The Engine of American Greatness: Freedom, Innovation, and Enterprise
In the spring of 1946, as the United States emerged from the crucible of World War II, a spirited debate simmered about the roots of American prosperity. Published in the Brewery Gulch Gazette of Bisbee, Arizona, George Peck’s article “What Made America Great” captures a timeless inquiry into whether the nation’s unparalleled success stemmed from its abundant natural resources or the ingenuity of its Free Enterprise System and the vision of its Founding Fathers.1 Through a thoughtful response from Louis Ruthenburg, President of Servel, Inc., the piece argues persuasively that America’s high standard of living owes more to its economic philosophy and individual freedoms than to its geographic blessings. This historic article, reproduced below in full, offers a window into post-war American optimism and a defense of the principles that shaped the nation’s ascent. Its relevance endures as a reflection on the interplay of resources, innovation, and liberty in forging a prosperous society.
WHAT MADE AMERICA GREAT
By George Peck
An Englishman in writing to Louis Ruthenburg, President of Servel, Inc., expressed his perplexity as to whether American prosperity is mostly the result of our Free Enterprise System and the wisdom of our Founding Fathers, or is due to the natural blessings of our size, fertility and resources.
This British friend is not the first to have posed this question. He probably will not be the last. But Louis Ruthenburg gave him an answer that should dispose of the question for all time—it should completely satisfy the most skeptical that were it not for our Free Enterprise System , despite our great natural resources, this nation would not have attained the highest standard of living in world history. I pass Mr. Ruthenburg’s reply on to the readers of this column, and from here on to the end of the article, it is he speaking:
The question as to the fundamental source of our high material living standard in this country is, of course, debatable, and in a matter where so many imponderables and variables are involved, most of us believe what we want to believe. I cannot refrain, however, from suggesting, in support of my own views, that people living in other great land areas blessed with great natural resources, have existed for hundreds of years and continue to exist under deplorably low living standards. I am thinking specifically of China, India and Russia.
Of course, many cooperating factors supplemented and implemented the philosophy upon which our culture was founded. Generally speaking, the settlers of the thirteen colonies were people of unusual courage and resourcefulness; otherwise they would not have migrated into a wilderness nor survived under the hardships they encountered. Again, it was a happy coincidence that the year 1 776 marked, not only the founding of this nation, but the budding of the industrial revolution and the expression of economic liberalism in the work of Adam Smith.
One element that grew out of the great inventions of the industrial revolution was steam railway transportation, without which this country never could have been developed as a single and well-integrated land area. The steam railways became an integral and important part of our economy, whereas they have always been a more superficial factor imposed upon the older countries of Europe.
To illustrate how important the railways have been as a factor in developing this country, I remind you that the Whiskey Rebellion, which was a pretty serious business in its day, grew basically out of a transportation difficulty. The pioneer farmers in Western Pennsylvania wanted to market their grain in the cities on the eastern seaboard. The only form in which they could economically transport their grain was whiskey, and when a high tax was imposed upon that commodity, they raised a row.
I freely admit that many factors have been involved in the growth and prosperity of this country, but I maintain that these forces could not have been fully effective without a philosophy of government that was characterized by a maximum degree of individual freedom and by compelling incentives.
George Peck, “What Made America Great,” Brewery Gulch Gazette (Bisbee, Ariz.), April 25, 1946, 4, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89070012/1946-04-25/ed-1/seq-4/.