The Price of Dissent in Kennewick
A local resident writes to the paper to denounce a neighbor for 'treasonable utterances' and calls for a stricter enforcement of loyalty during wartime.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Mr. Editor: I do not recall ever seeing a sadder sight than when recently I saw a citizen of this valley plead guilty to making treasonable utterances and offering 'free speech' as an excuse. Born in New Germany (Milwaukee) seventy-seven years ago, and lived in this country all that time, he acknowledged that he had been prospering under and protected by the government and its flag and yet was ready to vilify the president and to do all in his power to hamper the government in time of war because its policies did not in every particular meet with his approval. Surely we must need a hotter fire under the melting pot or some education given in our public school aside from the three R's. Perhaps this is an opportune time to make clear the fact that treason and sedition in time of war consists in aiding and abetting the enemy or hampering the government in its pursuit by ACT, WORD OR DEED. Let us hope it will not be necessary to send many more people to jail in order that this simple truth may be appreciated. R. E. PRATT.
“Surely we must need a hotter fire under the melting pot or some education given in our public school aside from the three R's.”
This letter reflects the intense climate of suspicion that gripped the Columbia Basin during World War I, where ethnic heritage was often weaponized against neighbors. It serves as a stark reminder of how civic discourse can dissolve into surveillance when national anxiety is high.
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