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From The New International, Vol. XXIII No. 2, Spring 1957, p. 134.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
An Almanac of Liberty
by William Douglas
Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, N.Y. 1954
This book gives a short account of each of the incidents in the hard fight for individual liberty in the history of England and America and how these rights are being restricted now.
As the title indicates, the book is in almanac form, so that there is often no connection between one page and the next, making for difficult reading. You may be reading about, say, yellow dog contracts on page 118 when you are suddenly confronted with an account of the Charter of the United Nations on page 119. It is not until you get to page 276 that the subject of yellow dog contracts pops up again. One wonders about the reason for this strange form, so unsuited to the subject matter.
Nevertheless, this book is worthwhile. In it are some of Douglas’s most quoted remarks, such as those on “faceless and unknown accusers” and his statement that “wire tapping is a blight on the civil liberties of the citizen.”
Indeed he is sound in his conclusions on almost every subject he tackles:
On the Smith Act, he quotes approvingly from Mill:
“‘If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.’”
On foreign policy:
“We stood against the independence of Indonesia from 1945 to 1949, favoring the Dutch against a subjugated people.
“We connived with Britain to salvage an infamous British oil concession in Iran, aligning ourselves against Iran’s democratic forces.
“We became underwriters of French colonial policy in Indochina and Morocco, helping to crush and subdue nationalist movements that were anti-communist.”
On informers:
“Not until recent years did an informer enjoy such acclaim as [Titus] Oates knew.”
On the federal judiciary:
“But its [The Sherman Act] total impact has been slight. From the beginning it has been applied by judges hostile to its purposes, friendly to the empire builders who wanted it emasculated ... But trusts that were dissolved reintegrated in new forms. When one monopolistic device was outlawed, a new one was invented. Trusts began to be classified as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and most seemed to be labeled ‘good.’ The judiciary was not wholly responsible for emasculating the Sherman Act. But it deserves the greatest share of blame ...”
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