The Method of Freedom
by
[Macmillan, $1.50]
THIS is a book which one can recommend without hesitation to everyone who feels a sense of responsibility for the future of this country. The author is one of the best thinkers and writers we have on the problems which beset democracy to-day. A thoroughgoing realist, as well as an imaginative thinker, he has developed in his book the best practical suggestion that I have seen for steering the United States clear of the shoals of dictatorship upon which so many other nations have gone aground.
This is high praise sincerely given, but it does not imply that Mr. Lippmann’s statement of the problem is wholly adequate or that the political changes which he recommends are sound. The author, like all men trying to do creative work, must face the fact that he sails uncharted seas. But this danger never daunted a true adventurer in any field. What matter if he does lose his way? He has set in motion forces which will eventually find the road. We owe a great debt to such men.
Lippmann’s opening chapters, which tell why Europe and America have adopted the motto of ’Safety First,’ are good as far as they go. No one will deny that economic security is the ultimatum which all these peoples have delivered to their governments. But we are tempted to ask whether this is a permanent or merely a temporary phase. Some day they may remember that ‘man liveth not by bread alone.’
His chapters on the death of laissez faire, while they may bring tears to the eyes of a few elderly relatives, will not attract many mourners. What he shows is that laissez faire has been an invalid for half a century, and, if his dream of a compensated economy comes true, the cripple will take up his bed and walk. So be of good cheer! His chapter on a directed economy is admirable, and the one on a compensated economy masterly, though both might have been made stronger if this harassed editorial writer had been given more time.
It is the chapters in the last section of his book, in which he suggests certain changes in our forms of government, which will meet with most criticism. He admits, with engaging frankness, that his compensated economy, which is our road to freedom, is practically closed by the mass of pure democracy which we have produced in this country. Up to this point he is on firm ground, but we think that his suggestions for changing our form of government so that the compensating machinery can be operated by the federal bureaucracy will need more study. From a merely practical point of view, it would certainly take more than one generation to make the changes which he suggests. We cannot, wait so long. Time is of the essence of the problems which confront us, and time will not wait. Even if it
would, many sober men will question the wisdom of hearing off from our legislative bodies powers which they have exercised for a hundred and fifty years.
But such criticism, even if sound, is a bit ungracious, and is perhaps beside the mark. The real point is that this man has done a piece of good creative work which will hear fruit. Even if democracy as we now have it in this country cannot operate a compensated economy, some way to operate it can be found. Mr. Lippmann in this book has set our faces in the right direction. His method of freedom is the thing we want. As for his compensated economy, some ingenious person might develop an automatic system so that the thing would work itself.
PHILIP CABOT