The guardian. [volume] (Boston, Mass.) 1901-1960, 1940-03-09
THE THREAT TO CIVIL LIBERTY

liberties we here In n. h. are standing
on familiar ground for it is here, in this
section of the country, that the rights
of man, his heritage of life, liberty, the
pursuit of happiness, and all that we
mean by civil liberties had their gene
sis and their cradle.
1t is not necessary to trace the his
tory of the institutions which safeguard
these liberties. We know only too well
that we owe them to the sacrifices Of
those who have been before us-men of
the plain heroic breed who loved liber-
ty more than life. They established in
this land a law which should be for the
protection of all the people that the
least may feel that they are under its
care, just as the greatest may know that
they are not exempt from its power.
That law is now the Constitution of the
U. S.
But the unamended Constitution does
not safeguard civil liberties. The dis
eliminating reader will see that in its
first draft the emphasis lies more with
property than with persons. The peo-
pie of the .. S. therefore were wise
enough not to ratify it until it was
amended. The first ten amendments
known as the Bill of Rights were there
fore made, and it was not until personal
liberty was guaranteed that the Con
stitution became the fundamental law
of the land. The Bill of Rights, safe
guarding the liberties of the individual,
may then be considered an integral
part of this fundamental law because
it was ratified along with the Constitu-
ton from the very beginning Such is
the regard they had for civil liberty.
From the days of Magma Carta to the
present men have had to fight for it.
Eternal vigilance is the price we pay
for it. Relax that vigilance but for a
moment and those unconscionables who
are ever with us, and who value prop
erty rights above personal rights, are
ready at one fell swoop to deprive us of
our dearly-bOught heritage.
Of all the plaques which afflict hui
manity tyranny is the most diabolical.
1t is heinous in that it negates the most
priceless thing we know-human per-
sonality. In its ruthlessness it would
trample underfoot this most precious
thing-respect for the rights of man.
1t was VIM. Pitts boast that he made
England so free of brigands that each
mans home was his castle Others
since Pitt have blazed similar trails to
human rights-the right of free speech,
the right of assembly, the right to cri-
ticise ones government, to alter it by
their constitutional right, and to abol-
ish it, if need be, by their revolutionary
right
So, cherishing these rights, men have
in every age thrown off the tyrant's
yoke in whatever way it manifests it.
self. And the ways in which that hy-
dra-headed monster Oppression shows
itself are legion. A short three-quarters
of century ago it stalked the land un-
ashamedly in the form of chattel
slavery. That was abolished. But do
not think that because chattel slavery
has been abolished that men are there
fore free. There are forms of slavery
far more pernicious than the enslave-
ment of the body There is economic
slavery and all that that implies as
means Of denying to men their God
given right of finding happiness
through the things which money can
buy-decent homes to live in, adequate
education, appropriate recreation. In
short, all that we mean by the more
abundant life. A realistic view of life
compels the inclusion of all this in the
making of a well-rounded personality.
Subtract them from human welfare
and mans personality perishes. All
along the line there is an inescapable
interdependence between his body and
his soul. Depress him economically and
human nature being what it is, you de-
press him spiritually. We have had
enough of the pie-in-the-sky kind of
religion. Men must have their pie
here, now. 1t is their God-given right.
For when the body is long deprived of
creature comforts the spirit which has
been languishing the while is rendered
incapable of fighting for liberty.
So the tyrant's most insidious attack
is on the economic front-depresse
wages, long hours, unwholesome work
ing conditions, speed up, and above all,
intimidation and terrorization of work
ers when they attempt to organize and
bargain collectively and so better their
condition. 1t is along this front that
we have seen the most malignant at
tempts to deny the civil liberties of the
individual The right of assembly and
of free speech has been denied; the
liberty of unlicensed printing thwamed,
due process of law spurned and life
itself taken.
Some Of these methods of curtailing
liberty may not obtain in this section
OF the country, at least not just yet,
but wherever human rights are in
fringed upon in one section of the
country the other more fortunate sec
tions may not look with careless in
difference, for sooner or later the OBJ