The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1874-08-20
THE INFAMOpS GAG Law.
mother Interesting Document from
George William Curiis4A Warming
that Press GaKginE ScOuhdrc1. will
do Wei 10 HesI.
From Harpers Weekly.

The profound ignorance in which the
most IMPORTANT laws are passed 10y Con-
gress is shawn by the circumstances Of the
passage Of the gag law at the last session.
Mr. Poland, of Vermont, is Republican
and a lawyer. When, therefore, he re-
ported a bill in regard to the courts of the
District of Columbia, the members natur
ally supposed that politically and legally it
WAS "all right and when he said that
there was "a doubt whether there was any
court in the District which had jurisdiction
Of certain clas-es Of crimes and misie-
meanor., gni this bill was to repoye that
doubt, 10 othgr explanation Was thought
aecessary, and the IIqnsse asgented to
l.w which, it is stated, gas drawn hy the
late Goyernor of the district, who has
A GRgDGE AGAINST THE PRESS,
and by his attorney, and the effect Of
high is 70 give a local court in Washing
ton authority to drag accused persons be-
fore it from any part Of the country and
try them n the Senate no further eZpla-
nation of the extraordinary ill Was offered
than the remark of Senator Frelinghuysen
that it WAS very necessary the iii should
pass. The presiding ohce5, Nh. Carpen-
ter, must have smiled grlmly as he put tho
question and heard no dissent upon bill
which involved the very point against which
Senators Wadleigh, Bayard, and Thurman
had SO vigorously protested. 1t is
TIE DUTY OF THE PRESS
of this country to procure the repeal Of this
gag law; not only bee ause it strikes at the
newspapers as sentir,els of the public liber-
ty, but because ons such wrong breeds
hundred. The exact scope If the law is
plain. A. the District of Columbia is un-
der the sole jurisdiction of the United Sta
tes, every ofense committed there is held
to be an offcnse against the United States.
The District lay makes libel mis'iemea-
nor, punishable as criminal ofense, and
the bill g!yes TIE trial of such ofenses to
the criminal court of the District, which is
given the same power as other courts Of the
United States. 1t is held that the circula-
ton in the District of a newspaper con-
tanning an alleged libel is an offense within
the meaning of the law. Sui. may be
brought in the criminal court, and as it is,
by the thsory. an ofense against the Uni-
ted s tates, the alleged oEender may be
brought, at the expense of the Uni:ed
Ststes. +" to the District in which the trial
is to lie had" And all this is done, and
an editor may be brought from San Fran
cisco to be tried in Washington by
- BLIND LITTLE BILL
of two little sections; the first proyiding
that the criminal court of the district shall
have jurisdiction Of all crimes, md misde-
meanors committed ip said district, ETC.;
end the SECOND, that proyision thirty three
OF section four of the judiciary act of l7s9
silallapp!y TO the courts created by act Of
Congress in the District Of Columbia =
No newspaper asks for IMMUNITY Of
SANDER. If a Washington correspondent
libcls public man, the laay already fur
nishes ample protection But this bill is
not levelcd at the correspondent for pun
ishnsnt SO much as the editor and propre-
tor for annoyance. its object is to
,coSsyHAIN TuE FREEDOM oFesIrrcIsx.
and to compel the managers of paper to
instruct their correspondents not to run
the least risk of bringing on a suit. For
to produce the annoyance it is not neees-
ary that an actual libel has been uttered.
but only that the charge of one be laid be-
fore sAe grand jury. Thereupon the rest
gay (oibk, and i is easy to see that to
avoid the arrest, imprlsonm ent, or. bail
provided by the law, and the removal to
Washington despotic restraint would be
imposed npon all eriticish, ef public men
aud measures.
THE OBJECTS OF TIE POLAND GAG LAw
is precisely that Of the tia which wa.
passed by the Tweed legislature in New
! York, authorizing Barnard, Cordozo, and
/ NJ 1unn to pronounce the comments Of
any paper upon their performances con-
teInpf Of court, and summarily 70 in,p-is-
+; on the offenders. And now that the scope
of this law has been fully exposed. aud its
purposes demonstrated by tie acton i'm
,mediately takep under 1t bv Mr. Shepherd,
We presume that Mr.. Poland, who has
written letter in which, for himself, he
/ qise.aims any hostility toa free press, viii
take steps to procure the necessary modi
hcations Of al odious stItlte which bear:
bis name.