The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-05-14
This Astounding Charge Made
by Penny packer.
HE SIGNS THE LIBEL BILL
AID Among 0 her Things lnlimates That The
Press Was in Part Respor sibIs for the
Assassination Of 6af Id and
Mckinley.
(By the Associated Press.)

Harrisburg Pa, May 12-Governor
Pennypacker approved the Grady salus
libel bill today, and at the same time is
sued long statement giving the reasons
for his action. The bill, which was in
the Governors hands for more than 2
month goes into effect Immediately and
repeals all laws or parts of laws incon-
sistent with the new act.
The Governor claims in his statement
that there is nothing in the terms of the
measure which prevents any newspaper
from making such comments upon legis-
latiye measures or upon the official acts
OF State, municipal, county or public Off
GERS as are proper information of the pub
lie or are in the line of legitimate public
discussion.
Continuing, he says:
The bill in it's application is not COR
fined TO officials, but affects as well, the
citizen or business man, whose conduct
constitutes no part Of the right of the
public to information. The corporation
officer who has been falsely charged with
crime; the manufacturer who is falsely
accused OF being a drunken brawler; the
woman whose domestic griefs have been
unfeelingly paraded. or whose chastity is
improperly suspected; the student who
has been falsely accused of murder; the
clergyman who has been cruelty ma
ligned; the quiet citizen whose peace of
mind has been destroyed by the publica-
tion of evil gossip; the merchant whose
credit has been affected by groundless
rumors the sufferers from reckless, but
not necessarily malicious publications are
given the right not to prohibit publica
tion, but to recover the damages which
they have sustained, provided they prove
negligence or lack of care on the part
Of the publishers Of newspapers. All Of
these are instances of what has in fact
recently occurred. A mayor of our chief
city has been called traitor, a Senator
Of the United States has been denounced
as a yokel with sodden brain, and within
the last quarter Of a century two Presi-
dents of the United States have been muir
dered and in each instance the cause was
easily traceable to infammatory and
careless newspaper utterances. A car
toon in a daily journal of May End, defines
the question with entire precision An
ugly little dwarf representing the COVER
nor Of the commonwealth, stands on a
crude stool. The stool is subordinate to
and placed alongside a huge printing
press with wheels as large as those of
an OK 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 cartoon asserts to
the world that the press is above the
law and greater in strength than the
government. No self-respecting people
will permit such an attitude to be long
maintained. In England a century ago
the offender would have been drawn and
quartered and his head stuck upon a pole
without the gates. In America today this
Is the kind of arrogance which goeth be-
fore a fall"
The Governor says If such abuse Of the
privileges allowed to the press is to go
unpublished If such tales are permitted
to be poured into the ears Of men ant
to be profitable, it is idle to contend that
reputable newspapers can maintain their
purity.
He also says that many years experience
on the bench has led him to the conclu-
sion that crimes are widely propagated,
not by the malice, but by the recklessness
of the press, and that in certain classes
OF cases, among them murder, the &C
eused were at times acquitted or convicted
before they reached the court room.
Governor Pennypacker says the reputa
bic press need have no fear of the opera
tion OF the law, but that 1t will have
n repressive effect upon the evil tendencies
Of modern journalism.