HALF-PAST ELEVEN SQUARE

BY C. FOX SMITH

There's a town I know in Flanders, an' there ain't much else to say, But it's pretty much like most towns when the war 'as passed their

way;

There's tumbled shops an' 'ouses, an' there's brickbats everywhere, An' a place that British soldiers call "Alf-past Eleven Square.'

There's a silly clock stuck up there

that's forgot the way to chime, With its silly fingers pointin' to the same old bloomin' time; An' the world it keeps on turnin', but it makes no difference there,

For it never gets no later in 'Alf-past Eleven Square.

There's a stink o' gas a-crawlin'

where the people lived before, That it used to tell the time to when there 'ad n't been no war, In the day the whizz-bangs bustin',

in the night the star-shells' glare, An' 'oo cares what the time is in 'Alf-past Eleven Square?

THE Constitution of the United States is not suspended in time of war; and while, as necessary for carrying on the war, enormous powers are rightly assumed by Congress, and limitations may be relaxed by a judiciary properly bent upon not hampering the Government in its vital measures, nevertheless, the Constitution must and will be adhered to. Constitutional doubts as to the propriety of the measures proposed were responsible for the fact that action was not taken by Congress until after two months of debate, the Espionage Law being passed on June 15, 1917. It provides punishment for anyone who willfully makes or conveys false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies, and for anyone who willfully obstructs recruiting or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, or mutiny in the naval or military forces. Every letter or publication attempting to achieve any of these ends is declared non-mailable, as are all letters or publications ‘advocating or urging treason, insurrection, or forcible resistance to any law of VOL. XI-NO. 573

the United States.' Later, October 6, 1917, the Trading with the Enemy Act included sections aimed at the foreign language press. Publication in a foreign language of any item referring to the Government of the United States or to the war is permitted only if the journal has given such proofs of its loyalty as to entitle it to a permit issued by the Postmaster-General, or, in other cases, if the journal files with the Postmaster at the place of publication a sworn translation, in English, of all such items. The Act also makes it unlawful for any person to publish or distribute matter made nonmailable by the Espionage Act as described above; and thus the inhibition was considerably extended with regard to printed matter which hitherto had simply been excluded from the mails.

Such restrictions on the press were not very drastic; they did not go so far as the English Defense of the Realm Regulations, and they speedily proved to be inadequate. The difficulty was not with regard to the press -it could be reached through the Post Office Department, as I will explain later-but with regard to utterances and acts by individuals.

Public opinion frequently considers only the failures, not the successes of a particular piece of legislation, and although the Department of Justice reported that there had been nearly four thousand convictions in cases against individuals charged with attempting to obstruct the Government, there were several conspicuous instances in which the offenders went free. The congressional statutes did not define offenses against the Government with sufficient particularity or constitute as crimes many dangerous acts on the part of enemy sympathizers; thus, a strong movement gained headway to have such offenses tried by courts-martial, so that conviction and punishment would be speedy, and the miscarriage of justice through enemy sympathizers on juries would be done away with. It is on account of the inadequacy of federal statutes and the slowness of Congress in amending them that there has recently been in the United States. such a regrettable number of instances of mob violence directed against enemy aliens and enemy sympathizers. In May, however, Congress did finally

act.

Now it is a crime to utter or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the military or naval forces,' or the flag, or uniform; or language intended to bring the form of government, the Constitution, the naval or military forces, the uniform, or the flag into 'contempt, scorn, contumely, or disrepute.' The measure forbids the display of the flag of any foreign enemy and any language intended to encourage resistance to the United States or to promote the cause of the enemy, or to advocate the curtailment of production of materials essential to the prosecution of the war. It is also a crime to say or do anything except

by way of bona fide and not disloyal advice to an investor' to obstruct the sales of United States bonds. The law, finally, makes it a crime to encourage or defend any of the prohibited acts. Whether this will be more efficacious remains to be seen; it applies to although it is not particularly aimed at aimed at the press, but it hardly involves the constitutional amendment guaranteeing freedom of discussion, for it is confined to utterances which recent events have shown to have immediate tendency to cause breaches of the peace or to aid the enemy by hampering American preparations.

The real danger of the regulations is to be found in the possible manner of their enforcement, which is largely by the Post Office Department. Apart from the prosecution of a few groups of editors notably those of the Socialists for conspiracy to obstruct American participation in the war, most of the objectionable publications have been reached through the post office. About seventy-five papers have been interfered with in one way or another. Forty-five were Socialist papers; four Socialist daily papers have been denied 'second-class privileges'; others have been cited to defend themselves, and have retained mailing privileges only by agreeing to print no discussion of the war. Several pamphlets have been excluded and their authors proceeded against criminally, and perhaps thirty papers have been detained in the post office, until doubtful matter could be passed upon, or have had single issues suppressed. So far as I know, however, no journal approving of the war and only desiring by criticism to hasten and improve American preparations has been seriously interfered with. What happened in the case of the March Metropolitan Magazine is not clear. It publishes