The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-06-25

the militant soap boxers. who ssN
about freedom of speech, wound ,s,NN
and say Ii In these days Of unra., ~
congress Of the United States ana -
president should make such
nouncement America. ladIcaI
conservative, would rise In n.oss'i
against any such law. We live nv.
ana progress as a people because !,
our freedom of thought. speech "a
action. OF course, we silence tbo So
who criminally advocates lawIessnass
and we do II for the same reason M,
we arrest the man who sDlts on 4,
sidewalk. 1t is to conserve the mN,l.
welfare, the common good of the gres,
majority who do not believe in IL
ience and disorder. What would hi,
pen to our ''Red" agItators If ~,
were in Russia today instead Of in n.
United States, and ventured sInyIs
disagreement with the boIsheyik ~.
gram, either in policy or metbods,
This constitutional provision is not
muller on free speech, it is a gag.
what freedom can there be in 4
country in which opinion is shacklpd,
How can a nation make progress ev.
cept by the conflict and friction n
opinion? In the United States, expa
rience has taught us that the majority
is generally right, that the many can
be trusted We have put into prac.
tice the Idea that many heads are bet
ter than on5 The bolshevik constItu.
ton launches the policy that wisdom
can only come from a few minds-tbe
fewer, the better. This is the method
they adopted to sOeialize freedom Of
thought, freedom of speech It means
a communism of ideas, but very lin
tied communism. In fact. limited to
the Holy Seventeen" and the oracle
dictator. The people are outside the
circumference of this communism. In
their zone communism commands
obedience and silence. The human
race has fought many fine fight to
take the letters from the minds q
men, and no fight was ever made for a
more essential liberty. When the
mind of man is not free, what freedom
can there be? The failing of the body,
serious as it is, is only small in.
reference with mans liberty com
pared with the Imprisonment Of bis
mind.
This constitutional clamp muzzleS
the press. Notwithstanding all the
criticism which may be justly made
against the press, the fact remains
that the newspapers of the world have
been great force for good, great
power in securing freedom. We see
the world through the eyes of the
newspapers it is our source of infor-
nation; we depend upon 1t for the
facts upon which we base our opln,
ions. Notwithstanding the bitter par.
tisan character of the press, few pa
pers know party lines or party preIu-
dice when the public interest Is men
aced. The press has thrown the
searchlight of terrible publicity on the
ratholes and driven out the political
rats. The freedom of the press is IN
dispensable to free government
Lenine's Change of Heart
Lenine. before he came into power
was the loudest voice in Russia CRY.
ing for free speech. His pen hao
been most bitter against interference
with the freedom of the press IN Ms
pamphlet, Lessons of Revolution, DC
wrote:
/ 1.-THE printing establishments oil th
labor press are raided. The b0lsheVies
are ar ,ested, not infrequentiy Wttlou.
accusation, or on the pretext
charges which are simply calnmnlouS'
sit may be argued that the proSecG
ton of the boisheviks is ny no mean
violation of free speech. since ohis
certain persons on specific charses
are thus prosecuted. But such afs@
ments bear the earmarks OF pfenieui
tated untruth. For why should prin'iAe
offices be raided, newspapers o"F
pressed, for the crimes OF nulNiuu"
even If these crimes are proven y"
sustained by law? 1t would De S'%
gether different IL the government w ~
clared criminal the entire po'sHen
party, its ideas and views. But eNei !,
one knows that the government "a
free Russia never could, and hue ssa
never attempted to do anything Oi -
kind"
Lenine coming into power VIA ~
into the constitution new crime
declared all opposition to the oO, si.,b
vik program a crime. On thus I ism
moral ground he struck down tfee 80
of thought, freedom Of speech no
dom of opinion and freedom o. :
press. ,.,o,
In the language of great ra oance
the time will come when the shs ore
of the people of Russia Will oe ,a ~
powerful than the voices thro1'ieO
the bolshevik gag today. ,,,,oa,
Copyright, 1890. western Newspaper