Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1919-02-13
Plain Facts Presented
To The U. 5. Senate
In Popular Editorial From New
York American.

champion newspaper for free speech
and free press, came out editorially
last Friday with strong defense
for those true American, time-hon-
ored and constitutional principles
upon which The Progressive has
stood. The editorial follows:
SENATORS. You complain that you
are not kept informed as to the pro-
ceedings in Paris, and that while the
Constitution expressly makes the
Senate co-equal with the President
in making treaties, you are really
not permitted to exercise that pans
nership.
well, Senators, if that is true,
whose fault is it?
"You are to blame-you, your
selves.
You began by giving your assent
to unconstitutional measures which
deprived the people of their guaran-
teed rights, and now you find that
those precendents of unconstitutional
procedure and this policy of unwar-
ranted surrender have deprived you
of your rights.
"You, with your own hands, put
an introduction upon the freedom Of
the press, upon the freedom of petit
ton.
Regardless of the will of the
people, regardless of the provisions
of the Constitution regardless of the
Bill of Rights added to the original
Constitution, regardless of the fun
damental obligation that rests upon
the representatives of free men, you
surrendered our inherit rights and
guaranteed liberties and put us all
at the mercy of bureaucratic tyran-
ny.
"Have you all any right to com
plain now that you yourselves are
having measured out to you the
same arbitrary disregard of your
constitutional rights which you
measured out to your countrymen?
"You surrendered your proud priv
ileges, you deserted your post as
protectors of the peoples liberties
when every tradition Of our history
and every obligation laid upon you
bv your fathers and the very express
voice Of our Great Charter Of Free
dsm itself called upon you to stand
up like men and defend the liberties
Of the land.
@You concurred with the other
House Of Congress in enacting a
law which you knew well then and
know we'll now to be wholly uncon-
stitltional, giving the Postmaster
Ge1 raj of the United States, mere
depa4 tmental official, with no right
or shadow of right to exercise ju-
dicial functions, the power to des-
troy any newspaper which might
print anything that this irresponsible
official or any of his underlings de-
cided to be out of line with Execu-
tive opinions; and you took care that
the public journal SO condemned to
destruction by one of these bureau
Gratis should have no appeal to the
courts, should have no opportunity
to bring it's case to the bar of pub
die justice, should have no opportun-
ity to be heard by counsel, to sum-
defense a single one of those legal
safeguards which the wise and good
men who made our Constitution in
tended that that instrument should
guarantee forever to every man and
woman born upon the free soil of the
Republic.
you yourselves emasculated the
Constitution, denied to your fellow
couztrymen the most precious of
thee liberties which the Constitu-
fen was Intended to guarantee, and
II every way within your power sub
stituted force and duress for popular
rights and cast contempt upon the
charter of our liberties.
go now the evil example which
y subSSINleASy SCI III yOul CASoI-
M Of the rest of US comes home
to yu; and just as you denied to US
the freedom of speech and the free
dom of printing and the freedom Of
assembly and the freedom of opinion
guaranteed by the Constitution, you
are in turn denied that share in de-
termiRing the foreign policies of our
nation which the Constitution guar
antees to you.
"Your own medicine is being adj
ministered to you in your turn.
"You delivered your own people
bound and helpless into the hands of
bureaucratic tyranny, temporary
tyranny to be sure, but nevertheless
autocratic, unconstitutional, Illegal