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16 May, 1918
The U.S. Sedition Act
United States, Statutes at Large, Washington, D.C., 1918, Vol.
XL, pp 553 ff. A portion of the amendment to Section 3 of the Espionage Act
of June 15, 1917.SECTION 3.
Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make
or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the
operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States, or
to promote the success of its enemies, or shall willfully make or convey false
reports, or false statements, . . . or incite insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny,
or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or
shall willfully obstruct . . . the recruiting or enlistment service of the United
States, or . . . shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal,
profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the
United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or
naval forces of the United States . . . or shall willfully display the flag
of any foreign enemy, or shall willfully . . . urge, incite, or advocate any
curtailment of production . . . or advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing
of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated and whoever shall by
word or act support or favor the cause of any country with which the United
States is at war or by word or act oppose the cause of the United States therein,
shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not
more than twenty years, or both....