The Individualist

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 81, 29 December 1934, Page 16

The Individualist

j 4 ■ XTREME individualism in the right to carry on any activity in | any way the individual likes, provided he can get a customer for |“4 his goods and services, has long since almost vanished,” said Sir ] Josiah Stamp. “No one can stop a man being a doctor or a lawyer if he wants to, but he cannot, however clever, just put up his sign and sell his services. He has to satisfy standards, supplied by the profession itself. “Profession after profession has closed in its open gate, to the great advantage of the community, but with a restriction of the scope of freedom. Interference in the interest of the consumer, or the generaal public, or the employee, or even the body of suppliers themselves, is no longer regarded as an important check on individualism, although at one time it was furiously resented as a limitation of liberty. “Individualism has been curtailed greatly during the last generation as a result of large scale enterprise; by industrial mergers, combines, and the advent of the multiple shop. The co-operative movement further curtails the oneman scope, and municipal enterprise cuts into the scope for individual capital in gas works, etc. “The greatest, new encroachment upon individualism is in the.compulsion to combined action. The steel trade were told that they could have .the benefit of a tariff if they put their house in order, that is, reduce their plants and combine for action on a larger scale. ■ 1 , . 1 “The coal industry has its quotas and compulsory limits. Milk .schemes, bacon quotas, sales at controlled prices are all new shackles on the ‘I shall carry on my business how I like’ spirit.

“Several years ago it was positively illegal for two firms in the same trade to be seen whispering in a corner, or even joining in a friendly handshake. Today the industry is under penalty if it does not get together, arrange production and output. In Germany, the compulsory quartering of unemployed upon businesses that do not really want them is the negation of individualism. “Individualism remains untouched in the consumer. Although tariffs and quotas may limit the range of his purchase, within that range he is free to an extent that puzzles, not only the planner and the Socialist, but also the individualist supplier. But a great deal of his liberty of choice will disappear under a planned or a Socialist production, and he will dance to the tune called instead of calling the tune. , “I believe freedom of choice and of reward, of supply and demand, are still essential to a high standard of life, and while interference and control will be necessary in the common interest, every step and every scheme must be jealously watched and made to justify itself in the common interest. These stages should not bo accepted nor allowed to become immutable in the general idea of common control as inevitable. . “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and the equilibrium between the chaos of unfettered individualism and strait-jacket planning of careers, output and household budgets, must be found by intelligent criticism at every stage. “Individualism no longer holds the stage as the normal, leaving every variation to be regarded as a newcomer to justify itself. It must prove its own superior fitness as a method and a motive at every point or if will go under. Those who have individualism in their bones must therefore justify their faith by deeds and efficiency.”