The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-19
s-e~3s-o---"~--~- A JuS1N PUNISHMENT.

For publishing an outrageous article in his paper headed Murder Against Mur der" John Most has been convicted and sent to prison for one year, as has been stated in the press heretofore. Naturally, Most was very much surprised at his conviction and sentence and 1t is also natural that hel should declare that it Is a blow at the freedom of the press in America. He and others of his kind | have so long been accustomed to print and publish their outrageous and danger ous doctrines that they had become fully convinced that they were not responsible to the law or to public opinion for their acts or their sentiments. Tho awakening Is in the nature of shock both to Most and to his associates
 1t may be admitted that his conviction is a technical infringement of the free dom of the press, but there is a point where license ends and licontiousness be- gins and many of the anarchists in America have long since passed that point. The people of this country are patient, long-suffering and somewhat careless as to what others do or say, and especially as to what is printed in the newspapers. There appears to be sort of tacit feeling that a public journal may print and publish just what it pleases, and that it is nobody's busi- ness. unless some one may make q per sonal matter of it. Even then the public is apt to look on with indifference. We possess and exercise so much freedom in everything that an unrestrained press has | become part of our daily life and each individual takes the position that, unless he is the object of newspaper attack it
 is none of his business
 This indifference of the people at large | to what is printed has been considered by anarchists as license to publish articles | advising and encouraging murder ard l assassination, and it required an [ <traor- dinary outrage to disturb that lndiffer- ence. The killing of a President was felt to be a crossing of the line, and the coun- try has been reused to the fact that un-
 limited and unrestrained freedom of speech and of the press may be both undesirable and dangerous.
 The newspaper men of this country can not afford to regard Herr Most as a rep resentatiVe of their craft. They cannot look on his paper as a fit specimen of American journalism, or the publication of dangerous seditous articles by him and his kind as necessary to maintain that freedom of the press guaranteed by our constitution. The oft-quoted lines of Judge Story:
 Here shall the Press the Peoples right
 maintain,
 Cnawd by influence and unbribd by
 gain.
 is a sound and excellent sentiment A free and untrammelled press is one of the most impregnable bulwarks of a peoples liberty, and the press of America is in the main always on the side of human rights and the freedom of the people And it is pleasant and encourag- ing to note that the newspapers of the country almost unanimously approve the suppression of such violent and dangerous publications as that for which Most is now suffering very mild penalty. The respectable and responsible journals have no sympathy with such publications.
 That Most will try to pose as martyr to liberty is natural, but he will find few sympathizers outside of the anarchist many of whom ought to be in jail with him. The people of this country as general thing have little sympathy for q coward and that is just what this man is. He is the kind of man to incite and encourage others to commit crimes which he is too cOwardly to undertake himself He belongs to that class of criminals who have committed no overt crime, but who