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"Bulletin Of The American Liberty League", Vol. 1 No. 3, October, 1935.
"Bulletin Of The American Liberty League", Vol. 1 No. 3, October, 1935. American Liberty League. 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Digital Library Services, University of Kentucky Libraries Lexington, Kentucky kukm59m61_b_0003 These pages may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. "Bulletin Of The American Liberty League", Vol. 1 No. 3, October, 1935. American Liberty League. American Liberty League. Washington, D.C. 1935. This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognition (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has been done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 1 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file. :: bulletin m OF THE AMERICAN LIBERTY LEAGUE NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING WASHINGTON, D. C. VOL. 1 OCTOBER,1935 No.3 FREE SPEECH AND THE NEW DEAL For those naive enough to believe that the present administration Is concerned about the preservation of the constitutional rights and liberties of citizens, there is food for thought in recent events. When the American Liberty League made public the report of its National Lawyers Committee expressing the opinion that the National Labor Relations Act is unconstitutional, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. I ekes felt it incumbent upon himself to denounce the Lawyers Committee as being guilty of "a gross Impertinence" and as "an evidence per se of disrespect for the Supreme Court." The inescapable implications of Mr. Ickes' outburst were pointed out in a radio address (Doc. No. 69) by James M. Beck, former Solicitor-General of the United States, and a member of the National Lawyers Committee. Mr. Beck said: "When a lawyer is called to the Bar, he takes in open court a solemn oath that he will support, maintain and defend the Constitution. While such defense is the duty of every American, whether he takes a formal oath or not, yet as the judicial interpretation of the Constitution can only arise in litigated cases, it is the peculiar duty of the lawyer to advise his clients, and if need be the general public, as to whether some newly enacted legislation is or is not a violation of the Constitution. "His right to express an opinion is indeed a.part of the right of free speech, guaranteed by that Constitution, but he has a peculiar responsibility, for the citizen cannot effectively assert his constitutional rights in a court of justice unless he is advised by a competent lawyer that his rights have been violated. "All this would seem too obvious to require statement were it not for the fact that the lawyer's right has recently been challenged by high officials who pretend to believe that when Congress passes a law which is plainly in excess of its authority, the lawyer must remain silent, and that if he ventures to suggest that the law is a nullity, he is guilty of lese majeste. This is the rule in Russia, Germany and Italy, but It is not, as yet, the rule in free America, where, thank God, the Constitution still guarantees the right of free speech." It is possible that some secret Executive Order has been issued designating Mr. Ickes as Federal Administrator of Free Speech, or perhaps he was merely illustrating the New Deal fondness for denunciation of anyone who dares to question the inspired Infallibility of the present administration. He was noticably silent when, a few days later, a fellow member of the Cabinet, the Honorable Henry A. Wallace, declared to Washington newspaper men: "I don't want to enforce the Potato Control Act enacted by the last Congress. I am going to do all I can to avoid enforcing the Potato Control Bill." This is the same Mr. Wallace who, when he assumed his present office, took the following oath: "I, Henry A. Wallace of Iowa, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God." In justice to Mr. I ekes, It must be said that he was absent from Washington when Mr. Wallace made the announcement that he was going to do everything he could to avoid enforcing a law duly enacted by Congress. Mr. I ekes at that time was on President Roosevelt's special train speeding westward across the continent. Presumably, Mr. Ickes heard the President's speech at Fremont, Nebraska, on September 28 in which Mr. Roosevelt used language which,if It had any meaning at all, expressed a hope that the Agricultural Adjustment Act will be held constitutional by the Supreme Court. So far, there is no record of Mr. Ickes feeling called upon to take the President to task for that speech. The truth underlying the situation illustrated by the foregoing incidents is that despite all the camouflage utilized by a huge army of administration press agents -- supported out of the public treasury — those high in administration circles realize that the American people are beginning to understand the utter impracticability and inefficiency of many New Deal experiments. It is that realization which hurts and the resulting howls of anguish constitute evidence that It does hurt. A MINISTER WRITES TO THE PRESIDENT President Roosevelt's famous letter to the ministry — the authorship of which Mr. Roosevelt appears to share with Gov. LaFollette of Wisconsin, or other persons unknown — has drawn some interesting responses. One such response was that from the Rev. Edgar C Lucas, Pastor of the First Christian Church of Augusta, Georgia, in President Roosevelt's "second home State". Excerpts from this letter, as reproduced in the Augusta Chronicle of October 11, include: "Personally I am wondering ......... "I wonder how a man can appeal to the citizens of the Republic to elect him to the Presidency of the United States on the principles of the Democratic Party, then ignore that platform, and proceed to enact into legislation the pledges of the Socialist Party." ......... I wonder concerning your place in history, Mr. President. Will your place In history be that of the First President to: "1. Establish an absolute dictatorship in peace time? "2. To lead the nation into the unenviable position of repudiating its just financial obligations