xt7wwp9t2q46_141 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), "Bulletin Of The American Liberty League", Vol. 1 No. 9, April 15, 1936 text "Bulletin Of The American Liberty League", Vol. 1 No. 9, April 15, 1936 2013 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wwp9t2q46/data/59m61/59m61_0009/bulletin9_1/bulletin9_1.pdf 1936 1936 1936 section false xt7wwp9t2q46_141 xt7wwp9t2q46 €R!c €R!c
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I NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING P WASHINGTON, D. G.
 
VOL. 1 _ APRIL 15,1936 Ne. 9
"   I W T `»'T   `T   N   eww"WVfnnjNB""or4"Taliiagggrnxgo srmppj
President Roosevelt's promise of a "breathing spell" to business has gone the way of
a long list of other New Deal promises. A
It has followed 1nto the waste paper.basket the Democratic platform pledge of a 25%
reduction 1n the cost of the Federal Government, the platform pledge for maintenance of
national credit by a Federal budget annually balanced, the platform pledge of a sound
currency to be preserved at all hazards, the platform pledge favoring unemployment relief
through the extension of Federal credit to the States, the platform pledge for the removal
y of government from all fields of private industry except where necessary to develop public
works and national resources in the common lnterest. The "breathing spell" has likewise
gone the way of the platform declaration thatl "A party platform 1s a covenant with the
people to be faithfully kept by the party when entrusted with power;" and lastly, lt has
gone the way of Mr. Roosevelt's declaration that he was for the 1932 platform 100%.
Of course, only the very gullible ever took the "breathing spell" promise seriously.
The phrase or1g1nated.1n an interchange of letters between Mr. Roy Howard, a prominent
newspaper apologlst for the New Deal, and the President. One of Mr. Howard's employees,
Mr. Heywood Broun, characterized 1t at the time as "a daisy cha1n."· It was generally
accepted as an arranged publicity stunt. But whatever the circumstances surrounding the
promise, the "breathing spell" is now definitely ended, 1f indeed it ever existed.
The most recent evidence of the death and burial of the "breathlng spell" ls to be
found fn Mr. Roosevelt’s so—called tax program, as outlined In his special message to
Congress last month, and in his request for an addltlonal $l,500,000,000 to supplement the
$4,880,000,000 blank check approprfation which Congress gave to him last year for relief
\ purposes.
The tax program is an amplification and an aggravation of the "soak—the—r1ch" propos-
al enacted 1nto law on the Pres1dent's recommendation last year at a time when the
administration was seeking tolsteal the thunder of the late Huey Long's "share—the—wealth"
project. The request for the addftlonal $l,500,000,000 for relief purposes illustrates
that the administration cannot or will not profit by its own mistakes. Adequate appropria-
tions for direct relief to prevent suffering are approved by the American people. But
experience with the spending of the $4,880,000,000 appropriation demonstrates clearly that
the so-called work relief program is wasteful, inefficient and inevitably tainted with
politics. That such a program has temporary political advantages for the party in power
may be conceded, but the day of reckoning is certain to come. .
In any event, the "breathlng spell" 1s over. The nation may as well face that fact.
Actions speak louder than words.

 PETITIONS OF PROTEST
Members of the League heretofore have rece1ved printed copies of a petition of pro-
test directed against the illegal and tyrannical actions of the Black Invest1gat1ng Com-
mittee with the connivance of the Federal Communications Commission. Petitions bear1ng
_ thousands of names have been received already at League headquarters for transmission to
the United States Senate. They are still coming 1n at the rate of more than one thousand
names per day.
n Any member who desires additional copies of the petition fonm for circulation among
h1s acquaintances may obtain them in any quantity by appl1cat1on to headquarters. It is
apparent that when the list of signers 1s complete th1s pet1t1on w1ll constitute an 1m-
pressive demonstration of the American people's resentment at the outrageous invasion of
their rights perpetrated by the Black Committee and the Communications Commission.
