TaÌˆgliche Omaha tribuÌˆne. [volume] (Omaha, Nebr.) 1912-1926, 1917-06-09

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No Inc knew better than President
Lincoln the losses and the peril
which the Government might ircnl
through permitting the full freedom
Of the press at a time when a con.
siderable portion OF the press wal
disloyal, yet u great President
even in that time OF danger and Of
stress, would not consent for ont
moment to violate the mandate Of
the Constitution and to abolish thai
guarantee Of free speech end of fret
printing upon which, as he firmly
believed, rested the whole edihce Of
our Liberties.
He thought II better that here and
there a t%reacherous newspaper
should be permitted to strike traitor
GUS blows at the Government thaH
that the American people should BE-
subjected to a censorship of thu
press; should be kept uniformed Of
the operations Of their navy and
their army, and should be treated bJ
their Government not as free men
and sovereign citizens in their OWE
right, but as the subjects Of a des.
potic government.
President I,incoln's conception OF
the supreme authority of the Con.
| stitufion, Of the binding force Of i'll
mandates, Of the rightful power and
authority OF the President, Of the
true rights and liberties Of thu
American people, was not the con,
ception OF those vital matters held
by some members Of the present
Administration.
Yet we think that time and the
march of events have fully justified
both President Lincoln's conception
of his Constitutional duties, and oil
the limitations of his power, and wa
DO indeed believe that the Congress
should repeat, and should hold fast
to, and should manfully maintain the
conception WHICH actuated our great
President through the whole course
Of the war which he wsged for the
life OF the Union.
Whenever the Constitution loses
its force, whenever its expressed
mandate can be set aside by the
Congress at the request OF whoegef
happens to be President, or for any
reason, that moment the edihce oil
orderly liberty which our fathers
erected for themselves and for THEFT
children TO dwell in forever, as free
men and free women, falls into ruin
II is impossible that we can con.
tinue to be a free people If the laws
and the institutions in which oui
freedom originated, and by which il
has been maintained and nourished
for more than one hundred and forty
years of national existence, should
become of no effect and OF no force
For how a people be free
when the very Constitution which
made them free and which wa:
framed to keep them free is NULL.
fed by their own representatives il
their own Government?
AN APPEAL TO CONGRESS.
If you men Of the Congress ar,
persuaded or coerced into eonsentine
10 this violation OF the Constitutions
guarantee Of free speech and FREE
printing, you will be traitors to you
oaths to the Constitution and Il
the liberties of your own people anC
to the trust which your own people
have reposed in you.
Consider how rapidly this appetit,
for autocratic power grows witt
what it feeds Upon.
When the censorship Of the pres
was first proposed the Administra
tion, through its spokesman in tn
Cabinet, expressly disclailned any in
tention TO fetter the free discussion
of Administrative policies or the fire.
expression Of opinion.
These Spokesman asserted owe
and over again that the only purposr
of a press censorship was TO proven
the publication Of news concerning
c military and navel operations tina
/ might possibly be Of benefit TO til
: enemy.
You well know they said this owe
5 and over again, and yet here, befor
they have even succeeded in per
: suading or coercing the Congress
into the enactment Of this infamou
: legislation, they publicly disclos
0 their PURPOSE not only to fette
criticism Of Executive policies bu
t actually TO forbid the America
press and the American people t
5 discuss ven the probabilities and til
n possibilities Of peace.
We say to you now that il "
ever are compelled to live unde
!, such %tyrannical regulations an
a such autocratie and demonstrations
9 repression Of our rights and on
n Liberties, even temporarily, we sha
not be entitled t call ourselves
n free people; and any claim of our
that we are the special champions {
free d~ernocracies well meet the d.
served jeers and contempt Of mar
e kind. IN. Y. Americana