The Benson signal., 1917-07-21
A Curb for the Disloyal

America 5 paTllClpdtlOn Ill lIllS wal !,
now is the time to still both tongue
and opposition. or else get out Of
the country This is the burden of
u. S. District Judge ( Bledsoe S
charge to the Federal Grand Jury
at Los Angeles, as published in a
recent issue of the Times.
The charge to the jury is in part
as follows:
The existing war with Ger
many will undoubtedly multiply
the matters cognizable by you. Ru-
mors will be rife, deliberate charges
will be made, that this or that one
of our citizens har indulged in dis
loyal act or utterance, and that
punishment through the medium
of the courts should follow.
l desire particularly to adjure
YOU to be prompt, energetic and
efficient in the investigation of all
such matters, trusting, of course,
that you will see to it that no good
and loyal citizen is the subject of
baseless attack, or made to bear
the odium of unwarranted investi-
CATION and criticism.
Ordinarily in and under a gov
ernment such as ours the greatest
freedom of speech and of act not
subversive of the general good is
permitted. Such freedom is but a
concomitant of self-government.
Subject to the laws of defamation,
it is only by giving free rein to ex-
preston of private opinion that a
healthy public opinion and a
healthy public concert of purpose
and of action can be secured.
In time of stress and strain, in
the face of unusual and tremen-
dous emergencies, such one as
now confronts us, the ordinary
rules of conduct are no longer ap-
plicable. The law of self defense,
which is our authority and justifi-
cation for getting into this very
war, is itself law of emergency:
it presupposes that ordinary rules
that govern conduct and actions
have been swept aside, and that
the character of the emergency ac-
tually presented determines III a
great degree the character of the
remedy to be employed.
A few months ago the proprie-
ty of Our joining III the war then
being waged was open to debate.
Today the debate has been closed.
Bv those constituted to act for us
and bind us to purpose we have
become genuine and active partici-
pants in the great struggle to re-
lieve the world of the incubus of
autocracy and ruthlessness -
struggle against the most menacing
power that the world has ever wit
messed; most menacing not only
because it is the instrumentality of
an irresponsible government which
has thrown aside all considerations
of humanity and of right, and is
running amuck, but also because
of it's studied efficiency and its
steadied discipline.
To the forceful prosecution and
successful termination of this war
we have as nation, through our
chief executive, pledged our lives
and our fortunes, everything that
we are and everything that we
have. With the lives and the for
tunes of our loved ones and of our
selves hanging in the balance, de-
pending upon a complete unity of
purpose, harmonious concert of
action, we cannot afford, out of
considera ton of mere self-defense
to brook opposition to the common
purpose, or to suffer open objection
ia the common intent.
1t follows therefore, that any
one who may have in times past,
for any cause, been opposed to this
war rn11St needs now still his voice