xt7wwp9t2q46_93 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wwp9t2q46/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wwp9t2q46/data/59m61.dao.xml American Liberty League 37 linear feet archival material English University of Kentucky This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed.  Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically.  Physical rights are retained by the owning repository.  Copyright is retained in accordance with U. S. copyright laws.  For information about permissions to reproduce or publish, contact the Special Collections Research Center. Jouett Shouse Collection (American Liberty League Pamphlets), No. 96 "Seventeen Months of the American Liberty League: Report of Jouett Shouse, President of the American Liberty League, to the Executive Committee and National Advisory Council of the League, Meeting in Joint Session, January 25, 1936 text No. 96 "Seventeen Months of the American Liberty League: Report of Jouett Shouse, President of the American Liberty League, to the Executive Committee and National Advisory Council of the League, Meeting in Joint Session, January 25, 1936 2013 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wwp9t2q46/data/59m61/59m61_96/Am_Lib_Leag_96_001/Am_Lib_Leag_96_001.pdf section false xt7wwp9t2q46_93 xt7wwp9t2q46 Pamphlets Ava1lable
ir it
ik
Copies of the following pamphlets and
other League literature may be obtained
upon application to the League’s national Sgvgntggn Mgnthg gf  
headquarters :
Statement of Principles and Purposes    
American Liberty League—Its Platform
The Bonus A  
Inflation
The Thirty Hour Week ·
The Holding Company Bill
Price Control ’
The TVA Amendments
The Supreme Court and the New Deal * * *
The President’s Tax Program
Expanding Bureaucracy
Lawmaking by Executive Order
New Deal Laws in Federal Courts
Consumers End the AAA
D¤D8el'0¤9 Perimentaljon R8 ort of ouett Shouse P iden
Economic Planning--Mistaken But Not New ih A   L, , rcs t of
Work Relief e merncan nberty League, to the
The AAA and Our Form of Government Executive Committee and National
Alternatives to the American Form of Govern- Advisory Council of the League,
ment
A Program {gr Congress Meeting i¤ Jeint Session.
The 1937 Bu get t as ' . .
Professors and the New Deal a W hmgtoui D C ’
‘ The President Wants More Power (leaflet) J¤¤¤¤rv 25· 1936
Straws Which Tell
How to Meet the Issue——Speech by W. E. Borah
“Breathing Spel1s”——Speech by Iouett Shouse
The Duty of the Lawyer in the Present Crisis-
Speech by James M. Beck
The Constitution and the Supreme Court-
Speech by Borden Burr
Our Growing National Debt and Inflation--
Speech by Dr. E. W. Kemmerer  C4
Inflation is Bad Business——Speech by Dr. Neil Y   4*
Carothers  J` \
Arousing Class Prejudices——Speech by Jouett E ago , g
Shouse  " ""’“  y
The Fallacies and Dangers of the Townsend Try L\V
Plan—Speech by Dr. W. E. Spahr . '
What of 1936?——Speech by Iames P. Warburg
Americanism at the Crossroads——Speech by R. E. 4
Desvernine
The Constitution and the New Deal—Speech by A
Iames M. Carson
The American Constitution-—Wh0se Heritage?-
Speech by Frederick H. Stinchfield g
Th; Americiags F orm if Government-—Let Us ii _
reserve t peech y Albert C. Ritchie C
The Redistribution of Power—Speech by John AMERICAN LIBERTY LEAGUE
TW. lzavgi h b D N l C h National Headquarters
1me o o peec y r. ei arot ers V
The President Has Made the Issue--Speech by NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING
Charles I. Dawson WASHINGTON, D. C.
*
AMERICAN LIBERTY LEAGUE *
NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING *
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Document No. 96

   Seventeen Months of the American
( Liberty League
( *
Following the delivery of the appended
y report by Jouett Shouse, Pfesident of the
y American Liberty League, motion was made
~ by the Hon. James W. Wadsworth, of Geneseo,
i New York, that the report be endorsed and
  printed. By a rising vote the motion was passed
Q unanimously.
