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SOME MORE LAW
Text of the amendments to the
EtpiOMft Act reported to the Sen
ate and House of Representatives by
the conference committee, April 23,
1918. And is now the law of the
hunt.
An Act to amend section three,
title one, of the Act entitled, "An
Act to punish acts of interference
with the foreign relations, the neu
trality, and the foreign commerce of
the United States, to punish es
pionage, and better to enforce the
criminal laws of the United States,
and for other purposes," approved
June 15, 1917, and for other pur
poses.
Be it enncted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Con
gress assembled. That section three
of title one of the Act entitled "An
Act to punish acts of interference
with the foreign relations, the neu
trality, and the foreign commerce of
the United States, to punish espion
age, and better to enforce the crim
inal laws of the United States, and
for other purposes," approved June
loth, nineteen hundred and seventeen,
be, and the same is hereby amended
so as to read as follows:
"Sec. 3. Whoever, when the Unit
ed States is at war, shall willfully
make or convey false reports or
false statements with intent to in
terfere with the operation or suc
cess of the military or naval forces
of the United States, to to promote
the success of its enemies or shall
willfully m'ak«S 6* cbiivejT raise re-
ports, or say or do anything ex
cept by way of bona fide and not
disloyal advice to an investor or
investors, with intent to obstruct
the sale by the United States of
Bonds or other securities of the
United States or the making of
loans by or to the United States,
and whoever, when the United States
is at war, shall willfully cause or at
tempt to cause, or incite or attempt
to incite, insubordination, disloyalty,
mutiny, or refusal of duty in the
military or naval forces of the
United States, or shall willfully ob
struct, or attempt to obstruct, the
recruiting or enlistment service of
the United States, and whoever,
when the United States is at war
shall willfully utter, print, write, or
publish any disloyal, profane, scur
rilous, or abusive language about
the form of government of the Unit
ed States, or the constitution of the
United States, or the military or
naval forces of the United States,
or the flag of the United States,
or the uniform of the army or navy
of the United States, or any lan
truage intended to bring the form
of government of the United States.
or the constitution of the United
States, or the military or naval
forces of he United States, or the
flag of the United States, or the
uniform of the army or navy of the
United States into contempt, scorn,
contumely, or disrepute, or shall
willfully utter, print, write, or pub
lish any language intended to incite,
provoke, or encourage resistance to
the United States, or to promote the
rause of its enemies, or shall will
fully display the flag of any foreign
enemy, or shall willfully by utter
ance, writing, printing, publication,
or language spoken, urge, incite, or
advocate any curtailment of pro
duction In this country of any thing
or things, product or products, neces
sary or essential to the prosecution
of the war in which the United
States may be engaged, with intent
by such curtailment to cripple or
hinder the United States in the pros
ecution of the war, . and whoever
shall wilfully advocate, teach, de
fend, or suggest the doing of any
of the acts or things in this section
enumerated, and whoever shall by
word or act support or favor the
cause of the German empire or its
allies in the present war or by
word or act oppose the cause of
the United States therein, shall be
punished by a fine of not more than
EVERETT, WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, JUNK 20, i<>ix
$10,000 or by imprisonment for not
more than twenty years, or both:
Provided, That any employe or of
ficial of the United States govern
ment who commits any disloyal act
or utters any unpatriotic or dis
loyal language, or who, in an abusive
and violent manner criticises the
army or navy or the flag of the
United States shall be at once dis
missed from the service. Any such
employee shall he dismissed by the
head of the department in which
the employee may be engaged, and
any such official shall be dismissed
by the authority having power to
appoint a successor to the dismissed
official."
Sec. 2. That section one of title
XII. and all other provisions of the
act entitled "An Act to punish acts
of interference with the foreign re
lations, the neutrality, and the for
eign commerce of the United States,
to punish espionage, and better to
enforce the criminal laws of the
United States, and for other pur
poses," approved June 15th, 1917,
which apply to section 3 of Title 1
thereof shall apply with equal force
and effect to .said section 3 as
amended.
