Canandaigua Academy - Academian Yearbook (Canandaigua, NY)

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national Presidents, Senators, Repre- sentatives, and Justices of the Supreme Court, as well as governors and all pub- llc office holders, are drawn from all classes Such men as Edison, Mc- Cormick, Singer and a galaxy of suc- cessful inventors w-ere sons of poor men. Carnegie, Ford, Chrysler, and thousands of other manufacturers rose from the ranks of wage workers. This is our tradition: that the door of oppor- tunity is always open. The pressure of men accepting their opportunities, con- stantly and continually revitalizes all economic activities-keeps our economic life from becoming static and stale. The automobile replaces the cart and the carriage: gasoline replaces the horseg wire nails replace wooden pegsg and thousands of commodities replace thousands of others as industry evolv- ing constantly improves old products and creates new ones. This process of change is brought about by the inven- tive and ingenious among us, and through developing these opportunities we create new opportunities. The irresponsible and unrestricted rule of the people by graded classes of feudal lords, or by a party, whether it be called Nazi or Fascist or Communist, or by a small group, or an organized dictator-government, by absolute au- thority, means loss of freedom by the individuals living under it. It is only as the powers delegated by the people to their governments are limited and a wide range of rights and privileges is retained for exercise by the individual citizens that any large measures of in- dividual llberty may be assured. And this assurance is found only in the United States of America. . . . William E. Benham - Assembly Survey Lesta, the magician, and his wife, gave a demonstration of magic on Ma.rch twenty-sixth. If anyone has Hgured out how he got those invisible cards into Jack Wilsea's hand, let me in on the secret. The April second assembly opened with a comedy reading by Cornelia VanDeusen, Sponsored by a Coffin Manufacturer. A one-act play, The Very Naked Boy, directed by Mr. Foster, was pre- sented by Carolyn Frarey, Warren Er- nisse and 'Ilom Erdman. In closing, a talk, The Citizen, His Rights and Privileges Under the Con- stitution, was given by Charles Rice. THE ACADEMIAN On April thirtieth Mr. Evans read one of the largest honor rolls in the history of C. A. Mr. Lomber closed the assembly by wishing the band well on its coming trip to Atlantic City. Of course, we all know that the band has returned to us again as National Champions. On May seven-th the girls' public speaking contest, sponsored by the Par- ent Teacher Assoclation and the Board of Education, was held. The girls who participated were: Shirley Otteman, Mabel Joseph, Helen Kennedy, Cornelia VanDeusen, Wilma Salnave, Marlon Davis, Margaret Pritchard, and Lucy Polimeni. Mr. Richard Herendeen, vice-principal of Shortsville High School, acted as judge and picked Lucy Polimeni as the winner and Mabel Joseph as second prize winner. Mrs. Joseph D. Martin, president of the Cen- tral Council of the Parent Teacher As- sociation, awarded a prize of twenty dollars to Lucy and a prize of ten dol- lars to Mabel. On May fourteenth the Phelps and Gorham boys' speaking contest was held. Those who spoke were: David Elliot, Richard VanGelder, Charles Adams, William Benham, John May, Max Cohen and Charles Rice. Mem- bers of the Board of Education and the local clergy acted as Judges. William Benham was given the first prize of twenty dollars and John May the sec- ond prize of ten dollars. In an effort to make future assembly programs meet with the approval of the students, your reporter asked the opin- ions of v-arious members of the dlHer- ent classes. In response to the ques- tions, What assembly did you enjoy most during the year? and Have you any suggestions about future pro- grams? the following information was forthcoming: Marion Davis: Mr. Jonesg assem- blies should include more students. Bob Moore: The French Club Pro- gram because I couldn't understand what they were saying, plays by public speaking classes. Rita Thornhill: Mr. Jones: more science. Donnie Smith: The Christmas play, more plays. Dot Hutton: Mr. Jones: more like Mr. Jones and Lesta. Harvey Lomber: Lestag more magi- cians. Marge VanVooren: Jacobs Trio: more musical programs. Howie Meath: Christmas playg there ought to be a junior play.

