The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
The Home Front The Day the Dam Broke OR perhaps I should call t h i s " T he Day t h e Dam w i t B u i l t . " Since September 17 I have had on my conscience a b u r d e n of guilt. E v e r y...
...They K n e w What They W o n t e d Now monies Charley Krvin with his r e p o r t on t h a t convention which ended iU sessions i n September, 1767...
...honest, said no and added that idea of a t h i r d woghi war was being spread by monopoly capitalists in all countries...
...No v e r y ins p i r i n g piece could hive-been w r i t t e n on •such a theme...
...Let us get together, ' f r a n k l y face t h e f a c t s and do what needs td""be done...
...If we can't w r i t e a better constitution now than they could in t h e i r day, where does that leave us...
...20-24...
...In pur thinking about this business we Over-emphasize what was done in 1787 and play down vJhat has beeri achieved since...
...At a press conference held recently in Washington at the CIO h e a d q u a r t e r s for Arthur Deakin, new provisional president of the World F e d e r a t i o n of T r a d e Unions, and the other officers of t h e WFTU .there were some e m l i j i r « « i n i ' moments Deakin is a good t r a d e u n i o n ^ t ; he is Bavin's successor as head of the B r i t i s h Transport a n d General Worke r s ' Union and a supporter of Labor P a r t y policies...
...When asked about surviving N a z i sm In Germany he stated that many Nazis still live freely in th« Bt i t i x b and A n t e i i' a i i t o n e s , hut t«ld T f e d l d n ' t know about t h e Soviet zone...
...Which may explain why all decisions were unanimous...
...Now along comes a pamphlet, a newspaperm i n ' i Story of th,e Contfi-tution of the UniUd Statee, by Charles W.F.rvin (Published by the a u t h o r , 112 E. 19th S t , New Y o r k ) , which gives me a chance to a t o ne for my s i n s a n d roll off the burden of g-u-lt...
...He is aware thai...
...face of t he future...
...I am c e r t a i n l y not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions...
...E v e r y o t h er j o u r n a l in t h i s country celebrated Oont i t u t i o n Day, but not I, not The New Leader...
...If we a r e content to s i t out t h e storms of our day in the old s t r u c t u re which they devised, what does t h a t prove about us...
...Nevertheless, the fa.-t t h a t we have lived more or less happily under one c o n s t i t u t i o n for 159 y e a r s seemed to me a poor thing to boast about...
...After much w h i s p e r i n g Lomhardo Toledano made a speech about the " f r e e labor movement <pf A r g e n t i n a ." • It fanned obvious that Deakin was o p e r a t i n g under the idea that nothi n g must be said which would anfag onlze the Soviet " t r a d e unions," or Russia...
...Many a good a l t e r a t i o n , like t h a t on child labor, may have a l a r g e majority of the voters behind it and/ s t i l l i t s advocates may find it impossible to work the stubborn and c r e a k y machinery provided...
...The ninendments adopted since the first ten a r e f ew and, i n many cases, unimportant...
...So what we have now is a combination of what the young men of 1787 planned and what subsequent g e n e r a t i o n s have done...
...Radicals who used to r a i l at t h e rocklike c h a r a c t e r of society a r e less pleased than they expected to be with t h i s period of flux,upon which we have entered...
...It is a bold idea, to honor our national heroes by imitatms* them...
...I be great value of Charles Hrvin's booklet is t h a t it gives us a feeling ot the mood of those early creative d a y s. It is a mood which we need today...
...The basic plan must, of course, have been good...
...And What most of these men d i s t r u s t ed was democracy...
...The methods of amendment a r e too slow, awkward, difficult...
...The Executive Bureau had adopted two special resolutons, one on Greece which called for the s u p p o r t of the Greek workers in "their s t r u g g l e to r e g a i n trade union l i b e r t i e s , " a n d the other on peace...
...With the exception of an island h e r e and t h e r e . ^ t h e world is more fluid t h a n it h a s been a t any time since Noah...
...I belonged to i t and labored with it...
...But no one seems to be g e t t i n g from this s t a t e of affairs the pleasure which we promised ourselves...
...Charley is jiot a conatitutianal lawyer nor a footnote-writing: h i s t o r i a n . He is a newspaperman— and - a good one...
...Ts r e a d y ourselves for what lies ahead, we should give our c o n s t i t u t i o n a l machinery an overhauling...
...Another r e p o r t e r asked whether the WFTU had discussed I h e growing gulf between the U S A a n d t h e USSR, Deakin replied that they hadn't put t h a t subject on t h e agenda, since they had g a t h e r e d to see how much agreement they could reach...
...Deakin, beyi...
...Who w a n ts t o stick out his chest and shout that back in the 18th Century our politicians were s m a r t e r and more t o r e - s i g h t e d than those of other countries...
...Deakin's Unhappy Role in WFTU By Ben Segal SOMETIMES it is better not to hold a press conference - e s p e c i a l l y when you want to give the public a false picture...
...You get the very feeling of t h e time...
...So, says, this author, let us be a s intelligent end courageous as those men of old...
...d»nKerou» times...
