The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-12-23
Mai Good Old Constitution

Regardless of what the final decision may be con-
corning the ruling by United States District Judge
William Clark that the prohibition amendment was
not adopted legally, it this good purpose: 1t
sets the American people to the task of rereadng the
United States Constitution.
They want to know the exact wording of Article
Five and Amendment Ten, cited by Judge Clark.
Now that we have busted off this often neglected
document there are other articles in it that might
read to the profit of Americanism. For We are
too prone to forget the high privileges our forefathers
sought to give us when they handed down this great
fundamental of American liberty
We read in the newspapers for instance that a
dry sleuth has raided home If our leaning happens
to be toward prohibition, we say:
"A prohibition agent has right to hunt for liquor
whenever end wherever he sees fit
He hasn't anything of the kind
Article Four of the Constitution reads
1.-THE right of the people to be secure in their per-
sons houses papers, and effects against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no
warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, sup
ported by octh affirmation, and particularly descrb
ing the place to be searched and the person or things
to be seized"
That that shopper who goes thither and
yon without definite warrant is nothing than
common trespasser when he invades home.
In CALIFORNIA; penitentiary today are two innocent
men. IT, ey have been in prison fourteen years,
although the evidence that they did not commit the
crime for which they we're convicted is overwhelming.
But these men were labor leaders. Their views
we're not popular in California at the time of their
arrest They kept in prison general principles.
What does the Constitution say the question of
a mans right to hold to whatever views may suit him?
Article Ore of the amendments reads:
Congress shall make no law respecting an estab-
shment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; abrdgng the freedom of speech of the
press
Thus the Constitution says plainly that California
has no right to keep Mooney Billings in confne
ment because of their economic opinions. But there
they are
The whole texture of the Constitution designed
to make of us a people free, privileged to go our
several ways so long true to the spirit in
which that document was written
No matter how far back man may be able to trace
his ancestry upon these shores, he is not true to
American ideasm if he permits his views this and
that subject to challenge the intent of those farseeng
men who wrote for every American a bill Of rights
which no court however high is privileged to invade
I'VE the people Of the United States in order to
form more perfect Union, establish justice, insure
domestic tranquility provide for the defense
promote the general welfare and secure the blessings
Of liberty TO ourselves and poserity, do ordain
and establish this Constitution of the United States
of America"
Thus the Constitution makers wrote in the pre-
amble to our fundamental law Let US read and read
again and again-until we know it. knowledge of the
Constitution is a primary duty of citizenship.