Newspaper Page Text
Thursday, August 30,1917. ' *
lected for the purpose, cannot accomplish
more than the ruin of one citizen.
Such methods never settle great questions.
There are too many other publications, far
more powerful than mine, advocating the
same views.
The Jeffersonian has gone no farther than
LaFollette's: wll Mr. Burleson suppress Sen
ator LaFollette’s magazine?
The Hearst papers have published articles
fiercer against the Government’s recent pol
icy than anything I have written: will Mr.
Burleson close the mails to Mr. Hearst ?
The Irish World of New York City has
printed diatribes against our participation in
the land-war; but the P. O. Department
has not taken any notice of them.
A Catholic paper in the West violently as
sailed President Wilson and his latest policy,
and the editor was given the privilege of can
celling the objectionable article: the paper
then went through the mails.
In my case, no specification has been made,
I do not know what I am accused of, except
in a general way.
I have not been given the opportunity to
modify any article, or to omit objectionable
matter.
• The ruling of the Department not only pen-,
alizes all issues heretofore printed, but as
sumes that all future issues will be illegal.
Without naming my crime, specifically, the
large property which has paid the Govern-
Ynent so many thousands of dollars, which
has been of such a great benefit to the local
postoffice, the local merchants, to laboring
men and women, boys and grils, is reduced
to a valueless scrap-heap, because Mr. Burle
son thinks it lessened the public enthusiasm
for Liberty Bonds, and for military service
in European trenches.
Ydt Mr. Burleson knows full well that the
W&’t-Profiteers will have to take every bond
the Government chooses to issue, and that
every man who registered can be made to
serve, unless the Supreme Court decides
against the Conscription Act
I yet believe, with absolute firmness, that
the Supreme Court will rule against the
whole of Section 6; against the merger of the
State militia with the Regular Army; and
against the legality of forcing citizens out of
the country against their will.
No constitutional law can bd made against
the formation of honest convictions, against
the parliamentary expression of such opin
ions, or againgt the publication of these opin
ions.
As the Supreme Court of the United States
has said, this right to freedom of speech and
freedom of press are part and parcel of the
same thing, and they grow out of the very
nature of a republican form of government.
Congress is vested with power to build
post-roads, in the same Article which gives
it the power to raise armies, but nobody con
tends that Congress can conscript the labor
ers TO
When yohr method of raising armies re
duces the States to provinces, and makes the
Constitution a. scrap of paper, your method
is Wrong, and it should be changed!
During the evil times of Roman Catholie
despotism in England, those in authority
used to murder their enemies and appropriate
their estates by passing a bill of attainder
through Parliament/
The'victim of this monarchal tyranny was
not confronted with the witnesses against
him, was not informed of the particulars
charged against him, and was not allowed a
trial by jufy. ? ? » .
Mr. Burleson says, in •effpat, that Congress
has delegated to which The
F.athers denied to that in pur
suance of this delegated power, he has ruined
my business •end 'confiscated my property.
There has been no process of law. There
THE JEFFERSONIAN
has been no indictment setting forth the ac
cusations. There has been no warning notice
of objectionable matter. There has been no
opportunity to modify or eliminate what was
considered illegal.
Our large publishing plant—-in which I
have invested the proceeds of twenty differ
ent farms near Thomson, a beautiful moun-'
tain property in Virginia, a large portion of
the Winter Home property in Florida, and
ten years of the hardest work I ever did—to
say nothing of the good men and women, boys
and girls, who invested their money in The
Jeffersonian Publishing Company, finds itself
tried, convicted, condemned, outlawed without
knowing why; and when the official autocrat
who did this thing is asked to give his rea
sons, he replies vaguely that The Jeffersonian,
by alleging the unconstitutionality of the
new laws, hindered recruiting, and the dis
position of the Liberty Bonds.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held
that the much milder Conscript Law of 1863
was unconstitutional; and Chief Justice
Waite of the United States Supreme Court, in
the Merryman case, seemingly held that the
President has no such powers as our Chief
Executive has recently exercised.
Certainly, no Supreme Court has ever yet
held that the State militia can be merged in
the Regular Army and sent into foreign
lands; nor has any final authority yet adju
dicated the issue as to the power of Congress
to obliterate the States, by conscripting into
Presidential service the Governor, the State
House officers, the Legislature, the Ordi
naries, Clerks, Sheriffs, and Constabulary.
