New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-23
Stand Fast p!

not be permitted 10 influence the vote Of
single Senator or Representative.
The power demanded by the President is
a power that without exception has always
been abused. 1t is a power the exercise
Of which has invariably worked to the dis
advantage Of public interest and Of legiti-
mate freedom of the press. 1t is power
which the British government, after having
exercised it with the usual stupidity and
folly, has, in the main, surrendered in the
face of public protest.
A newspaper which gave information
TO the enemy, even were 1t able to avoid
legal prosecution, would not and could not
survive the disrepute and contempt that
would come to it. There has been from the
very outset of this war scrupulous re-
spect for the requests Of public officials on
the part of every newspaper in this
country in the matter of the suppression
of news.
Why, then, when public opinion has
spoken, when Congress has obeyed the will
of the people, this new effort to control the
press, to put the muzzling power in the
hands of the executive branch Of the gov
eminent?
We went to war, Mr.. Wilson told an
admiring world, to make democracy safe
in the world. Should we then as our first
evidence of solicitude for democracy
adopt method already abandoned by Rus
STA as one Of the chief evils Of an auto
cratic and bureaucratic system now gone to
ashes and ruin?
There is only one explanation Of the
present effort, by the use of all the power
and pressure possessed by the President,
to compel reluctant Congress to pass
measure rejected by the good sense and by
the conscience of this nation. 1t is not
fear of what Germany may find out, but
Of what the people of the United States
will discover, which supplies the driving
impulse for the Presidents action.
And no measure, however 1t may threat
en- with prison or with firing squad those
who would tell the truth that should be told
10 a people entitled to know it, can suppress
the story of blunderings, incompetency,
waste of men and of money by those
charged with the conduct Of the war, IL
these things exist.
1t is not only wicked thing, but fu-
tile thing, TO attempt TO silence just criti-
cism and those who honestly seek TO
destroy evils by exposing them. Tyranny
has always founded itself upon the press
gag, and the press has always prevailed
TO the ruin of tyranny. The little Gar
who yesterday reigned in Petrograd and
now shovels snow elsewhere was cham
pion Of the press-gag. The Hohenzollern
monarch, whom we are fighting, still de-
ludes his people by controlling their press
TO his ends and against the publication of
the truth.
Why, then, has Mr.. Wilson adopted the
chief instrument Of the Car and the Kaiser
as an essential and all-essential instrument
in war for democracy and against tyr
emmy? Will it not wake an interesting
echo in Russian conferences now, when 1t
is reported that the head of the American
Republic advocates demands, the right to
silence free press and shackle all express
sion Of public opinion?
No President in our history ever made
a greater mistake than Mr.. Wilson has
now made. If only he has his way, this
rover will not merely wreck his Admins
tration, but il will hereafter awaken a re-
volt in public opinion unknown in this
country since our last King lost his Ameri-
can colonies by policies which Mr.. Wilson
would now initiate.
II is the duty of every Senator and every
Representative TO stand fast now against
the present demand Of the President. Pub
lie sentiment is unmstakable; Il has al
ready had its effect upon Congress. Now
Congress must choose between the Presi-
dent and the people and between freedom
Of speech, which is our right and our ira
eition. and the method that Russia yester.