Evening star., 1930-03-27
CONSTITUTION VIEW
ATTACKED BY BECK
"CroWning AtroCity of the
18th Amendment" Is Scored
in Address.
ecIal Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
PHILADELPHIA, March 27.--James
M Beck, Representative from Pennsyl-
can Philosophical Society, broadcast
last night from the 141-year-old hall of
the society, 104 South Fifth street, re-
lated the Changed Conception of the
Constitution" His address was sent
out over a National Broadcasting Co.
chain of is stations, originating from
WEAF, New York.
1T is true that the changed concep-
ton of the Constitution, due to me-
chanical forces, has found even to this
day little open expression from the
bench or bar" Mr.. Beck said ITO
judges and lawyers, the Constitution is
as the Bible to the devout-it is infalli-
BILE and omnipotent. The law is to
bench and bar a religion: the judges
are the high priests and the lawyers
are the inferior clergy. Both regard
the Constitution In the spirit of un-
reasoning pietism.
Regard Law as Final Truth"
"Thus, lawyers are too likely to regard
the doctrines of the law as final truths,
having their sanction in some judicial
ipse dixit, or political document. They
forget that, even in the field OF religion.
the Master said OF the institution OF
the Sabbath that 1t was made for man.
and not man for the Sabbath: and,
similarly, lawyers might well reason,
considering the fallibility of all human
laws, even Of constitutions, that the
true criterion OF any law as its practical
service to the common good.
"Time will not suffice to illustrate
the portentous changes to which the
Constitution has been subjected. can
only indicate . few. The description
Of the electoral college, except as an
empty form; the profound change in
the representative system, due to the
changed democratic ideal that q rep
resentative should think with and not
for his constituents; the breaking down
Of the barriers that once imperfectly
marked the different functions of the
executive, legislative and judiciary; the
steady deterioration in power OF Con-
gress IS the great council of the Re-
public, and corresponding aggrandize-
ment of the Executive, until he is In
everything but name, an elective king"
The perversion Of the taxing power,
whereby the Federal Government as
Sumes powers never granted to 1t; the
even greater perversion OF the power
of appropriation, whereby the Federal
Government has persuaded the States,
by the moral bribery Of Federal grants,
to yield their reserved powers; the de-
struction of the equitable principle
that direct taxation should be appor-
toned among the States in proportion
TO political power in the House Of Rep
reSentatives.
estate Rights Destroyed"
"The slow destruction Of the power
Of the State over domestic commerce
by the expansion Of the Federal COM
merce power: the creation of numerous
bureaus and some departments to effec-
tuate purposes which are not within
the sphere of Federal power; the social
istic experiment of aiding failing in
dustries by grants from the Federal
Treasury; the perverSion OF the taxing
power to redistribute wealth; the ap-
pointment of diplomatic representatives
to represent our country In foreign
lands without the sanction of the Sem
ate; the power TO declare war without
the consent Of Congress by acts which
make war inevitable, and, finally, the
crowning atrocity of the eighteenth
amendment, which invades liberty In
manner which Washington and Frank
ling would have stood against, and which
in this respect, relegates the once proud
ly conscious States to the ignominious
position Of being mere police provinces. "