Where the News Ends

...rosd since it m could be regarded, under the editorship of Oswald Garrison Villard, as a consistent champion of libertarian ideals...

...Carried to its logical conclusion, this reasoning would justify censorship of "irresponsible" and "ignorant" journalism at home...

...CHINESE CURRENCY CONTINUES TO SOAR The incredible inflation of Chinese currency it the last seven years is revealed in Internationa Labor Office statistics...

...As a substitute for the Polish professor it invited an American journalist who has undergone a rather remarkable shift of viewpoint since the time when he exhausted the resources of eloquence in depicting the heroism and righteousness of the Finnish resistance to the Soviet invasion in 1939...

...Based on an index numbei of 100 for 1937, the latest index floats at 44,431 For May, 1944, compared with 14,789 in October 1943...

...Soviet censors would spply the same epithet to Max* Eastman and Eugene Lyons...

...But could sny reasonable person deny that every one of these four persons stands wall above the average hsck reporter as regards knowledge of the language, history and culture, respectively, of Germany and of Russia...

...It would imply that there must be a perfect press (by the stsndards of The Notion editors) before there should be s free prrs...

...Obviously editor* and publishers snd correspondents and newspapermen are fallible, like the rest of us...

...The possible legal penalties which threaten recslcitrant violators will merely place power behind this reformatory impulse...

...Why msk* the correspondent liable to expulsion by "officials of hi* own country...

...So, according to The Nation view, freedom of tne press is a "privilege," of which the recipients must be "worthy...

...Senator Ivea and the other proponents of the bill »-knowledge thst most cases will be settled by discussion snd mutual consent...

...I submit that this is a flat repudistion of the Declaration of Independence, of the Bill of Rights, of the great tradition of British snd European liberalism...

...An American organization professedly devoted to the impartial study of foreign affairs had arranged s luncheon-discussion on the Soviet-Polish situation...

...The commissioners are to be paid at the rate of 310,000 « year and are to be provided with an appropriation sufficient to permit them to establish in the various regions of the state properly staffed offices to deal with infraction* of thesjUw...

...The comment of The Nation confuses two entirely irrelevant issue...

...Why not, ss hss slresdy been suggested in this column, use sll the influence of the American Government to conclude bilsteral pacts with every foreign governdjent sssuring Complete absence of censorship in time eg pence...

...At the Isst moment there was a stirring of intellectual conscience in the organization...

...Social club* snd fraternal, charitable, educational or religioaa associations are excepted if they sre not run for profit...

...Latest available figures for Latin America •how that the cost of living is steadily increasing in several countries...

...Worltlorer Prett...

...Obviously some sre better equipped for their jobs than otheri...

...And the supposedly impartial American organization meekly accepted this totalitarian dictation...

...Figures for the United States, Greet Britain, Canada, New Zealand India and Australia show only slight varistiona between the latest index numbers and those of the previous yesr...

...Here would have been a fair presentation of opposed points of view...

...Worse still, however, is the irresponsibility of publishers snd agencies, who not infrequently employ as foreign correpsondsnts men who are completely ignorant of the language, history and culture of ' the countries in which they sre accredited...

...His present spoken and printed word would certainly pass the strictest Kremlin censorship...

...But the Russian, perhaps cherishing Statinoid delusions of grandeur, or conscious of his extremely bad case, haughtily refused to appear on the platform with a Fole...

...I quote the salient part of Hs comment: "The grant of such privileges implies Uie assurance of a sense of responsibility in th* recipients...

...But this hat nothing to do with th* right of every journalitt, good or had, wine or ttupid, intelligent or unintelligent, liberal or reactionary, to eend the truth •v he sees it to hi* newt pa per, free from eentorthip and unhampered by threat of expultian from the country where he it working...

...Such a journalist is a welcome guest—so long aa he remains suitably dumb, passes on the propaganda that » banded out to him, havered now and then with a "human interest" yarn about a girl who hss committed suicide because her lover unkindly called her s hippopotamus...

...For Who can bo SO impartial and omniscient a* le decide with easarsncs Snd finslHy between the true and tho untrue, the responsible snd the Irresponsible...

...I would recommend to The Nation editor who wrote thst paragraph a thorough study of John Stuart Mill's Essay On Liberty...

...The object i* to give the greet mass of men and women warker* of this state a fair and even chance in their place* of employment and in their trade unions.* Th* chief argument against tho bill is thst these and* cannot be attained by law, that the only wsy to improvement is educstion and the resultant gradual chang* in habits...

...Under such a system of pacta a correspondent could not be expelled from a foreign country unless he had committed some legal offense thst bore no relation to legitimate journalistic activity...

