The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-01

fore for the rights of conscience
freedom of speech, freedom to print.
The same spirit that animated the
people in 70 still animates Nortn
Carolina people, as have had abund-
ant reason to know during this day.
am profoundly grateful to friends
i'm Raleigh and other sections OF lhe
state for their expressions of conn
dence. offers of help in every concelV-
able way, and their request that they
be allowed to pay the fine imposed
bv .Iudge Purnell. Whether my lie
;s shared a few years or many, my
gratitude to them will never be less
full than now. 1 shall seek to show
nv appreciation of it-for no man can
he worthy of such manifestatlons-oy
standing more firmly than ever for the
right of every man to think and speak
without hindrance. But-While deep
w grateful to the good people who
have freely offered their money to pay
the fine imposed, cannot consent that
il shall be paid. l have done nothing
worthy of the order of the Judge. IN
der the Constitution and laws of this
country I have. written freely, fearless
ly and plainly in criticism of wrong
full act of a Federal Judge. If l had
written a line less 1 would have lost
my self-respect, been untrue to my
convictions, and unworthy OF the po-
sition / hold. An editor owes a duty
to the public. He has no hlgher duty
than to criticize "unawed by influence
and unbribed by gain" the unwise,
arbitrary and injurius public action OF
nublic officials. If he fails to
criticize such actions as that of Judge
Purnell on last Saturday, he is not
worthy to belong to profession non
ored by Seaton, Gales, Hale. Engle-
hard. Saunders, Josiah Turner and
the other men who have made the an
nails of North Carolina journalism the
brightest page in the history of North
Carolina.
My criticism of Judge Purnell was
true. it was moderate. it was as plain
as language could make it. Before /
that editorial, or abase myself, l
would rot in a dark dungeon all my
days. In the words ow Luther Il
cannot and will not recant anything
He has sought to punish me and
to humiliate line because put
i'm type what was in the heart of the
honest and liberty-loving people of
North Carolina. He cannot inJure me,
he cannot humiliate me, he cannot
compel me to retract my just criti-
cism of his course. Instead of re-
garding his sentence as punishment
I take it as "a decoration of honor
because L was doing my high duty.
Suppose, in order to escape impris-
onment, 1 had accepted the offer of
friends to let them pay the fine?
What then? / would have acknowl-
edged that the Federal Judge is in
vested with censorship of the press
in North Carolina; that he could set
acide the constitutional amendment
that guarantees freedom of the press.
and acquiesced in the doctrine of
the absolutism of judges that
prevailed in the Dark Ages More
than that: if 1 had permitted the gen
e1ous friends to pay this fine, then
next week. if it was my duty to criti-
cize him agaoin, he would fine me an
other $4,000; and again the next week
and the next The fines would be Gu
mulative-an endless chain of fines,
amounting to confiscation of my prop
erty and that of my friends unless l
agreed to keep silent when my duty
demanded that 1 speak. And that l
will never do, no matter what the con-
sequences.
This matter is far above any per-
sonal one. 1t is comparatively small
matter what becomes of me. 1t is
vital matter whether the press shall
be free. I have no right to simpalr
the right, of editors today and tomor-
row to freely criticize public officials.
IF I paid this fine, it would be a tacit
acauiescence in that doctrine that JEFF
ferson fought to destroy when he Sc
cured the repeal of the Sedition law.
1T is my duty to have this matter
settled by the highest court in the
land Since the passage in March
1881, of section 725 of the Revised
Statutes, no Federal Judge has the
right to punish an editor for any crit
icism. Since it's passage no Federal
Judge in the United States has at
tempted to punish an editor for con-
tempt because of such criticizing. l
deny that he has any such right, and
it is my duty to my profession to hight
till the last ditch for the preservation
of the freedom of the press. There
fore this matter will be carried to the
highest Appellate Court. If editors
must crawl in dust before
the dust before Federal Judges ana
make obeisance to them and permit
them to become censors it must be SO
declared by the Supreme Court of
the United States. Until that tribu-
nal makes that decision / will con-
tinue to exercise my right and duty