FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND OF THE PRESS 71
most blessed of all the century. Thoughtful Christian people all
over the world can see a light breaking in the east and are hoping
and praying that the early days of the twentieth century may see
the sun of peace burst forth in all his glory.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND OF THE PRESS.
(Prize Junior Oration, by Lwis E. YOUNG.)
ONE hundred .eight years ago the first amendment was added
to the United States' Constitution declaring that Congress
should not make a law abridging the freedom of speech or of the
press. Our country was founded by men who were seeking a
place where they could think, speak and live as they pleased.
The framers of our Constitution were men who appreciated the
benefits to be derived from free speech, and, who believed that our
government, in order to be truly democratic, must' guarantee its
citizens freedom to talk and write as well as the privilege of voting
•
and holding office.
The people of to-day have in no wise lost the power of conver
sation which our forefathers possessed, and which has been so
characteristic of Americans. The Yankee, the Hoosier, the
Texan, and the Californian—the laborer, the mechanic, the farmer,
the banker, the scholar, and the scientist have opinions of their
own and want to tell them to others. Some one has said that,
when in the best of moods, the Frenchman wants to dance, the
German to sing, the Spaniard to gamble, the Englishman to eat,
the Italian to boast, the Irishman to fight, and the American
to make a speech. Congress must surely have foreseen what great
talkers we would we, for it provided for the emergencies which
would so often have arisen if speech and the rn press had been re
stricted. Now, the right to utter and publish whatever a citizen
may choose, and to be protected against legal censure and punish
ment, provided that he does not publish any slander or. ;libel
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