FREEDOM
“I trust you will take to heart and think seriously about the things I have said. I pray to God every night of my life to be given the strength and power to continue my efforts to inspire in others the interest, the obligations and the responsibilities that we owe to this land for the sake of future generations—for my boys—for your boys and girls—so that we can always look back when the candle of life burns low and say: ‘Thank God I have contributed my best to the land that contributed so much to me.” This statement might be called Captain Eddie Rickenbacker’s creed
In his article appearing in this issue of SURPLUS RECORD, Captain Rickenbacker ably speaks the minds of millions of Americans who have devoted their lives to the preservation of our way of life. The story of Rickenbacker reads like a tale from American fiction. He is the living exemplification of our free enterprise system.
Another stalwart person in the campaign for free enterprise is Hiland G. Batcheller whose forceful article starts on page 34. “Battlefronts of Steel” is the story of a fight against the encroachment of bureaucratic control over the Nation’s most vital industry. You will be amazed to learn of the concentrated attacks being made upon this industry which produces more steel than the rest of the world combined.
Mr. Batcheller says that “the thing this industry needs is men who know how to talk, men who can dramatize the issues in this fight and take them to the public. I think we are missing a great opportunity by not exploiting the common interest which all businessmen and all industry has in fighting socialism.”
Speaking of freedom, we received a letter from an Australian business executive who thinks “we have the greatest journal in the world.” If he is right, it is only because we constantly present the statements of some of the greatest business leaders in the World . . . and every last man of them believes in our freedom system.