§AlE.TPl§-¤.....0UR'£§ I
The Executive Committee of the American L1berty League,meet1ng in New York on March
26th,adopted the followfng resolutiont
"WHEREAS, there are ser1ous indications that an attempt 1s being made to destroy the
Amerlcan system of constitutional government by weakening the proper powers now exercfsed
by the Judicial Branch 1n accordance wdth the Const1tut1on, and l
"WHEREAS, an independent Judiciary 1s the keystone of the arch of constltutlonal liberty;
now therefore,
"BE IT RESOLVED, That the Executive Committee of the Amerlcan Liberty League, speaking
for the League, calls upon all pol1t1cal partles to lnclude in the platforms to be adopted
at their respective national conventions, a declaration 1n substance as followsi
"'we pledge our party unequivocally to oppose any attempt to curtail or abolish
any of the powers now exercised by the Jud1c1al Branch of the Government, whether
such attempt be made directly through proposals to amend the Federal Constftution,
or 1nd1rectly through legislative devices intended to accomplish the same result by
devious route. _
"'Furthermore, we declare that str1ct adherence to this pledge both in letter
° and sp1r1t 1s an obl1gat1on binding in honor upon the candidates who accept the
nominations for the Presidency and the V1ce—Pres1dency tendered them by th1s con- A
vent1on.*
A "BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution 1s adopted in the firm belief that the
action suggested 1s such as could not possibly be distasteful to any Amerlcan c1t1zen who
_ des1res, sincerely, the preservation of constitutional self-government 1n the Un1ted States;
"THAT, It 1s adopted 1n the bel1ef that 1t 1s wholesome to recall to the people of the
A United States the fact that 1f the power of the Jud1c1ary be 1mpa1red there w1ll remaln no
effective safeguard of such const1tut1onal rights as free/speech, a free press, trial by
Jury, religious llberty, and protectlon of homes and possessions against the whims and ex-
actions of autocratic bureaucracy of self—serv1ng temporary leg1slat1ve majorities;
“THAT, It is adopted 1n the belief that the American people are not unmindful that
accord1ng to the dec1s1ons of our highest Court there have been attempts during the past
three years to infringe upon the r1ghts and l1bert1es guaranteed by f1ve of the ten articles
of the·B1ll of Rights; and -
"THAT, It is adopted in the belief that the American people realize fully that in many
of the great nat1ons of the world today c1t1zens are denled the r1ght of free speech, a free .
press, peaceable assembly, and religious l1berty—-—because of the absence of constitutional
guarantees and an untrammeled Judiciary to make such guarantees effect1ve."
"&I;..H M.E1!.‘ §.QLH§" V
It has been charged that the Amerlcan L1berty League 1s dependent for f1nanc1al support
upon a few wealthy men. what are the facts? AS this issue of the Bullet1n goes to press
the American Liberty League has 25,431 members who have contributed one dollar or more. we
ask our members and frlends to assist 1n making th1s record even more impressive.

 LEAGUE_LITERATURE
ADDRESSES2 ·
4 "Should We_Amgng_thg_Qgg§t1tut1gn_to Grant the Nat1onal_ggvernment Gengral_yglfare
Pgwggg3" - Speech by William H. Rogers, President of the Florida State Bar Assoclatlon. (Doc.
No. 113)
"The New Ingu1s1t1on" - Speech by Jouett Shouse, President of the American Liberty
League. (Doc. No. 114)
"It gan §e_Done" — Speech by Hon. Merrlll E. 0t1s, Un1ted States D1str1ct Judge. (Doc.
Nc. 115)
"A Layman Lggks_at the_§upreme_ggurt" - Speech by Hon. Arthur H. Vandenberg, United I _
States Senator from Michigan. (Doc. No. 116) `
"Abuses of Power" - Speech by Jouett Shouse, President of the American Liberty League. ’
(Doc. No. 118) ·
"The Neeg_fgr_gonst1tut1gnal Growth_by Construgtfon or_Amendment" - Speech by Raoul
E. Desvernine, Chairman of the National Lawyers Committee of the American Llberty League. W
(Do;. No. 119)
"Shall we have Const1tut1gnal_L1berty_or D1ctatorsh1pQ" - Speech by Hon. James A. Reed,
member National Lawyers Committee, American Liberty League. (Doc. No. 120)
P.J.EHL13.l§*
"The Pres1gent's l936_Tax Proposalg" - An analysis of a misnamed revenue program mark-
· 1ng the end of the so-called breathing spell. (Doc. No.l12);
"New work—Rel1ef Fungg" — An analysis of the adm1n1strat1on's request for add1t1onal
funds with wh1ch to cont1nue many of the unwise and wasteful experiments undertaken hereto-
fore. (Doc. No. 117) · _
. LEAELETS! _
"0ur;New_§po1ls System" — Reprint of an art1cle by Lawrence Sullivan illustrating how
the Federal C1v1l Service has been prostltuted to partlzan ends under the present adm1n—
lstratlon. (Leaflet No. 7)
"The.Mag1_ang_the"Showdgwn" - Reprint of an editorial from the Charleston (South Carolina)
News and Courier lllustratlng by fable what happens when pol1t1cal magicians have no more `
rabb1ts to pull out of hats. (Leaflet No. S)
"ggvernment_by Busybgg1e§" - A discussion of the plague inflicted upon long—suffer1ng
peoples when their rulers develop delusions of omnlscience and 1nfall1b1l1ty. (Leaflet No.9)
"surggggpggs AND Bass"
"About the year A. D. 200 the Praetorian Guard sold the`Roman Empire to a man whose name
1s not worth remembering for a sum that netted them about $1,000 each. The taxpayers had
that b1ll to foot. Some of our politicians may be trying to make a better trade but somehow
I doubt 1t. I shall live and die believing that the best thing we can do 1s to punish rascals
and give every man a chance to work out his own destiny. I never will believe 1t's rlght to
rob the hlves of bees that worked all summer in order to feed butterflies that danced through
the same sunny hours, even if the butterflies are forced to migrate south and never get back.
