The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-01-28
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

THE decision of the Supreme Court voiding
part of the oil code and the prospects of
other adverse pronouncements on the New Deal
by this august body bring sharply to the fore
the whole question of Constitutions and their
purposes. 1t raises the issue OF whether or not
we shall save the country or save the Constitu-
ton, in the vain supposition that the Constitu-
ton itself can be preserved if the present eco
nonic system in the United States collapses
In the first place, just how did Constitutions
arise in the modern world? With the exception
of certain postwar Constitutions, most notably
that of Russia, our modern Constitutions have
one dominating purpose, namely, to put property
beyond the reach Of law.
The movement of Constitutions began in the
seventeenth century in England when it was
sought to make English property and business
secure from the arbitrary influence of would
be absolute monarch. The middle class formu-
lated It's great slogan of the natural rights of
MANTLE, liberty and property-and the great
est of these was property. The movement
spread into the English colonies in America and
into France during the latter part of the next
century
In this country we adopted a whole flock of
state Constitutions following 1776 and Federal
Constitution in 1889, all of which embodied the
fundamental ideas of the British middle class.
The French brought series of Constitutions
out Of the French Revolution. In the course Of
stitutions spread throughout the rest of the
major countries of continental Europe, hitting
Russia at the opening of the present century.
| A LAIOST everywhere this first era of Consti-
L a tuition making was motivated by the desire
to protect the middle or capitalistic class from
arbitrary confscation of their property by the
royalty and aristocracy which stood above it in
the social scale. In the latter part of the nine
tenth century, however, the challenge from the
proletariat below was taken into account, and
some of the later Constitutions were so fornu-
lated as to protect capitalism from the mob.
| In this country we did not adopt second
| Constitution to safeguard us from possible
radicaliSrn of the masses, but perverted the
Fourteenth Amendment from its supposed role
as a bulwark against the exploitation of the
Negro into a defense of corporate property. In
cidentally, this amendment vastly facilitated the
power of the Supreme Court to set aside threat
ening laws unconstitutional.
| Now there is nothing at all sacred about a
Constitution. 1t is merely an organic document
which defines the type of government under
which the country must live and enunerateS the
immunities which property and the citizens may
enjoy against possible invasion by this govern
ment.
| The major reason for the mystical and sancti-
fed attitude which has grown up about Consti-
tutions is the fact that the custodians of the
vested interests have recognized clearly enough
that the Constitution is the chief bulwark of the
economic system under which they operate.
|
TN other words, it has been the economic
l. rather than the political foundations of Con-
situations which have promoted Constitution
worship and have supplanted the divine right
of kings by the theory of the divine right OF
Constitutions.
It is now pretty well recognized even by en-
lightened capitalists that the old system OF
rugged individualism and predatory finance
which has been supported in the past by the
Constitution and the Supreme Court is on its
last legs
The alternatives are either gradual but reso-
lutte reform on the one hand or collapse and
revolution on the other.
If the road to reform is steadfastly blocked
by the Constitution as interpreted by the Su-
rreme Court the country as We understand it
today is headed for a disaster which will engulf
rot only the Constitution, but the court itself.
The only way of saving the Constitution is
first to save the country. This is the funda-
mental issue which is involved in the Supreme
Court decisions of the present season. These
may play very decisive role in the future of
our country-eXceeding beyond all comparison
in their broad implications specific character of
a particular decision.