Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1911 — President Taft Thinks Warren’s Writings are Their Own Antidote. [ARTICLE]

President Taft Thinks Warren’s Writings are Their Own Antidote.

In commuting the fine and imprisonment which the court sought to impose on Fred Warren, the socialist editor, President Taft spoke in the following language: “Were this a prosecution for criminal libel in a state court,” the president says, “the sentence might perhaps be justified because of the destructive and reckless purpose of the defendant in his publication. But, even in such a case, I would question the wisdom of making the defendant conspicuous and feeding his vanity by treating him seriously when his violence, his exaggeration, his wild accusations, and his mock heroics ought to be treated with ridicule.”, “Doubtless hiß writings are read with pleasure by a number whose views are as wild and as perverted as his, but for all persons of average common sense a reading of his articles is the best antidote for the poison he seeks to instill.” He is right. There is nothing that a man of Warren's type prefers more than the appearance of martyrdom, if he is ignored he will write himself to death.