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Bangerous Lullabs Just .a crackyot revolutionary plant a I I Hill in Washington and light the fuse In. a. Ie considered dangerous to American insthu. there greater danger in one who.plots sun: psion as conquered the salellite countries of Fuope. hu! rarefully refrains from lighting a fuse prematurelv~ These are the questions.as we seo it, put belre the United States Supreme Courr:by the~American (ivi! Liherties Union recently. The"AClU, said that" Smith conyctionsof Communist fenders in this counlry should be thrown out because American institutions are so strong that home-grown Communists cannot cause any "clear and present" danger to them. These American institutions, the ACi.U argued. *have so well and so consistently demonstrated their effectiveness in meeting ordinary needs. as well as withstanding.the.tremendous impact of-two-world wars. a devastating depression, and the continuing challenge of world-wide unrest, their stability and permanence would seem to be virtually unassailable.. The "clear and present danger" doctrine is a recog- nized part of American law. but it is scarcely at home in this argument. What the ACLU is saying. in effect, is that since the Communists cannot hope for success nXh GicT Cn) in taking over the American government. we ought to Iet them try without interference. If we followed that road. we should never sec danger with the naked eve until it was too late. The importance of the AC.LU attitude. however. points more in another direction. Next to subversion itself. the greatest danger this country can face is an attitude by its people and officials that our way of life is so well established, nothing needs be done to protect NOTHEDCD it. Once we begin to believe that some magic power 760EC 12 1956 makes our institutions "unassailable." and that we need t in no effort to safeguard them from internal ero. wn, then we're on the way to losing them. Fxcept for that eternal vigilance which is the price ! liberty. we could awake some morning to find not 16 ccn a pretense left of the things we thought were so The Ind'anapolis Star strong and permanent. Freedom can be lost in war. but Indianarolts, Initana t is more often sold, given away or slept awsy doctrine of "unassailable" institutions induces a tscer The Yonday, Noven?er ?s. ous sleep. We cannot afford to accept it. ditsral C