Evening star., 1936-01-19

nAAAA Va 6OSCAA
ment We call
American has
need fer the ex- Albert C. R,teh,.
perience, the un- ~ '
derstanding and, believe, the pro-
lection OF the American lawyer.
THE American lawyer cannot ig-
more his heritage Of governmental as
we'll as juristic leadership. BY
every right of tradition and actuality,
he Is guardian of the founda-
tions of the American Government.
And there is need for him now to
assert that guardianship"
Stating that the controversial meas
ures Of the New Deal were first de-
clared to be emergency measures,
Ritchie added:
THE emergency is passing. I"
And now the country is being asked
to accept the New Deal, not as a
temporary and curative thing any
longer, but as the permanent and
all-time policy Of the American Gov
ernment.
No Panic Now.
There is no need to decide this
momentous question In surroundings
of fear or panic. We are not in
panic now. and there Is nothing to
fear, except making the wrong de-
cision and going in the wrong direc-
ton. The people can decide the ques-
ton cody and with level heads. q"
What We should do is calmly and
dispassionately take the New Deal
apart and see what the effect
of adopting it in its various parts will,
in all probability, be.
When we do that we find that
some parts of it are good, and in ac-
cord with American institutions. We
find that other parts are, or probably
are. in accord but are unWisely
administered. As to these we should
substitute wisdom for lack of wis
dom.
And then we find still other parts
which are SO directly contrary to the
spirit Of the Constitution as to violate
the fundamental principles on which
the American form Of government
rests. These, submit, should be
abandoned ..
Political Problem Of Ages.
THE political problem of the ages
has always been how to reconcile the
powers of government with the liber-
ties Of the individual through the
centuries. Government in the end
generally crushed liberty. After a
while the people generally arose over
threw the prevailing government, and
set up their own.
THE founders of the American Re-
public knew all about this trend OF
history.
In order to save themselves from
absolute despotism.' the American
Colonies had to declare their inde-
pendence and their right to institute
new government Now. the. prin-
ciples on which this new government
was to be founded were = 1" embodied
in the Constitution of the United
States.
"This document sought to solve the
age-old struggle between government
and liberty q Its aim was to do
this by limiting the power Of govern
ment. Liberty was to have rights of
its own which government could not
transcend or deny. -
Trend to Old Order Seen.
1--WE cannot have unity in national
affairs unless the people of the States
are free to settle for themselves their
domestic affairs. Nor can liberty be
secure unless the legislative, executive
and judicial departments OF govern
ment are kept distinct. If they are
permitted. to be merged, then we are
back again to the old order where the
people had no control or check upon
government in the exercise of its
powers.
They (the two principles of govern
menD are the heart and spirit Of the
American form of government. So long
as we retain them unshaken in their
substance and in their essence, our
form Of government will remain
American I" - But abolish or seriously
impair these two fundamentals, and
you have done something revolution
ary to America. 80"
"You have a kind of government
which is American no more. It may
be Fascism. or Communism or Social
ism or Collectivism or something
else 80
Not All Policies Bad.
II do not suggest that this strain Of
un- -Americanism runs through all Of
the New Deal measures and poll
cies Some, like the lending
agencies such as the r. F. G. and
the H. o. L. c.. which are paid back
what they lend, have in great part
saved industry and banking and the
peoples homes Other measures,
like relief to the unemployed and care
for the old, the afflicted and the other
wise handicapped. are social response
bilities of the Government, many Of
them too long delayed in fulhfl-
ment - =.
"Other measures again involve
spending for public works and pur-
poses. and these, too, are not contrary
to the American fundamentals Of
sovernment-although we should
recognize that no nation has ever
yet spent its way back to recovery,
and that We cannot too long spend
more than we take In ..
"But let us always remember that
the great danger of bad times Is bad
remedies and bad laws.
"Sc let our national plans and poll
cies rest, as they have always done,
upon the rocks of liberty which under
lie Ollr form of covernmenf and mt