The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-27
A rrrrLE PROPOSITION.

The proposition to bar from the mails all newspapers which printed the de- tails of the Thaw trial was foolish one, aside from being an effort to muzzle the press of the country. We have freely admitted that some of this testimony should not have been heard or read by the public, and reputable newspapers refused to print quite lot of it, and to have barred hem from the mails would have been an outrage.
 But the absurdity of the suggestion lies in the fact that not to allow the papers that printed the evidence 10 go through the mails would not have ac- complished the desired end. h all the large cities a great portion of the newspapers is not mailed. If the post office department had adopted the plan proposed by Roosevelt 1t could not have prevented the newspapers from being sold at the news stands, or by the newsboys, or from be:ng delivered by carriers. nor would 1t prevent news papers being sent by express or freight to any other city to be sold.
 If there were any possible way of suppressing all this dirty evidence and not allowing it to get to the public in any manner there might possibly be some good accomplished, bu. that can not be done. Take the newspapers for example, that have reached the limit of what has come to be known as yellow journalism New York. San Francisco and Chicago are daily flood ed with thousands of copies of such pa- pers which take a kind of pride in pub fishing everything that is filthy aud scandalous To bar these papers, from the mails would be about like cutting off one leg of a centipede and expect ing by that operation to prevent the insect from doing harm. The mails might be tightly closed against all such publications and still millions of them would be read by those who like such literature. Scotching a snake does not make 1t harmless. Looking at the proposed action from any point of view we agree with The Kansas City Journal which says:
 If the Thaw testimony should be excluded from the mails as hurtful to the minds and morals or the Amer ican people, why should not other mat be equally condemned? Some Of the vel low publications of New York and Chi cago publish deliberate falsehoods. un- der the guise of news of sensational nature that is calculated to stir up sedition in the minds of the weak and the criminally inclined: The persons who read this trash boldly boast or their independence and accuse the con servative press of being influenced to suppress certain kinds of news. The only kind of news suppressed by the never happened, but was manufactured in the mad houses of yellow pub'i"a- tions.
 the morality and perpetuity of this na- tior cannot he effectually reached ny mere action of the postal department, it would appear most unwfse to put the entire newspaper business at the mercy of one mans opinion of what CT what is not fit to print. There is vast difference between prudery and the printing of Eews that is demanded by respectable people who see in the Thaw case the story of colossal and terrifying phase of life which it is the business of people to study.
 There is one of ,he dangers as well as one of the weaknesses Of the meas ure. The evidence in the Thaw trial is not the only objectionable matter print ed and circulated by the newspapers and if the President or the postal au- thorities can prescrine a ruIe or liml- tation in one case why may they rot co if in any other if they see fit to do sop If would be a dangerous power to place in the hands of any official or set of officials, especially at present.