Schlesinger and Cherington Argue Merits of 'Fair Deal'

Professors Schlesinger and Cherington fought the question of concentration of power in government hands at the Free Enterprise Society's forum in the Littauer Auditorium last night. The topic was, "'The Fair Deal,' Its effect on our liberties."

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. '37, asso- Both men agreed that the main enemy of freedom is power. They disagreed, however, on whether this power which is "inevitable, being brought about by the increasing industrialization of our economy," should be given back to private hands or taken to the Government.

ciate professor of History, maintained that, "to give the power back to private hands would lead the way to reaction, and to political and economic upheaval similar to that experienced in 1929. To give it completely to the Government, on the other hand, would eventually lead to a totalitarian state."

Schlesinger Defends Middle Way

He said that on the one side we have the Republicans and on the other, the Communists. The Democratic Party and the Fair Deal represents the best compromise between the two. "The only trouble with the Fair Deal is that it hasn't gone far enough."

The rebuttal to this was delivered by Charles R. Cherington '35, associate professor of Government, who said that the "thing that makes 'the system' work is the entrepreneur.

He suggested the repeal of the corporate income tax as the initial step toward this end. "The only fair deal," he went on, "is a fair deal that allows the business man to do his job and reap his reward. I am not half as afraid of the gargantuan business as I am of the gargantuan state. You can quit General Motors but you can't quit a public health plan or compulsory education."

"The right to quit is one of our greatest liberties," he said. He admitted that we must have a certain amount of social legislation but this does not necessarily fall under the heading of "me-too-ism."

During Schlesinger's speech, the History professor questioned the meaning of the term "Free Enterprise." He said it either meant freedom from government intervention or freedom from mon- opolies and cartelization. If the former is reliant, "the Free Enterprise members must face political chaos because the people will not stand for 'apple selling again."

If, however, they mean the latter, they should give up their society and join the Liberal Union he said