Assailing the Freedom of the Press by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 4, 1915

Assailing the Freedom of the Press

By Editor

LAST week we printed the two bills, recently introduced into Congress, providing for an amendment to the postal laws. The animus of this proposed legislation has been made evident by editorial comments in recent issues of Catholic papers throughout the country. From these it is clearly seen that one of the bills, if not both, was introduced at the demand of Roman Catholics, and that their purpose is to exclude from the mails those journals which have made attacks upon the Catholic hierarchy.

The leading Catholic weekly of this country, America, for January 23, in an

article entitled “The Menace and the Mails,” refers to an open letter in a current number of the Catholic Mind, written by Mr. Paul Bakewell and addressed to the Attorney-General of the United States. In this letter Mr. Bakewell gives it as his opinion that the Postmaster-General has the authority to exclude from the mails publications of the Menace type, for the reason that the paper in publishing the matter which it does violates existing laws created to govern such questions. But the editor solaces himself with the thought that if the Postmaster-General finds present laws unsuited to the needs of the situation, relief will be found in the bill introduced by Congressman Fitzgerald. We quote:—

If Mr. Bakewell’s interpretation of the law in question should differ, however, from that favored by the Attorney-General, the bill introduced into the House of Representatives, on January 7, by Congressman Fitzgerald of New York, would seem to “cover the case” of the Menace perfectly. As Mr. Fitzgerald’s amendment, however, is likely to meet with vigorous opposition in Congress, and at best cannot become a law very soon, and as the Menace, meanwhile, continues to enjoy second-class privileges in the mails, let us hope that the Attorney-General of the United States may find in Mr. Bakewell’s “Open Letter” an interpretation of the law that will keep the Menace out of the mails. Certainly it is high time an end were put to the wrongs the sixteen million Catholics of this country are suffering. We are forced by the government to pay for the distribution through the mails of a scurrilous paper that slanders and reviles in its every issue persons, tenets, and practices that Catholics consider holy, sacred, and venerable. Let us stop paying the Menace’s mailing bills.

We have no sympathy with the spirit which characterizes much of the opposition to the Roman Catholic Church. Much of this opposition springs from religious prejudice and partisanship. We do not believe in dealing in billingsgate, or in the publication of slanderous charges. We doubt not that many evils are connected with the Roman system, evils which are the outgrowth of its principles and teachings. In a consistent Christian manner these evils should be pointed out and a warning should be sounded against the wrong, anti-Scriptural doctrines of that church. But we have never seen how any advantage would accrue to the cause of Christ, or how souls would be won to the kingdom, by continually delving into cesspools of iniquity and holding up to scorn and contempt the men who are engaged in this sort of work. Christ did not do this; the apostle Paul did not do it. Indeed, he said of certain practices, “It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” Questions of social purity may be dealt with in such a way that their promoters will become unconsciously aiders and abettors of the very evils and crimes which they are seeking to mitigate.

We do not believe that the public mails should be used as the medium for the circulation of obscene literature. Such literature leads to the making of criminals and to the commission of crime, and with any teaching which directly encourages criminality the civil law has a perfect right to deal. But on the other hand, new legislation is not required in order to prohibit the circulation of obscene or scurrilous matter through the mails. The publisher of every paper is held responsible before existing laws for the character of the matter which he prints. If he defames the character of any man, he can be strictly taken to account for the same, and punished severely by imprisonment and fine. The bills which have recently been introduced into the House contemplate far more than exclusion from the mails of matter of this character. They aim at the suppression of every publication which is antagonistic to the Church of Rome. In the hands of a biased or sectarian Postmaster-General they would become instruments of great evil. Surely it is unthinkable that Congress would jeopardize the freedom of the press by the passage of such measures.

The discussion of these bills is taken up at length in the Protestant Extra, which has just been issued. To the careful study of this discussion we earnestly invite the readers of the REVIEW, and hope that each one will do his utmost to extend the circulation of the Extra among his friends and neighbors.

F. M. W.