The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-05-15
RECKLESS JOURNALISM.
The Pennsylvania Libel Law Signed
by Governor Pennypacker He
Speaks of n Cartoon Hit at Him,
and Says Newspaper Articles
Caused Three Presidents to be
Assassinated.

Harrisburg, Pa, May Ex-Governor
Pennypacker approved the Grady
Salus libel bill today and at the sama
lime issued a long statement giving the
reasons for his action. The bill whck
was in the governors hands for more
THAI a month goes into effect immedi-
ately and repeats all laws or parts of
laws inconsistent with the new act.
The governor claims in his statement
that there is nothing in the terms of the
measure which prevents any news
paper from making such COM
ments upon legislative measures or
upon the official acts Of state, munich
pal, county OF public officers as are
proper information for the public or
are in the line of legitimate public dis
cussion.
Continuing he says: The bill in its
application is not confined to officials,
but affects as we'll, the citizen or bust
ness man, whose conduct constitutes no
part of the right of the public to infor-
nation. The corporation officer who
has been falsely charged with crime;
h manufacturer who is falsely accus-
ed of being a drunken brawler; the Wo-
man whose domestic griefs have been
~unfeelingly paraded, or whose chastity
is improperly suspected; the student
who has been falsely ccuse of murder.
the clergyman who has been cruelty
malinged; the quiet citizen whose peace
Of mind has been destroyed by the
publication of evil gossip; the merchant
whose credit a been affected by
groundless rumors; the sufferers from
Irl- b-r 49, 10000 I
publications are given the right not to
prohibit publication, but to recover the
damages which they have sustained,
provided they prove negligence or lack
Of care on the part of the publishing
newspapers. All of these are instances
of what las in fact recently occurred.
a mayor of our chief city has been
called a trailer. a senator of the United
States has been denounced as a yokel
with SOdden brain. n within the last
quarter of a century two presidents of
the United States ave been murdered
and in each instance the cause was
easily traceable to inflammatory and
careless newspaper u~tterances.
"A cartoon in a daily journal of May
2nd defines the question with entire
precision. An ugly little dwarf repre-
senting the governor of the common
wealth. stands on a crude stool. The
stool is subordinate to and placed along
side of a huge printing press with
wheels as large as those Of an on
team and all are so arranged as to give
the idea that when the press starts the
stool and its occupant Will be thrown
to the ground. Put into words the car
tOon asserts to the world that the press
is above the law and greater in
strength thar the government. No self
respecting people will permit such an
attitude to be long maintained. In
England a century 6 the offender
would "a been drawn n quartereG
and his head stuck upon a pole with
out the gates. In America today this
is the kind of arrogance which 'Goeth
before a fall"
The governor says if such abuse OF
the privileges allowed to the press is to
unpublished, if such tales are per-
to be poured into the ears Of
men and to be profitable, it is idle to
contend that reputable newspapers can
maintain their purity.
He also says that many a expert
ence on the bench has led him to the
that crimes are widely pro-
pagated not by the malice, but by the
reckleSSnesS of the press, and that Ill
classes of cases, among them
murder, the accused were at times &C
or convicted before they reach
ed the court room.
Governor Pennypacker says the rep
operation of the law but that it will
a repressive effect upon the
evil tendencies of modern journalism.