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About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1924)
. - - - I Amend the Constitution When Necessary Do NOT Abolish It '-j I ■ I—I llllil III llll "I---— ----1 --WT-'-—i ^wr Co^6jress ^ ^SzS?k . .“===-. V>QT\ \>o \F* **° v>ks.^ ec*sv*» N^f s*«* % \ ^r % '*'£5£^'» «-^5 5 \5^S'. SINCE the foundation of th* United States government the supreme court of the United States has been on# of the chief guarantors of th# preservation of the written constitution upon which our government Is founded. In recent years there has been much thoughtless criticism of the supreme court. This criticism has been due to the fact that the supreme court has declared certain laws passed by congress to be unconstitutional. In the present presidential cam paign this Issue Is brought squarely to tlie front by the proposal of 1st Collette unit those who are backing his candidacy. lie proposes that congress shall have tlie power to over-ride the supreme court, it Is urged that any law declared by the court to be unconstitutional shall become the law of the land notwithetanding the decision of the supreme court If it Is passed by congress a second time. In effect this would abolish and wipe out one of th# most Important of the f "checks and balances" which was provided when the ronstitutlon was adopted. It must be kept In mind that the supreme power in the United Htntea rests In the people. The people In turn have delegated tlielr power to the legislatures of the several states. The legislatures of the states may pass tny law which th* constitu tions of the states do not expres sively prohibit. The Constitution of the United States, howtvsr, is an entirely different Instrument. Congress is a body of limited au thority, its power I* limited ex pressly by th# ronstitutlon. Congress may enact only such legislation as th# constitution give* them permission to enact. The constitution specifically sets out thosa things which congress may do and It may do nothing else. As a safeguard, and in order that the limitation! of congresa might b# thoroughly understood, th# Con stitution also expressly ads out certain things which congress may not do. It IS wtll at this time, with tha i.a Follett# proposal In mind, to take down tho Constitution of th* United Sts to* and read It over carefully, Th# first Income tax law was de dared unconstltuflonsl for the res son that the nnnstltutlon, as origin ally adopted, provided that no direct tax shall be 1*ld except In accord anre with the anumerttlnn of th* census. Id other words, except 1n •wiordanes with population. This •it nation was overcome by th# adop tion •#■•« amendment te tha son stltulion giving congress ths power to levy a tax based on Income. The eupreme court has -twice de clared certsln suit child labor laws unconstitutional. The constitution is plain on this point. Congress has no power to regulate the conduct of business In the several atatea. The first anti-child legislation sought to prohibit the transporta tion of the products of child labor In Interstate commerce. The fec und anti child labor law sought to prohibit child labor through a sys tem of taxes. Tha supreme court held In both instances that tha pro posal waa a subterfuge That con gress did not have the power to regulate Ibuelneaa In the Several slates under the cloak either of regulating Interatate commerce or levying a tax. There la now before the legisla tures of the states a proposition giving congress the right to provide for the abolition of chll# labor. Un der thla amendment, If adopted, a law may be properly passed putting sn end for all time to child labor. Thla method la In entire accord and within 1h* spirit of the con stitution. The Igi Kollette proposal, how e'er. goes miicli beyond this and would give to congress at any tlin* I he light tu pass any legislation no matter how definitely opposed lo ilia guarantees of tha constitution by tha slrnpla expedient of passing it twice. The guaranty of American free dom which the constItutton contains la too Important to he thus Idly set aside. Tha slrugglaa of tha revo lutionary war. tha hitter fights to preserve tha freedom of the Amer ican people are ton precious a heritage to he swept aside hv any thoughtless proposal that would to all Intents and purposes nullfy the constitution. Tha Income tax la a wise and necessary tax. The i Igtit of con glass to let v such a tax has been Manured In the way that the con stitution provides, namely by an amendment to the constitution. All enlightened cltlaeits agree that child labor In Industry should be prohibited. However great may be the curse of child labor, It la not equal to the cure* that would fol low the precllcal nullification of the constitution. Tf the American people earnestly desire that an end shall