The evening world., 1911-01-03
History of Governments Suits
AGAINST The World for Libel

During the last Presidential campaign.
In October. 1908. The World printed six
articles on the Panama Revolution in
1908. giving currency to the charges that
there was a syndicate OF Americana who
were Interested In n received some Of
the si0.0o.ooo which the United States
paid to tho French company for the
canal property. and that the Admins
,ration at Washington and some OF the
individuals who then composed It were
cognizant OF and had supported the
plans for the revolution in Panama, as n
result OF which the present Republic Of
Panama scceded from the Republic OF
Colombia and gave to the United States
those sovereign rights over the Canal
Zone which. under Its constitution. CO.
lombia was unable to grant.
Mr.. Roosevelt allowed the charges to
remain unchallenged until after tho
election when he made a scanAalous
personal attack upon Mr.. Delavan Smith
of the indianapolis News. which paper
lad reprinted tho articles from The
World. then when challenged by The
NOTiu me-. ol btN. " ttrlt u Fpt1iti huS-
sage to Congress In which he said;
President Roosevelt's Attack.
"fhsss stories reed no In.
vsstigation whatever . they
are In TACT wholly and In form partly
. libel upon h United States Govern
msnt. The real offender In
MT. oJssph Pulitzer, editor and pro-
pristor OF The World. While tho
criminal oHsnss OF which Mr.. Pulitzer
has hssn guilty 10 In form q abe upon
i~naiviauals. the grsat injury don II in
biaoksning the good nario OF the Amer
lean people. n should not be left to
q private citizen TO sue Mr.. Puitxer
for libel. h should be prosecuted for
libel By the Government authorities.
In yo1nt OF Encouragement OF intquity,
In point OF infamy, OF wrongdoing,
there II nothing to chose between q
public servant who 10 guilty OF black
mail, or theft, or pablo dishonesty OF
any kind and . man guilty as Mr..
Yulitssr has bssn guilty In this IN
stance. II II therefore q high national
duty 70 bring to Justice tb.< vtliaAsr Of
the American people. tais man who
waAtouly n wtcksniy and without
one shadow Of Justification seeks to
blacksn the character bf reputable
private cittssns ana to convict the
Government OF his own country In this
Eyes Of the oivtiissd world OF wrong
doing Of the bassst and fouisst kind
when he has not n shadow Of justi-
acataon Of any sort or description for
the charges he has made. The Attor-
~nsy.osnsral has under consideration
the form In which the proceedings
against M. pulttssr shall be brought
Under orders from Mr.. Roosevelt the
Attorney = General instituted criminal
proceedings in the ourts OF ths Dis
trict OF Columbia against both The
World and the Indianapolis News,
judge Anderson's Rebuke.
The following is the full text OF Judg,
Anderson's decision In the Panama
libel suit;
Well. this mas been a very inter
esting discussion. II involves very
interesting constitutional questions
and II involves questions which are
always interesting, and also this
question OF procedure. ! suppose.
when you tae inkto consideration
the general interest taken In this
case, the nature OF the circum-
stances out OF which Il grew, the
unusual features OF the proceeding
itself and the importance OF the
questions involved. that ] would be
entirely justified In reserving my
decision and taking time 10 put
down on paper the conclusions that
] have come TO.
But ] have other things TO do be-
sides write. and In the immediate
future my engagements are such
that will preclude from taking tirnS
from other business 10 put down on
paper carefully as ] would Ike to do
the views that / maintain upon these
questions. so at the risk OF being
somewhat misunderstood and incor-
rectly. no reflections on the reporter.
I will give my views OF this case
and decide the question so far as II
has come up to me to decide,
Brief OF Much Interest,
Now I carefully read over the brief
which was handel 10 me yesterday
morning by Mr.. Lindsay, which.
upon It's face appeared 70 have been