New Britain herald., 1919-05-06

tenths .of the political stock in trade of the outs is the creation of dis content with the conduct of the gen tlemen who are in off1ce-in other wordS' with the government I give the aulhor the credit of being thor oughlA hohpartisan We republicans would go to jail for criticizing the natohal democratic administration. but we could get even with our dem ocrauc friends eff there are any members o1 the democratic party left in PennsylVania) because we would be able 10 place them in jail for tending to create diScontCNt with the state government
 Of course. placing tn >mbers of the hou@r 1 senate il was not ,hc ohjCc' he auth I suppose that he minC q suppress sion Of Y #m. \ olshevist as I under"t; t. is u gentleman or lady who wants to stir un a minority of the people to overthrow existing governments by violence His idea is to govern by force of the minority and his business is the promotion. os violent revolution. If I have cor rcctlv defined a Bolshevist I have every sympathy with a desire to land | him or her in jail. You cannot do i it too soon to please me. But for. ] that lauda blc purpose we do not need ! this absurd bill. The person who in 1 cites others to violence or who or | Ganizcs for the ultimate pufnose of ! oNerthrOWing our government by vio- 1 fence commits a COmmon-law crinl e. To protect ourselves against him re- qulres no new statute: it requires the
 ability to catch the criminal and to 1 prosecute him.
 am well aware that there is more
 than one Boshevik in this country,
 and vet l do not believe that we
 are Tn any real danger of a Bolsheyik
 revolution unless we persist in loo
 islation of which this sedtion bi1l is
 an example. The real danger of
 such bill is that some entbusia stic district-attorney will attempt to mag
 nifty his office by prosecuting some
 one who does not believe in yiolen,
 revolution, but who does dare te
 criticize in a way which every free
 man has right 10 criticize what Inc
 regards as wrong in our state anc national laws. and that jury vii be found to convict. At onco vo, Will nave martyr, and if you wan
 to have BolsheVism become req menace all you have to do is to nak , IeW martyrs under the provision
 of such an act as the one now pro posed
 Finally, I am a Roosevelt repub hcan, and would like to see the re
 publican party stay on the poltica
 map. If any one believes that a nart
 responsible for Sedition laws such a the one embodied in this bill can lon continue 'to'~eXist in a free countr just let him read in McMaster's "Hi tory of the People of the Unite States the account of the seditit 1 law passed by the federalists Adams administration. That sed ton law, whose passage and enforc ment principally contributed to swee
 the federalists from power foreve l was worded so as to make scrimin false, scandalOuS and maliciOl writings against tho government the United States or congress" TT ) bill under consideration at Harris burg goes infinitely further than tn ill-Starred sedition act of congress.
 makes criminal any act or writing whether true or false, which tenc
 to arouse discontent with the stat or national governme ent. Reaction ary bourbonism can go no further