Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-04-13


Underwood & Underwood Photo.
and includes the privilege of selecting
those with whom one is willing to
assume contractual relations. This
right is unduly abridged by the act
now upheld. A private owner is de-
prived of power to manage his own
property by freely selecting those to
whom his manufacturing operations
are to be intrusted We think this
cannot lawfully be done in circum-
stances like those here disclosed.
1t seems clear to us that Congress
has transcribed the powers granted.
Associated Press Dissent.
The dissent in the Associated Press
case, read by Justice Sutherland, fol-
lows in part:
One of the points made in the court
below and assigned as error here is that
the statue involved. as applied
abridges the freedom of the press in
violation of the first amendment.
The Associated Press is engaged in
collecting, editing and distributing
new to its members, publishers of some
1900 newspapers throughout the
United States. These newspapers
represent many diverse policies and
many differences in point Of view. 1t,
obviously, is essential that the news
furnished should not only be without
suppression, but that it should be, as
far as possible, free from color, bias
or distortion. Such is the long
established policy Of the Associated
Press. If the congressional act here
involved, upon its face or in its present
application, abridges the freedom of
petitioner to carry its policy into effect.
the act to that extent falls under the
condemnation Of the first amendment.
We shall confine ourselves to that
! question, the gravity of which is
evident, but we do not mean thereby
! to record our assent to all that has
been said with regard to other ques-
tons in the case
The destruction or abridgment OF
free press-Which constitutes one
OF the most dependable avenues
through which information of public
and governmental activities may tie
transmitted to the people-would be
an event so evil in its consequences
that the least approach toward that
end should be halted at the thresh-
hold.
Freedom is not a mere intellectual
abstraction; and it is not merely a
word to adorn an Grafton upon occa-
sions OF patriotic rejoicing. 1t is an
intensely practical reality, capable of
concrete enjoyment in a multitude Of
ways day by day. When applied to
the press, the term freedom is not to
be narrowly confined; and it obviously
means more than publica ton and cir
culation. If freedom of the press does
not include the right to adopt and
pursue policy without governmental
restriction, 1t Is misnomer TO call it
freedom. And we may as we'll deny
at once the right Of the press freely
to adopt a policy and pursue it, as to
concede that right and deny the lib
erty to exercise an uncensored judg
ment in respect of the employment
and discharge of the agents through
whom the policy is to be effectuated
In matter of such concern, the
judgment of Compressor, still less,
the judgment of an administrative
censor-cannot, under the Constitu-
ton, be substituted for that Of the
press management in respect of the
employment or discharge of employees
engaged in editorial work. The good
which might come to interstate COM
merce or the benefit which might
result to a special group, however
large, must give way to that higher
good of all the people so plainly con-
| templated by the imperative require
ment that Congress shall make no
law abridging the freedom
of the press"
| Strong sympathy for or strong
| prejudice against given cause or the
| efforts made to advance it has too
often led to suppression or coloration
Of unwelcome facts. 1t would seem
to be an exercise of only reasonable
prudence for an association engaged
in part in supplying the public with
fair and accurate factual information
with respect to the contests between
labor and capital, to see that those
whose activities include that service
are free from ether extreme sympathy
or extreme prejudice one way or the
other.
The conclusion that the first amend
ment is here infringed does not chal-
lenge the right of employees to organ
ize, to bargain collectively with their
employers about wages and other mat
| tiers respecting employment or to re-
fuse to work except upon conditions
they are willing to accept. Nor, the
first amendment aside, does it chal-
| lenge the act in so far as it is an
allowable regulation Of interstate COM
merce. All aff1rmations in respect of
these matters may be fully conceded
without prejudice to our very definite
view that the application of the act
here has resulted in an unconstitu-
tional abridgment Of the freedom of
the press.
Do the people Of this land-in the
providence of God, favored, as they
sometimes boast, above all others in
the plenitude OF their liberties-desire
to preserve those so carefully protected
by the first amendment: Liberty of
religious worship, freedom OF speech
and Of the press, and the right as
freemen peaceably to assemble and
petition their Government for a re-
dress of grievances? If so, let them
Withstand all beginnings of encroach-
ment. For the saddest epitaph which
can be carved il memory Of van
ished liberty is that it was lost be-
cause its possessors failed to stretch
forth . saving hand while yet there
was tinD.