Evening star., 1936-09-25
BOOK DISCUSSES
FREEDOM0E PRESS
Publisher Traces Subject
From Early Days in Eng
land to N. R. A. Codes.
~ the Associated Press.

~ the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, September 25.-Ihe
subject Of q free press, from the
earliest days Of royal license In Eng
land through the code making era
Of N. r. A., Is reviewed In . book, THE
Freedom of the Press" published to-
day. 1t is by Col Robert r. McCor-
mick, chairman Of the Committee on
the Freedom Of the Press Of the
American Newspaper Publishers As
oociation.
let 1t be plain to the uninitiated,"
Col. Mccormick writes, that news
papers have no rights, and claim no
rights, not guaranteed to all citizens;
that the freedom Of the press is not
. special privilege Of the newspapers,
but . right Of all citizens"
Col. Mccormick explains that in
early days newspapers were referred
to as the newspaper press" Usage
abbreviated this to either news
papers" or 'the press" so that "in
consequence, after censorship and its
kindred evils had long been over
come, mistaken impression arose
that the freedom of the press applied
exclusively to newspapers"
Defines Freedom Of Press"
Freedom of the press" is defined
by Col. Mccormick as "the freedom
Of that press which had been enslaved,
and that was every press and every
use of every press"
Summarizing the struggle to obtain
and safeguard freedom of the press,
Col. Mccormick says:
During the 300 years from the in
vention of the printing press to our
Revolutionary War, every method that
the ingenious mind of man could de-
wise was used to suppress its free
dom. First, licenses were required to
operate printing presses. Then CEN
sorship was invoked. After that it
was made q crime to criticise any
function of government. Then power
was put in the hands Of the royal
judges to declare any utterance by q
newspaper q criminal libel and to
punish the editor with torture or
with death. And. when all these ef-
forts had been overcome or had proven
: abortive, excessive taxation was i'm
posed upon the newspapers Of Eng
land, which suppressed them for more
than one hundred years."
In our generation" he adds, "lib-
erty of utterance has been attacked,
and in its defense editors have been
put in jeopardy Of ruin, imprison-
ment and assassination"
Discusses Black Committee.
Constituting some of the activities
of the Senate Lobby Committee head
ed by Senator Hugh Black, Democrat
of Alabama, last winted as an effort
to intimidate certain newspapers, the
publisher says:
"The committee and its agents took
forcible possession of the offices and
houses of citizens, rifled their per-
sonal belongings, read their private
correspondence, stole their telegrams
and, it Is charged, opened their mai
in the post Office and tapped their
telephone wires. The victims were
hailed to washington and subjected
to disgusting abuse by the Senators
all the while standing In fear Of as
sault by the plug-uglies paid from
the committees secret fund.-"
When directors Of the American
Newspaper Publishers Association
condemned the acts and recommended
civil suits for damages, Col. McCor-
mick says, after one or two hysteri.
cal speeches the committees have
Withdrawn into sulky desuetude
Reviewing insistence Of the pub
fishers upon inserting into their code
Q clause specifically refusing to waive
) constitutional guarantees Of freedom
Of the press, he says:
IF the press had surrendered its
freedom it could not have exposed
these tyrannies (of N. r. A. and
Seascued their victims"