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FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN WAR TIME

NEVER in the history of our country, since the Alien and Sedi

tion Laws of 1798, has the meaning of free speech been the subject of such sharp controversy as to-day.1 Over two hundred

1 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.-Important decisions under the Federal Espionage Act are printed in the various Federal and United States Supreme Court reports; the BULLETINS OF the Department OF JUSTICE ON THE INTERPRETATION OF WAR STATUTES (cited hereafter as BULL. DEPT. JUST.) contain many nisi prius rulings and charges not otherwise reported. The cases before July, 1918, have been collected by Walter Nelles in a pamphlet, ESPIONAGE ACT CASES, with certain others on related points, published by the National Liberties Bureau, New York. This has some state cases and gives a careful analysis of the decisions. The Bureau has also published WAR-TIME PROSECUTIONS AND MOB VIOLENCE, involving the rights of free speech, free press, and peaceful assemblage (from April 1, 1917, to March 1, 1919), containing an annotated list of prosecutions, convictions, exclusions from the mail, etc.; and "The Law of the Debs Case" (leaflet). Mr. Nelles has submitted to Attorney General Palmer "A Memorandum concerning Political Prisoners within the Jurisdiction of the Department of Justice in 1919" (MS. copy owned by the Harvard Law School Library). The enforcement of the Espionage Act and similar statutes is officially summarized in the REPORTS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL for 1917 (page 75) and 1918 (pages 17, 20-23, 47-57). A list of prosecutions is given with the results. See, also, Atty. Gen. Gregory's Suggestions to the Executive Committee of the American Bar Association, 4 AM. BAR ASSOC. JOURN. 305 (1918).

The best discussion of the legal meaning of "Freedom of the Press in the United States" will be found in an article under that name by Henry Schofield, in 9 PUBLICATIONS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 67 (1914). This volume is devoted entirely to "Freedom of Communication," and contains several valuable papers on different aspects of the problem. Other legal articles not dealing with the situation in war are: "The Jurisdiction of the United States over Seditious Libel," H. W. Biklé, 41 AM. L. REG. (N. S.) I (1902); "Restrictions on the Freedom of the Press," 16 HARV. L. REV. 55 (1902); "Free Speech and Free Press in Relation to the Police Power of the State," P. L. Edwards, 58 CENT. L. J. 383 (1904); “Federal Interference with the Freedom of the Press," Lindsay Rogers, 23 YALE L. J. 559 (1914), substantially reprinted as Chapter IV of his POSTAL POWER OF CONGRESS, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1916; A. V. DICEY, THE LAW OF THE CONSTITUTION, 8 ed., Chap. VI; "Freedom of Speech and of the Press," 65 UNIV. OF PA. L. REV. 170 (1916); Joseph R. Long, "The Freedom of the Press," 5 VA. L. REV. 225 (1918). Freedom of speech is discussed by Dean Pound as an interest of the individual in his "Interests of Personality," 28 HARV. L. REV. 445, 453 (1915); and as an alleged bar to injunctions of libel in his "Equitable Relief against Defamation and Injuries to Personality," 29 HARV. L. REV. 640, 648 (1916).

The situation in war is specifically treated in the following: "Freedom of Speech and of the Press," W. R. Vance, 2 MINN. L. REV. 239 (1918); "The Espionage Act

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prosecutions and other judicial proceedings during the war, involving speeches, newspaper articles, pamphlets, and books, have been followed since the armistice by a widespread legislative consideration of bills punishing the advocacy of extreme radicalism. It is becoming increasingly important to determine the true limits of freedom of expression, so that speakers and writers may know how much they can properly say, and governments may be sure how much they can lawfully and wisely suppress. The United States Supreme Court has recently handed down several decisions upon the Espionage Act,2 which put us in a much better position than Cases," 32 HARV. L. REV. 417 (1919); "Threats to take the Life of the President," 32 HARV. L. REV. 724 (1919); "The Vital Importance of a Liberal Construction of the Espionage Act," Alexander H. Robbins, 87 CENT. L. J. 145 (1918); "Sufficiency of Indictments under the Espionage Act," 87 CENT. L. J. 400 (1918). The Espionage Act is one of the topics covered by Judge Charles M. Hough, "Law in War Time-1917," 31 HARV. L. REV. 692, 696 (1918). The issues involved in the current decisions are presented in nontechnical form by these articles: "Freedom of Speech," Z. Chafee, Jr., 17 NEW REPUBLIC, 66 (November 16, 1918); "The Debs Case and Freedom of Speech," Ernst Freund, 19 NEW REPUBLIC, 13 (May 3, 1919); 19 ib. 151 (May 31). William Hard, "Mr. Burleson, Espionagent," 19 NEW REPUBLIC, 42 (May 10, 1919), and "Mr. Burleson, Section 4811⁄2 B," 19 NEW REPUBLIC, 76 (May 17, 1919), reviews exclusions from the mails. “The Trial of Eugene Debs,” Max Eastman, THE LIBERATOR (Ncvember, 1918), gives a defendant's impression of the operation of the act.

The history of freedom of speech in America has not yet been fully investigated, but CLYDE A. DUNIWAY, THE Development oF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN MASSACHUSETTS, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1906, is extremely useful. Much light is thrown on the problem by sedition trials in England, before our Revolution and during the French Revolution. The best account of these is in ERSKINE MAY, 2 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 2 ed., 1912, Chaps. IX-X, summarized by Charles A. Beard in 16 NEW REPUBLIC, 350 (October 19, 1918). See, also, 2 STEPHEN, HISTORY OF THE CRIMINAL LAW, Chap. XXIV; and G. O. TREVELYAN, THE EARLY HISTORY OF CHARLES JAMES Fox, for the Wilkes and Junius controversies.

The legal meaning of freedom of speech cannot properly be determined without a knowledge of the political and philosophical basis of such freedom. Four writings on this problem may be mentioned as invaluable: PLATO'S APOLOGY of Socrates; MILTON'S AREOPAGITICA; the second chapter of MILL ON LIBERTY; and Walter Bagehot's essay, "The Metaphysical Basis of Toleration." The second chapter of J. F. STEPHEN, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY, has an important critique on Mill. See, also, J. B. BURY, A HISTORY OF FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, the first and last chapters; GROTE, PLATO, Chap. VI; GRAHAM WALLAS, THE GREAT SOCIETY, 195-98; H. J. LASKI, AUTHORITY IN THE MODERN STATE, passim. For a caustic point of view, see Fabian Franklin, "Some Free Speech Delusions,” 2 UNPOPULAR REV. 223 (October, 1914). The proper course in war is discussed by Ralph Barton Perry in a book review, 7 YALE Rev. 670 (April, 1918). The difficulties of the problem as seen from actual experience on both sides are presented in VISCOUNT MORLEY'S RECOLLECTIONS.

2 Schenck v. United States, 249 U. S. 47, 39 Sup. Ct. Rep. 247, BULL. Dept. Just., No. 194 (1919), is the leading case. See, also, Frohwerk v. United States, 249 U. S. 204,

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