Page:David Atkins - The Economics of Freedom (1924).pdf/349

 taking the offensive against such natural obstacles as block the ways of free movement. One-day enlistments should be permitted, and in this way the stigma of denying an opportunity of work to a willing citizen would be wiped away for all time, as it should have been a hundred years ago if we had appreciated the bondage of tradition under which we struggle. Such an army, always existing in skeleton form, and increased or diminished as circumstances dictated, would stand ready to step into the breach in case of any exterior political menace. A fair wage, in unimpairable units worth saving (and at a rate which ensured a margin to save), would eliminate all possibility of coercion, Such organizations as these should take the place of our present idle Federal Army and our largely ornamental State Militias. We can afford to pay such proposed armies generously, for we have ahead of us a long-neglected but most inspiring and advantageous campaign. The country cries out for highways, our waters run uselessly to sea, and our forests, guarded foolishly against private use, are turning into jungles for lack of clearing and replanting. There are harbors to be dredged, breakwaters to be extended and wharves to be projected to deep water. There are a thousand common facilities needed which we neglect, while we congratulate ourselves that, through the agency of an expensive Federal Trade Commission, we have exerted the full force of government and explicitly regulated the selling conditions of a popular brand of face powder. It is not funny: it is humiliating. The mountain labors and brings forth a mouse.

As stated before, there is no dream of confiscation involved in these proposals. To admit openly what we all know—namely, that we cannot pay our obligations in gold if gold is called for—is simply to face a humiliating and dangerous condition which now exists and not only dominates every extended operation but thwarts all orderly planning. What is proposed is