Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1917-08-16
FREE SPEECH AND
FOOL SPEECH.

An amateur roper was swinging a
lariat recklessly near a small group
of men. The rope in its erratic gyr-
atoms narrowly missed the nose of
one of the group. The owner of the
threatened nose lodged just in time
to save himself. Stop that!" he
yelled angrily at the reckless one
Haven't you any better sense than
to swing that rope so near others?"
The other paused long enough to
transfix him with this question:
"Aint this free country?" Eyes, it's
free country alright shot back the
answer, 'but your freedom ends
where my nose begins"
There is a lot of twaddle-rot
in the land today in defense of
so-called "Free Speech" What is
free speech? Briefly, it is that use
of language which expresses the
feelings, wrongs needs and senti-
ments of the speaker without en-
croaching the rights, peace and safe
ty of his neighbor. In the words
quoted above: 'your freedom ends
where his nose Cor rights begins"
To illustrate farther. Any man has
a right to speak respectfully on any
decent subject. But no man has the
right-or freedom-to speak to q
good woman on an indecent subject.
He has the liberty TO speak respect
fully to her, but to speak disrespect-
fully to her is transgressing beyond
the confines of liberty, and to over
step liberty is to indulge in license.
) There is where the ignorant and the
Intentionally ignorant fail to dis
criminate. My neighbor may give
me liberty to milk his cow, but if ]
step over that liberty and kill hel
for beef that is license.
Liberty is grand, beautiful and
a glorious word-license is an i'll
tasting hateful and brutal one. Lib.
erty allows men to do those things
and say those things that conduce
to the best happiness of my neigh
Dor and me. License leads men tc
do and say those things that the
right instincts of every man rebel
against. Liberty confines men tC
that mode of life and speech which
promotes peace, happiness and pros
perity. License leads to strife, dis
cord and wars. And what is true OF
free speech is, of course, true Of the
freedom of the press. AS long as
paper uses language that is proper
prints the true news, teaches those
things that conduce the law, order
and good morals, that paper is with
in the bounds of liberty. But let
paper indulge in indecent language
OF language that is calculated tC
corrupt the morals of its readers,
then that paper has stepped over its
boundary of liberty and is guilty OF
unlawful license. Liberty has DO.
undS.
The same liberty that fences the
NUIuS anu dCtS vi dill lllulNluudl WIFI
in prescribed boundary fences III
also the words and acts of organiza
tons. And when any organization
uses language and INDUCES in act,
ions that transgress the plainly de-
fined rights, menace the peace and
threaten the lives of those outside
that organization, then such an or
ganization is without the boundary
of it's liberty and is INDUCING in Ii
cense-lawless license. Free speech
is one thing-fool speech is another.
Every man has an innate and in
alienable right to speak and do that
which is right: no man has a right
to do or speak that which is harmful
or wrong. Let us have limitless lib
erty, but down with lawless license