Evening star., 1933-11-07
Johnson DENIES
PRESS CURB PLAN.
Claims There Is No Intent to
License Newspapers in
Code Dispute.
NV the Associated Press

BY the Associated Press.
CHICAGO. November THE Amer
ican press had the word of Gen. Hugh
s. Johnson, national recovery admin
istrator, today that the N. R. A. does
not intend to curb it-in fact does not
have the power to.
"A free and unrestricted press is an
absolute necessity" he told a reporter
yesterday "It is a powerful. If inde-
pendent part of the machinery of gov
eminent
Furthermore, he said that in his off,
cial opinion the N r. A. lacks authority
to license a newspaper.
II think that the licensing sections of
the statute must be read with the free
press clauses of the Constitution.
think that together they clearly pre-
clude the idea of any intent of Congress
to create any right in N. r. A. to
license the press"
And that, he said, should put an end
to this silly bugaboo" forever,
Synthetic Dead Cats"
His remarks, in part, follow:
Franklin D. Roosevelt has pulled
this country about one-quarter of the
way out of the March depths In six
months . how did he do it? I am
not enough of a Jesuit to care. The
heather rage. Their raging just now
takes the form of dead cats and hob
goblinS-that NJ r. A. interferes with
the freedom of the press-that it is
unconstitutional-that it coerces in
dustry-that it interferes with indi-
vidual initiative and so forth.
Now we do not mind really honest
and substantial dead cats and I have
some Justly coming to me. My only
complaint Is that most OF these dead
cats are synthetic. The biggest imi-
tation dead cat Is the one about the
freedom of the press.
II am as devoted as any of these
critics to the constitutional principles
Of free press. Nothing will ever be
done in or by N. r. A. to impair it.
Taken Into Confidence.
Every facility has been set up to
receive complaints and every construc-
tive suggestion has been adopted. Even
in the formation of policies, responsible
representatives of the press have been
taken into confidence. Twice a week
an open press conference Is held and
in these conferences journalists have
been always urged not to temper their
questions and not to soften their criti-
cisms. I stil1 can say, I think, that I
have never lodged, evaded or refused
single question on any subject within
the range of my responsibility or the
scope OF my authority. have acknowl-
edged every mistake that knew that
have made and moved promptly to
correct it.
+" So far as I do know-if the
press was ever invited to and given
more absolute freedom than in and
about N. r. Al am not aware of
when and where.
ANY system for licensing the press Is
wholly repugnant to me. Even as a sol-
dier in the war did not believe in any
suppression Of news except such as
helped the enemy. I do not believe in
any restrictions whatever on the press
today.
No Authority for Licensing.
.'In my official opinion, there is no
authority in NJ I. r. A. to license a
newspaper. think that the licensing
sections OF the statute must be read
with the free press clauses of the Con-
stitution. I think that, together. they
clearly preclude the idea of any intent
of Congress to create any right in N. I.
r. A. to license the press.
Until that statement is overturned
by the courts, that administrative
Interpretation Is the law. Since we
shall not license, the question cannot
get to the courts. Licensing has not
been done. 1t will not be done because
1t cannot be done.
I'VE are entering a new era-an era
OF profit for industries and decent con-
ditions for labor That Is the new day
and deal, and the whole trouble with
our few opponents is that they are see
ing things under the bed. Certain Sec
tions Of the press are inciting filters by
headlines. My only request Is that the
gentlemen Of the fourth estate give us
chance and not lend themselves to
this primitive witch-doctor dancing.
Free Press Necessary.
I'VE have no protest against criticism.
Nobody likes criticism, but any public
institution is a peril If 1t is shielded
from just criticism. Why there are
some things in a great experimental
program like this which are necessarily
based on conjecture as to their effect,
and the only possible way to guage that
effect is to watch its results in public
reaction. A free and unrestricted
press is an absolute necessity. 1t is a
powerful, If independent, part of the
machinery of Government.
The press has responsibility to be
fair. 1t owes that responsibility not to
Government but to the people who rely
on Government at desperate time like
this for their salvation. Public criticism
deserves public discussion.
X x K