Stoneham High School - Wildlife Yearbook (Stoneham, MA)

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6 THE S. H. S. AUTHENTIC JUNE 1934 PRESIDENT’S WELCOME Donald Blanchard We have been looking forward with anticipation to this day when we shall have finished one step to- ward an education and shall have passed into the ranks of alumni. Your presence here as we com- plete that step is an encouragement to us. We wel- come you, parents, teachers, and friends, to our Graduation Exercises. From year to year, from class to class, you have witnessed us develop. We hope you have seen in us, as the days passed into years, a growth in power and self-reliance, and a drawing forth of our facul- ties that will aid us in becoming better men and women. Your efforts and sacrifices will be repaid by the use of our opportunities to make the world a better place in which to live. We, who are for the first time entering into life’s arena, realize that it is a place of larger opportunity and greater responsibility. Here we have a battle to win. There will be times when we shall look to the achievements and the victories of those gone be- fore us for courage to overcome the obstacles that confront us. We inherit a civilization of more comforts than did our fathers and forefathers. But facing us are greater problems — social, economic and political. There are full years ahead of us, affording oppor- tunity for constructive aid. And so to you — our parents, teachers, and friends, we give assurance that your unrequited toil has not been wasted. The years that are still to dawn will witness our efforts to bring to fruition your fondest hopes for our welfare and success. GRADUATION ADDRESS — MODERN TRENDS OF GOVERNMENT Bernard M. Scully, Jr. We are passing through a period of unprecedent- ed change. We are the living witnesses of one of the most critical periods in our nation’s history. Such a vital period must bring inevitable changes in national affairs. Let us examine the trends of modern thought as they are influencing political, economic, and social reforms in our government. S ' With Woodrow Wilson’s “New Freedom” a new era was ushered into the annals of American gov- ernment. From that time the government has ceased to interest itself solely in political aspects. This new period is one in which the government concerns itself with the regulation of business. The common class of wage-earners is benefited by this change in economic and social policy. The fact that we are truly in a new epoch is borne out by the number of recent changes in our Constitution. From 1913-1933, six amendments to the Constitution have been ratified. Since 1791 when the first ten amendments were ratified as the Bill of Rights, no period has seen such rapid change in our Constitution. These amendments were the natural result of new developments of national life. The original Consti- tution provided for a direct tax proportional to pop- ulation. The Sixteenth Amendment has changed this. The Congress now lays taxes on income ac- cording to amount earned. The reason for this amendment was the fact that the concentration of capital no longer coincided with the concentration of population. The Seventeenth Amendment, pro- viding for direct popular election of United States Senators, superseded the original provision that the state legislatures should choose the Senators. The Eighteenth Amendment, establishing National Pro- hibition, was the result of the entrance of liquor into politics. Because the liquor interests had such a powerful grip on politics, it was thought necessary to abolish alcoholic beverages entirely. The Nine- teenth Amendment, granting women suffrage, was the consequence of their new found freedom follow- ing the World War. The Twentieth Amendment, providing for the inauguration of the president in January and eliminating the Lame Duck” session

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JUNE 1934 THE S. H. S. AUTHENTIC 5 appetites, anything that reduces efficiency keeps you from being your best self and prevents you from mastering your destiny. You must be self-reliant. You must not depend on somebody else’s talents. Develop your own. That is why God has placed them at your disposal. Stand by your ideas. Do not be afraid if you are alone. The crowd that is against you today may be with you tomorrow. Popularity comes and goes like gusts of summer wind. If you employ your own resources, you can succeed. Again, you must be prepared to make decisions and to stand by them. Once you have made your choice, stick to it. Do not be carried to and fro by every passing breeze of opinion. If you stop at ev- ery milepost to weigh pros and cons, you will not get very far during the day. Satisfy yourself that you are right. “I will be with thee.” How cheerful an assurance that has been to many persons in times when the outlook was dark and the silver lining was difficult to see! Many a chap has started through college with barely enough money to meet the expenses of the first year. It seemed as if it could not be done. Even before the doubters have ceased to shake their heads, the young doctor, clergyman, farmer, engi- neer or lawyer steps into the ranks of the profes- sions. Therefore, consider your possibilities and treat them as possibilities and be self confident! Viola La Pierre.

