risks. "I Knew It Was My Duty" "What Was It You Were Afraid Of?" At 12:00 a.m. on April 15, lookout Reginald Lee climbed But Lord is a sympathetic character compared to some of down from the Titanic's crow's nest. His ill-fated watch was the people aboard the Titanic - or, more properly, some of Liberty 23 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 the people who had been aboard the Titanic but had been was only a lot of stiffs there." The passengers rebelled; one of lucky enough to find places in her lifeboats. The moral con­ them, the famous Molly Brown, eventually threatened to duct of people in the boats was not something that either throw Hitchins overboard. But by then it was too late. 53 Senator Smith or Lord Mersey set out to analyze. Smith was The most arresting non-rescue story is the little epic of more interested in discovering lapses in corporate morality; lifeboat No. 1. Among the boat's occupants were two persons Mersey was more interested in keeping to the technical aptly named for the ludicrous parts they were about to play details of the disaster itself. But neither of them could restrain - Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon and his wife, Lady Duff Gordon, his curiosity, and the testimony of the boats is on record. The best known as "Lucile," a fashionable dress designer. With record is very mixed. them was her secretary, Miss Francatelli. The lifeboat was not When the Titanic sank, hundreds of people were swept off exactly filled. It could accommodate 40 people, but through her decks into the freezing water. Upheld by their lifebelts, the haste of the supervising officer it had been lowered with they were slowly dying of exposure. They were screaming for only twelve. Seven of the twelve were crewmen. help; the noise was terrible. In some lifeboats, passengers or On entering No.1, Sir Cosmo somehow found his accom­ crewmen, orboth, immediately decided to help. Lifeboat No.4, modations cramped. He did not realize, he told Lord Mersey, that "there was plenty of room in the boat for more people." He admitted that it did occur to him "that people in the water could be saved by a boat," but it was evidently not his boat Smith's treatment of Ismay was in striking he was thinking of. The idea of personally trying to save any­ contrast to his treatment of the Titanic's cap­ body never crossed his mind. He was too busy worrying tain, who had incomparably more to do with the about his wife, who became violently seasick as soon as No.1 touched the (absolutely calm) waters of the ocean: "We had disaster. The captain, after all, had not been a had rather a serious evening, you know." Sir Cosmo noticed corporate official but a mere employee. that someone was rowing the lifeboat, but he didn't know where, and he didn't know why, and he didn't care. He spec­ ulated that the rowers wanted to make enough noise to "stop 54 loaded withwealthy women, was one ofthe last to escape from the sound" of the dying. the Titanic. But when the ship sank, No.4 turned and began to Crewman Charles Hendrickson testified that he suggested rescue people: "Some of the women protested, but others going back, but his suggestion was quashed by the Duff persisted, and we dragged in six or seven men." They picked Gordons, or by Lady Duff Gordon and Miss Francatelli: "they up peoplecrying in the water until no more cries were heard.50 were scared to go back for fear of being swamped." So In boat No. 14, Officer Lowe gathered volunteers from Hendrickson stopped suggesting. other boats and steered toward the people in the water, Mersey: Then am I to understand that because two of the although he waited to do so until (in his brutal way of put­ passengers said it would be dangerous you all kept your ting it) "the drowning people had thinned out."5! By the time mouths shut and made no attempt to rescue anybody? that happened, he was able to pick up only four people, one Hendrickson: That is right, Sir. 55 of whom did not survive. The only rescue that the crewmen of No.1 attempted was But most people in the lifeboats showed little desire to go the rescue of the Duff Gordons from the British inquiry. The back and save anyone, even if they might be close enough, crew's attachment to the Duff Gordon family had been and even if they might have friends or relatives dying in the improved by charitable contributions of five pounds each, water. Boat No.5, commanded by Officer Pitman, could offer delivered by Sir Cosmo on the decks of the Carpathia. Most of 24 vacant spaces. But when Pitman proposed going back, his the crew showed up to testify that nobody in No. 1 had passengers (especially the ladies) objected that "it was a mad wanted to go back. But why not? idea"; they would be "swamped." Pitman did not go back. Mersey: I want to know why? What was it that you were He halted, listening to the cries until they gradually "died afraid of? - George Symons (crewman in charge of No. 1): I away." Senator Smith wanted to know what the cries were was not afraid of anything; I was only afraid of endangering like. the lives of the people I had in the boat. How? What was the danger? The ship had gone to the bot­ Pitman: Well, I can not very well describe it. I would tom. She was no longer a danger. What were you afraid of? rather you would not speak of it. - At that time the ship had only just disappeared. Smith: I realize that it is not a pleasant theme, and yet I Never mind, it had disappeared, and had gone down to would like to know whether these cries were general and in the bottom, two miles down, or something like that. What chorus, or desultory and occasional? were you afraid of? - I was afraid of the swarming. Pitman: There was a continual moan for about an hour. 52 Of what? - Of the swarming of the people - swamping In some boats, almost any evasion was enough to prevent the boat. an attempt at rescue. Quartermaster Robert Hitchins, com­ That is it, that is what you were afraid of. You were afraid manding boat No.6, explained to Lord Mersey that he could there were too many people in the water? - Yes. not rescue any of the people crying in the water because he And that your boat would be swamped? - Yes. didn't know "what direction to take.... I had no compass." I am not satisfied at all. 56 To which Mersey replied, "You had your ears. Could not you And no wonder. It would have been quite a job for any­ hear where these cries came from?" Hitchins' passengers had body to crawl out of the freezing darkness into a lightly wanted to go back, but Hitchins had refused. He said "there loaded boat standing high in the water, unless he had had 24 Liberty Volume to, Number 5 May 1997 help from the people inside. Boat No. 1 could hardly have was asked, since he had thought it "natural" to contribute 35 been swamped by the human "swarm"; it would have had pounds to the crew of his lifeboat, whether he might not have plenty of time to turn back before being engulfed. thought it "equally natural" to consider saving some other But we have the testimony of the lifeboat's company, page people from a horrible death. Again he said that the possibil­ after page in the British inquiry. ity hadn't occurred to him.59 Thomas Scanlan (counsel for the National Sailors' and There were certain things that Ismay had failed, some­ Firemen's Union): It would have been quite a safe thing to what mysteriously, to reflect upon. The mystery of Duff have gone back? - Albert Horswill (able seaman): Yes. Gordon lay in his apparent refusal to reflect on anything. ... Did it not occur to you that the proper thing to do Mersey could not chart the weird interior of Duff Gordon's under those circumstances was to row back? - It would mind; it seemed to have no features. He gave it up. have been the proper thing to do,. but I had to obey the orders of the coxswain of the boat, so it was no good my "Spectators of a Drama" suggesting anything at all. But whatever one thinks of Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon (and I Had the coxswain on your boat said "Oh, we must not go don't think very much of him), one may still ask questions back"? - There was no conversation. I never heard any about the standard of duty that he failed to honor. The ques­ orders from the coxswain at all. tions arise from the use of that word "natural." You must have been greatly touched when you heard It may appear perfectly natural to set some value on the those poor creatures screaming for help? - Yes. lives of others and try to save them if you can. "Natura!," Did you suppress your feelings and say not a word to any­ however, is a word that can be used far too freely. It can be body? - Yes, that is right. I hardly knew what I was doing used to provide an eternal rationale for customs that are at the time, and I did not suggest anything at all. merely local and temporary. Asked by Senator Smith for the You had two ladies and three gentlemen in the boat? ­ That is right, Sir. Is this you[r] evidence, that they also suppressed their feelings, and said nothing? - That is right. I did not hear Forty10ur years after the Titanic, when the them say anything. Andrea Doria lay sinking off the New England Did it not occur to you that it was really an inhuman thing coast, many crewmen took to the boats and left to leave those people to perish when you could have gone to their assistance and rescued some of them? - It was their terrified passengers behind. inhuman. It was an inhuman thing? - Yes. Did you feel it to be so at the time? -I did feel it, Sir. reason behind the policy of "women and children first," Why did not you say something to those passengers? -I Second Officer Charles Lightoller replied haughtily that it had to obey the orders of the coxswain of the boat. I was in was "the rule of human nature." Ismay also pronounced it the boat just the same as they were. "natural." But that was 1912. In 1997, enforcing the "natural" Mersey: You will not get him away from that, you know. 57 rule of "women and children first" would probably get you "I was only following orders" would become one of the sued for discrimination. Even in 1912, what was considered great moral excuses of the twentieth century. But in Able "natural" could vary with political ideology. Harried by Senator Smith about the sins of the Marconi Company, one of Ismay's business associates remarked that it was "only human nature" for wireless operators to sell their stories to Ministers ofthe gospel denounced Ismay and the newspapers. Smith snapped, "What kind of human his corporate associates as exponents. of pagan nature is that?"60 excess. In this connection, it is interesting to notice one of the most recent books published about the Titanic. 61 Its author, Steven Biel, is not especially concerned with the rights and wrongs of the disaster itself. He is concerned with what peo­ Seaman Horswill's story, there were no orders. And neither ple made of it afterwards. He has therefore compiled the reac­ was there an effective concept of moral duty. tions of a multitude of Americans - politicians, preachers, Mersey: I do not understand your frame of mind. You editorialists, feminists, antifeminists, conservatives, socialists, were surprised that no one made the suggestion that your spokesmen for ethnic causes, spokesmen for Americanism ­ boat should go back? - Robert Pusey (fireman): Yes. most of whom believed that they had found some deep moral Then were you surprised that you did not make the sug­ meaning in the events of April 14-15. gestion? - No. These profound, permanent meanings - the kind that Then you were surprised that no one else made the sug­ one finds in newspapers - often resulted from nothing more gestion, but you were not surprised that you did not make than a willingness to ignore fact, abandon logic, and give free it? - No. rein to the partisan spirit. Thus, ministers of the gospel H is a curious state of mind ... 58 denounced Ismay and his corporate associates as exponents Even more curious was the continuing state of mind of Sir of pagan excess, "inhuman monsters who seek to cover their Cosmo Duff Gordon, whose testimony made him look so moral deformity with the dazzling splendor of mammon's pathetic that Mersey begged his examiners not to press him throne." Drinking from the same pure spring of self­ too hard: "The witness's position is bad enough." Sir Cosmo righteousness, socialists described Ismay as "the epitome of Liberty 25 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 capitalism," so perfect a product of capitalism that "even cap­ have transformed itself into an "august event" (in Thomas italism finds it hard to stomach him." To Biel, it seems obvi­ Hardy's).65 It was the kind of transformation that one expects ous that the meaning of the disaster grew out of "present from a consummate work of art. circumstances and ideological purposes." It "seared itself into Even while it was happening, the event seemed artificial. American memory not because it was timeless but because it An historian of the disaster, summarizing this constant theme was timely."62 of the Titanic literature, describes some features of "the final But this is wrong. The Titanic disaster had meaning, and act of the tragedy": continues to have meaning, because it was a magnificent elab­ the great ship lying motionless on a sea as still as a millpond oration, within time, of timeless moral problems. under the glittering canopy of stars; the rockets soaring aloft The problems themselves - involVing, as they do, the into the darkness from the bridge; the lively ragtime airs relationship of duty to danger and of risk to moral responsi­ played by the ship's orchestra assembled near the head of bility - were not invented in 1912 and are not out of date in the grand staircase; the passengers standing about in 1997. And some of the moral principles that responded to groups, or pacing slowly up and down in the bitter cold ... such problems have proven very durable, much more dura­ the strange feeling that not a few of them had of being spec­ ble, in fact, than the follies, cruelties, and infatuations of pop­ tators of a drama rather than actors in it; and all the time the ular moralists. black water rising higher and higher towards the slanting Those moral principles - or, perhaps more properly, decks. 66 moral expectations - involved an idea of duties that could As in a theatre where a production is so brilliantly staged that the audience cannot suspend its sense of disbelief but continues conscious of the artistry of sets and action, so on Like most other things connected with the the decks of the Titanic. "We had our eyes wide open and noticed everything that was going on," said third-class pas­ Titanic, morality showed both a bright surface senger August Wennerstrom, "but could not feel any sorrow and a dark and dangerous one. - or even fear. It was more like we were part of an audience in a wonderful, dramatic play."67 The sets were perfect -magnificent in size yet intricately scaled to the dimensions appropriate for each scene of indi­ not be reduced to risk management. The popular opinion of vidual choice. The cast was enormous, yet not so enormous as 1912 doubtless carried· this idea to an absurd extreme. Captain Smith was regarded as a hero simply because he was to prevent its members from being known as individuals. The willing to go down with the ship. He was celebrated to such a choices that each character faced were complex, demanding. nauseating degree that George Bernard Shaw felt impelled to The characters were faced, moreover, with the absolute neces­ object; Smith's idolators, he said, had mistaken "sensational sity of choice. They had to choose. But this was an intellectual misfortune for inspiring achievement." Yes, but there is at drama, not a mere thriller. The characters had.time to reflect least some dignity in deciding that other things may matter on their choices (or not to reflect, if that was their way of choosing). The Titanic sank in two hours and 40 minutes, the besides not being drowned.63 Forty-four years after the Titanic, when the Andrea Doria length of a classic play.68 lay sinking off the New England coast, many crewmen took The obvious contrast is with the sinking of the Lusitania, to the boats and left their terrified passengers behind. This where action was compressed into a mere 18 minutes. Like was not a refreshing comment on mid-twentieth-century the Titanic, the Lusitania prOVided plenty of grist for "ideolog­ morality (though it is far from the worst comment that might ical" mills. She would be remembered chiefly as a political be cited). Some people tried to cover it up - but no one said incident. But the Titanic would be remembered, more richly, it was right.64 Probably no one would say so today, despite as a drama of her passengers' moral decisions - even when the fact that the action was entirely "natural," in one sense of the nature of those decisions would be hotly debated or that word. abjectly misunderstood. And the dramatic intensity of the But the assumption of moral responsibility is always more Titanic was great enough to infuse all the events that sur­ artificial than natural. It is the product of choice, not of some rounded it: the deliberations in the lifeboats, the contrasting purely spontaneous urge. This is the message of the great choices of the Carpathia and the Californian, and the enormous works· of literary art that focus on the problems of moral re-creations of the whole cycle of events, as staged by the responsibility, whatever the specific solutions they suggest. American and British investigators - spectators with their These works endure because they reveal, with intensity and own decisions to make. rigor, all the possibilities of moral choice. And this thought Like any great, enduring play, the Titanic has spawned a draws us closer to the permanent significance of the Titanic host of critics. To criticize the performance properly, how­ disaster, much closer than we could come by trying to dis­ ever, one must understand that the performers were not just cover whether the particular moral principles invoked on the actors; they were quite capable of being critics, too, and boat deck of the White Star liner are still alive (or ought to be inspectors of their own actions. Often, as we have seen, they alive) today. thought of themselves primarily as spectators. But these spec­ The. Titanic has endured· because it pres~nted the great tators were not idle; they had critical decisions to make, deci­ problems of morality - which is itself artificial - in the sions about right and wrong. It has been argued, indeed, that exacting form that one expects from a great work of artifice, a a sense of morality depends on an essentially theatrical sense great literary. drama. Only in this way could one of 1912's of self- observation, a sense that allows one to become, as numerous "floating (or sinking) hotels" (in Shaw's words) Adam Smith supposed, a critical "spectator" of one's own 26 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 performance. Many of the acts performed in the drama of the Titanic, was hired as a consultant. Watching the production, Titanic failed the test of criticism; many resulted from evasion Beesley decided that he wanted his chance to be among the or absurd rationalization. (These acts also have their dramatic passengers who did not survive. Unfortunately, he was not a interest.) But others fulfilled the most rigorous demands of member of the actors' union. So he forged a pass, boarded the the internal critic. "Titanic," and stood with the extras who were preparing to While the Titanic's passengers climbed to the boat deck, "die." But "right at the last minute, as the cameras were due her engineers kept working deep inside her, trying to keep to roll, the director spotted [him] ... Picking up his mega­ her electricity on and her pumps in operation. They did so, phone, he instructed the amateur impostor kindly to disem­ until the very end. All of these men perished. Thomas bark." Beesley had missed his chance to explore "an Andrews, who helped to build the ship, calculated how long alternative version of history. 1173 she would last, then tried to make sure that the passengers But what shall we say of Bruce Ismay's alternatives - the and the women in the crew got into lifebelts and into boats. various parts he might have played in the drama of April 14­ Finally, he went to the smoking room and waited by himself, 15? without his lifebelt. Writer and editor W.T. Stead, who had He could have performed a starring role, at least in the published stories about liners running into icebergs and run­ popular imagination, if he had been the captain of industry ning out of lifeboats, settled down by himself to read a book. He would die doing what he thought was important.69 These were all superb performances, whether they were The Titanic disaster had meaning, and con­ meant to assist other people or only, at last, to assert the tinues to have meaning, because it was a mag­ actors' sense of dignity. Were they only performances? Perhaps. But if so, the roles selected were appropriate to a nificent elaboration, within time, of timeless moral drama, a drama about what it is right to choose, and moral problems. they were performed for the moral satisfaction of the actors themselves. This is something other than a "social drama" or 7o drama of social forces. It is a drama of people who made that Senator Smith expected to see, the kind of man who individual decisions, often strange and mysterious ones, the seized control of events and could easily be held responsible dynamics of which can never be truly known. for their consequences. But he did not see himself as that kind So important is evidence of a sense of moral drama that of man. He was a corporate bureaucrat with a justifiably lim­ we are willing to honor it even when we are baffled by the ited idea of his own power. particular code of values that seems to be involved. When the Ismay could also have had a starring role if he had given his life in an attempt to find other passengers for Collapsible C. The attempt might have been futile. In any event, he did In 1997, enforcing the "natural" rule of not make it. He did not hold, with A. Clement Edwards, that he "owed [his] life to every other person on that ship. 11 74 It is "women and children first" would probably get hard to find any definite reason why he should have. you sued for discrimination. Ismay could have played a still more interesting role if he had chosen to demonstrate, purely for his own satisfaction, an heroic fortitude in the face of death. He could have per­ Titanic got into trouble, Benjamin Guggenheim and his secre­ formed this part only if he had taken a certain highly per­ tary Victor Giglio went on deck in sweaters and lifebelts. sonal view of the dramatic possibilities of his life; it was not They helped at the boats. Then they took off the belts and something for public opinion, or a congressional committee, sweaters and appeared in evening clothes. "We've dressed up to decide. Ismay did not take that view. He did the work that in our best," Guggenheim said, "and are prepared to go was immediately at hand; he did it bravely; then he left in down like gentlemen."71 We may not honor, or even under­ Collapsible C. stand, the code of moral dignity, of responsibility to oneself, The dramatic possibilities of the role that he did assume that Guggenheim thought was embodied in his evening are real enough, but some subtlety is required to appreciate clothes. But we can respect his decision to live up to it. them. Subtlety is completely lost whenever the mysteries of human choices are transformed into myths designed for unre­ "He Was Never the Same Again" flective minds. In the Nazi propaganda film Titanic (1943), the The moral drama enacted on April 14-15, 1912, has always ship hits an iceberg because Ismay, the villainous capitalist, had a curious ability to transform and intensify people's demands that she set a speed record.75 The class-conscious impression of themselves as "actors" or "spectators." British film A Night to Remember presents a series of scenes in In 1953, during the production of the film Titanic, Barbara which determined efforts are made to keep steerage passen­ Stanwyck was lowered in a lifeboat down the side of a giant gers from reaching the boat deck; then it shows Mr. Ismay Titanic model into a water tank. She knew it was a model, and shamefacedly entering Collapsible C, beneath the contemptu­ she knew it was a water tank. But when "she caught a glance ous stare of the attending officer. In Titanic, a CBS television up at those left behind to 'die' with the ship, she burst into a melodrama (1996), a crowd surges around Collapsible C; a flood of uncontrollable tears. She said everything had sud­ father from third class, denied entrance, is tom, screaming, denly seemed so real."72 from his family; then Ismay sneaks out of the shadows and A few years later, another Titanic film was made: A Night claims his illicit place in the boat, while fellow passengers to Remember (1958). Lawrence Beesley, who had survived the loudly protest. An advertisement for the musical Titanic, set Liberty 27 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 to open on Broadway on April 23 of this year, describes a and Jack Thayer'S recollection, which is filled with discrepancies, of character named "J. Bruce Ismay" who "pushed Captain Ismay "push[ing] his way into" a boat (both cited in Walter Lord, The Smith relentlessly to set speed records," then "quietly Night Lives On [New York: William Morrow, 1986] 128-29. As to the boarded one of the lifeboats while the crew remained "stowaways," who were discovered, by Rowe's account (AI 520), only "when daylight broke," they obviously benefited from other passen­ behind."76 These are dramas that not even Senator Smith gers' tacit permission. Lifeboats are large, but not that large. 5. Ismay could applaud. AI 17, AI 929; Lightoller, AI 426; Arthur Rostron, marconigram, cited at The real J. Bruce Ismay lived out his life at his home in AI 1123; Oldham 195-96. Feeling responsible for the butler and secre­ London and his fishing retreat in Ireland, never venturing tary, Ismay provided their widows, as Oldham says, with a generous again on the North Atlantic. The House of Morgan consid­ lifetime annuity. 6. Wyn Craig Wade, The Titanic: End ofa Dream ered him an embarrassment and forced him to retire from his (Middlesex, Eng.: Penguin, 1979) 74; New York Times (April 21, 1912) 2. father's steamship line. He continued to serve on the boards 7. A. T. Mahan, in Gracie 321-23; Brooks Adams, in Wade 375. 8. Wade 156-57. 9. My discussion ofSenator Smith relies on the long of other companies; his favorite company was a railroad. He and very sympathetic account in Wade. On the Taft connection, see esp. did not discuss the Titanic; his wife thought such discussion Wade 146. On the Harter Act, see esp. 196-97,221,362. Wade's admira­ was bad for him. But the historian of the White Star line, who tion for Smith is shared by many other Titanic people. John P. Eaton and knew Ismay's wife, assures us that Charles A. Haas even praise Smith's "objectivity" - Titanic: Destination he was never the same again. He had always been very shy, Disaster: The Legends and the Reality (New York: Norton, 1996) 107. 10. Ismay, AI 3. so much so that few people on board the Titanic knew who 11. Ismay, Texas, did change. Ismay, Montana, which was named in he was. For once he had come out of his shell, and working honor of May and Isabel Earling, daughters of a railroad president, with the crew, had done all he could to assist in getting the heroically resisted - until 1993, when it renamed itself Joe, Montana, in passengers into the boats. So he was heartbroken to come honor of Joe Montana. See Walter Lord, Night Lives On 212-13; and home to face all the calumny of the Press and public. 77 Jonathan Raban, "The Unlamented West," New Yorker (May 20, 1996) His wife gave parties, but he did not attend. He liked to 61,66. 12. Wade 368-69. Wade doesn't call this envy. He treats it as read his business papers on a park bench, where he enjoyed righteous political indignation. 13. Guglielmo Marconi, AI 484-85, 817, 493-94; William Alden Smith, AI 841. 14. Wade 165-66, 183, 195-96; talking to people who were down on their luck; he gave them Ismay, AI 930. advice and money, but he never told them who he was. He 15. Wade 429. 16. Lord, Night Lives On 206-10. 17. Ismay, AI 927; liked to stand in the crowd to watch parades. He sometimes Wade, 449; Harold Sanderson, BI 471. 18. Sir Rufus Isaacs, BI 900; Sir went to afternoon concerts, where he "always took two seats, Robert Finlay, BI 850. 19. John Charles Bigham, Baron Mersey, BI 759. the second one for his hat and coat."78 20. Mersey, W.D. Harbinson, BI 624. 21. Mersey, BI 490. 22. Ismay, BI When Bruce Ismay entered Collapsible C, he thought that 440. he was acting rightly. When he reached the Carpathia, he was 23. Ismay, BI 452, 443, 453. Why had people lingered below decks? The usual answers, and true enough, involve lack of awareness that the shattered by doubts. Subjected to the pressures of public criti­ ship was actually going down, a desire not to leave baggage behind, the cism, his resolve strengthened; he decided again that he was complexity of some routes to the boat deck, isolated attempts by crew­ right. But we will never know what shape the drama took in men to keep third-class passengers in third-class areas, and the general his own mind as he performed it, silently and mysteriously, failure of officers to organize evacuation of the lower regions. 24. until he died, the victim of a stroke, in 1937. 0 Ismay, BI 464. 25. A. Clement Edwards, BI 785; Mersey, BI 799; Finlay, BI809. 26. Mersey, BR 40. Notes 27. Wade 442. 28. Alfred Crawford, AI 810; Alfred Olliver, AI 528. 29. Isaacs, BI 580. 30. On Pacific and other victims of ice, see Wade 56­ 1. Wilton J. Oldham, The Ismay Line: The White Star Line, and the Ismay 57; on Naronic, see Oldham 122-24. 31. Lightoller, BI 306-307. 32. Family Story (Liverpool: The Journal of Commerce, 1961) 68, 109-110. Frederick Passow, BI 572; Isaacs, BI 669. 33. Finlay, BI 850; Isaacs, BI 2. Oldham 64-65, 136-37, 163. 903; Mersey, BI 907. 34. Gary Cooper, The Man Who Sank the Titanic?: 3. One principal source for my account of Ismay's actions on April The Life and Times ofCaptain Edward J. Smith (Stoke-on-Kent: Witan, 10-15 is "the British inquiry" (abbreviated BI): Proceedings . .. on a 1992) 59; Eaton and Haas 77. 35. Edward Brown, BI 234. Formal Investigation Ordered by the Board of Trade into the Loss ofthe S.S. 36. Gracie, 114-323, establishes the port-starboard disparity in "Titanic," May 2-July 3,1912 (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1912): exhaustive detail. Even on the port side, however, some males had to be testimony of J. Bruce Ismay, 437-43, 450, 456, 463-64; Edward Brown, invited into boats because they were needed to manage them. 37. 233,235; and George Rowe, 420. The other principal source is "the Roche, BI 772. 38. Mersey, BI 543. 39. Des Hickey and Gus Smith, Seven American inquiry" (AI): "Titanic" Disaster: Hearing before a Subcommittee Days to Disaster: The Sinking of the Lusitania (New York: Putnam's, 1982) ofthe Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, 62nd Congress, 2nd 204-34. 40. William Hoffer, Saved! The Story ofthe "Andrea Doria" - the Session, April 19-May 25,1912 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Greatest Sea Rescue in History (New York: Summit, 1979). Office, 1912): testimony of Ismay, 3-5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 915-19, 928, 931-35; 41. J. Bernard Walker, An Unsinkable Titanic: Every Ship Its Own Joseph Boxhall, 246-47; Henry Etches, 784-85; Charles Lightoller, 57-58, Lifeboat (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1912); Isaacs, Mersey, BI 596. 42. 430-31; Harold Lowe, 389-90, 401; Herbert Pitman, 276-77; George Ismay, AI 16; Edward Wilding, BI 514; Mersey, BI 855. 43. Isaacs, BI 658; Rowe, 519-24; and A.H. Weikman, 1095. I use the "preliminary" or first Finlay, Mersey, BI 855. 44. Mersey, 835. 45. Edwards, BI 796. The same daily printings of the American testimony; page numbers in the second question is asked by Lord, Night Lives On (165-91), and Wade (338-61), half of later printings can vary - fortunately, in regular ways. Times who provide very useful introductions to the Californian episode. for the lowering of lifeboats are fairly well approximated in Shipping 46. Isaacs, BI 957-58. 47. Reginald Lee, BI 75. 48. Charles Joughin, BI Casualties (Loss ofthe Steamship "Titanic") (London:--aM. Stationery 145; Walter Lord, A Night to Remember, rev. ed. (New York: Holt, 1976) Office, 1912): 38. This is the Report of the British investigation, hereafter 151-52, 170. 49. Harold Bride, New York Times (April 19, 1912) 1-2; AI abbreviated "BR." 1050, BI 388; BR 67. 50. Emily Ryerson, AI 1104; Walter Perkis, AI 582. 4. Archibald Gracie, The Truth about the "Titanic" (New York: 51. Lowe, AI 409-10. It is fair to mention that Lowe was always quite Mitchell Kennerley, 1913) 300, summarizes what is known about the prepared to save people who might appear at the edge of the crowd. population. I discount the strange testimony of Hugh Woolner, who 52. Henry Etches, AI 786; Olliver,AI 529-30; Alfred Shiers, BI 114; suddenly remembered that, by the way, he had helped to quell a mob at Pitman, Smith AI 283-84. Collapsible C (AI 854), about 20 minutes after it was actually launched; notes continued on page 42 28 Liberty Vindication The Misunderstood Mr· Jefferson by David N. Mayer

Fashionable attacks on Thomas Jefferson obscure his one ruling passion: the "holy cause of freedom."

