Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-09-19
|OUTsIDE POINT OF VIEW.
written for the Tlmes-Republlcnn

Il
| The assassination of President Nc
Kinley is sure to bring about renewed
discussion on an old subject, and that is
| freedom of speech. Here in this country
what is known by that title means the
utmost license to say anything. however
Unreasonable or outrageously disrespect-
| full to those in authority over us. In
Germany the other extreme is shown by
.lese majestic" laws and their enforce-
ment. The present emperor allows no
| criticism of a personal nature and not
only has the press to be very guarded in
its printed statements, but individuals,
even citizens of other countries, travel
ers and visitors, have had fines and i'm
of speaking too freely their opinions on
the public and private acts of the Ger
man emperor.
| In town not fifty miles from Mar
shalltowr. on the day when Czolgosz at
tempted to kill our president, man,
citizen of the town, one who has been
member of the city council, weil-to-do
retired farmer worth several hundred
thousand dollars. but a populist and an
la!l-around crank, is reported to have ut
| tered these words: 1T was no worse for
lthis nihilist to shoot Mckinley than for
| Mckinley to send soldiers oyer to the
Philippines to shoot the natives there"
The newspapers are daily reporting such
| utterances from all parts of the country.
OF course they are only from one man in
say $4,000 voters. But we also read of
nihilist and anarchist clubs In several
of the large cities holding meetings at
the very hour when the presidents life
hung In the balance and cheering and
toasting Czolgosz and his act. Outside
of ducking in o pond, that one of these
freedom of speech" men got In Kansas,
and few being knocked down and
kicked by indignant citizens in other
places, what penalty, what punishment
has been inflicted on them? We read
that the police of the country have ar
rested Emma Goldman, but there Is no
law. and If there was there is not a SEN
timent behind it, to punish Emma Cold
man for what she has said. She claims
the right of and uses freedom of
speech.
How thoroughly illogical, how utterly
| absurd is such a condition of affairs Is
easily shown. AT a vast expense we. the
people of this country, employ thou
sands of our best men to spend their
Lives and time in teaching patriotism.
morality, public and private. and relig-
| ion. BY this very effort 1t is admitted
| that such work produces results desired.
In the Sunday school, the public school.
| the college and the university the aim
and object Of all teaching is to impress
upon the minds OF the listeners that our
greatest blessing, public and private,
comes from good citizenship. That the
| Individual must be moral and patriotic.
| That when the Individual becomes corr
| rupt the many are injured. And we
know that such teaching is necessary to
| enable this or any other country to have
|: d career of prosperous national life. We
know that such teaching especially af-
fects the younger minds and fits them
for good citizenship.
Now look at our folly. Herr Most on
public platform, year after year incur
| largest city, New York, taught in lee
lures and speeches the very opposite of
| what is recognized as sound public NOR
iality. Emma Goldman, that Czolgosz
openly admits gave him the idea of as
sassinating Mckinley, lectures FREE
quently. Even our former citizen, Pro-
fessor Heron, breaches doctrines al
lmost as dangerous IL carried into act.
Several weekly papers. with the teach
| ings of Herr Most, Emma Goldman and
Professor Heron as their editorial sub
| iects are endorsing all of them in every
Tissue of these papers. The government
encourages the publication of such pa
pers by giving them the benefit of the
mails and incidental low postage. Such
/ sentiments are thus sown broadcast
over the country. Not only do our young
| people absorb much of such reasonable
and outrageous doctrine, but the class
we now know as the degenerate (Czol-
gosz belongs to this elemenD find these
Unreasonable ideas very much to their
Hiking 1t is not in the nature of sensa-
tionallsm to assert that al this moment
such pernitious literature is educating a
future assassin for future president.
| 1t may sound paradoxical. but certain 1t
! Ii; that freedom of speech in this coun-
| try is killing freedom Of speech" A
willy politician In this country finds the
/ shortest road to success not in the ut
terance OF the noblest sentiment. In all
! of his demagogical speeches his freedom
| of speech only caters to the passions of
his audience. Even so-called yellow
! journal finds more subscribers than a
1 truthful newspaper that dares to attack
present ills of the body polite.
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