vol. 7, no. 2

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

FREE SPEECH FREE PRESS FREE ASSEMBLAGE

“Eternal is the price of liberty.”

Vol. VII SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, FEBRUARY 1942 No. 2

UNION WINS SCHOOL CASE

Court Holds Socialists Have Right To Meet In San Francisco Schools School Boards have no control over the subjects to be discussed by groups applying for the use of meeting places in schoolhouses under the California Civic Center Act. That is the ruling in a unanimous decision handed down recently by the District Court of Appeal (First Appellate District, San Francisco) in reversing a Superior Court decision upholding the San Francisco School Board’s denial of a permit to the Socialist Party ‘fox the purpose of discussing its position on the question of ‘Peace.’ ” Irving Breyer, attorney for the Board, has indicated that a petition for a hearing will be filed in the State Supreme Court before February 7, the date on which the District Court’s decision becomes final unless an appeal is taken. If = the hearing is denied by the Supreme Court, . the decision will then be binding on Schoo! Boards throughout the State.

Board Excluded Partisan Groups

The San Francisco Board denied the permit to the Socialists because one of its regu- lations prescribed that ‘the use of a building will not be given for sectarian, political, or partisan purposes.’”’ On a more recent occasion, the Board refused to permit the America First Committee to meet in the Marina Junior High School because the ‘meeting would be “too highly controversial and might lead to disorder.”’

The Union has always felt that there was no legal excuse for such discrimination since the Civic Center Act specifically designates schoolhouses as places where “the citizens, etc., may meet and discuss, from time to time, as they may desire, any and all subjects and questions which in their judgment may appertain to the educational, political, economic, artistic and moral interests of the citizens of the respective communities in which they reside.” Said the court, “there may be a diversity of opinion on the advantage to the community of discussing in an open meeting subjects pertaining to politics, art or morals; the advocacy of certain social and economic views may be denounced by a majority of the citizenry of a community as repugnant to the constitution of this country; such advocacy may tend to undermine in adult and youth, moral responsibility, or may stir up antagonism and hatred to constituted authority, but, unless it is sought thereby to overthrow the government by force or violence, or other unlawful means, the group determines whether the discussion of the . subject is in the interests of the citizens of the community. In this respect there is no ambiguity in the language used by the legislature.”’ The court therefore concludes that “the rule of the board in so far as it prohibits discussion of ‘political’ subjects eontravenes” the Civic Center Act.

Discrimination Unlawful

At the same time, the court declared that under another act relied upon by the board, governing the ‘Use of School Property”, “it was not intended that one public group should receive favors denied another of like (Continued on Page 4, Col. 2)

Employers’ Free Speech

Clarified By Supreme Court

Clarification of employers’ free speech rights under the National Labor Relations Act is hailed by the American Civil Liberties Union in the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Virginia Electric and Power Co. case. The court decision takes substantially the same ground as the Union, which has maintained that employers should be free to express their views to their workers, save where there is threat of coercion.

According to the Union the decision of the Supreme Court was not based upon con- stitutional grounds, but solely upon findings. of fact, so that the issue is not finally cleared up. The Court held that the National Labor Relations Act does not enjoin an employer from “expressing its view upon labor policies or problems, nor is a penalty imposed upon it because of any utterance which it has made.’’ However, the decision says, “conduct, though evidenced in part by speech, may amount, in connection with other circumstances, to coercion within the meaning of the act.”

Final clarification of the issue is expected when other similar cases reach the Supreme Court.

SUPREME COURT UPSETS GEORGIA PEONAGE LAW

A recent decision of the United States Supreme Court declaring Georgia’s contract labor law unconstitutional is hailed by the American Civil Liberties Union as ‘‘a victory in the fight against debt slavery in the United States’. The Court decision handed down in the case of Ira Taylor, Georgia Negro, who had been indicted for failure to work off a debt of $19.50, held that the Georgia law violated the anti-slavery amendment to the Constitution and the Congressional Act of 1867 prohibiting “peonage.” The Georgia law had made it possible for employers to buy up unpaid debts and hold the debtors in bondage until they worked off the sum.