Sadly, modern Americans seem to have done a better job preserving what Thomas Jefferson has left us in bricks and mortar than we have preserving his ideas. Tourists visiting Charlottesville, Virginia, can witness firsthand the ongoing efforts to preserve Jefferson's home at Monticello as well as his splendid little

IIAcademical Village," the Lawn, which is still a vital center of student example, reasserts the bromide ­ faith." While it is certainly true that life at the University of Virginia. common among modern "liberal" aca­ Jefferson was a leading proponent of Further down the road, near demics - that the ideals of equality representative democracy in Lynchburg, Virginia, preservationists and the pursuit of happiness, as Democracy in America, Alexis de have begun restoring Poplar Forest, expressed in Jefferson's Declaration of Tocqueville called Jefferson lithe most Jefferson's retreat home. Independence, are unattainable or powerful advocate democracy has Scholars have been less successful contradictory. But there's nothing con­ ever sent forth" - his devotion to in keeping alive his philosophy, par­ tradictory about equality of rights and democracy was neither absolute nor ticularly his ideas about government each individual's pursuit of happi­ unqualified. Indeed, Tocqueville - despite the copious record he left in ness,if the concept of rights is prop­ thought it significant that Jefferson his writings. Ken Burns's recent PBS erly understood. Herbert Spencer's once warned James Madison that "the documentary, Thomas Jefferson, is a law of equal freedom, the radical tyranny of the legislature" was "the case in point. It features a parade of Whigs' concept of IInatural liberty," danger most to be feared" in scholars who simultaneously declare and Jefferson's concept of IInatural American government. To Jefferson, democracy and its associated princi­ their own inability to understand society" all accounted for how the two ples - majority rule, equal rights, Jefferson, and mislead others with can work together. The fact that many direct representation of the people in interpretations of his life and thought of today's intellectuals simply don't government - were valuable, not as that are as questionable as they are get it reveals much more about them ends in themselves, but as essential contradictory. than it does about Jefferson. means to a greater end, the maximiza­ Misinterpretations of Jefferson's Burns informs the viewer, for tion of individual freedom in civil example, that Jefferson's life was full political thinking seem pandemic society. Liberty was Jefferson's highest of contradictions: the II man of the peo­ these days. The 1993 celebrations of value; he dedicated his life to what he ple" with the tastes of an aristocrat, the 250th anniversary of Jefferson's once called II the hoIy cause of the natural rights philosopher who birth, for example, typically champi­ freedom."l owned slaves, the "lifelong champion oned his reputation as "father of of small government who more than American democracy." Chief Justice A Radical Whig doubled the size of the United States," William Rehnquist, speaking at the What repeatedly drew Jefferson and so on. Most of these alleged con­ University of Virginia, echoed the away from his tranquil domestic life at tradictions really aren't as antithetical views of many Jefferson scholars that Monticello and back into the political as they appear, for they are based on lithe permanence of Jefferson resided fray was precisely that "holy cause of faulty assumptions or misunderstand­ not in his specific theories or acts of freedom," to which he felt duty-bound ings of principles. Joseph Ellis, for government, but in his democratic whenever he saw liberty threatened Liberty 29 Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

by a powerful central government ­ ited government and the rule of law. affairs," he warned, "you and I, and whether it was the British government To Jefferson, the significance of the Congress, and Assemblies, judges and under King George III or the United American Revolution was the opportu­ governors shall become wolves. It States government under Federalist nity it gave Americans to create a seems to be the law of our general administrations. His passion for this republican form of government - that nature, in spite of individual excep­ cause was reflected in the language that is, a government not only founded in tions."4 he used in his political writings. theory upon the consent of the gov­ Like Thomas Paine, who in Common Jefferson, the zealous defender of relig­ erned, but one that was continually Sense had .distinguished government ious freedom, tended to use words responsible to the will of the people ­ and society, Jefferson understood that such as holy, orthodox, or catholic when "the only form of government which is the realm of politics was quite limited; discussing political, not religious, prin- not eternally at open or secret war with outside it, individuals should be free to the rights of mankind," he maintained. fashion their lives as they saw fit, He understood the American constitu­ through voluntary social relationships. Burns' documentary dis­ tions, state and federal, to implement in The "essence of a republic," he wrote, tracts us from the real tragedy practice the theory of government he so was a system in which individuals eloquently presented in his original "reserve to themselves personally the of Jefferson's position on slav­ draft of the Declaration of Indepen­ exercise of all rightful powers to which ery by focusing on the myth dence, where he stated the "self­ they are competent," delegating others that Jefferson fathered children evident" truths that all men are created to their "representatives, chosen imme­ "equal & independent," that from that diately, and removable by themselves." by his slave, Sally Hemings. equal creation they derive "rights He believed this "proximate choice and inherent & inalienable, among which power of removal" was "the best secur­ are the preservation of life, & liberty & ity which experience has sanctioned for ciples; he reserved words such as here­ the pursuit of happiness," and that "to ensuring an honest conduct in the func­ tic or apostate to denounce politicians secure these ends, governments are tionaries of society" - in other words, whom he regarded as the enemies of instituted among men, deriVing their for preventing those in power from liberty. He summed up his life's work just powers from the consent of the becoming "wolves." in a letter written relatively early in his governed." The creation of republican public career, in 1790, soon after his governments alone, however, was not Jefferson & Natural Rights return to the United States following sufficient to guard against abuses of The Declaration of Independence his ambassadorship to France. "[T]he power. Jefferson also understood .the listed three natural, or "inalienable," ground of liberty is to be gained by value of devices such as written consti­ rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of inches ... [W]e must be contented to tutions, the division and separation of happiness. Elsewhere in·his writings secure what we can get from time to powers, and the people's power to Jefferson referred to others: expatria- time, and eternally press forward for amend constitutions. The fundamental what is yet to get. It takes time to per­ principle of his constitutionalism was suade men to do even what is for their most cogently expressed in his draft of When Jefferson realized that owngood."2 the Kentucky Resolutions (1798), where America needed also to be a Jefferson's philosophy of govern­ he wrote: ment, accordingly, stressed the perpet­ [C]onfidence is everywhere the par­ manufacturing nation, his ual need to limit government's powers. ent of despotism - free government political economy matured into As he once wrote, "The natural progress is founded in jealousy, and not in a full acceptance of market of things is for liberty to yield and gov­ confidence; it is jealousy and not ernment to gain ground."3 The notion confidence which prescribes limited capitalism. that government inevitably threatened constitutions, to bind down those liberty was part of the radical Whig tra­ whom we are obliged to trust with dition in whichJefferson's early intellec­ power.... In questions of power, tion, religious freedom, freedom of tual life had been steeped. Like John then, let no more be heard of confi­ trade, and the right to hold property. Locke, Algernon Sidney, and other dence in man, but bind him down All these rights might be understood as English radical Whig political philoso­ from mischief by the chains of the particular manifestations of one basic Constitution. phers, Jefferson understood, paradoxi­ natural right, liberty, which Jefferson cally, that it was government, which Zealously guarding liberty, Jeffer­ regarded as sacrosanct as life itself: as was created to "secure" individual son was suspicious of the use of he wrote in his 1774 essay, A Summary rights, that posed the greatest danger to governmental power. He feared that View of the Rights of British America, those rights through the abuse of its without the rule of a higher law, the "The god who gave us life, gave us lib­ legitimate powers. Hence Jefferson, like achievement of the American erty at the same time; the hand of force other "Whigs" of his time - and like Revolution would be lost. The govern­ may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." the classical liberals of the nineteenth ments in Europe "have divided their Jefferson regarded as a basic princi­ century - was profoundly distrustful nations into two classes, wolves and ple of good government the guarantee of concentrated political power and sheep." If the people of America once to all of the enjoyment of these rights. intensely devoted to the ideals of lim- become "inattentive to the public In 1816, discussing the "rightful limits" 30 Liberty Volume 10, NumberS Ma 1997

of legislators' power, he maintained described in his Notes on the State of Burns's film, "politically correct" white that "their true office is to declare and Virginia, was the greatest flaw of his scholars hedge a bit, saying IIwe don't enforce only our natural rights and private life; the philosopher of the know" the truth. duties, and to take none of them from American Revolution, the greatest lib­ If we set aside the Hemings fam­ us": "No man has a natural right to erating event in the history of the ily's tradition as the myth that it is, it commit aggression on the equal rights world, personally participated in what appears most likely that Sally of another; and this is all from which John Hope Franklin calls in Burns's Hemings' children were fathered by the laws ought to restrain him; every film "a transgression against man­ either Peter or Samuel Carr, Jefferson's man is under the natural duty of con­ kind." And that Jefferson abandoned nephews and wards, raised by him at tributing to the necessities of society; his early zeal for emancipation (his Monticello as if they were the natural and this is all the laws should enforce praiseworthy efforts to abolish slavery sons that he never had. His nephew's on him; and, no man having a natural in Virginia, which culminated in his abuse of a young slave girl on right to be the judge between himself writing the Northwest Ordinance Jefferson's mountain was no less scan­ and another, it is his natural duty to prohibition on slavery), and instead dalous to Jefferson and his family than submit to the umpirage of an impartial if he himself had perpetrated the abuse third." He added that "when the laws - which explains, in part, why have declared and enforced all this, Jefferson abandoned his Jefferson's only response to the allega­ they have fulfilled their functions, and early zeal for emancipation and tions was silence. But it speaks vol­ the idea is quite unfounded, that on umes about the extent to which slavery entering into society we give up any instead acquiesced in the con­ not only debased the slave but also cor­ natural right."s Two years later, in a tinued existence of slavery. rupted the morals of the master, as report which he prepared as chairman Jefferson himself had observed in Notes of the Commissioners for the Univer­ on the State ofVirginia: "The whole com­ sity of Virginia, Jefferson included in merce between master and slave is a his syllabus of the basic principles of acquiesced in the continued existence perpetual exercise of the most boister­ government "a sound spirit of legisla­ of slavery - as well as its spread to ous passions, the most unremitting tion, which, banishing all arbitrary and other territories in the West - unmis­ despotism on the [one] part, and unnecessary restraint on individual takably was the greatest flaw of his degrading submission on the other." action, shall leave us free to do what­ public life. That this "rottenness" had set in within ever does not violate the equal rights of Like so many others, Burns distracts his own family, and that Jefferson had others." us from the real tragedy of Jefferson's been powerless to prevent it and even Fundamental to Jefferson's political position on slavery by focusing on the unwilling to acknowledge it, is the real philosophy, then, was the idea that no myth that Jefferson fathered children story that remains untold. government could legitimately trans­ by his slave, Sally Hemings. The claim gress natural rights. In order for law to is based on an oral tradition kept alive The Agrarian Myth among Hemings' descendents - dubi­ be binding, it must not only proceed Another myth about Jefferson that from the will of properly authorized ous evidence, not only because it is self­ Burns perpetuates is his supposed legislators, but it must also be IIreason­ serving and unreliable, but also agrarianism. Jefferson's vision of able, that is, not violative of first princi­ because of its use as political propa­ America's future, on this view, was of ll ples, natural rights, and the dictates of ganda, first by Jefferson's Federalist an "agrarian paradise - implying enemies and later in the nineteenth cen­ the sense of justice." In the final para­ that Jefferson's small-government phi­ tury by antislavery Whig and graph of his Virginia Statute of losophy was appropriate only for the Republican politicians who sought to Religious Freedom, for example, pre-industrial America of the early discredit Jefferson and the antebellum Jefferson added a declaration that the nineteenth century, a convenient Democratic party. (Today the story is rights therein asserted were "the natu­ rationalization that apologists for the still kept alive to push others' political ral rights of mankind," and that modern regulatory-welfare state have agendas.) Virtually all reputable although the legislature which enacted been asserting since Woodrow the Bill had no constitutional power to Jefferson scholars restrain subsequent legislatures, any agree that there is future act repealing it or narrowing its no contemporary operation would be "an infringement evidence of any sex­ of natural right." ual relationship whatsoever between -, ...... "A ~ .. Slavery: The Central Paradox Jefferson and l {'f:::t::I ~" The institution of slavery was so Hemings, but few ( t \ l troubling to Jefferson, throughout his are willing to dis- - ((~ - life, because he realized that it violated miss the allegation ~ ....._-- the natural rights of an entire race of as a myth, for fear of N people. That Jefferson owned slaves being called racist. \.....'- --.-J himself, knowing all too well the evils So, like the histori- - ....------of the institution that he so frankly ans interviewed in "He just found out about the doctrine of implied powers!" Liberty 31 Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

Wilson's "New Freedom" speech in as we have submitted to them," noting declared that the First Amendment 1913. In the 1780s, when Jefferson that "the rights of conscience we never mandated a "wall of separation wrote his much-quoted statements submitted, we could not submit" between Church and State."6 about farmers being the most "virtu­ because men are answerable for them ous" citizens, he was essentially agrar­ to God only. "The legitimate powers of First Amendment Absolutist~ ian in outlook. But after the War of government extend to such acts only as Collaborating again with James 1812, Jefferson realized that America are injurious to others. But it does me Madison in 1798, Jefferson opposed as needed also to be a manufacturing no injury for my neighbour to say unconstitutional the Sedition Act, nation, and his political economy there are twenty gods, or no god. It which had made it a criminal offense to matured into a full acceptance of mar­ neither picks my pocket nor breaks my make any "false, scandalous, and mali­ ket capitalism. In the 1810s Jefferson leg." cious" statement against either experienced an awakening when he When Jefferson wrote to Madison President John Adams or the read the Treatise on Political Economy by late in 1787, expressing his great disap­ Federalist-controlled Congress. If the French anti-mercantilist philoso- pointment that the new federal Jefferson was - as some critics have Constitution included no explicit guar­ charged, both in his time and today ­ antee of rights, the first such right that less than fully libertarian in his defense Jefferson bemoaned the fact he listed was freedom of religion. He of freedom of the press in the years that surely had in mind the kind of broad followed his election in 1800, it was that "nothing can now be statement of "natural right" expressed because he was deeply troubled by believed which is seen in a in his Virginia Statute, which provided what he perceived as the "licentious­ newspaper. Truth itself that "no man shall be compelled to fre­ ness" of the press of his time. During quent or support" any religion, nor any his presidency he expressed concern becomes suspicious by being "suffer, on account of his religious that his Federalist opponents were put into that polluted vehicle. " opinions or belief," and that "all men "pushing its [the press's] licentiousness shall be free to profess, and by argu­ and its lying to such a degree of prosti­ ment to maintain, their opinions in tution as to. deprive it of all credit." This was, he had noted, "a dangerous pher Antoine Louis Claude Destutt de matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or state of things" because "even the least Tracy, who, among other things, informed of the people have learnt that regarded the productive value of the affect their civil capabilities." Although the language finally adopted by nothing in a newspaper is to be trader or manufacturer as equal to that believed." To another correspondent he of the farmer; defended the rights of Congress in proposing what would bemoaned the fact that "nothing can industrious persons to seek profits as become part of the First Amendment ­ "rewards for their talents"; and viewed stating that "Congress shall make no commerce generally as the "fabric" of law respecting an establishment of society. Jefferson was so enthusiastic religion, or prohibiting the free exercise When pressed to draw a line about Tracy's treatise that he person­ thereof" - was far less explicit than the between "the inestimable lib­ ally undertook the task of translating it language of the Virginia statute, into English, so that it could be used as Jefferson interpreted it to be just as erty" and the "demoralizing the basic economics text in American comprehensive a guarantee. In other licentiousness" of the press, universities. But this profound evolu­ words, he understood the First Jefferson came down on the tionin Jefferson's ideas about political Amendment freedom of religion economy is utterly ignored in Burns's clause, like the Virginia statute, to leave libertarian side. documentary, as it generally is in high­ the formation of religious opinions school and college textbooks. solely to "the reason of man." As president, Jefferson faithfully now be' believed which is seen in a Separating Church & State adhered to this principle and to his newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspi­ To Jefferson, religion was a matter broad view of the rights guaranteed by cious by being put into that polluted of conscience, a private matter that the First Amendment. He departed vehicle."7 ought not concern government. For from the precedent set by his predeces­ Despite his belief in the efficacy of that reason, he joined his friend and sors, Washington and Adams, by refus­ state laws against false and defamatory collaborator, James Madison, in calling ing to recommend or designate any day publications, it is important to note both for the free exercise of religious for national prayer, fasting, or thanks­ that, as president, Jefferson consistently beliefs and for a strict avoidance of giving. As he explained his policy, in a followed a "hands-off" policy, as government "establishment" of relig­ letter made public early in his presi­ required by the First Amendment. In ion. "The opinions of men are not the dency, he noted that since Congress was his Second Inaugural Address, he object of civil government, nor under prohibited by the First Amendment explained his administration's policy as its jurisdiction," his original text from acts respecting religion, and the an "experiment" that had been "fairly declared. As he explained the ·purpose president was authorized only to exe­ and fully made" to determine "whether of the Virginia Statute in Notes on the cute its acts, he had refrained from pre­ freedom of discussion, unaided by State of Virginia, "Our rulers can have scribing"even occasional performances power, is not sufficient for the propaga­ authority over such natural rights only of devotion." In famous words, he tion and protection of truth." The press, 32 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5

"confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint," he maintained. "The public judgment will correct false reasonings and opinions, on a full hearing of all parties; and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable lib­ erty of the press, and its demoralizing licentiousness. If there be still impro­ prieties which this rule would not restrain, its supplement must be sought in the censorship of public opinion." The Second Inaugural, then, did more than reiterate Jefferson's steadfast denial of federal authority over free­ dom of the press: it revealed that, when pressed to draw a line between "the inestimable liberty" and the "demoral­ izing licentiousness" of the press, Jefferson came down on the libertarian side. He would leave to the market­ place of ideas, and ultimately to "the censorship of public opinion," the restraint of falsehoods. Federalism: "A Few Plain Duties" Jefferson took very seriously the Do you believe in individual liberty? "chains of the Constitution." These Free market solutions? Limited government? included not only the enumeration of powers in the main text of the "It's a free country. The ACLUcan do whatever it wants to do. They Constitution and the specific limita-_ just won't be doing it with my money. Ifyou want to support individ­ tions on powers found in the Bill of ual rights, consider the Institute forJustice.)) Rights, but also two other devices to Terry Dwyer keep powers restrained by dividing Journalist and them: federalism, which divided pow­ Institute for Justice Contributor ers between the states and federal gov­ ernment; and the separation of powers, Once people turned first to the ACLU whenever government violated which divided federal powers among their rights. No longer. As that group has fought in recent years to the three branches, legislative, execu­ create a right to welfare, to preserve racial preferences, and to kill tive, and judicial. school choice, people have increasingly sought a principled alternative Federalism was, to Jefferson, the that will protect individual rights rather than expand government. "true theory of our constitution"; and in a classic statement, made shortly That alternative is the Institute for Justice. before he was elected president, he described it thus: The Institute for Justice is America's premier libertarian law firm. The The true theory of our Constitution is Wall Street Journal calls IJ "the new civil rights activists." We are in surely the wisest and best, that the courts oflaw and the court ofpublic opinion nationwide litigating on States are independent as to every­ behalf ofindividuals whose most basic rights are denied by the State. thing within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign The Institute for Justice is what a civil liberties law firm should be. nations. Let the general government Isn't it time you took a look at an organization that's in court on be reduced to foreign concerns only, behalf ofyour rights? and let our affairs be disentangled from those of all other nations, except as to commerce, which the merchants will manage the better the more they are left free to manage for them­ selves, and our general government IJ may be reduced to a very simple Institute for Justice organization and a very unexpensive 1717 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Suite 200 Washington, DC 20006 one - a few plain duties to be per­ Phone: (202) 955-1300 Fax: (202) 955-1329 8 formed by a few servants. www.instituteforjustice.org Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

