Frank Chodorov

Free will is the starting point of all ethical thinking and it plays an equally important part in the business of making a living. If man were not endowed with this capacity for making choices, he could not be held accountable for his behavior, any more than could a fish or a fowl—an amoral being, a thing without a sense of morals. So, if man were devoid of this capacity, his economics would be confined to grubbing along on whatever he found in nature.

Paul L. Poirot

Every seller of a commodity or service wants to cover his costs of production and receive something over and above such costs if possible. He spends long hours keeping records and, with rare exception, believes that he actually sets the price of his goods and services by adding a margin above his expenditures.

Fred I. Kent

Mr. Kent’s grandson, then a schoolboy was disturbed by the current fashion of disparaging the profit system. He had asked his grandfather to explain just how there can be a profit which is not taken from the work of someone else.

April 1942

My dear grandson:

John C. Sparks

For the purpose of illustrating this idea, let us suppose you had lived in 1900 and somehow were confronted with the problem of seeking a solution within 54 years to any one of the following problems:

1. To build and maintain roads adequate for use of conveyances, their operators, and passengers.

2. To increase the average span of life by 30 years.

3. To convey instantly the sound of a voice speaking at one place to any other point or any number of points around the world.

Paul L. Poirot

Bargaining means trying to negotiate a contract or to arrange a trade on terms satisfactory to both the buyer and the seller. That’s why it takes two to make a bargain, and only two—a buyer and a seller, higgling over terms. If it’s true bargaining, there is no interference by anyone else and no threat or suggestion of coercion or violence in any form.

I thought of all the things I could now do because I had a million bucks. I would have the fanciest food money could buy. I would buy a fine house. Only the sportiest and most expensive automobile would suit me from now on. Clothing? Only the richest and finest would ever cover me again. Oh, I was in clover all right. My fondest wishes had come true.

Burton Rascoe

Haven’t you at one time or another remarked, or heard, without protest, a friend remark: “Radio and TV would be all right if it weren’t for the commercials,” or “He used to be a pretty good writer, but he is turning out nothing but commercial stuff nowadays,” or “Commerce and religion don’t mix well,” or “It’s the commercial angle that is tied in with the project that I object to”?

Frederic Bastiat

Editor’s note: The author did most of his writing during the years before—and immediately following—the Revolution of February 1848. This was a period when France was adopting many socialistic policies. As a Deputy to the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Bastiat studied each interventionist measure and explained how it must inevitably hurt the people. Protective tariffs were his special target. He pointed out that “protection” gives a special privilege to certain producers.

Hans F. Sennholz

For almost two thousand years economic investigation was handicapped by the common notion that economic exchange is fair only as long as each party gets exactly as much as he gives the other. This notion of equality in exchange even permeated the writings of the classical economists.

Lewis Love

There once lived a king in a distant land—a just and wise old king, for he had observed and learned much about his people and about himself and his power. His people were free to go their way, and were fearful of the king and his soldiers, for his rule granted no privilege to one that was not a privilege to all equally. And they were free to petition their king and seek his wisdom in their affairs.

Thus there came one day to the royal court an artisan, a mason, and a beggar who was lame.