her Latin teacher, W. L. Holtz; her high-school principal, Rice Brown; her doctor, Frank Foncannon; her friend, W. W. Finney; her pal at the Gazette office, Walter Hughes; and her brother Bill. It would have made her smile to know that her friend, Charley O'Brien, the traffic cop, had been transferred from Sixth and Commercial to the corner near the church to direct her friends who came to bid her good-by.

A rift in the clouds in a gray day threw a shaft of sunlight upon her coffin as her nervous, energetic little body sank to its last sleep. But the soul of her, the glowing, gorgeous, fervent soul of her, surely was flaming in eager joy upon some other dawn.

TO AN ANXIOUS FRIEND 1

WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

You tell me that law is above freedom of utterance. And I reply that you can have no wise laws nor free enforcement of wise laws unless there is free expression of the wisdom of the people-and, alas, their folly with it. But if there is freedom, folly will die of its own poison, and the wisdom will survive. That is the history of the race. It is the proof of man's kinship with God. You say that freedom of utterance is not for time of stress, and I reply with the sad truth that only in time of stress is freedom of utterance in danger. No one

1 An editorial printed in the Emporia Gazette addressed to Governor Henry Allen of Kansas. Reprinted through the courtesy of William Allen White.

The Pulitzer prize of $500 is awarded annually to the writer who, in the judgment of the awarding committee, is responsible for the best editorial article, "the test of excellence being clearness of style, moral purpose, sound reasoning, and power to influence public opinion in the right direction." It seems but fitting that this prize should be awarded to a man who became a national figure almost overnight as the result of an editorial he wrote and published in his own newspaper, the Emporia Gazette. "What's the Matter with Kansas?" is still regarded as a classic in the field of editorial literature. At the time it was first published it was printed in newspapers and magazines throughout the country, and from that day the Emporia Gazette became almost as widely quoted as the New York Times.

"To an Anxious Friend" reveals the passion of its author for freedom of expression and stands as a tremendously powerful argument for freedom of the press. To those who know its background it reveals as well the splendid spirit of a man willing to take up arms for a cause he deems righteous even against a man with whom he enjoys a Damon and Pythias friendship. Henry J. Allen was not only a fellow Kansas editor of William Allen White, but they had stood shoulder to shoulder in many a political

questions it in calm days, because it is not needed. And the reverse is true also; only when free utterance is suppressed is it needed, and when it is needed, it is most vital to justice. Peace is good. But if you are interested in peace through force and without free discussion, that is to say, free utterance decently and in order -your interest in justice is slight. And peace without justice is tyranny, no matter how you may sugar-coat it with expediency. This state today is in more danger from suppression than from violence, because in the end, suppression leads to violence. Violence, indeed, is the child of suppression. Whoever pleads for justice helps to keep the peace; and whoever tramples upon the plea for justice, temperately made in the name of peace, only outrages peace and kills something fine in the heart of man which God put there when we got our manhood. When that is killed, brute meets brute on each side of the line.

battle both in the state and in the nation; they had served together in the Red Cross overseas, their experiences being reviewed in Mr. White's The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me, one of the most human and illuminating commentaries on the World War; for years they had built up a thoroughgoing personal affection for each other. When Henry J. Allen became governor of Kansas he centered his interest in the Industrial Court Law, which he felt would put a stop to the distress caused by strikes, in a way that would not be unfair to capital or to labor. William Allen White supported the outstanding principle of the law, but when under the law Governor Allen attempted to prohibit the strikers and the employers from presenting their sides in the argument to the public, his friend protested in print and by permitting the strikers to put in the office window of the Emporia Gazette a card stating their position. When Mr. White was arrested, by direction of the governor, he declared himself willing to serve a sentence in jail rather than retreat from his position. The editorial "To an Anxious Friend" was published July 27, 1922, after his arrest. The facts that the case against William Allen White was dropped and that later the law was repealed are not important. The situation had given occasion for an exposition and a defense of freedom of expression that may live as long as a literature of democracy lives.

So, dear friend, put fear out of your heart. This nation will survive, this state will prosper, the orderly business of life will go forward if only men can speak in whatever way given them to utter what their hearts hold-by voice, by postal card, by letter, or by press. Reason never has failed men. Only force and repression have made the wrecks in the world.

THE END