Advocates for Self-Government - Libertarian = Education

I,=20 Pencil

by Leonard E.=20 Read

I am a lead pencil--the ordinary = wooden pencil=20 familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and=20 write.

Writing is both my vocation and my = avocation;=20 that's all I do.

You may wonder why I should write a = genealogy.=20 Well, to begin with, my story is interesting. And, next, I am a = mystery --=20 more so than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, = sadly,=20 I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere = incident=20 and without background. This supercilious attitude relegates me to = the=20 level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error = in which=20 mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For, the wise G. K. = Chesterton observed, "We are perishing for want of wonder, not for = want of=20 wonders."

I, Pencil, simple though I appear = to be, merit=20 your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if = you can=20 understand me -- no, that's too much to ask of anyone -- if you = can become=20 aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save = the=20 freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I have a profound lesson = to teach.=20 And I can teach this lesson better than can an automobile or an = airplane=20 or a mechanical dishwasher because -- well, because I am seemingly = so=20 simple.

Simple? Yet, not a single person on = the face of=20 this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesn't = it?=20 Especially when it is realized that there are about one and = one-half=20 billion of my kind produced in the U.S.A. each year.

Pick me up and look me over. What = do you see?=20 Not much meets the eye -- there's some wood, lacquer. the printed=20 labeling, graphite lead, a bit of metal, and an = eraser.

Innumerable = Antecedents

Just as you cannot trace your family tree = back very far,=20 so is it impossible for me to name and explain all my antecedents. = But I=20 would like to suggest enough of them to impress upon you the = richness and=20 complexity of my background.

My family tree begins with what in = fact is a=20 tree, a cedar of straight grain that grows in Northern California = and=20 Oregon. Now contemplate all the saws and trucks and rope and the = countless=20 other gear used in harvesting and carting the cedar logs to the = railroad=20 siding. Think of all the persons and the numberless skills that = went into=20 their fabrication: the mining of ore, the making of steel and its=20 refinement into saws, axes, motors: the growing of hemp and = bringing it=20 through all the stages to heavy and strong rope; the logging camps = with=20 their beds and mess halls, the cookery and the raising of all the = foods.=20 Why, untold thousands of persons had a hand in every cup of coffee = the=20 loggers drink!

The logs are shipped to a mill in = San Leandro,=20 California. Can you imagine the individuals who make flat cars and = rails=20 and railroad engines and who construct and install the = communication=20 systems incidental thereto? These legions are among my=20 antecedents.

Consider the millwork in San = Leandro. The cedar=20 logs are cut into small, pencil-length slats less than one-fourth = of an=20 inch in thickness. These are kiln dried and then tinted for the = same=20 reason women put rouge on their faces. People prefer that I look = pretty,=20 not a pallid white. The slats are waxed and kiln dried again. How = many=20 skills went into the making of the tint and the kilns, into = supplying the=20 heat, the light and power, the belts, motors, and all the other = things a=20 mill requires? Sweepers in the mill among my ancestors? Yes, and = included=20 are the men who poured the concrete for the dam of a Pacific Gas = &=20 Electric Company hydroplant which supplies the mill's = power!

Don't overlook the ancestors = present and=20 distant who have a hand in transporting sixty carloads of slats = across the=20 nation.

Once in the pencil factory -- = $4,000,000 in=20 machinery and building, all capital accumulated by thrifty and = saving=20 parents of mine -- each slat is given eight grooves by a complex = machine,=20 after which another machine lays leads in every other slat, = applies glue,=20 and places another slat atop -- a lead sandwich, so to speak. = Seven=20 brothers and I are mechanically carved from this "wood-clinched" = sandwich.=20 My "lead" itself -- it contains no lead at all -- is complex. The = graphite=20 is mined in Ceylon. Consider these miners and those who make their = many=20 tools and the makers of the paper sacks in which the graphite is = shipped=20 and those who make the string that ties the sacks and those who = put them=20 aboard ships and those who make the ships. Even the lighthouse = keepers=20 along the way assisted in my birth -- and the harbor = pilots.

