The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-03-29
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

ME American Civil Liberties Union is at
Il present engaged in two excellent battles
One is the fight upon proposed law to exact
special oath of loyalty from teachers, and the
other is the attempt to end official movie CEN
sorShip in New York staUe
The new deal and its accompanying liberalism
was bound to alarm the reactionaries AS is
usually the case in such crises the Tories have
attempted to clamp down the lid on our schools
A bill has been introduced and been passed by
the state assembly which provides that:
Every professor, instructor or teacher
VINO Is now licensed or shall hereafter apply for
a license, shall subscribe to the following oath
or affirmation:
solemnly swear that I will support the
Constitution of the United States of America
the Constitution of the state of New York. and
the laws of the United States of America. and
the laws of the state of New York. and Justly
perform all the duties of any position to which
am assigned or may hereafter be assigned"
Inc committee on academic freedom of the
american Civil Liberties Union has done we'll
10 brand this proposed academic tyrannv as
wholly useless and reflection on the lovaltv
OF the teachers" 1t will be we'll to recall the
words OF Governor Alfred E. Smith when he
vetoed similar bill back in 1920:
Inc Dill unJuStly discriminates against
teachers as class. 1t depriveS teachers of their
right TO freedom of thought it limits the teach
ing Sta1 OF the public schools to those who lack
Vile courage or the mind to exercise their legal
rlghC 10 Just criticism of existing institutions
Inc bill conferS upon the commissioner of edu-
caClon a power of interference with freedom of
opinion which strikes at the foundation of
democratic education"
OUCH bill as this is not only silly and auto-
~ cratic. 1t also is opposed fundamentally n
Cne very purpose Of sound pedagogy in the fields
~ history ana the social sciences which would
De most directly affected by such legislation
NOW, II ever, is a time for holiness and cour
age IN American teaching. We need a thorough
ana CANDID examination into the historical and
scientific facts about the Constitution AS the
result OF such search, we may, perhaps. find
VlldU we neeo new Constitution extensive
amendments to the one which we have
The men who originally made the Constitu
ton certainly expected that such would be the
case. They would be staggered if they could
rise from the dead and find that we still are
trying to govern the country under the system
which they brought into being a century and
a half ago.
Moreover, the reactionaries who would pass
and enforce such legislation would be very loose
IN their Interpretation of what it means for a
teacher to support the Constitution" Our
Tories would like nothing better than to identify
support OF the Constitution with favorng com
pany unions, child labor, the gold standard the
protective tariff and the like Even a defense
OF the new deal might be interpreted as treason
and disloyalty.
IT is not the function of teachers to uphold"
l. the Constitution or anything else. Their ts SIX
and responsibility is to get the relevant facts
and to expound them fearlessly. If these facts
indicate the deSirability of supporting the Con-
stltution, well and good. If not then every con-
SHERATON OF intellectual integrity demands that
we follow the facts where they lead us.
To demand that teachers support the Con-
Sututlon IN an minimizing fashion is as prepoS-
ferrous as to demand that they support the
theory OF special creation. If the senate passes
the bill it will put itself on the same intellectual
level with the Tennessee legislature which passed
the law under which Mr.. Scopes was prosecuted
1t is equally desirable that the nuisance of
official motion picture censorship should be
abolished in New York state It exists in ONLY
to have suffered any notable moral disaster
from their failure to provide a state board of
shoppers. The National Council on Freedom
from Censorship puts the facts very conciseIy:
THE censorship of motion pictures in New
York state has not accomplished it's professed
object of protecting the public from indecent
obscene or salacious films. Lurid reels of vice
and violence pass the censors provided that the
film teaches the lesson that virtue is rewarded
and sin punished. Producers have learned thus
to get away with anything suggestive or i'm
moral If it has proper ending.
1T is submitted that the judgment of a Jury
on so controversial an issue as obscenity or in
decency, on which mans opinions differ, is the
only fair test of current standards of morality
and vastly superior to the judgment Of profess
lSional censoES.s