( W. H. STAYTON, Secretary.
I Out of the courage and patriotism of a few
( men and women the American Liberty League
was created. Its growth and development and
expanding influence prove that there was real
need for its establishment.
In August of 1934 a charter was taken out
I under the laws of the District of Columbia. The
purposes of the League set forth in that charter
cannot be too thoroughly emphasized:
“To defend and uphold the Constitution
of the United States and to gather and dis-
seminate information that (1) will teach
. the necessity of respect for the rights of
° persons and property as fundamental to
every successful form of government and
(2) will teach the duty of government to
, encourage and protect individual and
( group initiative and enterprise, to foster
the right to work, earn, save and acquire
property, and to preserve the ownership
f and lawful use of property when acquired.”
To those purposes the League has rigidly
i adhered. It has not been diverted by either
temptation or abuse.
Announcement of the organization was given
to the press on August 23, 1934. Immediately
y there was widespread response from every state
3

 , of the Union, from people of all classes and of
all conditions of life. An initial membership required. The recent excellent radio speech of
was thus immediately secured. It was a volun- Dr. W. E. Spahr, of New York University, on
tary membership and the mounting member- °°Tl16 TOW11Send P1an," brought more than five
ship that has been added from week to week thousand individual letters and post cards ask-
and from month to month has likewise been a ing for copies of the speech. In connection with
, voluntary membership. each publication there has been a competent
There was no intention on the part of the L summary for newspaper release. The several
Executive Committee of the League to have it press associations have sent to their subscribing
participate even remotely in the Congressional M papers hundredsgof columns of news dispatches
elections of 1934. The autumn of that year was 5 embodying League material. Newspapers of
devoted to the building up of a proper staff and every section have commented editorially from
preparation for the important task ahead. week to week. There have been hundreds of
With the convening of the Seventy·fourth thousands of individual news items of greater
Congress in January of 1935 the active work of or lesser length, columns of discussion from the
the League began. Immediately there was un- pens of feature writers and altogether a pub-
dertaken a factual study of important legisla- licity coverage such as probably never attached
tive measures as they arose, and from week to to any other organization aside from the two
week the League gave to the country an analysis major political parties within the same length
of these various measures that fulfilled a defi- of time. Within the last few weeks a special
nite need. So complete, so accurate, so fair service has been inaugurated for weekly papers
have been these documents issued from League and 1,363 are now accepting it.
headquarters that they constitute the most val- It is no exaggeration to say that the League
uable report that was ever had on legislative has been the most discussed and in some high
proposals within a stated period. And it is quarters the most "cussed” organization in the
a notable fact that while representatives of recent history of America. When before has a
the administration, from the President down President of the United States, pretending to
through his Cabinet to clerks of the lowest address the Congress on the state of the Union,
spoilsman’s grade, have bemeaned the League devoted a large part of his speech to an organi-
in every manner possible, there has been no zation such as this? And the very fact that
responsible attempt to answer the arguments ·Mr. Roosevelt attempted to damn the League,
that it has put forth or to question the facts _ the fact that his Cabinet members and his other
that it has adduced. oliicial spokesmen have by abuse and innuendo
A total of approximately ninety pamphlets and often outright misrepresentation made con-
have been issued, part of them speeches and é tinuous eEort to destroy it, is the most striking
part of them analytical studies. Not only have U evidence of the need for the work which the
they been circulated among League members League is doing.
but they have gone to all members of the Con- Closely allied in importance with the re-
gress, to the daily newspapers and to public search and publicity activities at headquarters
and college and high school libraries through- has been the task assumed by the National
out the land. They have reached people in all Lawyers Committee of the League under the
walks of life. In many instances requests have Chairmanship of R. E. Desvernine. That Com-
been so numerous that two and even three re- mittee was organized last summer. It embraces
printings of some of the documents have been 8iXtY·0116 of the leading lawyers of America, It
4 has been engaged in the study of the constitu-
5

 tional features of outstanding pieces of legisla- sion of the American Economic Association in
tion since the present administration came into New York to organize a group of economists to
power. It has not attempted to deal with either act as a committee for the League. A substan-
I the economic or the social phases of questions tial basis has already been secured and it is the
involved. The first report of the Committee judgment of those dealing with the situation
was on the National Labor Relations Act. It that a number of economists will shortly join
was issued September 19, 1935. Subsequently in this effective and valuable effort.