The graphite is mixed with clay = from=20 Mississippi in which ammonium hydroxide is used in the refining = process.=20 Then wetting agents are added such as sulfonated tallow -- animal = fats=20 chemically reacted with sulfuric acid. After passing through = numerous=20 machines, the mixture finally appears as endless extrusions -- as = from a=20 sausage grinder -- cut to size, dried, and baked for several hours = at=20 1,850 degrees Fahrenheit. To increase their strength and = smoothness the=20 leads are then treated with a hot mixture which includes = candelilla wax=20 from Mexico, paraffin wax, and hydrogenated natural = fats.

My cedar receives six coats of = lacquer. Do you=20 know all the ingredients of lacquer? Who would think that the = growers of=20 castor beans and the refiners of castor oil are a part of it? They = are.=20 Why, even the processes by which the lacquer is made a beautiful = yellow=20 involves the skills of more persons than one can = enumerate!

Observe the labeling. That's a film = formed by=20 applying heat to carbon black mixed with resins. How do you make = resins=20 and what, pray, is carbon black?

My bit of metal -- the ferrule -- = is brass.=20 Think of all the persons who mine zinc and copper and those who = have the=20 skills to make shiny sheet brass from these products of nature. = Those=20 black rings on my ferrule are black nickel. What is black nickel = and how=20 is it applied? The complete story of why the center of my ferrule = has no=20 black nickel on it would take pages to explain=20

Then there`s my crowning glory, = inelegantly=20 referred to in the trade as "the plug," the part man uses to erase = the=20 errors he makes with me. An ingredient called "factice" is what = does the=20 erasing. It is a rubber-like product made by reacting rape-seed = oil from=20 the Dutch East indies with sulfur chloride. Rubber, contrary to = the common=20 notion, is only for binding purposes. Then, too, there are = numerous=20 vulcanizing and accelerating agents. The pumice comes from Italy; = and the=20 pigment which gives "the plug" its color is cadmium = sulfide.

No One Knows

Does anyone wish to challenge my earlier assertion that = no single=20 person on the face of this earth knows how to make me?

Actually, millions of human beings = have had a=20 hand in my creation, no one of whom even knows more than a very = few of the=20 others. Now, you may say that I go too far in relating the picker = of a=20 coffee berry in far off Brazil and food growers elsewhere to my = creation;=20 that this is an extreme position. I shall stand by my claim. There = isn't a=20 single person in all these millions, including the president of = the pencil=20 company, who contributes more than a tiny, infinitesimal bit of = know-how.=20 From the standpoint of know-how the only difference between the = miner of=20 graphite in Ceylon and the logger in Oregon is in the type of = know-how.=20 Neither the miner nor the logger can be dispensed with, any more = than can=20 the chemist at the factory or the worker in the oil field -- = paraffin=20 being a by-product of petroleum.

Here is an astounding fact: Neither = the worker=20 in the oil field nor the chemist nor the digger of graphite or = clay nor=20 any who mans or makes the ships or trains or trucks nor the one = who runs=20 the machine that does the knurling on my bit of metal nor the = president of=20 the company performs his singular task because he wants me. Each = one wants=20 me less, perhaps, than does a child in the first grade. Indeed, = there are=20 some among this vast multitude who never saw a pencil nor would = they know=20 how to use one. Their motivation is other than me. Perhaps it is = something=20 like this: Each of these millions sees that he can thus exchange = his tiny=20 know-how for the goods and services he needs or wants. I may or = may not be=20 among these items.

No Master Mind

There is a fact still more astounding: The absence of a = master=20 mind, of anyone dictating or forcibly directing these countless = actions=20 which bring me into being. No trace of such a person can be found. = Instead, we find the Invisible Hand at work. This is the mystery = to which=20 I earlier referred.