That Title XII of the said act of
June 15th, I!U7, be, and the same is
hereby, amended by adding thereto
the following section:
"Sec, 4. When the United States
is at war, the postmaster general
may, upon evidence satisfactory to
him that any person or concern is
using the jrt.'uU in violation of any
of the provisions of this act, instruct
the postmaster at any post office
at which mail is received addressed
to such person or concern to return
to the postmaster at the office at
which they were originally mailed
all letters or other matter so ad
dressed, with the words 'mail to
this address undeliverable under es
pionage act' plainly written or stamp
ed upon the outside thereof, and all
such letters or other matter so re
turned to such postmasters shall be
by them returned to the senders
thereof under such regulations as the
postmaster general may prescribe."
NOTE—The following amendment
was inserted in Section 3 by the
Senate, after the penalty clause:
"Provided, however, that nothing
in this act shall be construed as
limiting the liberty or impairing the
right of any individual to publish or
speak what is true, with good mo
tives, and for justifiable ends."
This amendment, offered by Sen
ator France of Maryland, was elim
inated by the Conference Committee
at the request of Assistant Attor
ney General John Lord O'Brien, who
claimed that its retention would hin
der the Government in its prosecu
tion of German propagandists.
Mr. O'Brien points out that the
"most dangerous type of propaganda
used in this country is religious pa
cifism, i. c., opposition to the war
on the ground that is opposed to the
word of God."
The assistant attorney general also
directed the attention of the Con
ference Committee to his conviction
that opposing the war on the ground
that it is a war "between capital
ists and proletariat" is also a dan
gerous propaganda. He says:
"Another class of propaganda ex
tensively used is that of slowing
down production or opposing the
war on the ground that this war is
one between capitalists and proletar
iat^ This is the type of propaganda
which produced the most serious re
sults in Russia."
Mr. O'Brien held that Senator
France's amendment would hinder the
Governmert in securing convictions
in this field of propaganda.
Department of Justice gives ac
count of various sorts of pro-Ger
man Dropaganda met with—Attor
ney General Gregory urges confer
ence committee on bill amending es
pionage act to eliminate Senator
HERMAN IS HOME
.JUNK l!)th- State Secretary- Her
man arrived home sit 1:30 A. M.
He is returning from a brief visit
with friends at the National Univer
sity at Leavenworth, Kansas. While
there he was the guest of our Uncle
Samuel, who also contributed largely
to the expense of the trip, paying
Comrade Herman's transportation
ONE WAY.
As there seems tone probability
of Comrade Herman taking up
his permanent residence at Leav
enworth within a few weeks, he
will be a very busy man for
several days getting his business ar
ranged for the transfer. Comrades
France's "trim", "Good-Motives,"
"Justifiable ends" amendment from
the bill. Washington, April 24.
When the Senate had the amend
ments to the espionage act unde>
consideration, it adopted the follow
ing amendment submitted by Sena
tor France of Maryland:
"Provided, however, That nothing
jn this Act shall be construed as lim
iting the liberty or impairing the
right of the individual to publish
or speak what is true, with good mo
tives and for justifiable ends."
Attorney General Gregory ob
jected to the France amendment on
the ground that it would hinder the-
Government in curbing certain forms
of anti-war propaganda. The Con
ference Committee thereupon struck
the France Amendment from the bill.
The objections of Attorney General
Gregory were presented to the Con
ference Committee in the form of
a letter from John Lord O'Brian,
Special Assistant to the Attorney
General for War Work, addressed
to Representative Edwin Y. Webb,
Chairman of the Judiciary Commit
tee of the House of Representatives.
The letter is valuable in that it
throws considerable light on the At
torney General's conception of prop
aganda that must be prevented and
the methods necessary to such pre
vention. The letter follows:
Department of Justice, Washing
ton, D. C, April lfi, 1918.
