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Show THE RICH COUNTY REAPER, RANDOLPH, UTAH jl Mi i n I Imperial Hopes May Linger But Where Will Nazis Flee? i !& ao. .... , p j Spirit May Be Nurtured in Foreign Haven to Break Forth Again; Few Countries Willing to Offer Foe Refuge. TZ. By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator. H By MARIE H. MUDRA Released by Western Newspaper Union. THE - six-year-o- boy pulled ld up on the marble, stool to look into the glass case. As with us, it was his first visit to Washington and he had to see everything. He let out a squeal of surprise,. Mother! he said, looking up to see where she was. Its all gold. Is it a treasure? We all laughed, but the policeman stationed there on the west gallery of the main floor of the Congressional library bent down to the small . boy. 4 1 , Deed it is. Sonny. Its so priceless that there is a special guard like me here every hour of the day. Do you know what they are, Sonny? said the boy, his eyes Nope, growing larger. Theyre the birth certificates of this nation. That one up in the cabinet on the wall is the Declaration of Independence and this one in the case below is the Constitution of the United States. The guard pronounced the words with so much pride that they sent a thrill through us listeners and we edged closer to see the golden documents. Under Protective Glass. See, theyre specially lighted and kept under a protective glass coated with a yellow chemically-treate- d film so the parchments wont fade. Here, speaking to all of us. Look at John Hancocks signature. Written big and bold so the king of England might read it without his spectacles. Have these documents always been here? asked a man in the group. No, theyve always been at the seat of government. At first that was New York. When Philadelphia became the capital, they were taken there. After congress fixed upon Washington as a permanent capital, they were moved to this city. And been here ever since? someone asked. For No, the guard explained. a short time when the British captured Washington during the War of 1812 they were removed to Virginia far enough away to be safe. They were preserved in a vault but in 1921 President Harding ordered them placed here. Why are some of the names rubbed off? asked the boy. We looked closer and saw a' few signatures somewhat obliterated. They tell a story about that but no one can prove it. When the British attacked the city of Washington in 1814, these parchments were forgotten in the confusion that followed. Then a clerk of the state department, in whose custody they were, rolled them up in a hurry, shoved them into linen bags, and fled to Georgetown and then to Leesburg. It is said that on his journey the ink on the surface flaked off from this rough handling. Now will you remember, he asked the little boy, all those things on September 17, Constitution day? Thats the date on which the Constitution was finished way back in 1787. Philadelphia Celebrates. Not having such an introduction to the origin of our Constitution, most people do not even know when Constitution day is. But the Philadelphians have observed it with greater regularity than any other place in America. Perhaps this city is conscious of the distinction it holds in having Independence Hall, the building in which both these documents were drafted. In 1887 Philadelphia held a national centennial celebration on September 15, 16 and 17, arranged by a Constitutional Centennial commission. This commission included representatives from each state and territory appointed by the governors; the President and his cabinet; governors and other officers from each state and territory; members of jthe diplo- ld , r -- i s1 'i to be more fully instructed in the nature of the Constitution and its guarantees of their freedom. So in 1914 the National Security league was organized to promote this instruction. The league prepared a catechism of the Constitution, circulating hundreds of copies. It urged schools to devdte more time to the teaching of the Constitution and observance of the celebration of September 17. By 1919 there were active committees working in 41 states with chairmen from: presidents of state bar associations; presidents of colleges; chairmen of school boards; presidents of historical societies; state branches of Sons of the American Revolution and other distinguished citizens. Under the guidance of the league, Constitution day was observed by 22 states and a hundred cities in that year. The National Security league tried to counteract the effect of attacks upon the Constitution by radicals out of office. In 1934 these radicals charged the Democratic President and congress with setting up a government disregarding the .Constitution, a kind which the radicals of previous years had advocated. At that time measures were adopted to overcome the effects of financial panic in the fall of 1929 and the consequent business depression. ' To Save Our Liberties. Prominent Republicans and Democrats organized the American Liberty league to use all means in its power to prevent thfe destruction of those liberties guaranteed by the The Constitution day Constitution. anniversary in 1934 was observed by distinguished orators of both patties calling legislation for the relief of business as subversive of the Constitution. Meetings were held under the auspices of the SAR, DAR, YMCA, American Legion and "other organizations. Some speakers defended the recovery legislation as constitutional and said they had as profound respect for the Constitution as the critics of such legislation. This difference of opinion on fundamental issues made the 1934 celebration more notable than any before. It demonstrated, too, the rights