In Jefferson's view, the whole field it."9 "The incorporation of a bank, and pretation of the First Amendment relig­ of government in the United States was other powers assumed by this bill, have ion clause demonstrates. divided into two departments, "domes­ not ... been delegated to the U.S. by tic" and "foreign," each department the Constitution," Jefferson concluded, Constitutional Scruples having "distinct directories, coordinate arguing that they were neither "among Upon becoming president in 1801, and equally independent and supreme, the powers specially enumerated" nor Jefferson reiterated his ideal of a fed­ in its own sphere of action." To the "within either of the general phrases" eral government limited to its legiti­ state governments were reserved "all of Article I, the "general welfare" and mate powers assigned by the legislation and administration, in "necessary and proper" clauses. He Constitution: a government reduced to affairs which concern their citizens understood the "general welfare" "a few plain duties performed by a few only"; to the federal government was clause to be a statement of the purpose servants." His Inaugural Address for which the specific power of laying declared his general support for the taxes was to be exercised, not a grant to idea of "a wise and frugal government, Congress of "a distinct and indepen­ which shall restrain men from injuring Jefferson once warned James dent power to do any act they please, one another, [but] which shall leave Madison that "the tyranny of which might be for the good of the them otherwise free to regulate their the legislature" was "the dan­ Union." To interpret it as the latter, own pursuits of industry and improve­ Jefferson observed, "would render all ment, and shall not take from the ger most to be feared" in Amer­ the preceding and subsequent enumer­ mouth of labor the bread it has ican government. ations of power completely useless" as earned." More specifically, in his first it would, in effect, "reduce the whole annual message, in December 1801, he instrument to a single phrase," of declared that it was his administra­ empowering Congress to do whatever tion's policy "to reduce expenses to given "whatever concerns· foreigns, or what is necessary for the useful pur­ the citizens of the other states." The it pleased. Similarly, he took quite liter­ ally the word "necessary" in the "nec­ poses of government," and he "foreign," or federal, sphere, moreover, described those concerns that he con­ was strictly limited to the few functions essary and proper" clause. The Constitution, he argued, restrained sidered appropriate for the federal gov­ enumerated in the Constitution. ernment. "When we consider that this Nothing better illustrates Jefferson's Congress "to the necessary means, that is to say, to those means without which government is charged with the exter­ strict interpretation of federal powers nal and mutual relations only of these under the Constitution than his 1791 the grant of the power would be nuga­ tory"; otherwise, the "necessary and states; that the states themselves have opinion on the constitutionality of a bill principal care of our persons, our prop­ to establish the Bank of the United proper" clause also "would swallow up all the delegated powers, and reduce erty, and our reputation, constituting. States. Jefferson considered the Tenth the great field of human concerns, we Amendment, which provided that "all the whole to one phrase." powers not delegated to the U.S. by the Jefferson's opinion on the constitu­ Constitution, not prohibited by it to the tionality of the bank bill thus presented states, are reserved to the states or to a theory of strict interpretation of the Jefferson considered the the people," to be "the foundation of Constitution. To say thatJefferson was a Tenth Amendment "the foun­ the Constitution." It reiterated the gen­ literalist or a strict constructionist, how­ eral principle of federal powers ever, is insufficient. Although he was a dation ofthe Constitution. " expressed by the language of Article I: "strict constructionist" with regard to that the legislative powers of the fed­ most of the powers granted Congress in eral government, vested in the Article I, section 8, especially where fed­ may well doubt whether our organiza­ Congress of the United States, were eral powers could pre-empt state law, tion is not too complicated, too expen­ limited to those "herein granted" in the he could interpret federal powers under sive; whether offices and officers have Constitution. "To take a single step the Constitution quite liberally in mat­ not been multiplied unnecessarily, and beyond the boundaries thus specifically ters involving foreign affairs, which he sometimes injuriously to the service drawn around the powers of Congress, regarded as an exclusive responsibility they were meant to promote." is to take possession of a boundless of the national government since the Jefferson's administration pursued a field of power, no longer susceptible of time of the Articles of Confederation. policy of economy in government, dras­ any definition." (Hence, in his second term as president, tically reducing the size of the federal The rest of Jefferson's opinion he enforced one of the most draconian payroll while simultaneously repealing shows what he regarded those "boun­ laws ever passed by Congress - at least all internal taxes, including Alexander daries drawn about the powers of prior to the Civil War - the Embargo, Hamilton's hated excise on whiskey. Congress" to be: they were expressed which curtailed .virtually all foreign Abolition of internal taxes made possi­ in Article I, the enumerations of trade in a futile attempt to keep the ble the elimination of the internal reve­ Congressional power, construed ·(as United States out of the war between nue .service employed to collect them; Jefferson would later put it) "according Britain and France.) He also could be this resulted in a significant decrease in to the plain and ordinary meaning of quite liberal in interpreting power­ the Department of Treasury, by far the its language, to the common intend­ restraining or rights-guaranteeing pro­ largest of the executive departments. ment of the time and those who framed visions of the Constitution, as his inter- Jefferson also recommended reductions 34 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5

in the army, the navy, and the diplo­ Critics of Jefferson, both past and matic corps. present, have cited the Louisiana In addition to the repeal of internal Purchase as an example of Jefferson's Bill Clinton will be the last Democrat taxes and drastic reductions in federal failure, as president, to adhere consis­ Americans send to the Oval Office in a expenditures, Jefferson also enthusiasti­ tently to his doctrine of strict interpre­ long time - perhaps the last ever. So tation of federal powers. Rather than says R.W. Bradford in The Last cally endorsed the plan prepared by his Democrat, a daring new book that blows Secretary of the Treasury, Albert showing his hypocrisy, however, the the lid off the Clinton regime. The Last Gallatin, to payoff the entire national entire episode of the Louisiana Democrat also dissects Whitewater, debt - some $83 million - within six­ Purchase illustrates the seriousness of Waco, and other Clinton fiascos, Jefferson's constitutional scruples. disasters, and holocausts. From bimbo teen years by annual appropriations of eruptions to the ballooning national debt, $7,300,000. Believing it wrong for the Jefferson understood the importance of we've got Clinton covered. Don't miss it! present generation to saddle future the Purchase: it secured New Orleans $14.95 plus $1.00 s&h generations with a huge national debt, and control of the Mississippi and was Liberty Foundation therefore vital to the interests of the P.O. Box 1181 Jefferson sought to establish the princi­ Port Townsend, WA 98368 ple of "pay-as-you-go" in the federal United States. Although Albert Gallatin budget. During the eight years of presented Jefferson with arguments Jefferson's administration the debt supporting the constitutionality of the actually was reduced by almost a third; Purchase, Jefferson remained suffi­ THE JEFFERSON SCHOOL extraordinary expenses not foreseen at ciently troubled to draft a constitu­ ofI'hl1olophy, Econo~, andPlycholoQy the beginning of his presidency ­ tional amendment explicitly making chiefly, the Louisiana Purchase and the Louisiana territory part of the features intermediate and advanced self-education increased naval costs associated with United States. No important adviser or in the economics and philosophy of capitalism the Barbary Wars - forced the modifi­ supporter of Jefferson apparently htfp://home.sprynef.com/sprynet/tJs..P8P cation of Gallatin's plan. Nevertheless, urged either the necessity or the practi­ the plan to extinguish· the debt was cality of such a constitutional proce­ Or, send $2 for catalog (refunded largely successful because of the large dure, however. Indeed, Jefferson's close with first order) to: increase in revenue from import duties friend Senator Wilson Cary Nicholas THE JEFFERSON SCHOOL that accompanied the growth in argued strongly against it, saying that a Department L American commerce during this declaration from Jefferson that the PO Box 2934 period. Indeed, the increased revenues treaty exceeded constitutional author­ Laguna Hills. CA 92654 actually created a surplus later in the ity would lead to its rejection by the administration, prompting Jefferson to Senate or at least to the charge of his recommend a constitutional amend­ willful breach of the Constitution. ment permitting expenditures for roads Jefferson's reply to Nicholas's letter, THE ANARCHIST and other improvement projects, as stating in particularly striking terms his ANTI-CANDIDACY noted below. After his retirement from lingering constitutional scruples, has the presidency, Jefferson urged contin­ been one of the most often quoted of SPEAKER'S BUREAU ued effort to payoff the debt by reduc­ Jefferson's writings on constitutional ing federal expenditures, noting that matters: Speaking engagements before .increased public debt would bring When an instrument admits two libertarian groups sought. For increased taxation "and in its train constructions, the one safe, the other information on topics, terms & wretchedness and oppression."10 dangerous, the one precise, the other rates, write: As president, Jefferson thus sought indefinite, I prefer that which is safe to accomplish the objective he had &. precise. I had rather ask an Joseph P. Morgan stated in his First Inaugural Address enlargement of power from the P.O. Box 28527 and reiterated elsewhere in his writings nation where it is found necessary, Philadelphia, PA 19149 at the start of his presidency: to restore than to assume it by a construction the constitutional equilibrium between which would make our· powers the states and federal government by boundless. Our peculiar security is set an example against broad construc­ keeping the latter "a wise and frugal in possession of a written tion by appealing for new power to the government" limited to its sphere. Constitution. Let us not make it a people."l! Later in his presidency, when he rec­ blank paper by construction. When Jefferson finally dropped the ommended that Congress appropriate Conceding the likelihood that the fram­ matter and acquiesced in the Louisiana money for such projects as establishing ers' enumeration of powers was"defec­ Purchase despite the lack of a constitu­ a national university, construction of tive" - for "this is the ordinary case of tional amendment, he did so not roads and canals, and improvements to all human works" - he urged, "Let us because he had given up strict con­ rivers and harbors, Jefferson called for go on then perfecting it, by adding by struction but because he was follOWing a constitutional amendment to author­ way of amendment to the constitution, his advisers' recommendation not to ize such expenditure because these pro­ those powers which time & trial show press the constitutional problem, real­ jects were not among the enumerated are still wanting." In the present case, izing that it could jeopardize a treaty so powers of the federal government. he concluded, it was "important ... to vital to the nation's security. "What is Liberty 35 Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

practicable must often control what is equally seriously the principle of separ­ king's opening of Parliament. In send­ pure theory; and the habits of the gov­ ation of powers. It is a mistake to try to ing a written message rather than deliv­ erned deter mine in a great degree label Jefferson's presidency as either ering it in person, he broke with the what is practicable," he noted. Jefferson "strong" or "weak." Where the precedent that George Washington had took solace in what he regarded as the Constitution assigned powers exclu­ set and started a tradition that lasted "good sense" of the 'people, not to per­ sively to the president, Jefferson Vigor­ more than a century. Not until mit this one precedent to destroy the ously exercised them; where powers Woodrow Wilson did presidents whole edifice of enumerated powers were assigned to or shared with other deliver their state of the union upon which constitutional limitations branches, however, . Jefferson both addresses in person. The modern spec­ on the federal government rested. preached and exercised strict restraint. tacle - with both houses of Congress Indeed, a common-sense resolution of Unlike modern presidents, who assembled in the House chamber in assert the power as commander-in­ wait on the president, whose presence chief to send u.s. armed forces any­ is loudly announced and greeted with Jefferson enforced one of the where in the world without the consent two separate standing ovations ­ of Congress, Jefferson was respectful of would have appalled Jefferson. most draconian laws ever Congress's war power. When U.S. In at least one area, however, passed by Congress - at least ships fought against pirates in the Jefferson was a "strong" president: in prior to the Civil War - the Mediterranean, Jefferson - recogniz­ his assertion of his equal power ­ ing that the Constitution gave Congress equal with the other two branches of Embargo, which curtailed vir­ alone the power to declare war - pub­ the federal government, particularly tually ·all foreign trade. licly took the position that until the Supreme Court (dominated at the Congress authorized offensive meas­ time by Federalists) - to interpret the ures, the Navy could engage only in Constitution. The constitutional theory defensive actions.13 His position ­ that scholars have called Jefferson's his constitutional qualms was sug­ "tripartite" doctrine was fully devel­ gested by Thomas Paine, who reas­ which modern commentators consider oped in Jefferson's mind by the time of sured Jefferson that "the cession makes one of the most restrictive interpreta­ tions of executive war powers ever his presidency. He explained his doc­ no alteration in the Constitution; it only trine in a letter written to Abigail extends the principles over a larger ter­ uttered by an American president ­ Adams in 1804, defending his actions ritory, and this certainly is within the showed that he wished the decision in discontinuing prosecutions and par- morality of the Constitution, and not committing American naval forces to contrary to, nor beyond, the expression hostilities in the Mediterranean to be of intention of any of its articles." If a not a unilateral one, but one in which new power had been added by con­ Congress shared. Perhaps Jefferson's greatest struction to those powers assigned by Jefferson also held a quite narrow political legacy is the extent to the Constitution to the federal sphere, it view of the executive power. On one which he devalued politics. was only the power to add to the occasion he wrote,"I am but a machine domain of what Jefferson aptly called erected by the constitution for the per­ the "empire for liberty."12 formance of certain acts according to doning offenders under the Sedition The fact that, despite these assu­ the laws of action laid down for me."14 Act: rances, Jefferson remained troubled In his view, executive power was lim­ about his constitutional scruples - for ited both by constitutional restraints You seem to think it devolved on the years after his presidency - only and by law. judges to decide on the validity of underscores the degree of his scrupu­ As president, Jefferson sought to the sedition law. But nothing in the lous regard for the "chains of the keep his constitutional distance from constitution has given them a right to decide for the executive, more Constitution." Unable to square the the Congress. He could hardly have done otherwise without opening him­ than to the Executive to decide for acquisition of Louisiana and its incor­ them. Both magistracies are equally self to charges of hypocrisy (by his ene­ poration into the Union with his theory independent in the sphere of action of federal powers, Jefferson came to mies) or charges of backsliding (from assigned to them. The judges, believ­ regard it as an extraordinary action of his friends), for the Republicans in the ing the law constitutional, had a executive prerogative - he, as presi­ 1790s had been sharply critical of what right to pass a sentence of fine and dent, going beyond the strict limits of they perceived as Federalist attempts to imprisonment, because that power the law, for the good of the country. institute an English monarchical and was placed in their hands by the con­ Even then, he still hoped for an "act of ministerial system. Consequently, early stitution. But the Executive, believ­ indemnity" by the nation, one that in his administration, Jefferson ing the law to be unconstitutional, "will confirm & not weaken the declared that he would ~bandon "all was bound to remit the execution of Constitution, by more strongly mark­ those public forms and ceremonies it; because that power has been con­ ing out its lines." which tended to familiarize the public fided to him by the constitution. idea to the harbingers of another form The Constitution, he concluded, The Jeffersonian Presidency of government." These included the "meant that its co-ordinate branches With regard to the proper allocation annual speech to Congress, which to should be checks on each other." of federal powers, Jefferson took Jefferson was too reminiscent of the Accordingly, to give the judiciary the 36 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

right to decide questions of constitu­ was, by John Marshall. Hence he pre­ themselves. As he wrote one correspon­ tionality "not only for themselves in ferred that constitutional difficulties dent in 1820, "I know no safe deposi­ their own sphere of action, but for the remain unresolved, or that the mode of tory of the ultimate powers of the legislative and executive also in their resolving them remain awkward and society but the people them selves; and spheres, would make the judiciary a uncertain, than that mutual jealousies if we think them not enlightened despotic branch."15 give way to confidence in the govern­ enough to exercise their control with a Jefferson had seemed not at all trou­ ment at Washington. wholesome discretion, the remedy is bled by the fear of conflicts arising In the early 1820s, during the not to take it from them, but to inform from the departments' divergent inter­ Virginia campaign against the claim their discretion by education. This is pretations of the Constitution. In part, that the United States Supreme Court the true corrective of abuses of consti­ this may have been due to the fact that, was the ultimate arbiter of constitu­ tutional power."lB in Jefferson's day, for all practical pur­ tional questions, Jefferson again The notion that control by the peo­ poses, the legislature and the executive emphasized the role of the people ple over their government, according to continued to determine for themselves whether or not they were acting within the bounds of the Constitution. If a A New Liberty Book C!lfb Bargaill! truly difficult conflict arose between two or more branches, it could be resolved by the ultimate arbiter of constitutional questions - the peo­ The Education of a Speculator ple, acting in their -elective capacity. By periodically choosing officers for two of the three departments of national government, the people, Advice about investments ­ Jefferson believed, have an and life - from a legendary opportunity to "reintegrate" the Constitution, by demonstrating winner! their approval or disapproval of Victor Niederhoffer has been rated the those branches' interpretation of 16 best commodity trader in the United it. States. With a University of Chicago Ph.D. in finance and a track record of Power to the People stupendous success, Niederhoffer tells Though not an advocate of "fre­ the story of a remarkable career - and quent and untried changes in laws a remarkable mind. and constitutions," Jefferson never­ theless refused to look at constitu­ "A riveting account of the games of tions with "sanctimonious childhood transformed into the obsessions of a contrarian winner!" reverence ... like the ark of the cov­ -Dr. James D. Watson, Nobel enant, too sacred to be touched."17 laureate and co-discoverer ofthe Accordingly, he favored revisions of structure ofDNA laws and constitutions, as the needs arose. His view was clearly distinct "Virtually the only investment book from that of Chief Justice John ever written that comes clean about Marshall, who in his famous opin­ risk - as well as explores opportuni­ ties for profit." - R. W. Bradford ion in McCulloch v. Maryland argued that the Constitution was "intended to Awealth of profitable and fascinating knowledge endure for ages to come" as a rationali­ zation for the expansion of federal pow­ A frequent contributor to Liberty, Niederhoffer offers the ers by judicial interpretation. Jefferson, unique perspective of someone who doesn't just understand with his Whig heritage of distrust of how to make money, but how markets work. What's the law and government, looked to the peo­ relation between stampeding elephants and market behavior? ple rather than to the courts when he Between sex and making money? How is musical structure a thought of adapting the Constitution, guide to trading? What's the role of deception? Find out all or of determining the application of its this, and much more - order your copy today for only $26.95 provisions, to new circumstances. - 10% off the cover price! Always suspicious of men in power, Jefferson was particularly reluctant to entrust so important a role as the inter­ Call 1-800-854-6991 pretation of the federal Constitution to or write to Liberty Book Club, Dept. BC13~ P.O. Box 1181, Port Townsend, anyone body of men - especially to a WA 98368. Add $3.00 s&h for single orders, $1.00 extra for each additional Supreme Court dominated, as it then book. (Foreign orders add $5.00 s&h for single orders, $1.00 extra for each additional book.) Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

their own "wholesome discretion," ing all citizens a basic schooling in tion of his ward-republic, or of some of informed by education, constituted the reading, writing, and history. The the higher ones, and feels that he is a "true corrective" of abuses of power is emphasis on historical education was participator in the government of distinctively Jeffersonian. Indeed, the quite deliberate, Jefferson explained: affairs, not merely at an election one emphasis that Jefferson placed on pop­ History by apprising them of the day in the year, but every day; when ular participation and control - mak­ past will enable them to judge of the there shall not be a man in the State ing the people themselves a vital future; it will avail them of the expe­ who will not be a member of some one element in constitutionalism - was the rience of other times and other of its councils, great or small, he will let pre-eminent hallmark of Jefferson's nations; it will qualify them as the heart be torn out of his body sooner constitutional thought. None of his con­ judges of the actions and designs of than his power be wrestled from him temporaries, with the possible excep­ men; it will enable them to know by a Caesar or a Bonaparte," he also tion of John Taylor of Caroline, quite so ambition under every disguise it observed.20 emphasized this element. It in fact may assume; and knowing it, to Jefferson thus envisioned that the underlay many of the other aspects of defeat its views. active involvement of citizens in the his constitutional thought. Both the Beyond this basic schooling, the government itself would be the most pure theory of separation of powers as best students - the "natural aristoc­ well as the theory of federalism that racy," determined by merit, or "gen­ Jefferson espoused were ultimately ius" - would receive advanced Liberty was Jefferson's high­ derived from his thoroughgoing repub­ training at the institution to which he licanism: with each branch of the fed­ devoted the final years of his life, the est value; he dedicated his life eral government, and with each state in University of Virginia, where he hoped to what he once called "the the Union, determining constitutional the "vestal flame" of republicanism holy cause offreedom. " questions, potentially in conflict with would be kept alive. one another, some common ground was necessary; and that common Little Republics ground -- in effect, the glue that held In later years Jefferson coupled his effective check on the abuse of govern­ Jefferson's constitutional system in support of public education with one mental power. An educated, actively place - was in fact the active participa­ other proposal, which he considered involved citizenry would be both self­ reliant - managing directly those tion of the people.19 equally necessary to the preservation of This explains Jefferson's lifelong republicanism: his proposed system of affairs to which individuals were alone emphasis on the importance of educa­ local government by "little republics," competent - and vigilant, keeping a tion as well as his support for a system or wards. His proposal was to divide close watch over their elected officials of public· schools. The purpose for his the counties into wards of such size to whom they had entrusted all other "Bill for the More General Diffusion of that every citizen can attend, when affairs, and making certain that they Knowledge," as,he explained it in Notes. called on, and act in person. "What has did not turn into "wolves." on the State of vfrginia, was that of "ren­ destroyed liberty and the rights of man Jefferson's proposed ward system dering the people ... the ultimate guar­ in every government which has ever also gives added meaning to his sup­ dians of their own liberty." "Every existed under the sun? The generaliz­ port for the principle of "rotation in government degenerates when trusted ing & concentrating all cares and pow­ office," one of whose goals is to to the rulers of the people alone. The ers into one body." The "secret" of increase the level of popular participa­ people themselves therefore are its only maintaining freedom, he suggested, tion in government by mandating turn­ safe depositories. And to render even was to make the individual alone "the over.·Term limits, as proponents argue them safe their minds must be depository of the powers respecting today, can break the virtual monopoly improved to a certain degree." himself, so far as he is competent to that incumbent, professional politicians Jefferson's bill sought to do so by giv- them, and delegating only what is hold on some offices, and create a way to return to the "citizen-politician" beyond his compe­ model of the 19th century. The appeal tence by a synthetical of term limits to modern-day process, to higher & Jeffersonians is exactly the same as its higher orders of func­ appeal to Jefferson himself: it enhances tionaries, so as to the possibility that each citizen may trust fewer and fewer become, in his words, "a participator in powers, in propor­ the government of affairs, not merely at tion as the trustees an election one day in the year, but become more and every day." more oligarchical." A full understanding of Jefferson's This system of repub­ ideas regarding constitutional change lics would become a - and indeed, of his constitutional vital element of con­ thought generally - must take into stitutionalism. account Jefferson's dual emphasis on "Where every man is "What ~ fuss! - You'd think nobody ever ran over a mayor education and participation. The essen­ before!" a sharer in the direc- tially negative view of politics that 38 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

Jefferson held thus ultimately influ­ reportedly, were, "Is it the Fourth?" all,) the signal of arousing men to burst enced his constitutional thought in a Significantly, he wrote in his last letter the chains under which monkish ignor­ profound way. of the libertarian meaning of American ance and superstition had persuaded Jefferson regarded as truly modest independence: "May it be to the world, them to bind themselves, and to the achievements of his generation, what I believe it will be, (to some parts assume the blessings and security of believing that subsequent generations, sooner, to others later, but finally to self-government."21 0 learning from additional experience, would improve on the founders' handi­ Notes: work, with the problem of maintaining 1. Jefferson's Response to Address of 11. Jefferson to Wilson Cary Nicholas, a free government becoming far sim­ Welcome by the Citizens of Albemarle, September 7, 1803. pler as subsequent generations hit February 12, 1790. 12. Paine to Jefferson, September 23, 1803. upon better and better solutions. Hence 2. Jefferson to the Rev. Charles Clay, January 13. Jefferson, First Annual Message, to he recommended that every generation 27,1790. Congress December 8, 1801. create anew their constitutions - a rec­ 3. Jefferson to Edward Carrington, May 27, 14. Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, June 13, ommendation that reveals both his 1788. 1805. assumptions that constitution-making 4. Jefferson to Edward Carrington, January 16, 15. Jefferson to Abigail Adams, September 11, was a relatively simple matter and that 1787. 1804. the people, as a whole, were fully com­ 5. Jefferson to Francis W. Gilmer, June 7, 1816. 16. See Jefferson, First Annual Message to petent to the task. 6. Jefferson to Nehemiah Dodge and others, A Congress (Draft), December 8, 1801. Committee of the Danbury Baptist Jefferson's Legacy Association, in the State of Connecticut, 17. Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, Although he was an eminent mem­ January 1, 1802 (Draft). 1816. ber of what Dumas Malone has called 7. See Jefferson to John Norvell, June 11, 1807 18. Jefferson to William Charles Jarvis, the "great generation," Jefferson dis­ (suggesting that editors divide their news­ September 28, 1820. claimed its greatness. Throughout his papers into "four chapters" - "Truths," 19. Cf. Mayer, David, The Constitutional life Jefferson deliberately downplayed "Probabilities," "Possibilities," and "Lies"). Thought ofThomas Jefferson, Charlottesville: his public service. For example, in 1800 8. Jefferson to Gideon Granger, August 13, University Press of Virginia, 1994. he drafted a list of his services that 1800. 20. Jefferson to Joseph Cabell, February 2, emphasized his role in introducing 9. Jefferson to James Madison, December 24, 1816. olive trees and upland rice into South 1825. 21. Jefferson to Roger C. Weightman, June 24, Carolina, noting that "the greatest ser­ 10. Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816. 1826. vice which can be rendered any coun­ try is, to add a useful plant to its Freedom From Freedom Froms by Titus Stauffer Genetically engineered human and nonhuman beings and Conscious culture." Computers are coming our way. Are we ready? Will we allow them Perhaps Jefferson's greatest political to vote, defend themselves, own property? Or will we simply say that legacy is the extent to which he deval­ since they're not human, they have no rights? Slavery, Part //1 We'll face these and many other vexing problems, equipped with two ued politics. During nearly half a cen­ main ideologies. Welfare Statists on the left, coercive busybody tury of public service, Jefferson held moralists on the right. Socialists give us freedom from housing many high political offices: President of discrimination by punishing us for advertising our houses as havin the United States, Vice-President of the walk-in closets. By doing so, they say, we convey our intent t United States, Secretary of State, U. S. discriminate against those in wheelchairs! Witchburners give us freedom from sin by protecting us from "lewd" Calvin Klein ads. Ambassador to France, "Member of Perhaps genuine freedom and broad-mindedness could provide Congress, Governor of Virginia. some solutions. Instead of sponsoring quarrels between the NAACP, Nevertheless, he asked to be remem­ NAAWP, NAACC, and so on, we'd be better off with the NAACB bered in his epitaph for only three (Nonexclusive Association for the Advancement of Conscious Beings). We need Freedom From Freedom Froms when the freedoms accomplishments: author of the that our leaders foist on us are false ones. Ifyou love real freedom, vicious Declaration of Independence, author of political satire, and science fiction, Freedom was written for you! the Virginia Statute of Religious Direct Price $12.95,530 pg, ISBN 09644R3513 Freedom, and father of the University Bats in the Belfry, By Desien by Titus Stauffer This hard science fiction thriller, a 1996 Prometheus Awar of Virginia. Liberty and knowledge, not nominee, mixes deadly, ffightful ideas with politically incorrect, political power, were his highest disrespectful humor and adventure. It's a hoot and could also be values. warning! In the next 50 years, we'll spend billions of dollars The author of the Declaration of developing new uses for genetic engineering. To what ends. Some have speculated that we'll build an amusement park featurin Independence died on July 4, 1826, the dinosaurs. Remember the Manhattan Project?. We sure didn't spli fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the atom because we wanted a place to play. We haven't learned, yet, the Declaration, the date Americans that we can't expect to survive very long, if we keep on building eve "defensive" death-toy that new technology permits. have chosen for the celebration of the ______..£!r~~$£25~R~I~J!2.6~505 nation's birthday. Like his fellow Order Directly From: Patriot of '76, John Adams, who also FreeVoice Publishing (713) 251-5226 P.O. Box 692l6R, Houston, TX 77269-216R Please send __ copies of Freedom From Freedom Froms @ $12.95 each. died that day, Jefferson was fully aware Please send __ copies of Bats in the Belfry, By Design @ $12.95 each. Add shipping and handling of $2.50 for the Ist hook and $1.00 for each additional hook. of the symbolism; his final words, Allow 3 - (i weeks delivery. Texas residents add 7.25 1*, lax. Check or money order only. NAME ADDRESS, _ CITY STATE ZIP Reprimand License to Steal by R. W. Bradford

Exactly what does the First Amendment establish?

