The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1889-06-08
The Freedom of the Press.

The claim that the law under
which a criminal is to undergo at
Albany, n. Y, the death penalty
through the means of electricity
some time during this month-no
day being fxed--is unconstitutional
on the ground of cruelty OF unusual
character Of the punishment, has
been virtually abandoned. But
there is another point in the law
which demands immediate chal-
lenge, and that is the provision
which prohibits the sale of news
papers containing any detailed de-
scription of the incidents of such
electrical executions. The Wash
ington Post of late date comments
upon the abridging of the freedom
of the press in the following able
and forcible language:
The Constitution of the United States,
and the constitutions of most, it not all,
of the States copy it in this respect, pro-
vides that Congress shall make no law
abridging the freedom of the press" 1t
is to be observed that the evil guarded
against is the making laws of this char
aeter.
The freedom of the press may be prac-
tically abridged by other means against
which there is no specific constitutional
bulwark. Mob rule may not only abridge
but suppress it, and the only remedy af.
forled is to be found in an appeal to the
courts and to the usual legal processes
An influential and self-sufficient citizen
may threaten the withdrawal of bis pat.
ronage aud in the face of so portentous a
calamity the press stands without a
shelter and without redress. Even the
irritable subscriber, who imagines that be
utters words of doom when he says, ''stop
my paper" may contemplate with impu.
nifty the ravages he has wrought. All
sorts of malign influences may cooperate
to oppose the benign work of the press,
to retard its progress, to cripple its re-
sources, or to debilitate its power. But
at one point it is intrenched as in cita-
del. 1t is under the palladium of its
sacred rights. No law can be made to
abridge its freedom.
"A AS"oPAPOA 10 Alo plONluCC III
collecting the news, presenting it in de.
cent form; and dispensing it, with all the
facilities at its command, to suit the con
venience of the people. To prevent the
admission OF newspaper men to an exc.
cution is simply to turn the ministers OF
the law into newspaper representatives
only less efficient than those trained to
the work. The admission of the press
turns the public into witnesses and averte
suspicion. Altogether there is no such
sure and good way of avoiding misrep-
resentation and ascertaining truth az &c
leave the press to do its own work. IN.
tettered and free.
Doubtless. the purpose of the clause tc
which we have referred renders it impos.
sible to give demoralizing accounts filled
with revolving details. But desirable q
this end may be, this is not the way t.
attain it. Indeed, we greatly fear tina
after the Legislature Of New York has
done all it can to reform that State, some
'cakes and ale" will still remain in it
So far as the press is concerned there are
probably there always will be, newspa
pers of a high and newspapers of not 81
high character, and it belongs to tn,
public, who desire correct reports ant
decent news, not only to insist on tn
maintenance of high character on tn
part OF the press, but to encourage i,
every way its efforts in that direction.