The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-03-27
UNCLE A NJ Is NO
-, MURDER ACCESSORY

Paterson, N. j., March 26-President
Roosevelt states in answer to an APP
peal from Mayor Mcbride to exclude
La QUESTION: Sociale from the mails
for the purpose OF suppressing the pub
LEGATION, that besides directing that the
newspaper be denied the use OF the
mails, he has requested the department.
of Justice to lake every effort to prose-
cute criminally those responsible for
the publication. A copy Of the presi-
dents letter to the department OF JUS
tice was inclOSed by Secretary Loeb as
the reply to the appeal OF Mayor Nc
Bride, who mad public the presidents
letter.
La QUESTION: Soclale recently pub
lished an appeal of intiammatory char
acter which resulted in the action
taken.
Tho Presidents Letter.
President Roosevelt's letter 10 h
department of justice as sent to Mayor.
Mcbride follows
White House, Washington, d. C.. March
~. 1sS..Io the DEPARTMENT OF Justice: BY
my direction the postmaster general IL to
exclude La QUESTION: Socialc, of Paterson.
N; j., from the mails and ii will not be
admitted to the malls unless by order of
the court, or unless you advise me further
that 1t must be admitted. Please see IL II
is not possible to prosecute criminally, un-
der the section OF the law that Is avail
able, the men who are engaged In tho
sending out OF this aDarchistic and muir
derous publication. They are. Of course,
the enemies of mankind and every effort
should be strained to hold them account
able for An ofrense far more Infamous thar
that OF an ordinary murderer.
This matter has been brought to my Mt
tention by the mayo of the city OF Pater-
son. ! wish every effort made to get at
the criminals. under the federal law. 1t
ma be found impossible to do this. I shall
also, through the secretary OF state, call
the attention Of the governor of New Jer-
sey to the circumstances so that he may
hYnCaaH 1riQr tho otnf lNy l1r -.
being further drawn to the fact that the
newspaper is circulated in other states.
After you have concluded your investiga-
ton I wish Il report from you to serve as
81 basis for recommendations for action to
congress. Under section 1893 Of the revised
statutes leWd, obscene AMI lascivious books
and letters, publications for indecent and
minors use or of an indecent or immoral
nature and postal cards upon which in
or printed are all excluded from the mail
and provision Is made for fine and i'm
prisonment for those guilty.
the newspaper article in question advo-
Gates murder by dynamite. 1t specifically
advocates the murder of enlisted men Of
tho United States army and the officers Of
houses of private citizens. The preaching
of murder and arson Is certainly as i'm
moral as the circulation Of obscene and
not already forbidden by the law 1t should
be forbidden. The Immigration law now
prohibits the entry into the United States
VI any. person WHO enlertalnS or auVO-
Gates the views expressed III this newspa-
per article.
1t is. OF course. inexcusable to permit
those already here to ~promulgate such
views. Those who write, publish and cir
culate those articles stand on a level with
these who use the mails for distributing
polsons. for the purpose of murder, ana
convictions have been obtained when the
mails have thus been used for the dtstribu-
ton of poisons. No law should require the
postmaster general to become an Access
sorry to murder by circulating literature OF
this KIND. Theodore Roosevelt.