Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-27
PARDONING FIJI DIS
president HARDING refus-

1A1AANDAASA A~AoS
4 ed to yield to the pleas o:
radical friends Of the few prisoner
still kept in confinement for viola
ton Of the espionage laws Of th'
United States or for treasonabl.
speech making. These men want
ed the president to release all sucl
prisoners by executive action ane
make them a Christmas present O.
their freedom. He did pardon {
few. So long as these demand:
were accompanied by Svert
threats we approve of the refusa.
of the president to act. It may
also be that some of the men still
incarcerated are guilty of more
serious breaches of the law thar
their comrades who have been re.
leased. No doubt they are also
autonatons and declare their in.
tention to repeat their offenses
under the same circumstances. But
they cannot be more unrepentant
than Eugene v. Debs, whom the
president pardoned a year ago
while he persisted in saying that
he would do the same thing again.
and that he had asked for no par
don, wanted no pardon, and had
made no promises as to his future
conduct. When President Hard
ing pardoned Debs he practically
wiped out the excuse of continu-
ancy as applied to all other prison
ers who are incarcerated for what
they said during war times. There
is a considerable body of public
opinion that gave full approval to
the arrest and conviction of these
and the justice of their SEN
fences which now think that the
purpose of those sentences have
been served, and that they might
now be properly released by gov
eminent action with an injunction
to 60 and sin no more. It is a no
ticeable fact that while Eugene V.
Debs has insisted that he made no
pledges to guard his speech in the
future, yet he has been careful not
to repeat his offense. Of course,
in times of peace he could not ex-
actly repeat his offense, and the
act under which he was convicted
has been repealed, but it is notice
able that in such public utterances
as have come from Mr.. Debs since
his release he has taken a distinctly
tone when he speaks Of the
government and law and order.
The New York World, which can
not be suspected Of any sympathy
anarchists, or men of the
Debs school of thought favors a
amnesty of all political
at this time. St says: "All
the war profiteers are out Of jail,
the espionage law is repealed, the
war is over, the peace itself, if not
over, is at least a good deal worn
~Ja~- gHJ,1ra ,yhccn fraoCnF1
consisted in selling plans to the
enemy or trying to blow up NUM-
tons ships are free, along with
Smith and his assist
ants in a notorious doughboy pris-
On. Anything in the nature of an
outright overt crime the United
States can see its way clear to for
give, but when it comes to people
with opinions, people who will not
say they are sorry, MI. D~augherty's
conscience, which is very delicate,
oothers him. He can excuse any
thing except adherence to prin-
We find ourselves somewhat in
sympathy with the New York
newspaper. Those disloyalists
who we're guilty of covert acts"
such as sabotage and destruction
IF munition plants, might well
nave been kept in Jail for their full
:erms whether they were aliens or
citizens. But the man whose Of
:ense was committed only with his
mouth comes in another class. and
milder treatment instead of
more severe treatment. IF those
guilty of acts of reason are par
Toned those who only gave verbal
approval of such acts might well
,e pardoned also. We would favor
urning them loose if they would
gree to 90 to Russia or some 9TH
II paradise of freedom for their
.ort.