The Coconino sun., 1925-11-13
OUR COUNTRY,S CONSTITUTION
By Grady Gammage, Vice President N. A. T

Is it then asking too much that we
lay hold of those great fundamental
and everlasting principles; that we
cherish and protect them-transmit-
ting them to future generations en-
hanced in their glory and strength
and more firmly imbedded in our ma
tional life than ever before?
Elihu Root, one of the great oGtstand-
ing lawyers not only of America but
of the world recently said this:
Zone effect of the Great War has
been to break up old habits, old be-
| liefs, old faiths, old contentments and
to cause vast multitude of people to
be impatient of every kind of restraint
and eager for freedom to follow their
impulses of the moment. They for
get how much they have, how many
blessings they owe to the fact that
| they live under the rule of law, in a
country of peace and order and Sc
curity and opportunity. They have
not learned the lesson of poor Russia
and China. They forget the teaching
of religion and the experience of man
kind which show that man must be
governed by rules of conduct, not by
impulse; by established principles, not
by the whim of the moment, or there
can be no peace nor justice nor mo-
rality in civil society. They do not
realize that it is the Constitution of
the United States which has estab-
lished those rules of right conduct,
those limitations upon official power,
those guarantees of individual liberty,
which are essential to the preservation
and growth Of our country"
In this rapidly moving age we are
witnessing a bewildering panorama of
conflicting ideals fighting for su-
premacy. We see this conflict in re-
| ligion, in education, in government
and in industry. We see conflict
between the individual and society
This is shown in our alarming crime
statistics. Some men are crying on
for individual rights and yet there
was never a time when social rights
were so dominant as now. We see a
conflict in our efforts to define GU.
relations as nation with the rest of
the world. This same conflict faces
young men and Women of today as
they confront the problem of properly
lerienting themselves and mapping out
their sphere of activity in the worlt
of affairs. A babel Of voices calls out
to them beckoning in as many direc-
tions Then-"Where is any certain
tune or measured music in such notes
as these?"
In answer to this question, the state
of Arizona in common with more than
thirty other states, has passed a law
requiring the teaching of the Consti-
tuition and American ideals in the pub
! lie schools. So then, this is a respon-
sibility that we as teachers must face.
With the responsibility comes a great
opportunity. We have the chance to
bring boys and girls to a proper ap-
probation and understanding of what
William B. Gladstone said was the
greatest document ever struck of by
the brain and purpose of man at a
given time. Let US cause them to par
take OF. the spirit of the Constitution
rather than attempt an understanding
of its technical details. Let us bring
about an appreciation of the fact tina.
| it is living, breathing, growing
document and not dead and lifeless
thing of the past. 1t is the guardian
angel of our rights and liberties as
individuals every hour that we live.
| It's the summum bonum of our ma
tional existence-the alpha and omepa
Of cur freedom. There is nothing in
all history og literature it seems TO
me more stirring, dramatic and ap-
pealing than the events leading up to
and clustering around the Constitu-