Does the Constitution's prohibition of laws /Iabridging the freedom of speech, or of the press" grant special rights to journalists, rights not enjoyed by other citizens? Many journalists are convinced that it does. The public's right to know, they argue, is so important openly with his attorney, he is effec­ communications. that journalists and publishers tively denied the right to defend him­ should be exempt from requirements self. If a person cannot communicate Expropriating Privacy others face to produce evidence and openly with his pastor, he is effec­ Not content with this special priv­ to testify in court. If, for example, a tively denied the right to seek spiri­ ilege, journalists have recently begun newspaper publishes information tual help. If he cannot communicate to claim more new rights not granted that would prove your innocence in a openly with his physician, he is effec­ to others. In March 1992, two young criminal case, and the reporter who tively denied the right to seek medi­ women applied for jobs at a super­ wrote the story promised the source cal help. market in North Carolina. Their of that information that he would not All these rights to confidentiality applications for employment con­ identify him, the reporter will very emanate from the same source as the tained false information about their likely refuse to testify or provide right to communicate confidentially backgrounds. And their applications information. This "right to keep with one's husband or wife: the other were fraudulent in a more fundamen­ sources confidential" is widely cher­ person involved is seen as an exten­ tal sense: they were not looking for ished by reporters, but not by the sion of oneself, so that being forced work. They already had jobs, as pro­ courts, which routinely threaten con­ to reveal such a communication is ducers for ABC News, which had tempt of court charges against jour­ tantamount to being forced to testify given them a $50,000 budget to go to nalists who cite it when refusing to against oneself. North Carolina and get jobs with the testify. But the individual who seeks to supermarket so that they could con­ Journalists sometimes see this tell a reporter something in ceal electronic equipment on their right as similar to attorney-client confidence is neither seeking counsel persons and record information privilege, doctor-patient privilege, or of a highly personal nature nor about its operations. clergyman-penitent privilege. But engaging in the most intimate of Six months later, ABC News ran a plainly it is not. Those rights to confi­ communication. He is revealing report on the supermarket. It was an dentiality grow out of the right to be information to the public. And the extremely negative report, resulting secure against self-incrimination, and journalist who receives the informa­ eventually in the supermarket losing a belief that an individual ought to tion is not involved in an intimate millions of dollars and many of its be able to seek competent profes­ relationship or counseling. He ·is employees losing their jobs. The sional advice without the risk that his gathering information to pass on to supermarket's owners sued ABC for advisor will use what the informa­ the public. There is no sense in fraud. A jury found ABC at fault and tion reveals about him in a court of which his relationship is analogous required it to repay the salaries law. If a person cannot communicate to these other forms of privileged ABC's employees had received from 40 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

the supermarket, plus court costs and 1. People who are committing crimes induce their employees to apply damages. have no right to privacy. fraudulently for employment with After the court decision, ABC 2. If we denied people the right to other firms. Would Hewitt accept the staged a "town meeting" discussion misrepresent themselves in order legitimacy of secreting cameras in the for live broadcast. Among the mem­ to gain admittance to private prop­ offices of the executives of ABC? bers of the expert panel were perhaps erty so that they can record the Hewitt's second defense is just the two most influential men in broad­ activities of people they believe plain silly. No one has suggested that cast journalism: Roone Arledge, presi­ have done something wrong, then all photography ought to be illegal dent of ABC News; and Don Hewitt, we would also have to stop using and grounds for a lawsuit. Is Hewitt long-time producer of 60 Minutes, the cameras in banks to recordcrimi­ really unable to see any significant television news program that virtually nal activities. ditference between a bank openly invented "investigative" broadcast Each of these defenses is, of course, photographing the activities in its journalism. absurd. The U.S. Constitution protects lobby and a journalist fraudulently The very first question from the all Americans from unreasonable and secretly photographing individu­ audience consisted of a short speech als in a situation where they. have about the importance of every reason to believe that freedom of the press, con­ their right to privacy is cluding with these words: being respected? "My question is that if you The discussion wan­ take away the camera or if dered and the subject of the you take away the journal­ right of journalists to invade ists' right to go anywhere, people's privacy wasn't don't you subvert the demo­ touched upon again until cratic process?" the hour was nearly over, Don Hewitt thanked the when a member of the audi­ questioner for giving him a ence asked the following "softball question," and then question: gave the following answer: Let's assume that a story We started doing this is very important. It's a [using hidden cameras] story of abuse of patients, many many years ago serious public health. and I don't see anything What sorts of things wrong with it. The only would be improper to get thing I see wrong with it that story? Would you now is that it's being break into the premises used, I do see it being at night? Would you used as a stunt in many, think it was appropriate many instances. But I don't see any­ search and seizure, whether they have to jimmy the locks on the docu­ thing wrong with going in if you committed crimes or not. To obtain a ments? Would you think it [would] can. I don't think people have a search warrant or to do surveillance of be appropriate to place a bug in the right of privacy when they're com­ an individual in a private situation, office of the president to get that mitting a crime. I don't think people law enforcement agents must con­ story? Assuming that the story was have a right of privacy when vince a judge that there is reasonable true, would that be justified? they're committing malfeasances cause to believe that evidence for a Moderator Ted Koppel summar- [sic]. If it were illegal to show some­ crime will be discovered. By Hewitt's ized the question "Are there any lim­ body on hidden camera committing theory, journalists should not be so its?" and directed the question to a crime, then every crook who constrained. Their belief that a person Hewitt. Hewitt responded with a sin­ robbed a bank has got a lawsuit has committed a crime justifies any gle word: "No." Koppel was incredu­ because he gets caught on a camera invasion of privacy. lous. "No?!?" he asked. doing it. I don't think you have a Consider the fact that in Georgia, Hewitt repeated, "No!" right to prohibit anyone from com­ sodomy is a felony. By Hewitt's the­ This was too much for Roone ing into a premise where something ory, television journalists could Arledge, whose network had just been illegal may be happening. Now they secrete cameras in the bedrooms of ordered by a jury to pay for its fraud claim nothing illegal was happening anyone they believe to be committing and invasion of privacy in the super­ and they claim that they have the that particular crime and show the market case. "Of course there are lim­ documentation that it was. resulting pictures on television. its," he said. This is a fascinating response. Consider another example, this one Perhaps sensing the shock of those Hewitt offered two defenses for the closer to Hewitt's home. It is plainly around him, Hewitt seemed to change behavior in question: illegal for corporate executives to his mind. "There are limits," he said, Liberty 41 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997

but it was difficult to tell what he must have been drunk or disoriented Jeffrey Toobin, you're a working meant, since his conversation then or confused by the pressure of being reporter. Someone hands you a sto­ began to meander: interviewed in front of a television len document. Any qualms about camera. I don't know, maybe he was. using it, if you believe it to be true, I find what's been going on here, any qualms about reporting it? these sweeping generalities, and nobody got down to specifics. The A License to Steal Without a moment's hesitation, senator has these generalities. A few weeks later, the Dallas Tobin answered: IIYou're entertainment" and "You Morning News got hold of thousands Not really. I'd go with it if it were censor people." Listen to all this of pages of documents that were the true. On an issue of this importance. stuff over there. They're all general­ property of the attorneys defending There are 168 people dead here. ities. I mean if you had one specific Timothy McVeigh, the man accused of People want to know about who it would be interesting, but you're planning and executing the Oklahoma did this. This is highly significant ,City bombing. Among these docu­ information in terms of learning tnents was a page that seemed to be a who did this. The Dallas Morning New~· /confession by McVeigh. (McVeigh's I don't know what to make of this. apparently believes that ~_ attorney later said that it was a false It seems many journalists see their y' l; statement they had prepared to show occupation as a license to commit dom /?f the press includes the to a witness to see ifit would shake his wrongdoing. I am one journalist who freedom to receive stolen .prop- story). It was obvious that these docu­ erty and profit from its ments were the property of the publication. defense attorneys. It was also obvious 60 Minutes' producer said, that they had been stolen, since their "I don't think you have a right publication could only harm making these wild statements. McVeigh's case. Nevertheless, the to prohibit anyone from coming You're too good for that. You're one Dallas Morning News published them, into a premise where something of the few guys who ever sat in the raising the question of whether free­ illegal may be happening." United States Senate who should dom of the press includes the freedom still be there. You shouldna left. to receive stolen property and profit Warren Rudman shouldn't have from its publication, as well as the left. Bill Bradley shouldn't have left. question of whether publishing this does not. The principle of equality Paul Simon shouldn't have left, and particular document might constitute before the law is one of the most it would have been a better country. obstruction of justice. important principles of a free society. I'm sure you're thinking, okay, On March 3, ABC News Nightline Our ancestors fought and died for it. Don Hewitt surely doesn't believe that reported on the story. Anchorman The notion that some occupations journalists may invade the privacy of Chris Wallace interviewed several endow those who pursue them 'with anyone they believe is committing a journalists and attorneys on the issues the right to exempt themselves from crime, breaking into their premises at involved. He posed the following normal morality and law is pernicious night, jimmying their locks if neces­ question to Jeffrey Toobin, ABC· Legal and wrong, whether that occupation is sary, placing bugs in their offices. He Analyst: policeman or journalist. 0

notes to "Mysteries of the Titanic," continued from page 28

53. Robert Hitchins, Mersey, BI48; Thomas Hardy, "The Convergence of the (B) that she had succumbed to a "one-in-a­ Frederick Fleet, AI 366; Arthur Peuchen, AI Twain." 66. Geoffrey Marcus, The Maiden million accident"; (C) that everybody is 338; Mrs. J.J. Brown, inGracie 134-39. 54. Sir Voyage (New York: Viking, 1969) 150. 67. morally responsible for such accidents, Cosmo DuffGordon, BI 284, 288, 278. 55. August Wennerstrom, in Wade 299. 68. Like because everybody shares "the immorality of Charles Hendrickson, Mersey, BI 119, 121. 56. many other writers, Biel (156-60) recognizes indifference"; and (D) that "the remedy" for Mersey, George Symons, BI 258. 57. Thomas the appeal of this dramatic situation, but he this universal sin is legislation, by which "the Scanlan, Albert Horswill, Mersey, BI 275. 58. prefers to attribute it to Cold War nostalgia for possibility of such a disaster occurring again Mersey, Robert Pusey, BI295. 59. Mersey, BI an age that offered "time to die," instead of [will be] utterly removed" - The Loss ofthe SS 285; DuffGordon, BI 286. 60. Lightoller, AI 88; instant death in atomic warfare. Onewonders Titanic: Its Story and Its Lessons (Boston: Ismay, AI 9; P.A.S. Franklin, Smith, AI 672. 61. whether this theory also applies to King Lear. Houghton Mifflin, 1912) 4, 233, 240, 248-49. Steven Biel, Down with the Old Canoe: A 69. Isaacs, BI 930; Lord, Night to Remember The conclusion is similar to Senator Smith's, Cultural History ofthe "Titanic" Disaster (New 77-78,86-87, 103-104, 111; Cooper 43. 70. As but the logic is much more mysterious. 74. York: Norton, 1996). 62. Bie172, 128, 132. 63. Biel (8) considers the disaster. 71. Etches, New Edwards, BI453. 75. Paul Heyer, "Titanic" George Bernard Shaw, London Daily News, York Times (April 20, 1912) 9. 72. Cooper 156. Legacy: Disaster as Media Event and Myth May 22, 1912; inShaw, Agitations: Letters to the 73. Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 10 (Westport CT: Praeger, 1995) 126.76. New Press 1875-1950, ed. Dan H. Lawrence and 1/2 Chapters (London: Cape, 1989) 173-74. In York Times (February 9, 1997) H14. 77. James Rambeau (New York: Ungar, 1985) 149. 1912, Beesley had published a book arguing Oldham 216, 220-24, 232; quotation 217. 78. 64. Hoffer, esp.135-39, 208-209. 65. Shaw 148; (A) that Titanic was the world's "safest ship"; Oldham 229-30. 42 LIberty Discovery Mission to Moscow: The Lost Papers of Ludwig von Mises by Richard Ebeling

In an obscure, nondescript building in Moscow lay thousands of pages of intellectual treasure.

During the first days of May 1945, the war in Europe was approaching its end. The Soviet Army, having conquered eastern Germany, began its conquest of Bohemia. Reaching the small town of Halberstadt, the Soviet soldiers began to fan out and occupied the railway station. On a track siding were 24 box cars that the Nazi authorities had been preparing to while he was living in Europe, for human existence. evacuate to territory still in their Ludwig von Mises caused firestorms In 1927, Mises published Liberal­ control. of controversy. In 1912, Mises pub­ ism, in which he presented the classi­ When Soviet officials opened the lished The Theory of Money and Credit, cal liberal vision of the free and box cars, they found them stuffed with in which, besides its many original prosperous society, one in which indi­ documents, files, dossiers, and per­ theoretical insights, he demonstrated vidual freedom would be respected, sonal and official papers that the that inflations and depressions were the market economy would be free, Gestapo had looted from France, not inherent to a capitalist economy, open and unregulated, and govern­ Belgium, Austria, Holland, Poland but were the result of government ment would be limited to the func­ and many other countries, including control and mismanagement of the tions of protecting life, liberty, and Germany itself. monetary system. property. He followed with Critique of Among these literally millions of But the whirlwind of debate that Interventionism (1929), in which he pages of stolen documents were the surrounded him for the rest of his life argued that the interventionist-welfare "lost papers" of Ludwig von Mises. was caused by an article he wrote in state was not a "third way" between 1920, and two years later expanded capitalism and socialism, but a set of A Lion of Capitalism into a profoundly important book, contradictory policies that, if fully In the period between the two Socialism. In this book, Mises demon­ applied, would eventually lead to world wars, Ludwig von Mises was strates that the central planners of a socialism - and that Germany was one of the most famous and controver­ socialist state would have no way of heading down a dangerous political sial economists on the European conti­ knowing how to use the resources at road that would lead to the triumph of nent. Born in Lemberg, Austria­ their disposal for least-cost and effi­ national socialism. Hungary on September 29, 1881, cient production. Without market­ Mises entered the University of created prices, the planners would The Theft and Its Aftermath Vienna in 1900 and was awarded a lack the necessary tools for "economic Not surprisingly, both Marxists doctoral degree in 1906. In 1909, Mises calculation." The reality of the prom­ and Nazis viewed Ludwig von Mises was hired by the Austrian Chamber of ised socialist utopia would be poverty, as a serious intellectual enemy. In fact, Commerce in Vienna as an economic economic imbalance, and social decay. in 1926, the Soviet journal Bolshevik advisor. And in 1913, he was given the Furthermore, Mises demonstrated that published an article calling him a "the­ title of privatdozent, giving him the any type of collectivism that was oretician of fascism." What was his right to teach at the University of applied comprehensively would result "crime"? In a 1925 article on "Anti­ Vienna as an unsalaried lecturer. in a terrible tyranny, since the state Marxism," Mises had written that a For the next twenty-five years, would monopolize everything needed Marxist Russia and a "national social- Liberty 43 Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

ist" Germany would be natural allies in ter of "information" to friends in renamed the Center for Historical and eastern Europe - thereby anticipating Europe, explaining what had happened Documental Collections. Even foreign­ the infamous Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939. to his possessions. Friends still in ers could now request to see parts of By 1932, Mises knew that the coming Vienna had attempted to intercede on the collection. Nazi victory in Germany would his behalf to get back his papers and threaten Austria. As a classical liberal belongings. The Gestapo claimed that Tracking Down the Papers and a Jew, he could be sure that after they did not know where they were. I first heard a rumor that Mises' the Nazis took over Austria, the Until his death in 1973 in New York, papers might be in Moscow in summer Gestapo would come looking for him. Mises believed that everything had 1993. My wife Anna and I were visiting In March 1934, he was offered a b.een destroyed - either by the Nazis Vienna to look for archival material way out by William E. Rappard, direc­ or in the chaos of the war. about his life for the intellectual biogra­ tor of the Graduate Institute of But Mises' papers had not been phy that I am now writing, a Viennese destroyed. Instead, they had been kept friend told me that some German diplo­ by the Nazis and had ended up in mats had been in Moscow looking for The employees ofthe archive Halberstadt, Czechoslovakia, along material about anti-fascist Germans and had come across a reference to where Mises' papers were kryt with most other documents, papers and archival collections the Nazis had Mises' name among the indexes of cap­ tured documents they were permitted were forbidden to tell even fam­ seized in various German-occupied to examine. ily members where they countries. The 24 railway box cars in In 19-94, I had found Mises' "infor­ which this massive cache was stored worked; they couldn't even eat mation" letter from 1939 among were turned over by the Soviet Army Friedrich Hayek's papers at the Hoover at restaurants patronized by to the KGB, and transported to Institution at Stanford University, so I foreigners. Moscow. now had a clearer idea of exactly what In the 1950s a special building was the Nazis had stolen. But it was only in constructed in Moscow to store and July 1996 that I found out the exact preserve these papers, including 20 mil­ International Studies in Geneva, location of Mises' "lost papers." I went Switzerland, who invited him to accept lion captured documents from 20 dif­ to the Holocaust Museum in a position as Professor of. International ferent countries. From the outside, the Washington, D.C., hoping that the Economic Relations. He accepted and building looked like an ordinary resi­ researchers there could tell me whether moved to Geneva in October 1934. dential complex. It had no nameplate a Gestapo file on Mises had survived But Mises kept his apartment in on the door, and only the bars on the the war. No one knew of one. I asked a Vienna, where he and his mother had windows suggested that it was some­ research staffer whether they could been living since 1911. After she died in thing other than what it appeared. For find out if any of Mises' papers were late 1937, he returned the apartment to the next 45 years the only people the owner of the building, but; contin­ allowed access to the documents stored ued to sublet a room from the li\ew ten­ in the building were members of the ant. In this room he stored his' papers, KGB and the Ministries of Police and Why didn't the existence of manuscripts, family and person,al docu­ Foreign Affairs. The employees of this Mises' papers come to light ments, correspondence, and files of his special archive were forbidden to tell before now, and why hadn't own and other writers' articles, as well even family members where they as most of his personal library, which worked, and restricted from meeting anyone taken the time to exam­ included thousands of volumes. with foreigners - or even eating at res­ ine them and obtain copies? In March 1938, Germany 'annexed taurants patronized by foreigners. Austria. Within a few days th~ Gestapo Each of the archival collections had came to Mises' apartment. He:was safe been carefully studied and organized in Switzerland, but the Nazis boxed up by the KGB. Mises' papers were now in Russian hands. She introduced everything in his room and ~arried it divided into 196 files containing more me to a senior researcher, Karl Modek, off. In March 1939, Mises sent out a let- than 10,000 items. In 1951, the KGB pre- who specializes in Holocaust material relating to the Soviet Union. Opening a pared an index to his spiral binder containing the names of papers, with a one­ the Russian archives, he turned to the paragraph description of pages listing ~he fund numbers and the each of the files. The names of collections in the archive. entire collection was There it was: "Fund #623-Ludwig von labeled "Fund #623­ Mises." Ludwig von Mises." Since the archive has been open to With the collapse of everyone since 1991, a question arises: the Soviet Union in 1991, why didn't the existence of Mises' the documents were papers come to light before now, and "My wife treats me like royalty.....,.. she sends articles declassified, and the why hadn't anyone taken the time to about my shortcomings to tabloid newspoapers." archive was opened and examine them and obtain copies? I 44 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

found out the reason only this month, asked. Anna and Richard looked at me pared by Fritz Machlup, who later from Dr. Kurt Leube, former personal and said: "Yes, we need to copy abso­ became a leading expert on competi­ assistant to Friedrich A. Hayek, a per­ lutelyeverything!" tion and monopoly theory, Mises manent research scholar at the Hoover From October 17 to 27, we spent emphasized that it would be better to Institution, and professor of economics every working day examining each of use the word "power" exclusively in at California State University at the files. We arranged the photocopy­ the political sense, since in the long run Hayward. ing or microfilming of virtually the only government intervention can give In 1994, Dr. Leube also had heard entire collection of papers, manu­ agents in the private sector the ability that Mises' papers appeared to have scripts, articles, correspondence, per­ to defy the forces of the market. He fur­ survived in Russia. He found out that sonal documents and related material. ther argued that interventionist some Austrian researchers, including defenses of regulation are often at the Gerhard Jagschitz of the University of most "primitive level" of theoretical Vienna and Stefen Karner of the understanding, and ignore the ten­ University of Graz, had traveled to Newly discovered papers dency of intervention in one corner of Moscow and seen the indexes to show Mises debating economic the market to create negative conse­ Austrian documents captured by the policy with the intellectual quences for surrounding markets. Soviet Army. They confirmed that they Mises also kept records of his pri­ had seen an index to Mises' papers. Dr. leaders of his time, including vate seminar, including lists of partici­ Leube asked them several times to such notables as Friedrich pants and topics. They show what a examine the files and describe their Hayek, Oskar Morgenstern, wide group of scholars, including for­ contents. They wrote back that they eign visitors and students of many dis­ had neither the time nor the interest. and Eric Voegelin. ciplines, participated in the circle. In In a speech delivered last month at 1933, for example, Hugh Gaitskill, who Hillsdale College, Dr. Mansur later became the head of the British Mukhamedjanov, the Director of the (These photocopies and the microfilm Labour Party, spent a semester in Moscow Center for Historical and are now at Hillsdale College.) Vienna and attended the private semi­ Documental Collections, summarizes nar. He delivered a talk on "Economic the situation concisely: Lifting the Veil Calculation," criticizing Mises' views The Ludwig von Mises fund was What exactly did the Gestapo seize on planning under socialism. Also in accessible to researchers. But from in 1938? An enormous amount of mate­ 1933, Eric Voegelin, later a leading con­ the time when the archive has been rial. Ludwig von Mises had taught at servative in the United States, deliv­ opened nobody, not one researcher, the University of Vienna from 1913 ered a talk on "The Politics of Fascism." looked into or worked with the until 1934 (except for the war years). Papers were also delivered by the materials of this fund. Russian econ­ He had organized a private seminar for famous sociologist Alfred Schutz (who omists who are involved in working Viennese scholars, which met twice a had studied with Mises at the univer­ out the concept of market reform month in his offices at the Chamber of sity), by Friedrich Hayek, and by Oskar never showed any interest in Mises' Commerce. He maintained a volumi­ Morgenstern, who later developed fund. I don't think they even know nous correspondence. And he was a about its existence. Foreign research­ "Game Theory." Among the more prolific writer and a much sought-after important artifacts is a series of papers ers were interested in anything but policy analyst. All of these facets of his Mises. Some of them probably saw on the methodology of the social sci­ the index and knew that such a fund life are reflected in the "lost papers." ences some by Mises and existed, but nobody, I repeat, Mises kept copies of the course out­ Morgenstern - that was delivered in nobody ever showed any interest or lines and bibliographies for his univer­ 1934; these were preserved intact. desire to look into the documents. sity seminars. They trace many of his As senior economic analyst for the Our careful records show that no interests and areas of work. He devoted Austrian Chamber of Commerce, Mises researchers ever requested Fund many semesters to the problems of was responsible for analyzing the eco­ #623, "Ludwig von Mises." money, credit, and the business cycle. nomic situation in Austria and the And so the Mises papers remained He gave special attention to the prob­ effects of various policies proposed or unexamined until my wife and I arrived lems of the methodology of the social implemented by the Austrian govern­ in Moscow last October. She is Russian­ sciences and the critics of the "subjecti­ ment. Among the papers are several born and had spent almost all of her life vist" or marginal utility approach to critically evaluating the tax and spend­ in Moscow. She contacted friends in economic theory. Students were ing policies of the government during Russia who arranged invitations and assigned the task of writing "protocols" the Depression. They show Mises as a visas for our trip to Moscow. On our or summaries of class lectures; Mises careful "applied economist," weighing behalf, they contacted the archive direc­ saved some of these and they give up the economic situation in Austria tor to arrange access to Mises' papers. insights into his teaching style and and arguing for cuts in spending and As Dr. Mukhamedjanov recalled, "You method of argumentation. For exam­ taxation, lowering of tariffs, elimination should have seen their faces when the ple, in 1927 he delivered a lecture on of exchange controls, and proposing first portion of the files was delivered to B6hm-Bawerk's essay, "Power or Eco­ that state-run enterprises be cut back. them from our storage! "Are you inter­ nomic Law" (Macht oder oconomisches Among the new documents are many ested in making any photocopies?" I Gesetz?). According to a summary pre- he wrote after 1918, when he was trans- Liberty 45 Volume 10, NumberS Ma 1997

