New-York tribune., 1918-05-10
Radicals Have Final Fling
Before Sedition Bill Is Law
Banquet in Honor of Indicted Masses Editors Abounds in
Qups at Congress, Which Has Mathematical
Lynching, Morris E1illquit Explains

Under the shadow of the espionage
act the Liberty Defence Union gave a
testimonial dinner last night to the
editors of "The Masses" now awaiting
their second trial. 1t was turned into
last minute criticism of the sedition
bill, which, Morris Hillquit asserted,
would make such criticism criminal.
Hjllquit, Max Eastman, Charles Irwin
and John Reed were vocifcrously
cheered by the more than 400 dinner
guests who crowded the Central Opera
House, in Sixty-seventh Street, near
Third Avenue.
Irwin, editor of the New York So
cialist daily, "The Call" introduced
Hillquit as the first speaker to a
widely representative audience which
he said agreed in only one thing-~the
right of every one to express the truth
as he sees it. In it were mingled
bobbed hair from Greenwich Village,
gray hair of sober-looking mothers,
pince-nez and tortoise shclled eye
glasses, some who were called "Sacha"
and persons who had the title "camou-
faged idle rich thrust upon them.
The "social worker mouth" and the
grace of the aesthetic dancer, the spec
tacles of the college professor and the
regular, everyday look Of the average
American made it an audience to
which Irwin, chairman Of the occasion,
could safely define belief in free
speech as:
"Absolute willingness to stand
persecution or even imprisonment for
the right of some other man or wom
an to express something you do not
believe in.'
A Vacation" From Congress
Hillquit's opening words struck the
note of good humored sarcasm, which
was the undercurrent of even the most
serious speeches of the evening.
Congress, it seems" he said, "is try
ing to give us speakers a little vaca-
tion. When President Wilson puts his
signature to the espionage act we can
all vacate. We won't be troubled with
the new law the Postmaster General
may upon evidence satisfactory to him
stop and have returned any mail direct
ed to an individual, group or a corpo-
ration which he thinks is violating this
act. He can do this, as the law indi-
Gates, on evidence presented by him
self to himself and passed upon by
himself.
"There is talk of new law being
passed whereby, if the Attorney Gen
eral is satisfied by evidence satisfac-
tory to himself that citizen is think
ing in violation of law, he may be
chloroformed by the proper medical
authorities for the duration of the war.
"By the provisions of this law, which
forbids criticism Of the Constitution,
the army or navy, the uniform of the
army or navy the measures by which
the war is being prosecuted, l shall be
unable to explain this law, as I am now
doing
"Warns" Sulfragists
"If Elizabeth Freeman starts cam
paigning for the woman suffrage
amendment of the Constitution, and
should happen to say, Blame that old
Constitution! 1t should be changed in
order to be fair to both men and wom-
en-" it's not more than $4,000 or
twenty years in prison. She must say,
May | not suggest that our Constitu-
tion is bit shopworn
"If a soldiers mOsner doesn't like
the cut Of his uniform and says: Darn
that tailor! He made pair Of balloons
Don't forget that this law is not
only what it says, but what it will be
made to say by judicial decisions.
"That is the history of the present
law. That law, intended to catch Ger
man spies and preachers of mutiny in
the army, has caught spies and mu-
tineers like Max Eastman, Floyd Dell
and Art Young, practically charged
with being in the employ of Germany.
But they had minds, they had con-
sciences, and they believed they had
the right to express their minds. They
were tried by a jury, majority of
but said they believed they could lay
that prejudice aside. They were tried,
moreover, during the height of feel
ing over the terrible German drive
and during the third Liberty Loan
campaign, with bands playing patriotic
airs under the windows of the court
house.
Trial University Course
"Yet that trial was not without it's
Importance as a fight for freedom Of
speech and the preservation of what is
still left of our constitutional rights.
Never in the history Of American juris-
prudence has there been a case of this
kind. 1t did not seem a trial. 1t
seemed university course of instruc-
tion for citizens in their constitutional
rights, of the right to express their
minds on all questions, including war,
peace and conscription. If that trial
could only run on long enough it
would mean the genuine education of
the American people. And we shall
have more of these trials as soon as
this new bill is signed
The new espionage bill is supposed
to be for the purpose of stopping mob
violence and lynching. Not that mobs
VIII look up the court records and
say, We will make up your delin-
Quency.' No, this law means the ma
tlonallzation of the hitherto private
institution of lynching.
after presenting to itself evidence sat
isfactory to itself, to met out punish
mont Now we can leave that same
process TO an officer of the law.
There is no more justice, no more
law, in one than in the other"
Eastman and His Friends
Max Eastman, the second speaker,
confessed that since he was indicted
he has had all kinds of trouble with
the split among his friends. "Half of
them" he said, "have been disgusted
with me because they thought | was
going to Jail, and the other half have
been disgusted with me because they
thought I wasn't going to jail The
prosecutor called me a man without
country. 1t was worse than that.
Wnen the jury was hanging fire, and