NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Tuesday. September 17, 1915 Page i Opinion Constitution Week In 1787, the basic framework of this great nation was put into writ ing by our Founding Fathers when they delivered unto history the Constitution of the United States.. Two years later, it was adopted. That epic document helped em bark this nation on a course of freedom and guaranteed rights -- a course which had never before been fully traveled and which blazed the way for enlightened governments to follow. This bea con has shone the light for the path of dignity and justice for all mankind. In honor of this historic event, this week has been proclaimed "Constitution Week." All Ameri cans should consider it their duty to read this document which has blessed our lives, those of our an cestors, and those of our children. Only through knowledge of the Constitution and familiarity with it can we safeguard our liberties. A very real success story ^ ' mr% In this year of momentous anni versaries for the post-World War II world, one of special signifi cance should not be overlooked. It is not one of the dramatic 40ths, such as V-E and V-J days and the dropping of the atomic bombs. Rather, it was 30 years ago that Austria emerged from a decade of Four-Power occupation as a re united, independent nation. The mechanism was a treaty between Austria and the four victorious wartime powers, the formal sign ing of which was observed at a gathering of foreign ministers in Vienna back in May. But the country's rebirth did not become accomplished fact until several months later, when on Sept. 19,1955, the last Soviet troops withdrew from Austrian territory. It is to this day the only such instance of voluntary Soviet sur render of conquered territory. (So viet forces were pulled out of northern Iran under U.S. pressure in 1946, but under very different circumstances.) Why the Soviets chose suddenly to pack up and leave is still not completely clear. It certainly had some connection with the then-re cent death of Josef Stalin. It is possible, according to one school of thougtt, that the new leadership, pr^cupied with getting its own in order, was hoping to buy pite in tensions with the West. According to another view, an independent Austria was being of fered as the Soviet quid for which it was hoped the Western quo would be a halt on the rearmament of West Germany within NATO. Whichever, it can be said with absolute certainty that it would never have come to pass had the Kremlin had the slightest inkling of what was to come in neighbor ing Hungary just one year later. And whatever their reasons, the Soviets deserve some thanks for a not-so-small favor. Austria is one of the postwar world's unqualified success stories, but it had to come from very far behind to become such. A between-wars political and economic basket case, it was an early and not entirely unwilling Don Graff CortGRaTULaTiONS, SiFF! X ToLP You if You DevoTep YouRSeLF ToTaU-Y To 3THLeTic§ YoU'P WiN THaT LeTTeR! Gee,TnaNKS, CoaCH.' WiLL You Reap iT To Me? ; ' * v ' v ' ' - ! i • • ' - V f . t aKV MT/4 Ntwg.MCA NORTHWEST HERALD "The truth is found when men are free to pursue it." F r a n k l i n D . Hoosevelt ROBERT A. SHAW Edi tor and Publ isher LEONARDM INGRASSIA MICHAEL E MORSCH Execut ive Edi tor STEVEN H.HUNTER Market ing Di rector KAREN A. ANDROS Saturday Edi tor News Edi tor /Regional DENNIS M McNAMARA Edi tor ia l Page Edi tor RONALD L STANLEY Circula t ion Di rector 5:P,cc TUKNMOU FOR THE RIDE SSCCRT- ooaao Qdo (3)(§>f> ® •Ai :-v'^ ! --4 RJODE JANEIRO victim of Nazi Germany. As long as things were going well for the Third Reich, most Austrians went along. At the end of the war, Austria shared Germany's partitioned fate. Between 1947 and 1954, the occupying powers held nearly 400 meetings, by State Department count, to discuss their charge's fu ture. They could not agree on terms of withdrawal, primarily be cause of stiff Soviet demands for reparations, forced repatriation of refugees from Soviet-conquered areas and continued stationing of Soviet troops in Austria following a peace treaty. In early 1955, however, Moscow abruptly abandoned the most ex treme demands. A treaty was ne gotiated and signed within months. The rest is recent history. Austria, geographically the size of Maine with a population about that of New Jersey, initially had its freedom but not much else. While it pumps some oil from fields near the Hungarian border and mines a mountain of iron ore at Eisenerz, its