he put to child labor, It can he accomplished. It la nnw on the way to accomplish ment, through the adoption of an amendment fo ths Wonatltutlnn. Impatience should not rule In dealing with the fundamentAl law of the t'nlled State*. The constitu tion was bought with ^o much blood snri treaeure. It mean* too much to the welfare of generation* yet to come to permit It* being torn down by politician* who seek to advance their pereonat end* by criticizing It* provision*. It I* the duty of the 1'nlted State* supreme court under the constitu tion to call * halt to any legislature which Is opposed to th* funds mental guarantee* of th* constltu tlun. It would (eeui that notwltheund Ing the deelie for quick reform, no one upon second thought, can support th* l-ab'ollett* proposal, which would hamstring th* »u prune court and take from the American people one of th* bealc guarantee* of th* contlnuanrs of their liberty. The fact that we now have an In come tax does not prove that the euprems court was wrong when It declared the original Income tax law to be unconstitutional. It proves that th# supreme court was right. W* have an Income tax to day, because It was prodded for under the terms of the constitution Itself—by means of an amendment to the constitution. The effoits that art being made today to aecure an amendment to tha oonatltutlon to permit legislation prohibiting child labor also provea that the iu preme court was right when It de dared the two child labor laws passed by congress to b# unoonatl tutlonal. The net effect of a decision by tha eupreme court, declaring any law to ba unconstitutional, la that It la an advlca on that subject to congress With such advlca before tharn congress may proceed to act accordingly. If tha desired legisla tion I* genuinely Important aa the Income tax and tha child labor law —It can ha enacted Into law by means of an amendmant to tha con stitution. If the constitution !• to ba nmended It la Infinitely eafer to do It through the affirmative action of the legislatures of three fourths of the states—thsn to turn over that authority to conrgre«s The building of tha t’nlted States government was not accomplished In a day. It ran, however, he de etroyed In a day unless the Amerl ran people watch with car* and vote with car# upon anv propoai lion which seeks to destroy tha eon gtltutlon. Our Public Servants v.__.__ The Fireman at the Station. Doaan’t ha ltad tha nany Ufa. though? Juat alia around tha atatlon all day, or all night, and not a bloom ing thing to do hut play rharkara or rand th« naw-a )im para. Vaa, Ilka lha old woman who kapt hot all Aomrlvody haa to polfah that an gina, or that hoar rail, or that i-liriiilrnl apparu lua And aoma IHidy hua to karp Ilia si at Ion an . i Iran an u Nrw " Knit la nd hollar i ultra brat room Anil aomehody haa to draw that load ad liuaa Into a - llary hall, and aotnabody haa to play with daath at a mlnuta'a no tli'a. and soma* body haa to diva haadArat Into that furnai g If naad lia >o raarua ona of our Invad onaa from a nioat hor rlhla daath That a how »aay tha Ufa of tha Amman la i Of eouraa riaking hia Ufa at any ■ h i old hour of tha day or night l» hla huatneaa. That'* what ha la (mill for, Ian't It? Hut juat auppoaln' It »ai your hahy that ha aaved from burn Ing to death bv rlaklng hla own life lo aa\e It la h* getting enough pat for that aort of thing? Not when tt'a your baby. lie may he a little rough In hi* language at time* lie may not tie up In the nlretlra of the polite ao clety In which you move, lie prob ably would wear a die** ault with a limit «■ much abandon aa a hail would a am k over It* now, hut polite language and thr ability to dance the tux tint, and the ability to wear a drea* ault gracefully are lint prime a* NenUala lu fir* fighting, and fighting hie la the fireman'* hualneaa. Kver hear of a tlrerunu allowing "fhe yellow atreak" lu the fai a of danger? Nary a time Tha fellnwa wltli tha urgan atrip* up their ppluea never laat long enough to get on th* payroll permanently. Of enure* ha I* paid for fighting fir*, hut la that any reaacni why you aliouldn't glva him a amlla and a wave of tha hand n* you gn bj fhe (lie alallon? Wav* pinned medal* on )e»«er harne*. and towering mnniimenta have bean erected lo man who never faced death more cheerfully than thoaa fallowa von are alttlng amund the f1sa atatlone. aeemlngly llatlaaa and tndlffaranl hut In reality on edge avary mtnuta, waiting (or tha alarm Lloyd George Foresees Great Opportunities for Reconstruction tt.v IIAVIU II.OM) GKORGK. iKt-Premlfr of Ureal Britain). London, Aur. tt>.