New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-07
The Press Gag Folly

Friday is a model Of clcmcncy compared
with the Bismarckian rigor Of Attorney
General Gregory's original muzzle. 1t
gives any newspaper editor or proprietor
charged with publishing information which
may be useful 20 the enemy a chance
before a jury. instead Of subjecting him TO
punishment without trial at the hands of
some irritated executive officer or agency.
il allows the jury to say whether the pub
LEGATION complained Of was really of such
q character as 10 be actually useful TO
the enemy.
The Gard amendment does not scrap the
Constitutions guarantees of free speech
and a free press as completely as the At
torney General wanted them scrapped But
it undermirSs those guarantees. 1t Is
shifty in It's language and dangerous in
its implications. The power It gives the
executive branch of the government could
be used effectively to intimidate newspa-
pers and to suppress criticism Of the acts
and policies Of the Administration under
the artful pretence of preventing useful
information" from reaching the enemy.
The vice Of the Gard amendment and
Of all the other press gag amendments
submitted to Congress is that they try TO
stigmatize as espionage mere publication
of news or a mere expression of opinion.
In any act Of espionage there must be an
intent to communicate information to the
enemy for his benefit. Persons who pub
lish what they know with the idea Of thus
putting it into the possession of hostile
War Office are spies, and can be dealt with
as such. To reach them there is no need
at all of passing a law making any and
every publication criminal, regardless Of
intent. which. if it ever should reach the
enemy. might, in the judgment of United
States officials or Federal juries, give him
useful information or moral encourage
ment.
The chances are infnitesimal that any
spy would ever choose such a clumsy
method Of conveying valuable news to the
German General Staff as publishing it in
an American newspaper No newspaper
could leave our shores without going
through the hands Of a censor, if the
government wished 10 take the precaution
Of imposing such a censorship. No news
paper, letter, cable dispatch or wireless
message can pass into Germany now, ex-
cept through a British, French, Russian or
Italian censorship. 1t IS a practical i'm
possibility at present for any information
appearing in an American newspaper to
be conveyed to the enemy which the cen
sors Of nations at war with Germany are
unwilling 20 pass.
Why, then, set up the insincere and
fraudulent pretence that military neces-
sty requires gag on the American press?
The only practical use TO which such
gag provision could be put would be to
stop the publication Of information an
Toying to our own department officials, an
exposure of whose ineffciency, although
vital TO the countrys safety, might be
held by them TO be form of disloyalty,
calculated 10 comfort and cheer the enemy.
The Gard amendment processes to leave
free field for legitimate criticism and the
publication Of legitimate information. Yet
it seeks to abridge the freedom of the
press by submitting to a jury the question
whether a newspaper "w;lfully and with
out authority" published information which
a Federal official might declare to be use
full to the enemy. without authority" is
one Of the jokers in Mr.. Cards amend
Nrent. II would apparently classify as
\ reasonable any expression of opinion or
statement Of fact which had not received
y ne approval in advance of the official
whose comfort was disturbed or whose
sensibilities were outraged by its pubica-
ton.
All attempts 10 draw an amendment to
the espionage bill covering offences of es-
pionage in connection with publications in
newspapers have ended in failure. They
have been more concerned with muzzlng
free speech than with stopping espionage.
They have aimed not so much at suppress
ing illicit communication with the enemy
as at suppressing domestic criticism. We
90 not believe that the espionage bill can
| bc made or should be made vehicle for
legislation abridging the freedom of the
press.
The Gard provision Of the House bill
should therefore be stricken out, as the
Webb provision was. The Senate can do
no greater service to the country at this
time than 20 repudiate this whole attempt
of the Administration TO intimidate opin-
ion. Let us deal with spies and traitors
as spies and traitors. But let us not COM
nit the folly Of checking honest criticism
Of official failures land only frank criti-
cism Of the blunders made in the conduct
Of the war can repair their damaging
cffect) on the fantastic theory that some
tiny scraps Of information, essential TO our