Book Reviews : Our Human Rights. By REBECCA CHALMERS BARTON. (Washington: Public Affairs Press. 1955. Pp. 102. $2.00 cloth, $2.50 bound.)

• Author: Bernard C. Borning
• Date: 01 September 1958
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295801100341
• Published date: 01 September 1958
• Subject Matter: Articles

740

the

belief

that

such

fraternization

would

affect

international

relations

and

prevent

war,

and

its

ultimate

disillusionment.

Of

special

note

also

is

the

little-known

story

of

the

Legion

Volunteer

Police

Force

which

almost

went

to

Czechoslovakia

at

the

time

of

Munich

to

supervise

a

plebiscite.

Mr.

Wootton

describes

the

Legion

as

&dquo;one

of

the

most

powerful

interest

groups

this

country

has

known,&dquo;

but

does

not

afford

very

convincing

evi-

dence

that

this

is

so.

The

Legion’s

methods

of

exerting

influence

appear

entirely

conventional:

adopting

resolutions,

sending

delegations

to

wait

upon

Ministers,

circularizing

questionaires

to

parliamentary

candidates

at

election

time,

and

having

parliamentary

questions

raised

by

friendly

M.P.’s.

It

attempted

to exert

influence

primarily

on

two

aspects

of

government

policy,

unemployment

and

pensions.

Yet

government

policy

on

these

sub-

jects

became

satisfactory

to

the

Legion

only

after

World

War

II,

when

public

opinion

-

as

well

as

public

policy

-

upon

government

responsibility

for

full

employment

and

social

welfare

had

entirely

changed.

University

of

Washington.

DELL

G.

HITCHNER.

Our

Human

Rights.

By

REBECCA

CHALMERS

BARTON.

(Washington:

Public

Affairs

Press.

1955.

Pp.

102.

$2.00

cloth,

$2.50

bound.)

In

1945

the

late

Governor

Walter

Goodland

of

Wisconsin

set

up

a

Governor’s

Commission

on

Human

Rights

which

subsequently

acquired

a

modest

state

appropriation

and

legislative

authorization

&dquo;to

disseminate

in,

formation

and

to

attempt

by

means

of

discussion

as

well

as

other

proper

means

to

educate

the

people

of

the

state

to

a

greater

understanding,

appreci-

tion,

and

practice

of

human

rights

for

all

people.&dquo;

It

is

the

story

of

the

Commission’s

experiences

which

its

executive

director,

Mrs.

Barton,

unas-

sumingly

tells.

The

frequent

emphasis

on

&dquo;other

proper

means&dquo;

of

educa-

tion

as

well

as

on

&dquo;practice&dquo;

apparently

makes

life

interesting

for

the

director

and

the

thirty-five

citizen

members

of

the

Commission.

But

also

its

&dquo;example

of

education

in

action ...

transfused

with

creative

imagination&dquo;

has

led

Governor

Walter

J.

Kohler

to

praise

the

Commission

as

&dquo;a

model

of

state

public

service.&dquo;

Typical

of

the

Commission’s

approach

to

concrete

problems

of

human

rights

was

the

practice

of

discrimination

by

certain

tourist

resort

owners.

On

learning

by

fact-finding

investigation

that

the

basic

cause

was

an

un-

founded

fear

of

business

loss,

the

Commission

quickly

turned

for

con-

structive

ideas

to

resort

owners

themselves.

Shortly

a

broadly

representative

regional

resorts

planning

conference,

thousands

of

letters

explaining

the

state’s

1895

&dquo;equal

rights&dquo;

law,

and

other

steps

produced

the

desired

results,

with

affected

state

agencies

even

officially

adopting

the

Commission-coined