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JUNE 1934 THE S. H. S. AUTHENTIC 7 of Congress, is a great step forward. In making the Constitution meet modern American require- ments. The Twenty-first Amendment repealed the 18th which did not seem to accomplish its desired ends. Another amendment which would give Con- gress power to regulate child labor has been ratified by 15 states. The complexity of supervising the welfare of over 120,000,000 people is far beyond the capacity of the President and Congress to accomplish. New de- velopments, bringing new problems, present them- selves almost daily in the nation’s business. The only agencies that can efficiently cope with such needs are duly authorized Federal Boards and Com- missions. The Interstate Commerce Commission has very broad powers in regulating railroads, interstate bus lines, etc. Before its advent, a few large railroads monopolized the interstate transportation of the country. The Federal Reserve Act, called the most important piece of legislation since the Civil War, helps to keep more money in circulation and thus prevents hard times” caused by a lack of currency. In the infant days of our nation, States Rights was a strongly supported doctrine. Advocates de- manded a weak central government with strong separate state governments. The present trend is rapidly growing away from this. Of late, we have granted our presidents powers which would have seemed dictatorial to Washington and Jefferson. A powerful institution like our present National In- dustrial Recovery Administration would have been deemed tyrannical in those days. Today our great president has gathered about him a group of expert technical advisers. This group of economic experts, many of them college professors, is popularly known as the “Brain Trust.” This “Brain Trust” embodies the spirit of the new age which seeks to extract itself from economic disor- der by the planning and advising of technical ex- perts. In former days the tariff was the great football of politics. As this was the principal government concern with business, much stress was laid upon its provisions. High tariff men appealed to the manu- facturing districts to support high protective rates. Low-tariff men, in turn, appealed to the buying classes with arguments of cheaper costs under a larger free list. The advent of taxes on inheritance, income, and corporations as sources of revenue sup- planted the tariff as an issue. Then, too, the Tariff Commission, established in 1930, with its limited power to change rates, takes the tariff out of the hands of the vote-seeking politician. Party lines are no longer adhered to as strictly as in the past. Congressmen line up on important bills with amazing disregard for party rule. The forma- tion within the party of powerful minorities (such as silver blocs, insurgent groups, etc.) tends to take the government out of the grip of the party and to place it in its rightful place — the hands of the peo- ple. The farmer has ever been a neglected figure in our national life. The Farm Board with its artifi- cial stabilization of commodity prices was not the success it expected to be. No scheme, however, has been left untried to bring the farmer back to his feet. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration is trying to solve the problem of want in a land of plenty. By paying the farmer for the portion of his crop which he plows under or does not cultivate the committee hopes to end the paradox of lack of food for some in the midst of a great surplus. Having gained such headway in national affairs it was only natural that the average American turn his attention to State affairs. The disregard for the wishes of the people in the choice of candidates and the unscrupulous manipulations of politicians in party conventions, brought a revolt against the con- vention system. In 1903 Wisconsin passed the first state-wide primary law. This was soon followed by similar laws in other states. After this came laws safeguarding and supervising the elections more thoroughly. Having won the right to choose their candidates, it was but a logical step for the voters to demand the right to propose legislation to reject laws passed by legislatures. The initiative is a legal provision by which a group of citizens is allowed to propose a new law. The proposed law is voted upon by the entire electorate. If it receives a majority vote it becomes a law. The referendum enables the voter to express his approval or disapproval of a proposed law. In our own state the questions of daylight saving, liquor, and steel traps have come up for the voters to decide. Not only have great changes oc- curred in National and State affairs, but in local government also we have many reforms. Among the most important is the plan of city management. Under this plan, the voters of each ward elect a councillor. The councillors comprise a committee which elects the city manager. It is his task to run the city concerns just as a business man would manage the affairs of a commercial house. He is the nominal head of each department and he may hire or discharge any employee subject to Civil Ser- vice regulations. Because he is appointed by a group and not sub- ject to party, the city manager can devote his en- ergy to the betterment of his city. This plan is finding remarkable success and appears to be the only logical solution of the problem of corruption in large cities. These are a few of the most important tenden-