The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-03-28
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER..
WASHINGTON, d. G., March oath


MIR. ED1ToR:-On Friday the Senate
passed the bill for the protection of the
President by vote of 50 to -, with 81
Senators not voting. The grounds on
which number of democratic Senators
opposed this bill are Interestingly set forth
in the following statement made to your
correspondent by Senator Bacon, of
Georgia:
Existing circumstances naturally pre-
disposed the Senate to enact a law so
severe and so drastic as to completely OBJ
viate such another attack upon our gov
eminent, and if such could have been
framed, not Objectionable in some very
important particulars, it would have had
my heartiest support; but so general and
so possible of misapplication are certain
sections of this bill that l was compelled
to oppose them as capable of perverting
justice and furnishing great possibilities
of political persecution.
without dwelling upon the constitu
tional right of Congress to extend what,
Ill 10 luC ID" VI IiSoooh,
there are serious objections in certain
sections of the measure. They provide
that amy person who shall instigate, ad-
wise or counsel the killing of the Presi-
dent or of any of the heads of the de-
partments by spoken or by written or by
printed words shall be punished by
imprisonment not exceeding twenty
years. In addition to the secretaries, the
law includes the sovereigns and chief
magistrates of foreign countries who may
be upon United States soil. Any one who
will study that portion of the history Of
the United States which deals with the
old sedition law enacted in 1898 and the
prosecutions hereunder will appreciate
the extent to which the above provisions
may be used to curtail the liberty of the
press, the freedom of speech and imperil
the liberty of every individual citizen.
No crime need be committed to render
this law applicable. The allegation of an
enemy made under oath can place in
prison for twenty years any citizen who,
in partisan speech or in private converse
ton, may have arraigned the conduct of
any Of the above named officials. With
such law on the statute books no editor
dare charge the Executive, or any member
of his cabinet, with malfeasance least
some misguided individual claim that the
charges instigated him to kill the offending
official. My whispered statement to a
colleague, that the Secretary of the Treas
ury, for instance, is improperly admins
tering his office, overheard by my enemy,
may found the basis of twenty years i'm
prisonment on the same ground. Just
such instances occurred under the old
sedition law and are liable to occur again
under this law.
"On still another ground, among others,
I opposed this law. 1t has been our boast
that, in this free country, all citizens were
equal before the law. Can this be said
when we have singled out class-the
President, the Secretary of State and all
made a crime punishable with death,
while similar assault on the governor of
a State or on anyone else is punishable
only by Imprisonment? And if we are to
so make one class, why not more. Why
not have included the judiciary, senators
and representatives and so on and make
it punishable with death to assault any of
them, while to assault any other person
in the United States merits only imprison-
ment? Such distinction is contrary to
every tenet of liberty and equality, con-
trary to every tradition of American free
dom and, the fever which attends existing
circumstances having subsidized, will be
condemned by every thoughtful American
citizen. Aside from the fundamental OBJ
lection to the inequality of different peo-
pie before the law which this bill estab-
fishes, grave objection is that under this
law an innocent man is liable to be con-
victed. 1t is all light to make it easy to
convict an anarchist, but it is all wrong
to make it easy to convict an innocent
man for some harmless or thoughtless
word spoken by him. Whether this bill
becomes law or not, the man who kills
not bring the President back to life. The
important thing to do is to drive the anar-
chists out of the country and prevent the
killing of Presidents"
Last Monday the Senate passed the ship
subsidy bill although six prominent repub
licans voted against the measure. On the
same day the House Committee on Rules
voted to report to the House the Crum-
packer resolution providing for the ap-
pointment of a committee to Investigate
the question Of congressional representa-
ton as compared with the number of
voters. On Friday the House passed the
River and Harbor bill carrying an appro-
priation of s60,6SS, 2G7. On Friday the
Senate passed the war revenue repeal bill,
amending the bill as passed by the House
only to the extent of leaving the tax on
''bucket shops" Saturday there was no
session af the Senate and the House de-
voted its attention to the private calendar.
The promoters of the Crumpacker move
ment co not deny that their intention is
to curtail the congressional represents
of certain Southern States, and if they
attempt any definite move in that dircc
tion they will he strenuously resisted by
the democrats. Representative Richard
son, the: democratic leader, assures me
that the democrats will avail themselves
of every parliamentary tactic to prevent
so grave an injustice, and every democrat
in Congress will stand by him. Whatever
may be the result, in so far as the republi-
cans are concerned, the attempt gives
every promise of uniting the democratic
patty, and it is freely predicted that north
ern republicans will repudiate the attempt,
on the part Of their representatives, to
take step which must result in intense
sectional animosity. 1t is well known
that the former President dlsapproved of
this movement and the leaders of the