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THIS BOOK was printed privately by its author in 1949, under the name of
the Valun Institute for Monetary Research, of New York City. The author died in
1954. When I acquired his papers from the widow of his friend and colleague,
Major Ivan Firth, on the latter’s death ten years later, the papers included a
small inventory of a few hundred copies of this paperback booklet. Among the
people to whom I gave copies was Harry Browne, who was later to write a series
of best-selling, popular books on personal economic survival in troubled times.
In one of these (You Can Profit from a Monetary Crisis, Macmillan, New
York, 1974), he made this reference to The New Approach to Freedom:
“The best explanation of the free market I’ve seen." The result was a flurry of
orders that are still continuing at the rate of several per week. It was obvious
that the supply would soon be exhausted. I decided to reprint the booklet,
therefore, to keep it available, and this also seemed a good time to read
through and organize Riegel’s papers—a task I had procrastinated for ten years.
Perhaps new material would come to light that should be printed with
it. This led to an extraordinary discovery: the manuscript of a major book,
Flight From Inflation, which Riegel had managed (painfully, as his
correspondence revealed, because of the progressive effects of Parkinson’s
disease) to complete before his death. The existence of such a manuscript had
been totally unsuspected by me. There were also numerous essays, as well as a
partial file of correspondence covering the last ten years of his active life.
Reading these papers, both for the thinking they contained and for the
occasional glimpses into the extraordinary personality of E. C. Riegel,
especially his idealism and his uncompromising personal integrity, was a
fascinating education. Bringing Riegel into print, therefore, in a way
appropriate to the highly original views which he had to offer the world, now
became a primary objective. With the very able help of friend and associate,
George Morton, I edited Flight and prepared it for simultaneous
publication with New Approach.
In preparing the present edition of The New Approach to Freedom,
I made very little change in the main text beyond some judicious pruning. The
Appendix material, however, which sets out Riegel’s thoughts on the practical
application of his monetary ideas, seemed wholly inadequate, particularly now in
the light of the newly discovered Flight From Inflation. I have deleted
it entirely, therefore, and in its place pieced together a new essay in Riegel’s
own words but drawn from various places in his unpublished writings. This essay,
“ Design Requirements for a Personal Enterprise Monetary System,” describes only
the main features that Riegel believed a natural monetary system would have to
incorporate in order to be successful. The reader who is interested in the more
practical aspects of Riegel’s thought, therefore, as well as a further
development of his underlying philosophy, is referred to Flight From
Inflation. The presentation of the Valun Plan in the latter volume is more
complete and differs in substance from that in the first (pamphlet) edition of
The New Approach to Freedom. In addition to these changes, I have added
eight short essays, previously unpublished, that I feel will add interest to
this little volume.
In all of his writings, Riegel was interested in human
freedom. In the present volume, that is the main thrust, and the understanding
of money is presented as a vehicle to serve that end. In Flight From
Inflation, on the other hand, understanding money and inflation is the main
subject, and the implications for human freedom are secondary, even if very much
present. Because of this difference in orientation, it did not seem appropriate
to try to combine both in a single volume. Each has its separate integrity. The
material in each is complementary to the other, and the degree of over-lap is
not enough to detract from either. The reader who enjoys this volume, therefore,
is invited to look into Riegel's major presentation of his monetary ideas in
Flight From Inflation.
S.H.M.
San Pedro, California
July 21,1975
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