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Show Hnid'tirt't VVaili!nston Di'.'eit ' In U. S. Aloin; of All World Is Thm; Heal Freedom of Speech I)itnrlin S i 1 1 h Itrrr-ritly Indicate All I Not VT-11; Ailrnmiitration Tiral--) Ayin-t 1'r -.. Iirrome Fre-jin-nt; ( 'oriccrtcil Kffort to Ctrt I'M of Critic. V.y VILI.IAM liRL'CKART WSV .Service. Nation! I'rua BIJj., Waihinctvo. D. C. VAMII.'HJ'IOM -fjtL of Arr.rrl-f Arr.rrl-f i s ir ifcit and mo-it glorious tra-linru tra-linru li tin? )'-jl.,u-y wilh which IU itici,t uu.ir't the rikjht iA trie tfrr' h and a frre (,r--.v Thrre li n nj'-i',n In lie world nw, arii thcrff fi-vi-r tiat Lrrn itti, where u h tn-f'ioia for txrenl'jfi of opm-Ion opm-Ion I atror'If-d at we have In the I'nitcrt Stulci. for jff, If proof be rirerlcfl, airnly Like the old atl.M rid examine the countries, one by fie, and abundant evidence will r fourul. Here, alone tn all of the world, can an Individual or a group fcave Ua untrarnmele lay. There have been aorne aitfns late-ry, late-ry, however, that are disturbing. I 4ft rwt mean to over-emphasize Oiem by a discussion of thern, but the greatest U-asun that I have h arned la that the American people will correct conditions, or prevent Iheir development. If they know what the facta are and find them adverse. During the last several months, there have been frequent tirades against the press of the nation, tiome of the denunciations have come from President ftoosevclt In reply to press criticism of some of his policies. Other administration apokesmen have followed the Presi-Vrit'i Presi-Vrit'i lead. Notably among them, and certainly the most vicious, is the secretary of the interior, Harold L. Ickcs, who seems, In this in-atance, in-atance, to be the lord high chief verbal executioner of opposition writers and newspapers. Mr. Roosevelt's recent assertion that some newspaper owners ore deliberately de-liberately misrepresenting the facts and Mr. Ickcs' nssertion that "our newspapers are not as free as they ought to be in a democracy" constitute con-stitute serious accusations, even after aft-er one forgets how constantly Mr. Ickcs gets out on a limb. It seems to me, therefore, that there ought to be some clarification of the situation. situa-tion. It might be nsked, and properly, prop-erly, I believe, why Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Ickes do not point out those newspapers that ore charged, In effect, ef-fect, as plain liars. Administration Seeks to Get Rid of the Critics Now, to turn abruptly from one phase of the situation to another, attention should be directed to the recent bill introduced in the senate by Senator Wheeler, the Montana lVrnocrat. The bill proposes reorganization re-organization of the federal communications commu-nications commission, the agency that controls radio. Radio, of course, is the "free speech" Just as the newspapers are the "free press" that is one of the guarantees of the rational Constitution. There can be no doubt that the federal communications commission is shot through with dissension. There is no doubt that it has developed de-veloped one of the worst messes in government supervision of any industry. in-dustry. It is a shameful situation, and there appears to be no solution except to got rid of the bulk of the personnel, from the commissioners on down the line, until all trouble makers have been eliminated. I have written frequently in these columns col-umns that the best law can be destroyed de-stroyed by selection of bums to administer ad-minister it; and the general appraisal ap-praisal here Is that the members of the federal communications commission com-mission are a pretty sickly lot of government officials. The appointments appoint-ments the commission has made also do not constitute a list of mental men-tal giants. Well, you ask. how does this have anything to do with President Roosevelt's Roose-velt's denunciation of the newspapers. newspa-pers. Where does it touch free speech that may be adverse to the New Deal administration? The answer lies in a belief, now held by a great many observers in Washington, that somewhere in the administration is a concerted effort to get rid of the critics. There is little political pressure that can be exerted upon the newspapers, because be-cause they will speak their views through their columns, but with the radio, government supervised, licensed, li-censed, a weighty club over its head at all times, the situation is different. differ-ent. Radio News Commentators Eliminated From Air Waves Seme things have happened lately that bear recounting. Just as an example, and to cite only one case. Eea'se Carter is off of the air as a news commentator. Ke was a se-Tere. se-Tere. and. at times, a vindictive critic of the New Deal. A former friend of the New Deal. Dr. Stanley K::h. recently wrote in the Saturday Satur-day Evening Post that Carter w-as kept cut of new contracts by the administration. There have