OCR Text |
Show ' Free Press Fight Jrows S Bill Vote This" Week i Newspaper Power Bared By International Newa Service. WASHINGTON, May . The final vote on the much discussed censorship ' section of th administrations es-nlonaae es-nlonaae bill, andprobably on the en-V en-V 17 bill as well, "will ba taken by tha Lnate early next week. Thla became -nparent tonight following another discussion of the oenaorahlp measure en the senate floor. I" The debate today waa chiefly concerning con-cerning the search warrant section, permitting the searching of homes of perrons auspected of circulating prohibited pro-hibited Information and on the section sec-tion which would give the postmaster general to bar from the malls all newspapers, letters and -pamphlets containing Information that tha president presi-dent might forbid to be circulated. Far reselling modifications, if not complete com-plete defeat, waa certain to be made In these provisions. Senator Hiram Johnson of California Califor-nia and Senator Cummins of Iowa hotly contested the right of congress to enact these provisions. g-.inf Thomas of Colorado de-seanced de-seanced the provision to permi(the ' postmaster general to bar papers and letters from tha mall in an arbitrary way as being tha worst Ingenuity thai the rit ' man could devise. TOO COMPREHENSIVE." f had better regulate what can - ts printed than to bar from tha mails ail letters, newspapers and all other pruned or written matter that contained con-tained information the government dtd sot want printed," he said. "This pro-rlaioa pro-rlaioa la too comprehensive. The mall sf (very suspected man, woman and cnUd (if children were to fall under the ban) would have to ba opened by tbe poetofflce inspectors. Tha schema Is monstrous. There would be overse&loua Inspectors Inspec-tors who would seek diligently to turn sp as much prohibited matter aa pes . sible In life belief that ao doing ha would be gaining- favor In tha eyea of ' the men higher up. This provision would not only make , rna writers of letters suffer, but their families and friends also. It would be so far reaching that It would be dls-' dls-' artrous. "But far better war It that we have Oils provision affecting the private correspondence of American cltlsena than that wo ahonld have tha press of the country mnssled. This latter . would throw our whole life out of organisation or-ganisation and would work such harm that Its extent could not be estimated." Senator Thomaa charged th admin -.. 1st rati on waa gradually gathering tore to-re ther th powers of national dictator. dicta-tor. Thar haa been a great deal of leg-tulstlnn leg-tulstlnn lately that would confer tm- 1 united powers uporrthe president," he continued. A great part of this wartime legislation legis-lation does this. It is indisputable that the president Is gradually aaklng for and being given the power, to run thia government about a he pleases." Senator William A. Calder of New Tork late today declared that with the preas of America censored the failures of the government during the war might remain uncorrected until defeat stared tha United Statea In the face. "I don't think it can be maintained that the members of either the 'senate or the house of representatives hsve failed during the present session to atgnd by the president," he said. "We have voted for a declaration that a state of war existed, almost unanimously; unani-mously; we have voted unanimously to permit the president to Issue ,7,000.-000.000 ,7,000.-000.000 worth of bonds and other securities; se-curities; we have voted almoat unanimously unani-mously to authorise him to raise an army by selective draft, and many of the senators voted for this simply because be-cause the president wanted it. FAVORED BY-WttSON. "The claim made In this chamber that the president la favorable to this particular provision ia not sufficient reason to warrant my voting for it. "I am not ready to prevent th Independent In-dependent press of thla country from printing all tha newa of the day. I believe be-lieve that they can be trusted not to publish anything that would be of aid or comfort to tha enemy. In every war thla nation has even been engaged In, one of the ttreateat pillars of strength hss been the press. "Have thoae In charge of this bill any Idea that congress would have acted with auch unanimity during the past few weeka If tha president did not have a united preas behind him; do they believe that In the days to come we can hops to succeed In this conflict unless the press of tha country stands strongly behind him? "It Is a matter of common knowledge knowl-edge that but for the exposure by the English preas of the Inefficiency of those In charge of the British government govern-ment In the early days of tha war, conditions con-ditions might have continued there which would have led to ultimata defeat de-feat Lord NorthcUff In hla newspapers news-papers laid before th publicity the true condition: and the pressure of publlo opinion became so great as to make necessary the complete reorganisation reorgani-sation of the government. "I hope that our newspapers will not be called upon to perform that service for the people of th United Statea. but I am willing that any law abould be enacted which would prevent the spreading broadcast of the newa. If such there be, that our government la being Inefficiently conducted |