Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1876-02-01
THE WAR AGAINST JOURNALISM
n CALIFORNIA.

TIE WAR Against JoCkNALlsNi
N CALIFORNIA.
A curious spectacle is presented In
Caiifornia-ons that could be Witnessed
only in France. We have
been reading the proceedings Of the Sen
ate Of that State hss Friday, and among
them a debate upon the passage Of the
following bill: Every psson Who will
fully. and with a malicious intent to In.
jurs another. publishes. OF proesrss 10
10 Published, any libel. 10 punishable
by fine, not exceeding $4,000. and i'm
prisonment In the county Jail not sx.
cseding one year. or imprisonment in
tho State Prison not exceeding two
years." This WAS debated at length,
finally ansndsd. aud then passed ss fol-
lows: Every person who willfully. and
with q malicious intent to injure an
other. publishes, or procures to be pub
lished. any libel. is punishable by i'm
prisonmsnt in tho State Prison for not
less than six months o more than two
years." Il will bs seen that. by this
bill. libel 10 made q felony. andthsa In
every eass Of conviction the libslsr must
suffer imprisonment. But this 10 not
alone . sample Of the war o being
wagsd upon the press OF California by
the Senate Of that State. It purposes
to repeal . clause in the present libel
Law which requires the complainant in
an action for libel to give bonda in the
sum Of $500 upoa the commencement
Of the suit. The reason for the require
ment Of this bond 10 obvious. Ii was
designed to protect the press from
the assaults Of any and every black
mailer Who should choose 10 bring suit
against the publishsrs Of newspaper.
The mere mention OF the reason Is. or
should Be. . sufficient Argument for the
retention Of the clause referred TO.
Neither 10 this all. The donkys I've
can think OF no more appropriate appel
lation) Who have. Don Quixots like. en-
gagged in an uncalled for. and certainly
in the end. disastrous onslaught against
the California pres. have persuaded
one. Senator Pisrson-probably a new
msmbsr-to introduce . bill compelling
every original article in q newspaper to
have the name OF the writer attached.
This Of course includes not only edito-
rial matter. but local items. correspond
snes Of all kinds. telesraphic dispatches.
stc.-in short. original communications
Of whstsvsr character. In no civilized
country ave in France is the name Of
the writer required to DO affixed TO mat.
ter appearing In public j~ournals and Ii
may here be added. that France has not
within her borders what may properly
be called n newspaper. But to return to
this aggregation Of idiocy. the Cali
fornia Senate. The three bills pro-
possd-ons Of which. ~ We before
stated. has passed that body
taken together propose to put upon the
press Of that State . most sffectual muz-
zls. in brief. to abrides. II moi entirely
destroy. free comment upon public men
and measures. The first increases the
punishment for iibsl; the second takes
away all protection now Afforded BY Law
against blackmailers. and the suits for
this purpose which will Be brought on
every hand. and the third proposes to
do away entirely with the impersouality
Of journalism. and BY compelling the
author Of IN article, or crpos>, to sign
his name enable the Law to tackle
him without any trouble. This is the
aim. or at least will be the result, should
thsss bills be passed BY the California
Legislature and become laws. The at
tack has been boldly made, and II
becomes the dut. Of tho press and PEG.
pie Of California TO oppose ID with all
the influences at their command. Pass
ing BY the frat and second bills referred
70. We stop for = moment to consider
the effect Of the third. which requires
signatures to each original Article. This
would at . blow destroy one Of the most
powerful attributes Of a free press. its
impsrsonality. Right here. W ask.
had the person or persons. who collected
for the New York Tunes. the facts and
figures. which were the basis Of the up
rising against Boss Tweed and his allies
In public robbery. been compelled to
sign his or their names to the expose
thus made. would 10 have been donef
Would not the ring upon becoming
awsrs Of The sources whence infor-
nation Of their swindlss was derived
have been able to throw such obstacles
in the way a 70 have stopped abort the
revelations which were being given to
the public dailyi We believe that the
great power Of the press 10 that Ito re-
portsrs - . class are the best detectives
in the world; that ipcognito they ferret
out and expose to public Wow crimes
and criminals which otherwise would