All Terrain Thinking

A Compendium of things I think are Important

Documents of American History and Freedom

1918 Montana Sedition Law

Need Complete Text of Law

The meat of it,

"Whenever the United States shall be engaged in war, any person or persons who shall utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, violent, scurrilous, contemptuous, slurring or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the constitution of the United States, or the soldiers or sailors of the United States, or the flag of the United States, or the uniform of the army or navy of the United States…or shall utter, print, write or publish any language calculated to incite or inflame resistance to any duly constituted Federal or State authority in connection with the prosecution of the War…shall be guilty of sedition."

Full Text To Follow This Line, When located  

Full Text To Precede This Line, When located

Commentary: As U.S. troops fight in Iraq, citizens heatedly debate whether we should be engaged in that war. This robust discussion is exactly as it should be in a country that has enshrined the right to free speech in its Constitution's Bill of Rights.

Believe it or not, back in 1918 citizens of Montanan were denied this right. Here in our own country, nothing is certain.

But the ability to comment candidly, in speech and writing, on this country's policies should never be taken for granted.

In Darkest before Dawn: Sedition and Free Speech in the American West" , by Clemens P. Work, describes in absorbing detail one of the darkest eras in Montana history in which dissenting voices were stifled.

During World War I, some Montanans opposing U.S. involvement in the war and those immigrants expressing pro-German, anti-American sentiments in beer halls found themselves arrested. Seventy-four Montanans - all but one of them men - were convicted of sedition.

Forty of these men and the one lone woman served sentences of up to 20 years at Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge and faced fines of up to $20,000.

Montana's frightening Sedition Act, enacted by a special legislative session and becoming law Feb. 22, 1918, was a model for the federal Sedition Act, which was enacted May 16, 1918. The language defining sedition in the federal law was identical to the Montana law except for three words.

It should be taught in our schools at all levels so we don't repeat the mistakes of our past.

The book, published this fall, is a well-written, fully documented history of the period. It sets the stage for what happened here, describes the terrifying events and puts the Montana era in a national context.

Western Montana's two major industries then were mining and timber, which faced an insurgent labor movement upset over unsafe working conditions and low wages.

The radical labor group, the Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies, helped stir the pot. Miners walked off the job at the Anaconda Copper Mining Co.'s Speculator Mine in 1917 after a fire killed 168 workers and exposed dangerous, illegal working conditions.

The powerful Anaconda Copper Mining Co. dominated Montana economically and politically as few corporations ever have nationally. Its copper was a critical product in the war effort.

The company had the ears, if not the souls, of most of the state's leading politicians. It also either owned, or had in its pocket, most of Montana's major daily newspapers.

The United States entered the war in 1917. By no means did all Montanans embrace the idea. Many German immigrants saw no reason for the United States to fight against their homeland, nor did all Irish immigrants support this country coming to the aid of Great Britain.

Dissent was not tolerated in Montana as a wave of super-patriotism spread. Besides passing the Sedition Act, a special legislative session emboldened the Montana Council of Defense, previously a minor group urging people to grow gardens and buy bonds. The Legislature granted the council the extraordinary power to pass virtual statewide laws.

The council soon banned German books and forbade the use of the German language in Montana, even in the pulpit, driving Mennonites into Canada. The council encouraged neighbors to spy on neighbors, with the full encouragement of spineless politicians, with a few exceptions such as U.S. Attorney and later Sen. Burton K. Wheeler and U.S. District Judge George M. Bourquin.

The Montana press followed the council in lockstep, with a few courageous exceptions such as William F. Dunn, fiery editor of the Butte Bulletin, a labor paper.

Work said most sedition convictions in Montana were based on "offhand outburst, often in saloons," usually by blue-collar workers, many of them immigrants and often using foul language.

"Those caught in Montana's sedition net were hardly heroes, but they should not have been scapegoats either."

"What made this country great is the melting pot because we accept a lot of different nationalities, They came here because they wanted to be here. Most were like my grandparents. They came here because they had nowhere else to go."

This was a time of some pretty mass hysteria.
Article by Charles S. Johnson, originally published in the Gazette

Eighty Eight years later, an apology

Many secrets have been kept in Montana families, especially those of German descent, about a flurry of sedition prosecutions during World War I, when public sentiment against Germany was at a feverish pitch.

Seventy-nine Montanans were convicted under the state law, considered among the harshest in the country, for speaking out in ways deemed critical of the United States. In one instance, a traveling purveyor of wine and brandy was sentenced to seven to 20 years in prison for calling wartime food regulations a big joke.

But the silence and shame has ended. The convictions will be undone today (may 2006) when Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a descendant of ethnic Germans who migrated from Russia in 1909, pardons 75 men and three women.

Forty-one of those convicted, including one woman, went to prison on sentences from one to 20 years and paid fines from $200 to $20,000.

The pardon ceremony is the result of a book by Clemens Work, director of graduate studies at the University of Montana School of Journalism. “ Darkest before Dawn: Sedition and Free Speech in the American West" ” chronicles a contentious period in Montana history when people were convicted and jailed for voicing their opinions on the war.

The sedition law, which made it a crime to say or publish anything “disloyal, profane, violent, scurrilous, contemptuous or abusive” about the government, soldiers or the American flag, was passed unanimously by the legislature in February 1918. It expired when the war ended on Nov. 11, 1918.

During that time, though Germans were the largest ethnic group in Montana, it was also illegal to speak German, and books written in the language were banned. Local groups called third-degree committees were formed to ferret out people not supportive of the war, especially those who did not buy Liberty Bonds.
Article by By Jim Robbins

Comment

Can you believe what we do to our own? Finally justice, but is it too late? Will we repeat stupidity of this sort again? Only time will tell.

Prior | Tell us what you think | Next

 

Add to Your Social Bookmarks: Del.icio.us Digg Furl Reddit Simpy Spurl Y! MyWeb - Netscape - StumbleUpon StumbleUpon