been frequent recurrences recur-rences cf the rumor, too. that W. J. Cameron, who speaks for the Ford Motor company, was rr.3rked by administration trout'e shooters as 8 speaker who ought to be eliminat ed from the air wave. Mr. Cameron Cam-eron continue on the air. Gen. Huh S. Johnnjn, former NRA bo3, is a p.jin in the rierk for the New Deal at well, but nothing has happened to him, yt. Other rumors of the type could be mentioned, but I was aked how any body In the government would dare uj Interfere. The same letter a.ked how such ends couid be achieved. A few paragraphs earlier, I referred re-ferred to governmental supervision, licensing, etc. That is the answer to the question. Any radio station gets a license for only a short period. pe-riod. Renewal of that license depends, de-pends, according to law, upon compliance com-pliance with federal communications communica-tions commission regulations and the law's provisions. This would seem to leave only a limited discretionary dis-cretionary power. It is a case, however, how-ever, like the army officer making an Inspection of a buck private's barracks: if he wants to find dirt, he will find it In the case of the radio station, its owners live in dread of censure and, I suspect, they are generally amenable to suggestions from headquarters In Washington. President's Trusted Adviser Drafts Reorganization Bill So, to link the Roosevelt denunciation denuncia-tion of newspapers and the Wheeler radio bill, one has only to know that Chairman Frank McNinch, the President's most trusted radio adviser, ad-viser, largely drafted the Wheeler reorganization bill. That measure, it should be added, reduces the communications commission to a membership of three. There would be "administrative assistants" appointed ap-pointed for each of the major types of communication, and, thus, one Individual becomes czar of radio, another of wire communication and so on. And. while the members of the commission must be named "by and with the advice and consent of the senate," the administrative assistant as-sistant may be anyone who has the necessary political pull. I repeat that the statements related re-lated above represent the belief of a good many persons. One of the swift changes that has taken place in this country is the switch in the attitude of the bulk of the newspapers. It will be recalled that when Mr. Roosevelt and the New Deal took over the government, govern-ment, there were so few editorial criticisms of the President's program pro-gram that any outcry was negligible negligi-ble in effect. The corps of news writers who attended the President's twice-a-week press conferences accepted ac-cepted his statements without equivocation, equiv-ocation, or without question. It was a press relationship more friendly than any other President ever had. Then, some of the New Deal ideas proved flops and editors started asking ask-ing questions. Their Washington correspondents searched deeper than just official handouts. It was about this time that the personnel of various agencies for "press relations" rela-tions" began to undergo expansion. Time after time, well known correspondents cor-respondents were hired, and they could not be blamed because the jobs were lucrative. I was offered one. By coincidence, of course, the quantity of "statements for the press" increased, accordingly. Once He Laughed at Them, But Things Have Changed A few years ago, Mr. Roosevelt dealt with the few editorial criticisms criti-cisms in masterful fashion by laughing about them. That was the attitude of most department and agency heads. But things have changed now to the extent that editorial edi-torial criticisms and unfriendly stories, sto-ries, or stories that include information informa-tion beyond the handouts released from government sources, become the subject for vitriolic attack from government quarters. I have no idea how long the campaign cam-paign against the press may run. It surely has plenty of momentum now. and there is plenty of money available for "press relations" work. Mr. Ickes said that the mod-i mod-i era newspapers can "dish it out but cannot take it." I wonder if Mr. Ickes "can take it" after dishing it out. It has been my conviction always that the best censorship that America Amer-ica can have is the censorship cf the newspaper reader and, mere recently, re-cently, the censorship cf the radio listener. No newspaper can go cn and on when its columns carry untruthful un-truthful or unsound material. The radio can not go on unless its programs pro-grams are proper and popular, because be-cause it continues to be easy to turn off the switch and silence the speaker. speak-er. Nor are we. in this country, compelled to listen to some dema-gocue dema-gocue in Washington or in a state capital. Ar.d all cf this leads up to the question: is there an attempt being made at censorship? li there is. i: is time for us all to know about it. Western Newspaper Unica. |