The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-06-07

as those of lawyers and priests. Many
of the most important and valuable ex-
posures of wrong which have ever been
made would never have been under
taken had they involved a betrayal of
the source of information. Indeed, If
such protection did not exist many of
the doors would be closed. There is
no editor who does not often base edi-
torial discussion on knowledge which
comes to him in a confidential way. He
takes his own risk In the publication,
and IL he publishes what is false and
indefensible he must answer for it,
The vital question relates to the char
acter Of the publication itself, and no
useful end is served by undertaking to
go behind what must itself pass the
full scrutiny of the law. When the
editor accepts the Information and pub
fishes II he himself takes the whole re-
sponsibility, and the unknown source
that stands behind is nothing to any
body.
The senate committee itself should
have made the clear and commanding
distinction which exists in this case.
1t would have been far better for its
own fame had 1t drawn the line be-
tween the accomplice and the accuser.
1t should have seen that in the case of
Mr. Edwards there was no real contu-
macy; that he was standing as a cham
I pion of the people against a nefarious
conspiracy; that he was Withholding no
| information essential to the revelation
| of the truth; and that his honorable
! attitude OF defending the confidence re-
| posed in him alone made the truth ac-
cessible. 1t should have recognized that
the question involved touches the most
sacred privileges of journalism and
! popular liberty. Senator Henry Cabot
Lodge especially should have seen and
seized the opportunity presented to
him. He Is the accomplished histori-
cal student. He is familiar with the
! great struggles for the freedom of
| printing from the malignant ana impo-
tent warfare on John Wilkes down to
the present day He is the one man of
all others who, standing up in the com =
| mittee or before the senate. should
have said: Let not the committee o.
the senate put itself in the attitude of g.
prosecutor. Let it not array itself with
| those despots and marlots who have
sought to stifie the liberty of the press.
| Mr.. Edwards, it is true, has declined to
answer question, but he is not a con-
| tumacious witness. He is only acting
| the honorable part which every man o1
honor must respect. He is not with
holding any legitimate information bu:
opening the way to the complete estab-
lishment of the truth He is not to be
| confounded with those witnesses who
are seeking to taint the senate or tC
shield tainted senators. The question
| which Mr.. Edwards declines to answe,
is in no way essential in this inVeStiga-
| ton, and ! insist that the committee
ought to withdraw it or that no pro-
ceedings should be taken against Mr.
Edwards for declining to answer it,"
Had Senator Lodge taken such an at.
titude as his antecedents and his at
tainments might have led us to expect
he would have made himself the fore
most champion in this country of tho
liberty of the press and would have
held a unique and enviable position. II
falling to grasp the splendid chance
he missed one Of the greatest oppor-
tunities which has come to any states
man or public leader in recent years
The question which he, with cleal
vision and a pure aim, could have set
tied on the spot, remains now to be de
termined in another manner. We dC
not discuss the legal issues which will
be presented on Monday. But this case
with its deep import and its far-reach
ing significance, cannot be dwarfted by
any petty technicality. We do not ex
aggerate it when we say that in tht
largest sense it involves the freedom
of the press and the ethics OF journal
ism. If we do not mistake their spirit
the newspapers of the country will ap
preciate its character and make the
true nature of the question clearly un
derstood. 1t would be an extraordin
airy spectacle If the magnates of the
trust should go free and the journalist
who made the exposure, should suffe
punishment!