to its own citizens? "3. To openly violate the sacred oath of office to, 'Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States'? "4. To raid the Public Treasury for campaign funds with which to overthrow the very form of government by which you were raised to power? "About these things, and many more, I wonder'." FORGOTTEN MAN As pointed out in a League pamphlet, "Consumers and the AAA" (Doc. No. 67), the consumer is the real forgotten man of the present administration. Increases in staple food costs since May, 1935, when the AAA became effective, include: pork chops 116%; sliced bacon 117%; lard 148%; eggs 93%; sirloin steak 43%; flour 47%; corn meal 48%; rice 45%. There are many others. Up to the end of September the AAA had spent about $1,200,000,000. Consumers have paid about $920,000,000 of this in processing taxes and taxpayers .generally, including consumers, have provided the remaining $280,000,000 from the Federal treasury. All this to finance an economic merry-go-round which, unless halted, must lead to complete regulation of all agricultural production with consumers paying whatever prices may be fixed by a socialistic government. STRAWS The League pamphlet, "Straws Which Tell" (Doc. No. 68), is a compilation of excerpts taken from about 9,000 letters and telegrams received by Senator Millard E. Tydings, Democrat of Maryland, following his speech in the Senate last April on "Recovery for the United States". In that speech Senator Tydings was outspokenly critical of many New Deal experiments, particularly the AAA and the NRA. Only two of his correspondents expressed disagreement with him; others commended his attitude. Typical excerpts: From an official of the William Jennings Bryan Memorial Association: "I would like to distribute in and about Boston, Mass., as many copies of your fine talk In the Senate as you may be pleased to send me. The more the better." From a veteran Democrat In Cooperstown, N. Y«: "I have been a Democrat since the day of Grover Cleveland and have stood by the party, but I cannot see where the end will be if some of the laws proposed in Washington are passed. I can assure you that there are many Democrats who have been loyal to the party who are not going to stand any longer for the unstable plans that have been promoted to bring prosperity by young theorists out of college without experience." BUDGET PROSPECTS In a comprehensive analysis of the budget situation (Doc. No. 71), the League has discussed the dangers brought about by the profligate spending policy of the present administration in violation of campaign pledges. The Nation Is now in the sixth successive year of treasury deficits which will aggregate approximately $18,000,000,000, or more than the entire public debt at the beginning of the depression. The per capita debt has Increased from $42.26 In 19 32 to more than $63.00 for this year. Excerpts from the League analysis: "If the President and the Congress so choose, It is within their power to reduce the annual deficit in 1937 to an insignificant amount or even to attain an approximate balance between receipts and expenditures......... If this program is put into effect for the next fiscal year, there will be no difficulty about a completely balanced budget for the fiscal year 19 38.......... "The record of the administration with respect to the budget offers little reason for hope that great significance can be attached to the President's statement that 'the 1937 budget is now being prepared with a view to sharply decreasing the spread between income and outgo.' " LEAGUE DOCUMENTS Copies of League documents mentioned herein are available upon request to the League's national headquarters. Individual copies will be supplied to non-members of the League at a price of hi per copy. WONDERS OF BUREAUCRACY Excerpt from address of James M. Carson, Miami, Florida, before the Rotary Club at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, September 11, 19 55: "We have a weather bureau In Miami, but due to this centralized bureaucracy In Washington the man in charge of it has no authority to receive or to transmit to his superiors a weather report except as requested by them. He has no power to issue a warning to the people of this or any other community until he is told to do so by the next office up, which is in Jacksonville. Jacksonville won't have power to do that, if they think it is against the wishes of New Orleans; and New Orleans won't have power to do it if they think it is against the wishes of Washington. ,!,So if a hurricane happens to hit here on Labor Day, which is a holiday, when the bureaucrats in New Orleans or Washington are taking a holiday, then under the ruling of the Weather Bureau the warning of imminent danger cannot be issued, and the people will suffer from It. On last Labor Day, September 2, 19 35, many hundred lives were lost In the Florida Keys, because a Weather Bureau, run from Washington, failed to warn in time of an. extremely dangerous storm." TYPICAL COMMENT Bristol, Connecticut, Press - October 7, 1935: "Much has been said about the 'forgotten man' and many are the speculations concerning his identity, but the Liberty League announces that it has just discovered him in the Consumer. There Is much to jirstify this opinion for the Consumer has been more than neglected - he has been derided. No better example of this truth can be found than in the detestable Potato Control Act." New York Sun - September 21, 1935: "Secretary Ickes Is sarcastic over the pronouncement of a group of lawyers that in their opinion the Wagner Labor Relations Act is unconstitutional....... common folk are now supposed to be silent until the official augurs have spoken.. Not only must there be regimentation in economics but also regimentation of thought. Let him who would rebel, beware lest he be stepped upon by elephantine satire." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Inquirer - October 8, 1935: "......... the Liberty League describes the Consumer as the real forgotten man of today...... and this 'forgotten man' who is footing the bills is not likely to be a forgetful man in placing the blame where it belongs for the increasing cost of living."