Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 22 July 1927 — Page 2

PAGE TWO

THE MUNCIE POST-DEMOCRAT

FRIDAY, JULY 22, 1927.

THE POST-DEMOCRAT

▲ Democratic weekly newspaper representing the Democrats of Muncie, Delaware County and the 8th Congressional District. The

only Democratic Newspaper in Delaware County

Entered as second class matter Januiry 15, 1921, at the Postofflce

at Muncie, Indiana, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

PRICE 5 CENTS—$2.00 A YEAR.

Room 613 Wysor Block—Telephones 2216 and 2540 GEORGE R. DALE, Owner and Publisher.

Muncie, Indiana, Friday, July 22, 1927.

FREE SPEECH. (Lowell (Mich.) Ledger.) George R. Dale, Muncie, Ind., publisher, who for four years has been fighting a 90-day sentence to the state farm for contempt of the Delaware circuit court, has been paroled by Governor Jackson upon recommendation of the trustees of the farm; and his name and example will live on when the name of his sentence!' has perished forever. He who stands for free speech; and a free press will be remembered with love and respect, when he who holds his own petty red tape above the sacred rights of free men will be recalled in execration only. America should thank God that it still has men who will go to jail rather than bend the knee to petty tyrants. _Selah!

Truth Crucified. (Indianapolis Times.) Unless Governor Jackson changes his mind, George Dale will not serve ninety days at the penal farm for criticising Judge Clarence Dearth of Muncie and a grand jury in Dearth’s court. Dale is to be paroled. Not pardoned, but paroled. He must go to the prison gate, undergo the humiliation Of being listed as a prisoner, go through the formalities of entrance to the place where bootleggers, petty thieves, wife beaters and vagrants are taught the ways of good citizenship. „ „ , He will not, so it is announced, be actually confined. Instead, for the next ninety days he will report to the prison authorities on his actions. They have the power to bring him back to prison. He is merely trusted with his own freedom as long as he does not offend. What would Dale have to do to violate the terms of his parole ? The answer is easy. . Dale, during the next ninety-days; is apparbiitly,finder bond not tc ' ^1 the truth about the Dearth court. As long as ^e is silent or tells lies about it, he shotild be safe. If be . ^eaks the truth, logically, at least, he should go back to the penal farm. For it has been demonstrated that the offense of Dale was that he told the truth about the Dearth court. Four years ago Dale, editor of a weekly paper at Muncie, printed a lot of things concerning the court of Judge Clarence Dearth and a grand jury. ’Tnevuiy ^ cb.atge cvf violating the liquor law, the claim being that he was in an office where a man, known now to have been a fixer and framer for the Ku Klux Klan, had a bottle of whisky. Dale said that the jury was hand-picked and was influenced by the Klan and drawn without regard to the law. He charged that the government of his city was in the control of an invisible power, a super government which had no regard for the constitution and the law. Dale was sentenced for contempt of court. The indictment on the liquor charge was dropped by the prosecutor almost immediately. Dale could not get a trial on that charge. The Supreme Court of this State said that the truth made little difference. Judge Dearth was technically within his rights when he sentenced Dale. Things have happened since that time. The chief event, as far as Dale was concerned, was the impeachment trial of Judge Dearth before the Stat#Senate this spring. The House of Representatives, by a vote of 93 to 1, said Dearth should be impeached. Ninety-three representatives voted to charge him with deliberately misusing his powers of office to suppress Dale’s newspaper. Ninety-three men voted to charge him with so conducting the drawing of juries as to make it impossible for citizens to get justice in his court. And when they had listened to the evidence, thirty-two Senators said he was guilty. Only seventeen said that he should remain upon the bench. But he stuck, for it requires two-thirds of the Senate to impeach and there were lacking two votes to accomplish that. That Dale had told the truth was the basis of the appeal to the Governor to set aside the sentence to send him to jail. # There should have been a prompt, open pardon for Dale, not the timid, humiliating parole. What is the purpose of forcing Dale to report his conduct to the prison trustees ? Paroles are given on the theory that those convicted will not commit the same offense for which they were sentenced. Under the circumstances the parole means something more than merely giving Dale his freedom. It is a challenge to every newspaper in the State. Can it be possible that Dale is given conditional liberty only because in. jail he would bring to public attention the full facts of his case and of the State? The newspaper editors of this State who have respect for their profession should unite in a demand that there be not a parole, but a full, generous pardon as an admission that his sentence was unjust and unwarranted, the edict of tyranny and' not the voice of justice. An editor under parole for telling the truth ? Monstrous. /

Suggests Vote of Thanks. (Indianapolis News.) George Dale, who was yesterday paroled by the Governor on the recommendation of the trustees of the Indiana State Farm ought to have been fully pardoned—perhaps with a vote of thanks. For he undoubtedly rendered a service to the community in which he lived, and to the whole state. The el: ™ges that he made in his paper in regard to conditions i i cie, and as a result of which he was held to be guilty of r minal contempt, were many of them supported by evidence brought out before the Indiana senate sitting as a court to try Judge Dearth, whom Dale had criticised, on an impeachment resolution presented by the house of representatives. As it is, he will have to submit to technical imprison-

ment—since there can be no parole where there is no imprisonment—pay a $500 fine, and be under the supervision of the authorities, and to a certain extent at the mercy of his enemies. The parole is based on the theory of guilt, as of course the fine is. If the man was guilty there was no reason why he should not have served his sentence. If innocent he should not be compelled to serve even the minutest part of it, and certainly should not be fined. A pardon was the only logical thing, and, as we believe, the only right

thing.

