=I would rather trust it to all the people than to a few people,
especially when that few are backed, as is proposed, in their
censorship regulations, by the powers of force and violence to impose
their will upon all the others.=
Once having put in the hands of a few individuals, whether puritans or
politicians, of good or evil purpose, the power to say what books shall
be screened, what stories shall be pictured, what scientific knowledge
or achievement shall be presented, what reform espoused by capital or
labor, class or church, group or party, and, what shall not, it will
demand the same right as to the newspapers, books and other forms of
human expression, possibly the platform itself, until all liberty and
all freedom shall be lost unless such madness, as I believe it to be,
should, if ever successful, be met by revolt and revolution.
The progress of art, science and literature in this country depends
upon an unfettered, original creative imagination. There can be no
progress or creative work anywhere with the hobble of censorship on
these things at the helm. Freedom of thinkers, scientists, and artists
does not mean degeneracy. It means justice, truth, progress, happiness,
health and beauty. The chains of censorship mean irritation, reaction,
bigotry, vice, immorality, gloom, degeneracy and death. Of course there
are dangers in everything--good and evil in everything--all dependent
on its use and understanding. But I would a thousand times rather
take my chances on too much freedom than too much of these artificial
restraints.