Ideas on Liberty

PAUL L. POIROT was born in Illinois farm country and received his bachelor’s degree in agriculture from The University of Illinois in 1936. He went on to Cornell in Ithaca, New York, and received his Ph.D. in agricultural economics in 1940. Following stints at the Office of Price Administration and as an economist at a feed, seed, and fertilizer cooperative in Ithaca, he joined the staff of FEE in 1949.

Dr. Poirot edited many of the “In Brief” pamphlets which were the primary releases in the first decade of FEE’s existence. His monograph on Social Security, “The Pension Idea,” explored in detail the concepts of individual security and property and why we cannot look to the “false charity of governmental subsidy.”

When The Foundation began publishing The Freeman on a monthly basis in 1956, Paul Poirot was tapped as editor. It was a good choice. As a writer, he was an exact thinker. As a reader, he was thorough. As a man, he was modest. These traits, combined with sound judgment and firm adherence to principle, made Paul Poirot an astute editor.

Paul Poirot’s real work was largely unseen. Readers saw only the finished issue of The Freeman each month. What they did not see was his voluminous correspondence with authors-encouraging the newcomer who showed promise, delicately rejecting an unsuitable manuscript, or firmly explaining to a free-lancer that his manuscript was somewhat outside our “rather narrow scope of free market economics and limited government.”

In addition to his Freeman chores, Paul Poirot oversaw the book publication and resale program, handling inventory and promotion and all the other details that accompany bookselling. He edited all of Leonard Read’s FEE-published books, as well as hundreds of issues of Notes from FEE and a variety of brochures, monographs, and other publications.

In a sense, this anthology is an extension of Paul Poirot’s Freeman work. The writers of these essays have all contributed to The Freeman. They have come to know and respect Paul Poirot both as editor and as friend.

The themes that run through the essays in this collection-the future of freedom, private property, individualism, morality, prices and pricing, the rule of law, central planning, labor and employment, classical liberalismare themes that are familiar to faithful Freeman readers. But each author, with each article, brings a fresh perspective, a new idea, something that may not have been said in quite the same way before. Through constant reinforcement of basic principles, The Freeman has established itself as an uncompromising voice of liberty.

As we continue our search for improved ways to explore and explain ideas on liberty, we are grateful that we have had the benefit of Paul Poirot’s example. We hope we have learned our lessons well.

—BETH A. HOFFMAN

September, 1987