The Washington times., 1937-06-28
BY DAVID p. SENTNER
Icopyrisht. 1887. by international
,y'. News Servicol

| Dy OAVAO 0G3N AGNA1As
? (Copyrisht, 1887. by International
2 aki News servieel
DUBLIN; June 28.-Mathema
tician, soldier, idealist and states
man, President De Valera is at
tempting to blend the soul anc
Drawn Of ireland into an indie
pendent and disappearing unity
The new constitution, shortly
to be passed upon in an election
reflects many of the policie.
achieved during his five years o!
office plus q revised govern
mental machine. I asked:
do you believe that the
new constitution Is q big step
toward developing permanent
good relations with Britain?"
He replied:
II do, . big step and also .
necessary step. The central
purpose Of every step I have
taken In regard to our cOnStitu-
tiOnaI development has been to
provide . foundation, on which
permanent good relations be-
tween the, two countries could
be based.
JUSTICE ONLY BASIS
81 know, and it should be evil
dent to everybody, that it is
only on q basis of justice and
fair play that good relations
can be established.
"The new constitution does
clear away a number Of obstacles
which in the past prevented
the possibility Of good relations
being established. This will be
one Of the chief results Of its
enactment"
Have you incorporated in the
new constitution any features Of
the Constitution Of the United
States?"
mot to any extent. The
United States Is a Federal union
and ours is a unitary state.
Your Executive Government is
the President, not Immediately
responsible to the Houses Of
Congress.
"Our executive is q body
elected by the house Of repre-
Sentatives and anSwerable to
that house, from day to day,
for its executive acts. The two
systems are therefore along al
together different lines"
The outstanding features Of tn
new Irish constitution are:
Seven Year Presidents
Election Of a president for sever
years with increased powers.
Reestablishment Of q SeconI
chamber, elected on proportions
ana vocational representation.
Reintroduction Of the referer
dunn.
Provision for extraordinary tr
bunals, when the ordinary court
''are inadequate to secure the ei
fective administration Of ,justic
and the preservation Of publ
peace and order"
Prohibition Of any law for d
vorce. s..., z....
Establishment Of an advisor
council of state.
Stipulation that the Irish Ian
guage is to be the national lar
guage, with English as a Secont
official language.
Provision that while "the ma
tional territory consists Of tn
whole of Ireland, the laws Of Err
(the new name for the state) shall
apply only to the Free State, pend
ing unification with Ulster.
There is no mention Of any oatl
Of allegiance to the King nor an!
reference to Ireland's membership
In the British commonwealth.
British UnimpreSSed
President DeValera explains tina
the new document was designed
so that Ireland's controversies with
Britain would be outside it, II
~rder that the constitution viii
IT stand in the way Of any RENE
dies that may be proposed.
The president said bill would
be introduced simultaneously with
the constitution, to continue the
present relations of Ireland with
Britain and the commonwealth
until such time as the Irish people
could yoTnno,1nca e11nreSS1v m these
relations.
The constitution Is not expected
to be a serious issue in the coming
election.
British officialdom greets the
new Irish constitution calmly and
with q certain optimism. They
term it a constitution for an indie
pendent domestic republic with
dominion status within the Brit
ish commonwealth. They hope II
may improve the relationship be