Publisher's Notes

• DANISH ANTITAX PARTY SCORES: In a general election held on December 4, the big "winner" with an amazing 15.6% of the vote was the Progress Party—a new libertarian-oriented antitax party led by tax attorney Mogens Glistrup (see "Trends," June 1973 and "Foreign Correspondent," October 1973). Glistrup, who wants to abolish or drastically limit the income tax, has stated: "Only fools pay income tax. There is no bigger crime against society than paying income tax." His Progress Party received nearly 500,000 of 3 million votes cast—in Denmark's largest voter turnout in 30 years—making it the country's second largest party in the Danish Parliament (28 out of 179 seats). The big loser in the election was the long time dominant Social Democratic Party, which dropped to 26% of the vote and will hold only 46 instead of 70 seats in Parliament. Representatives of four other new parties were also elected, in a smashing repudiation of Denmark's five established political parties. Hopefully, the parties who put up Richard Nixon and George McGovern (what a choice!) in the United States in 1972 are next in line for voter repudiation.

• FTC POWER EXPANDED: Environmentalists neglected to decry the effects of a controversial rider attached to the hastily-enacted Alaska pipeline bill, which gives the Federal Trade Commission unrestricted authority to compel most large United States corporations to furnish any statistical reports it deems necessary to its work. The FTC is now empowered to implement its previously proposed "line-of-business reporting program" under which it may order corporations with assets over $50 million to report their profits, advertising expenditures and R&D expenses for numerous product categories, ranging from manufacturing of food products to computers. One possible offsetting factor: if disclosure by corporations is anything like the White House's Operation Candor, there may not be too much information coming to the FTC. Hmmmmmmm…

• GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES PROLIFERATE: According to the December 3, 1973 issue of WASHINGTON REPORT (published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce), there has been a drastic increase in government employment over employment in the private sector. In 1900, there were less than 1 million government employees, and there were approximately 26 persons privately employed for every civilian government worker. By 1972, government employment had grown approximately five times as fast as private sector employment, and there were only 5.1 persons privately employed for each civilian government employee. Should this trend continue unabated, by the year 2000 there will be one government employee for every worker in the private sector.

• AUSTRALIA CORRESPONDENT: This month's Foreign Correspondent column marks the first appearance in our pages of our man in Australia, R.A. Howard. A mechanical engineer by profession, 24-year-old Howard received his undergraduate degree from the University of New South Wales in 1971, and is currently working on a Ph.D. thesis there on the subject of plasticity theory. He is a member of both the Australian Alliance for Individual Rights and the American Society for Individual Liberty.

• REASON REPRINT: Yet another REASON article has been reprinted. "Unmasking the 'Guilt Triangle' Theory of Inflation" by Professors Roberts, Santoni, and Van Cott (October 1973) is being reprinted in two parts in RESEARCH REPORTS, the weekly publication of the American Institute for Economic Research (Great Barrington, MA 01230). The Institute is a nonpolitical, noncommercial organization engaged in economic research. Its publications are generally favorable to economic freedom.

• LIBERTARIANISM IN THE MEDIA: Two diverse publications have recently carried articles featuring the libertarian movement. In November's PENTHOUSE, Samuel Blumenfeld discusses several leading libertarians and their ideas in an article entitled "Zero Government: Anarchy on the Right." And in the November 7, 1973 issue of THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY, there is an article by University of Kansas professor James Woelfel, "We're Not Rational Animals: A Liberal Reply to Libertarianism." Woelfel admires libertarianism for its "consistency" and stirring call for individual freedom, but is critical of the idea that humans can be free and rational. Woelfel hopes for a spirited response from libertarians. Copies of his article are available at 40 cents from The Christian Century Foundation, 407 Dearborn St., Chicago IL 60605, Tel. [phone].

• COMING NEXT MONTH: REASON's March issue will be devoted to a discussion of significant current books, including David Friedman's THE MACHINERY OF FREEDOM, Harry Browne's HOW I FOUND FREEDOM IN AN UNFREE WORLD, John Rawls' A THEORY OF JUSTICE, Richard Taylor's FREEDOM, ANARCHY AND THE LAW, Duncan Williams' TROUSERED APES, Thomas Szasz' THE SECOND SIN and THE AGE OF MADNESS, plus soon-to-be-reissued classics, John Flynn's AS WE GO MARCHING and Alfred Jay Nock's OUR ENEMY, THE STATE.