It is greatly to be regretted that there seemed to be no way, so peculiar sometimes is the law, of getting a ruling of the federal supreme court, on the remarkable deci sion of the Indiana supreme court that the truth of what was said in criticism of a court or judge was no defense in contempt proceedings. Surely it ought to be a complete defense. To hold that it is not is in effect to hold that there may be no criticism of a judge, except under peril of fine and imprisonment, no matter how flagrant may be his conduct. The more flagrant it was, the greater would be the “contempt” in directing attention to it. Dale should have by all means been pardoned.

to take the legislative nomination. That deal was fixed by Billy Williams and Lem fell for it. Up until that time he had been an insurgent. Ever since that time he has taken orders from the machine.

The state tax board has decided that the city of Muncie can borrow sixty thousand dollars if it wants to. What we want to know is whether the city will be allowed to pay it back without permission of the board.

Country boys and girls in Delaware county are being encouraged to join calf clubs and pig clubs. In the light of recent record concerning a celebrated boss trade we suggest the slogan be changedTo “raise a colt.”

Dominoes have succeeded cards in Muncie cigar stores. Persons with weak hearts are advised' to avoid this exciting game of chance, otherwise they might fall dead is some fellow in the game happened to “domino” right quick.

EXCURSION TO LOUISVILLE, RY. Saturday night, July 30 Train leaves Big Four station at 11 P. M. Leaves Afiderson at 11:30 P. M. Returning leaves Louisville at ,11 o’clock Sunday night. Eighteen hours in Louisville to visit friends, churches, parks or nearby towns. CHILDREN HALF FARE. For Information call Phone 82. Fare round Trip, $3.00.

Please Spare Our Blushes.

(Portland Daily Sun)

The pardoning of George Dale, Muncie editor, comes as a just finish of a great fight, and we may take heart’, realizing that after all, this is a land of freedom, where the acts of our officials are not above criticism, when such criticism is merited. The sentencing of Dale to prison for publishing irregularities in court procedure recalled practices of medieval times, but is almost without parallel in these days in a country where freedom of speech and freedom of the press are sacred rights, and important parts of the foundation of our government. Almost anyone but Dale would have been whipped out long ago, but his courageous attitude maintained throughout and the finish shows that courage will be rewarded, and that when a man is fighting for principles that are right,, if he will take the knocks, eventually he will win out. There are few fighters like Dale. He never minces words, and he never flinches. When driven to the wall by his adversaries, and when all odds seemed to be against him, he never asked for quarter. Time and again during the past few years it has seemed that he would surely have to give up, that his fight was hopeless. He has been the victim of boycott, personal assault and has been before the court on numerous occasions. The fight has cost him in money and in personal inconvenience and suffering. For a long period of time he had few friends who would give him aid and encouragement. But now he is one of the big men, not only of Muncie, but of this state and of the nation. For a long time, even his friends thought that his tactics wei'e.^t wi^e,, and he has been so a#'i$ed. It was thought that he waS too fy'lain spoken and too radical. . But in the light of events in the! pitst few months, these people, and others who were his enemies have come to the conclusion that he was right, and that if anything, his published statements have been too conservative. He has fought a lone fight, and he has fought it gloriously and well. The spirit of George Dale is the same spirit which has secured to all English speaking peoples, and particularly to the citizens of the United States, the sacred privileges that they enjoy. Time and again, oppression a’ 1 corruption have been fought. People have been perseedeeu before in the cause, and have even lost their lives, but right has invariably triumphed with the result that today we enjoy liberty and freedom. The Democracy of Indiana is fortunate in having a man of the calibre of George Dale. One of the foremost men of the party was Andrew Jackson, a man who was like Dale, a fighter who would not falter in a combat, but who would fight to a finish after entering the fray. If the Democratic party had more men of this type, it would not be going down in defeat year after year. Next year - there will be another election. Mr. Dale should be rewarded, and at the same time he could be doing his party and his country a further service, by becoming a candidate for Congress. An aggressive campaign such as he would carry on in his characteristic style would win, and the 8th District of Indiana would have a congressman who would give a good account of himself.

