Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-09-18
ROPER DECLARES
NEED OF ACTION
Calls on Public to Decide
Question of Constitutional
Amendment.

through the person of Secretary Of
Commerce Roper, last night threw
added weight into its efforts to effect
certain changes in that often-amended
document.
Speaking at the George Washington
Masonic MEMORIAL in Alexandria, the
South Carolina political veteran issued
a ringing challenge to the "Constitu-
tionalists" and called upon the Ma
ton to make its own decision on the
issue of a constitutional amendment
permitting bold, direct action" in
times of acute national distress"
After terming the right of amend
ment to be the heartbeat of our con-
Stitutional system" the Secretary
closed his address by combining that
principle with the favorite Roosevelt
theme of the more abundant life"
and the declaration that: The Roose-
welt administration, recognizing that
our economic and social progress de-
mandS that we adjust and adapt our
governmental principles and proceed
ureS to these changes, aims to give
the people of this Nation a greater
opportunity to secure those benefits
which our heritage and enterprise
have made possible. These great fun
damental principles must be preserved
and adapted to assure national prog
resS as against national decadence.
The first requirement of progressive
society is a progressive constitution.
That Is the essence of democracy.
That is the great heritage which is
ours today, set forth by our fore
fathers 148 years ago. That is the
principle which is embodied in today's
fundamental challenge forward with
the Constitution
Do-Nothing Policy Vain.
Other excerpts from the Secre-
tary's speech follow:
"On every side now We are hearing
the declarations that lulled the coun-
try into lethargy following the crash
in 1929, and during the two or three
years Immediately following. Vir-
| tually all major economic signposts
pointed downgrade into the ever deep
ening canyon of depression, yet those
who had been carried to leadership by
| great postwar boom existing for
over decade preached that things
would gradually right themselves if
let alone. But that doctrine of auto
matte readjuStment and recovery
| proved to be a will-o'-the-wis that
almost led the United States into ir-
retrievable disaster.
"Marshalrs words "to be adapted
to the various crises of human affairs
reflect the absolute necessity for the
vital living character of the Consti-
tuition. 1t reflects an adaptability and
f1exibility without which this Nation
could not have progressed and en-
dured. If conditions once again decree
that the people should have an op-
portunity to express their will with
respect to giving their Government
necessary scope and authority to deal
with grave. disrupting peace-time
emergencies, and to maintain the
stability secured through arduous re-
covery efforts, who can righteously
say that such a procedure is not fully
! in accord with traditionally eStab-
lished principles of American Gov
eminent?
Right Of Amendment.
THE right of amendment Is the
heartbeat Of our constitutional Sys-
tenn. 1t is the one means by which
the people themselves have the right
and duty to change and adapt the
fundamental laws of our Government
to permit and assure national prog
ress t. To thwart or inhibit this
right would mean to choke TIE flow
of democracy's bloodstream. The
trainers of the Constitution could not
envisage specifically the vast and COM
pick problems which changing con-
| ditions in our economic and social
life have brought about. But they
did foresee the inevitability of a
changing national life and conse-
quently sought to devise a Constitu-
ton that would have the f1exibility
to meet these changes. With far
deeper wisdom and vision, they ex-
plicitly set forth the means and meth
DDS by which the people themselves
could change the Constitution When
progress and development made it
proper and necessary. Thus far in
our Nations history the people have
exercised this right 81 times. ="
There is an unfounded and I'M
American cry in our country today
that even to think of changing the
Constitution is heresy, yet the amend
ment clause Of that document is the
source of the peoples greatest strength
and the basic principle of our
democracy. In the same breath in
which this cry is uttered, reference is
made to those reverend forefathers
who drew up the organic law of this
Nation and yet who saw fit in their
own lifetime to interpret and amend
that law as conditions required.
Emergency Faced by Lincoln.
Lincoln, at the time of giving his
first inaugural address, faced an acute
domestic emergency just as Roose-
welt did in 1888. In this address Lin
coin dealt frankly with several aspects