The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1917-09-13
BULLETS FROM THE REAR.

BULLETS FROM THE REAR.
Free speech is being Interpreted to mean that an unotfending
city Ill like 81 Minneapolis 4ma % h.. or Hudson ds%1s Wis., W OLE OF Fargo: o. \: D. must sub
a public nuisance and danger to come in on trains from the ends
Of disturbance. 1t is not being 50 Interpreted by M most IA Americans am
but is being 50 interpreted by those Americans who hold that
the indefeasible right to be a nuisance and a danger in any city
they may pick out from the railroad map is greater than the indie
{se5 risht r IS the 70 o1 oed they Sn me se5f wben f6%% talk tn Hf f tha ,;eh had LET faee
speech.
be said in favor of the right to carry free speech to the point of
nuisance and to towns that do not solicit it, we wish to say some
any such thing: e refer to those in Minneapolis, Hudson MI Fargo,
and whatsvsI other towns have . By this c time risen S: j in revolt against
ton tic when the i inaietion was proposed to be visited upon them; and
ton to the minds Of those Who regard them as having deseerated
the ark of the covenant. The prompt action of the Governor of IL
Chicago viii have the approval Of the Whole county. '@~~ "S = !.
~ Free speech So esaa in tin time .sft war has, this difference from free speech
death with then: They cease to be words. and become bullets.
Attacks Att ok on ut the &C G4 fSga14 mt and and on 81 the the people s that are e carrying aa2ca Or on
enemy and to avoid defeat ourselves; # they were successful,
successful, they will cost the lives of fewer soldiers than if they
necessarily. To be concrete, if these attacks accomplish their pur-
%sSd Gf sGnghh sr fio Rpf ths x tant t Ts a ~ll not dtst paits t5e and 9i1e5 he en- Su of
dreds of thousands of Americans by polonging the war. If they
long Russiia's irresoiuton without actually detaching her from from o. our
side, they will destroy the lives of a less number. but still of a great
speech by a pacifst or a Friend of Irish Freedom counts a little
in that result.
Therefore, when such a speaker makes such an attack. it does
not affect the minds of Americans in his vicinity in just the same
way it would If he were discussing Prohibition, OF woman suffrage,
or birth control. The man whose son has gone to the war, and
who wants him to come back and not lie dead in some trnech in
France, does not regard the speech as a speech. He regards it as
a bullet aimed at the back of that son of his. 1t is difficult for him
to be calm. He is anxious and it does not dissipate his anxiety
when some one tells him to remember that free speech is a sacred
right and must not be interfered with, whatever may be the con-
sequences to his son; He perversely regards his son as of more
value than free speech, which is egotistical and indivduaistic, but
inevitable as long as human nature remains imperfect. If he act
snatch the Germans arm, he would not be patient with any one
who should interrupt him with an e%xhortation. Well, when he
hears a pacifst on an Irish Freedom speech he does Sc a rifle
aimed a this son. Every pacifst is a German bullet, every one
does its bit to thwart the work of the American soldiers in France.
He knows it: and when he sees a band of these men descending on
his town to fire these bullets. knowing we'll that exaggerated reports
of the meeting they are going to hold will be sent over to Russia
and to Germany and Transformed into German shot and shell, he
and other fathers and brothers ofHudson, or Minneapolis, or Far
go, act on a primitive impulse. They tell these servants of the
German cause that they shall no" fire those bullets in Hudson. At
terward they feel proud of themselves that they showed such self
restraint. alnd are much amazed to find themselves the text of
homiies about the wickedness of denying free speech.
In an ideal state of human nature men will be so transmorgrifed
that they will see everything from a lofty plane on which the ego
never enters. But as long as men are human they will continue
to take the same view of these matters as was taken at Hudson, at
Fargo, and at Minneapolis. Free speech more valuable than life?
Yes, answers the fanible man indiferently. More valuable than
the life of you son? All. that is a different thing; and as the
war goes on that question becomes more pressing and personal
these men who play with %gunpowder and dynamite in the name OF
free speech Will find that the name they conjure with must not be
pushed to f ar.-New York Times.