The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-04-09

New Haven, April 9-Freedcm
 of the press which editors have al-
 ways been xealous to protect must < sl tiles days be guarded more close 1 iy than ever, Charles c. Hemenway, editor of the Hartford Times said to- I day in a Bromley foundation lec- isSure at Yale university. Introduced < by president James Rowland Angell, ; M. Hemenway added that the press
 must conduct itself "in such a faSh-
 ion that an impatient people will not make the mistake of believing that some restriction should be tm- posed on it."
 The press today, he said, can ex- ! eyt a leadership in the preserva- ton of the foundations of our eco- homie and social order provided its 1 urestiRe and character are so sus- l fained that its influence loses none < of its effect.
 "Important and fundamental as is i the guaranteed right of free press, previous allusions could have been regarded as academic, because no one was questioning that we had I or that we always will have a free ] uress. It is astonishing that It has d6een left for these later days when sy9e supposed our enlightenment was
 greatest, and our democracy most 1 fnllv established, that the freedom 1 0f the press should become live i issue.
 1 "It is to the credit of newspapers ! that they saw in the effort to set up
 a licensing system in the newspaper
 code under the MIRA, potential
 censorship and menace to freedom.
 sTheir fiat refusal to accept anything of the sort demonstrated a purpose
 to defend their fundamental right
 which plainly indicates that it never can be attacked with impunity."
 a In discussing the method now m use by various government depart
 anents of giving out news through
 press agents, MT. Hemenway said:
 'If that method of reporting IS
 accepted by newspapers as final
 then all that will be published about
 government activities is the part of- .Nicials are willing to tell, and it will Mbe told in whatever manner they
 wish to tell it. That is an indirect { way of muzzling the press. Only the press itself can defeat 1t by go- i ing behind the handout and digging : for its own facts and presenting to { it's readers true account of what | their representatives are doing. { "There has even been talk of the ! establishment of central govern l, ment information bureau which will ! issue bulletins that will give such ! information as the government wishes the people to have. If we ever ebecome dependent upon such a sys-
 tenn the people will know a great 3 desl less about the government than 2 they know now and great deal less { than they ought to know.
 j Tt is a certainty that if such a {, condition prevailed we should have 2 more dishonesty and les sefficiency <. ill government than exists under a condition where free and un- < trammelled press keeps the activi- , ties of government and officials < within full view of the citizens" Z It is Mir. Hemenway's belief that . the press will have to do more than : merely fight attempts to encroach { on its freedom if it is to maintain 7 that right.
 { 'Tf that freedom is to prevail the 2 press itself must conduct itself in ' such fashion that an impatient peo- z ple will not make the mistake of believing that some restriction i, shculd be imposed upon it. It is