Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-11-29
Publicity Feature of Act Relat-
ing to Newspapers.
CASE IN SUPREME COURT
Constitutionality of Requirement
Defended by Solicitor General.
BRIEF OF GOVERNMENTS VIEW
Second-Class Mail Privilege Elk.
tended and Power of Congress
to Impose Conditions.

In support of the constitutionality of the
newspaper publicity feature of the post
office appropriation law of 1872, requiring
newspapers and periodicals to publish the
names of editors. owners and stockhold-
ers and to mark all paid-for articles
advertisement, as a condition of using
the second-class mail privileges, a brief
was filed in the United States Supreme
Court today by Solicitor General William
Marshall Bullitt
The brief gives the governments argu-
ments in two cases which come to the
Supreme Court on appeal from the Unit
ed States district court for the southern
district of New York. In these cases the
validity of the law is attacked by the
journal of Commerce of New York city
and by the Morning Telegraph. also of
New York city. The validity of the law
was upheld in the lower court.
While admitting the probability that
Congress has no right to prohibit a news
paper from publishing this or that, or
recurring it to mark any of its articles
advertisements the solicitor general
contends that the proper construction of
the present law is that no newspaper
shall use a certain. highly favored low
postage rate unless it conforms to certain
regulations.
Construes the Act.
The proper construction of the act, &C
cording to the solicitor general, is in part
as "ollows:
hat no newspaper, magazine, etc,
shall use the second-class mail privilege
unless it shall (a) file with the Postmas-
ter General and postmaster, and publish
in it's second issue thereafter, the re-
no nf
editor. publisher, bondholders, etc, and
its circulation, and OBJ mark as adver-
tisement' anything for the publication of
which 1t receives compensation
So construed. 1t is declared, the entire
section is valid. If. however. it should be
held that the requirement that newspapers
should mark paid-for articles as 'adver-
tlsement was not intended as a mere
condition precedent to the use of the
mails. but as an independent and direct
requirement, and that it was, therefore,
unconstitutional either as direct
abridgement of the freedom of the press
or as an invasion of the powers reserved
to the states under the eleventh amend
ment to the Constitution, then the adver-
tisement clause should be separated from
the balance Of the section and declared
void without affecting the validity of the
rest of the provision.
The solicitor general attempts to show
both from the language of the act and
from it's legislative history, that the act
does not try to prohibit the publication
of newspapers and periodicals which fail
to comply with these regulations nor
even to prohibit their transportation in
the mails. He holds that the only prohi-
bition contained in the act is that the
privilege of using the second-class mail
rate shall be denied the newspapers and
periodicals which fail to comply with the
regulations laid down. He points out that
second-class mail is transported at a cost
to the publisher of / cent a pound, and
that 1t is carried at a loss of about $40
O3o 600 year to the Post Office Depart
ment.
He also points out that first-class mall
letters and written matter, at cents
an ounce is transported at profit of
about $IO,0O0.00O a year to the govern
ment, and that the general public pays
this profit which is used to cover the
deficit made by the transportation of
periodicals and newspapers as second
class mail. The man VINO mails a letter
is, therefore, overtaXed directly for the
benefit of the publisher of newspaper
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