Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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'TBju.Ji-|4i favor of the country and its leaders, they are safe. But let them utter one word against the regime, and they will be thrown into a dungeon or placed against a wall and mowed down as grain before the scythe. Even the newspapers in these countries are government owned, and therefore are nothing but propaganda sheets. Moreover the people are not allowed to assemble for any occasion except government celebrations or under govern- ment supervision. To provide against subsequent usurpation of individual rights by autocratic interpreters of this constitution, its creators further declared that no bill of attainder or ex post-facto law shall ever be passed that the privilege of habeas corpus shall not be suspended except in cases of rebel- lion or invasion or when the public safety shall demand it. The citizens of Germany and Russia, if you can call them citizens, denied as they are, these fundamental liberties, live in constant fear that their homes will be seized, that they themselves will be thrown in prison without any knowl- edge of the charge, and without a fair and open trial. We should get down on our knees and thank God that we are living in a country where a man’s home and belongings are in truth his very own. These are the muniments of civil liberty which have come down to us from the struggle of English History. They were included in the English “Bill of Rights,” and were written in our early state and federal constitutions. All the states recog- nize and assert these principles of civil liberty. We have here the very ideals for which the Constitution was drawn up, these are the ideals for which our fathers gave their last full measure of devotion. Among the ideals of American liberty, freedom of religion deserves to be emphasized. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This principle was written in our Constitution at the very beginning of the first Amendment. It had been included in the State Constitution and in the famous Northwest Ordinance of 1787. This freedom of religion—a free church in a free state—our pilgrim fathers had sought in the beginning. They sought it for themselves chiefly, but they helped to find it for the future generations of their countrymen. There is one great factor that goes hand in hand with these rights. That factor is your duty and my duty to protect these rights for ourselves and for others. No more was ever said concerning this duty than these, my closing words, which were uttered by Abraham Lincoln in 1837: “Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of ‘ ’76’ died to support the declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and the laws let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;—let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample in the blood of his fathers and to tear the charter of his own and his children’s liberty. Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babes that prattle on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pu’pits, pro- claimed in legislative halls, and enforced in the courts of justice. And. in short, let it become the political religion of the nation, and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay of all sexes and tongues and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.” Oration

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I N THIS COUNTRY today, it is sad to relate, there are comparatively few citizens who have a clear understanding concerning the rights guaranteed to them through the Federal Constitution. Upon these rights rest the foundations of our government. These rights shine out in the heavens like stars. We cannot reach up and grasp them, but, on the sea of life, they help to guide the mariner to a haven of safety. When in the days before the American Revolutionary War, Parliament and the King of England took from our forefathers these cardinal rights of man, they rose up in rebellion and struck the yoke from their necks. Some of the principles for which these men fought and died are found in the memorable words of the Declaration of Independence—words which should find a home in the heart of every true American: These Words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriv- ing their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute a new government, lay- ing its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and hap- piness.” These principles quoted from the Declaration of Independence mean equal rights for all and special privileges for none. This is the funda- mental maxim of American democracy, the ideal which America has an- nounced as worthy of attainment. This does not mean that all men are born equal in wealth or mental ability or moral character or opportunity; but it does mean that all men, rich or poor, high or low, ignorant or learned, white or black, without regard to lineage, religion, color, race, or previous conditions of servitude —that all must be treated without discrimination by law and government and be allowed the fullest and freest exercise and development of their natural powers. No handicaps should be imposed on some, while special favors are given to others. Moreover, there should be no legal barrier to prevent a man from acquiring the property and rights or rising to the position to which another member of the community is entitled to attain. Accordingly, rank and privilege, political position, and the right to rule, in the words of Lowell in his Essays on Government, “cannot be hereditary, but must be open to every person, who, by talent, diligence, and good for- tune, is capable of attaining them.” Thinking Americans then, as now, agree with Lowell, for note that after independence had been gained the founders of the Republic sought by State and Federal Constitutions to secure this liberty and equality under law. In so doing, they set forth other ideals. The founders, moved by the ideals of eternal justice and the rights of the individual, decreed that there shall be in our country freedom of press, speech, peaceful assembly and the right of freedom of petition. To truly appreciate the worth of these first rights we need only look at Nazi Germany and Communistic Russia. The people of these countries have been reduced from men into cogs of a militaristic machine. If they speak in Class Oration

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O N TUESDAY evening, January 4, as the house lights dimmed and the audience became silent, the curtain rose on our annual Senior play. It was a comedy in three acts, entitled “A Good Egg.” The entire action of the play took place in the living room of the home of Dr. Clayton, in Drury, Connecticut. After seeing our classmates perform so well in their roles of doctor, mother, servant, burglar, teacher, vamp, and policeman, it was quite difficult to picture them back at their desks studiously going over their lessons. The presentation was under the able supervision of Miss Jackson, and the Senior class may well be proud of one of the finest dramatic offerings ever given in our school. Senior Ploy