Bill Would Revoke Citizenship For Dual Loyalty

“A threat to the free speech of all naturalized Americans” in a bill passed by the House of Representatives on January 13 was scored by the American Civil Liberties Union in a letter to Senator Richard B. Russell, chairman of the Senate Immigration Committee. The Union letter, signed by Arthur Garfield Hays, counsel, asked for a public hearing to “expose the dangers inherent in H.R. 6250, sponsored in its original form by the Department of Justice.” Mr. Hays urged the hearing on a House amendment which would permit the citi zenship of any naturalized citizen to be re voked at any time if his “utterances, writ ings, actions, or course of conduct establishes that his political allegiance is te a foreign state or sovereignty.”

According to Mr. Hays such a provision “opens the doors wide to prejudicial inter- pretations, private informers, and, in time of excitement, gross injustices.” Mr. Hays pointed out that the law at present provides for revoking citizenship only for fraud at the time of naturalization, and that this bill would permit proceedings to be brought for subsequent conduct at any time.

The provision is one section of numerous amendments to. the Nationality Act supported by the Department of Justice. The Union had no objections to the other provisions. PLEASE SUPPORT THE UNION’S POSITION WITH LETTERS TO SENATORS RUSSELL AND HIRAM JOHNSON.

California Anti-Communist Election Act to Be | Tested

The American Civil Liberties Union will intervene as a complainant in the first court test of California’s “anti-Communist” election law scheduled for filing in a Los Ange- les court in the near future. The contested law, passed in 1940, bars the Communist. Party by name and other parties “‘advocating overthrow of the government” or having “international affiliations’ from a place on the ballot. The suit on behalf of the Communist Party will maintain that the law constitutes an infringement of constitu- tional liberties.

The Union intervention will be made as a third party representing citizens interested in the exercise of the full freedom of the franchise, ‘‘in order that they may be able to choose which parties best reflect their desires at the time of election.”

The A.C.L.U. has pointed out that the California law is so framed as to bar not only the Communist Party, but also the Socialist Party. 2

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PENN. SUPREME COURT REVERSES TEACHER DISMISSAL

A recent decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordering reinstatement of James Gillies, Allegheny County public school teacher dismissed for signing a Communist Party nomination paper in 1940, ‘concludes a case that never should have been brought,” the American Civil Liberties Union says. The Western Pennsylvania Committee of the Union had supported Gillies’ defense before the Pennsylvania State Department of Public Instruction, which ordered Gillies reinstated. Subsequent appeal to the courts by the local school board that had dismissed Gillies led finally to the Supreme Court decision, which closes the case.

The Supreme Court decision held there was no evidence Gillies was a Communist, pointing out that he was a registered Democrat and secretary of the local Democratic committee. It held that signing a nomination paper was not evidence of Communist affiliation. The decision does not clarify the position of actual Communists who are dismissed, the A.C.L.U. says, but emphasizes the need for “clear procedure, established standards, and adequate hearings before government employees can be discharged on vague grounds of ‘subversive’ views or activities.”

Fifty employees of the Philadelphia County Board of Public Assistance are now facing dismissal on substantially the same oo as Mr. Gillies.

Chicago Booing Case Se +H ed Vollonine an offer by attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union to appeal the conviction of Edward A. Loss, Jr., 23year-old Chicago welder jailed for booing President Roosevelt in a movie theatre, the case was reviewed by the trial judge. Loss was freed on two-years probation after he had agreed to buy defense bonds to the amount of a $200 fine, which he had previously refused to pay. Loss ascribed his act to “automatic response” as a Republican, and to the influence of alcohol.

‘CALIFORNIA CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR PAROLED —

Parole has been granted to Henry Welty Kuhns, 22-year-old son of a California Methodist minister, sentenced to two years imprisonment on November 12 for failure to appear for induction. Kuhns’ claim for exemption as a conscientious objector had not been allowed by his draft board. Following protest by the Southern California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, Attorney General Biddle ordered a review of the case, which has now resulted in Kuhns’ transfer from prison to a work camp near San Dimas, Calif., where he will do ‘“‘work of national importance under civilian direction.”

