The Washington times., 1935-10-26
Is American
Constitution
Obsolete?
By James T. Williams, L.

y
In American schools, colleges
and universities "The American
Commonwealth" by the distin-
guished British statesman, his.
torian and diplomatist, James
Bryce, has been used as a text
book ever since it first appeared
in 1888. No more authoritative
work on the American system of
government has yet appeared.
But because the American sys-
tenn and its advantages for the
American people are highly COM
mended by this eminent and
impartial authority alien Radi-
Gals and their domestic tools
and dupes are now attempting
to discredit this monumental
work in the eyes Of American
youth.
These Radicals are flooding
American institutions Of learn
ing with attacks on the Arneri-
can system in an effort to have
their anti-American propaganda
substituted as textbooks for the
future guidance of young Ameri-
cans in search of an education.
Such a book appears already
to have found its way into one
of the great universities of the
East, thanks to its Endorsement
by the Radical professor at the
head of the Department Of Gov.
ernment in this university.
PROPAGANDA
This particular textbook, writ
ten by an English radical, ridi.
culeS the trainers of the Ameri.
can Constitution and condemns
the Constitution as IAN ante
deluvian joke to be respected in
public like a Sacred Cow and
regarded in private somewhat as
Gertrude Stein probably regards
the poet Tennyson or any other
Victorian"
Before any hard-headed Amer
ican youth, who is now enjoy
ing the privilege of that higher
education which the vast major
ity of young Americans must
deny themselves, swallows whole
the propaganda of these Rad
icals it might be well to con-
suit Bryce's American Common
wealth" before his advice and
counsel are junked.
"The Constitution of 17S9,"
writes James Bryce, in the
American Commonwealth, ode
serves the veneratiOn with which
the Americans have been accus-
toned to regard 1t. 1t is true
that many criticisms have been
passed upon its arrangement,
upon its omissions, upon the arti.
ficial character Of some Of the
institutions it creates. . And
whatever success 1t has attained
must be in large measure
ascribed to the political genius,
ripened by long experience, of
the AnglO-American race, by
whom it has been worked, and
who might have managed to
work even a wOrse-drawn instru-
ment.
"Yet, after all deductions, It
ranks above every other written
Constitution for the intrinsic
excellence Of its scheme, its
adaptation to the circumstances
Of the people, the simplicity,
brevity and precision of its Ian
guage, its judiciOus mixture of
definiteness in principle with
elasticity in details.
"The American Constitution
is no exception to the rule that
everything which has power to
win the obedience and respect
Of men must have its roots deep
i'm the past, and that the more
slowly every institution has
grown, SO much the more endur.
ing is it likely to prove. There
is little in this Constitution that
is absolutely new. There Is
much that is as old as Magma
Charta."
Our own James Russell Low.
ell stressed the same truth
about the wisdom of the Ameri-
can Patriots who framed the
Federal Constitution in an ad-
dress on Democracy" which he
delivered four years before the
first edition of Bryce'S "Ameri-
can Commonwealth" was in cir
culation.
Of the great Americans whom
all true Americans honor as the
FramerS of the Constitution
and the Founders and Fathers
Of the American system Of gov.
ernment, Lowell said:
"They had a profound dis
belief in theory and knew better
than to commit the folly Of
breaking with the East. They
were not seduced by the French
falaacy that q new system Of
government could be ordered
like q new suit Of clothes. It Is
only on the roaring loom of
time that the stuff is woven for
such q vesture Of their thought
and experience as they were
meditating."
GULLIBLE ENOUGH
Now comes the Radicals from
overseas with their demand that
the Federal Constitution is obso-
lete and that what is really
needed is a system of govern
ment of the sort against which
the patriots Of the Revolution
rebelled.
ThnSa poSinoIc otIaS oaH