Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-10-19
WATSON READY
To FIGHT MAIL
MISUSE CHARGE
Georgia Editor Declares Others
Have Published More Extreme
Charges and Escaped.
Continued From Page I.


mails. but the line Of Mr.. Watson's
defense was that while the printed
matter did not come within the pro-
nIDi-DTE regulations, Il nevertheless
was nor matter for which Mr.. Wat
son personally was responsible, in
that the magazine was published by
the Jeffersouiau Publishing Compa-
ny, of which Mr.. Watson is president.
The Government held Mr.. Watson
responsible, however, in that he is
the editor-in- chief Of the magazine.
Claims Prior Publication.
Mr.. Watson further undertook to
show that the very same matter Set
up against him was circulated
through the mails, time and again,
in the past, and without protest, by
other publishers, including Professor
Peck, of the University Of Virginia.
Mr. Watson claimed at the hearing
that the entire matter then up was
attempted persecution by Catholics,
against whom the editor for months
had been leveling his deadliest and
most yenomous darts.
Mr.. Watson developed the fact that
the postoffice inspector proceeding
against him was Robert +. sharp,
and that the specific work objected 10
was in his book, The Roman Cath
Ole Hierarchy, the Deadliest Menace
to Our Liberties and Civilization"
This work is a bitter attack on
Catholicism in general and upon ne
priesthood in particular.
Mr. Watson's defense on trial to-
morrow VIII be practically the same
as that advanced originally.
Questions Asked in Latin.
no said that he
was a historian, who had written
number Of books now on The market,
that he had been a great student and
had studied exclusively the meth
DDS of the Roman Catholic ChurNn,
and had begun several months before
a serial in his monthly magazine on
the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and
had printed a number Of questions IN
Latin which priests are said to ask
women in the confessional He said
that he used Latin because he eX-
pected only those who were deeply
Interested in the question to have the
words translated.
The defendant stated that Professor
Chlniquy, a former Catholic priest,
had written two books which were
published by Fleming II. Revjlle &
Co, New York, Chicago and Toronto,
containing the same questions, and
that one Of those books had gone into
its forty third edition, and yet Ch!ni-
guy had never been prosecuted. The
. two books are Fifty Years in the
Church of Rome" and The Priest,
the Woman and the Confessional"
Watson said that the same ques-
tons were also printed in a book
/ issued by the Jordan Publishing Com
pany, Philadelphia and New York,
/ in 1895, and that "Castillian Days,
| by John Hay, former Secretary of
| state. published by Houghton, Miffiin
! * Co., Riverside Press, Cambridge,
| Mass. contained language far worse
! than that charged against him.
Quotes Other Exceptions.
why Priests Should Wed" a book
written and copyrighted by Justin
! Fulton and having the sanction of
| Anthony Comstock, has questions
worse than the questions printed by
/ The Jetfersonian said Watson, This
| book was published by Rand Avery &
| Co, The Franklin Press Boston. All
| Of these books said Watson, CirCu-
! lated in the mails without protest.
! Mr.. Watson claims that he always
| got along well with the postal au-
| thorities until certain eminent Cath
! oliCs prevailed upon Postmaster Cen
eral Hitchcock to attack him, and
! that Hitchcock undertook the attack
| through the proceedings then on trial
| Mr.. Watson stressed the fact that he
| copyrighted his book before entering
! in the mails and that therefore il
| was all right. The Government holds
! however, that a copyright does not
give the unquestioned right of the
mails.
While the case was first being
| heard in the Commissioners office
| there We're many pro- Watson dem
| Onstrations. and finally the hearing
had to be adjourned to a private
room. Out Of this trial grew the in
! dictment to be heard tomorrow
| Watson was bound over by Commits
sioner Goodwin to the Federal Grand
J Jury which promptly indicted him.