New-York tribune., 1919-11-26
In the Name of Free Speech

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Having been defeated from A to
lizard in their campaign-first,
against preparedness; second,
against war, and, third, against VIC
tory-our intelligentsia have shifted
their tents to a new ground where
the Objectionable fanaticism known
as patriotism is not so likely to stop
them in their tracks.
Their new shibboleth is "free
speech" 1t is an ancient and hon.
ored principle Of American life and
phrase which naturally rallies in
stinctive support from every one. If
our radical highbrows mean by it
what Americans have meant by it
for generations they deserve the
support of every fair minded citi-
zen. Unfortunately, they do not
mean any such thing.
The best illustration Of what they
do mean is to be found in their use
of the dissenting opinion Of Justice
Holmes in an espionage case recent
ly decided by the Supreme Court of
the United States. Our radicals
have taken this opinion as their dec
laration of faith; they are quoting
it at length and waving it's news
against the sky. So what this opin-
ion says is of considerable moment.
In the case of Jacob Abrams ct
al five defendants were convicted
of violating the espionage law.
They were born in Russia, they had
lived in the United States from five
to ten years, and none Of them had
ever applied for naturalization.
Three avowed on the witness stand
that they were anarchists.
The two circulars distributed by
them contained typical revolutionary
utterances. Resistance to the gov
ernment was urged in one cir
cular and the curtailment of ammu-
milton making in the other, matters
directly covered by the espionage act.
The language counseling the latter
was as follows:
"Workers, Russian cmigrants, you
who had the least belief in the hon
esty of our government this, defend
ants admitted, referred to the United
States government must now throw
away all confidence, must spit in the
face Of the false, hypocritic, military
propaganda which has fooled you so
relentlesslv, calling forth your sym
pathy, your help, to the prosecution
of the war.
with the money which you have
loaned or are going to loan them, they
will make bullets not only for the
Germans, but also for the Workers
Sovets of Russia. Workers in the
ammunition factories, you are pro-
ducing bullets, bayonets, cannon, to
murder not only the Germans, but
also your dearest, best, who are in
Russia and are fighting for freedom ="
The indictments to resist the gov
ernment in its prosecution of the
war were in part as follows:
"Workers, our reply to the barbaric
intervention has to be general
strike! An open challenge only will
let the government know that not
only the Russian worker fights for
freedom, but also here in America
lives the spirit of revolution.
"Do not let the government scare
you with their wild punishment in
prisons, hanging and shooting. We
must not and will not betray the
splendid fighters in Russia Workers,
up to fght!"
Of course, throughout the period
Of these circulars, every conceivable
appeal to reason against the Russian
venture was made vociferously with
out the slightest restraint from any
one. Our intelligentsia were per-
mitted-and quite properly-to be-
come red in the face setting forth
the reasons why our troops should
not 60 into Russia as part of our
campaign against Germany. So
those anarchists could, and doubtless
did, make every such legitimate ap-
peal that they wished. And the law
protected them.
The majority of the Supreme
Court affirmed the convictions, but
Justice Holmes saw fit to dissent
and Justice Brandeis concurred in
the dissent. There were various
reasons given for the dissent The
chief one, and the one on which the
radicals lay stress, was an applica-
ton of the First Amendment of the
Constitution, providing that Con-
gress shall make no law abridging
the freedom of speech. Mr.. Justice
Holmes had upheld the espionage
act in the Debs case, but he found
these anarchist circulars on the
other side of the line for the fol-
lowing. reasons:
at is only the present danger OF
,rnr,oI;oto oxr;1 or on ;,+ont l,~;x.