Evening star., 1936-04-19
EDITORS CONDEMN
WIRE SEIZURES
!. |NLOBBY PROBE.
Unanimous Vote Marks
Close of American So
ciety Session.
LOUISVILLE MEMBER
CRlTlCIZES ACTION
Tom Wallace Says Freedom of
Press Was Not at Stake-Co-op-
Grafton on Enforcement.

The American Society of Newspaper
Editors yesterday formally voted its
condemnation of the telegram seizures
of the Senate Lobby Committee
through a resolution which, however,
failed to mention the committee by
name.
Almost Immediately Tom Wallace,
editor of the Louisville Times and a
director of the society, which yester-
day closed its three-day convention
here, said:
Had I heard the resolution read
should have argued against it. Freedom
of the press means freedom of utter
ance by the newspapers. Seizure OF
kilograms or other communications
might involve violation of privacy, but
not freedom of utterance."
The resolution unanimously ap-
proved by the $50 executives of the
country's leading newspapers outside
New York City read:
I'VE condemn the blanket seizure
of private kilograms, under whatever
authority, as a violation of the rights
of privacy as guaranteed by the Con-
Stitution, and We are OF the convlc-
ton that if such practice IS not
checked the threat to the liberty of
individual action and enterprise, and
particularly to the freedom Of the
press, is immediate and menacing."
Meaning of Freedom.
In his diSagreeing statement, Wal
lace, whose publisher is Robert W..
Bingham, Ambassador to Great Brit
ain, declared:
Freedom of corporations publish
ing newspapers and freedom of cor
porations otherwise engaged, should
be the same, insofar as liberty of indi-
vidual action is concerned. AS one Of
our program speakers said, one con-
ception of freedom Of the press is the
right to run q circulation truck
through red light. -'
In accordance with an earlier plea
made to the society by ]. Edgar
Hoover, chief of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the editors agreed also
to seek cooperation with all law-en-
forcement agencies by guarding
against the premature publication of
informatio harmful to the successful
completion of criminal investigation" +"
In the same election which put Wal
lace on the board of directors, Marvin
H. Creager, managing editor of the
Milwaukee Journal, was named presi-
dent of the society to succeed Grove
Patterson, editor of the Toledo Blade,
who became a director.
Other officers included A. H. Kir-
chofer of the Buffalo Evening News,
first vice president; D. j. Sterling of
the Portland, Oreg., Journal, second
vice president; Dwight Marvin of the
Troy Record, treasurer, and M. v. At
wood of the Gannett newspapers,
secretary.
Other Directors.
Besides Wallace and Patterson, the
directors include Paul Bellany of the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Edison K.
Bixby of the Springfield, Mo-, News
Leader; j. Charles Poe of the Chat
tanooga News, David Lawrence of the
United States News, William Allen
White of the Emporia Gazette, Casper
S. Yost of the st. Louis Globe-Dem-
ocrat and Sevellon Brown of the
Providence Journal.
An urgent recommendation for CO.
operation of the press with the bar to
prevent sensational murder cases from
becoming public scandals was made
to the society at the luncheon closing
the convention by Walter Lippman,
noted New York commentator.
With the Hauptmann arrest, trial
and execution particularly in mind,
Lippman placed most of the onus
for the sensations arising from the
case on the courts, the officials, the
police and the lawyers.
Let them choose between the yel-
low press and the reputable press
and let them find out whose favor
counts most" Lippman declared of the
authorities, attorneys and jurists who,
in his estimation, made it possible for
the newspapers to give the case such
q play that much Indignation was
aroused against the press.
I'VE are not to campaign against
the yellow press, for We are not our
brothers keeper, but against the Off
cials who play it's game.
I'VE have every right as American
citizens to call on the police, the bench
and the bar to administer the law in
o lawful way"