The Washington times., 1929-11-08
TRIO HELD
BOUND To
SILENCE

"On October 30, three -e-
pOrters employed by the Wash.
inEtOn Times were sentenced to
serve 45 days each in Jail for
contempt Of court. The action
90 designated by Justice Pey-
ton Gordon consisted in . re-
fuSaI Of these men to disclose
to the Grand Jury the names
and addresses of places where
they had purchased liquor"
specifically, the reporters re
fused to identify a list of speak
easies and speak-easy characters
which had been given to the
Grand Jury the day before by the
city editor Of The Times. Their
refusal was based on the conten
tion that Identification would con
stitute a violation of confidence
and that, moreover, it was un
neci ssary, since the information
already had been placed before
the jury).
"The law which they violated
when they thus refused to teS-
tify was stated in general terms
by Justice Gordon when he
pronounced sentence:
"'H Is the duty of every pri-
Vate citizen when he knows a
crime haJ been committed to
give the testimony before the
Grand Jury, to enable the Gov
ernment to prosecute the Grim
inal. 1t is the duty Of these
men as witnesses to respond to
the Grand Jury's questions
THE crime in question was,
of course, the sale of liquor to
the reporters. They bought it,
not primarily, it seems, to
quench their thirst, but in Or
der TO provide facts for the
campaign Of publicity which the
two Hearst papers in Washing
ton were carrying on with re-
gard to the nOn-enfOrcement Of
the VOlStead act liz the Capital
City of the nation. Their re-
fuSal tC make known to the
Grand Jury the names of the
persons from whom and the
places in which they purchased
liquor was based upOi promises
which they had made to the
liquor sellers.
Had they not given these
promises, they would not have
obtained the liquor, and, there
fore, would have lacked the
facts which the employing
newspapers desired for the pur.
poses of their campaign.
No Moral Duty
"Were these three reporters
morally obliged to fulfill what
Justice Gordon interpreted as
. legal obligation? Apparently
they were not under any moral
obligation. The duties of wit.
neSSeS in such a situation are
discussed by the moral theO
lOgianS in relation to the keep
ing of secrets. The treatment
of the question by the Rev.
Thomas Slater, S. J., in his
Manual of Moral Theology
Is typical.
after describing the secrets
called natural and those called
promised he discusses at some
length the third kind, which
is committed to a person only
ON condition that it will not
be revealed. This, of course,
was the case with the three
Washington reporters. Concern.
ing this kind of secret, Father
Slater writes:
"a secret which is cOnfideGl
60 another under the condition
that sec"~cy is to be observed,
constitute: the matter of an
OnerOus contract and binds
more strictly than either a
natural or q promised secret.
Such are secrets of office which
officials of all sorts become
aware of In the execution of
the duties entrusted to them;
professional secrets of doctors,
lawyers, priests, and others,
who are consulted rs experts
by people in doubt or difficulty;
as well as all others which are
entrusted to any person under
the express or implied cOndi-
tiOn' of secrecy
Secrecy Defended
with regard to the Obliga.
tiOn of making known secrets
to a court when one has been
sworn as a witness, Father
Slater says: "A witness in a
court of justice when lawfully
questioned about what he knows,
under the obligation Of natural
or promised secrecy must give
the evidence required. PrOfeS-
SiOnal secrets, however, and. in
general, secrets which belong
to the third class, are priv.
legged. and must not be de.
clared, unless they have ceased
to be binding for some such
reason as those mentioned
/ above. Secrecy in this case
J Is demanded by the natural
law, which gives the fullest
possible security to those who
consult O4NerS in their diff
eultieS, and even the precept
of ones su~eH'Cr cannot avail
against she netural law, as
Saint t. ,7~aS t~~eheS.'
"SUhStan''a'iv '''e same state
mentS are T'"' by Sabetti,
Barret aHI a '>y~. .0amen in
their Wy xS>'1 "-~,"I theology.
Ace0r6in- 4" go ',~"-al thee
loEians, therefore, the !~gal OBJ