"I have been troubled that an increasing polarization within the church and, at times, a mean-spiritedness have hindered the kind of dialogue that helps us address our missions and concerns," said Bernardin. "As a result, the unity of the church is threatened ... and our witness to government, society and culture is compromised."

Bernardin called for a new kind of dialogue that will bring together and engage people of diverse viewpoints within the church. He cited new insights gained during his battle with cancer in the past year — "when one comes face to face with the reality of death in a very profound way" — as one reason he was pushing the Common Ground Project. Ironically, two weeks after hearing both praise and tough criticism inside the church for the new project, Bernardin learned his cancer had spread to his liver and he probably has less than a year to live.

So the Common Ground Project could prove to be one of his lasting gifts to the church community. Bernardin, 68, has more seniority than any other active U.S. cardinal and has been Chicago's archbishop for 14 years. Known as a great conciliator, Bernardin was honored recently by President Bill Clinton as one of 11 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian accolade. The president described the cardinal as a man who "has fought tirelessly against social injustice, poverty and ignorance."

Indeed, Bernardin has been in the forefront of most discussions on issues dividing the church in recent decades. As Illinois began executing criminals in recent years, for example, Bernardin led the Illinois bishops in denouncing the death penalty, even though they realized many Catholics would disagree with them.

With the Common Ground Project, Bernardin faces the delicate task of inviting Catholics with dissenting voices into a dialogue without compromising official church teachings on major issues. He already has been criticized by some of his fellow bishops and by people whom he sees as polarized in the church — people who are theologically and politically right-wing and others who are calling for sweeping liberal changes in the church. Bernardin responded that the swift criticism "confirms the need for this initiative. Even a carefully framed appeal for dialogue coming from an archbishop and seconded by a broad range of distinguished advisers was met with immediate suspicion."

The project will involve a series of public discussions among Catholics with diverse viewpoints, beginning in 1997. The kinds of topics expected to be raised include the changing roles of women; the meaning of human sexuality and the gap between church teaching and the convictions of many Catholics about sexual issues; the ways in which the church is present in political life; the liturgy; the image and morale of priests; dwindling support from parishioners; the distinct identity of Catholic colleges, universities, health care facilities and social services; and the church's responsibility to the poor and "defenseless."

Whether the cardinal's call for a new openness in church dialogue will lead to greater harmony among American Catholics remains to be seen. What seems clear is that Bernardin will use his remaining energy, perhaps at continuous personal sacrifice, in an attempt to unite a fractionalized institution that he dearly loves.

Ed Wojcicki

Each essay raises an important question and, taken together, the set of essays should be of interest to practiced as well as would-be historians.

Anna Merritt

8 / October 1996 Illinois Issues

Momentos from past political battles can rekindle warm memories. Given time and luck, they also can generate cold cash. For the moment, a button from either of the Great Communicator's presidential campaigns might finance a trip to the local McDonald's. Memorabilia from any of Franklin Roosevelt's presidential campaigns might extend to dinner and a movie. But if your grandmother kept a souvenir featuring a picture of Roosevelt as the vice presidential candidate alongside his Democratic running mate, James Cox, pack your bags. You've just won the lottery.

Mark Warda, the author of 100 Years of Political Campaign Collectibles (Galt Press, 1996), calls that 1920 button "the ultimate political item." One recently sold for $50,000. According to Warda, Steve Forbes was once aced out by another collector, who paid $33,000 for a Cox-Roosevelt. At most, five dozen of the buttons are believed to be in collectors' hands. They're rare (and valuable) because the Democrats didn't have much money that year, their candidate was not popular and the buttons were not attractive. Few of them were made, and few were saved.

Warda, who timed his book to coincide with "the 100th anniversary of the political campaign button as we know it," was once a student of the late University of Illinois political scientist Milton Rakove, most remembered for collecting the folk sayings and detailing the mores of the Chicago Democratic

Machine. Warda's book may have come too late to spare the remnants of campaigns past from last summer's garage sale, but it may inspire you to make a fresh start this fall. It is both a history and a how-to manual. The earliest American political tokens were made to commemorate sitting presidents. Warda cites as an example the clothing buttons used to mark George Washington's inauguration. In 1840, items were used during the campaign. By Abraham Lincoln's time, they included metal-plate photographs. But in the late 19th century political promotion took a giant leap forward. The new celluloid pin-backed button proved to be popular and cheap to produce, and it was used in the 1896 campaign between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan.

The basic design of the campaign button hasn't changed since. Collectors of political ephemera didn't get serious, though, until after World War II. They now have their own organization (The American Political Items Collectors), which sponsors local and national conventions, publishes a monthly newspaper and a scholarly magazine and hosts a web site (http ://www. fred. net/ari/apic. html). Warda's book lists related organizations and resources, museums and dealers. But if you want to buy instead of sell, Warda cautions that, unlike some other hobbies, this one can get addictive and expensive. "Coins and stamps are produced by the government in known quantities," he writes. "Every variety has been cataloged and values are easy to determine. But political campaign items were produced by hundreds of private companies and local committees. For most items there is no record of how many were made, and we will probably never know of all of the designs and varieties. New discoveries are being made every year."

Nevertheless, he outlines strategies for collecting, offers tips on fakes and estimates prices. A Teddy Roosevelt button, for example, might be valued at $20 or $2,000, depending on the size and style. The ever-popular "I Like Ike" goes for about 75 bucks. But buttons aren't the only campaign items on the market. There are bumper stickers, stamps, posters and even those awesomely sticky Eugene McCarthy flowers. They come in pale blue and white and go for about seven bucks, presumably sans the Volks- wagen beetle.