—(By Cable )— Whilst the actors of the various coun tries engape<J in the London confer enre are dfeking their brows with laurels for their share In t.J»e "famous victory’* and whilst we are watting for •he next move, there is time to look around and survey the real situa tion of the world five years after the cessation of the great conflict. Nationalist sentiment In all con tracting countries alike dislikes the pact, hut even if It fulls to materialise there will be nq Immediate catastro phe. The best hope of peace is to lie found in the fact that the present generation lias hail enough of fight ing to satisfy the most savage In stinct. I remember a conversation I once had during the Boer War with one of the ablest but most eyntcal politicians that ever appeared in the British house of commons—Sir John tlorst. He was a man of extraordi nary detachment of mind. The dis-’ appointments of life and notably the shabbiness with which his party had rewarded his services had embittered him and alienated him from his fel lows, but it also enabled him to view human affairs with a complete free dom from partisanship. Human Nature Demands War. No enthusiasm for party creeds or ideals clouded his vision of things as they were. I was occupied st the time In a somewhat lonely parlia mentary struggle agaJnst what I conceived to be an unjust attack on two South African republics. All the "patriots" were angry with me. No conservative—except Mr. Winston (’hurchili—would speak to me, and at least half of the liberal party shunned me. X was standing one day at the bar of the house when the brilliant ministerial pariah. Sir John Gorst, came up to me and said in his cold, smooth tones: "You think this war is being waged to satisfy our greedy desire for the gold mines of Johannes burg, Mr. Chamberlain thinks we are fighting to win equal rights for all white men south of the Zambesi river. You are both wrong. We are in this war because there has been no blood letting for over a genera tion. and human nature can not stand It any longer. It was overdue, and if we had not fought the Boers we should have had a more serious conflict with some continental power. We have never had such a prolonged period of peace.” A{ that time I thought It a horrible doctrine to pro pound and 1 did not believe that It I "■ 1 afforded 'tv* exportation of ’he . -mi flirt «» had provoked. All the same, there Is an element nf truth In It. Man is trie most corn* hatl\e of all animals. He loves a fight for its own sake. He ahvayy persuades himself that it 1* lhe cause which interests him when often it Is more the excitement of the struggle. Englishmen «nd Welshmen fought heroically and even more tenaciously for the color of a rose than they did Inter for freedom of conscience and divine right. Rut a time comes in all these struggles when the nerve of pugnacity heroines cloyed wih satiated emotion or exhausted by the protracted strain. Then conns tne reign of pence and the opportunity of the peace lover. The Tudors made an excellent use of this reaction to build up modern England. Will any one do the like for modern Europe? Clarifying Conflict. For 411 years after the Napoleonic wars Europe was free from great In ternational conflicts. There was a great deal of internal commotion amongst people wtrtcJi found vent In revolutions and uprisings, but "na tion did not lift hand against nation" until the Crimean war of 1854. One reason for that Is not without Its lesson for today. Soon after that war waa o\er the hostile armies retired within their own frontiers and there waa no prolonged occupation of enemy territory under guise of guarantee for carrying out the terms of peace. If the Prussians had remained for 15 years after Waterloo on French soil the Franco-Prusslan war would not have tarried for 55 years. Rut the friends of peace would do well not to overlook Sir John floral's cold-blooded observation about the psychology of wars. Reformers, lo be succeaaful. must take Into' account all the passions of human nature—evil as well as good. National pride bids writers and speakers to dwell cn the glories t past struggles The suffer ings are depicted only as a means of enhancing the heroism that endured and overcame them. The generation that passed through horror and squal or will not be anxious to repeat Its experiences. But that generation is passing away and a new generation Is coming in that knows nothing of the terrors and discomforts of the great war, hut will be drenched^ by historians, novelists, writers and art ists of every description with its glories. Young men who were too young for military service in 1?18 are already 24. In a decade they will constitute a majority on every elec (oral roll. Humanity I* passing with the flight of year* from the genera tion of experience into the era of pic tures. The galleries of Versa I Ilea with their mural scenes of Moody prowess stimulate emulation and not for r or disgust. They scintillate with the thrill of war, and the myriads of Frenchmen who gaze annually on those battle