The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-05-10
WHAT ARE CONSTITUTIONAL
RIGHTS.

n CITY paper indignant over the exclusion
of Mr.. Edward Atkinson's seditious pamph-
lets from the government mails for the
Philippines. says: "A citizen OF the United
States has been deprived of a constitutional
right by an official who has assumed the
powers OF a despot." The executive COM
mittee Of the Anti-Imperialistic League, in
a consoling letter TO Atkinson. character
ICES the action of the government as IAN
exercise of arbitrary and illegal power
which would hardly be attempted by any
government of Europe, except, perhaps.
that of Russia"
There is so much of this kind OF talk
among American Aguinaldists that it seems
pertinent to inquire what are the consiitu-
tional rights of a citizen? In the first place,
they do not include the right to attempt to
destroy the government, or TO oppose or
weaker its efforts to establish and maintain
its just authority. A government that does
not possess. assert and maintain the right
OF self-preservation is no government at all.
The misguided citizens who attempted. in
1861, to dissolve the Union. insisted that
they were ~contending for their constitution
al rights. but the outcome of the war estab-
lished that making war against the gov
eminent was not a constitutional right. The
governments right of self-preservation was
asserted during the war I'm many ways be-
sides fighting those who were actually in
arms against il. The preamble to the Con-
stitution declares its objects to be Ito form
a more perfect union. establish justice, in
sure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense. promote the general well
fare. and secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our posterity." None of these
objects covers the right TO afford moral aid
and comfort to the enemies of the govern
ment during war. or to try and stir up dis
content and mutiny among its soldiers.
The Constitution does not confer the right
to commit any crime against the govern
ment or against society, and 1t is for the
government and society to say what con-
stitute crimes and not for individuals.
Some people regard the right to coin money
or manufacture whisky as a God given and
inalienable one. but the government says
differently and e~nforces its view with con-
siderable vigor. The right to vote comes as
near being a constitutional and i~nalienable
right as any other. but the government
does not hesitate to deny il to those who
suffrage does not include the right to com
NIT highway robbery. Conspiracy against
the government in time of war is a higher
crime than robbery or arson. A man may
sympathize with the enemies OF the govern
ment as much as he pleases. but when he
attempts to give his sympathy the form of
action intended to encourage it's enemies
the government has a right to say stop"
The right to be a traitor at heart is an in
alienable one. but the right to be a traitor in
action is not. The Constitution nowhere
guarantees it.
No person has a constitutional right to
send anything in the mails except what
the government says he may send. The
Constitution gives Congress power Ito es-
tablish postoffices and post roads," and the
government exercises the exclusive right of
carrying the mails and of saying what il
will carry. 1t excludes from the mails OBJ
scene literature or pictures, letters and
circulars relating to lotteries, poisons. ex-
plosive or iniammable articles. and many
other things. The constitutional right to
send seditious literature In the mails TO the
governments soldiers in the field is no more
sacred than the constitutional right TO send
obscene pictures. poisoned candy or internal
machines. If the government may, as ii
does, deny the constitutional right to send
poisonous snakes in the mail, 1t certainly
may deny the constitutional right to send
poisonous pamphlets to the soldiers in the
field. Mr.. Atkinson has a constitutional
right to e. to the Philippines, but If he
should claim that the constitutional right of
free speech entitled him to go on the firing
line and harangue the soldiers. abusing the
government and urging them to stop fight
ing and go home. he would find himself up
against a very different construction of the
Constitution from his. Every man has a
constitutional right TO make an ass of him.
self. as the American Aguinaldists are do
ing, but no person has a constitutional light
to use the government mails in giving
moral aid and comfort to it's enemies. Using
the mails for reasonable purposes is at
least as great a crime as using them for the
purposes Of petty fraud, and If the govern
ment can prohibit one 1t can prohibit the
other. The Constitution cannot be used as
a shield for traitors any more than it can
for swindlers.