Ann Weisensale, age 15, of Mechanicsville, Va., for her question:

WHAT IS THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM?

   Most men have had their basic economic decisions made for them throughout most of history. The idea that men might do better if left on their own came late in history.No one country or age can claim all the credit for this idea.  But free enterprise took its first firm hold in England during the 1700s. It developed as a reaction against government control of economic life. Free enterprise system is the economic system of theUnited States, Canada and some other countries. The system is based on individual economic freedom.. Free enterprise system stresses private economic decisions, both by individuals and by companies. A free enterprise system is also called a private enterprise economy, a market economy or capitalism.

No overall central economic plan is used to operate the free enterprise system. No one person, group or government agency decides what or how much should be produced, or what prices should be established for either services or products.

In the free enterprise system, people involved in business are given the opportunity to make all economic decisions themselves. Each man and woman is also free, for the most part, to determine how he or she will earn and spend his or her income.

Free enterprise has produced the highest standards of living in history. At the same time, it has given people the freedom of making many of their own economic decisions.

The basic plan of free enterprises suggests that men be put on their own to make economic decisions, and left to reap the rewards or lack of rewards from those decisions.

Free enterprises rests firmly on the belief that each man knows what is best for himself. Individuals or private firms own most of the raw materials and means of production. The owners are free, within important limitations, to use their property as they see fit.

In the United States, the government has always had some influence on the economic system. The government provides for defense of its citizens and also regulates foreign trade. There is still basically a free enterprise economy, but the economic role of the government has greatly expanded through the years.

The rise of strong labor unions has also affected the free enterprises system.

Americans have been debating the proper role of government in the economy ever since the nation was founded. Most Americans agree overwhelmingly that some form of the free enterprise economy is important. But they differ on the ways in which the economy can be made to work best to achieve progress, stability, freedom and justice.