pictures will feel the stir of pride In a race that produced such warriors. The world is strewn ^ith material for international quarrel*. The follies committed during the last five years of hostile rfreupation of Herman territory are fermenting in Herman breasts Into explosive acids j ready tq the hand of the mischief I maker. The London settlement may \ have arrived in lime to avert catas trophe. There is still time for wls-1 dom to damp down the hidden fuses j There will still remain the falling bur- ] den of reparations, hemming heavier1 as I he years pass. How long will It j be borne after the workmen of Her-1 many thoroughly realize that It I eomes out of I heir cupboards* Audi how will It be thrown off? With vin-1 lenee or by wile” la-ader* All Important. What mood will Franre tie in when Hermanv puts in Its claim for revision of the Dawes terms? What manner of leader will It possess at that critical time? Will It he a Poincare or a Briand? And what, kind of leader ship will Germany follow? Will It be a Ludendorff or a Stresseman? The peace of the world depends on the answer which destiny gives to these questions. And there are others. War-tormented Kurope does not end in Westphalia, and there are trouble, eharged problems not touch'd by th» Dawes report or even by the treaty of Versailles. In eastern Kurope there are many "settlements” that cause endless fric tion and anger. These have nothing to do with Versailles, f observe that when the AngloRusslan treaty was signed at the foreign offlee the chief soviet delegate. Mr. Rakovsky, read out a declaration as to the attitude of the soviet government towards th' territorial arrangements made by the various peace treaties. This is an ominous announcement. The terms of that declaration have not yet been published. But they ought to be. It la not, however, difficult to conjecture their character. Russia is dissatisfied with the frontier* imposed upon It by the treaty of Riga and by the Ru manian annexation of Bessarabia. The former assigns to Poland territories in White Russia which cont^n ai population tbs majority of which i* Russian by rare, language, religion and tradition. The latter Is auppo#ed to be an intolerable menace to the great Rueetan port of Odessa. How long will Russia with (ts enormous population and ita gigantic reaource* calmly acquiesce, in "settlements' which its people regard as an insuf ferable wrong to their race? It Will one day recover Its strength when it throws off this bolshevist disease which is preying on its vitals. Then It will want to know what happened to Its heritage when It was stricken by fever. Another Problem. Then there Is the question of Ga I lirin. Here Roland is holding *t>w >. by main force a province where hare ly one third of the people are Poili fv by both language and religion, and the remaining two-thirds are in all these respects more in sympathy with Ukrainian Russia. Should liter* be one day such a rising of the Galician peasantry as we witnessed in Ireland a few years ago. will a regenerated and restored Russia took on with folded aims whilst that insurrection is being quenched In the blood of h*r brethren? And we have the Ralkan* with n*— that boiling crater of eastern Europe. The boundaries of Greece. Serbia and Bulgaria are In the nature of things unsatisfactory. The population of Macedonia is so mixed that any boun dary must raise the same ethnic and religious disputes as Tyrone and Fer managh excite In Ireland. These are some of the prospective quarrel* of Europe. Rut Is Europe the only quarrel some continent in this contentious world? Is the Pacific as calm as Its name implies? Are there no problem* menacing the peace of its vast shores’’ f think President roolidge has heard of at least one. Oahgerou* as that is. It Is by no means the only one China cannot go on smouldering for ever. U ho will be allowed to put out the fires’’ And what will happen then? All things point to one con elusion: That the wisdom of this gen eration ought to take advantage of the present ebb tide or passion to build a 9>!id and enduring embank rnent against a return of the flood There is no time to lose. The struc ture when built will take years ere it is water tight. It will take years to tolidfy its cement. It will require s long experience to find out it* crack* and weaknesses. There must be non* left for the deluge to discover. (Copyright, ]*:« ) Triviality of Democracy and Feminine Influence in Politics By H. G. WELLS. (Author of Outline of History g London, Aug. SO.