ferred back to Vienna to work as an been considered lost during the war, The fund includes these along with economic specialist for the Austrian like virtually all his work from this thick files of other correspondence ­ War Ministry. In this capacity, he often period. The newly discovered articles including not only letters he received, wrote detailed memoranda on topics include a speech (given in 1926 after a but carbon copies of his own letters. such as war inflation, the currency rela­ lecture tour in the United States) that They show Mises debating economic tionship between Austria-Hungary and describes the growing danger to the policy with the intellectual leaders of Ukraine, the problems of government American economy of interventionism. his time, including such notables as borrowing in wartime, and the relation Mises kept almost everything. The Friedrich Hayek and Lionel Robbins, between private industry and the mili­ fund reveals that he was anactive partic­ then a leading expositor of Austrian tary. (The archive also includes many ipant in an organization devoted to low­ economics at the London School of of the documents relating to Mises' ser- ering tariffs throughout Europe, and it Economics. Subjects include the mone­ includes the records of invitations from tary causes of the great Austrian infla­ research institutes, professional associa­ tion of the early 1920s and the tions, universities - even the League of unworkability of socialism. After Among millions of pages of Nations. It even includes train ticket Hayek moved to London in 1931, he documents stolen by the Nazis stubs from a journey to a conference and and Mises shared letters comparing were the "lost papers" of the receipts from meals eaten at hotels and criticizing increasingly interven­ during various lecture tours. tionist policies in England and Austria. Ludwig von Mises. More importantly, the fund also And in December 1931, Robbins wrote includes a number of unpublished arti­ that while others in England were cles on topics such as "Business being won over to collectivism, the con­ vice in World War I, when he served as Management and Bureaucratic sequences of government intervention an artillery officer on the Russian Administration" and "The Logical during the Great Depression were mak­ front.) In 1919, he evaluated for the Problems of Economics." Here, in ing an even "stronger" case that only a Austrian Finance Ministry the costs greater detail than in some of his other and benefits of a trade treaty with works, Mises analyzes the harmful newly independent Hungary, which effects of state-managed industries, and had a newly established socialist gov­ describes how growing government Mises argued that the inter­ ernment. And he served as the financial intervention and control affects public ventionist-welfare state was director for the Austrian Reparations psychology and decisions in the pri- not a "third way" between cap­ Commission in the early 1920s, for vate-sector. . which he arranged the financing of Mises maintained a large correspon­ italism and socialism, but a set Austria's payments to the Allied dence with many economists and busi­ of contradictory policies that, if powers. nessmen, as well as with organizations fully applied, would eventually Mises wrote a large number of arti­ such as the Rockefeller Foundation, cles on a wide variety of economic pol­ through which he helped his students lead to socialism. icy topics for Viennese newspapers and and colleagues obtain grants for journals - articles that up till now, had extended research trips to America. free economy could solve the problems of the world. Through these thousands of pages of material, Ludwig von Mises is shown to be more influential and important than even his strongest admirers had ima­ gined. They add to our knowledge of Do you accept Mises as economic theorist and policy analyst, someone thoroughly conver­ LEGAL TENDER? sant with the historical facts and statisti­ cal data of his time. They demonstrate the great impact he had on a large num­ Yes. .. but I prefer ber of students and scholars and his enormous influence on Austrian eco­ nomics between the wars - an influ­ e-gold tm ence whose scope and meaning can now really be understood for the first time. In sum, the papers discovered in Moscow provide a rich source of new information about the most important http://www.e-gold.com free market economist of the 20th cen­ tury, and lift a veil from the life and work of one .of the leading figures of our time. 0 46 Liberty Salvo Do Inalienable Rights Outlaw Punishment? by John C. Goodman

A closer look at George Smith's case against capital punishment.

George Smith's provocative article ("A Killer's Right to Life," Liberty, November 1996) intended to make the case against capital punishment. It did much more. Unintentionally perhaps, Smith actually made a case against punishment as such. Indeed, if one follows Smith's argument to its logical conclusion, one has a case against any kind of legal procedure, have a system of enforceable laws. But yond all reasonable doubt, is judged criminal or civil. enforceable laws are essential to a free (by a jury and everyone else in his Here is the essence of Smith's society. Are individual rights incom­ community) guilty of committing position: patible with social order? I don't think murder. Acting on this judgment, (1) Everyone has inalienable rights, so. Murphy'S neighbors imprison him. even people who commit heinous I think Smith's argument goes However, people are not infallible. crimes. wrong the same way that the argu­ And in this case, Murphy is actually (2) Since the meaning of "inaliena­ ments of many other libertarians go innocent - despite the fact that all ble" is "cannot be transferred, surren­ wrong: it assumes that all actions evidence points to his guilt. dered, or forfeited," people who belong to one of two sets, those people As in the case of the lifeboat exam­ commit heinous crimes do not thereby have a right to take and those they ple, most people would feel comforta­ forfeit their rights. have no right to take. From this it fol­ ble with the following statement: (3) Capital punishment by defini­ lows that either we have a "right to Murphy's neighbors are justified in try­ tion deprives people of their inaliena­ punish" those who violate the rights ing to imprison him, and Murphy is jus­ ble right to life. of others, or we have no such right. tified in trying to escape. But to say that (4) Right implies duty: if Y has the The latter conclusion would lead to Murphy's neighbors have a right to right to take action X, everyone else chaos. But to say we have a "right to imprison him implies that he has a has an obligation not to interfere with punish" - indeed, to say we have a moral obligation to go to prison. On the Y's taking action X. "right to use force" - can easily lead other hand, to say that Murphy has the (5) Therefore, we (the non­ to ~ontradictions, as the following right not to be imprisoned (because he criminals) have an obligation not to examples illustrate. hasn't done anything wrong) implies violate a criminal's right to life by exe­ Example. Consider two people in that his neighbors are obligated not to cuting him. the middle of the ocean on a lifeboat imprison someone judged to be guilty Although Smith focuses on capital built for one. Most of us would have beyond a reasonable doubt. punishment, the structure of the argu­ no problem concluding that each is In both these examples, people are ment applies with equal force to justified in trying to survive. But to justified in taking conflicting actions. imprisonment, which is a form of say each has a "right to try to Can we also say there is a conflict of enslavement and surely deprives the survive," because, say, of a general rights? If every right implies a duty prisoner of the right to pursue his own "right to life," implies that each is not to interfere with the exercise of happiness. By implication, other sanc­ obligated not to try to survive because that right, then a conflict of rights tions - such as fines and restraining of the obligation of each not to implies a contradiction. (More for­ orders - could be called into question interfere with the other's exercise of mally, if rights conflict, they are not as well. his rights. "compossible.") If Smith is correct, we could not Another example. Murphy, be- These examples suggest a sort of Liberty 47 Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

moral Godel's Theorem. Rights theory that a certain view of rights is untena­ I will not attempt a formal proof, must always be either incomplete. or ble. Accordingly, consider the follow­ leaving that for professional philoso­ contradictory. If we want to avoid con­ ing five characteristics of rights: phers more adept than I. Intuitively, tradictions, there must be a set of (1) All rights are individual rights. however, we have already given two actions to which the terms "right" and (2) All rights entail obligations on examples in support of the theorem. "no right"simply do not apply. the part of others not to interfere with Let's consider one more. I propose that any time justifiable the exercise of those rights. Suppose McCoy steals a pig from force is being used, the language of (3).All rights are known, or at least Hatfield. Hatfield apprehends McCoy, rights does not apply. There is nothing easily discovered and verified. retrieves his pig, and asserts his right to (4) Rights theory describes all punish McCoy. Specifically, Hatfield actions (completeness). asserts the right to administer X lashes, If Smith is correct, we could (5) All rights are compossible which implies that McCoy has an obli­ (noncontradiction). gation not to interfere. Hatfield 110t have a system of enforce­ These characteristics, broadly con­ moreover, agrees that were he to able laws. But enforceable laws sidered, constitute the classical vtew of administer X + 1 lashes, this would be are essential to a free society. rights. They are imbedded in the gen­ too much punishment - constituting a eral theory of the common law. And violation of McCoy's right not to be Are individual rights incom­ they are consistent with Lockean the­ punished beyond just desert and giving patible with social order? I ory - ala Robert Nozick. But even to McCoy a right to retaliate against Hatfield. don't think so. one who is not a libertarian, a rights system with these characteristics The questions for moral philosophy should have considerable appeal. are: (1) Is there a right to X which To acknowledge and respect rights imposes a correlative duty on McCoy? wrong with the statement that "an act is a. hallmark of a civil society. If, in and (2) Is X knowable? By the second . of force violates a right." There is some­ addition, the system of rights satisfied question, I mean: Is there an objective thing wrong with the statement that method for deriving X, independent of the five characteristics, moral people "there is a right to use force." the subjective claims of the two parties? would be assured that through volun­ To justify.the use of force requires a If the answer is no, the right to punish tary action and free exchange' they theory that is more fundamental than in this case cannot satisfy characteristic could act freely - secure in the knowl­ the theory of rights. Call it meta-rights number five. edge that whenever they acted (a) their theory. The language of such a theory Note that the right to take specific actions would be sanctioned by right, would be the language of justice. actions must derive from more general (b) all others would have an obligation Among the conclusions of meta-rights rights. With respect to punishment, if not to interfere with their actions, and theory: (1) we are justified in punishing there is no such thing as a right to a (c) their actions would not infringe on those who violate the rights of.· others, specific retaliatory act, then there is lit­ the rights of others. and (2) through their evil deeds, those tle point in asserting a general right to The desirability of such a system of so punished forfeit not their inalienable retaliate. rights is almost self-evident, regardless rights, but the moral authority to As a practical matter, the Hatfields of where one believes that rights come invoke the concept of right in order to and the McCoys may negotiate a pun- avoid punishment. from (God, A is A, legislative fiat, etc.). It would seem, therefore, that a task of An Incompleteness Theorem moral philosophy should be to discover Rights theory must always Many philosophers would object to and specify such a system of rights. the notion that every right entails a cor­ Now put aside all your precon­ be either incomplete or contra­ relative duty on the part of others not ceived notions of what rights people dictory. to interfere with the exercise of that have and consider all the possible allo­ right. Wesley Hohfeld, for example, cations of rights. Is there any conceiva­ argues that some justifiable actions are ble way to assign rights that satisfies ishment "price" for the theft of the pig; "mere liberties," which impose no the five characteristics? Yes, there is. indeed, this is how such disputes used duties on others. On this view, "mere There might be only one rights holder to be resolved. Or, they can submit the liberties" are subordinate to, or at least (a king who has the right to do what­ question to trial by combat. Or to trial have lower status than, "claim rights." ever he wishes) or only one permissible by jury. What seems to be needed, however, is a action (no one has the right to take any These methods of deciding out­ justification for actions that has higher action other than bow to Mecca). comes jettison the language of "rights" status than claim rights, not lower Simplistic notions like these meet all and rely instead on procedure. If a pro­ status. In order to answer Smith, we five characteristics, but they do so at cedure is justified, we may assert that must be able to distinguish circum­ the expense of an absurd oversimplifi­ the actions that flow from it are justi­ stances when we must respect rights cation of society. fied. But, in doing so, we are outside from circumstances when we have no THEOREM: As long as the number of the confines of the five characteristics such obligation. rights holders and the range of permissible we assigned rights. Fortunately, my task here is more actions are robust, no system of rights can Just procedures may encompass narrow. I want to persuade the reader satisfy all five characteristics. subjectivity and even error. We may 48 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

conclude, years after the fact, that we punished an innocent person and vio­ Critique lated his rights - but that we were right in believing that we were justified in doing so at the time because we fol­ lowed correct procedures. By contrast, we can never conclude we had a right to violate a right. The Hollow Ring The conclusions reached here have application to the long-running dispute between anarcho-capitalists and lim­ ited-government libertarians. of Inalienability A final example. Hatfield, AK-47 in hand, is marching McCoy down the street toward a hangman's noose. by Timothy Virkkala McCoy has committed a thoroughly reprehensible act and deserves to be hanged. Even so, McCoy lies and Is capital punishment just? The turies. Social contract theory has declares his innocence. Fellow towns­ answer to that question falls under the many variations. In its early forms, people have no knowledge of the facts domain of moral and political philoso­ it was often used to justify absolute surrounding the original crime. phy. Appropriately, George Smith sovereignty. Philosophers claimed Are the passersby obligated to began his disquisition on the subject that the people had irrevocably stand aside and let Hatfield hang with a frank and humble statement of transferred all of their rights to gov­ McCoy? Or, since hanging is a violent how such questions are answered: ernment, so their rights could not be and irreversible act that potentially "Doing political philosophy consists restored without the government's largely of deciding where we don't consent. Since the social contract want to go and then figuring out a way was an imaginary construction, not We may conclude, years to end up somewhere else." a historical reality (virtually all phi­ after the fact, that we punished Where didn't he want to go? "I felt losophers agreed on this point), no sorrow whatever at the thought of there was no way to decide empiri­ cally which rights had been surren­ an innocent person and vio­ executing a brutal and sadistic killer ­ dered to government and under lated his rights - but that we and, to be honest, I still don't. But there what conditions. were right in believing that we remained the nagging issues of inalien­ able rights and whether capital punish­ All well and good. were justified in doing so at the ment is consistent with the libertarian In their assault on absolutism, indi­ time. theory of restitution." So above all else, vidualist philosophers maintained Mr. Smith demanded that any justifica­ that some rights can never be dele­ tion of capital punishment be consis­ gated to government, because they threatens everyone, are passersby justi­ tent with "the libertarian theory of are inalienable. Such rights are fied in stopping the execution and restitution" and the idea of lIinalienable . inherently linked to innate human demanding evidence of a crime? Failing rights." characteristics which even consent to be convinced of McCoy's guilt, are This being the case, we should notbe cannot transfer, abandon, or forfeit. they justified in prohibiting the execu­ in the least bit surprised to find strong If a human faculty, such as con­ science, cannot be alienated, then tion indefinitely? If you answer "yes" to negative reactions to his fascinating arti­ neither can the right to exercise that the second and third questions, then by cle. Why? Because few libertarians put faculty. implication you accept the argument much stock in the idea of lIinalienable for a minimal state that may legiti­ rights" (which even its adherents find Many things can be written about mately act despite lack of unanimous confusing), and because there is not one this passage. That it makes precious lit­ consent by the governed. libertarian theory of restitution, but tle sense seems obvious enough: if a We have now come full circle on many. A case against capital punishment faculty cannot be alienated, then there Smith's question about capital punish­ that is twisted around these two notions is no point in having a right to it. After ment. Hatfield cannot claim he has a can only seem weak to most of us. It all, we use rights to defend against right to hang McCoy, because that would have been more effective to con­ actions that harm us. If we can be would obligate everyone else not to centrate, say, on the outrageous moral harmed, the relevant faculty can be interfere. Other people cannot be so horror of making a mistake in judging alienated, no? obligated independent of their knowl­ the accused incapital cases. Consider: I have the faculty of rea­ edge of the facts. However, Hatfield Smith writes: son. But then Joe Blow whacks me on can claim he is justified in hanging The concept of inalienable right, as the head, and I'm left in a booming, McCoy (despite McCoy's inalienable used by individualist thinkers, arose buzzing confusion, repeating words I'd rights), and a judge and jury may legiti­ during the social contract debates of known in the past, but without sense mately agree with him. 0 the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- or sensibility, rhyme or reason. Do I Liberty 49 Volume 10, Number 5 Ma 1997

then have the faculty of reason? No. and the like - indeed, of the idea of freeing up of the avenues of political Injured by the blunt, unreasoning fists "good, better, best" - is in our heads, obligation, and helped make a great of Joe Blow, my most precious trait has and turns on our imaginings nearly as deal of room for individuals to find been taken from me. much (if not more) than on the objects their own ways through the maze of We talk of rights to threaten the of our intentions. And we can't really this world. likes of Joe Blow, so that such blokes get around this: while the objects of our But despite these political and social think twice (at least) before swinging intentions often seem to have that defi­ revolutions the payoff for inalienable their fists at heads as precious as mine. nite, unflighty feel of "fact" about rights was always a little hard to figure Rights are articulations of threats. We them, around many of our imaginings, exactly, because the fiction it opposed can reify them all we want, pretend utopias, plans, and stratagems the was itself more than a bit slippery. It they have some sort of deep meta­ flight of "fancy" seems a more justly had something to do with rebellion, physical meaning, pretend they are placed category. with justifying /~ome) revolts. But built into the warp and woof of things, Though I'm sure Smith will balk at beyond that its/theaning and applicabil­ but they remain signals of actions. They this assertion of mine, even he suggests ity were always more than a little remain threats - enhaloed, no doubt, as much. Remember the story he told? confused. First, there was social contract theory, After all these years, for Smith to "an imaginary construction" that was dust it off and turn this hoary tool into If a faculty cannot be alien­ meant to solve problems of conflict. a weapon against killing convicted ated, then there is no point in Against this fiction the individualist murderers - well, doesn't this seem a wielded a new kind of right, an "inali­ bit odd? having a right to it. enable" one. Where did he find this Of course, odd fictions can be fun right? In the deep ontological struc­ and challenging, even useful. Hey, I like fiction. Indeed, even now I'm re­ with the rewards of peace (no one tures of the Life World? The bowels of reading The Lord of the Rings, and a would accept them if they did not Christ? Faerie? Oh, all sorts of origins more-fictive-than-thine fiction can entice as well as threaten); but hal­ were claimed for these rights, but a hardly be imagined. And there's no lowed or not, they are first and fore­ phrase of our vulgar age will do as well doubt that untrue tales and arresting most game plans for retaliation. If you as any: "he pulled it out of his ass." images have often been used in philos­ cross this line, a right subtly says, then Social contract theory was a fiction, and ophy to make a point. Remember we will take action. the best weapon against its abuse was Gyges' Ring of Invisibility in Plato's With force. also a fiction. These days we have anti­ Republic? If you had a ring of power, Not merely defensive force, but missile missiles; in days of yore they retaliatory force, too. (This understand­ made do with anti-fiction fictions. ing of rights may rub against the grain For of course inalienable rights of much rights talk. But consider: a were posited, "made up." Before social Where did the individualist right is a claim to obligatory treatment; contract theory blossomed, such rights find this "inalienable" right? "obligatory treatment" means treat­ had little play in human discourse. ment that we can "legitimately compel" (Their prehistory can be constructed, of In the deep ontological struc­ from others. When we say that the flip course, but so can the "social contract" tures of the Life World? The side of a right is an obligation, we - Aristotle used the theory, after all, bowels of Christ? Faerie? mean that we may react with force if when he needed a rabbit but had only a that right is violated.) hat.) But with the rise of contractarian After the fact of any conflict - any thinking, of a sudden inalienable rights tussle in a bar, any forcible groping in a appeared in the world, doing marve­ would you use it? (Let's all think about dark passage, any skirmish· in a sub­ lous things. Political philosophy thus this for a minute. Okay ... enough!) way - the peaceful people will pick up mirrored the world of literature: I think Smith succumbed to a dan­ their law books and sort out the mess. Cervantes and Hobbes, Fielding and gerous temptation, to use a tool forged And they will not hesitate (I hope) to Locke, Sterne and Rousseau ... who for one purpose for a completely differ­ exercise police power to bend the will says there is no progress in the arts? ent purpose. Ideas have consequences, of the recalcitrant malefactor. Joe Blow Even unto the present age we are and some ideas force one's hand in may have won the fight, rendering me awash in all types of fictions and in all peculiar ways. He would better have senseless, but my rights direct my types of rights. snuck to the Crack of Doom and neighbors or agents to arrest, try, and (I Inalienable rights may be fictional, thrown his Ring of Inalienability into also hope) convict Mr. Blow. but this does not make them meaning­ the fire. The punishment? Capital? Well, less. (After all, fiction is not meaning­ And taken another, very different, here the whole question gets difficult. less.) And because they were invented crack at capital punishment. One of the difficulties is right here to fight a peculiar twist in contractarian Perhaps in another try he might arm before us. As with so many moral con­ moralizing, they had their own distinc­ himself with better fictions, and maybe cepts, we are dealing as much with fic­ tive essence, and differed from other even a few facts. After all, facts have tion as with fact. rights often talked about. "Inalien­ their uses, too. 0 This can't be helped, of course. The ability" did the trick. It unsettled the George Smith's reply to these criticisms will realm of values and ideals and norms set notions of authority, allowed for the be featured in the next issue of Liberty. 50 Liberty Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History ofthe and the narrative chapters 255 pages, American Civil War, by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel. Open Court, 1996, but the essays, owing to their smaller xiii+421 pp., $35.96 (he), $17.96 (se). print and more closely spaced lines, actually account for more of the book than the page counts suggest. Readers with limited interest can skip the schol­ arly essays. Those who want to look up a particular point will find the 33-page The Bloody Hinge of index is excellent. Conventional Wisdom Winners tend to write the histories, American History and Civil War history is no exception. But southern sympathizers have hardly been mute. During the first half of the twentieth century, historians sympa­ literature, the publication of Jeffrey thetic to the Confederate cause gained a Robert Higgs Rogers Hummel's Emancipating Slaves, substantial hearing; but later, especially Enslaving Free Men is a major event in as racial attitudes changed in the twenty years after World War II, these The Civil War was the Great Event Civil War scholarship. I know of no renditions of the story lost ground, of American history. Much of what hap­ other book like it in perspective, struc­ eventually becoming so rare as to seem pened in the preceding centuries can be ture, or conclusions. It will have an cranky. Among academic historians, seen as part of a process that culmi­ invigorating and altogether healthy nated in the war, and much of what has effect on lay and scholarly understand­ happened since can be seen, directly or ing of America's pivotal cataclysm. indirectly, as a consequence of the war. Hummel's book is simultaneously "Emancipating Slaves, En­ Before the war, millions toiled in legally elementary and advanced, thanks to its slaving Free Men" is a major sanctioned lifetime slavery; afterward, unique architecture. Each of its chapters event in Civil War scholarship, the laws permitted slavery only as pun­ presents a succinct, clearly written narra­ ishment for crime. Before the war, the tive of the relevant historical develop­ and will have an invigorating country was constitutionally a federa­ ments falling under its rubric. The first and altogether healthy effect on tion of sovereign constituent states five chapters cover ante-bellum develop­ (these United States); afterward, it was ments; the next five, the war itself; and our understanding of Amer­ de facto a unitary state with a dominant the last two, post-bellum developments. ica's pivotal cataclysm. central government (the United States). Well-chosen contemporary quotations Before the war, individual freedom had add luster to the narrative. The sources tended to expand; afterward, it tended of the quotations appear in twenty-two even in the South, such views are now to shrink. pages of notes at the back of the book, extremely rare. No subject in American history has leaving the text itself uncluttered by Historical understanding varies given rise to as much writing - thou­ scholarly apparatus or intramural greatly among people who know any­ sands of books and countless articles ­ quibbling. thing at all about the war. At the level as the Civil War. Why do writers con­ Immediately following each chapter, of "what every schoolboy knows," the tinue to grind out still more? Haven't as well as the prologue and the epi­ prevailing myth is pretty simple: The previous authors viewed the great con­ logue, is a bibliographical essay. Here southerners (the bad guys), in order to flict from every conceivable perspective, Hummel displays not only a mastery of preserve slavery, attempted to secede supported judgments for and against the vast literature but also an extraordi­ from the United States; the northerners every significant politician and general, nary analytical ability. Experts will rel­ (the good guys, led by the saintly and traced the paths of thousands of ish these essays for their discriminating Abraham Lincoln), provoked by the others involved in the fray? Surely, one descriptions of hundreds of books and bombardment of Fort Sumter, rose up might have thought, at this stage no one articles and even more for the light they in righteous indignation to free the can do much more than sweep up the shed on prevalent misconceptions, slaves and, after much bloodshed, did crumbs. errors, and oversights. Together, the free them; the victors then recon­ Yet, notwithstanding the enormous bibliographical essays occupy 110 pages structed the nation, amending the Liberty 51 May 1997