reports have been made public on the Bitumi- V, A year ago the League began the organization
nous Coal Conservation Act and on the Potato   of chapters in the colleges and universities. At
Act, both issued in December. Others are now   first it was slow work with many obstacles and
practically completed and will be published ' many discouragements. Now, however, we have
shortly. Although it had prepared admirable active chapters in twenty-six institutions and
reports on both the AAA and the TVA the chapters in process of organization in one hun-
Committee wisely withheld them from publi- dred and twenty-five institutions. Moreover, at
· cation after cases involving these particular the present time, under a system of voluntary
pieces of legislation had come to the Supreme membership enrollment, we have for the past
Court for decision. month been enlisting college students at the
The appreciation and gratitude of the League rate of seventy-nine per day. There could be
to the members of the National Lawyers Com- no more valuable work for the League than to
mittee is thus publicly recorded. At marked attempt to instill in the minds of college men
personal sacrifice they have given of their time and women the sound reasons for the mainte-
and their brains in a constructive effort. Nor nance of constitutional government in America.
have they been defiected or disturbed by the Heretofore it has been considered the smart
criminations which have been heaped upon thing for young people in colleges to ally them-
them. selves to some radical group. Now the scene is
Under the National Lawyers Committee a changing and the liberal and progressive forces
General Lawyers Committee of the League has find themselves challenged by the serious turn
been organized which now numbers 2,139 mem- of affairs that threatens the Constitution and
bers. These lawyers in every section of the basic American institutions.
country have enlisted to help propagate the As stated in the beginning, the membership
aims and purposes of the League and in most of the League, now approaching 75,000, consti-
instances have volunteered to assist in organiza- wir tutes a voluntary enrollment. Your Executive
tion work in their respective communities and < Committee has taken the position that prior
to respond to any calls for public speeches that   to any effort to build up a large membership
may be made upon them. Thus there has been *` the foundation of the League should be effec-
created an invaluable list of speakers, nation- tively and substantially laid. The work of the
wide in its scope, prepared and ready to discuss past year has been devoted to that endeavor.
constitutional government and the maintenance Now the time has come for expansion on a
of the American system, wherever and when- broad scale if such expansion seems wise.
ever the opportunity offers. _ Already we have regional offices in New York
As a result of a suggestion of Dr. E. W. Kem- and Chicago and we have state divisions with
merer, of Princeton University, a valued mem- active headquarters in Massachusetts, New
ber of the League’s National Advisory Council, Jersey, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, Ken-
a movement was started during the recent ses- tucky, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota,
6 7

 ular vote and the electoral college was facing .
Nebraska, ‘Missouri, Alabama and California, the Congressional elections of its mid-term. In
while the very flourishing Liberty Leagues sepa- those elections it achieved another overwhelm-
rately incorporated in the states of Pennsylvania ing victory. The opposition to it was not effec-
and Delaware are affiliates of our national or- tive. Members of the opposing political party
ganization. In addition there are local units in in both houses of the Congress had voted in
a number of cities. The groundwork is laid for large numbers for the New Deal legislative
the establishment of state divisions elsewhere measures and they were consequently in a posi-
as soon as it may be determined to follow such . tion of embarrassment to wage a political cam-
a course. ‘ paign against those measures.
