Arizona republican., 1922-01-30

ship on the freedom OF speech and
the press, you have not merely in
vaded one constitutional right: you
have imp periled them all. Destroy the
freedom of the press, and your hands
are unshackled to destroy the free
dom OF conscience, immunity from
arrest, or any other outrage or act
of tyranny against which the people
are not protected by constitutional
guarantees"
This, the senator thinks. is the
worst phase Of the Legislative itch"
afflicting the country.
1t has been pointed out to the COM
Jnittee that passage of the bill. uT1-
less the president vetoes it. would
impose restrictions n'the American
press far more severe than those i'm
posed on the papers of autocratic
Europe at it's worst.
Far. Reaching Effects .
The bill would provide that any
one guilty of sending information
| through the mails upon which bet
| ting odds could be based. or of send
ing the actual odds, could be sent to
| the penitentiary for a period of five
years. A strict Interpretation Of this
| would work out so that a school girl
writing to her parents that she had
| bet 10 cents on basketball game
| could be imprisoned. Senator STAN
lev pointed out this fact to the COM
mittee and added. ut may be said
| that the judges would not impose
such severe penalties, but one might
be found occasionally who had as
little sense as the senate of the Uni
| ted States"
Opponents of the alleged censor
ship bill' have pointed out repeated
ly that the legislature of any state
where racing is permitted could have
all the tracks in the state closed
within 10 minutes after the legisla-
ture convened, if il was so desired.
Newspaper publishers and the
American Newspaper Publishers as
sociation have been very active In
opposition to the measure. It has
been pointed out by S. f. Thomson
4 one OF the officers of this organiza-
tion, that probably not more than 1O
per cent Of the papers included IN
the membership of the association
print racing tips OF any kind. and not
more than 20 per cent print racing
entries and the results with betting
odds
Under this law as It Is drawn
Mr.. Thomason pointed out, under ar
autocratic administration of the post
! office department we could no longer
safely print the fact that nortori-
u Gus embezzler had won $500000 al
Latonia. that large sums were beine
wagered on a prize fight, or that or
account of large sums bet. the fac
ulties of Princeton and Harvard hac
begun an investigation OF betting or
football games.
First Step in Program
"This is the first step in the pro-
gram of the re1ormers" Mr.. Thoma-
son went on. They would be be.
fore YOU later with some similar ar
gument about stock gambling
As a matter of fact, strict inter
probation of the law might prevent
newspapers from printing the prices
OF stocks and bonds and the dealing:
in them, if the postoffice department
should choose to be severe in its ad-
ministration of the law. The ridicu
lous side of the proposed law wa
shown by the fact that in some states
TO tin a man off on a horse race
might incur a penalty of five years IL
Jail, while being convicted of in
voluntary manslaughter" in kilhni
the same man would result In onl!
three years in the penitentiary. Thu
it would be far better to kill the mai
tEan tell him anything about tn
prospects of some horse.
f. H. Baker of the Cleveland Plan
Dealer told the committee that stric
enforcement of the proposed Law
would result in the suppression o
about Is per cent of the news printed
in the papers. "Out in Cleveland peo
pIe bet on the weather" he said
"Shall we suppress the weather re
port -
w. F. Wiley. a prominent news
paperman of Cincinnati and Wash
ington. directly charged the commit
tee that the bill was not really aimee
at racing at all. but was plainly an
simply an effort to muzzle the news
papers of the country through IN
imposition of a government censor
ship. He pointed out exactly hoy
the broad language of the bill mlgh
work out to prevent printing eve
the results OF professional ath
letics.
"The fact that Ohio state univer
sitv beat Michigan at football n
said. "and that Michigan beat Illinois
would suggest to gamblers that ON
state will beat Illinois. News fror
baseball training camps, or Of an IN
Jury to a bali player, would be use
full to gamblers.
Would Bar Market News
"If this bill is passed, and congres
wants to be consistent he continued
'it would have to forbid publicatio
of stock quotations and bank clear
ings. for pools are made on them a
we'll as on baseball news pubishe
in the newspapers. What this come
TO is an attempt TO Russianize an
destroy the American press
One witness before the commute
frankly declared that there were
million people who bet on horse rae
ing. and that he did not in any wa