Constitution to ensure a level playing freeing some and leaving others How to field for the blacks. (The wily southern­ alone I would also do that. What I do ers soon reestablished white supre­ about slavery, and the colored race, I Subscribe macy, but that's supposed to be another do because I believe it helps to save story.) the Union; and what I forbear, I for­ Even as we transcend this vulgar bear because I do not believe it to understanding, we find that the ques­ would help save the Union. (207-8) tion of secession continues to be viewed When prosecution of the war as locked tightly to the question of slav­ bogged down in 1862, Lincoln formu­ II Liberty] ery. Because nobody now wishes to lated the Emancipation Proclamation, defend the perpetuation of slavery, a largely to dissuade Britain and lother defense of southern secession labors powers from recognizing the Con­ Liberty takes individual under a heavy burden. Hummel, how­ federacy and partly to encourage blacks freedom seriously ... and ever, willingly takes up this burden. to join the Union army. When formally promulgated on January 1, 1863, the the status quo with more proclamation freed not a single slave, as than one grain of salt! Against Slavery, For Secession At the outset, Hummel proposes it applied exclusively to territory then that we can advance our understanding under rebel control. Noting that the proc­ Every issue of Liberty brings of why the war occurred by posing two lamation left slavery intact in all areas you important news you can't questions: First, why did the southern­ under U.S. control, the London Spectator miss, perceptive opinions you ers want to secede? Second, why didn't observed: "The principle is not that a won't find anywhere else, and the northerners allow them to secede? human being cannot justly own another, the best libertarian writing in Refusing to be tied in the usual knot, but that he cannot own him unless he is the world. Hummel insists that "slavery and seces­ loyal to the United States" (210). sion are separate issues" (8). Like the Later, as Union troops advanced, You won't want to abolitionist Lysander Spooner, whom hundreds of thousands of slaves fled to miss a single issue! he cites, Hummel will draw "no moral the safety of army camps, finding free­ analogy between slaves violently rising dom and a rather wretched existence, as up to secure their liberty and the central supplies were often insufficient to feed Act Today! government violently crushing aspira­ the refugees as well as the soldiers, and commanders resorted to putting the Liberty offers you the best in tions for self-determination on the part runaways to work as laborers. Even libertarian thinking and writ­ of white southerners" (205). By simulta­ ing. So don't hesitate. You have neously condemning slavery (along where the rebels retained control, slav­ nothing to lose, and the fruits of with all the social and political evils it ery began to break down, as the pres­ ence of nearby Union troops Liberty to gain! fostered) and the northern resort to vio­ lence to prevent southern secession, encouraged the slaves to resist the Use the coupon below or call: Hummel stakes out a seldom-occupied impositions of their owners. Union vic­ territory among historians. tory, of course, finally did result in the 1-800-854-6991 All serious historians appreciate complete destruction of slavery. In 1865 that, whatever his personal attitudes the victors forced the vanquished to rat­ (Subscription orders only; no inquiries please.) toward slavery and blacks, President ify the Thirteenth Amendment. (How r------, Lincoln did not resort to armed force to many Americans have ever considered ' Please enter my subscription I suppress the secession in order to that vital portions of the Constitution lYeS • to Liberty immediately! destroy slavery. Indeed, during the were ratified at gunpoint?) I C Six issues (One Full Year) $19.50 I interim between his election in 1860 and [J Twelve issues (Two Full Years) $39.00 his inauguration in 1861, Lincoln sup- Slavery's Achilles Heel The decay of slavery within the I Add $5 per year for foreign subscriptions. I ported a proposed unamendable consti­ tutional amendment that would have Confederacy during the war illustrates I I prohibited interference with slavery in a fact of supreme importance for ______the states where it already existed. Hummel's interpretation of ante-bellum I I Lincoln made his reasons for wag- political maneuvering and his assess­ ing war against the Confederacy utterly ment of whether the war was necessary 10 I enclose my check (payable to Liberty) I clear in a letter to newspaperman to destroy slavery. Put simply, slaves Horace Greeley on August 22, 1862: preferred freedom to slavery and, given I 0 Charge my D VISA 0 MasterCard I My paramount object in this struggle a fair chance to escape, they would run is to save the Union, and is not either away from their owners. I signature I to save or to destroy slavery. If I The fugitive slave issue, which Hummel characterizes as slavery's I account# expires could save the Union without freeing I any slave I would do it, and if I could Achilles heel, was so important to the I save it by freeing all the slaves I southerners that it played a crucial part Send to: Liberty, Dept. L59, I would do it; and if I could save it by in the compromise that gave rise to the P.o.Box 1181, Port Townsend, WA 98368 • L ------_.. Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 u.s. Constitution of 1787. Article IV, and activities of free blacks. As Robert W. Fogel and Stanley L. Section 2, stated in part: "No person Hummel writes, "The South's siege Engerman, most notably in their 1973 held to Service or Labour in one State, mentality turned it into a closed soci­ book Time on the Cross, argued that under the Laws thereof, escaping into ety" (25). This slavery-related repres­ large slave plantations were much more another, shall, in Consequence of any sion contrasted starkly with the efficient than northern farms. Critics Law or Regulation therein, be dis­ flowering of individual freedom in disputed the claim, arguing that the charged from such Service or Labour, many other spheres of American life in apparent efficiency advantage reflected but shall be delivered up on Claim of the the 1840s and 1850s. among other things such factors as the Party to whom such Service or Labour Appreciating the vulnerability of the abnormally high price of cotton circa may be due." This provision, to the slave system to runaways, William 1860 or the greater labor input coerced extent that it received effective enforce­ Lloyd Garrison and some other aboli­ from the slaves. Though valuable facts ment, prevented the free states from tionists supported secession by the have been unearthed along the way, serving as havens for runaway slaves North. In their view, a separate free several rounds of this debate have done and thereby placed a mighty prop under nation adjacent to the slave South the slave system in the South. would serve as an asylum for runaways Congress passed legislation to far more effectively than the free states The revenue act of 1862 enforce the Constitution's fugitive slave of the United States, which remained included a stamp tax not clause in 1793; under the law, national subject to the federal fugitive slave law. and state courts shared jurisdiction over In the 1830s and 1840s radical aboli­ unlike the one that had the recovery of runaways. The number tionists increased their efforts to evade inflamed the American colo­ of slaves successfully escaping to the the fugitive slave law and to challenge nists in 1765. free states, almost all from the border it in court. The "underground railroad" states, probably never exceeded a thou­ spirited a number of slaves to freedom sand per year, but Hummel argues that in Canada. Seven northern states passed little to close the gap between the "without a fugitive slave law, the num­ personal liberty laws, prohibiting state disputants. ber would have soared" (55). officials from assisting in capturing run­ Hummel, unlike the neoclassical Besides enjoying the cooperation of aways or forbidding the use of state or economists, never forgets that efficiency the federal government and the free local jails to confine fugitive slaves. is a welfare concept that presupposes states in the apprehension and return of These developments spurred southern­ the existing property rights regime. In runaways, the slave states socialized ers to demand new protection of their this light, finding that slavery was effi­ the enforcement costs of the slave sys- property rights in slaves. cient amounts to little more than find­ One upshot was the passage of a ing that theft benefits thieves when new federal fugitive slave act as part of legal conditions allow them to get away Even prior to the war, all the Compromise of 1850. This law, with it. Hummel does not lose sight of slave states suppressed free which Hummel calls "one of the harsh­ the crux, which is that the slaveowners speech, censored the mail, est congressional measures ever" (94), were kidnappers and thieves - that created federal commissioners to assist slavery "involved a compulsory trans­ tightly restricted manumis­ in capturing runaways, empowered fer from black slaves to white masters" sions, and closely regulated the these officers to conscript the aid of any (40); hence, "the ability to coerce the private citizen, and paid them fees that slave is [the slave system's] only possi­ movement and activities offree created a financial incentive for them to ble advantage over free labor" (65). blacks. identify blacks as escaped slaves. Hummel faults Fogel for continuing As Hummel observes, free blacks in to view "coercion and wages as merely the North now "had no legal recourse if two alternative ways to motivate work­ tem by requIrIng virtually all able­ a Southerner claimed they were escaped ers" and for failing to "comprehend the bodied white men to serve in the local slaves. Consequently the law fostered fundamental economic distinction slave patrols. "Exemption usually an unsavory class of professional slave between a voluntary transaction, which required paying a fine or hiring a sub­ catchers, who could make huge profits with its mutual gains moves the trans­ stitute. The slave patrols thereby affixed by legally kidnapping free blacks in the actors toward greater efficiency and a tax that shifted enforcement costs to North and selling them into slavery in welfare (given initial endowments), and small slaveholders and poor whites the South" (94). Some previously hostile a coercive transfer, which with its who owned no slaves" (48). or indifferent northerners came to sup­ nearly inevitable deadweight loss must In the three decades before the war, port abolitionism after witnessing such reduce efficiency and welfare" (70). the emergence and growth of the aboli­ horrifying abductions. Hummel's penetrating discussion of tionist movement heightened the south­ the efficiency debate, on pages 61-70, is erners' worries about runaway slaves. Was Slavery Efficient? by itself worth the price of the book. All slave states moved to suppress For more than thirty years, eco­ whatever fostered slave escape: they nomic historians trained in neoclassical Tyranny on 80th Sides suppressed free speech, censored the economics have tortured their data and Both sides fought under a flag of mail, tightly restricted manumissions, pounded their word processors in a freedom: the North (eventually) to and closely regulated the movement debate over the efficiency of slavery. release the slaves from bondage, the Liberty 53 May 1997

Lear11 at South to gain political self­ continued to hold a grudge. determination. But waging war has its In Kentucky, where sympathies Liberty own logic, independent of the belliger­ were similarly divided, ent's motive for fighting. In wartime, Federal authorities declared martial Liberty Foundation, the publisher of political authority dilates and individ­ lavv; required loyalty oaths before ual liberty shrinks. The Civil War was Liberty magazine, offers full-time, people could trade or engage in no exception. paid internships at all times of the many other daily activities; censored When Lincoln took office as presi­ books, journals, sermons, and sheet year. For more information, contact: dent, eight slave states remained in the music; and crowded the jails with R.W. Bradford Union. Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops Rebel sympathizers. By 1862 the mili­ Liberty to suppress the "rebellion" prompted tary was interfering with elections, P.o. Box 1181 four of them - Virginia, North preventing candidates from running, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas - to and dispersing the Democratic con­ join the Confederacy. Virginia governor vention at bayonet point. The net John Letcher wrote to Lincoln: "You result was that the people of have chosen to inaugurate civil war, Kentucky felt greater solidarity with and having done so, we will meet it in a the rest of the South at the war's end than at its beginning. (146) spirit as determined as the Administration has exhibited toward Unable to hold Virginia, the Lincoln the South" (141). administration finagled the creation of a Lincoln undertook to hold the new state, West Virginia, in 1863. By remaining slave states in the Union at further political chicanery, the any cost. In Maryland he suspended the Republicans admitted Kansas and writ of habeas corpus, imposed military Nevada to the Union as states in 1861 occupation, and imprisoned leading and 1864, respectively. "And let us not secessionists without trial. Chief Justice ignore," writes Hummel, the "tamper­ Roger Taney wrote an outraged opinion ing with the soldiers' vote" when bal­ declaring that the president had no con­ lots were not secret and "most of the stitutional authority to take these army's junior officers and paymasters actions, whose effect would be that "the were members of the Republican Party" people of the United States are no (258). By such shenanigans, Lincoln longer living under a Government of managed to get himself re-elected in laws, but every citizen holds life, liberty 1864, though General. George B. and property at the will and pleasure of McClelland, the candidate of a the army officer in whose military dis­ Democratic Party whose platform called trict he may happen to be found" (142). for an immediate cessation of hostilities, Lincoln ignored Taney's opinion and received 45 percent of the popular vote prepared standing orders (never even on this sharply tilted political served) for Taney's arrest. When playing field. Maryland held elections in the fall of Lincoln did not hesitate to act as a Attention 1861, federal provost marshals watched dictator when doing so served his pur­ the polls and arrested secessionists poses. A favorite tactic was to toss polit­ Liberty attempting to vote. ical dissidents or other troublesome In Missouri the administration took persons into jail; at least 14,000 civilians Subscribers: even more drastic actions. In an early met that fate at the hands of the Lincoln You can find out when your sub­ confrontation with an angry crowd, administration, not to speak of the scription ends easily: army troops killed twenty-eight people, many others similarly treated by state (1) Ifyour subscription runs out with mostly innocent onlookers, thereby and local authorities. Union authorities the current issue or the next issue, we will turning many Unionists into secession­ monitored and censored the mails and enclose a renewal notice with your copy. ists. Ostensibly loyal but clamped under telegraphs, and at one time or another (2) Ifyou do not have an enclosed martial law, Missouri became the scene closed more than 300 newspapers. In renewal notice, take a look at the address of its own bitter civil war, featuring bru­ promulgating his Emancipation label on your magazine. To the right of tal guerrilla forays and scorched-earth Proclamation and in taking many other your name should be the issues left in tactics by the Union army, for the dura­ actions, Lincoln chose to ignore your subscription, followed by the word tion of the war and beyond. These Congress. "left," as in "3 left" (followed by your events left a "legacy of hatred" that Confederate authorities behaved subscriber Ld. number). would "continue to plague Kansas and Any questions about your subscrip- similarly. President Jefferson Davis sus­ tion should be directed to: Missouri long after the rest of the coun­ pended the writ of habeas corpus in try attained peace" (144). The outlaw various areas. Confederate commanders Liberty Circulation Jesse James was just one of the many sometimes instituted martial law, P.O. Box 1181 involved in the Missouri conflict who required loyalty oaths, and made mass Port Townsend, WA 98368 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997

arrests. "The courts viewed anyone not purchases of its bonds, the Union gov­ In the financially less developed supporting the Confederacy as an ernment created the national banking South, the Confederates had limited enemy alien, outside any legal protec­ system, in which federally chartered success in collecting taxes, which cov­ tions accorded to citizens." Private vigi­ member banks had to buy U.S. bonds as ered only 7% of their war expenses, or lance committees "imposed, to the backing for the national bank notes they in borrowing money, which financed point of lynching, their own versions of might issue in making loans to custom­ about a fourth of their spending. Not loyalty," and "the military's provost ers. Like many other innovations of the that they didn't try. They imposed taxes marshals required passports of travel­ Civil War, the national banking system on imports, exports, and excess profits; ers in nearly all Confederate-held terri­ remains a part of our economy today. a graduated income tax; license fees, tory" (261). In the later stages of the The war was tremendously expen­ excises, and taxes in kind. "A sequestra­ war, Confederate army officers earned sive in dollars as well as blood. In four tion law, passed in response to the the hearty hostility of the southern peo­ years the federal government spent $3.4 Union confiscation acts, expropriated ple by seizing property, especially food­ billion, far more than it had spent in the all northern private property within stuffs and workstock, as the entire preceding history of the United Confederate jurisdiction" (228). opportunity arose to resupply their States ($1.8 billion). Although borrow­ Mostly, however, the Confederacy units in this convenient way. ing accounted for 77 percent of Union just printed money - ultimately more revenues, other receipts rose enor­ War Brought Big Government mously: from $56 million in fiscal 1860, When, to the surprise of most war nearly all from customs, to $334 million Chief Justice Roger Taney hawks on both sides, the war turned in fiscal 1865, including $209 million of out to be big, gory, and protracted internal revenue. wrote an outraged opinion rather than short and glorious, the war­ Republican politico James G. Blaine declaring that the president ring governments faced the basic prob­ called the revenue act of 1862 "one of had no constitutional authority lem of going to war in a market the most searching, thorough, compre­ economy: how to channel resources hensive systems of taxation every to take these dictatorial actions. away from their current owners and devised by any Government" (222). It Lincoln responded by prepar­ into the war machine. Aside from included excises on a vast collection of ing standing orders for Taney's receiving gifts, only two methods can goods, everything from liquor and serve. The government either buys the tobacco to meat, carriages, and profes­ arrest. resources or just takes them. The for­ sional services, plus a stamp tax not mer method can be facilitated by unlike the one that had inflamed the imposing new kinds of taxes, raising American colonists in 1765! The war­ than $1 billion. Southern states added the rates of existing taxes, borrowing time Congress also imposed taxes on another $45 million, and local govern­ funds, or printing new money. Both nearly everything that would stand still: ments and private companies spewed incomes, inheritances, and real estate. out assorted "shinplasters," a kind of Not surprisingly, many people small-denomination homemade money Lincoln did not hesitate to attempted to evade these taxes; hence substitute. After injuring southerners the creation of the Internal Revenue act as a dictator when doing so with hyperinflation, the outpouring of bureaucracy, another of the war's dia­ new fiat money insulted them at the served his purposes. A favorite bolical legacies to succeeding conclusion of the war by becoming tactic was to toss political dis­ generations. totally worthless. Hyperinflation, and Still scrambling for funds, Congress the economic collapse of the southern sidents into jail. authorized the issue of fiat paper economy it hastened, may have done as money, the famous "greenbacks," and much to ensure the rebels' defeat as declared them legal tender. Ultimately, their reversals on the battlefield. sides employed each of these means to $431 million was put into circulation by The Republican-dominated Con­ get control of resources, though the mix this means. When counterfeiters began gress took advantage of its control to of methods differed. to issue greenbacks of their own, the raise tariffs dramatically, to authorize To make a complicated story as sim­ government established the Secret subsidies to railroad companies and to ple as possible, one could say that for Service, another agency that refused to states establishing agricultural, mechan­ the most part the North borrowed die after the war. While it was monkey­ ical, and military colleges, to create a funds and bought resources, and for the ing with the money, Congress banned Department of Agriculture, and to serve most part the South printed paper private minting; thereafter the federal its favored constituents in a variety of money and bought resources. As a government would have, as it never other ways, all of which Hummel result, while the paper dollar lost about had before, a monopoly of the mintage. Iumps under the heading of northern half of its value in the North during the To eliminate competition with the new "neo-mercantilism." war, the purchasing power of paper paper money - greenbacks and The Confederate government, in money in the Confederacy fell by more national bank notes - Congress placed contrast, did much more to involve % than 95 , and many southerners aban­ a 10% tax on the issuance of notes by itself directly in the ownership, control, doned the use of money and resorted to the state banks, thereby ensuring that and operation of productive enterprises, barter in 1864 and 1865. To stimulate they would no longer be issued. including arsenals, powder mills, smelt- Liberty 55 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 ers, mines, foundries, shipyards, textile horror they had experienced. For count­ spending ratcheted up; federal involve­ mills, flour mills, salt works, and less relatives and friends of those who ment in economic life increased in assorted other enterprises. Late in the did not return home, the heartache important sectors, including banking war the government "took possession would never end. Across the South, and transportation. The national debt, of all un-captured southern railroads, where more than 50,000 civilian casual­ almost negligible before the war, had steamboats, and telegraph lines out­ ties augmented the military losses, reached $2.8 billion by the war's end. right, incorporating their employees many towns and cities, railroads, farms, Tariffs, jacked up to finance the war, and officers into the military" (236). and mills lay in ruins, and frightening remained high for decades afterward. Hummel calls these activities "State specters loomed over the region's eco­ No one can deny that the Civil War socialism." He concludes that despite nomic, social, and political future. For was a turning point in the long-run the South's avowed loyalty to states' sowing with slaves, Americans had growth of government in the United rights, "Confederate war socialism was reaped a whirlwind. States, but Hummel may overstate the more economically centralized than the Twelve years later, Reconstruction extent of government power in the late Union's neo-mercantilism, which at had run its course, the damaged nineteenth century and the degree to least relied heavily on private initiative" which the growth of government that (238). did occur sprang from war-related Ironically, their socialism, like so Hummel argues that the causes. A huge retrenchment did take many other policies the rebels adopted war destroyed the best govern­ place immediately after the war, and to wage war, also contributed to their some war-spawned measures, such as defeat. "Rebel central planning, while ment the country ever had, but the subsidization of railroad building, adequately serving the single-minded he may overstate the degree to the income tax, and almost all of the goal of supplying conventional armies, which the growth of govern­ federal excise taxes, were terminated otherwise misallocated resources and within a few years. fostered inefficiencies" (238). Moreover, ment sprang from war-related Much of the growth of government "the despotic centralization of Jefferson causes. in the late nineteenth century occurred Davis and his West Point cabal alien­ at the municipal level, as cities u~der­ ated the southern people from the cause took to impose public-health regula­ of independence" (289). southern economy had been repaired tions and to build schools, paved What they could not get in any other and reorganized with free labor, and streets, transport and water-supply sys­ way, both governments just took. the rebels had regained political control tems, sewers, and other urban infra­ Hummel estimates that the South got of their states. Tired of trying to secure structure, all of which probably would "somewhere between one-fifth and one­ justice for southern blacks, northerners have occurred even if the war had never third" of its soldiers by conscription abandoned them to the tender mercies happened. and used draft exemptions as "the of their erstwhile masters. Although the At the federal level, such develop­ mechanism for manipulating the labor freed people managed to continue ments as passage of the Act to Regulate market" (250). The North had better improving their economic conditions, Commerce (1887), the Sherman luck attracting volunteers, partly by around the turn of the century the Antitrust Act (1890), and the Food and paying large bonuses for enlistments, southern whites created piecemeal the Drugs Act (1906), as well as many other but in the latter half of the war the Jim Crow system of racial segregation interventions, might have occurred in Union also resorted to conscription, and and political disfranchisement that any event. Despite the political about 6% of those who served in its would inhibit and insult black people in entrenchment of mildly statist ranks were draftees. the South until it was finally dismantled Republicans, recurrently waving the In the land of the free the people did in the 1960s. So much blood, so little to bloody shirt, something approximating not take kindly to conscription, and dis­ show for it. classical liberalism retained a strong turbances broke out in hundreds of Nor was that disappointment all. hold on most Americans, even many places. Mayhem and murder ensued in Hummel argues that the war destroyed opinion leaders, prior to the Progressive draft riots, most notably in New York, the best government the country ever Era. Still, though one may quarrel about where rampaging Irish immigrants and had: "The national government that magnitudes, Hummel is surely correct others vented their fury on local blacks. emerged victorious from the conflict to argue that the war permanently aug­ Draft evasion reached extreme levels in dwarfed in power and size the minimal mented the size and scope of both the North and the South. Jacksonian State that had commenced government. the war" (328). With the old federation Aftermath of sovereign states shattered forever, War Weighed in the Balance When the guns finally fell silent in the national government began the long Nowadays few Americans hesitate the spring of 1865, the devil must have march that eventually transformed it to conclude that, on balance, the war been smiling. Some 360,000 northern into the monstrous police state we was a good thing. Yes, it was horrible in and 260,000 southern soldiers had died; know today. Intellectuals, who had many ways, but it was the price that some 400,000 combatants had been seri­ taken seriously the ideals of state sove­ had to be paid to destroy slavery. ously wounded, many maimed for life. reignty and secession, became for the Hummel does not dispute the war's Even those who survived intact would most part worshippers of central gov­ great benefit: "the last, great coercive have to live with the nightmares of the ernment power. Federal taxing and blight on the American landscape, black 56 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 chattel slavery, was finally extirpated assumptions too long taken for granted, the masters got no more than they - a triumph that cannot be overrated" such as the assumption that the seces­ deserved. But in the United States the (350). Moreover, "the fact that abolition sion required that Lincoln wage a war termination of slavery occurred only in was an unintended consequence in no to preserve the Union and the assump­ conjunction with a disastrous war and way gainsays the accomplishment" tion that only a terrible civil war could bitter reconstruction that left many (352). end slavery. issues unsettled and harmed a great But a justification of the war on the It is worth recalling that the people many innocents. How tragic that the grounds that it destroyed slavery holds of every slave society in the New World means by which men overthrew a only if the war alone could destroy save two - Haiti and the United States wicked institution should also have slavery. Hummel denies that this horri­ - managed to terminate this vile insti­ been the means by which they arrested ble price - one dead soldier for every tution without immersing themselves in the progress of their own freedom, that six freed slaves - had to be paid. Thus, blood. In Haiti the slaves quite justifia­ emancipating slaves entailed enslaving for him as for the abolitionist Moncure bly took matters into their own hands; free men. 0 Conway, the war that has such gran­ deur in American mythology reduces to "mere manslaughter" (355). The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on Although Hummel accepts the America's Public Schools, by David C. Berliner and Bruce J. Biddle, research of economic historians who Addison-Wesley, 414 pp., 1995, $25.00 (he), $15.00 (sc). have shown that slavery was flourish­ ing and not at all on the brink of wither­ ing away, he argues that even without the war it would have petered out: Slavery was doomed politically even if Lincoln had permitted the small Gulf Coast Confederacy to depart in Blackboard Bungle peace. The Republican-controlled Congress would have been able to work toward emancipation within the border states, where slavery was already declining. In due course the Radicals could have repealed the Nathan Crow planted in the gullible American mind Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. With by devious ideologues with a hidden chattels fleeing across the border and agenda. Things are just fine, the authors raising slavery's enforcement costs, How bad are American public claim. American students are as skilled the peculiar institution's final schools? For the last ten years at least, we as ever, compare well to young people destruction within an independent have been exposed to a flood of scandal in other industrialized countries, and cotton South was inevitable. (353) stories describing the scholastic deficien­ attain such excellence even though the Maybe. But one wonders whether cies of the young: their ignorance of his­ U.s. spends less per student than other slavery could have been ended easily or tory, inability to add or subtract, industrialized nations. Furthermore, quickly in the border states; whether nonexistent writing skills, and outright students in the vaunted private schools the Gulf Confederacy might have been illiteracy. According to one panel of emi­ actually perform no better than those in able to stem the flow of runaways; and nent critics, the public schools have had public schools, which hold their own whether, ultimately facing a serious an impact comparable to an invasion of despite mandated watering-down of threat to its slave system because of the U.S. by a mighty army. Many pro­ curricula and expensive insistence upon escapees fleeing to the North, it might grams for reform have been proposed, their teaching even the crippled (for­ have gone to war later. In the last sce­ seemingly to no avail, and a recent study merly warehoused), dim-witted (for­ nario, we have the worst of worlds - a shows that American students rank just merly ignored), or feral (formerly prolongation of slavery and the horrors above - shudder - Jordan in mathe­ expelled) children of the republic. In of war. matics, and not even within shouting short, our public schools are terrific. Of course, no one can know. distance of supposed academic super­ Beliefs to the contrary are misimpres­ Counterfactuals defy direct testing; we powers like Japan. Moreover, most sions created by right-wing propagan­