Last summer the League accepted the invita- q After a momentary start to carry out the
tion of the University of Virginia to sponsor a J economy promises of its platform, this admin-
round table at its Institute of Public Affairs. istration had soon reversed its entire policy
Under the direction of Demarest Lloyd and Wm. and had entered upon an orgy of extravagant '
C. Murphy, Jr., a program of such interest and expenditure of public funds such as knows no
such outstanding excellence was arranged that counterpart in history. One after another,
it held the spotlight of the Charlottesville show. revolutionary measures were sent to the Con-
At Town Halls and Public Forums through- gress with instructions, on the basis of acute
out the country, over the radio and on the plat- emergency, that they must be passed without
form League speakers by the score have won the change, without consideration and without de-
attention of limitless thousands of listeners. To- bate. And the Congress, abdicating its con-
night there is the amazing spectacle of a League stitutional duty, ignoring the functions of its
dinner from which five thousand applicants creation, had yielded to Executive demands. It
have been turned away because of a limitation had done more than that. The legislative arm
of facilities, while a whole nation awaits in of the government had almost ceased to exist,
breathless interest the utterance of a League because it had voluntarily relinquished to the
spokesman. This man holds no office, he sxey. Executive many of the powers which were the .
cises no authority, but is abundantly endowed sacred heritage of its creation.
with the greatest of all gifts, therdivine gift of And so we were witnessing the spectacle of a
common sense and forthright honesty, legislative program which the American people
A year ago your Executive Committee created did not understand and which no one made the
a small administrative committee with full au- q effort to explain to them, being completed, piece
thority to act on all questions. Meetings of the by piece, with the inevitable consequence of an
Administrative Committee are held each Thurs- entire change in the structure of our govern-
day. Its members are diligent in attendance, _, ment and subversion of its two basic concepts, a
untiring in their work. Every League pamphlet viz: (1) the balance of power as between the
has been reviewed and revised by the Admin- Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches
istrative Committee. Save for its cooperation and, (2) the unsurrendered rights of the states.
C the work of the League could scarcely have We were witnessing the creation and the devel-
been carried on. p opment of the most gigantic bureaucracy that
It is perhaps worth while briefly to direct r was ever attempted among a free people. We
attention to the national political situation that Were witnessing the ¢6¤t1`¤liZ3ti011 of every
existed at the time the League was organized in U power conceivable in the hands of the President
the autumn of 1934. An administration which at the expense of the Congress, at the expense
, had received a large majority in both the pop- A 9
8

 of the states and at the expense of the people. €1‘11¤1611t W3S f01111d€d Mid \1¤d€1’ which it has
And we were witnessing as an inevitable result developed. The fury of defeated purpose, the
the appalling spectacle of fear in the hearts of rancor of thwarted ambition directed against it
men, who, realizing the enormity of what was from the White House and the halls of Congress
going on, were yet afraid to speak out lest they alike will not sway it from its honest purpose
themselves should suifer reprisal. We were and- Phase God. will mt W€ak€¤ dw faith 0f
witnessing, furthermore, the apparent political the American people in this the outstanding
acceptance of the fact that the present admin- a institution for the protection of their liberties.
istration could not and would not be defeated `
and that what had been under way since March
of 1933 would continue to be carried forward .
at least until the end of 1940.
It is not here even remotely suggested that ‘
the marked change in public opinion, the
definite popular reaction that has taken place
during the past twelve months, is due to the
American Liberty League. It is, however, stated
and stated confidently that the courage of the
men and women who organized the League,
their willingness to stand up and be counted,
their willingness to face abuse and misrepre-
sentation, their willingness to bear the con-
sequences of their course no matter what, did
much to re-inspire in America a spirit of self-
respect and self-assertion. Fortunately now the
people have awakened. Fortunately a large part
of them have begun to understand the insidious
and dangerous thing that was being accom-
plished under the guise of relief and recovery.
Fortunately through the League and other im-
portant agencies of public opinion the truth
has been made clear. The common sense of * _
America is beginning to re-assert itself. The
sanity of America is beginning once more to
control. Y
There could be no more proper way in which
to close this brief report of League activities
_than to record once again our gratitude and ·
reverence for the Supreme Court. In a time ‘
of national peril, in a period of national aber- -
ration it has held steadfast as the anchor of
American freedom. Without bombast, without
ostentation, without fear, it has enunciated the
constitutional principles upon which this gov-
10 —
ll