...Social standards embodied in law and asserted by the state in terms of police and courts and possible fines and prison terms have in many fields proved to be effective educational instruments...

...But The Nation approaches the question from a different viewpoint, from a totalitarian viewpoint...

...New York State is about to perform a great experiment...

...As s matter of personal observation, I can its** with confidence that in the overwhelming majority of cases it is not the "irresponsible" journalistic dumbbell, ignorant of the his to ay, lsngusge and culture of tho country to which he is assigned...

...The figure for Germany hss ilso remained constant, the index number tot Vtoher being 91 compared to 90 for October, 1943...

...One has become an u storm d to its double standard of morals in condoning or very mildly criticising Soviet annexation 1st crimes in eastern Europe and exploding in unmeasured indignation over Anglo-American blunders in western jgurope and the SWT...

...Here one is bark to (he ARC* of elementary liberalism...

...The cost of living in Japsn, on the othei band, rose from a 1943 average of 168 to 185 ir September...

...As speskers it hsd invited s Russian, well-known for his hundred percent Stalinite loyalty, and a distinguished Polish professor...

...The subject of the comment was the proposal of Kent Cooper, director of the Associated Press, that foreign correspondents should be granted "the right to report news without hindrance, and protection against being expelled—should s correspondent become poxtonm Hon gre/o — except by officials of hi* own country,'* To anyone who knows whst s formidsble weapon against the integrity of foreign correspondents expulsion, or tho threat of expulsion, or the withholding of a return visa, can be in the hands of s totalitarian government, the only criticism of Cooper's proposal would be that it does not go fsr enough...

...It occurred in an American city that likes to prfde itself on being one of the esrly crsdles of Americsn liberty...

...The machinery of the law may be top-heavy...

...But by passing this law, we shall be making * fine step forward...

...Thit i* the verf heart and precondition of honest asjsj healthy fnternetionml eeri **nuNlf|Ne"S...

...Incidents of thi* kind emphasize the need for constant alertness, vigilance, morsl coursge, if we are jpot to be submerged in a wave of Communist totalitarian propaganda in the very wake of the defeat of Hitlerism...

...The totalitarian set-up for that luncheon-discussion was perfect...

...Aa lollt*>rleil— The Ives-Quinn Bill Against Discrimination BY passing the Ives-Quinn Bill, the New York legislature will place this state in the forefront of the campaign to prevent the oppression of minority groups, The well-meant opposition of a small group of anxious liberals hss served to emphasize and publicize the thorough-going character of thi* measure In contrast to the*FEPC, it provides for the establishment of a commission of five members which will hsve the power to make investigations, iasue rulings and take steps looking to the enforcement of the law...

...2M?« st least, the ideal of freedom of the press which The Nation him fought for since the deys of Qodkin...

...There should be every effort, through intelligent reader criticism and other methods, to encourage good and fair reporting and writing and to discourage bad and unfair...

...Nasi cesuKN-s would write off Edgsr Ansel Mowror and Dorothy Thompson as "irresponsible...

...It/it not »i!oj*ct to any if* or but* or qualifications...

...It is, or should be sn sbsolute and inalienable right...

...If Does Happen Here , folks, this didn't happen in Moscow, or in Lublin or in Bucharest or Softs...

...Ws could name plenty of Americsn foreign correspondents who hsvs such s sense of responsibility, but we could also name s number of others in whom it is weak, if not entirely locking...

...The boxscore was more than sn hour for the two apologists for Stalin's Isnd grabs, about twelve minutes for a presentation of the case for application of Atlantic Charter principles in eastern Europe...

...Also excepted from operation of the measure are per-sons in domestic service and those who work for concerns which employ fewer than six persons...

...This argument has been adduced in opposition to a whole succession of measures, from the' compulsory education law on down...

...Amendments may have to be made...

...And it carries with it the right to publish wrongheaded journalism, foolish journalism, iatoosporats^foornalisni, vulgar journalism, biased journalism, slong with the better varieties...

...Who gets into trouble with totalitarian censors...

...Nine times out of ton ths cause of expulcion 1* too much, not too little knowledge...

...The bill make** it unlawful for an employer to die-charge or refuse to hire *br to discriminate against any persona because because of race, creed, color or aationsl origin, Trade unions are forbidden to refuse membership to any person for those reasons...

...A very limited and inadequate opportunity was provided for the expression of S dissenting viewpoint...

...Loopholes may appear...

...In this'commonwealth, We propose to arrange things so that no youth because of race, religion or nstional origin will start out with two strikes against him...

...Usually a full exposure of discrimination will lead to rectification...

...Now freedom of the press, in my view, is not e "privilege," to be granted or withdrawn by some omnipotent government or censor...