Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-03
THE GOWNSMAN
Free Speech and Gag Laws


A LOGICIAN once divided the universe
"A into two grand classes, partridges and
not partrdges. The division was severely
logical, and, like most purely logical things.
altogether useless. Scarcely more helpful
is the attempt to make all men out to be
either rampant Bolshevists or heartess
monopolists, conspiring to undo everybody
who is not already undone. As a matter of
fact we arc most of us sad lot when 1t
comes to having our own way rather than
some other way; and, Mr.. Capitalist, Mr..
MonopoliSt and Mr.. Profiteer, you super
lative of the other two, there is n streak
of the Bolshcvist in each of you, and you
can be, on occasion, just as lawless with
property and with rights which are not
your own.
LNREE snccch. in the abstract, is the right
L 20 talk about anything. anywhere, any
how and to anybody. Free speech is the
correlativc of freedom of action. which, once
more in the abstract, is the right to do any
thing TO anybody. at any time and in any
way of your own choosing. Freedom of
action involves the right to do nothing, and
freedom Of speech involves the right to be
silent. n right little observed Obviously,
freedom of action, which is the more primi-
tive. can he enjoyed to the full only by
savagcs or by nations which have reapsed
into savagcry; and absolute freedom of
speech. which is useless unless it persuade
action, thrvcs best in times Of revolution
and anarchy. The trouble with both these
freedoms lies in the antithesis of their reali-
zatiOn to all the nobler virtues of mankind.
Obedience to parents, fidelity to friends,
faithfulncss to family ties and other obli-
cations. reverence for what is deserving
reverence. devotion to country, altruism,
charity. forgiveness, maguanimity-all these
things are dead to him who arrOgates to
himself the right of absolute freedom in per
sonal action. And the right of freedom in
speech in the abstract, even though exercised
to a limited degree, carries with it tactless
ness. unkindness, incivility, often barbarity,
cruelty and a callous heartlessncss to every
thing but self.
TN11E average man is pretty sure of him
l. self. lie would not be man if he were
not. He is very certain about his own
views of things and strong in his opinions,
but he is not so certain about the opinions
of others He confesses that he has oc-
casonally been fool. but most other people
appear to be fools all the time. He allows
that there have been times when he was
mistaken, but he congratulatcs himself that
these occasions are exceptions. What he
cannot understand in the other fellow is
that he is so pcrvcrsely and persiStcntly
wrong. Wherefore. feeling that it is essen
tal that right opinion shall be maintain ined,
he sets about propaganda persuasion, per-
secution, if need be, that the truth may
prevail. And knowing that a striking
characteristic of truth is its unanswerablc
ness he sets about the work of depriving
that misguided other fellow of an oppor
tunity to reply. Gag law is the legitimate
offspring of an affirmation of free speech.
my free speech-why should yours be free
when you are wrong? My right to make the
right prevail. Gag law. like brute free
dom of speech. is the survival of bar
barous, iliberal age.
TNIIE Gownsman. who is himself a man,
L modest in opinion, confesses amazement
at tho confidence of some men of whom we
have been hearing much in the newspapers.
The combined wisdom of a large majority of
the nations of the world. instructed by ex-
pert advice in innumerable fields, is sitting
to determine the future of mankind on this
globe. Shall we at least try to make things
somewhat better or sink back into the
horrors that have been, with inevitable
annihilation. our goal? And certain gentle
men. sitting in arm chairs. 5000 miles from
the scene of these deliberations, without the
facts before them and with no information
save such as they can conjure from their
inner consciousness eked out by partisan
correspondcnts-these same gentlemen daily
with destruction and feel assured that they
are competent to judge; pick choose and
amend a document the actual text of which
until recently, they had never seen. 1t is
relief to be able to attribute the por-
tentOus phenomena of Messrs. Knox, Borah
and Pepper to partsanship; it restores our
confidence in human intelligence.
ITO RETURN to free speech-if this be not
l. such-and to gag law. 1t is always those
whose own freedom of speech is least i'm
periled who are the most ready to put gags
on others. And it is invariably those who
misuse the human gift of speech who prate
the most about the rights of freedom. Mr..
William Hohenzollern.- sometime Emperor
! of the Germans. passed laws to restrain re
| marks dcrogatory to himself and to the
| divinity which he imagined was concerned
! to hedge his throne. He was the only Ger
| man enjoying the right of free speech, and
| he used it, if not wisely, only too we'll. So
| the Bosheviki having extolled and exer-
| ciSed every kind of freedom known to the
| barbarian, gagged those who had previously
! gagged them, proving to the world that il
is not only tyrants and the b3urgeoisie who
| exercise a freedom and an oppression sub
| versivc to the rights of men. 1t must be
| uunllldllOH 10 lHe bOlsHeNlkl lOVerS OF
mankind to observe with what difficulty they
have succeeded in surprising the Huns
modern and old in the game II rdpine and
spoliaton And the course of the Bolshe
wiki might b. "a lesson to those who have
been seeking to dam the dykes of free speect
with the single brckbat of petty gag law
| GAG law does not gag. And it is un'
VI safe to sit on the throttle. For muci
of the food that might overwhelm in gath
cred force is harmless, evaporated into tn,
steam of heated oratory. In England, a
Hyde Park, his pulpit n soap box, any maj
or woman may say what he likes, from
slander of the royal family to the creed o
! arson. massacre and atheism. Hyde Parl
of Sunday morning is Britain's safet.
| rnlrn and what may nnk the emnire nw