major resource is Alpine scenery. But it has made the most of what it has, to the extent that its econo my in recent years has been one of the sturdiest in the developed world. It is a mini-economic mir acle, in stunning contrast to the dismal circumstances of its com munist neighbors, with the partial exception of Hungary. And it is firmly democratic, a compelling example of the benefits of a free society that couldn't be better positioned in respect to an Eastern Europe that is so unwill ingly suppressed. The Austrians have plenty to cele brate. And so do we. (Don Graff is a columnist for N e w s p a p e r E n t e r p r i s e Association) In honor of Constitution Day WASHINGTON - Around the nation today a few redoubtable pa triots -- not nearly enough -- will observe a splendid occasion. This is the 198th anniversary of the day on which a band of weary dele gates emerged from Independence Hall in Philadelphia to announce^ that they had drafted a Constitu tion for the United States of Ameri ca. It is a document that deserves more careful attention than it usu ally gets. The most remarkable fact is that our Constitution has endured for almost 200 years. Half the nations of the world have constitutions less than 10 years old. Ours is about to go into its third century. The struc ture erected by our founding fa thers, with one notable field of exceptions, is just as they left it back in 1787. Yes, the Constitution has been amended 26 times but the first 10 amendments, constituting the Bill of Rights of 1791, were a condition of ratification. The 11th amend ment, having to do with suits against a state, was added in 1795 tp reverse an opinion of the Su preme Court. The 12th amendment corrected a misunderstanding hav ing to do with the election of presi dents and vice presidents. This was in 1804. Sixty years passed, and in the political chaos that followed the Civil War, we got the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. These were in deed substantive. The original Constitution had treated the Negro slave as property -- as merely 60 percent of a white person for pur poses of representation. The amendments set him free, guaran teed his right to vote, and prohibit ed the states from depriving any person of "life, liberty or proper ty" without due process of law. Neither could the states deny any person within their jurisdiction of "equal protection of the laws." These were significant amend ments. The 11 amendments that have come along since 1870 have been small potatoes. The 16th au thorized a federal income tax. The 17th required direct election of senators, but this was coming any how. The 18th prohibited booze; the 21st brought it back. In be tween was the 19th, guaranteeing women the right to vote -- a right that already existed in most states Jamts J. Kilpatrlck -- and the 20th, fiddling with the dates of presidential inaugura tions. The 22nd amendment of 1951 put a two-term limit on presidents; the 23rd gave residents of the Dis trict of Columbia a right to vote in presidential elections; the 24th prohibited poll taxes, which were on their way out; the 25th set up procedures in the event of presi dential disability; and the 26th gave the vote to 18-year-olds. None of these touched the core. We still have the basic concept of a legislative, an executive and a ju dicial branch. The provisions that make amendments so difficult are still in place. The Bill of Rights remains intact. Yet for all this, it is misleading to suggest that we have the same Constitution today that we had 198 years ago. The facade may be un touched, but the inside has been gutted. The original idea was that the national government could ex ercise only those limited powers delegated to it by the Constitution; all other powers were to remain with the states respectively, it hasn't worked that way. Succes sive Supreme Courts have de stroyed the old idea of federalism. Under cover of the Equal Protec tion Clause, judicial miners and sappers have converted the 14th Amendment into an instrument be yond the recognition of its fram- ers. This is known as "applying gloss." It is known as "discovering penumbras." It is also known as judicial usurpation, but I leave that issue for another day. The Important thing is that our written Constitution continues to protect our liberties and to ensure the orderly transfer of political power. Across the nation, dozens of state commissions are prepar ing plans for the bicentennial peri od of 1987-91. A national coordinat ing