...and forty years of experience in government is worth a" c e n t u r y of book-ieading...
...The best thing about i t w a s t h a t it provided for orderly change...
...The argument for t h i s step is simple and...
...From Washington to Jefferson to J a c k son to Lincoln to 'Hoosevelt we have r e vised both the objective's of government and the mechanism...
...principle go floating down t h e flood...
...Considering these m a t t e r s , I shoveoVthe whole thing into a pigeonhole...
...There w a s n ' t a h y t h i ng wrong with what the " p e a c e " resobjtion -oid, what it d i d n ' t s a y was more significant: "The Executive Bureau calls uprin its 70,000,000 members to make known to each of t h e i r governrrients t h e i r determination to oppose preparations for another walsand to defeat the evil forcea of F a s c i sm and, reaction which are menacing world * p e n c e end which are flaunting the same, ideological hajajfers which were carried by Nhwsmend F a s c i s m . . . ." A "naive" reporter ssked Brothei/ Deakin whether the only t h r j a t s of war came from Spain and Germany...
...Had I w r i t t e n on or about September 17 I could have done little more t h a n celeb r a t e the stability of our national c h a r t e r . I could have said: Look, all t h e world is going down in a flood of change while we, safe in t h e s t r u c t u re erected by our f a t h e r s 159 y e a r s ago, s i t here in smug security...
...Immediately Louis Saillant, General Secretary of the WFTU, interrupted with" a speech about the growing talk of war and t h e need to crush the*"surviving vestiges of F a s c i s m . * H e then said that " i n d i s p u t a b l y " the only threats to peace are from Spain and Germany...
...We are entering jpon...
...H o w About a C o n s t i t u t i o n al C o n v e n t i o n ? B l I T my real reason for t a k i n g this %ittle work as my text is t h a t toward t h e end t h e author ' t h r o w s out an enlivening suggestion...
...and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the dead...
...It all seems to him—as it was—a simple and n a t u r al thing...
...S t a b i l i ty has, to be sure, c e r t a i n advantages...
...It was practically l i t e r a ry t r e a s o n . I h a v e , h a d nightmares of myself playing t h e p a r t of the man without a country...
...Had they not feared defeat for t h e i r brain-child, they would have, produced an instrument which would h^ave given the esmple and unpropertied voter practically no place at all...
...So, using t h e r e p o r t s of Madison and others, ha gives a day-to-day account of what happened in Philadelphia...
...They had t h e world before them and all t h e mistakes of h i s t o r y to s e r v e as t e a c h e r s . And, quite unco.iscious of their g r e a t e s t blessing, they had no foref a t h e r s to look back to...
...It deserved well of its country...
...Those were young men who m e t ' t h e r e , ambitious men, fellows who knew j u s t what they wanted...
...You can look in almost any direction a t any time and see p a r t s of disjointed •constitution or t h e r u i n s of some mora...
...He" proposes that we call a constitutional convention, t h r ow e v e r y t h i n g into the hopper and boldly proceed, as the sainted fathers did, to fashion a constitution to suit our own time ami needs...
...It produces an inferiority complex in the...
...The i asily-misguided common folks insisted on Raving t h e Bil( of Rights added to the g r e a t c h a r t e r, hi other ways and at other points, democracy has t r i u m p h a l as the years have rolled along...
...liut I know also t h a t laws ami institutions must go hand in J>»ml with the progress of the human mind...
...So t h e y ' set up—.v thought they did—a t r i p a r t i t e government in which only one p a r t , the?\House uf Representatives, was to be chosen by the poor and i g n o r a n t commbn people...
...Following the lead of Charles A. Beard, this pamphleteer tells the t r u th about the objectives <>f our unsaintly a n c e s t o r s . They were men of property, and their discussions give abundant proof of t h e fact that they were giving a good deal of thought to its increase and preservation...
...Don't get t h e idea that the author is complaining about this...
...convincing...
...The Herald-Tribune reporter persisted in asking about the admission of t h e A r g e n t i n e unions, controlled by Peron, to the WFTU...
...Unfortunately he was placed in a position of whitewashing the actions of the Executive Bureau of t h e WFTU, which met in Washington on Sept...
...In 1816 Thomas Jefferson wrote in r e l a t i on to his recollections of the earlier time: "I knew t h a t age well...
...The Home Front The Day the Dam Broke OR perhaps I should call t h i s " T he Day t h e Dam w i t B u i l t . " Since September 17 I have had on my conscience a b u r d e n of guilt...
...jljsjflpu,uent events have not gone as t h e coTfttitutionmakers calculate...
...Having the world fluid is less agreeable in reality than it was in our dreams...
...It was as property t h a t the slaves were given their place...
...Jt gives us a false sense of values...
...Deakin evidently Is doing s jnb be not very happy about...
...It is too easy for'a m i n o r i t y to block the way...
...It is not to be expected that the s t r a i n s which have wrecked so much of the world will not test our political s t r u c t u r e . Within the 'coming decades basic r e a d j u s t m e n t s m i s t be made...
...It was very like the present, but without the experience of the present...
Vol. 29 • October 1946 • No. 40
