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Show Hruchart's Vcr-'unrlon Digest In U. S. Alone; of All World Is There Real Freedom of Speech J)isliii'l)in Sijrns Eecontly Indicate All Is Not Well; Administration Tirades Again-t Prc.s Become Frequent; Fre-quent; Concerted Effort to Get Rid of Critics. Ey WILLIAM ERUCKART UN'fJ Service, National Press Bid?., Washington, D. C. WASHINGTON. One of America's Ameri-ca's Kr;;itf.-st and most glorious tradition tra-dition in the j;;lou::y with which its citizci,n guard the rijjlit of free jipecch and a free press. Tiiere is no nation in the world now, and there never has been one, where BU':h frce'lom for expression of opinion opin-ion is nccorded as we have in the United States. For proof, if proof be needed, simply take the old atlas and examine the countries, one by no, and abundant evidence will be lounrl. Here, alone in all of the world, can an Individual or a group liuve Its untrammeled say. There have been some signs lately, late-ly, however, that are disturbing. I tlo riot mean to over-emphasize them by a discussion of them, but the greatest lesson that I have learned is that the American people will correct conditions, or prevent their development, if they know what the facts are and find them adverse. During the last several months, there have been frequent tirades against the press of the nation. Some of the denunciations have come from President Roosevelt in reply to press criticism of some of his policies. Other administration spokesmen have followed the President's Presi-dent's lead. Notably among them, and certainly the most vicious, is the secretary of the interior, Harold L. Ickes, who seems, in this instance, in-stance, to be the lord high chief verbal executioner of opposition writers and newspapers. Mr. Roosevelt's recent assertion that some newspaper owners are deliberately de-liberately misrepresenting the facts and Mr. Ickes' assertion 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. Ickes 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 asked, and properly, prop-erly, I believe, why Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Ickes do not point ont those newspapers that are 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 Democrat. 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 national 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 get 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 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 Some tilings have happened lately that bear recounting. Just as an example, and to cite only one case, Boake Carter is ofl of the air as a news commentator. He was a severe, se-vere, and. at times, a vindictive critic of the New Deal. A former friend of the New Deal, Dr. Stanley High, recently wrote in the Saturday Satur-day Evening Post that Carter was kept out of new contracts by the administration. There have been frequent recurrences recur-rences of the rumor, too, that W. J. Cameron, who speaks for the Ford Motor company, was marked by administration trouble shooters as b sneaker who ought to be eliminat ed from the air waves. Mr. Cam- I eron continues on the air. Gen. Hugh S. Johnson, former NRA boss, is a pain in the neck for the New Deal as well, but nothing has happened to him, yet. Other rumors of the type could be mentioned, but I was asked how any body in the government would dare to interfere. The same letter asked how such ends could 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 nave 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 modern mod-ern 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 of the newspaper reader and, more recently, re-cently, the censorship of the radio listener. No newspaper can go on 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 demagogue dema-gogue in Washington or in a state capital. And all of this leads up to the question: is there an attempt being made at censorship? If there is, it is tirr.e for us all to know about it. Western Newspaper Union. |