cannot rerun history to find out what Americans believe that this situation is dists and other IIenemies of the public would have occurred had some critical something new - that the public schools schools" to advance the cause of vouch­ event not happened. Yet all causal have grown rapidly worse in the last 20 ers, a neoliberal panacea the authors thinking necessarily involves counter­ or 30 years. Today's kids, so many consider not just unhelpful, but a dem­ factuals. Too often in historical analysis believe, are not just dumb. They are way onstrated failure -- a menace. the counterfactuals lie quietly between dumber than you or your dad's genera­ The most plausible of these claims is the lines, frequently in the form of tions. They are the dumbest kids ever. that the Great Decline never happened. unquestioned assumptions. A great Well, that's all bunk. Or so say Concurring with the authors of The Bell merit of Hummel's book is that it David C. Berliner and Bruce J. Biddle, Curve (to whose offensiveness they oth­ brings new counterfactuals to the sur­ authors of The Manufactured Crisis, who erwise testify with the predictable lit­ face, compelling a reconsideration of maintain that this familiar litany is a lie, any), Berliner and Biddle claim that the Liberty 57 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 death of America's SAT scores has been problems with approved in-school algo­ are the public schools doing in absolute greatly exaggerated. The worst they rithms" (30). Message: relax. Our stu­ terms? The answer is, Very badly. In allow is that the average ("aggregate") dents are street-smart; so what if they math, for example, the NAEP reviewers score hasn't budged for decades. And to are school-stupid? There is always a noted that only half of American 17­ the credit of the public schools, the future in chewing gum. Berliner and year-old Americans could solve "even authors note, the average scores of Biddle's frivolously uncritical attitude is moderately challenging" math prob­ minority groups, especially blacks and an impressive display of current educa­ lems, e.g., "decimals, fractions, [and] American Indians, have steadily tionist views. It does not even occur to percents. And only "6 percent [of 17­ improved since 1976. (Caucasian stu­ them to consider such .questions as: year-olds] reached the highest level," dents have declined a little since then; Could the gum retailers represent the which involves (according to the but among whites fewer top students cream of Third World youth? Is there a NAEP) "multi-step problem solving and more weak students are taking the value to "in-school problems" and algo­ and algebra" (29). (Apparently, geome­ test, so that is not significant.) True, rithms (useful for engineering, explor­ try, trigonometry, calculus, statistics, average scores declined substantially ing data with spreadsheets, or ferreting etc. do not blight the NAEP's horizons.) from 1963 to 1976; but the test has been out bullshit education statistics, for Not to worry, say Berliner and taken by a steadily higher. percentage of example)? And, if the real world does Biddle. Such superficially dismal results students, many of whom had relatively such a good job of teaching real-world indicate only that average students can­ poor, uneducated parents. Furthermore, skills, why should we pay for kids to not do the most advanced work - not the authors say, there has been no attend school at all? If schools don't surprising, given that the test was decline at all in average PSAT* scores teach the skills they aim to teach, and designed to yield such a distribution. since 1959 - and that test is given to The belief that a 17-year-old in his representative samples. twelfth year of government tutelage More important than these, how­ American students' average should be able to solve problems in ever, is the undeniable fact - deliber­ score on some items is only 1% fractions and algebra is, they say, a ately suppressed by the authors - that "flaw in reasoning." the total number of very high verbal better than we'd expect from a How do they demonstrate this scores has declined drastically, with the chimpanzee. "flaw"? By pointing out that kids in number of students scoring 700 or better other nations are not reaching the (the best is 800, the worst 200) declining "advanced" level either - in fact, as the about 60% from 1967 to 1993. Berliner those skills are worthless or arbitrary General Accounting Office noted, for and Biddle go out of their way to con­ anyway, maybe we should just skip it. the 13-year-olds, "10 percent of the stu­ ceal this artifact of national stupidifica­ But never mind. Rather than draw dents in Taiwan ... meet this stan­ tion, claiming that "top-ranked students out such implications, the authors pre­ dard," and Taiwanese students are the ... have tended to hold their ground" fer to psychologize. Why are Americans best in the world at math (the bookish (39) and "the top fifth of high school upset about schools? "[S]ome adults," kind, anyway) (29). Berliner and Biddle seniors have continued to score at a they conclude, are just "eager to find believe such factoids conclusively refute healthy level in both subtests of the young people dysfunctional" (31). Thus, the myth of the Great Decline - after SAT" (20). And although the authors they task the National Center for all, even powerhouse Taiwan gets only claim that the SAT is the only standard­ Education Statistics for its "appalling one out of ten of its students to the ized test that shows any decline, the ... education bashing [note: "educa­ advanced level! average score on the SAT's "English tion"=public school status quo] on the The authors must think that their Composition" test (a "subject" test basis of tests that do not measure real­ readers are as inept at math as the aver­ given to a minority of relatively capable world skills" (31). (Like marketing gum age American 17-year-old, and too stu­ students) also declined sharply in the on the sidewalks of Managua?) The test pid by far to notice that to make U.S. 1970s and never recovered. they themselves "bash" for its special public school students look half as good remoteness from these vaunted skills is as Taiwan's, our 17-year-olds have to be The Glory of the the National Assessment of Educational compared (unfavorably yet) with their Unofficial Algorithm Progress (NAEP), a test of skills and 13-year-olds. Not content with such statistical knowledge that the federal government Berliner and Biddle are somewhat legerdemain, the authors boldly dismiss has administered to representative persuasive in arguing that other inter­ the whole notion that book-learned groups of private and public school stu­ national differences are either nonexis­ math skills are important. Second­ dents for a little more than 20 years, tent or exaggerated. They cite, for graders "who sell chewing gum on the usually at four-year intervals. As with example, a study showing that streets" in poor countries, they tell us, the PSAT, student's NAEP scores have American nine-year-olds are near the have practical math skills that enable mostly been flat, except for "Hispanics" top of the heap in reading comprehen­ them effectively to retail their products; and blacks, who, happily, have sion. Unfortunately for their argument, but they still can't "solve the in-school improved. data in their own book (and elsewhere) show that however able U.S. fourth­ .. The PSAT, or pre-scholastic assessment (nee The Way We Learn Now graders may be, things tend to get

IIaptitude") test, is taken a year before the So set aside the Great Decline to ask worse from year to year - so that by SAT. a more important.question: how well the end of their eighteenth year, 58 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997

American students (especially the gifted programs: referencing a study by even with the geniuses of the Orient, American elite) have drifted far behind Robert Seigler and Kenneth Kotovsky, but the authors make far too much of their European counterparts*. they argue that this. No doubt there are provinces of A major cause of this pattern, it [s]tudents who are identified as Taiwan and Korea that soar as high seems to me, is egalitarian America's "gifted" in school tend to be very above their domestic dummies as the neglect of, or even outright hostility to, good at convergent thought, at learn­ brilliant farmers of North Dakota, popu­ the "gifted." In much of Europe, intel­ ing what is already known, and at lation 638,800, do above the innumerate lectual skills are admired and short-term accomplishments. In con­ numbskulls of scholastically avant­ rewarded, and perhaps ten times more trast, those whom we honor for their garde California, population 29,760,021 Europeans than Americans take the accomplishments as adults are more (and dead last in the most recent equivalent of what is here known as an likely to exhibit divergent thought, NAEP). The authors' intellectual dis­ "advanced placement" (AP) course. discovery, and long-term, profound honesty is nowhere better shown than Over the years various attempts have achievements.... [T]hese two groups in this bizarre attempt to compare a been made to change this - by creating of people may not overlap much in handful of our best to other nations' special programs for the bright, by add­ the real world (210). averages. ing more AP courses, by creating high There is some truth here. But I suspect Berliner and Biddle's hostility to pri­ schools for the gifted on the model of that much of the problem could be vate schools is obvious, which may New York City's special high schools solved by casting the net wider - loos­ (Bronx Science, etc.). But such reforms ening the criteria for admission, allow­ have consistently been foiled by educa­ ing for some selection by interest, and The average American stu­ tionists playing on the average citizen's thus including about one quarter of stu­ dent exists in a vacuum that resentment of smart kids, a persecuted dents in a truly academic regimen, ii la minority if there ever was one. the French and the Germans. leaves him utterly incapable of Berliner and Biddle share such res­ comprehending political and sentiment. They offer specious criticisms They Really Are economic events. of gifted programs, beginning with the Smarter Over There observations that identification of the As we have seen, Berliner and gifted is not "foolproof" (what is?) and Biddle's account of international differ­ account for their failure to examine seri­ that more middle-class and upper-class ences is selective and uncritical, and at ously the role that private tutoring cen­ white students get in than poor and times so slippery that it can fairly be ters, or jukus, play in advancing Japan's "minority" students (a category which called dishonest. American eighth grad­ educational excellence, such as it is. ers don't perform as well in math as That aside, I would have to agree with Japanese eighth graders, they tell us; them that there is little if any reason for The belief that a 17-year-old but again we should relax. Those Americans to look to Japan's regi­ eighth-graders who have taken algebra mented, authoritarian, and stupidly in his twelfth year of govern­ do better than their Japanese counter­ uniform public schools as a model. Do ment tutelage should be able to parts, and those who have taken pre­ we want a system where every 11-year­ solve problems in fractions and algebra do almost as well. But that is old in the country gets the same math irrelevant. The reason most American lesson on the same day? Where stu­ algebra is, they say, a ''flaw in eighth-graders aren't in algebra class is dents obsessed with passing tests grind reasoning. " because they aren't ready for algebra away their youth with eight hours of class; as we saw earlier, the poor things memorization a night, preparatory to a are still trying to master fractions, deci­ life of drudging for a corporation? mals, and percents, subjects that they American schools may not be the won­ presumably doesn't include Asian­ have been "taught" in some form since der of the world that Berliner and Americans - perhaps Berliner and third or fourth grade, and which many Biddle would have us believe, but the Biddle view such students as "honorary will still be struggling with five years authors are mostly right in inveighing white people"). But their most impor­ later when they enter a job market with against the gross exaggeration of for­ tant objection, by far, is that "enrichment diminishing room for people who think eign schools' virtues. programs ... impose the burden of fail­ that 1/2+3/4=4/6. Such realities are too ure on the majority of students ... Thus, painful for the authors to contemplate, they tend to lower morale [and] destroy The Talented One-Hundredth and so they conclude that the students' a sense of community ..." (208-209). One way of dealing with the public weaknesses are the product merely of This, of course, is disgusting. But the schools' failure to produce many gradu­ how "instruction is scheduled." This, authors do have at least one interesting, ates who are more than degreed yahoos though they are so ignorant of math and perhaps valid, observation about is to write off the life of the mind as a curricula that they don't even know peculiar obsession of chronically dissat­ what pre-algebra is, remarking only * On the other hand, a higher proportion of isfied pedants. This is the authors' tac­ Americans than Europeans go to college, that it "sounds odd to us" (56). tic. After discussing some interesting where they presumably catch up on what It is true, as the authors note, that new research showing that public they've missed. (The inefficiency involved students in our best states (North school students in bygone days were in this process is a separate problem.) Dakota, Iowa) compare well in math just as ignorant as today's crop, they Liberty 59 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 obs~rve that "students seem never to and handwriting do not count, as will about history than I can "think" about have known as much social studies soon become clear.) Navajo grammar. material as the test developers wanted Now look at figure 2, and consider them to know." People like Chester what the NAEP classifies as a "profi- The Current Alternatives Finn, who think students given twelve cient" response (this is a cut above It's worth noting that private school years of instruction ought to know at "basic," and is supposed to designate students, though unimpressive by abso- least when the Civil War was fought "solid academic performance"): "that lute standards, at least do better than (within 50 years, that is - call it. the some people felt sorry for the Native their peers in government schools. For self-esteem standard) and who Jefferson Americ" [sic]. That such an attitude is twelfth-graders, about twice as many was and what the First Amendment not at all suggested by the illustration non-Catholic private schoolers as public says, the authors dismiss as part of a seems obvious to me, but perhaps you schoolers reach the "proficient" and "sour tradition" captiously inclined to disagree. If so, consider the sample "advanced" levels in history, and about find "the next generation wanting" (34). "advanced" response - supposedly 50% more private school students Such glib dismissals no doubt go indicative of truly "superior perfor- (including Catho-lic school students) down well with youthful WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH OUR INDIANS? score "basic" or above*. ignoramuses and mentally Although it is not clear vacant educationists; but to how much, if any, of this those who value the human- private school advantage ities and what Berliner and reflects differences in stu- Biddle call "social studies," dents' family life and socio- and are taxed to the gills to economic status, certainly pay for their furtherance, the finding itself is familiar American students' ignor- enough. Various efforts to ance of history is indeed measure the differences in frightening. The NAEP his- academic performance tory test actually shows that between private schools and students know next to noth- public ones have found con- ing about the American sistently that the differences past. Only 1% of public are generally significant, but school twelfth-graders not terribly impressive. scored at the "advanced" I suspect that part of the level, and 57% scored below reason lies in the fact that "basic," which is the lowest such a high proportion of level and ought really to be private schools in the U.s. designated "feeble." But are Roman Catholic. things are even worse than Without wishing to offend, I that. Most of the test items . will note what no one else are multiple-choice with has, viz., that Catholic A GROt? OF l'R01UNEN1' SIOl']; CHIEl'S. four options, so a student Vol n., No. 3-17.' schools (with some sup~rb has a 25% chance of "know- Figure 1: The original NAEP test illustration shows the entire Jesuit exceptions) are in the ing" an item even if he fills cover of Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, September 1876. main profoundly anti- in the blank at random. Thus, the NAEP mance": "that they were less than intellectual, especially in interpretation reports that 26% of public school human and far behind rest of the world of texts ('twere well not to look too curi- eighth-graders "know" at least "one and they were a nuisance to frontier- ously upon it) and in science, where consequence of Nat Turner's rebellion" farmers and settlers and had to be put vanish even the paltry private school - but this score is only 1% better than away on reservations" [sic, of course]. advantages ferreted out in a famous we'd expect from a chimpanzee. And As you can see, this student is sim- study by the indefatigable James some other scores are actually worse ply "telling what he knows" about nine- than random. teenth-century white Americans' *The exact figures for"at or above basic" are 41% of public school students, 59% of "non­ More bad news. On the few items attitudes towards Indians; his answer public" school students; for"at or above pro­ that require written responses, the relates only remotely to the magazine ficient," it's 10% public school students and NAEP's scoring method is so bizarrely cover. Yet this qualifies as "advanced" 18% of nonpublic students; for"at or above forgiving as to discredit even that tal- work, a level reached by only one out of advanced," it's 1% public, 1% Roman ented hundredth (W.E.B. DuBois was, it a hundred public school students. What Catholic, and 2% "other nonpublic." The first seems, an optimist). Look at figure 1, for the NAEP really appears to show is that two categories are basically the same for the example, which is drawn from the most the average American student knows Catholics and non-Catholics. NAEP 1994 U.S. recent NAEP history exam, and briefly nothing about history or the assessment History: A First Look, by Paul L. Williams, et a1. answer the question: "What attitudes of historical evidence. He exists in a vac- Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.s. Depart-ment of displayed toward American Indians by uum that leaves him utterly incapable Education, 1995. Ifyou call (800) 424-1616, other Americans are suggested by this of comprehending political and eco- they may well send you a free copy of this magazine cover?" (Spelling, grammar, nomic events, and can no more "think" and other documents in the series. 60 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997

Coleman. But their failing stems not plex and difficult to get a handle on, parents, who do not themselves receive just from the Roman Catholic schools' and perhaps the difference is not so the services of the school, and therefore ingrained hostility to the scientific great as this. But there is no doubt that a have a difficult time assessing them. I do method, and in the case of their funda- substantial difference exists.) Most pri- not suggest that children should evalu­ mentalist cousins, to scientific findings vate schools are church schools of one ate the schools themselves, although this themselves; it has institutiobal causes kind or another - the majority Roman does not seem unreasonable (to me, any­ as well. Catholic, and many of the rest evangeli- way) for adolescents. But the situation I'm not referring just to the religious cal Protestant (Seventh Day Adventist, here is different than with most consu­ schools' characteristic adoption of pub- Baptist, and the like). They charge low mer decisions - "family socialism," lic school rituals such as football wor- tuition, often give generous scholar- though presumably benevolent, ship and lock-step advancement ships to the children of the deserving impedes the kind of rapid feedback through single-age classrooms. There is poor, and pay the poor wretches who found with services directly obtained. also their general habit of following cur- teach for them very little. Such schools But at least as important as all this is ricula that resemble those of the public are in a poor position to compete finan- that private schools do not necessarily schools. Finally, there is some parochial cially for the more competent teachers. compete primarily on the basis of aca­ schools' inclination to hire only state- Non-religious private schools are demic services. Despite all the policy certified teachers. The latter NAEP "proficient" response (8th grade) wonk school-chat and media policy has obvious economic What attitudes displayed toward American Indians by other Americans hair-pulling to the contrary, advantages, since it filters out are SUgg~ted by tbis mapzinc coved ,Q ~o A l..,p.. ~ <:> \:\.. most parents are fairly well sat­ anyone without a demon- :-tr 1\;- S 0 IMA 42-_ -- F -- ==- - isfied with prevailing academic "l ( \J-' JJf strated long-term ambition to &, n" £:>.'\ '\0 e rt "\ he Pr'e:" V~ Wf11 e d I, results. (This is a fairly consis­ work as a teacher; but the costs tent finding in polls.) Besides, cannot be denied. Education NAEP "advanced" response (8th grade) most parents tend to blame majors have the lowest IQ's, What attitudes displayed toward American Indians by other Amcric:ms their child for his academic fail- lowest GPA's, and lowest :~Zff~b ~e ~ r=~ ~:~:h:~~ f~:~~t s:~~:ss:~; a~~ SAT/ ACT scores of any college OR +f¥;"'E: htj; major, and 'twas ever thus. ~. ~ they find intellectual perfor- This may not pose much of a problem in the early primary ~r;;;~;:~L:~;fnz2;/f;~Jlt:~ ?:~~:~i:;;~~:~~:'T0;j!i grades, where the material itself (if not its presentation) /lut: 4 wo V ~11 ce 6Pc b:J ------poses significant problems for public' schools" - which, at least as presently con­ far as they can go. A ceived, must offer roughly the same pack­ federal judge there "Oh, yeah? -let's see how tough you are without age to every student. (227) ordered that $200 mil- those tattoos!" 62 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997