It will take lots of propaganda to make me believe that the bees beat them to all the best
flowers and stole the nectar from them."
— Excerpt from an art1cle by the Reverend Bascom
Anthony 1n the Savannah Mornlng News of February
23, 1936.
A DEgQgRAT_TALKS T0 HIS_PARTY
"Your letter of the 13th lnst. received 1n which you asked me to give you some idea as
to how the people feel towards the present adm1n1strat1on and the New Deal. wish to state

 that the writer has voted for every Democratic candidate for President since Bryan, and am
therefore wrlting you from the standpoint of a Democrat. There are at least three important
factors that are golng to contribute towards the defeat of the Democratic party, if lt is
defeated.
"lst — The vast amount of expenditure of our National funds, much of which the people
generally think ls unnecessary, extravagant and wasteful. when the average tax paying
citizen seeing our taxes being thrown away on such things as $100,000 for elephant pits and
for many other useless expenditures such as tap dancing and spending money to try to teach
‘ snakes to walk and monkeys to talk, 1t is disgusting indeed and they naturally see RED.
"2nd - The enormous National debt which our present administration has increased ln
three years from around eighteen billions of dollars to nearly thirty-five billions, which
A 1s far more than any president has spent in the history of this Nation. what if our fore-
fathers had gone on a spending spree 50 or 75 years ago as the present Government is doing,
putting us ln financial bondage, how do you think we would now feel towards our former _
Government? when we would be having to pay off a debt made a generation ago, much of whlch
was spent wastefully. The vast majority of the citizens of this Nation are inherently con-
servative, having been taught so for generations by their forefathers, and any official or
_adm1n1strat1on, whether national, state or county, that wastes our tax funds and spends ex-
travagantly and recklessly, cannot long stay popular or in power, but defeat ALWAYS comes
to those who are careless and wasteful of our taxes.
"5rd — The relief situation —— The people generally and the taxpaylng public especially,
consider 1t an unholy mess of waste and extravagance. The dole, P.w.A.,w.P.A.,C.C.C., etc.,
are all the same and are rapidly teaching a large class of our citizenship to be lazy, tr1f—
ling, dependent, shiftless, and 1nst1ll1ng into their minds that the Government or somebody
owes them a living whether or not they work and hustle for it. It is practically getting
no where so far as diminishing relief 1s concerned, as there are nearly as many existing
under the above letters as there were two years ago, and as long as the government offers
higher wages and salaries to everybody unemployed, so that farmers and small employers of
labor cannot compete with, this class of citizenship will never hunt for or accept private
work. we know this from observation and practical experience in this part of the country."
— Excerpt from a letter to w. Forbes Morgan,
Secretary, Democratic National Committee, from ‘
F. A. Jones, President, McCracken County Property
Owners Association, Paducah, Kentucky.
TXEIQALQAIAEI
WASHINGTON (D.C.) POST, April l0, 19561
"The example set by the American Liberty League in publishing its sources of
income, and accounting for its expenditures, is highly commendable. * * * The revel-
ations concernlng the finances of the Townsend organization, for lnstance, have done
more to discredit its fantastic program than the most cogent arguments of economic ex-
perts. And lt looks as though a few sobering facts about the AAA benefit payments will
greatly assist critics of this ambitious monument to the labors of the agricultural
, lobby1sts.”
(Copies of League documents mentioned herein are available upon request to the League's
national headquarters. Individual copies w1ll be supplied to non-members of the League at
a price of 5¢ per copy.)