UNION TO FILE BRIEFS IN THREE MORE OKLAHOMA “SEDITION” CASES

Permission to file three more briefs as friend of the court in appeals from the Oklahoma criminal syndicalism convictions has been granted the American Civil Lib- erties Union. The briefs cover the cases of Alan Shaw, Eli Jaffe, and Mrs. Ina Wood, all convicted of membership in the Communist Party or distribution of subversive literature, and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and $5000 fine. The Union has already filed a brief in the case of Robert Wood, previously convicted. Eight more defendants await trial under similar charges, which the Union has characterized as invoked in a manner to ‘‘abridge the defendants’ right to freedom of speech and of the press and deprive them of their liberty without due process of law.’”’ The appeals will be heard in the Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals.

arlime Program For The Bill of Rights— 1942

The national Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union has adopted the following program for the year 1942. The Union invites comments from its members.

‘Freedom of Opinion

1. Educational campaign for maintaining in war the civil liberties essential to the democratic aims of the war and of the peace; and against any forces attempting to use ‘the war to attack any minority rights of expression.

2. Opposition to all proceedings against opinions and utterances not inciting to il- legal acts, and to restraints on debate or criticism of public policies under cover of war measures.

3. Support of the registration of all foreign agents and identification of their propaganda.

4. Opposition to the discharge from the public service, without formal hearings, of employees on vague grounds of “subversive” political opinions or connections. .

5. Protection of the rights of conscientious objectors to military training and serv- ice.

6. Defense of religious liberty, maintaining separation of church and state, espe- cially in public education; opposition to all forms of compulsion on religious con- science, including flag-saluting in the schools.

7. Vigilance against interference with the political expressions of citizens by fed- eral investigating agencies such as the F.B.I. and Navy and Military Intelligence, on the ground of alleged ‘“‘subversive activities.”’

* 8. Defense of academic freedom, both i in schools and colleges. —

Censorship

9. Opposition to government censorship or ownership of radio, save in areas under military control, or as international relations may require control of short-wave broadcasts to foreign countries. Encouragement of public discussion by radio with fa- cilities for both sides of controversial topics.

10. Opposition to censorship of domestic mails, radio and the press, with recognition of the necessary censorship of military information at its sources.

11. Support of adequate court review of the arbitrary Post Office censorship of printed matter.

12. Vigilance in checking unreasonable censorship, on the ground of military nec- essity, of communication with foreign countries by mail, cable and radio.

13. Opposition to all forms of censorship of motion pictures, plays and books, leaving control solely to criminal prosecution.

Rights In Industry.

14. Opposition to legal restraints on the right of workers to organize, strike, picket peacefully and bargain collectively; support of measures for voluntary mediation and arbitration of strikes.

15. Support of the democratic rights of trade-union members against discrimination on account of race, political views or opposition to union administrations. —

16. Defense of the right of employers to express their opinions concerning unions, except where their utterances together with their acts, constitute coercion against their employees.

17. Opposition to closed shop contracts with unions which unreasonably restrict membership, or which deny membership on account of race or political connections.

Racial Minorities and Aliens

18. Opposition to racial discrimination, especially in the armed forces and in de- fense industries.

19. Protection of the right of asylum for genuine political refugees; opposition to deportations for political opinions and to any unreasonable treatment of aliens be© cause of opinions or nationality.

20. Protection of the civil rights of American Indians on reservations, with Indian control of lands and local soyernment,

Political Rights

21. Removal of poll tax payments as a condition of voting.

22. Opposition to restrictions on minority political parties on the ground of beliefs | and advocacies.

Rights of Defendants

23. Support of measures to protect the rights of defendants in criminal prosecu- tions—such as restraints on the thirddegree, wire-tapping, excessive bail; com- pensation for innocent prisoners, etc.

