 Starring Lynn Fontan in The Printer was a Lady on the Cavalcade of America, sponsored by Dupont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. All the rights and privileges guaranteed to Americans by their bill of rights and their democracy, foremost is the freedom of speech and of the press. Our play tonight deals with this American tradition and with the career of a remarkable American woman named Anne Royall. To play the part of this remarkable woman, we have been fortunate in securing the talents of a remarkable actress, one who has been heard to seldom on the radio. In fact tonight marks her first sponsored performance on the air. Her name is Lynn Fontan, and so Dupont takes pleasure in presenting The Printer was a Lady starring Lynn Fontan on the Cavalcade of America. Some people laughed at Anne Royall, some pretended not to hear, but everyone did hear all the same. It was even heard in the presidential mansion. And there, on a day in early spring, Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States, is talking to his secretary of war, John Eaton. I still think you are us here, Mr. President. By the tunnel, John, since when has it been the function of the secretary of war to make appointments to see any old busybody who runs a printing press? This isn't just any old busybody. This is Anne Royall. I don't care if it's a fellow who invented the printing press. I'm a busy man. But maybe she can help us. We've got the fight of our lives on our hands with this United States bank crowd. And as I said before... The pen is mightier than the sword. Well, what are you doing the secretary of war? That's what you think. You don't have to choose between them, you know? No. I was talking to Mrs. Eaton about this woman. Peggy says she's a real power in Washington. And she's no fool either. She knows what you're trying to do, and she believes in you. Peggy, you see that? She did. Now, the least you can do is see her. You waste enough time seeing politicians who want offices. All right. May I come in? Come in, Mr. Royall. I thought you were the president that anyone could see any time. Mr. Royall? Yes. Mind if I sit down? No. Sit down. By all means. I'm as tired as a Mississippi mule tramping around these streets. I'll come in again later in the day, Mr. President. All right, John. Well, Mr. Royall, what can I do for you? What can you do for me? Did you ever hear of the power of the press? I know. The pen is mightier than the sword. Well, don't you believe it? Maybe I'm a little biased, ma'am. I'm a soldier. And I'm a printer, so we ought to get along famously. Now, General, you don't mind if I call you a general, do you? Anything you wish, ma'am. I'm a printer. A sort of one-woman newspaper, you might say. I suppose you've seen some of the broadsides I put out. I have, ma'am. Yeah, I can see you don't think much of them. Neither do I. That's why I'm here. You'll forgive me, ma'am, if I fail to see the connection. It's just this. The other day, I suddenly thought to myself, since Andrew Jackson moved into Washington, there are more important things happening here than courtships and scandals and all that kind of flap-doodle. And it's the duty of anyone who has anything to do with a printing press to find out about them and tell the people. And I thought the best place to find out was right here. Do you follow me? Yes, ma'am. This United States bank business. What is it? Who's behind it? Why are you fighting it? What are you going to do if I tell you? Print the truth about it. How do you know I'll tell you the truth? I don't, but I'll find out. Sounds fair enough. All right, I'll tell you. It's a simple story. An old, familiar story, I'm afraid. The United States bank controls the finances and the credit of the United States. It can issue money and withdraw it. It can cause panic. And it can cause booms. The United States Treasury has to keep the government's money there and pay for the privilege. And it's all owned by a few men in Philadelphia and New York. You mean the government and the people don't have any say in it at all? No, they say. Well, they ought to. That's what I say. That's why the fight begins. Why can't Congress do something about it? They could. In fact, they're the only ones who can. Well, then why don't they? Well, you see, lately the bank's gotten a habit of loaning money for the congressman. Do you mean to tell me they're a congressman who won't vote against the bank because they owe money to it? I can't prove that, but it wouldn't surprise me if it might have something to do with it. Well, of all the white-livered, seaving scoundrels, who are they? You know which ones are fighting me on this issue, don't you? Yes, I think I do. Look here, General, you haven't had much luck fighting these fellows with a sword, have you? Of course, being what they are. No, ma'am. I have a feeling that when I get through, you will begin to agree with me about the power of the pen. It'll have to be a mighty sharp pen, ma'am. It is, General. It is. And these gentlemen sit silently by while the bank impoverish and bankrupts the very voters who sent them to the halls of Congress. Whatever