The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1922-11-18
RIGHT OF FREE SPEECH IS FIRST 49,.
and MOST IMPORTANT GUARANTEE
Men Who Profess to Be Guarding Constitution Are the Very
Ones Who Threaten Il; Daugherty Holly Censured.

opinion with force instead Of reason
is wearisome tale of monotonouS
failures. 1t was the. method used BY
the Car, by the Kaiser, by Lenin.
That we, in the face Of these fail
ures. should go on repeating them,
is amazingly stupid. It directly pro-
notes the cause it seeks to destroy.
The Christian religion owes Nero
an immense debt Of gratitude for
the advertising he gave it by his
persecution.
8-It Is the Progressive Method.
Unless there Is freedom to discuss
and criticize things as they are.
there is no chance to help make
them what they ought to be. It Is
the only method which makes i'm
provement possible. Mark Twain
clearly stated this necessity when he
said: my kind Of loyalty was loyal
ty to ones country. not to its insti-
tutions. The country is the real
thing, the eternal thing. Institutions
are extraneous, they are its mere
clothing, and clothing can wear out,
become ragged. To be loyal to rags.
that is a loyalty to unreason. 1t
belongs to monarchy; let monarchy
keep it. The citizen who thinks he
sees that the commemorative
clothes are worn out, and yet holds
his peace and does not agitate for
a new suit. is disloyal: he is trail
tor"
10-It Is the Lawful Method.
Any American citizen who at
tempts to discourage freedom of dis.
cussion, violates the organic law Of
our nation. The first amendment to
the Federal Constitution bluntly says
that freedom Of speech must not be
abridged. Ours is government by
public opinion; its prosperity de-
Ponds on the freedom of forces which
mold public opinion.
All public officials or private citi-
zens, who suppress free speech, are
lawbreakers and should be treated
as such. If there be any who dis
agree with the First Amendment, it
is their right to agitate for its repeal
through our regular and orderly
method of making changes in the
government.
The strange wave Of fear and hys-
terra and organized panic, which
during and since the war has been
causing disobedience to the first
amendment to the Constitution, is
relieved by touch Of a sad sort of
humor. For these lawbreakers pose
as Datr1OtS IT ia these pont1or an
most of all who need to be Ameri-
canized. They are tragically mis-
taken about Americas ideals, and
they are pitifully ignorant Of human
nature.
More than ninety per cent Of all
social, industrial and political dis
putes could be settled in short or
der, if the parties to them would
meet in the same room, put their
feet under the same table, look into
one another's faces, and be honest.
IT the same fairness, tolerance, af-
lection, willingness to differ in opin-
ion without differing in feeling which
is employed in fraternal orders were
extended to the citizen-members of
America as a society, social unrest
would cease. 1t would mean the pre-
vention Of an incalcuable loss Of life,
money, and good will, if America
would now heed Jefferson's plea:
LET us restore to social intercourse
that harmony and affection, without
which liberty and even life itself are
but dreary things"