—The other day 1 waa discussing the political outlook in Great Britain with a very close and ahrewd observer of political mo tive*. I live very much in a dream of a saner world and ha lives in active reaction to the passing hour, but we both knew mort of the leading IIgutes In public affair* and we were surveying <h« present extraordinary fragmentation of parties in parlia ment—for even the labor party now is hardly on speaking terms with itself and hat nothing hut office to hold It together. Ilia though'* ran much more on personalities than mine did. Was Mr. Asquith played out? Would Lloyd George "come hack?" What the future of Ixtrd Birken head* Would Mr. Baldwin ever be brighter and better? Waa Mr. Mas lermin the reauacitaled hop* of the liberal party? Was there anyone of any promise at all In the labor party? And ao on. fnllk# my friend T do not go about culling Incompatible posies of politi cian*. I have no interest In gather ing together a marketable bunch. The failure of parly government, the dla solution of all British parties, cheer* and pleases me. Great Britain, 1 aalcl, would have to lead the wav to a new stage of democratic government and get itself a legislature of a more manageable size elected by propor tional representation. It Can't He Done. "They won't," said my friend, mean ingly they, our bright eyed million* of voters "They can't grasp idea* Ilk* that new, dlffrult ideas. It takes 10 minutes' attention to understand proportional representation. Tou can't go to the country with a thing like that." "But unless w# get a more efficient legislature how can we tackle our dif ficulties with money, wBh Europe, with India." "We don't tack!# difficulties " aaid my friend. "Parliament* can't.” "Most of the labor party promised to support proportional represents tlon st the last election " "And ran away from if. There waa a tuppenv ha'penny advantage in cheating on that, *c> of course they cheated They'll run away from everything except office. Thav'r* Just a lot of poor thing* who'v* apant too much money on court cloth** and in dressing up their wive* and claugh ters fit and propar for the garden parties and they want to gat the wear out of it all before they go bark Into the shadows. Nobody In parliament wlm isn't conspicuous, 1* going to let parliament he altered *o that it ex cludes second rate people. Itsaxainst nature. You might as soon exited congress to scrap the American con slitutton. You'll never 11v• lo ace a general election In Kligland or America that Isn't fought on thor oughly alllv lines on the old .elector at method." "But think of tha task* that Us before the world"’ "Why Think at All!" "What'a tha good of thinking of them?" asked my friend. "It only worries you." There lias In b* an urganlantlon of international affairs to prevent war, tlieie ha* to b* disarmament with security, world transport at standard rhargaa, tit* reestablish meiit of a workable world currency, th* development of education through out the world—" "Things like that aren't going tn be done by parliament," said my friend. "They may lie done behind the backs of the politicians If there ar* Inter eat* and Intelligences big enough lo want I hern and organize them, Inti Have you ever met the avrictgn voter*" "1 know. 1 suppose as many peo pie as you do " But your heads in the clouds " My frland paused and than r* marked with malignant satisfaction. 'The next hlg question for England la prohibition.” "But it'* such a secondary matter." Silly \ otrift, "Exactly. That* why it's going to be primary. If* trivial enough for a democracy to be really earnest about If. Take International aettlementa and war possibilities; these are Infi nitely more fmpoitant things, I giant you. Blit what doe* the average voter know about them. There are possibilities of enslavement, of blood and death, of millions of the silly rabbits being scared and starved and mutilated and killed in international conflicts- But these voters of your* can’t grasp the complexity of that. They want peace, of course, but they don t know what makes peace. So everybody puts peace on the party platform, peace and the league of na tlons, or peaie and conscription, be ptepared.' or peace and isolation, pear# and the dear old flag. It doesn't matter. The poor mutt* can't grasp it «t all Talk of that kind of thing, higutnent ibout that kind of thing only confuses and wear's* them. It doesn't count in politics. • nd then there * the currency and fi r.anc# Even the bankers don't under stand that—and inoat of them don't want to. Prices go up and down ami credit axpands and contract* and the rabbit* get suddenly well off and full of conceit or they get out of of work and starved and driven to suicide, but it's all qtille beyond them how It happens, and it gtee* them a head ache and a vicious temper even to try to understand Obviously th’\ don't know and obviously therefore they ought to he concerned for knowledge, but what Is obvious to you or me isn't obvious to them. What is the vote-catching value of spending money on scientific and social and political research’ What Is the vote-' catching