Muncie Paid It All. Dave Stephenson says he contributed $73,000 toward the success of Governor Ed Jackson in the 1924 republican state primary. The records of the Ku Klux Klan show that there were at that time 4,875 members in Delaware county. In order to be properly enrolled in the holy muster each applicant was required to hand Steve ten dollars for admission and six Hollars and a half for what might be termed, in boss tracing parlance, “equipment.” Multiplying $16.50 by 4,875, we arrive at the rather imposing figure of $80,437.50, enough to supply the entire $73,000 Steve says he spent for Jackson with jj>7,437.50 to spare, enough left over, in fact, to buy three fully equipped horses. MuncH na 4 ^ only “offered more,” but actually gave more, than was required to finance Steve’s flyer in republican politics. Having in mind the fact that Muncie was only one small spot in a whole state full of suckers, and that Steve was sitting at Indianapolis, the receiving end of a veritable cloud of ten dollar bills, the $73,000 ifae complains of was mere cigarette money. Deducting the $73,000 from the £um total of sucker receipts, he had enough left over to elect Coolidge if he had wanted to.

A Political Appointment. The naming of Lem Pittenger president of the Muncie state normal school gives rise to the unpleasant thought that politics might have entered into the appointment. Pittenger is a purely political person. For the past several years he has been a member of the state legislature and has participated in the political intrigues for which the republican state organization is noted. Locally Pittenger is a member of the Billy Williams organization. In all likelihood he is qualified for the position, but’ if he had not been so active in machine politics his appointment would have “set” better. It is an open secret that Pittenger was threatening to enter the race for congress against Vestal. Could it be possible that the powers that be cleared the way for Vestal by making a college president out of the Selma statesman? A few years ago, when Lem’s idea of the ultimate of political greatness was to cabbage onto the job cf trustee of Liberty township, he was induced to get out of the way in order that a particular friend of Billy Williams might have the office. In that instance he resigntc his candidacy for trustee

POST-DEMOCRAT (Continued From Page One) fore, which led to the contempt convictions. Upon my return from Washington I was arrested for libeling Judge Dearth, the charge being based on the article written by Clell Maple, and published during my absence from the city. The foreman of the grand jury which had indicted me on that charge while I was in Washington, testified at the impeachment trial that the indictment was prepared before any evidence had been presented to the grand jury. As a sequel to the Raymond Warner criminal libel case, a ^civil action for damages was instituted by Warner, demanding twenty five thousand dollars. Wilbur Ryman, who acted as special prosecutor in the criminal libel case, is attorney of record in the civil action, which has been assigned for trial before Judge Bales of Winchester. Losing out in the circuit court, the state supreme court and the United States supreme court in the celebrated contempt case, an appeal was made to Governor Jackson and upon recommendation of the board of trustees of the state penal farm, the ninety days’ imprisonment has been mercifully wiped out, but the fine must be

paid.

The Hue and Cry When the persecution was at its height, during the three years that ihe klan held full sway-in Muncie, fully, seventy five percent qf the peo$ei of Delaware county joiihed in the tiu^ and cry to send nfe to prison, although my 6nly offense had been to stick doggedly to my editorial program of exposing the wrongs that were being committed under the sacred banner of religion and patriotism. But, thank God, a better day has dawned in Muncie. The intolerance of those days has passed i^way. I believe that if the oppor-G'-tiiy wero f - ^ ok .nine-ty-five percent of the adult population of Delaware county would be willing to sign a petition . dej manding that a full and generous pardon be granted by the governor. But I am content in the knowledge thit I have gained in the love and esteem to my immediate neighbors and that public sentiment in every section of Indiana as well as other states has been whole heartedly manifested in my behalf. Elsewhere in this issue appears a few of the many editorial expressions of good will recently published. The very generous act of Governor Ed Jackson and his parole bottl'd in relieving me of the bitter necessity of spending three months in degrading confinement at the state penal farm, is a practical declaration that editors in Indiana are not to be locked up for telling the truth. It is true that the five hundred dollar fine was not remitted, but that were exigences which must not be overlooked. The penal farm sentence was the thing that was demanded by the “bitter enders.” Powerful Influences at Work Powerful influences within the group that is politically close to Governor Jackson were used to influence executive action. Everything that could be thought of in the way of prejudicing the minds of the governor and the board, was

done.

Letters attacking me and demanding my imprisoment were written and personal appeals were made requesting that the full sentence should be carried out. Governor Jackson and the parole board will bear me out in the statement that not one move was made on my part to unduly prejudice the executive in my behalf. Everything that was done on my part was open and above board, 1 asked only that the case be judged on its merits. The big question was whether or not an editor should be sent to the penal farm for telling what he believed to be the truth concerning public affairs. t Governor Jackson has declared that 1 shall not be required to serve the sentence. All things considered it is a great victory for those who believd in the constitutional guarantee of free speech and a free press. o • STINK BOMB HURLED IN KOKOMO THEATER STRIKE |j

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No matter how well kept, there is no sumImer comfort in a house v/ithout awnings. And nothing does so much to create that ait of restfulness .and luxurious ease as a set of nice, new awnings.

MUNCIE TENT AND AWNING COMPANY

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Phone 915