Note 20 — Chapter I · FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN WAR TIME

Louthan v. Commonwealth, 79 Va. 196 (1884)—statute punishing school superintendent for political speeches; Atchison, etc. Ry. v. Brown, 80 Kans. 312 (1909)—service-letter statute, making employer liable to civil action if he failed to furnish a discharged employee a written statement for the true reason for discharge. St. Louis, etc. Ry. Co. v. Griffin, 106 Texas 477 (1914), same; Wallace v. Georgia Ry. Co., 94 Ga. 732 (1894), same; Ex parte Harrison, 212 Mo. 88 (1908),—statute punishing voters’ leagues for commenting on candidates for office without disclosing the names of all persons furnishing the information; State ex rel. Metcalf v. District Court, 52 Mont. 46 (1916)—contempt proceedings for criticism of judge for past decision; State ex rel. Ragan v. Junkin, 85 Neb. 1 (1909),—statute invalidating nomination of candidates by conventions or any other method except primaries; State v. Pierce, 163 Wis. 615 (1916)—corrupt practices act punishing political disbursements outside one’s own county except through a campaign committee; State v. Printing Co., 177 Pac. 751 (N. M., 1918)—contempt. Some of these decisions are open to dispute on the desirability of the statutes, and some are opposed by other cases for that reason, but in their repudiation of the Blackstonian test they furnish unquestioned authority.