THE POWER OF PRINTERS’ INK.
Under the heading, “The Hustlers, the Po. lice, the Hobo News and the Church,’ we argued for the ‘Right of Free speech’ in the July number. We quoted from the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights of the State of Missouri, and protested against police punishment for our street speakers.
This is the outcome:
The new police order under which persons having a residence in St. Louis are to be released from arrest upon their personal agreement to appear for trial when the cases against them are unimportant is safe, Just and reasonable. Giving a small bond in such cases does not add anything to the assurance that the accused person will not run away. All it does is to compel friendless aid obscure people to pay tribute to professional bondsmen, who fatten their pocketbooks at the expense of poor people and are generally the useful allies of professional crooks and lawbreakers. Their method of acquiring an income allied to extortion and their usefulness to society at large is nil.
Score another hit for the Hobo News, Comrades make a note of all the wins you are getting in your own paper.