commission, headed by Chief Justice Burger, belatedly has gone to work. This bicentennial celebra tion won't be as exciting or as colorful as the fireworks and tall ships of 1976, when we remem bered the Declaration of Indepen dence, but for history buffs it will have more meaning. Out of Phila delphia came the supreme law of our land, the Constitution of the United States. It remains a work of political genius. Happy birthdfty! (James Kilpatrlck it a columnist for Universal Press Syndicate) Looking at the games people play A sporting goods store, macho as a hernia and catering to crew cuts, was the logical place for a rather naive, 15-year-old girl to find her first part-time job. Mother thought of it, actually. We were shopping for the annual physical education bloomers, wait ing in an impossibly long, back-to- school line, hoping for the required color and approximate size, when Mother took a long look around and decided: "They need help." McKeen and Wilson Sporting Goods not only needed help. Due to the seasonal onslaught of wild- eyed, fussy teen-age girls who all wanted to look at least like Ann- Margret in their baggy gym shorts, the place was desperate. I got the job. Sporting goods was a whole dif ferent ballgame in the 1960s in Montgomery, Ala. This was before the jogging and physical fitness craze, before women were lifting weights and proud of it, when Jane Fonda still had thighs. About the only time most fe males darkened the door of McKeen and Wilson was once a year to buy their colored, cotton gym shorts. Even then, they came in groups for comfort. Certainly the other clerks were male. Lots of my friends had Saturday jobs, of course, but they were sell ing Heaven Scent perfume or push up bras at the new mall's J.C. Penneys, not.football mouth pieces and Converse high-tops from a Butler building. A few things made it bearable. The Wilson half of the operation was Bobby Wilson. Coach Bobby Wilson, formerly of the tough and respected Sidney Guest editorial Lanier High School football team, the Poets. He was kind and quiet and once showed a customer who yelled at me for no good reason the door. A lot of customers asked for Coa ch Wilson by name. I did not blame them. He always ambled out obliging ly, and then with utmost patience checked the fit of some future all- star's stretch pants. Actually, a 7-year-old boy's phy sique was not designed with foot ball in mind, and a child's shoulder pads came in basically two sizes -- puny and extra-puny -- but the fathers all felt better after Coach Wilson took a look. I still cannot imagine Coach Wil son yelling at his team -- or any body else -- for something as friv olous as a win. And there was Wonderful Mike McKeen, son of the store's other namesake. Mike had once done time at Bear Bryant's bootcamp across state and was a bruiser of an ally. Write us! Send letters to Reader Forum, The Herald, 7803 Pyott Road, Crystal Lake IL 60014. Letters must be signed and give the author's ad dress and telephone number for the editor's reference. We recommend letters of 300 words or less. All let ters are subject to editing for clari ty and brevity. The customer might always be right, but none pressed the point if mighty Mike was around. Over two summers and three years of Saturdays, I learned a lot: That shotgun shells and athletic supporters come in sizes. My first jock strap sale was a mess. Trying not to look too closely, I grabbed randomly for a cardboard box from a shelf and presented a shy, slender lad with an extra- large athletic supporter. When he allowed it was far too big, we both blushed Nebraska red. I retreated to the warehouse, where I was relieved to discover the sizes on ^thfgtlc supporters measure a man's waist, not his virility. Mike McKeen finished the sale. 1 learned, too, that golfers will pay fantastic prices for discount store colors and spend more time trying on shoes than prom-bound teen-age girls. I learned It Is not Impossible to gift-wrap a trampoline. That people do not like their names spelled wrong on letter sweaters. That a football helmet is just a piece of hard plastic between a blow and the brain. That fishermen are as suscepti ble to gimmicks as housewives. • That people give trophies for.' a lot of funny reasons. I learned how to make change and how to pinch convincingly the growing room in the toe of rubber cleats. 4 * And I learned, I suppose, I had a lot to learn about people and the games they play. (Rheta Grimsley Johnson writes for Scrtpps Howard News Service) /