value of raising the school age to 16’ That only make* the grownup voter jealous of the next generation But prohibition, shutting the public house round the oorn<T. every man and woman understands that and the women will vote for it anyhow, blind to every otiier consid eration. That is something they can understand and the peace of the world, the volume of trade and eco nomic justice may go hang so lone as m,n and husband can b» shut and barred from the drink. Interference with the personal habits of other peo ple is Innate In women, they acquire It r» sisters, wives and mother* The enfranchisement of women was the last step in the devotion of democ racy to futility. It ended the last possibilities of constructive legisla tion and Inaugurated the age of re straint.” He went on to sketch the growth of the prohibitionist movement In England; the drift of politician* to wards a defined attitude in the mat ter: the vv.iy In which the question could he used to thrust aside wider and more abstract Issues. Watch the speeches of Idoyd tteorge.” he said. Watch the speeches of the pushing young men. They are nearer to it than you are. They know." *o and so said this yesterday and so and so said that last week. America's Foolishness. He produced sn affect of being detestably right about hla facts. H» said that making prohibition a pari of the American constitution was the silliest thing In history: one mighi hold the extremest temperance views and still understand that a matter of personal health and conduct should ha\e no part in the fundamental laws of a state. But the American dtlien had lost any idea of whet a consti tution was. Presently the American woman might put a morning ba:i in the constitution or the weekly weighing of hables or the unltersa use rf tooth-brushes Or they might require every married man and wo man to carry his or her marirag* lines conspicuously displayed upon the person like the bright little license or an English motor csr. These were the things they held important. Eng land was going the same way. follow fng a few years behind America, be cause it was a country of ntora deep ly established disciplines stid diffl dences, but 1 might rest tssured it would get to tite same end Tn I# yea’s time lhere will tie no politics left In parlia ►: t but the politics of scanda’ d minor, mor.alties and the lug things - f human life will tie managed in some other fashion. Thus my friend and I found it very difficult to gainsay him. tl'spyrtght. 1924 ) ABE MARTIN On Th’ Labor Vote i - • - - - - _ __ _ _ _ .. ____ ... V Th' old labor vnt« arare haa boon renovated an' rubbed with arnica an' led int' th’ p’lltical arena ter th' (all campaign. What la thla thine called th' labor vote, an' who a gnin' t' lead It t' th' polla, an' what will th' party git that glta It? We've been around a good many W A feller kin be a laborer an' "ear nifty clothes an' paddle his own canoe Fer ever' laborer "earin' overalls ther e SO workln' jest a« hard In ther beet clothes Workln’ people have ell sorts o different Ideas as t' hyw th country A are both workln’ hard t' pay far a home, but they tote In opposite direr lion- She « agin entanglin' allianche an' he nanta t' take th’ railroads. There e no hard and fast rule fer votin . Ker 'ears th’ farmer. Th’ moat down-trodden laborer o’ a” ne\er thought o’ votin’ if ther wus anything l do about th’ farm. O' &on>»wktftl DUlitur»il, Rul SUll In iIt* R4n* yaara ah' wa va navar aaan th' labor vota huddlad t'cathar an' paradin' V th' poll* What la a laborin' wan* A laborin' wan la a foliar or wo man that works In a alonr qitarrr nr a bank, or a foundry, or a *ro cary, or a IIvary ntahla. or a nrtUinary aloro, or ona who oarrlra a hod, or wrllaa artlrlaa. or. In fart, anyboddr that works far a livin', or .last f kaap ortt o' mlarhlaf Wa don't hava t' warn blua danim an' ba orftanltad an |*a> duaa t‘ ba a labcrar, I should lx run Kish Hucklar. maatar hurts dip par o' th' O. K, Mvsry barn, laan* to ward Wall at part. an' Nilas Turnar s son In law don't do nothin' but trfUs In favor of a atllTrr dnt> on suonr « ban It anon a loo daap t' do canranl work. Taka th* first V Otars' I'ooliiirr club! til tinea o' thanv «ora and work hard, at th Monarch k A 10 Taka th" First Volar*' J1a\i» rtub' All o' tham would work If thav could (It 11 knew a foliar an hta nlfa that . urse 10 It iv r* ,t,«n rain ha 11 knock off an' vote ever' which wav. hut he never mlsaea a rlrcui pnrade If we wu» managin' a Mg plittoal party with a couple o' million dot lara t' upend we wouldn't worry a minute about th' "labor vote" Wed so after th' Indifferent vote, th' mil llor* of poop!* who never vote one wav or th other. n« nvatter what * Involved Mam • food wnn.vdale haa heea mowed under while wait-.* ter tb* labor vote ' t* ahevr up. tCemukk it 1*0 i