Americans were privileged to exercise under this same Constitution. In more recent years there is a growing tendency to have I Am an American Day on September 17 as an especially appropriate way to celebrate the Constitution day. Those who become of age before that day and any aliens who have been naturalized are welcomed as new citizens of these United States by their local community officers. The pledge and national anthem given by these new citizens has such fervor that it makes one conscious anew of what it means to be an American. Few Changes. Perhaps this years celebration of Constitution day, just two months before a national election, would be a good time to look up the Constitution in any encyclopedia and study its articles. Drafted by 55 delegates from 13 states, who, working four months in secret session, often violently disagreed, the Constitution, now in its 157th year, has had few changes in its text. Among all the constitutions in the world it is the oldest and yet is well adapted to the expanding needs of the resourceful American people even in their complex civilization. Men like Washington, Franklin, Hamilton and Madison had a hand in shaping it and because of their divergent views compromised to make a more perfect Union possible. You will learn that it confers powers upon the federal government and again exerts limitations upon both state and central governments. Today with accusations hurled by presidential candidates ringing so loudly in our ears, a quiet contemplation of the original Constitution is almost a must for every citizen. It is a good way to celebrate Constitu- j tion day this year. , . In this shrine in the Congressional library in Washington are preserved the birth certificates of this nation the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. matic corps. The celebration began with an industrial parade in which 12,000 people demonstrated the progress made by the United States in the century of its existence. In the evening Governor Beaver of Philadelphia held a reception in honor of the official guests. On the second day 30,000 members of state and federal military organizations paraded in review before President Grover Cleveland. At night the President held a public reception in the Academy of Music attended by thousands. Cleveland Is Speaker. On the third day, the real anniversary of the Constitution, exercises were held in Independence square before the building where the Constitution was drafted. President Cleveland made an address in which he concluded: As we look down the past century to the origin of our Constitution, as we contemplate its trials and triumphs, as we realize how completely the principles upon which it is based have met every national peril and every national need, how devoutly God should we confess with Franklin, governs in the affairs of men; and how solemn should be the reflection that to our hands is committed this ark of the peoples covenant, and that ours is the duty to shield it from impious hands. In the 20th century the anniversary has attracted general attention rad- throughout the country. Various ical groups, small but noisy, began to agitate for the overthrow of American institutions. Public-spirite- d men decided that citizens ought THE AUTHOR Editors Note: This article won first prize in a contest, sponsored by Western Newspaper Union at the Fifth Annual ConferWriters ence at Northwestern university in July, 1944, for the best feature article appropriate to the observance of ion Constitut writday. It was ten by Mrs. Marie H. Mudra, a teacher in a Chi- cago high school. Mrs. Mudra is the daughter of an immigrant Bohemian shoemaker and, although born in this country, she did not learn to speak English until she was six years old. She has achieved distinction as a writer, having won several contests in short story and feature writing in the Middle West. She is the mother of a son who recently was accepted for CAA training and who hopes to become an army aviator. WNU Service, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. Returning to the capital after a week in the wilds while Hitlers mad dream of empire was melting, it is hard to adjust the ear, caressed by the whisper of mountain brooks and sighs of the wind in the pines, to r. the staccato click of the Natures sounds are organ-sound-s, news-ticke- rising, falling, not sharp and metallic-ethe crack of the lightning merges into its obligato of thunder. Today as I pulled the first sheet of text from the teletype with its continuously exciting recital of the end of an epoch it occurred to me that epochs, like the manifestations of nature, have no sudden ends, they may seem to disappear like a river which plunges under ground. But they are bound to appear again. Today we have evidence that the two forces which have sprung from two opposing elements in Germany, as I reported in an earlier column, are attempting like the lost rivers to seek a course below the surface. The Prussian military caste, purged as it has been and soon doubtless to be stripped of its one source of income, the great estates of East and West. Prussia, will surely try to continue its existence in refugee colonies. This is not a new phenomenon. The followers of dethroned kings have done this in the past. Where and how will this group seek to keep alive the will to achieve such a goal? Time is not the essence of what they believe to be their contract with destiny. They can wait generations, centuries. All they need is space, space in which, undisturbed, they can propagate their kind and thfeir faith. ' And as the thinned ranks of German Junkerdom (only a tiny percentage of the German people) desperately plan their future an even more desperate