such a case is this, in the annals of corruption which history records, where thieves and moneylenders unite to line their pockets while they beggar their own countrymen and bankrupt their own constituents. Mr. Speaker, I demand an immediate public investigation of the affairs of the United States Bank. We have lately heard charges against this institution in the public prints. Which, if true, indicate a threat to our freedom as great as any since the war for independence. This issue can no longer be called a political riot. How many copies do you want this time, Miss Roy? How many have printed so far? About 1,500. Better run off another 500 or so if you're not too tired. We never seem to have enough nowadays. Anne, you ought to get some sleep. I'm all right, Sally. But, Anne, you can't go all like this. Oh, yes, I can. Oh, listen. Who's that on the stairs? Sounds like visitors. Probably some idiot that got kicked by a horse and wants to be sure I printed it in the paper. Well, don't you knock when you enter a house or do you always break in? Good evening, Mistress Royale. Who are you? What do you want? We've come to discuss a matter of business, Mistress Royale. Certain friends of ours are anxious to go into the printing business. Why don't they if they have the woods to? They're particularly anxious to acquire this property of yours, this press and so on. Well, they can't have it. Good night. They're willing to pay very handsomely, provided that you remain here as, shall we say, manager and consult with them, of course, on the nature of your future publication? I thought as much. What makes you think you can bribe me? Who do you think I am, one of your seaving politicians? Go back and tell your friends I wouldn't touch such a filthy proposition if I was starving in the gut and I'll get out of here. Get out! You refuse, then? Refuse? I not only refuse, but I intend that the people of Washington shall know tomorrow morning why I've refused and what I've refused. Now, clear out! All right, boys. Now, smash up that press. What are you doing? Set fire to the paper there. Just a minute, just a minute. She's got pistols. Indeed, I've got pistols, and I didn't grow up on the frontier without learning how to use them. Boy, hey, I'll handle this. One more step. Very well. Hey! Now, let's run through your hat. The next one will be through your gizzard. Now, get out. Maybe we'd better. All right. Come on, boys. But I warn you, Anne Royal, that we're going to smash you and we have to buy the whole city of Washington to do it. The next time you call on me, watch out for scum traps. You are listening to The Printer was a Lady starring Lynn Pontan on The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by Dupont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. As our play continues, Anne Royal, in her print shop, is listening to strange sounds which have assailed her ears of late from the floor below. Sally, how can a woman get out of a newspaper with that going on all day and half the night? Now, Anne, I'm sure Mr. Sims and his folks mean all right. Why, in the name of all this frightful, do they have to set up shop right under me? Now, worse things could happen. Nothing worse could happen. Anne! Listen. What? They're coming up here. They are. They are. Hi, what nurse do you idiots think you're doing? Mr. Royal, we have come to save your soul. Save my soul? You'd better get out of here while you can still save your skin. Ah, Sister, I see that we have come none too soon. We have heard grievous reports of late of your unbridled tongue. Listen, Mr. I'm a hard-working, God-fearing woman who's trying to run a newspaper and serve her country, as best she knows how, and I can stand only just so much. Down on your knees, Sister. Down on your knees? Let go of me. Where's my umbrella? Now, you pumpkin-headed, loud-brained simpleton. You've broken the law, Mr. Royal. You hear me? You've broken the law. You're a witness. Get out of here before I break your neck. So, you've had your turn all these months, Mr. Royal. Now, it's ours. Well, what do you suppose he meant by that? You've had your turn, now it's ours. Anne, you shouldn't have done it. There's something very queer about all this. Those people moving in below so suddenly, then coming up here like this. Why did you have to do your job? Oh, because I'm a fool, I guess I had a nasty feeling, Sally. I have a nasty feeling, Sally, that I've taken the bait. A warrant is hereby issued for the appearance before this court of one Anne Royal. In the case of the United States versus Anne Royal, the accused being charged with the offense of being a common school. Well, come in. Come in, Mr. Royal. Thank you, General Jackson. Well, to find Pickle, you've got yourself a new now. Yeah, isn't it? And I walked right into the trap and slammed the door behind me. You think the bank crowd put the sweater-sims up to it, do you? I know it, for a fact. Of course, I can't prove it. I had no idea something like this would do to happen. You know, between us, we got that bank worried. The trouble is, right now, they've got me worried. Oh, it's an old trumped-up charge, common