It has been said that "only God can = make a=20 tree." Why do we agree with this? Isn't it because we realize that = we=20 ourselves could not make one? Indeed, can we even describe a tree? = We=20 cannot, except in superficial terms. We can say, for instance, = that a=20 certain molecular configuration manifests itself as a tree. But = what mind=20 is there among men that could even record, let alone direct, the = constant=20 changes in molecules that transpire in the life span of a tree? = Such a=20 feat is utterly unthinkable!

I, Pencil, am a complex combination = of=20 miracles: a tree, zinc, copper, graphite, and so on. But to these = miracles=20 which manifest themselves in Nature an even more extraordinary = miracle has=20 been added: the configuration of creative human energies -- = millions of=20 tiny know-hows configurating naturally and spontaneously in = response to=20 human necessity and desire and in the absence of any human = master-minding!=20 Since only God can make a tree, I insist that only God could make = me. Man=20 can no more direct these millions of know-hows to bring me into = being than=20 he can put molecules together to create a tree.=20

The above is what I meant when = writing, "if you=20 can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can = help=20 save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing" For, if one is = aware that=20 these know-hows will naturally, yea, automatically, arrange = themselves=20 into creative and productive patterns in response to human = necessity and=20 demand-that is, in the absence of governmental or any other = coercive=20 master-minding -- then one will possess an absolutely essential = ingredient=20 for freedom: a faith in free people. Freedom is impossible without = this=20 faith.

Once government has had a monopoly = of a=20 creative activity such, for instance, as the delivery of the = mails, most=20 individuals will believe that the mails could not be efficiently = delivered=20 by men acting freely. And here is the reason: Each one = acknowledges that=20 he himself doesn't know how to do all the things incident to mail=20 delivery. He also recognizes that no other individual could do it. = These=20 assumptions are correct. No individual possesses enough know-how = to=20 perform a nation's mail delivery any more than any individual = possesses=20 enough know-how to make a pencil. Now, in the absence of faith in = free=20 people -- in the unawareness that millions of tiny know-hows would = naturally and miraculously form and cooperate to satisfy this = necessity --=20 the individual cannot help but reach the erroneous conclusion that = mail=20 can be delivered only by governmental "master- = minding."

Testimony Galore

If I, Pencil, were the only item that could offer = testimony on what=20 men and women can accomplish when free to try, then those with = little=20 faith would have a fair case. However, there is testimony galore: = it's all=20 about us and on every hand. Mail delivery is exceedingly simple = when=20 compared, for instance, to the making of an automobile or a = calculating=20 machine or a grain combine or a milling machine or to tens of = thousands of=20 other things. Delivery? Why, in this area where men have been left = free to=20 try, they deliver the human voice around the world in less than = one=20 second: they deliver an event visually and in motion to any = person's home=20 when it is happening; they deliver 150 passengers from Seattle to=20 Baltimore in less than four hours; they deliver gas from Texas to = one's=20 range or furnace in New York at unbelievably low rates and without = subsidy: they deliver each four pounds of oil from the Persian = Gulf to our=20 Eastern Seaboard -- halfway around the world -- for less money = than the=20 government charges for delivering a one-ounce letter across the=20 street!

The lesson I have to teach is this: = Leave all=20 creative energies uninhibited. Merely organize society to act in = harmony=20 with this lesson. Let society's legal apparatus remove all = obstacles the=20 best it can. Permit these creative know-hows freely to flow. Have = faith=20 that free men and women will respond to the Invisible Hand. This = faith=20 will be confirmed. I, Pencil, seemingly simple though I am, offer = the=20 miracle of my creation as testimony that this is a practical = faith, as=20 practical as the sun, the rain, a cedar tree, the good = earth.=20

Leonard E. Read (1898-1983) founded = the=20 Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in 1946 and served as its=20 president until his death. "I, Pencil," his most famous essay, was = first=20 published in the December 1958 issue of The = Freeman.