River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1920-02-12


hy Reques. FROM the Hudson Ssar-
Observer.
LET REVERENCE FOR THE LAWS
be breathei by every American moth
err 10 the isping babe that prattles on
her lap; let it be taught in schools, in
seminaries and in colleges; let it be
written in primers, spelling books
and in almanacs; let II be preached
from the pulpit, proclaimed in legis-
latiye halls and enforced in courts of
Justice. And, in short, let 1t become
the political religion of the nation;
and let the old and the young, the
rich and the poor, the grave and the
gay of all sexes and tongues and col
ors and conditions, sacrifice unceas-
ingly upon its affairs.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Every war that this country has
engaged in has stirred to life some
unestablished principle that has per
sisted as a great national issue until
it was openly and honestly met and
nobly responded to.
The United States took part IN
the Great World war, although some
of its high officials seem rather I'M
mindful of the fact that we had a
case in that war and won it.
The question that was awakened
bv that war is the great question,
characterized by Roosevelt as n.y.
nhenated Americanism. Can the
naturalized American citizen still be
loyal to the old country from which
he sprang and render it allegiance
when that country becomes hostile to
the United States? The only pos
sible answer is NO. Nor can any
class of citizens, however distinguish
ed by industrial, religious, CONNER
cial or racial lines be permitted TO
throttle the government While it ex-
torts unfair measures Tor its own
selfish ends.
Freedom of speech is a great Amer
lean principle. So is the republican
form of government And of the two
principles the republican form OF
government is the greater. 1t is the
right of all to equal voice in the gov
eminent and when the voice on the
street corner endangers the other
right then the individual voice from
the soap box must be hushed that the
general voice of the commonwealth
NAV continue to express itself In the
government.
Anarchy is not republicanism. |.
w W.ism and Bolshevism are not
republican forms of government
They are hostile to republican gov
eminent and ask it's destruction. lhey
cannot establish themselves here If
this republic is to endure.
Recently our government seized
some 5000 foreign-born Reds who
have been preaching anarchy IN the
Unitde States-also Bolsnev.sm, pro-
Germanism, I. w. Wism. The case
against these foreign-born Reds was
so conclusive that 5000 of them are
to be deported.
The government now has the power
to punish foreign born Feds, solely
bv deportation. But there isn't
law on the statutue books for the
punishment of our native born Reds.
And if this government is TO be safe
guarded such statute is ecessary.
=
During the actual war we did have
a measure for such protection, but
by limitation it applied only to time
of actual conflict. 1t was known as
the Espionage act and was law be-
cause fortunately some Of our United
States senators and some of our rep
resentatives thought enough more OF
the government than of their own po-
litical fortunes to protect it. Sena-
tor Husting of Wisconsin from the
strongly pro German town Of Mayville
risked political oblivion and voted for
the Espionage act. What did the bal
ance of the Wisconsin delegation do
for this measure? Go ask the dying
echoes.
4
Senator La Toilette introduced
one of five bills that sought its repeal.
Only five senators had the effrontery
to thus go on record against this ne
cessary war measure and La Toilette
was one of the five. And yet some
,,,.ofocc not to understand how the