Greetings and happy new week, good citizens. We continue with the Rules Of Economic Recovery written by Amity Shlaes, syndicated columnist for Bloombert and a senior fellow in economic history at the Council on Foreign Relations. The contents were published by Hillsdale College, in their monthly newsletter..
The following is the dialogue in the court case against the Schechters, who were wholesale butchers in Brooklyn, N.Y. Their crime was doing all the wrong things against the Code of Fair Competition for the Poultry Industry of the Metropolitan area in and about the City of New York. They paid their butchers too little. They charged prices that were too low. The allowed coustomers to pick there own chickens. Worst of all they sold a sick chicken.
In the court, on one side stands Walter Lyman Rice, a graduate of Harvard Law School, representing the government. On the other stands a small man in the poultry trade, Louis Spatz, who is afraid of going to jail. Spatz tries to defend his actions. But he barely speaks English, and the prosecutor bullies him. Nevertheless, Spatz is now and then able to articulatge, in his simple and common sense way, how business realy works.
Prosecutor: But do you claim to be an expert?
Spatz: No
Prosecutor: On the competitive practices in the poultry industry?
Spatz: I would want to get paid, if I wan an expert.
Prosecutor: You are not an expert?
Spatz: I am experienced, but not an expert....
Prosecutor: You have not studied agricultural economics?
Spatz: No Sir.
Prosecutor: Or any sort of economics?
Spatz: No, sir.
Prosecutor: What is your education?
Spatz: None, very little.
Prosecutor: None at all??
Spatz: Very little
Then at one point this everyman sort of pulls himself together.
Prosecutor: And you would not endeavor to explain economic consequences of competitive practices?
Spatz: In my business I am the best economist.
Prosecutor: What is that?
Spatz: In my business I am the best economizer.
Prosecutor: You are the best economizer?
Spatz: Yes, without figuring.
Prosecutor: I wish to have that word spelled in the minutes, just as he stated it.
Spatz: I do not know how to spell.
This dialogue matters because little businesses like Shechter Poultry are the natural drivers of recovery, and during the Great Depression they weren't allowed to do that driving. They weren't allowed to compete and accumulate wealth -- or, in terms of Monopoly, to place a house or hotel on their property. Instead they were sidelined. The Schechter brothers ultimately won their case in the Supreme Court in 1935. But the cost of the lawsuits combined with the Depression did not go away.
OK, this is it for monday and I will carry on this topic again on Wednesday. Thanks for stopping by. Cheers CJ
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