p. 171 | A Bill Threatens Press Freedom by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 17, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 11.

A Bill Threatens Press Freedom

By Editor

One of the bills before the California Legislature, to which we have referred before, is Assembly Bill No. 23 introduced by Mr. Grove L. Johnson; seemingly in itself quite harmless, but which, if enacted into law, would have a tremendous potency for evil. It is a side blow at the freedom of the press. According to the present law, one must file a bond of $500 before he brings suit against a newspaper. The bill is to repeal that part of the statute. That of course would leave it so that every enemy of any country paper could bring suit against the editor, with cause or no cause, making endless trouble, and really prove the destruction of the newspaper.