Penrose Proposes a U. S. Press Muzzler.
By Editor
Would Empower Postmaster General to Exclude Any Publication.
[The following with the above heading appeared in the North American, of Philadelphia, February 14. It is a direct blow against the freedom of the press, and seems to make one man, whatever his prejudices are, the censor of the press. It would seem as if every lover of civil and religious liberty ought to rise up against it.] Washington, February 13.—Senator Penrose has introduced a bill to provide for an absolute press censorship, in the hands of the postmaster general. The bill provides: That section 3893 of the Revised Statutes be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding: "And when any issue of any periodical has been declared non-mailable by the Post-office Department, the periodical may be excluded from second-class mail privileges at the discretion of the postmaster general." The section of the Revised Statutes amended by the bill relates to obscene books, pamphlets, papers, or other matter. But the amendment is not confined to such publications; it covers all publications, without reference to whether they contain obscene or indecent matter. It gives the postmaster general arbitrary power over the public press of the United States. Penrose will say that his purpose was merely to give the postmaster general power to exclude from the mails vicious publications. This power, however, the postmaster general already has, so that the Penrose proposition must have a deeper purpose. It can be seen that with such a postmaster general as would be selected by the corporations and their senators, if they obtained control of the government, a law of this character could be used to suppress or harass newspapers which opposed their schemes.