group, at the other end of the social spectrum, plans theirs. The Nazis have demonstrated that it was not Germany as a nation or Germans as a people in whom they were interested, but both as a means to the creation of a great, brutal, sweeping movement-follow- ers of an idol and an ideology. The fanatical Nazi spirit will try to hide and live and rise again. Where, in all the world, can these two movements find asylum? Not in Germanys neighbor states where hatreds have been sown which will take a century to cure. It is highly probable that the republican elements in Spain will gain the ascendancy and give short shrift to the former friends of Franco. Sweden surely, having maintained neutrality in this war, is too wise to harbor either group. Turkey perhaps. Where else might a German go and face least resentment? It is natural to answer with the name of the nation which was least willing to join in a solid anti-Axcombine Argentina. ven is Foreign Spirits Grow In Latin Instability It is a mystery to me, said a man who has spent many years in how Latin - America, Vargas of or Brazil) anyone else (president could keep the elements in the south satisfied as long as he has." Of course it has been done, he went on, the nation has been held together by a dictatorship and because the money has been pouring in from the United States. When it is the ambition of most Brazilians to get a government job, and 60 per cent at a time manage to do it, its natural you have to change governments pretty often to give the other 40 per cent a chance. Of course this cynical comment must be taken with a grain, of salt. But there is some truth in the allegation. One of the things which kept the Third Republic of France together as long as it was, was the method of giving out government jobs which worked for stability and continuity. The person who had the right to sell a certain amount of tobacco was not permitted to use a shop or restaurant which he himself ran, in which to sell it. So he had to give a where the cut to the The sold. were goods could not employ any one of his cafe-own- er cafe-own- er own family to handle the sales there were 'other complicated regulations the result of which was that three or four families were benefit-tin- g by the single government license. Of course it is not the quality of govinstability of ernments in itself which disrupts our statesmen, but the fact that such instability makes foreign influence easier to achieve. We know what a foothold Germany had obtained in South America, and maps have been discovered showing the territory Hitler expected to control which placed all. of South America up to and into southern Brazil under German domination. The power of Argentinian influence on the other South American countries was strikingly revealed in the recent move which caused the resignation of . Foreign Minister Aranha of Brazil as a protest States policy. against his Latin-Americ- an pro-Unit- ed Enemy Broadcasters Without a Country The time grows shorter until Lord Hawhaw, Mr. Kaltenbach, Mr. Best, Miss Drexel, et al, take their places at the microphones of the Berlin radio to spread their futile propaganda over the ether for the last time. Here are three reminiscences: When I was broadcasting from Berlin for the NBC at the beginning of the war in 1939, there was only one of the staff of the German broadcasting station there who was provocatively Nazi. He was a tall, handsome blond, much given to riding boots and golf clubs. He had studied in England and his English seemed perfect to me. He was an announcer who read the news beamed on England. Then came the British declaration of war against Germany. There was naturally considerable excitement in the studio. It was not until I was going home that I missed my blond friend. No one seemed to know where he was. Then I heard the story. It seemed that when war was declared all enemy aliens were interned. The Gestapo, much to the surprise of his colleagues, picked up my blond anglophobe, explaining they had known all along that he was a British agent. Later he was brought back and forced to continue reading news bulletins in English. Number two in my gallery I never he is the man saw Best who mouths Nazi platitudes in a southern accent. But I understand the accent is all that is left of the man he is or was an American newspaperman who got into one of those European social impasses. A woman, of course, and an older and more determined one. He finally found his escape in drugs. That was an easy case for the Nazis. Now we come to exhibit number three: Constance Drexel. That name will be remembered by magazine and newspaper readers of some two decades ago. It is , a pseudonym chosen because, I imagine, her real one would not have sounded as pleasant in Philadelphia where she worked on a newspaper. She had interviewed the Queen of Spain and other notables in her day (that dates her), but had started going to seed when she called on me hoping for an assignment from the syndicate for which I worked in the middle 20s. She still had some of her youthful good looks and knew how to make the most of them. The next time I ran across her was in the Potsdammer station in Berlin, shortly after the war started. I was returning from Switzerland, and my office had told me Constance Drexel would appear on one of my periods and I was to edit her script. She showed it to me as we rode to my hotel. I read it. It was innocuous. She looked no younger but better fed. Said she was in Europe doing some syndicate articles. She made a broadcast which I did not hear and I never saw her againnever heard of her until I had returned to America and caught a broadcast of hers over the shortwave from Berlin, extolling the virtues of , |