Thank goodness for the quasi-free speech we have today. In the 1911 article below, a writer was arrested for writing against the prude laws that disallowed him and his companions to bath nude in Puget Sound. Personally, I have nothing against people who want to bath nude in the waters, but it should be done in designated areas so that those of us who are body conscious can avoid those spots.
Editorial Puts Editor in Jail for Sedition
Tacoma, Wash., Dec 22. — Jay Fox, an anarchist newspaper editor, is under arrest in Tacoma and the Free Speech League of New York will spend $100,000 if necessary to free him. Fox is accused of attacking the moral laws of the state. This is said to be sedition.
Fox scoffed at the law which prohibits nude bathing and he held up to ridicule the officers who enforced the law. Fox belongs to a colony of free thinkers, living near Tacoma and the men occasionally plunge in Puget sound without the formality of trunks. The women did too, it is said, and in former days they bathed together.
One woman was jailed as a result, a number of others were heavily fined and served jail sentences.
The editorial which got Fox into trouble was named “The Nude and the Prudes”, and contained the sentence: “Clothes were made to protect the body and not to hide it.”
Fox admits he wrote the editorial.
The article was held to be seditious by the court and unless the decision is overruled, Fox will have to stand punishment. This may be a fine or imprisonment. Already an appeal has been taken to the state supreme court and if the lower court is sustained the United States supreme court will be called upon to decide the case.
Source: (1911, December 22). Editorial Puts Editor in Jail for Sedition. The Day Book, p. 32.