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THE ACADEMIAN P FIRST PRIZE Phelps 699 Gorham Speaking Contest An ancient writer once said, No man liveth unto himself, we are all members one of another? Men have always lived together, and as long as they have lived together they have had governments. From this they have developed two types, one where the government is the servant of the people and the other where the people are servants of the government. The former type is th-e democracy, a gov- ernment in which the supreme power rests with the citizens. A standard definition is self-government either di- rectly or through representatives with delegated authority subject to periodi- cal renewal. We call it government of the people, by the people and for themselves. Since very large groups of people cannot govern themselves di- rectly by assembling and deliberating on every matter of common interest, the common form. representative dem- ocracy, is developed. The foundation of such a government is the idea that the state exists for the sake of the in- dividuals who compose its population, and that they are a free source of its authority. Such a government and only such a government is found in the United States and in the United States alone. It is true that some of the dic- tatorships do listen somewhat to public opinion, but they try desperately to shape it by shutting off freedom of speech and press. so that their version will be heard and read. Political freedom, economic freedom, social freedom-these we have pre- served for the individual, through all the changes that modern life has brought, and through modern condi- tions that could never have been fore- seen by our ancestors who established this federal republic. We have grown from a loosely bound group of little states along the Atlantic coast in which people followed an ancient, simple, slow-changing way of life, to the lead- ing nation in a new, fast-changing civ- ilization. Yet we have never lost that devotion to the unalienable human rights that was voiced in the Declara- tion of Independence and has been echoed in every decade of our national existence. There are two general types of hu- man rightsg the economic and the polit- ical. The economic rights are in the form of an unwritten law and are not recognized in other countries. The freedom of an individual to work in an occupation where he can do something worth while, to accumulate something from its proceeds, and to enjoy the fruits of his accomplishments are es- sential to the common welfare and to human progress. Second, the political rights. They are fundamental rights without which we can have no real freedom of any kind. These rights should be in the mind of every United States citizen as he performs his daily duties, because they give the individual such a wide range of freedom to im- prove his social and economic condition by his own agencies, and a broad pro- tection against oppression by either a majority or an organized minority holding political power. He has also many safeguards against exploitations by others, in the laws that his repre- sentatives in Congress and in his state legislatures are empowered to enact, in administrative agencies, set up to en- fonce these laws, and in the courts which are everywhere open to petition and to judicial settlement of disputes. We in the United States are accus- tomed to respect these rights but we also depend on the government to pro- tect them. In democratic countries the individ- ual rights considered essential are pro- tected either by definite constitutional provisions or by long established cus- toms, or by both. In the United States they are set forth in a national consti- tution as well as in the constitutions of the several states. Not only do the people have freedom of religion, speech, press, but they have the combination of all of these free- doms, the freedom of opportunity. Our

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THE ACADEMIAN Margaret Monahan: Lestag better ones. Bruce Benedict: Mr. Jones: more like him. Dottie Allen: Christmas play: more students participating. Charles Rice: Lestag more home tal- ent. Ruth Linehan: Mr. Jonesg I'm sat- isfi-ed. Eddie Melville: Christmas playg we should have the flag salute assembly. at every Prudence Coyte: Lestag something jazzy. Bill Townley: Lestag more tall men in assemblies. From these enlightening suggestions we ought to have some fine assemblies next year. As for myself, I think that through the co-operation of Mr. Lom- ber, Mr. Foster, Mrs. Johnson and the our fifth periods Board of Education on Wednesdays have been spent pleas- antly and profitably. . . . Paul J. Lynch National Society Colonial Daughters Winning Essay for 1941 The Pan-American Movement In the light of present world condi- tions, the Pan-American movement, a comparatively new movement, is of ut- most importance. The chaotic condi- tion of the eastern hemisphere makes it necessary for us of the western hem- isphere to find some means of preserv- ing our way of life. This need was being felt years ago when Simon Bolivar called a confer- ence to meet in Panama in 1826. Dele- gates were sent from the United States, but they did not arrive in time for the conference. Only a few of the Ameri- can nations were represented. A few years later, a group of three republics held a conference in Chile. Their dis- cussions were of no particular value then or now, but the general attitude of the meeting was one of hostility to the United States. The South American attitude is quite understandable. There are about fifty different racial mixtures including white, Spanish, Indian, Negro, Asiatic, and every possible combination of these races. There are sharp lines drawn between social classes which make it almost impossible for a person in one class to rise to another. Since there is no common language to bind them to- gether, they are prone to be skeptical of each other and of foreigners. A fear of Yankee Imperialism has made it difficult to get the Latin-American countries together. In the 1880's, Secretary of State James G. Blaine issued invitations to a conference to be held in Washington. Before the meeting could take place, President Garfield was assassinated. Chester A. Arthur be-came the chief ex- ecutive. With this came a change in the state department, and the invita- tions were recalled. A few years later, when Blaine was again head of the state department, he reissued the invitations. In the discussions which ensued, weights and measures, communications, arbitration, reciprocity in trade, and a host of other subjects were brought up. The only ou-tstanding result was a series of conferences held in different coun- tries. At the second of six conferences, every one of the twenty-one republics was represented. They voted for com- pulsory arbitration of disputes, reci- prccity, and a common system of nat- uralization. At the fourvth meeting, a beautiful building in Washington was dedicated. It houses maps, globes, all kinds of information concerning Latin- America, and gorgeous tropical gardens. It was a gift from Andrew Carnegie. The fifth conference brought up the principles of the Monroe Doctrine. All 'the American nations favored their adoption except the United States. However, they were accepted. In 1890, the Pan-American Union, as we now know it, was founded. The object of its organization was to gather c-ommercial data and general informa- tion to be distributed to Union mem- bers. It strove for better economic and cultural relationships between the vari- ous countries. Bulletins were issued, and still are, in the four chief lan- guages of the Americas: English, French, Spanish, and Fortuguese. To