Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-11-24
CANNOT REACH j
REDS THROUGH
EXISTING LAW
Congress Blamed for
Helplessness Of Attor-
ney General.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial to The Argus.l

8A0 tAOA DOu40tuAuS A0WA00o oo0
terrible happens to shock the Amer
ican people whereupon speeches are
made In congress, resolutions Of in
Quiry are proposed and q general
ensues designed to con-
vince the people that their repre-
sentatives In the house and senate
on the job and that every little
thing will be attended to Just as
soon as the mere mechanics Of
drafting law and presenting 1t to
the two houses Of congress can be
conveniently accomplished.
Not many days ago . tragedy oc-
CURED In Centralia, WASH, and
the attention Of the country was
focused ON the activities Of the l.
w. W.S. Not many weeks before
that bombs were thrown and the
life Of the attorney general himself
was threatened. Yet since the sub
Ject wis broached in congress ou
June IA last, although 70 bills have
been introduced to deal with redi-
calism, not one was placed ON the
statute books - and congress
serenely adjourned last week with
out 10 much a. public statement of
its intentions or the reasons for its
failure to act upon q danger to the
public welfare.
No Penalty for Selition.
For the fact 10, upon the author
ity Of the attorney general himself,
that there ara, today NO laws which
make It . crime to preach anarchy
or sedition. Moreover, those who
have attempted to bring about the
forcible overthrow OF the govern
ment Of the United States have
.cnMmittod 10 crime unleoxf 1lr
tct1 41nouht 70 treason, rS6elll6h u
seditiouS conspiracy. To prove CON
spiracy the acts of two rsrsoni
acting In collusion must Be clearly
unlawful Individually, therefore, 1
person may 60 the limit It present
and can not be punished unlesa
someone else cooperates. with him
or her in the planning Of the crime.
Furthermore rebellion" and "trez-
son" have been defined as levyine
war or giving aid and comfort tc
the enemies OF the United States
But the advising Of defiance ol
law IL not . crime under the gen
eral criminal laws whether the
same be done by printing and cir.
culating literature or by the spoken
word. Nor IL It q crime to advise
and openly advocate the unlawful
obstruction Of industry and the un.
lawful and violent destruction ol
property.
To test existing statutes. the de.
partment OF Justice has brought
various suits with the same result
Indeed, an anarchistic organization
in operation in Buffalo, N. T.. cir.
! culated q manifesto appealing tc
the proletariat to arise and destroy
the government Of the United Statei
and substitute bolshevism. Aftel
advocating the assassination o.
public officials, the document de
clared: make way for bolshevism
for the department Of labor, mines
railways, fields. factories and shop,
let the soviets be organized" 1
openly advocated rebellion thus;
Proclaim yourself openly an an
archist. Let the revolution come
Hail to the immaculate and re
deeming anarchy"
Yet what happened in that case
Judge Hazel Of the western distric
of New York dismissed the cas-,
and discharged the defendant
Here is what he said and why b,
| did It:
II do not think that congres,
whea it enacted this law (the con
spiracy statutes) had IN mind sucl
situation as that-had In mind tn
circulation of literature such q
this. I do not think, giving tn
provisions q fair Interpretation
that It embraces any such offens'
at all. There may be q statut'
which makes It . crime for an!
person to conspire for the circula
ton Of literature Of this character
but my attention has not been call
ed to It"
And Of course, Judge Hazel va
right for NO statute Of that charac