New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1919-07-02
Let $ Get Back Z o 4 reedo,n

\ 5 y 81
There may be many things this coun
try needs, but more espionage legisla-
ton IS not one Of them. Not more but
less Of tina is what the situation calls
for. The congress should repeal the
existing espionage acts. The :Presi-
Cent should proclaim amnesty for all
Persons sentenced, convicted or still
awaiting trial under these laws. It is
time, too, to pardon all those conscien-
tlous directors to war, now in various
military prisons. Ordinary law as #
has alwa5 csisteo is comp etent to deal
with crimes of violerce. There is album
Sdant2 governmental achinery to give
effect to that ordir airy law. The au-
thorities should net permit themselves
to fall into a ranic because of few bomb
outraG es. IIey hould capture the
perpetrators and punish them. They
should not apply OPPRESSION and suppress
sion by any drag net methods, for that
will only provoke more of that which
it is desired to prevent.
Those statesman who clamor for the
suppression Of radical publications are
|of defective vision. Give such men
their way and they will give the rabid
Reds" more and more excuse for out
breaks Of murderous fanaticisrn. An
efficient answer to such violence would
be the removal of all sense of grievance
by the release of all the persons now being
punished for opinions sake. This would
not be surrender to the enemies Of govern
ment and society. It would be return
Of government from the madness of war
to the sanity Of peace. Attorney-Gen-
eral Palmer has the right idea. He
declares against the necessity of more
legislation Of a repressive, character.
What we have now Of such legislation
| is a cause Of much Of the prevalent dis
content. It is impossible to make the
American people believe that Eugene
Debs, Kate Richards O'Hare, Rose
Pastor Stokes, Roger N. Baldwin and
Victor Berger are enemies of the coun-
try, or the friends Of the country's enc
mics They were convicted under war
conditions, when prejudice and passion
rather than reason ruled on the bench
and In the jury box. They offended,
at most, against laws for time and a
set Of circumstances that have passed.
/ The war is over. It is not a crime
now to be opposed to war, for the nation
| is not at war. Their offense has ceased
to exist. Their punishment has been
sufh It's value as deterrent
to others has been destroyed. Its
efficiency as to the convicted persons
7, themselves is nil. None Of them has
changed his OF. her opinions. There
are more people opposed to war thar
there were before these people were
] punished. There are a thousand con.
scientious directors to war now, where
there was one before the war. The
longer the punishment Of these people
continues the more converts it viii
make to their views. And of those
converts more and more will be unbal
| anced in mind and driven to acts Of insane
and murderous desperation. Espionage
acts do not tend to solidarize the people
They foster the spirit Of domestic, socia
warfare. They tend to promote thu
persecution off people for mere noncon
formity. The preventive measures rec
commended byf certain statesmen d.
not prevent the causes thereof. Ane
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