The morning call., 1893-11-15
WHAT is LIBERTY OF SPEECH ?

Governor Altgeld of Illinois exhibits a
mental confusion which is remarkable In
so able man. He says that "men have a
right 10 hold views on all matters, and are
entitled to express tnem." That PROPOSE
tiOn as it stands without Limitation IS not
true. 1t is false. Men have no right to
express their views at place and in a
company where they are calculated to lead
to breach of the peace. They have no
right to express them In way which will
infiame ignorant minds and goad turbu-
lent men to disorderly conduct.
The reason why is furnished by the case
of the very persons whom Governor Alt
geld has just pardoned. A meeting Of
people calling themselves anarchists was
held in Chicago. 1t was called by notices
In newspaper. which openly proclaimed
it to be the duty of patriots to destroy life
and property. There was no beating round
the bush. The anarchists were SUNNI oned
to appear with arms and to kill policemen
and other officers of the law. At the pre-
llmlnary meeting these incendiary appeals
were repeated. One after another the
speakers urged their hearers to redress
their wrongs by violence. 1t was i'm
pressed on them that the only cure for the
evils under which they groaned was blood.
Heated by these infammatory addresses,
the crowd rushed to the Haymarket,
bombs were thrown and policemen were
killed. Judge Gary very properly held
that the incendiary orators were accom-
plices of the actual bOmb-throwers; that it
was case of continuing crime, beginning
with the speeches and ending with the ex-
plosions. His Interpretation of the law is
in direct opposition TO the dctum of Gov
ernor Altgeld that men are entitled to ex-
press their yiews-impliedly on all occa-
sions, in all places ana at all times.
When the subject of liberty OF speech
was discussed in the constitutional con-
vention, the delegates from New England
and New York had much to say about the
license of the press. Old Ben Franklin
closed the debate with one of his pithy
apothems. He said he believed in lib
erty of speech, corrected by the liberty
of the cudgel. In the primitive society of
those days many men carried cudgels, and
the use OF them in the street aroused no
excitement. 1t is different in our times.
It would be inconvenient to allow people
to go round cudgeling each other; such
affrays do occasionally take place, but the
participants are generally ashamed of their
part. Public opinion favors en- appeal to
the courts by an individual who is SIAN
dered and who cannot rest under the
SANDER. But the modern suit for SANDER
is a mere reproduction, in another shape,
Of Franklin's cudgel; it shows that. now
and then, people believe with Governor
Altgeld that men are at liberty to express
theiI views without Limitation.
Custom grants to public men a wide
scope in the use of language. especially at
election time. A citizen is perfectly free
to denounce the Government under which
he lives and the individuals who conduct
that Government. 1t is not usual to I'M
pose restraints on campaign speeches. II
is believed that the good sense and good
taste of audiences will do justice upon
speakers who transcend the limits of de-
corum and Gecency. But there is no doubt
that even in the saturnalia of an election
no stump orator would be suffered to use
language plainly tending to breach of
the peace without interference by the
police. We cannot afford to hold our prop
erty at the mercy of cranks who see visions
of enlarged liberties in arson and plunder