Licking Valley courier., 1917-05-03
Lammergeier or Lunatic?

times causes us to doubt the wis
dom of granting that privilege.
We are strong in America on the
freedom of speech. and that is
right. There should be no a.
bridgement of the right Of the
citizen to express himself freely
upon all public questions.
whether political, religious or
moral.
But there are times when the
right of free speech is greatly
abused when the unwise exer-
else OF the right works injury to
the community and to the indi-
vidual, and the only remedy in
case of the abuse of the right of
free speech is the condemnation
of the offending individual in the
public estimation of the people.
There is in Cincinnati an aggra-
waited case of this kind. One
Herbert S. Bigelow. who is a
preacher of some kind, has been
uttering speech that indicates
that he is either a lunatic, a hy-
phenated buzzard or a traitor.
He has been one of the most
active of the pacifists and has
advocated the fool idea that the
Germans could and should be
conquered by love. Only a few
days ago he said in a sermon
that the French did wrong in
opposing the invasion of France
by the Germans; that they should
have stood back and allowed
: them to come in and pillage their
land and tell them that they
loved them for it. And the most
wonderful part of it is that an
audience of alleged sensible
people in the city of Cincinnati
: approved and applauded such
damphoolishness. This, too, at
a time when the United States is
at war with Germany.
Cincinnati is a great city. 1t is
connected with the people of the
south in trade and in other ways
and it causes us to wonder thai
public sentiment in that city
} would stand for such. If the
Rev. Biglow is a lunatic he shoulC
be incarcerated in an asylum
where he will not injure himself
or any other person. If he is {
traitorous buzzard, as his utter
ances indicate, there is a law
against treason that should bt
invoked, Notwithstanding the
{ wide latitude of the right of free
speech.
t We have no information as tt
whether the Rev. Bigelow is g
G citizen of the United States OF
an alien. If he is a citizen he i.
not a good citizen. If he wer,
an ignorant foreigner his Ian
, guage might be overlooked or
that score, but he is not. He i.
J reputed to be an educated mar
and a pastor of some sort of {
church or organization. He i,
using the cloak of a clergyman
to protect him in a propagand;
{ of treason.
a Cincinnati owes it to hersel,
to place Mr.. Bigelow in the class
of undesirable citizens and invi
te him 10 take a walk with thu
, heels of his tracks always turned
towards Cincinnati. He shoulc
be deported if, indeed, NOR,
=, extreme measures should not bt
used.
He is reproach to the citizen
i ship of that great city. Any
. man, not a lunatic, who will
seriously contend that thu
Germans barbarians should lovec
for their atrocities is beyond tn,
pale of public patience. A mal
l who will try to screen himself
I behind clerical robes while deal
ing out treason to his countr,
has sunken so low in the scale
of humanity that he will have t
: climb up hill to get into hell
: And to advocate tame submission
: to the German atrocities is t,
lower the vision of manhood.
But what of the congregation
that applauds Bigelow's treason
) Cincinnati, thou art indeed gre
: viously afflicted, and need to d,
some cleaning up of your citizen
ship.
3 tSCTSSORS &PASTEi