It seems a far cry toward absolute personal
government, when an appeal to the Supreme
Law, as made by The Fathers and sworn to
by all the high government officials, is treated
as seditious, and works automatic forfeiture
of natural freedom, vested rights and valu
able property. ,
- -w w
As to the Outlawing of The
Jeffersonian
'THE Postmaster at Thomson has published
in The McDuffie Progress, a statement to
the effect, that only the second-class mailing
privilege of our paper had been revoked.
I have no complaint to make, of the Thom
son postoffice, and have never made any. Mr.
J. Q. West and his precedessor, Capt. John
M. Barnes, were always courteous to The Jef*
fersonian, and never, gave us any cause to
complain.
In fact, when. President Taft very gener
ously proposed to allow me the privilege of <
naming the postmaster at my home office, I
declined his appreciated offer, because I
wished to maintain my independence. .; (> ;
You cannot be perfectly free, if you accept
special favors.
Privilege, like rank, imposes obligations*
The press-gag clauses of- the Espionage
Lew were defeated on eyery vote.; but they
were smuggled into the conference report, and
passed without roll-call.
Such Congressmen as Charles Crisp of
Georgia—whom against all sorts
of pressure—excuse themselves for voting for
this infamous measure, on the ground that
the German-language newspapers were aimed
at.
Ao German-language newspaper, has been
suppressed.
The utterly infamous press-gag clauses
were aimed at such papers as The Jeff er*
sonian; and the “law” was applied to its pre-
Read z “One Hundred and Two Reasons”
that forced a Roman Catholic priest to quit
Romanism. In “The Fourth Degree Oath of
the Knights of Cohimbus,” 10c postpaid.
The Jeffersonian Publishing Company, Thom
son, Georgia.
destined victims, almost before the Knights
of Columbus public printer had put it in per«
manent type. ‘
The Menace will go next; and before thej
year is out, all Protestant literature may be
barred from the mails.
The Knights of Columbus have stolen a
march upon the Masons; have made monkeys
out of many of our Protestant preachers;
have completely terrorized the daily press;
and have captured both the Army and tfie
Navy.
Our mailing employee, Mr. O. D. Hill, re- (.
ported to us that the Thomson postdffice re-\ <
fusedto accept The Jeffersonian, on ar
terms—first class, second class, or third clar
Judge Lamar admitted at Mt. Airy tha
the paper had been held up. He said that we> t
could again apply for the mailing privilege, -
paying for it on the higher basis; and that vF
our money would be refunded, if the mailing ’ |
privilege were restored. < ' 4
But the Government could not consistently .
restore the privilege of the mails, unless I
change my views about the war. <
How can I change them? God gave me /
the mind that finds expression in this paper,
and God alone can change it. :... ?
I would rather be dead and at rest, in the
grave that will soon cover so many of my
dreams and my hopes, than to write things |
contrary to my conscience. X » ®
The detestable press-gag law does not say |
Anything about classification, of mail matter.
It simply declares “non-mailable” h such
papers, &c., as the P. O. Department may
see fit to rule out.
If The Jeffersonian is “nonmailable,” it
cannot be received at the Thomson office, at
all.
If it is not “non-mailable,” then the Gov
ernment has crushed a great and legitimate
business, unlawfully.
But what redress have I?
The madness that rules the hour must run
its course. There is no help for it.
After the tempest has passed and people
see the wreckage, they wilL marvel at them
selves—and then pick up the ravelled strands«
of this poor early life, as helpless humanity
has always had to do. • - » > •
I again say, that I do not; in the least;
blame the local postoffice for obevino its
{Washington orders?
'
“Socialists and Socialism” by Thos. E.
Watson, has a vast amount of information of
interest and value to those who think they '
know what Socialism stands for. Price 50c.
The Jeffersonian Pub. Co., Thomson, Ga. ? .<■
LEARN YOUR RIGHTS AS CITIZENS
OF THE UNITED STATES
L...
The Declaration of Independence: The
Constitution of the United States, Thomas
Jefferson’s statement of democratic principles,
Patrick Henry’s great speech for liberty and
independence. AH included in one pamphlet,
convenient size for use and circulation.
Get it, and post yourself on your rights as
free men and free citizens of this Republic.
/
\
Price, 1 Copy, 10 Cents.
JEFFERSONIAN PUBLISHING CO.
Thomson, Ga.
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