Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1876-02-02
MUZZLING THE CALIFORNIA
PRESS.

expelling a poor devil of a reporter for
poking a little fun at one or W. COW
county Solons, and prohibiting any
successor upon the Journal he repre-
scented from occupying a seat within
the sacred precincts of the senatorial
forum, an amendment to the code was
passed in the Senate making libel a
felony and punishable by imprison-
ment in the State Prison. This would
work no particular hardship upon re-
spectacle journalists, as anything OF
a libslous character should never, and
seldom does, find its way into the col
umns of u respectable newspaper; con-
sequently this amendment in itself
did not amount to much; but when it
was followed up by the repeal Of the
act obliging persons commencing suits
for libel to give security for the de-
PENDANTS costs in case the prosecutor
failed to make out q case, it looked as
though there was a determination
upon the part OF the Senate to place
the newspaper publishers of the State
at the mercy of every irresponsible
loafer who might choose to put them
to the expense Of defending innumer-
able suits embracing no other aus
of action than malice of the prose-
cutting witness. Unjust, however, as
these measures might seem, it was re-
served for Senator Pierson, of San
Francisco, to cap the climax by the
introduction Of a bill which, in the
language Of the San Francisco Post,
"was conceived in ignorance OF the
Fundamental law, of the character of
the people and the country for which
it is intended, and without precedent
in any Anglo-Saxon community"
The main feature of the bill
alluded to is a provision which
requires that all original articles or cor-
respondence printed in any newspaper
or serial publication published in Cali
fornia, shall be published in such
newspaper or serial with the full name
of the author of such article or CORE
spondence. Snch a law exists in
France and is the means whereby the
press is kept in trammels; form France
journalism is under the control Of the
Government; but a precedent for such
an arbitrary law can not be found in
the history of American legislation;
- ~rAn l,,r;np fhn fNnyrblo1u fipnn NJ
the rebellion, when the freedom of the
press was necessarily restricted to
closer limits than at any other time in
the nations history. But aside from
all other considerations, such a law
could work to no good end. 1t might,
and probably would, drive the best and
boldest writer's Of California to other
States where no such foolish law ex-
lists, and it might cause in a great
measure the publication of anony-
NOUS pamphlets; but the public good
would not be any better promoted by
such pamphlets than it is now by the
public journals. The Iost of the 28th
ult. contains an able article upon the
subject, and after reviewing the mat
ter in its political aspect gives the fol-
lowing moral and constitutional rea-
ons against the proposed legislation:
The first is, that personal journalism
is contrary to the fixed custom, and to
the moral and intellectual constitution
of the American people. With us it is
the journal, not the individual, that
speaks; public opinion, not the man.
That nan may be a person altogether
Insignificant, and even unpopular and
hateful to the general reader; but if
the thing he writes be important and
true, the people will and should coun-
tenance it and give it due considera-
ton. If it be false, the falsehood must
soon be detected, and the journal will
then be the sufferer in loss of reputa- |
ton and patronage. IT the writer of
every article that justly scores q public
delinquent were known at the moment
of reading it, the Criminal Court would
be overrun with cases of assault, as
sault to kill, Inanslaughter, murder
and affairs of honor. This is the ex-
perience in France, from whence the
Every Journalist unable or unwilling
to defend himself would be put to the
cost Of employing DULLES to do his
fighting, aud every publishing house
would be turned into an armory. By
all means, il this bill is to pass, let an
act repeating the law against dueling
60 with it. There is no law against
dueling In France.
The other insuperable difficulty in
the way is that the bill is ~unconstitu-
tional, ana would be a dead law from
the beginning poor and silly monu-
ment of malice against the newspapers.
The ninth section of the first article of
our constitution reads: every citi-
zens may freely speak, write and pub
fish his sentiments, on all subjects, be-
ing responsible for the abuse of that
right, and no law shall be passed to
restrain or abridge the liberty of speech
or Of the press" How responsible
for the abuse Of that right?" By civil
action for damages in libel, or by GRIM
inal prosecution for libel. The law
knows no other remedy for the wrongs
by the press than these two, and the