Dorothy Thompson Urges Dies to Seek Halt in Abuse of Free Speech

The question of whether the principle of free speech includes permission for racial attacks was raised by Dorothy Thompson today in her syndicated column, published in the Herald Tribune here. She said: “…what is ‘free’ speech? Is the publication of anonymous and defamatory literature against a racial or religious group of American citizens ‘free’ speech?…Father Coughlin, while pretending to defend free speech, uses the instruments of economic force both to change a policy and to interfere with the free speech of others.” Miss Thompson suggested that the Dies committee “consult the best legal advice as to how we can make ‘free’ speech also responsible speech, and how we can prevent it from being abused by those who only use it in an attempt to destroy it, and with it, our democracy.”