Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1875-02-03
Perils Of the Press.

to simple and very effective system.
The censor of the Tuileries was con-
slant and exact in his attentions. The
publication of sentiments unsatisfac-
tory to the Government was follow
cd by an official warning in the form
ola temperate suggestion ; second
offence received a more threatening
notification, and q third resulted in
suppression. This was the formal
method. Other means were employed,
10y placing obstacles in the way of cir
culation and by interference with
profitable patronage, to accomplish
the same end more quietly. The re-
suit was that, while some irrepressible
editors were driven with their journals
across the frontier to Brussels, others
secured a removal of the interdict by
humble concessions Of future good
behavior, and the press of the Empire
became the grateful sycophant of the
Government. The Grant Admins
tration has not yet developed so etiici-
ent scheme for the compulsion of
the organs of public opinion, but its
tendency in that direction is strongly
indicated. When the attempt was
made to drag an editor from New
York to Washington, to answer be-
fore local court for an alleged offence
committed hundreds Of miles away
and the scheme failed, a law was
promptly enacted covering this very
point, and although still imperative
because Of the indignant condemna.
ton of the people, it remains among
the statutes. Yet more>rrcently, an
other editor, summoned to Washing
ton in the service of a Congressional
investigation by an order imperative
in its effect, is called from the dinner
table to. be served with legal process
whose authority could not reach him
at his usual residence. He is first re
CURED to place himself within the
power of the Washington judiciary
and thereupon promptly captured,
forced to give bonds and otherwise
by the peculiar friends of
the Administration which he has
criticised.
1t furthermore appears that Il cap
tain in the navy, on the mere suspicion
ofhaving written certain Numerous let
tiers for publication, whose wit was
not Of the sort appreciated by the jol,
ly tar at the head of the Navy De
partment, has been placed on furlough
only to have it now discovered that
Mr.. Robson was wreaking his dis.
pleasure on quite the wrong man.
Placing an officer on Through, it may
not be generally understood, involves
OF considerable portion of
his pay so that the punishment in
this case is of the same nature as that
upon the New York Evening
Post. which has been notified that no
further Government advertising will
be given it so long as its editor main
tains his disloyal position concerning
the usurpations Of Grant and Sheridan
in Louisiana. The peculiar force of
these examples isfound in thefact that
coercion is attempted in one case to
crafty the injured feelings of the
District Governor whose emphatic
condemnation by a Congress of his
own party, against the most strenu-
ous efforts of the President, is fresh in
mind and, in the other, to give warn
ing that no criticism Of a Department
notorious for squandering the peoples
money, interfering in elections and
offering rich field for audacious job
jerry, is to be permitted. Without
claiming for the press an infallibility
possessed by citizens engaged 10 other
avocations, it is tolerably evident that,
within the past year or two, it has ac-
complishcd something Of value to the
public in exposing corruption and
forcing Investigations. But if editors
are to be excluded from Washing
ton by the fear Of arrest at the in
stance Of the deposed "Boss" Shep-
herd, and outlawed except within the
walls Of their own offices, while a
suspicion of being contributor to a
daily journal is to deprive an officer Of
half the pay he earns in the service Of
of the Government, we must be rapid
ly approaching the day when the
Administration organ at Washington
and speak, as it speaks, always and
only in praise ofDistrict jobbery and
| Fedcra usurnatiOn. -GRostOn Post.