been actually written off, surpluses exist largely in the form of plant, for which there is no immediate use, and there is moreover the prospect that a great deal of it will become valueless.
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In economics, politics and sociology, publicists use a good many words and compose a good many phrases that sound well and undoubtedly make an emotional impression, without anybody, including the enunciators themselves, giving any consideration to their meaning. There was recently discussion respecting the president of an old New England college, whose “radical views” aroused dissatisfaction. It was alleged among other things that this president had brought to this college “a group of young and brilliant professors whose views were regarded by many as being too radical.” Especially was this noticeable in the department of economics “where pressure is put upon the professors to be conservative and even to deny their proved knowledge.” I am quoting from a newspaper article which spoke about “proved knowledge.” How there can be knowledge that is not proved I do not know, although I am mindful of the saying of Josh Billings that the trouble with a good many persons is that they know so many things “that ain’t so.”
There are many words and phrases that are bandied about in a careless way. Progressives and progressivism. Radicals and radicalism. Liberals and liberalism. Capitalism. Idealism. The dark forces of reaction. The New Freedom. Making the world safe for democracy. These are only a few.
Senator La Follette on July 2, 1923, outlined the program of the Progressive Group in the Sixty-eighth