Hon. Edwin Y. Webb,
Chairman Judiciary Committee,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D. C.
Sir: By direction of the Attorney
General I respectfully call your at
tention to the proviso inserted in
section 3, title I. of the bill amend
ing the espionage act, which reads
as follows:
"Provided, however, That nothing
in this act shall be construed as
limiting the liberty or Impairing
the right of the individual to pub
lish or speak what is true, with
good motives, and for justifiable
ends."
It is the view of this department
that this proviso would very seri
ously interfere with the successful
prosecution of cases arising under
section 3, and it is the hope of the
department that this proviso will
be eliminated from the pending bill.
In connection with this view your
attention is respectfully called to the
following facts:
The experience of the department
justifies the conclusion that there is
far more danger to the country in
pro-German propaganda than there
is in mere outspoken disloyal utter
ances. This propaganda rarely takes
the shape of open abuse of the Unit
ed States or open advocacy of the
cause of Germany and it is seldom,
if ever, possible to prove that the
propaganda has a German source,
l, c., to prove that the financing
of it comes from a German source.
On the contrary this dangerous
propaffanda ( of which there is a
great <i«al in the country, on its
face generally shows a motive en
tirely legitimate.
and others having business with the
State Secretary will facilitate mat
ters greatly by showing promptness
in their correspondence.
Comrade Herman wishes to meet
PERSONALLY as many of his
friends an can find time to call on
him; as he has matter of vital im
portance which he wishes to talk
over. To those who cannot find the
time for a personal visit he takes
this opportunity to assure them of
his gratefull appreciation of the
loyalty and helpfulln-»ss they have
shown. His entire family join with
him in offering sincere thanks to
the many friends that have helped
to make a hard road easier.
The espionage act has proved a
fairly effective weapon against prop
aganda, and if amended a.s requested
by the department by making at
tempts to obstruct enlistment pun
ishable, there is every reason to be
lieve that it will be thoroughly ef
fective.
Its effectiveness for the purpose
of killing propaganda, however, has
come from the principle that motives
prompting propaganda are ir-rele
vant and that intent is to be inferred
by juries from the natural and nec
essary effects of it.
The proviso referred to would
make the question of motive not only
relevant but essential, and would
introduce an element of proof which
would greatly increase the difficulty
of successful prosecution and great
ly decrease the value of the espion
age act as a deterrent of propa
ganda.
For example, the most dangerous
type of propaganda used in this
country is religious pacifism, i. c.,
opposition to the war on the ground
that it is opposed to the word of
God. This is the type of propa
ganda which was extensively used
in weakening the Italian armies.
The statements used in it generally
consist of quotations from the Bible
and various interpretations thereof.
Convictions against this type of
propaganda are only possible where
the motive is irrelevant and where
juries can be made to infer the in
tent from the natural effect of the
propaganda.
Another class of propaganda ex
tensively used is that of slowing
down production or opposing the war
on the ground that this war is one
between the capitalists and pro
letariat. This is the type of prop
aganda which produced "the most se
rious results in Russia. It con
tains, however, assertions of fact; on
its face the motive is not treason
able, or where a treasonable mo
tive exists it would be difficult to
prove it.
A third type of propaganda now
apparent in the South is that ef
fecting the status of the negro in
connection with the war. Here again
few facts are stated; the facts which
are stated are generally true, and it
is difficult to disprove good mo
ti" es.
There are many other types of
dangerous and effective propaganda
which on their face appear to be
based on good motives, where proof
of actual disloyal motive is very
difficult to make.
While the proviso referred to
might have some justification if sec
tion 3 applied only to disloyal ut
terances, in the opinion of the de
partment it will prove a hindrance
for prosecutions in the field of prop
aganda.
In view of this fact, will you not
ask your committee to consider the
advisability of eliminating the pro
viso from the pending bill?
JOHN LORD O'BRIAN,
The Special Assistant to the Attor
ney General for War Work. (For
the Attorney General.)
Number 386.
