Evening star., 1934-08-25
.SCHALL DETAILS
CENSOR CHARGES
Open Letter SCOTS at Presi
dents Request for Facts
on Accusations.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Senator Schall, Republican, Of
Minnesota, sent an open letter to
President Roosevelt today reiteratir G
that the administrator intends to
force = cen2orsnio of the press
1t followed q demand by the Presi-
dent for the facts" on which the
Senator based his recent assertion
that plans a:e under consideration for
"a national press service to take the
place of The Associated Press, the
Hearst News Services and the United
Press" Thls service, Schall said,
would "ha"e exclusive use of all Gov
ernment news and be in position to
give its service only to those news
papers loyal to tine Roosevelt dicta-
torship."
Since 1 ehould assume that the
statements we're not made without
basis in fact" Mr.. Roosevelt tele-
graphed lie Senator late yesterday,
Il request that you give me the
benefit Of such facts as you have in
support of the charges you caused to
be made. Once these facts are in
my hands, they will receive immediate
attention In order to make impossible
the things you Say will be done, be-
cause I am list as much opposed to
them as YOU are
Long Reply Made.
Schall's S50-Tord reply was issued
few hours ratel.
"You ssk me for information con-
cernlng what you yourself have done" I"
it said. Are you attempting to secure
the facts so that you may be in q
position to refute yourself?
Your telegram to me bears out the
suggestion of the constant effort to
mislead and fool the public" the
Minnesotan, a frequent critic Of the
administration, wrote. Your desire
to make yourself appear before the
people of the United States as a
champion of free press may be as
insincere as your promises to the
people when YOU accepted the Demo-
cratic nomination at Chicago with
the statement that you were for their
platform 100 per cent.
ITO da,e you have not kept one
Of the covenants you pledged the
people at that time. Let me recall
your testy anger. az your disappoint-
ment IN not keeping out of the press
code the expression OF free press.
SCOTS at Request.
For me to chronicle all of the at
tempts of your administration to
throttle the press and free speech
all known to you and approved by
you IN advance-would be but to re-
cite incidents with which you are en-
tirely familiar. If it were not for the
fact that I see in your request for
information an attempt on your part
to appear as a victim of your own
bureaucracy instead of its chief or
ganizer, would be inclined to ignore
your telegram.
But since you assume a cloak of
innocence and since your telegram to
me is in the hands Of the press, 1t
becomes my duty as a sentinel of the
people to do what little can to miti-
gate their deception by citing specific
evidence of your intention to force a
censorship Of the press so that your
acts and the acts of your Commu-
nistic bureaucrats might be hidden
from public gaze"
Schall then referred to what he
termed ''the press censorship bill"
passed by the House and killed in the
Senate during the special session last
year, he said that under 1t a publisher
not approved by the administration
could have been sentenced to 10
years imprisonment, and that Repre-
sentative Summers, Democrat, Of Texas,
chairman of the House Judiciary Com
mittee, had stated the bill was intro
duced at the request of the "execu-
tive"
Cites Communications Bill.
Charging "every Government de-
partment under you Is now cloaked in
censorship" Schall added that while
"a press censorship caluse" was
stricken from the communications
control bill. the measure still gives
you power to inaugurate Govern
ment telegraphic news service, under
which, as one example, you immedi-
ately put out of business three radio
stations of Mr.. (Henry) Ford"
While the Senator was drafting his
letter. Hampson Gary, acting chair
man of the Communications Commits
sion, likewise denied, in a radio ad-
dress, that the Government intended
to set up its own press service.
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