"trait" that "parents can buy," if they ter than ours in other respects. And very high proportion of students; thus, have enough money. even where the authors seem most it is probable that differences in achieve­ chained to their prejudices - as in ment can be reduced by improving the An Un-American Conclusion their hatred of anything that smacks of quality of instruction so that every stu­ To be fair to the authors, they make "privatizing" (vouchers, etc. - read dent reaches his basic potential. For a persuasive case that American schools state subsidy in sheep's clothing) -I example, probably 98-99% of students are not really much worse academically sometimes can't help feeling slightly can learn to read well enough to under­ than they were 20 years ago. As noted sympathetic. Their conclusions, though stand basic directions; so there is no earlier, there was a decline during the wrongly premised, buttress my own absolute constraint upon their achieve­ 1960s and early '70s, but math scores view that vouchers are insidiously ment, only the practical constraints of have actually bounced back since then destructive of true freedom*. teaching quality and degree of persever­ (1990 NAEP math scores were the high­ At the end of their book, the authors ance. The situation over the long term is est ever); and if the "elite" verbal group suggest various tired "innovations" quite different. There is an absolute con- never recovered, it has not declined fur­ such as "cooperative learning," compu­ ther. Besides, the earlier decline, espe­ terized education, etc., which, though cially in verbal scores, may well have predictably in line with their liberal­ other causes than what schools do, nota­ egalitarian world view, are hardly cred­ Where private schools do bly the epidemic addiction to television. ible as effective teaching methods, let compete very successfully is in Moreover, the authors may well be alone as ways out of the trap for inner providing safety and order. right that much of what they call the city youth and others caught in the bru­ "hysteria" about decline stems from the tal machine of state schooling. But what­ vain unwillingness of older Americans ever the authors' intentions, the real to accept that their own generations message of The Manufactured Crisis may straint upon anyone's ability in a given be that there is no easy solution, and area, be it math, music, physics, or liter­ maybe no "solution" at all, to the prob­ ature. Probably the most familiar of Despite all the media hair­ lems of education - and by extension, these is math; there seems little reason to the problems of ignorance, ugliness, to believe that a majority of the popula­ pulling to the contrary, most and incompetence. Such a message goes tion is capable of attaining excellence in, parents are fairly well satisfied against the contemporary American say, advanced calculus, just as there is with prevailing academic grain, which bids us to always be ready little reason to believe that a majority with a quick remedy: whole language, could master the violin, grasp quantum results. E.D. Hirsch's shopping list of names physics, run a four-minute mile, or pro­ and definitions, vouchers, or "national duce an intelligent critique of "The standards." (The poverty of criticism in Wasteland." And even if someone fig­ were about as feeble as today's kids. this area is revealed, for example, by the ures out both how to teach much better And a final factor in the perceived infe­ bizarre mixture of panic and credulity than we do, and how to institutionalize riority of today's youth is that the that greeted the announcement by Chris better teaching, such constraints will majority of opinion-leaders probably Whittle - a kind of exalted ad man­ continue to fly in the face of America's grew up with relatively smart kids, and that he, with the help of a former presi­ hysterical optimism. are relatively smart themselves; when dent of Yale, would open a chain of So David Berliner and Bruce Biddle they find out how bad things are in gen­ nationwide, for-profit schools, with a are probably right: the Great Decline is eral, they are shocked. foolishly presupposed emphasis upon a myth, and there is no "crisis." A crisis The Manufactured Crisis is an inter­ "computers.") requires a critical moment. But a few esting book, and it is a pity that it is This has partly to do with the brilliant teachers and institutions marred both by the authors' ignorance dream of equality: when school is done excepted, American public schools have of economics (a failing I haven't the right, all of us will be so smart we can always been bad, and are bad now: space to discuss) and by their precon­ hardly stand it. But in reality, maxi­ anti-intellectual, crime- and bully­ ceived commitment to government mally effective instruction should have ridden warrens of mediocrity, they gen­ schools. They have interesting observa­ two results: (a) during the early stages erally subsist on the ignorance of a peo­ tions to make on a host of matters, and of instruction, a narrowing of the gap ple sentimental about their own school if they are a bit absurd in attributing between high-IQ and low-IQ subjects days, resentful of those who experi­ criticism of state schools exclusively to (substitute "native ability" for IQ if you enced something better, and deter­ right-wing ideologues - well, I can wish), and (b) during later stages, a mined to perpetuate the regime that probably get along with anyone who widening of the gap. For the materials made them what they are. Most of the also detests William Bennett. And we covered during the first eight years or proposed reforms have the potential to need not be concerned with their sur­ so are within the potential grasp of a destroy what little exists of a free and prising conclusion that American public dignified private sector, in exchange for schools compare reasonably well with benefits that seem dubious at best. * Even charter schools may present similar those of foreign countries. Why, after problems. Already a struggling private Amelioration is offered by homeschool­ all, should we expect otherwise? There school in Arizona has "gone charter," and a ing, by private schools that shore up is little reason to believe that most once-free institution has been colonized by islands of wisdom one by one, and even European or other governments are bet- the state. This is not progress. by the solitary dedicated public school Liberty 63 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 teacher. But given the institutional abolition. That is difficult for many peo­ one else - usually Republicans. ("Few incentives and fantastic beliefs of state ple to swallow. But I suspect it is the histories have been rewritten so com­ education, there is no remedy short of truth. 0 pletely and so soon as the history of the Reagan administration" [82], he comments.) The Vision ofthe Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Vision gives three examples of fail­ Social Policy, by Thomas Sowell. Basie Books, 1995,305 pp., $25.00 (he), ures that the anointed refuse to $14.00 (pb). acknowledge: the failure of the war on poverty to reduce dependency on wel­ fare, the failure of sex education to reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies, and the failure of sociological theories of criminal justice to reduce crime. In each Who Watches case, the new policy chosen actually appears to have increased the problem. No matter. As Sowell explains, the Botchers? when poverty rose rather than fell, opinion leaders redefined the intent of their program. It hadn't been to reduce dependency after all, but to reduce pov­ JaneS. Shaw In contrast, the "unconstrained" erty - if necessary, through redistribu­ vision (held by Rousseau, for example, tion. And when illegitimate births rose, and reflected in the French Revolution) opinion leaders rewrote history. There Thomas Sowell writes so many sees people as capable of being made hadn't been enough sex education (even books that it is hard to keep up with more idealistic and better-behaved. In though, according to Sowell, nearly half them, much less evaluate them. Conflict, Sowell reveals a preference for However, they group themselves the­ the constrained vision; but he focuses on matically. So, to appreciate The Vision of the intellectual distinction, not the polit­ Since the 1960s, the elites the Anointed, it is helpful to consider two ical point. have repeatedly asserted the earlier books. By 1995, the trend toward political In 1980, Sowell's densely packed control showed little sign of abating, his existence of a crisis, demand­ Knowledge and Decisions explored the polite discussion of the two kinds of ing and obtaining government trend toward political control of deci­ visions had drawn no blood, and action. sion making. Knowledge and Decisions is Sowell's patience must have been run­ a broad and powerful argument that ning out. In The Vision of the Anointed, central authorities cannot have the Sowell brings together the messages of of all schools had sex education as early knowledge necessary for reasonable the two books. He argues that the domi­ as 1968). When crime rates rose, the decision-making, so political control has nance of elites who hold the uncon­ elite hid the problems by making it disastrous consequences. (It is an ampli­ strained vision has caused the loss of socially unacceptable to talk about fication of F. A. Hayek's essay on "The freedom and the social deterioration them. Promoting law and order became Use of Knowledge in Society," in which described in Knowledge and Decisions. the equivalent of racism. Hayek argued that the dispersion of And he spells out how the elites keep Much of Visions is devoted to illus­ knowledge is the main reason why that vision in spite of all evidence to the trating just how the elites distort facts to socialism cannot work.) contrary. uphold their view of the matter at hand. In 1987, in A Conflict of Visions, Vision is smaller than Knowledge and For example, in recent years, family and Sowell again addressed the decision­ Decisions but larger than Conflict, and is household income figures have been making process, but in a more abstract more journalistic and policy-oriented used to support the idea of the "disap­ way, offering a dispassionate explana­ than either. Much of the book illustrates pearance of the middle class" or "eco­ tion for the gradual erosion of freedom how the "anointed" (the newspaper col­ nomic stagnation" (50). But the over the past century or so. Sowell said umnists, politicians, and others who declining size of the family, which is that there are two major ways of view­ influence public opinion - the second­ even more dramatic among blacks than ing human nature. Those who hold the hand dealers in ideas) operate to avoid whites, explains much of the "decline" "constrained" vision (Adam Smith, for facing reality. Since the 1960s, he says, in income. Per-capita income figures example, or the American Founding the elites have repeatedly asserted the show a quite different picture. Fathers) see human beings as inherently existence of a crisis, demanding and This deception was conscious; flawed, not likely to change fundamen­ obtaining government action. Most, if Sowell points out that "New York Times tally. They don't want the government not all, of these policies have failed dis­ columnist Tom Wicker knew how to to try to overturn or revamp the deci­ mally, a fact that has not led the use per-capita income statistics when he sions that people make individually, anointed to reconsider their arguments. wished to depict success for the since these decisions are made within If things don't work out the way they Johnson administration' and family the constraints inevitable in life. were supposed to, it is the fault of some- income statistics when he wished to 64 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 depict failure for the Reagan and Bush Who Stole Feminism? And his statistics now trying to get his message under­ administrations" (51). on the current family come from a stood by those who can bring about Another technique is to lump media conference at Columbia change. The Vision of the Anointed together mild and extreme activities, University on the American family. should be viewed as a book that builds and treat them all as manifestations of These quibbles aside, The Vision of on his past writing. In that light, espe­ the worst end of the spectrum - or, as the Anointed is a valuable and stimulat­ cially, his arguments ring true. Sowell says, "to list a whole string of ing book. Thomas Sowell is a man with Sowell's anger, too, rings true. His adverse things, with the strong stuff up a mission. Now 66 years old, he knows final comment on the elites is: "Sel­ front to grab attention and the weak his days of writing are limited. He long dom have so few cost so much to so stuff at the end to supply the numbers" ago proved himself a scholar and is many" (260). 0 (47). A Louis Harris poll reported that % "37 of married women are 'emotion­ Star Wars; The Empire Strikes Back; Return ofthe Jedi - Special ally abused' and 4 million 'physically abused.'" But "abuse" as measured by editions, 1997, written and directed by George Lucas. this poll included such things as a hus­ band's "stomping out of the room" and "grabbing his wife," as well as actual violence. Victims are also lumped together to create a misleading impres­ sion. It is widely believed that "wife­ Rebels vs. the beating" is common, but, says Sowell, violence against women is far more likely to be against separated, divorced, Federation and never-married women rather than wives. "The least likely of all victims is a wife" (173). Sowell explores other techniques for maintaining the vision, such as the Todd Seavey Emperor's power, which means they'll selection of "mascots" - groups that probably have even more libertarian­ are always treated sympathetically ­ conservative resonance for movie-goers This year's re-release of the three and of "targets" - groups that are than the existing films.) Star Wars movies reminded movie­ attacked because they don't conform to goers of two important truths: you can't the preferences of the anointed. Mascots The Star Wars Revolution include the handicapped, the homeless, trust the Empire, and Star Trek looks For future historians, the whole and criminals. Targets include business incredibly lame (and socialist) com­ Thatcher-Reagan-Gorbachev-Gingrich executives, religious groups, and fami­ pared to Star Wars. era will blur together into a single crisis lies. (By the way, Sowell contends that To illustrate the difference, consider of faith in big government (as surely as the "traditional" family isn't as dead as one of the nice added touches in the re­ the eighteenth century blurs together for the elites claim it to be. Although he releases of the Star Wars films: the addi­ us). Those historians may conclude that does not provide extensive evidence for tion of footage at the end of Return of the it was no coincidence that the crisis his claim, he points out that in 1992, 71 Jedi, showing celebrations of the evil period began promptly after the release percent of all Americans under 18 were Emperor's death on various planets, of Star Wars in 1977. living with both their parents [61].) including the Imperial throneworld, Well, all right, the Star Wars series As much as I admired the power of Coruscant. It's a celebration for the char­ may not have changed history, but it is Sowell's logic, I found myself uncon­ acters and viewers alike, a final resolu­ one of the few products of late twenti­ vinced by some of his arguments. For tion of all the moral and physical eth-century pop culture that qualifies as example, Sowell dismisses the substitu­ conflicts that preceded it - a climax mythic. Darth Vader, for instance, may tion of phrases such as "he or she" for that Trek, which has no central narra­ be the creepiest personification of evil to the male pronoun as merely another tive drive or moral purpose, could haunt the Western imagination since attempt by the elites to affirm their com­ never give us. The Emperor, inciden­ Satan. A Darth Vader action figure was mitment to sexual equality, noting that, tally, is named Palpatine, a variation on even part of a fully-restored Haitian historically, "he" was used to mean the Palatine hill in Rome, a city synony­ voodoo altar on display recently at both men and women. This is true mous with the decline of republic into Chicago's Field Museum, right next to enough, but his claim that"no one empire (Palpatine's name appears in the centuries-old symbols of magic and intended to exclude women" (147) is far Star Wars novel but is not spoken in the power. It's easy to forget how magical too sweeping. films). The corrupt politics of Coruscant these films are and lump them in with Also, Sowell weakens his credibility will reportedly figure more prominently the countless imitators that came along by relying on secondary sources for in the three prequel films that Lucas later. Big-budget science fiction movies some data. His figures on actual vio­ wants to begin releasing in 1999. (The of the Arnold Schwarzenegger variety, lence against women, for example, come prequels will depict the final days of the with all their macho excess, make Star from the book Christina Hoff Sommers' galactic Republic and the growth of the Wars look almost feminine by compari- Liberty 65 Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 son, like a fairy tale or an Arthurian leg­ secrets of ancient Jedi knights and lead was that a massive fleet of humanoid end. Maybe that's because the Star a band of outnumbered but brave rebels aliens was hovering above the Earth Wars movies take old-time virtue and against a tyrannical galactic empire. hoping to quietly colonize it before they morality (and the threat of authoritar­ Which matters more, I ask you? could be attacked by their enemies, the ian bureaucrats) as seriously as mon­ evil cyborgs called the Cylons (whom sters and pyrotechnics. The Trouble with Trek you may remember from their glowing That's probably the only part of my Something's not quite right about red eyes and their voices, which analysis that George Lucas would agree the Trek universe. inspired the robot chorus in the song with. As a Hollywood liberal in the Drama requires tension and conflict, "Funkytown"). So what did we get in Steven Spielberg vein (witness Lucas's whether it's Macbeth struggling against almost every episode? Two guys from liberal message-of-the-week series his conscience or King Kong against the alien fleet driving around America Young Indiana Jones), Lucas probably biplanes. Trek is set in a near-utopian on motorcycles, getting a feel for their wouldn't want Star Wars to be labeled future, and utopias don't allow much new world by fighting the occasional conservative; he'd likely prefer time­ conflict. No matter how much they use corrupt sheriff, wife-beater, or street less. And one can argue that Star Wars the phasers in a given episode, we has its liberal side, insofar as a tolerant, know in our hearts that all is well in the multi-ethnic, low-tech group (some­ Federation. The original Star Trek televi­ The Star Wars series may times prone to New Age-like mysti­ sion series had the seeds of utopianism cism) is fighting a vast military­ in it, but retained a sense of adventure, not have changed history, but industrial complex. The explosion of mainly because it owed so much to the it is one of the few products of the Death Star space station then Captain Video generation of space cadet late twentieth-century pop cul­ becomes the ultimate expression of shows that preceded it. The modern "sticking it to the Man." Fair enough. Trek spin-offs, however, have fallen ture that qualifies as mythic. There are plenty of reasons ·to fight prey to Roddenberry's optimism. No tyrannical empires. matter what happens to Trek characters like the Klingon warrior Worf and the gang. Meanwhile, Back on Earth Bajoran ex-terrorist Kira - even if Trek's episodic nature makes it vul­ Star Trek - despite all its fanatic they're tortured by evil Romulans and nerable to the same sort of stagnation. followers, its frequent conventions, its made to confess childhood sexual mol­ Star Wars, in keeping with classic narra­ three spin-off series, and the huge role estation - we never feel there's a real tive rules, has focus and direction - a it played in the childhoods of countless danger of them coming out of the situa­ clearly-defined, epic struggle with a vis­ science fiction fans - can't hold a can­ tion much changed. The characters are ible end. dle to Star Wars, and every last Trekkie as resilient as those on any sitcom, and knows it. Trek can throw as many sitcoms are not drama. Experimental Evidence Nor is Star Trek's careful mainte­ Luckily for concerned media ana­ nance of the status quo a good formula lysts, the fates have provided us with a Star Trek looks incredibly for science fiction, which draws its glimpse of what Trek might look like if lame (and socialist) compared strength from constant extrapolation injected with a dose of Star Wars' and fresh twists. That's why the genre is romanticism: the syndicated, budget­ to Star Wars. generally better suited to films than to challenged but spirited show Babylon 5. episodic television. Too many science Its creator, J. Michael Straczynski, fiction shows seem to use up their crea­ pitched Paramount on the idea of a Vu1cans, transporters and shuttlecraft at tive juices in the opening title sequence. space station where competing races the American psyche as it wants - they We learn, say, that scientists have meet to engage in trade and diplomacy. won't strike the kind of primal chords created a super-intelligent orangutan Paramount said no and then made Star that Star Wars' stormtroopers, light who is on the run from the law, but Trek: Deep Space Nine anyway - a series sabers, and Death Star space stations after that tantalizing initial premise, with the same premise - while do. Star Trek lacks Star Wars' romantic each individual episode is as disposable Straczynski went off to make Babylon 5. sweep and moral impact. George Lucas - and does as little to expand on the So we have a "control" and an "experi­ created more magic in six hours of Star premise - a§ any installment of mental" Trek-type show, as it were, Wars films than Gene Roddenberry and Charlie's Angels.' The orangutan becomes broadcast every Saturday evening. his successors have managed to eke out a coal miner, saves people from a burn­ The result? Despite Babylon 5's of more than 800 hours of Trek on tele­ ing building, goes surfing, etc.; but spending only half as much money per vision and film. The success of last there is rarely any permanent change in episode as Deep Space Nine, despite year's Star Trek: First Contact doesn't his mental or legal status that alters our Straczynski's being stretched thin by change that. While the Trek characters perspective on the series or advances writing all the episodes himself, and take orders from quasi-military bureau­ the basic conflict. despite the awfulness of many of its crats back at Federation HQ and cruise One of the worst offenders of this actors, Babylon 5 seems to have all the through space with the haughty detach­ kind was the series Galactica 1980, the meaning and drama and life that the ment of anthropologists, Star Wars' terrible sequel to the 70s series Battlestar sterile Trek world lacks. Characters die Luke Skywalker and friends learn the Galactica. The premise of Galactica 1980 unexpected but meaningful deaths (in 66 Liberty Volume 10, Number 5 May 1997 last season's finale, we even got to see narration, which is comparable to Despite Lucas's fiddling and improve­ nuclear weapons dropped on a shriek­ unveiling new Star Trek narration that ments for the re-releases, the truth is ing Melissa Gilbert by her real-life hus­ says "We once went boldly where no that none of the megabudget special band Bruce Boxleitner, who plays the one had gone before - but that was effects films to come out since Star Wars captain of the Babylon 5 space station). before the Federation was destroyed." have shown anything close to its cine­ Competing empires engage in selfish Of course, Star Trek's twenty-fourth matic skill or attention to detail. Sure, tactical maneuvers instead of just being century is much too stable - and its film stock ages. Hair cuts go out of misunderstood (as every minor race inhabitants too emotionally well­ style. But dedication and artistry stand seems to be on Trek). Allegiances form adjusted - for that sort of thing. the test of time, with or without '90s and collapse. Earth's government goes Maybe that's why the characters in Star computer-animated enhancement. fascist in wartime instead of For the Star Wars series, alien adhering politely to a Prime languages were created by com­ Directive, as Trek's Federation bining real Earth languages supposedly does. An ancient war because, Lucas realized, ad-libbed between two alien races represent­ gibberish just doesn't have a con­ ing Order and Chaos (the major vincing-yet-alien sound to it. plotline of the series' first three Elaborate backgrounds were and half seasons) ended recently, created for even the minor charac­ Vt~\t:1:> not with a big explosion, but with S\R. I I'VE IN A. ters, so that their costumes and 11\( ~~ 0 N, ))\L't11-\ \Vtt\ , humanity and other races refusing weapons would seem parts of 1) /S Ii WAR? KAO'PEt1A11 to take sides in the conflict and SLO·f '61N tiz:z. IONIZ/~& organic, albeit unseen, cultures. opting for freedom instead, 13£AM c A~Nol\J . Every inch of every set is convinc­ demanding that the two ancient ingly designed, with few hints of foes leave and let the younger -"' the hokiness that creeps into lesser races control their own destinies. sci-fi. The aerial battles, particu­ Straczynski has vowed that larly the famous Death Star trench Babylon 5 will never become stale finale from the first film, were and that it will never feature cute modeled on footage of actual dog­ kids or cute robots. He takes the fights and have a realism that vow seriously, comparing it to money alone can't create. Spiderman's realization that "with And while we may think of great power comes great responsi­ grittiness in science fiction films as bility." Straczynski and his fellow starting with the dirt, sweat, and Babylon 5 creators (including the saliva of Alien (1979), there's a ubiquitous Harlan Ellison) cite detailed, real-world slovenliness influences such as Hill Street Blues, WfJelf'.' VI(IOVS 4rr fROStS" to things in Star Wars - such as The Prisoner, Thunderbirds, the his­ 4* ONLt 1HEI~ WAY Q~ )I1YING Han Solo's spaceship, the rebel toric struggles of the Jews, the \\~£,JbY." NOW L£f"5 ~)IN H~ND{ headquarters, and the dwarfish comic book Nexus, and the film Jawas' robot holding pens - that I'" 4N [NJIl\( l~ (f"\ r~ EA ELr Casablanca (which also obviously makes Star Wars far more believa­ WIN-WIN SrfvAfioN. ~ inspired the bustling but seedy ble, whether viewed in 1977 or spaceport Mos Eisley in Star Wars, 1997, than anything in, say, Total described by Ben Kenobi as a Recall. "wretched hive of scum and vil­ Trek, on the other hand, has an lainy"). What all of these sources oddly sanitized feel to it, emotion­ have in common - and what Trek Trek: First Contact (the first Trek film to ally and physically. The Trek characters lacks - is the sense that a truly rich, generate real tension since 1982's Star can be lost in a swamp on some primi­ complex world is not one that is easily Trek II: Wrath of Khan) traveled back to tive planet and it still feels like we're controlled but one that is constantly the twenty-first century, a time when watching a group of jumpsuited, TV­ falling apart and being remade, con­ space explorers still experienced all commercial-ready Meineke repairmen stantly fighting against disasters and those obsolete but interesting emotions or a bunch of aquarium tour guides. setbacks. such as fear, anger, and courage. Trek isn't a failure by any means, but Babylon 5's second season ended it's just a TV show, even when it's on with one human character's grim The Power of the Force the big screen. menorah-lighting monologue about I meet people from time to time how the space station's crew had failed who say that the first Star Wars movie The Voice of a Generation as the galaxy's "last, best hope for was impressive in its day, but that it Star Wars is a classic, and I rushed peace" and could only hope they'd be looks primitive by today's standards. I to see it again when it opened. All victorious in a costly war against the don't know whether these people are right, I admit I waited a few days, to let chaos-loving Shadows. The monologue very poor observers or just say such the crowds die down. I'm getting too became the next season's title sequence things to sound hip and modern. old to fight long lines. I suppose I'm Liberty 67 May 1997

getting too old for this sort of thing in general. Over the past few months, I've been indulging in some pop culture nostalgia - bought a new Micronauts comic book (based on the '70s action fig­ Classified Advertising is available for 50

False Tag - We all know how hard it is to sell anything literary in this Chester Alan Arthur is Liberty's politi­ Robert Higgs is editor of the essentially philistine culture. It often cal correspondent. Independent Review, and author of helps a writer to have a tag that, by Crisis and Leviathan and other itself, is meant to create interest among "Baloo" is the alter ego of cartoonist books. publicists and, better, book-buyers. Rex F. May. Such terms as "feminist," "black," Richard Kostelanetz is a critic, artist, John Bergstrom is a California car­ "Jewish," "gay," "New York," and and anthologist living in New toonist and animator. York. "California" have functioned in this way. Daughters of the Fifth Sun Oliver Becker is an editorial assistant David N. Mayer is Professor of Law (Riverhead, 1996, 284 pp., $13.00), at Liberty. and History at Capital University, edited by Bryce Milligan, Mary and the author of The Constitutional Guerrero Milligan, and Angela de R. W. Bradford is editor of Liberty. Thought ofThomas Jefferson. Hoyos, claims to be the first "Collection Harry Browne is the author of Why of Latina Fiction and Poetry" from a Randal O'Toole is editor of Different Government Doesn't Work and How I Drummer. commercial publisher. According to the Found Freedom in an Unfree World. back cover, "Although there have been Not long ago he ran for the presi­ Sheldon Richman is the author of other Latino anthologies, never before dency of the United States. Separating School and State. has one been as focused and strong in content and as universally endorsed by Stephen Cox is Professor of Literature Todd Seavey has written articles for the leading figures in the Latina literary at DC-San Diego and author of the New York Press, National Review, biographical introduction to Isabel community." See what I mean? A book Spy, and other publications. Paterson's The God ofthe Machine whose contents are in general no better (Transaction). John Goodman is president of the or worse than many other collections of National Center for Policy contemporary writing needs something Nathan Crow is assistant editor of Analysis. else to succeed in the marketplace. Liberty. Especially troublesome is the mer­ Jane Shaw is senior associate at the chandising epithet "Latina." It is finally Richard Ebeling is Ludwig von Mises Political Economy Research Center no better than "black," which was Professor of Economics at Hillsdale in Bozeman, Montana. College. scarcely appropriate for writers (and Timothy Virkkala is managing editor people) with a variety of skin hues James Gill is Liberty's staff artist. of Liberty. ranging from dark brown to off-white. (I recall Albert Murray once telling me that there's no "black and white" in America, but "white and part-white, Nuyorican educated partly in Europe ment that awards probably shouldn't and, Richard, you look kinda dark.") and now living in Kansas, and a be given to anyone over the age of Daughters of the Fifth Sun includes a Chilean Jew who writes in Spanish twelve. Puerto Rican aristocrat who took her although she has taught at Wellesley Looking at this "Latina" mix, I won­ doctorate on the mainland and writes in for 16 years. der what Americans would think of a Spanish before co-translating herself To account for non-Hispanic sur­ Spanish-language anthology of into English, a Los Angeles native with names, the editors use the elaborate "Angloistas" that contained writers "a Cuban mother and an American "Notes on the Contributors" to identify with Anglo surnames writing in their father," native Mexicans now living in Greek, Polish, and other alien ances­ native Spanish; an Israeli who writes in the U.S., several Americans with no tors. (This is really unnecessary for Hebrew even though she has lived more "credential" than Hispanic sur­ Latin Americans, who know that sur­ awhile in Bogota; an American who names, a Brazilian who has lived in the names in their countries are no more took her degrees in Buenos Aires before U.S. since 1960 teaching Spanish at exclusively Hispanic than U.S. sur­ going to teach in Spanish Morocco; American universities, a San Antonio­ names are typically Anglo-Saxon, and Americans, Englishwomen, Austra­ born undergraduate whose French sur­ for the same reason.) Another peculiar­ lians, Africans, and even Hong Kong­ name masks her "Mexican and German ity of these notes is their habit of iden­ born Chinese (accounting for the descent," a Cuban who took her tifying a great variety of often Brazilian) emigrating to Spanish­ degrees in the U.S. before finding a uni­ unfamiliar literary awards ("the speaking countries and then writing in versity teaching position in South Empresario Award de San Antonio," the local tongue; and so on. Looking at Africa, the impoverished descendant of "a gold medal from the such a book in a Spanish-language two-century-old South Texas landown­ Commonwealth Club of California," store, most Americans would think ers, "a fifth-generation Californian of "the 1993 Latino Literature Prize in "Angloista" a merchandising tag no Mexican and Native American Poetry," "the Jeanetta [sic] Rankin less false to the variety of English­ (Chumasch) heritage," a Dominican Award in Human Rights," etc.). It language writing. who writes only in English, a brings to mind Northrop Frye's com- -Richard Kostelanetz Liberty 69 New York, New York U.S.A. Notes on the benevolent origins of totalitarianism Unusual perspective on t~e Holocaust, reported by from director Milos Forman, as reported by Frank Rich in USA Today: the New York Times: After the first television showing of Schindler's List drew more "The Nazis and Communists began by attacking pornography, than 55 million viewers, director Steven Spielberg commented that homosexuals - it always starts very innocently." the show's huge audience "could not possibly be more gratifying to the survivors and the millions who did not survive." Gresham, Oregon Wellington, New Zealand Unusual views on diversity in qualifications for public Frontiers of promotion, reported by the Christchurch office, uncovered by the Portland Oregonian: Press. Democratic House candidate George Kelley has been through various troubles with the law, including both a 1991 charge of During the Auckland-Wellington cricket match, Scott failing to pay child support and a 1993 arrest for menacing his McKenzie ran across the field, naked except for his cricket pads wife with a handgun. He now says he has overcome his problems, and a protective box, before being atTested by a buxom female and notes that "we need people in the Legislature who have a policewoman. It was later learned that both McKenzie, a male broad range of experiences." stripper, and the police officer, an actress, were hired by promoters of the cricket match.

Auckland, New Zealand U.S.A. Progress in pedagogy, explained by a Waikato The march of economic science, according to The Wall University professor, quoted in the NZ Herald. Street Journal: Professor of education Dr. lody Hanson spends up to 20 hours After spending five hours dining with Louis FalTakhan, Jude a week doing research on "mentoring" by women in brothels and Wanniski claimed that the Nation of Islam leader heard his "sup­ massage parlours; she explains that "you can't go down to the ply side perspective" on modem history and "drank it in as if he local polytech and do a course in B and D." had just come upon an oasis in a desert."

Cincinnati New Zealand Ohio's war on crime, as reported in the Cleveland Plain Interesting intellectual challenge, from an advertise­ Dealer: ment in the New Zealand Herald: A woman was recently arrested for violating a 1958 ordinance "Imagine a Cow that can produce 700 kilograms of prime against feeding other people's parking meters. meat and 240 square feet of leather every year for up to 35 years!" The Netherlands Innovations in safe sex, as reported by Restaurant Janesville, Wise. Hospitality: A difference of opinion in America's Dairyland, The Dutch government has issued new guidelines for sadoma­ reported by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: sochistic rituals that are performed in a brothel. The Sunday A Janesville woman accused her boyfriend of beating her Times of London reported that according to the new rules, after she told him the Greenbay Packers"sucked." "Clients involved in sadomasochistic acts would have to be The boyfriend explained that he had been angry because he bound and gagged in such a way that they could work themselves believed she had taken $300 that he needed to pay a previous free in an emergency in a maximum of 30 seconds." domestic abuse fines. Besides restricting methods of bondage, the government also has urged that night tables be stocked with wire cutters, proposed heavy taxes on prostitution and full pensions for prostitutes, and Racine, Wisconsin recommended that leather-wear and safety expenses be made tax Advanced development of the /Isafety net," in the deductible. home of American Progressivism, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Australia A six-year-old from a low-income family in Milwaukee quali­ Progress in public finance, as described in The fies for 36 programs, including 18 providing services to prevent Dominion of Wellington, New Zealand: drug and alcohol abuse and six to prevent crime and juvenile delinquency. Australia's government has introduced legislation that would allow it to tax telephone numbers as much as $100,000 per year. (Readers are invited to forward newsclippings or other items for publication in Terra Incognita.) 70 Liberty e-goldtm is not for everybody.

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