The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-12-15

the press throttled.'
This brave and manly declaration was
received with hearty 'Amens," so we
are told by the Charlotte papers. 1t ex-
presses the views of all the people of
North Carolina except those preachers,
professors and other "sublimated refawm-
ers' who wish to throttle the press be-
cause it condemns their incendiary utter
ances.
Rev. Massee, in his earnest desire to
have "the strong arm of the government"
laid on the press so that he and others
like him may advocate wrong and false
views, and make prophecies of evil, with
out rebuke. has evidently forgotten that
North Carolina refused to ratify the Fed
eral Constitution until it obtained the
guarantee of amendments preserving state
sovereignty, the freedom of religion and
tht freedom of the press. 1t is expressly
ments to the constitution that Congress
shall make no law respecting an estab
lishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof, or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press"
Under that amendment Mr.. Jefferson de-
clared (Kentucky Resolution TX, 465,
Ford Ed. vii 294) that "the act of Congress
of the United States passed on the 18th
day of July 1898, entitled An act for
the United States,'" which does abridge
the freedom of the press, is not law, but
is altogether viod, and of no force. The
attempt to abridge the freedom of the
press was one of the mill-stones around
the neck of the Federaist party that ar
ried it to the bottom of the sea.
''The press, the only tocsin of a nation,
is completely sile..ced in France" wrote
Mr. jefferson to Thomas Cooper in 1902.
To Elbridge Gerry, in 1709 Mr.. Jcffer-
son wrote: 81 am for freedom of the
press, and against all violations of the
constitution to silence by force and not
by reason the complaints or criticisms,
just or unjust, of our citizens against
the conduct of their agents"
In the proposed constitution for Vir-
ton: Printing presses shall be subject
to no other restraint than liableness to
legal prosecution for false facts printed
and published"
Writing to DR.. James Currie in 1856,
Mr. jefferson said: 'Our liberty depends
on the freedom of the press, and that
cannot be limited without being lost. :"
In his first inaugural address Mr.. Jeffer-
son declared: Freedom of the press l
deem one of the essential principles of
our government and, consequently, one
which ought to shape its administration"
To Mr.. Coray in 1923, Mr.. jefferson
wrote: "This formidable censor OF the
public dictionaries, by arraigning them
at the tribunal of public opinion, pro-
duces reform peaceably, which must 9TH
To Benjamin Warning in 1901, Mr.. JEFF
ferson wrote: 'In every country where
man is free to think and to speak, diff
ferences of opinion will arise from diff
ference of perception, and the imperfec-
ton of reason; but these differences when
permitted, as in this happy country, to
r II ,nr,
but as passing clouds overspreading our
land transiently, and leaving our horizon
more bright and serene"
In 1903, Mr.. jefferson said ""he lib
erty of speaking and writing guard our
other liberties
To Marquis Lafayette in 1893, Mr.. JEFF
ferson wrote: 'The only security of all
is in a free press. The force of public
opinion cannot be resisted, when permit
ted freely to be expressed The agitation
it produces must be submitted to. 1t is
necessary to keep the waters pure
To Charles Yancey in 1916, Mr.. Jeffer-
son wrote: ''Where the press is free, and
every man is able to read. all is safe :"
Mr.. jefferson was not blind to thS fact
that the press is liable to err and does
err. No man has ever lived who was
the victim of so much abuse by Il hostile
press, subsidized by his political foes. He
did not relish it, but he was philosopher
and seer enough to know that a reckless
and dishonest press would soon destroy
its own influence. Writing to Thomas
Seymour in 1907 and commenting upon
the thousands of calumnes so industri-
ously propagated against myself Mr.. JEFF
ferson wrote: But the fact being once
established, that the press is impotent
when it abandons itself to falsehood, |
leave it to others to restore it to it's
strength by recalling it within the pale
oil truth" He did not, indeed, believe
in permitting the press to escape punish.
ment for printing falsehoods and thus
dishonesty destroying the reputation OF