Gentlemen, thankyou for your interesting replies. Please explain what you mean by a free market, and I will respond by showing that as free as you make the market is as beneficial as it becomes for unscrupulous mismanagers of the creation. Government intervention is the only way to ensure that the rules of fair trade are observed. A man should not be disadvantaged because he honours God and will not work on the Sabbath. Sabbath-breakers should not be given an advantage simply because they have no principles. A conservationist should be able to farm the land and reap the benefit without concern over a big share of the market being consumed by those who care little about preserving natural resources. Something greater than the value of the dollar should drive industry; there should be a regard for the integrity and well-being of the worker. Economic growth should not be obtained at the risk of making family growth impossible. And I could keep multiplying areas where God's law requires the magistrate to take an overseeing interest for the good of society.

A free market was a theoretical possibility (1) in a developing society, and (2) where men valued their honour over their estates. It was never practically realised because our governments saw the havoc which openness reaked on industrial societies. We now live in fully developed economies which make restrictions a moral necessity. Moral integrity is at an all time low (!), so that unrestricted trade only minsters to the covetous.

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Yours sincerely,


"Illum oportet crescere me autem minui."