Defying the President’s wish to silence all critics of the war, the Congress voted not to include a clause that limited freedom of the press. Soon after war was declared, Woodrow Wilson proposed three sections for the Espionage Act: disaffection, non-mailability and press censorship. The disaffection portion would prohibit anyone from making false reports or causing “disaffection” within the military. Title XII Section V of the “nonmailability” portion of the Espionage Act, gave the postmaster general the authority to stop mail from being delivered if it violated the Espionage Act. Press censorship, which Wilson heavily supported, was more problematic. “The authority to exercise censorship over the press,” Wilson claimed, “is absolutely necessary to the public safety.” Some Congressmen, like Edwin Webb, agreed with Wilson claiming that “people were giving up money and their sons, so the press should give up its right to free speech.” Most representatives, though, objected to the unconstitutionality of such a restriction. Representative Martin B. Madden, for example, pointed out that “while we are fighting to establish the democracy of the world, we ought not to do the thing that will establish autocracy in America.” The Espionage Act passed in June 1917 without the press censorship clause but the application of the act went far beyond constitutional restrictions as feared. Although press censorship was not explicitly included in the Espionage and Sedition Acts, the government was able to monitor and control the press through the “non-mailability” section of the laws which gave Postmaster General, Albert S. Burleson, the immense authority to block the mailing of all letters, newspapers or pamphlets that he deemed violated the acts. “The instant you print anything calculated to dishearten the boys in the army or make them think this is not a just or righteous war,” said Burleson, “that instant you will be suppressed and no amount of influence will save you.” Under Burleson’s direction, over 75 newspapers either lost their mailing privileges or agreed to abide by de facto censorship rules. German-language newspapers, like Arbeiter Zeitung were banned from the mails, as were publications by pacifists who didn’t wholeheartedly support the war. Even slight criticisms from mainstream newspapers, like questioning the mass arrest of 75,000 draft dodgers, c>