(Kotntnettt^tn^nt JJtttnWr Vol. 27 JULY, 1920 No. 10. S^uqueene /Bbontbli^ JULY, 1920 CONTENTS Liberty Is Obedience to Law 327 John L. Aber Ireland Deserves Recognition 330 Joseph A. O'Donnell Education and Reconstruction 335 M. Noon Glynn The Irish Question 340 Eamon de Valera Baccalaureate Sermon 347 Rev. David P. Shanahan, LL. D. Commencement 352 "Under Cover" . 356 Old-Timer Chronicle 358 Athletics 360 Francis X, Foley Wm. P. Kohler James F. McCaffrey Joseph M. Maxwell Oldest Popular-Price Tailors in Pittsburgh SUITS AND OVERCOATS MADE TO ORDER $25 $30 $35 Fit and Workmanship Guaranteed LEEDS COMPANY TAILORS SINCE 1884 6215 Frankstown Ave. 128 Sixth Street EA.ST END DOWN TOWN New Galleries HONUS WAGNER SPORTING GOODS CO. 438 Wood Street PITTSBURGH 512 Wood St. 306-8-10 Oliver Eve. Base Ball, Foot Ball, Basket Ball and all Athletic Supplies PITTSBURGH Bell Phone 1086 Fisk White Carriages Automobiles Transfer & Storage Co. Only Furniture Storage 0. J. GOETZ, F. D Separate Apartments Low Prices Motor Trucks, Vans or Wagons for Moving Office 708 Duquesne Way and Penn 715 Seal Street 3509 Avenue No North Side Branch PITTSBURGH 2)uque8ne flDontbl^ A Literary Magazine Vol. XXVII. JULY, 1920 No. 10 Published Monthly during the School ykar BY the Students of Duquesne Univeesitt TERMS : ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE ADVERTISING RATES ON APPLICATION Address: Duquesne Monthly, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pa. Entered as second-class matter, at the Pittsburgh Postoffice, April 30, 1911 Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1108. Act of October 3, 1917, authorized October 22, 191S CYRIL J. KRONZ, '20, Editor-in-Chief Feancis J. LiGDAY, '20 ViNCENT J. RiELAND, '21 Assooiatc Editors Joseph A. O'Donnell, '20 Clement M. Steobel, '23 Exchanges M. Noon Glynn, '20 Paul C. Ruffennach, '21 Alumni '23 Robeet G. Reilly, ... College Chronicle Maetin J. Cabl, '21 (Accts.) .... Finance James J. McCloskey, '22 (Law) .... Law J. Beiley Walsh, '20 (H. S.) . Athletics Gerald A. Scheoth, '22 Victor M. Friday, '21 (K. S. ) Daqnesnicula Patrick L. McGrath, '23 James F. Murphy, '20 Business Managers 2)uque6ne /llbontbli? Volume XXVII. JULY, 1920 Number 10 Liberty Is Obedience to La^v. OUR language there is perhaps no word which equals in IN " popular appeal the word Liberty ". It is the corner-stone of the structure of our government; around it are built the institutions which we love and with which we come in contact in our daily lives. It is my purpose to show how our liberty was acquired and developed, and how it is dependent for its fullest enjoyment on government and on obedience to law. To appreciate liberty as we understand that word to-day, we must turn our thoughts first to the time when there was no government and man was little better than a savage. He then knew no restraints on his actions or his passions. The freedom he enjoyed was limited only by his prowess, by the strength of his arm, and the cunning of his brain. This it is true was liberty in its natural state, when man consulted no one but himself, and did what he willed and when he willed. It is apparent, however, that great inequality must have existed among different persons under such conditions. Com- pensation is one of the first of the laws of nature, and for every advantage enjoyed by one over others, the liberty of the others was diminished to a corresponding extent. But there was no law. There was no government. No right of property existed. What a man had acquired was his not by virtue of title but only so long as he could retain it against the encroachments of others. If another stronger than he appeared and deprived him of his possessions, he had no recourse except by force to deprive his weaker brothers of their possessions, or commence anew and acquire for himself that which theretofore belonged to nobody. What chance, then, had a weak man ? It was, in short, the age 328 DuQUESNE Monthly of the survival of the strongest, and its logical sequence was that the weak became weaker and that the strong became stronger, With the passage of time, however, there was a gradual transition from this imperfect state of society to the period when order began to take shape out of chaos, and there was a change in the ways of men. It came to be recognized that what a man acquired by honorable means belonged to him and could not be taken away merely because the person desiring it happened to be physically stronger than the owner. Different customs sprang up among different peoples, as to what should be done under certain circumstances, and these customs were the beginning of the law as we have it to-day. The history of the early development of the law