scold, something they dug up out of the Salem witch trials, and they're still on the books. You know what the legal penalty is if I'm convicted? No. The ducking stool. They're building one right now down at the Navy Yard. By the tunnel. Well, that's one thing I can do something about. I may not have much control over the United States Bank yet, but I sure do control the United States Navy. Oh, they're not going to use it. They just did that to scare me. But there are things they can do. You know that I'll do anything I can to help you. Now, what can I do? Well, that's what I came to talk to you about, General. Oh, not because of any help I may have been to you in the fight against the bank. I'm in that fight because it's the plain duty of any honest journalist. Why I did come to you is this. They're going to try and shut down my press. And that makes it different. Can they do it? With fines, bonds to keep the peace injunctions. Yes, they can. And that makes it an attack, not on me, but on the Constitution of the United States, the guarantees of free press in this country. That's why I've come to you. By that convoy, I'll go down to that courtroom and I'll tell those scoundrel they see lawyers. No, no, no. You're going down there would do more harm than good. But maybe you could just let the court know somehow that, well, you know Anne Royal and that you know she's an honest, truthful woman. You can depend on that. I've got a little ammunition of my own, but it's you I'll count on most. I don't know how I'll do it, ma'am, but one thing you can be sure of, I will do it. The Federal Court of the District of Columbia is now in session. Oh, Anne, I'm scared. Don't feel future for myself. Look at that jury. Every one of them is hooked up with a bank somewhere. The clerk will call the first case. The case of the United States versus Anne Royal. The defendant is charged by the people of the United States with being a common disturber of the peace, a common brawler, and a common scold. How does the defendant plead? Why do you think I plead to such nonsense? Not guilty. Please, Mistress Wallace. Order. Order in the court. The prosecutor will call the first witness, Mr. Alexander Simms, to the stand. Raise your right hand. Just for you to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth will help you, God. I do. Mr. Simms, you are a minister of the gospel, are you not? I am. He's no more a minister than I am. Order. Mistress Royal, I must caution you against such outburst in the court. Proceed, Mr. Swan. And on the day the warrant charges, you visited Mistress Royal with certain others at the place of her business. Did you not? I did. And was it at that time that you used the vile and abusive language of which you complained? Indeed it was, sir. What did you say? Well, I... Go on, go on. Tell them. They'll see that much is true anyway. Mistress Royal. Well, she said I was a large-brained simpleton and a hypocritical old buzzer. Pumpkin-headed, penny-filching collection stealer. Please, Mistress Royal. The defendant must not interrupt the testimony. That will be all, Mr. Simms. Does the defense wish to cross-examine? Go on. Go on. Ask him what I told you to. But, Mistress Royal, it's not admissible as evidence. Then I'll ask him. Acting as my own attorney, Your Honor, I'd like to ask the witness just one question. Proceed, Mr. Royal. Mr. Simms. Did you or didn't you recently acquire five shares of stock in the United States Bank? Well, yes. I object to that. The question is completely irrelevant to the indictment. Objection sustained. Irrelevant is it? I suppose it's irrelevant that you, Judge Cranch, were loaned $10,000 by the United States Bank the day before this trial opened. Mistress Royal, one more such outburst and I shall hold you in contempt of court. But it's true when you may hold me in contempt of court if you like. For I have the most complete contempt for this court and everything it stands for. Mr. Prosecuting Attorney, have you any further witnesses to call against Anne Royal? No, Your Honor, I haven't. The prosecution read. The defense may call its first witness. Your Honor, I... Sit down, sit down, I'll handle this. There's just one witness I should like to call in my own defense at his present and that's Mr. John Eaton, the Secretary of War. Mistress Royal, I must remind you again that the Court of Law is no place for idle presentries. This is no presentry, Your Honor. Sally, where is he? I don't know, Anne. Is Mr. John Eaton here? If you will proceed with your defense, Mistress Royal. One moment, Your Honor. Mr. Secretary, do I understand that you are here to testify on behalf of this defendant? I am. We are honored, I assure you, Mr. Secretary. Will you take the stand, please? Certainly. Raise your right hand. You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so I'll help you, God. Proceed, Mr. Eaton. Your Honor, what I have to say will not take long. I come here to speak on behalf of the defendant, Anne Royal, as her friend and that the request of the President of the United States who is also her friend. I've known Mistress Royal for many years, whatever her faults I