The forum. [volume] (Springfield, Ill.) 1904-192?, 1917-04-07
Is GOVERNMENT SO PATERNAIISTE AND
NQUISITG2IAL THAT FREEDOM EA M0CKERY!
BY W. r. WILEY. Editor Cincinnati Enquirer i.
tBy United Press Association.

aS ASSOCIATION
ances OF American newspapers, or has
II tacit alliance with the minions %
seets and organizations, powerfully
financed and skillfully offieered, whose
mission In life is to lsgislats people In
to morality and goodness? 1t matters
not. my friends, whence emanates this
insidious movement. 1t is enough to
know that it really exists. that it 10
not chimera or q myth. Such bst-
ter is an insult to the intelligence and
the integrity of every publisher IN
America, and there is no redress for
the studied affront
Quoting from one who has E,ade q
long study of this insidious advance up-
on the freedom of the press, let these
statements have place In your minds:
The fight for censorship of the columns
OF the newspapers will not stop with at
u cks on liquor advertisements or. indeed,
with attempts TO control advertisements.
Several states now prohibit the manu-
faeture or sale OF cigarettes, and IL 10
inevitable that legislation against news
papers carrying cigarette Advertisements
I'm such states viii be urged.
After the advertising department of
every newspaper and magazine has been
subjected to censorship. how can the news
columns remain fresf What of horse
racing reports stock market quotations:
Sunday baseball information-indesd. why
not suppression of Sunday papers. and OF
Monday papers printed in whole In
part on the Sabbath
| But what OF editorial liberty II II be
decreed that the use OF liquor and of
cigarettes is hurtful alike to the Individual
and to society is II not an act OF hostil-
] 70 fh.a nat nd ~ h.
an editor to praise old wine. or TO
refer indulgently to the ''rnskin's' Of a
cigarette or to oppose In any way tho
cause OF prohibition?
How long will il be, 1 wonder. before
American people are Jared into realixa-
ton that they must look for diota-
| ton to what they may eat or drink.
as to what lines of business they may
sssage in. and to how a newspaper
may be edited. and what forms OF ad-
vsrtising il may carry into the different
states?
And, gentlemen OF the Associated
Ohio Dailies, we are to blame. We
have created the Frankensteins that
are now turning to rend us limb from
limb. Drunk with power, riding .
wave Of fanaticism in a sea Of pater-
!
ing seek our destruction. The vaunted
power OF the press is no more. The
locks OF Sampson have been shorn by
the Delilahs, miscalled statesmen, and
the press grovels before officisldom
| grateful for look. kind word or q
less importunate kick than usual
Intolerance Of OfficlaIdom.
Two years ago, before this body.
painted a picture OF the growth u
governmental officiousness which Was
more prophetic than / knew Your
attention was directed at that time TO
the increasing insolence and intoler-
ance OF ofiicialdom and the prediction
WAS made that, unless checked and re-
pressed with stern hand, Ii would
rise up to strike down its creators. II
is in no spirit of arrogance or boast
fulness that these facts are recalled,
| bat in a spirit OF sorrow and humilia-
ton Our sins OF omission and COM
mission are engulnng u.s. Instead OF
rising like valiant fighting men. trvs
TO conscience, to honor. TO the spirit Of
freedom and progress of civilization.
!
ike hoary dotards wrapped IN thu
saekeloth and ashes Of lament and re-
pine How long, Lord How long
shall this endure?
Where are the forward looking msn
of today? Certainly not In the halls OF
legisle tion. State legislatures from
the Atlantic TO the Pacific are feeble
oounterfeits merely of doddering
congress. Here in Ohio why can we
not have constructive legislation on
the subject of taxationf The answer
is painfully simple: because we lack
constructive statesmen In the general
assembly. Too great q percentage Of
the Membership can not lift its ears
from the ground TO take good,
square, honest look upon the nsces-
stiles of sections and taxing divisions
remote from the bailiwioks to which
they look for continued lease on on
cial life.
A Dartmouth professor is sponsor
for a story that aptly portrays the sit
untion In which we find ourselves
A householder was dismay Sd one night
b. the sudden extinguishmsnt OF tina elee-
I trio lights III his mouse Ia a httla Wtfio
| il became apparent that the darkness
would probably continue through the night
unless the break could be located and cor
I rected. Unable at that hour 30 secure
the services OF an expert electrician the
householder hit upon the happy scheme OF
dstaching the batteries from hts doo<Dells
and connecting them with his electric
feed wires. But no light resulted. Neat
day the experts came to remedy tho
trouble and seeing the haplsss sxpsdtent
4 OF the owner. remarked.
Don't YOU know that IL takes 500 times
more power to produces light thaz II takes
to produce noizef'
There is the whole situation in a
nutshell We are troubled with low
voltage statesmen, the tiny dry cells
of whose brains are lust powerful
enough to make uneeasing racket
while gsyat dynamic minds that might
flood the world with legislative light
and wisdom are disconnected from the
machinery of government
Two years later at this annual gath