Executive Committee Northern California Branch American Civil Liberties Union

Rt. Rev. Edw. L. Parsons Chairman Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn Helen Salz Vice-Chairmen Joseph S. Thompson Secretary-Treasurer Ernest Besig Director Philip Adams Gladys Brown H. C. Carrasco Wayne M. Collins James J. Cronin, Jr. Ralph G. Eckert Charles R. Garry Rev. Oscar F. Green Morris M. Grupp Prof. Ernest R. Hilgard Prof. Glenn Hoover Dr. Edgar A. Lowther Mrs. Bruce Porter Judge Jackson H. Ralston Clarence E. Rust Kathleen Drew Tolman Marie de L. Welch Col. Chas. Erskine Scott Wood

UNION TO SUPPORT ONE PENN. ELECTION CASE, DROPS TWO

The American Civil Liberties Union will support appeals of three Harrisburg, Pa., citizens convicted of conspiracy to evade the election law in connection with Com- munist Party petitions circulated for the 1940 elections. The Union found the evidence against the defendants, two whites and a Negro, entirely insufficient to sustain the convictions, and sees in the verdicts a factor of political persecution.

The Union has decided to withdraw from cases in Pittsburgh and Reading, Pa., arising out of similar circumstances. In the Reading case, the Union found evidence of irregularity in the petitions upon which two defendants were convicted of perjury and violation of the election code. Furthermore no issue of conspiracy or grouping of large numbers of defendants was involved.

In the Pittsburgh cases the Union decided to withdraw after supporting an appeal in the intermediate courts. It found that no evidence was produced by the majority of the defendants, charged with conspiracy to evade the election law and perjury in swearing to Communist Party petitions. Three of the defendants admitted that they swore to petitions they themselves did not circulate, on the theory that they were not liable for perjury for swearing to petitions about which they knew nothing. This theory is legally untenable, the Union pointed out.

A similar case in Lancaster, Pa., was recently settled when six convicted defend- ants were fined.

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| Let Freedom Ring —

A.C.L.U. OFFICERS

The Executive Committee of the Northern California branch of the A.C.L.U. has elected Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn and Helen .Salz as vice-chairman, and Joseph S. Thompson as secretary-treasurer. Bishop Parsons continues as chairman and Ernest Besig as director. The Legal Committee consists of Wayne M. Collins, Philip Adams and Judge Jackson H. Ralston. The chairman and vice-chairmen constitute a ‘Public Relations Committee,” whose purpose is to interpret the position of the A.C.L.U. to the public. .

Financial Statement

During the last calendar year, the cost of operating the local branch of the Union ‘amounted to $4,101.74. Since the income was Only $3,585.87, the difference had to. be made up out of the Thomas T. White Fund. Following is a statement of how YOUR money was spent during the last calendar year:

Salaries: 22002 $2,321.94 Printing and Stationery............ 798.47 Rents 6 330.00 Postage .......... ere 278.34 Telephone and Telegraph............ 76.75 Furniture and Equipment............. 20.60 Wraveling = 3.00 2 98.05 Miscellameous .......0.......c-ecee--' 62.88 Waxes 22300 2 24.19 Wublications 2. ..5.2. 5. 90.52 Total 3. $4,101.74

Sather Gate Meeting

The proposal of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce to ban student meetings at Sather Gate will apparently be pigeonholed by the city council for the duration of the war. Everybody concerned seems to have lost interest in the question.

Vallejo Flag Salute Case

Last month the Vallejo Board of Education ordered the expulsion of 8-year-old | Lucille Parker from the Grant School, unless she salutes the flag. As a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Lucille believes that the flag salute is forbidden by the Bible.

‘Subversive Activities”

Last year many civil service employees lost their jobs in government shipyards (28 were dismissed at Mare Island) for alleged “subversive activities.”” Under a 1940 law, the usual rights to notice of charges and an | opportunity to put in a defense were sus- pended “‘in the interest of national defense.”

Last month an agreement was reached between army and navy officials and labor leaders under which employees in defense industries suspected of subversive activities will be dropped only after consultation with representatives of both labor and management. Moreover, an employee will have 30 days in which to appeal his discharge to a board of review.

