More than all, the citizen and his representative in Congress in time of war must maintain his right of free speech. More than in times of peace it i… - Robert M. La Follette

To befool and mislead the people, to falsify public opinion, is to pervert and destroy a republican form of government.
Free government is government by public opinion. Upon the soundness and integrity of public opinion depends the destiny of our democracy.

When the Morgan and Rockefeller interests harmonized to consummate the great wrong, they well understood that they could not achieve their purpose against a hostile press. Hence they "took over" the newspapers.
This does not necessarily mean the ownership of all newspapers. The perfection of the modern combination is little less than a Fine Art. Here again control is better than outright ownership. And control can be achieved through that community of interests, that interdependence of investment and credits which ties the publisher up to the banks, the advertisers, and special interests.

Mere passive citizenship is not enough. Men must be aggressive for what is right if government is to be saved from those who are aggressive for what is wrong.