We must combat them as we would the plague. We cannot afford to face the future as a disunited people. Some in our midst have sought to instill a feeling of fear and defeatism in the minds of the American people". Roosevelt has scared us with enemy submarines on our coast and in the same speech pictures us "in the face of danger".(11)
Hull, Dec. 31, N. Y. Times, spoke of "the remarkable degree of unity shown by the American people . . . the absolutely necessary basis for keeping the nation strong within . . . providing the conditions under which this country can make its appropriate contribution".12
Lothian, at Chicago a few days later, emphasized "Matters of Common Interest". British-American unity is evidently what both aim at.
In France, the penalty for free speech is the guillotine. William H. Chamberlin in the Chr Sci Monitor, from Paris, Jan. 31, tells of a still sterner decree to penalize rumors, what the French call 'bobards'. The Japanese have a better way of suppressing "dangerous thought",-- thousands of articulate thinkers have been immured incommunicado for the duration. In China they lop off their heads,--which prevents their further use.
Our administrative and industrial heads, crudely emulating Hitler, apparently would be better satisfied with a million heads with but a single thought, all pulses that beat as one, all hates that blaze as one.
When the Senate acts favorably on the Smith Bill which passed the House last May, these Bulletins previously planned "To Keep America Out of War" will become unlawful, subversive. But their purpose is not pacifist. It goes far beyond. Hating no peoples and admiring most, it seems to me desirable to stop waste and abate hate, to enlarge understanding through better descriptions of events, and to begin at home. So these Bulletins will be continued "To Save America First".(13)
Borah was girded for the fight.(14) A few days before his death he wrote expressing interest in these Bulletins and desire to help toward the expense. Now we must carry on with his colleague Johnson, his disciple Nye, and other brave and free men.(15)
Write American Civil Liberties Union, 31 Union Sq. West, N. Y. C. for information on: The Omnibus Gag Bill (Smith Bill, H.R. 5138), The Military Disaffection Bill, The Sedition Bill. Send for: " How To Keep America Out of War", by Kirby Page, Box 247, La Habra, Calif., 96 pp., 15c, 12 for $1.00--" Memo on the Movies, 1914-1939", by WinifredJohnston
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