Albuquerque morning journal., 1913-06-11
PUBLICITY LAW IS
UPHELD BYCOURT
DECISION
Congress Has Rieht to Impose
Certain Conditions Upon
Newspapers Seeking Second
Class Mail Rates.

tsS noasine iouEnAt ssrclAt trAsun wlHri
Washington. Junt lO.-1ne validity
of the newspaper publicity law en-.
acted Ia 1919 as q provision of the
postal appropriation uct. WAS upheld
today by unanimous decision of the
supreme court of The United Sntos
chief Justice White announced the
courts conclusions.
This law requires every newspaper
magazine. or other publication to hic
semi-annually with the postmaster
general and the local postmaster
sworn statements nf the names of the
editors. managers. owners. stockhoid-
ers and bond holders, and in the case
Of daily newspapers. of average daily
circulation. Publication of these siate-
mcnls is required. and for failure 60
comply with any of tho provisions the
publication shall be denied the "priNi-
leges Of the mails.
\ second 'orn raoh provides that
paid for editorial or reading matter
Of amy such publications shall ba
marked advertisement" under pen
atty OF fine or imprisonment
About SS per cent of the ncwspa-
pers have complied with the law,
many under protest The Lewis Pub
fishing company and the journal of
Commerce and Commercial Bnlletin
OF New York. led the attack upon the
statute, bringing suits Tor injunction in
tn, federal district court of southern
New York and when the law was up-
held there, appealed to the highest
court. They claimed thai tho law
sought 70 regulate journalism and
to enforce q censorship cf the press.
In reply former Solicitor General
BuHitt contcnded that. notwithstnnd-
ing division of the publication into
two typographical paragraphs 10y tho
senate after the measure WAS passed
hy the house. the law was only one
paragraph. imposing conditions In
both upon the use OF the law second
class mail rates accorded newspapers
and magazines.
The supreme court today adoptcd
MIR. BulHtts Interpretation The use
in the act Of the word entered, q
technical word employed only To sec
ond class mail matter showed, Chief
Justice White held, that CONGRESS In
passing the law. had In mind only
the second class mail and not the
right To use the mail as q whole. The
uso OF the words privileges of the
mail" the chief justice took to be "a
positive reference to the second class
of mail because of the great disad-
vantages newspapers were granted
under the second class over other
classes Of mail in order to promote
the dissemination OF current intelli-
gencc.
lie said congress did not ntcnd 10
exclude papers not complying with the
provisions from the nsc Of the mail
other than the second class, the sec
ond paragraph, it was explained was
but "A part Of the first, as shown by
the use of the word such an addi-
fional penalty being prescribed lor
administrative reasons only.
The legislative history of the pfoNi'
sion. the chief Justice declared. up
held the Interpretation Of the waraS
"givon by the court
After Interpreting the, provision
as imposing conditions upon the use
of the second class mail, the cher
Justice proceeded 20 discuss why con-
ercss had the right to Impose sueh
conditions
A study of postal laws from colo
NAL days to the present he said show
ed persistent adhesion to poiiey
of discrimination in favor OF news
papcrs In the mails. He quoted MI
nullltt as stating letter mai! was sun
iectod to a charge eighty times hlRher
than newspapers and that letter man
produced an annual profit of Sio,VVV,~
600. while the newspaper class entail
ed n $40. 600. 600 annual loss to the
Government. As Il further discrlmina-
tion. he said, individuals must pay
a higher rate for mailing newspapers
than the publishers or news agents
In return for this discrimination
the chief justice declared, congress
has tried to TX the standard to be met
bv those who wished to enjoy the
privileges. As far back as 1881 rules
were promulgated for those who de-
sired to enjoy the privilege "l lho
cheap rates.
He suggested that the eoprt ceulo
not bring its mind TO the CONCLUSION
that newspaper attorneys were assai'
lng classification Of mails, with eer-
tain conditions attached to SOM
classes. as an Interference with 'he
freedom of the press, when for 2 IONS
series Of years legislation Mad spe-
officially favored the press TO us p'-
cuniary benefit by classification ih'
conclusion reached was that me con
ditlons exactcd were incidental 70 tne
privileges conferred upon the news
papers and were not arbitrary.