During the month of December the new state constitution will be placed before the Illinois voters. In this proposed new constitution, among other things, there is a clause permitting the teaching of the Bible and religious ethics in the public schools. That the danger is great is apparent from the fact that among those delegates sent by the citizenry to the constitutional convention to defend our liberty, the only one who raised his voice against the proposed new constitution was Mr. Michal. The rest of the purported defenders of freedom kept still, thus accepting the new proposals, and thus also joining the ranks of those who attempt to tamper with our freedom. When such an attack on our free educational institutions is permitted to go on, the question remains: "What will our citizens have to say about it?" Let us hope that our citizenry will say "no, a thousand times no"; and that they will 2be successful in beating back the attack made [on our free institutions] at the next election. We have already had enough of this constant emasculation of our liberty for the benefit of a few individuals.

The probibition act was introduced over the heads of the people, an act with which a reasonable human being could not agree, for it produces more alcoholics, more family disorganization, more murders, more deaths than were usual before it was introduced. The prohibition act brought about a disrespect of all law; it led to a creation of capital among a few at the expense of the many. It is the worst kind of way of producing wealth.

The danger now threatens all the people because of the proposed revision [of our constitution]. It is an attack made on labor which would be deprived of its freedom to organize and its class-conscious efforts. It is a most arrogant attack made upon the freedom of the people, upon the education of the young, whom we desire to develop into full personalities, equipped with a knowledge 3of how to work for the good of the whole. The rights of the woman as an educator of her children are likewise to be rendered sterile, and the workingman is to be still more enslaved and oppressed. Should the proposed revision really pass, there could be no question of a true freedom, of a true humaneness, and of civilization.

Whenever and wherever the constitutional rights of men, guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, are attacked, the Statni Svaz Svobodomyslnych v Illinois (State Federation of Bohemian Freethinkers of Illinois), located in Chicago, raises its right arm calling all liberal-minded citizens to the defense. The people must learn about the danger which threatens them; they, too, must act to win a decisive victory over the proposed attack on their rights. In this sense the Svaz Svobodomyslnych has already started extensive action; there will be mass meetings of our people in all parts of Chicago and the suburbs, in which this matter will be explained in greater detail. The following meetings were already projected: Bohemian California, October 15, 1922; Town of Lake, also on October 15; Cicero, October 29; and one general mass meeting which will voice 4our protest one week before the November election. To this last meeting we shall also invite our Bohemian politicians so that they might tell us how they propose to work against that which the people do not desire.

We have already started the ball rolling, and now issue a call to action. We should like to see all of our citizens at the [above-mentioned] meetings; in fact, they should drop everything and come to these meetings, for their liberty and the future welfare of their children are at stake. Forward, then, under the battle flag of the liberal-minded citizenry; forward, you liberal-minded citizens, you workingmen, you progressives! Prepare yourselves to form the battalions to overcome the attacks [on our freedom]. This is your duty!

Statni Svaz Svobodomyslnych Illinois,

Chicago, Illinois:

Josef Musil, president,

Frantisek Strunc, secretary.