is a story of innumerable struggles between the people and their despotic rulers. Driven to extremity by the impositions and exactions of their overlords, the people repeatedly revolted, and could be conciliated only by promises given by their rulers that they would no more encroach upon the privileges of their subjects. It was under such circumstances as these that Magna Charta came into being. Ground down by the overbearing despotism of King John the people under the leadership of the barons violently rebelled, and on the field of Runnymede wrested from their domineering ruler that great charter of English constitutional liberty. During the centuries that followed the rights thereby acquired were violated many times and in many ways, but each time the people compelled the rulers not only to acknowledge the rights they had theretofore enjoyed, but also to grant new ones. It was by stages and struggles such as these that the early privileges enjoyed by the people were acquired and that their rights increased and their liberty became extended. The right of trial by jury was asserted and established; the law regulating the devaluation of estates had its birth; the right of the people to participate in the government by electing representatives to Parliament wa;3 secured. When the colonists settled in America they brought with them their English-made ideas of right and wrong. They came here for various reasons, chief among which was to secure free- dom from persecution. It was the violation of what they and their forefathers in England had been taught to look upon as their rights that called forth the Declaration of Independence, and in 1787 terminated in the free and independent republic of the United States of America. With the treaty of Paris and Liberty Is Obedience to Law 329 the adoption of the Constitution of the United States there came into being the most perfect system of government ever devised by man; a government based on the fundamental proposition that all men are created free and equal; a government which knows no difference between rich and poor, and under which men's chances of success are limited only by their courage, ambition and strength. Any system of government depends for its ultimate success on the contentment of the citizens governed, and the prime con sideration of those at the head should be, and under our system always is, the peace, happiness and welfare of the citizens, from whom they derive their authority, and to whom they are always ultimately accountable. Under our system of government, which we are prone to consider—and rightfully, too—the perfection of government, the end sought to be attained is the securing to each and every individual the greatest liberty and happiness that is consistent with the well-being of the nation as a whole. To further this end we have our wisely drawn Constitution, which embodies all the governmental wisdom of the ages, and in which it is solemnly declared that it and the laws enacted under it shall be the supreme law of the land. Under it laws are enacted to regulate the conduct of society; by reason of it and the constitution of the state every man is secure in his person and property; civil rights are safeguarded; religious liberty is guaranteed; com- mercial intercourse is regulated; and the evil-doer is apprehended and punished. Under it this nation of free and liberty-loving yeople has progressed frhm obscurity to first rank among the nations of the world. And this is the inevitable result when a capable people are permitted to govern themselves. How was this enviable position attained ? Was it by grant- ing to some privileges that are withheld from others? Was it by licensing one class and restricting others? Was it by punishing some for crime and permitting others to go un punished ? No ! it was not by any nor by all of these means. It was by exacting from all the same allegiance; by conferring upon all the same rights, and by enjoining upon all the same duties. For there can be no liberty where there is license, and it is when liberty degenerates into license that discontent arises in the hearts of men. One last question. How can this liberty which we have acquired and now enjoy be guaranteed to continue? It is by 330 DuQUESNE Monthly obedience to law. In a civilization so highly developed as ours, and in situations so complex as those which confront us to-day, it is apparent that without the earnest co-operation and support of all we cannot hope to hold that high position we have reached, to say nothing of gaining new laurels. Let us remember that no man nor class of men is big enough to bid defiance to the law; that no man nor class of men is small enough to escape its notice.