Editing 75-02-B5 (section)

= The Incredible Bread Machine =

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=== Transcript ===
There's more truth than fiction in the story of Tom Smith's Incredible Bread Machine. I'll be right back, and I'll be reading poetry.

Recently, I came across a slender volume that contains more good sense than nearly all the economic treatises of the last four decades. It's called the incredible bread machine, authored by a group of young people at the Campus Studies Institute in San Diego. They have a sense of humor. They include this poem in their book.

<BLOCKQUOTE>
This is a legend of success and plunder<BR>
And a man, Tom Smith, who squelched world hunger.<BR>
Now, Smith, an inventor, had specialized<BR>
In toys. So, people were surprised<BR>
When they found that he instead<BR>
Of making toys, was BAKING BREAD!<BR>

The way to make bread he'd conceived<BR>
Cost less than people could believe.<BR>
And not just make it! This device<BR>
Could, in addition, wrap and slice!<BR>
The price per loaf, one loaf or many:<BR>
The miniscule sum of under a penny.<BR>

Can you imagine what this meant?<BR>
Can you comprehend the consequent?<BR>
The first time yet the world well fed!<BR>
And all because of Tom Smith's bread.<BR>

A citation from the President<BR>
For Smith's amazing bread.<BR>
This and other honors too<BR>
Were heaped upon his head.<BR>

But isn't it a wondrous thing<BR>
How quickly fame is flown?<BR>
Smith, the hero of today—<BR>
Tomorrow, scarcely known.<BR>

Yes, the fickle years passed by;<BR>
Smith was a millionaire,<BR>
But Smith himself was now forgot—<BR>
Though bread was everywhere.<BR>

People, asked from where it came,<BR>
Would very seldom know.<BR>
They would simply eat and ask,<BR>
"Was not it always so?"<BR>

However, Smith cared not a bit,<BR>
For millions ate his bread,<BR>
And "Everything is fine," thought he,<BR>
"I am rich and they are fed!"<BR>

Everything was fine, he thought?<BR>
He reckoned not with fate.<BR>
Note the sequence of events<BR>
Starting on the date<BR>
On which the business tax went up.<BR>
Then, to a slight extent,<BR>
The price on every loaf rose too:<BR>
Up to one full cent!<BR>
 
"What's going on?" the public cried,<BR>
"He's guilty of pure plunder.<BR>
He has no right to get so rich<BR>
On other people's hunger!"<BR>

(A prize cartoon depicted Smith<BR>
With fat and drooping jowls<BR>
Snatching bread from hungry babes<BR>
Indifferent to their howls!)<BR>

Well, since the Public does come first,<BR>
It could not be denied<BR>
That in matters such as this,<BR>
The Public must decide.<BR>
So, antitrust now took a hand.<BR>
Of course, it was appalled<BR>
At what it found was going on.<BR>
The "bread trust," it was called.<BR>

Now this was getting serious.<BR>
So Smith felt that he must<BR>
Have a friendly interview<BR>
With the men in antitrust.<BR>
So, hat in hand, he went to them.<BR>
They'd surely been misled;<BR>
No rule of law had he defied.<BR>
But then their lawyer said:<BR>

"The rule of law, in complex times,<BR>
Has proved itself deficient.<BR>
We much prefer the rule of men!<BR>
It's vastly more efficient.<BR>
Now, let me state the present rules,"<BR>
The lawyer then went on,<BR>
"These very simple guidelines<BR>
You can rely upon:<BR>
You're gouging on your prices if<BR>
You charge more than the rest.<BR>
But it's unfair competition<BR>
If you think you can charge less.<BR>
 
"A second point that we would make<BR>
To help avoid confusion:<BR>
Don't try to charge the same amount:<BR>
That would be collusion!<BR>
You must compete. But not too much,<BR>
For if you do, you see,<BR>
Then the market would be yours—<BR>
And that's monopoly!"<BR>
 
Price too high? Or price too low?<BR>
Now, which charge did they make?<BR>
Well, they weren't loath to charging both<BR>
With Public Good at stake!<BR>
 
In fact, they went one better—<BR>
They charged "monopoly!"<BR>
No muss, no fuss, oh woe is us,<BR>
Egad, they charged all three!<BR>
 
"Five years in jail," the judge then said.<BR>
“You’re lucky it’s not worse.<BR>
Robber Barons must be taught<BR>
Society Comes First!"<BR>
 
Now, bread is baked by government.<BR>
And as might be expected,<BR>
Everything is well controlled;<BR>
The public well protected.<BR>
 
True, loaves cost a dollar each.<BR>
But our leaders do their best.<BR>
The selling price is half a cent.<BR>
(Taxes pay the rest!)<BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE>

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.

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=== Details ===
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<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>02/01/[[Radio1975|1975]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>N/A</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD>Yes</TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>[[yt:wmwrC0pfm_4|Listen]] (with [[75-05-A5|The Superintendent's Dilemma]])</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===
* Repeated 2 additional times (75-20, 77-23)
* Used in the [[CitizenReaganPod|Citizen Reagan Podcast]]
* [https://mises.org/library/incredible-bread-machine The book Reagan would have read]
* [[amazon:0930073312|1999 update by the original author]]
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