p. 11 | Free Speech by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 3, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 47.

Free Speech

By Editor

THE Springfield Republican remarks that "it is curious that in a country setting so much store for free speech, no clear definition of it is yet extant." Governor Dix, of New York, has been trying to clear it up, and holds that the constitution of New York grants the right of free speech, but "includes no right whatever that one shall speak in any particular place." But the Republican very pertinently remarks that the difficulty with this theory is that some other place is no place at all, because wherever the speaker begins his oration, he may be ordered to stop, on the ground that he may have constitutional right to speak, but not to speak there.

It is sometimes argued that the right to free speech is confined to private domain, which means that one shall hire a hall. But this is not always possible. Governor Dix holds that the constitution grants absolute right as to the matter of the speech, provided it is not libelous, indecent, or manifestly criminal.

Then, too, no one can quarrel with the use of police powers to prevent blocking of an important thorofare in a city; but if the local government exercises that right, the Republican remarks, "it is bound to provide a forum elsewhere. There is no more virulent poison than a corked up speech." It would seem as tho there must be a public place to speak, as well as the right to speak, in a country where free speech is granted.