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THE REAL ROOT OF EVIL 117
was moving away from a position he characterized as “thoroughly
Keynesian” to his later libertarianism. Friedman had long opposed rent
control for its ineffi ciencies. He and Stigler argued that by interfering
with the free working of the market, rent control removed incentives
to create more housing stock, improve existing units, or share housing.
Therefore it created, rather than alleviated, the housing shortage. They
did not question the underlying motivation for rent control, even identifying
themselves as people “who would like even more equality than
there is at present.” 44 The problem with rent control was simply that it
did not achieve its stated policy objectives.
This dispassionate tone infuriated Rand, who saw Roofs or Ceilings?
through the lenses of her experience in Communist Russia. Friedman
and Stigler’s use of the word “rationing” particularly disturbed her. She
did not know such usage was standard in economics, instead fl ashing
back to her days of near starvation in Petrograd. “Do you really think
that calling the free pricing system a ‘rationing’ system is merely confusing
and innocuous?” she asked in an angry letter to Mullendore, a FEE
trustee. She believed the authors were trying to make the word “respectable”
and thus convince Americans to accept permanent and total rationing.
Focusing entirely on the hidden implications of the pamphlet, Rand
saw the authors’ overt argument against rent control as “mere window
dressing, weak, ineffectual, inconclusive and unconvincing.”
Rand believed that Friedman and Stigler were insincere in their argument
against rent control because they failed to invoke any moral principles
to support their case. And when they did mention morality, it
was to speak favorably of equality and humanitarianism. She fumed to
Mullendore, “Not one word about the inalienable right of landlords and
property owners . . . not one word about any kind of principles. Just expediency
. . . and humanitarian . . . concern for those who can fi nd no houses.” 45
In addition to her eight-page letter to Mullendore, replete with exclamation
points and capitalized sentences, Rand sent a short note to Read. She
called the pamphlet “the most pernicious thing ever issued by an avowedly
conservative organization” and told him she could have no further connection
with FEE. To Rose Wilder Lane she described the incident as “a crushing
disappointment,” adding, “It is awfully hard to see a last hope go.” 46
The irony was that Read too disliked the pamphlet. Prior to publication
he and the authors had tussled over several passages. The authors’
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