Ultimately, the vagaries of history, and even misfortune, can play a role in determining the value of political items. In August 1972, one student political organizer at the University of Illinois blew the entire fall campaign budget on boxes of McGovern- Eagleton balloons. His misdirected efficiency and enthusiasm became the stuff of humorous legend in certain campus circles. Undaunted, though, he carted one of the boxes back to his apartment and stored it away "for posterity." Now he might consider prosperity. Warda writes that many of the existing McGovern-Eagleton items were made after the Democrat dumped his running mate. If those originals haven't disintegrated, the former political activist might one day unload them a balloon at a time.

But the real money's probably on that Reagan button.

Peggy Boyer Long

Illinois Issues October 1996/ 9

State seeks to change the image of the planet's only Hying mammal

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, andblind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and how let's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Illustration by Olin Harris

some conservationists would argue that because bats made lists such as the one conjured by Shakespeare's witches in Macbeth, some species of bats are now making the lists of state and federally endangered animals.

Indeed, literature and popular culture have not been kind to the earth's only flying mammal. Every Halloween the myths about bats are perpetuated further as stores display them alongside witches and ghosts as "scary" decorations. So it's often an uphill battle to educate the public about bats in an effort to turn fear into respect for this fearsome-looking but passive and helpful night-feeding creature.

Last summer, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources made progress in bat conservation on two fronts: education and preservation. The department used the forum of the popular Conservation World at the Illinois State Fair to separate fact from myth about bats. And it installed specially designed gates that allow air and bats in but keep people out of the abandoned LaSalle County Blackball Mines, a winter roost for the state and federally endangered Indiana bat.

"Bats are a greatly misunderstood, feared and persecuted group of animals," says Joyce Hoffmann, a biologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey. "This is unfortunate because scientists have been discovering that bats play vital roles in the ecosystems in which they occur and are beneficial to humans in several ways." For agricultural areas like Illinois, bats act as natural pesticides. Illinois' 12 species of bats feed exclusively on insects. A single bat may consume 3,000 insects in one night, including corn borer, cutworm moths and mosquitoes. In addition, bats act as barometers of changes in the environment, according to Hoffmann.

Of the 12 species of bats that spend at least part of their lives in Illinois (several migrate south in winter), two are listed as state and federally endangered: the gray bat and the Indiana bat. The sharp decline in populations of these and other species of bats results most often from disturbance of their winter hibernation. Animals forced to burn fat reserves to avoid humans often starve to death before they can feed again in spring. Also, whole colonies of bats can die if their home is an abandoned mine that is sealed off.

Illinois has joined a national trend to gate abandoned mines and caves considered necessary habitats for bats. In addition to Blackball Mines, gates have been installed recently at a winter bat roost in Fogelpole Cave in Monroe County, the largest cave system in the state. Hoffmann says 10 years of research has led to knowledge that helps the state preserve habitats for these much-maligned animals that are of such value to our farmers. However, a department spokesman says the federal money that funded the research has dried up and new state surveys are needed to track the populations of Illinois' bats.

Still, despite centuries of folklore and old wives' tales regarding bats (contrary to popular belief, bats do not get in people's hair and do not carry rabies any more frequently than any other mammal), HotYmann says it is encouraging to go to schools to talk to kids about bats. Many of the kids already know there is little need to be afraid of bats.

"The kids think bats are cool."

Beverley Scobell

10 / October 1996 Illinois Issues

CORRECTING CORRECTIONS________________
State to curb gangs and drugs in prisons
Richard Speck boasted that if prison authorities knew how much fun he was having, they would let him out. Now the late star of videotape and legislative hearing has ensured that inmates of the state's penal institutions will not soon brag about enjoying their incarceration.

After a series of hearings in which a Republican-led legislative committee angered the Republican Administration by uncovering embarrassing revelations about conditions in state prisons, state corrections officials recently announced reforms aimed at controlling gangs and drugs in state penitentiaries.

The plan includes converting the maximum-security Pontiac Correctional Center into a prison for inmates in "segregation" for violation of prison rules. Prisoners will be confined to their cells nearly 23 hours a day. Inmate picnics will be eliminated at the four maximum-security prisons, and a minimum-security facility will be converted to a safe haven for inmates who are not members of gangs. The prison department will crack down on drugs by purchasing high-tech drug detecting equipment and conducting random drug tests of prison workers.

Illinois Department of Corrections Director Odie Washington has acknowledged in the past that gangs, drugs and an atmosphere of violence exist in some of the state's prisons. But Gov. Jim Edgar's administration had been at odds with the House Judiciary Committee, which began conducting high-profile hearings on the problems within the prison system after the release of the Speck video in May.

Outraged at the videotape showing Speck, a mass murderer, apparently doing drugs and having sex at Stateville Correctional Center, lawmakers seemed to be on a track to call for sweeping reforms in the corrections department. Meanwhile, prison officials downplayed the testimony of security officers who characterized gangs as controlling the day-to-day activities behind prison walls.

The department's plan came after negotiations between Edgar's administration and members of the committee, serving as an admission that the problems within the system are serious. "That doesn't mean they're not going to have any more hearings or they're going to say corrections is perfect," Edgar said. "But I think it shows we are responsive to the issues that are raised and we are concerned, as legislators are, in trying to deal with certain problems we know we face."

Front-line prison workers announced their own plan. The proposal begins by addressing the fundamental issue that both administrators and staff agree causes many of the problems behind prison walls: overcrowding.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees wants a new maximum security prison, more correctional officers, alternative sentencing for nonviolent offenders and elimination of privileges for gang members.

"We think our approach is much more comprehensive," said Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31. "If you look at their proposal, it certainly did not go anywhere near far enough in addressing the underlying problems within the prison system."

Emily Wilkerson

Illinois Issues October 1996 / 11