know her to have one virtue which far over balances any fault. I know that when Anne Royal speaks, she speaks the truth openly and fearlessly. It is my sincere hope, gentlemen, that this fact may not be without influence in your judgment of this case. Oh, Anne, wasn't it wonderful? Oh, Sally, I don't care now if they send me to jail for life. They can't convict you. No, yes they can. It's not what they hear, but what they get that influences these gentlemen forever. Does the defense have anything additional to add? Just a word to the jury, Your Honor, if I may. Proceed. Gentlemen of the jury, I know what you think of me. I know it's useless to appeal to your chivalry or any of that nonsense. But one thing I must say to you, this is a trumped-up charge. It was brought to close my newspaper. Remember that when you render your verdict. And one thing else remember, there is a document called the Constitution of the United States. The First Amendment to that document guarantees as the foremost privilege of Americans the freedom of speech and of the press. Remember that, gentlemen of the jury. And while you're pondering what vengeance you will wreak upon Anne Royle, ponder also if you attack your Constitution what vengeance, posterity, may wreak upon you. Gentlemen of the jury, have you reached the verdict? We have. I'll find you the defendant, Anne Royle. Guilty or not guilty? Guilty. You must try to sleep. Haven't I been asleep? No, dear. You've got a little fever. You'll make sight into the trial and all. What time is it? Oh, it's late. It's almost midnight. I suppose in the morning they'll come and take the press away. Take the furniture too, most likely. Oh, what are we going to do? I don't know. We'll get along somehow. Always have. I don't see how they could have done it to you. And after what Mr. Eaton said... He did his best. It was money that did it. Money to buy the judges and juries. But to find you so much when they knew you didn't have it. That's what they got me in for, to shut me up. Looks like they just about done it too. Tomorrow they'll take the press. Anne, put someone on the stairs. Oh, you don't suppose they've come for it tonight, do you? Open the door, Sally. Good evening. This is Laura. Why, General? I'm sorry, it's late. It was a cabinet meeting. I came as soon as I could. General, Mr. President, you didn't have to come to me. Well, I heard what happened. I just wanted to tell you that your fine was paid. Some folks that were grateful for what you've done got up the money. Oh, you don't owe me that, General. Thought you'd want to know that now they can't attach any of your property. Take your price or anything. Thank you. By the way, you know, I think we finally got that bank crowd licked. Have you? Yeah. Talking to some of the boys this evening. Gonna take time, of course, but we've got them. I'm glad. Thought you would be. You know, General, I've been kind of sassy to you sometimes. Considering that you're president of the United States. I don't recollect with me. I have, though. But you know it's just my way. I know. But, General, now that you've found me in a weak moment, I just want you to know that old Anne Royal thinks you're a really great man. Folks will remember you, General, for a long time. Thank you, Mr. Roy. I think folks will remember you, too. Thank you, Lynn Fontaine. Ladies and gentlemen, it had been my intention at this point on the broadcast tonight to say something about the work of the American Theatre Wing. However, at the request of our government and with a woman's privilege to change her mind, I'm going to speak of something that I'm sure Anne Royal would be printing columns about where she alive today. It's the need for salvage. Our government has asked us to mention it on our program tonight and to urge you to do your part in collecting such things as waste paper, scrap iron, old rubber, and other discarded material so vitally needed today. The need for this salvage is vital, so that industry can supply our armed forces and allies with what it takes to win a war. Please collect what you can and start tomorrow. And when you have gathered it, do one or three things. Take it to a junkyard, call Boy Scout headquarters to collect it, or send it to the local salvage center. Industry needs these things to help win the war. Please contribute what you can now. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Fontaine. And now news about next week's program. Our star will be Raymond Massey, our play, A Tooth for Paul Revere, one of Stephen Vincent Benet's famous short stories, adapted for radio by Mr. Benet, especially for Cavalcade. Don't forget, next Monday, Cavalcade Star will be Raymond Massey in A Tooth for Paul Revere by Stephen Vincent Benet. Our play tonight was written especially for Miss Fontaine by Robert Richards. Appearing with Miss Fontaine was John McIntyre as Andrew Jackson. The orchestra and original musical score were under the personal direction of Don Burry. On the Cavalcade of America, your announcer is Clayton Collier, sending best wishes from DuPont. This program came to you from New York. This is the National Broadcasting Company.