The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-10-16
A VICTORY FOR THE PRESS.

A VICTORY FOR THE PRESS.
the publishers Of the Indianapolis News
for alleged criminal libel on former
President Roosevelt, President Taft,
Charles P. Taft, William Nelson Crom-
well, J. Pierpont Morgan, Douglas
Robinson and others came up before
Federal Judge A. B. Anderson at the
Hoosier capital last Monday. Stuart
Mcnamara, special attorney of the De-
partment of Justice at Washington,
represented the government, or rather
Theodore Roosevelt and his friends;
and after listening to his arguments to
get the publishers of the paper to ap-
pear in the District of Columbia for
trial, Judge Anderson discharged Del
avan Smith and Charles r. Williams
proprietors of the News, on the ground
that the Constitution of the United
States provides that the accused shall
be tried in the state or district where
the offense is committed.
Theodore Roosevelt considered him
self the government and looked upon
the Constitution as an obsolete docu-
ment and forgot that Jefferson had
complained of King George in the Dec.
laration of Independence for trans
porting US beyond the seas to be tried
for pretended offenses." He will dis
cover before his return from the Afri-
can jungles that he cannot play fast
and loose with the Constitution of this
country and that individuals ha*a
rights which will be safeguarded by
upright Judges. We had hoped that
President Taft-his locum tenens-
would have quashed the indict-
ment, but perhaps he could not
have done so If he desired and, be-
sides, he and his brother Charley are
plaintiffs to the suit. Such men as
Roosevelt, the Tafts, Cromwell, Nor
gan. Robinson, ct al. are at liberty to
bring suit for criminal libel as In
oASAAuOlos UUl 4lOS AL luC Idbu0 VI II0
United States at the expense of the
government. They certainly are able
to engage their own lawyers to prose-
cute the defendants where the crime,
II any, was committed; but they are
not likely to do SO for obvious rea-
sons. Judge Anderson says that there
are Suspicious circumstances in the
Panama canal deal and that it is the
duty of newspapers to print the news
and make appropriate comments there
on. III q set Of Americans" said
Judge Anderson, went to France and
bought up the securities from the
French Panama Canal company for
$l2,000.00O, as alleged. and then sold
them to the United States for $4,000
600, it should be regarded as a nasty
piece Of business but in no sense a
crime" He then proceeded to say:
1.-THE revolution in Panama, the cir
cumstances concerning it, were I'M
usual and peculiar. A committee re-
ported in favor Of Nicaragua. Shortly
afterward they changed to Panama
Up to the time Of that change, as ]
gather from the evidence, the lowest
offer which had been suggested as the
enc at which the Panama property
the property Of the Panama Cana
company-could be procured, was
something over one hundred millions
Then rather suddenly 1t became known
that it could be procured for forty mil
lions. Now, there were a number Of
people who thought there was some.
thing wrong-something not just ex.
actly right about that transaction, ano
| say for myself that now I feel a ma.
tural curiosity to know what the rea
| truth was"
Judge Anderson declared that after
reading the testimony of William Mel.
son Cromwell before committee Of
the United States Senate there was
to his mind. just grounds for suspicion
Il am Suspicious about it now" he ex.
claimed. The fact that certain per-
sons were called thieves" and "swind.
lers" does not in his opinion, constitute
libel per Sc, and it is the duty of g
newspaper to print the news and dis
charge its duty fearlessly. Such ut.
terances as these from the bench will
be hailed with delight by not only
newspaper publishers. but by ever,
American who believes in freedom o,
the press in the United States.
Judge Anderson is the right man III
the right place, and so long as suci
judges are on the bench the press Of
this country will not be muzzled. Il
there Was a corrupt profit to the plain.
tits or any Of them of $4,000, 900 ir
the sale of the Panama canal to the
United States. the people are entitled
to know 1t. In any event, IL the pub
fishers of the News committed a crime
| to-, TvalS