Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-07-22
WILLIAM AND HENRY

TT WAS inevitable that when the mind OF
i Kansas turned to the labor troubles OF
tho moment the cold rigidity Of technical
discourse would be relieved by warmer and
more divertins argument inspired not by
statistics but by uncommon sense. Doesn't
William Allen White still bide in Emporia
as the voice Of the States own heart? And
isn't Henry Allen, Williams friend, the
Governor? Those who really know their
America wai'rd long to bear from William
and Henry, knowing that when either took
his pen in hand we should hear, through
the racket Of standpatters and agitators,
the authentic Middle Westerner who pre-
serves conceptions Of Americanism that
haven't been degraded by any of the INTEL
lectual naladies now current in the East.
William spoke out and Henry spoke out,
and as q consequence Henry has authorized
a warrant for Williams arrest! Were
there ever stranger times than these?
It was Governor Henry Allen who estab-
lished-or caused to be established-the In
dustrial Court Of Kansas. William, editor
of the Emporia Gazette, thought IIenry's
notion rather good. Outside of Kansas,
Henry has not always been able to make
himself plain. His Industrial Court was
intended primarily to do justice to workers
1t is already advocating a minimum wage
lied industries of the State. 1t is opposed
to strikes.
William looked on admringly until the
Attorney General Of Kansas, acting, as he
believed. with the authority of the law upon
which Henry established the Industrial
Court, declared that any one who expressed
sympathy for the railway shopmen during
the present strike was violating statute.
1t was then that William defied Henry and
the Attorney General and the world, and
put sign in his window to declare his
belief that the shopmen were at least 80
per cent right in their contentious and that
they We're justified in fighting for living
wage.
Now, you would suppose that Kansas
would thrill and jubilate. Here was a
fight with right upon both sides. But
Kansas didn't applaud. 1t was shocked.
Henry and William fighting. Yet we. for
ourselves. would like nothing better than
to s"c-and hear-William and Henry fight
over the issues involved IN the present eco
non!ic tunult. For, between them. they
would shed more real light on the moral
factors of the case than a hundred lawyers
talking in unison for year.
"This,' said William of the order issued
by the Attorney General, "is an infamous
violation of the principle Of free speech. |
for one would be ashamed not to ignore II -
IF William wants to so fooling,' said
Governor Henry, I'VE shall have to do
something about It. Arrest him -
Meanwhile, of course, both Henry and
William are right in their essential claims.
They are Fighter than any other two men
who have yet taken part in the general
uproar Of the strike debate. Henry is con-
v!nccd in his soul that strikes are wasteful
and harmful to everybody, and most in
furious in the final analysis to people who
work for wages. He believes that, in the
interest Of all America, the Industrial war
ought to end now and forever. He wants
to see living wages paid in industry and he is
willing to compel employers to pay them If
he can. $50 far" says William, 80 good.
But free speech is the one indispensable
thing in the United States I'll say and
print what | believe though the heavens
fall. Having said that, William closed
with on" of the wisest utteranccs ever heard.
even in Kansas. Free speech is most
valuable and most necessary" he concluded
when 1t is the sort that is in danger of
suppr"ssiOn''
William, we believe, is even n little wiser
than Henry. For, while Henry has been
fighting on the side Of pure reason, Will
liam is cOnsecrated passionately to n moral
principle that IS at the very foundation of
the American philosophy of government.
Representatives of the Industrial Court
say that William and Henry are both wrong
and that there is nothing in the law to
limit free speech or to authorize any ones
arrest for the free expression Of any opin.
ion. But William and Henry are not
wrong. The wrong one proves to be the
Attorney General of Kansas, who happens
To be politician about to run for another
otic" and, therefore, in search of campaign
stuff