Witch-Hunting

The recent session of the State Legislature adopted a resolution aimed at citizens of Japanese extraction. Pointing to the fact that “many state civil service lists are al- most completely filled with the names of children of enemy alien nations who may not have renounced their dual citizenship,”’ the resolution requested the State Personnel Board to eliminate from public jobs “such persons as may be proved to be disloyal to the United States of America in this present war.” .

Many legislators opposed the resolution on the ground that it was merely an invita- tion to witch-hunting.

.Civil Liberties Committee Appointed

The President of the State Bar and Attorney General Earl Warren have appointed. a committee of lawyers and laymen to protect civil liberties in California during war-time. It will serve both as the State Bar committee on civil liberties and the civil protection committee of the State

WENDELL BERGE

I do not believe .

uncertain and dangerous field.

ington, D. C.)

Assistant Attorney General of the United States:

. . that it would promote our national interest or help win the war if we were to divert or distract the people’s energies by witch hunts aimed at locking up all our critics and those who still dissent from our course in the war. Moreover, if law enforcement officers were to start jailing people merely for what they think, say or write, such officers would experience terrific difficulty in devising standards by which to determine what kind of criticism shall be permitted and what kind of criticism shall not be permitted. They would find themselves in a very . When cases are selected for prosecution, the test of criminal guilt in regard to the use of language should not be what was in a person’s mind when he uttered certain words, or, if the imagination is allowed to run rampant, what might be considered to be the effect of his words. I believe that the test should be found in the words themselves and the circumstances under which they are uttered—are they in themselves criminal because they advocate the immediate overthrow of the government or the success of the enemy, or are they words which are uttered under | such circumstances that they create a clear and present danger to the safety of the government or the successful conduct of the war?...

But we have set ourselves against those pressures and influences which cry for the prosecution of those people who are merely exercising their right of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution, and whose utterances are not in themselves seditious and cannot be shown to constitute any direct interference with the conduct of the war. I believe that the people of this country are overwhelmingly behind us in this policy, and I believe that it will further be vindicated when later it can be considered in historical perspective. ...

(From a radio address delivered January 11, 1942, over Station WWDC, Wash

Council of Defense. Richard K. Gandy of Santa Monica, is chairman, and Edward F. Treadwell of San Francisco, vice-chairman. Only a few of the 23 persons named to the committee have ever been active in the defense of civil liberties in the past.

Pacifist Case

Chalmer Johnson, sixth grade teacher of the Bellview School, Porterville, has been suspended from his position because of refusing to sell defense stamps to his pupils and for teaching ‘‘denomination religion.”’ The Superintendent reportedly defined the latter as ‘‘non-resistant pacifism.” Basis for the second charge is found in Johnson’s democratic classroom procedures. When war was declared, Johnson told the class that it was too bad that nations could not settle their disputes in the same peaceful way that the class did.

Johnson is a member of the Church of the Brethren, one of the historic peace churches in this country. He has consulted with Raymond Henderson, counsel for the Kern country branch of the A.C.L.U.

Wendell L. Wilkie

Under the stress and strain of combat the spirit of intolerance always rises. Suspicion begins to grow and fingers are pointed. I pledge myself to fight to the fullest extent against such intolerance. In the courtroom and from the public rostrom I will fight for the preservation of civil liberties, no matter how unpopular the cause may be in any given instance. We must preserve civil liberties for all or else all our secrifices in winning this war may be in vain. (From a speech at the National Conference of Chris- tians and Jews, December 17, 1941.)

Attorney General Francis Biddle

War threatens all civil rights; and although we have fought wars before, and our personal freedoms have survived, there have been periods of gross abuse, when hysteria and hate and fear ran high, and when minorities were unlawfully and cruelly abused.

Every man who cares about freedom, about a government by law—and all freedom is based on fair administration of the law—must fight for it for the other man with whom he disagrees, for the right of the minority, for the chance for the underprivileged, with the same passion of insistence as he claims for his own rights. If we care about democracy, we must care about it as a reality for others as well as for ourselves; yes, for aliens, for Germans, for Italians, for Japanese, for those who are with us.as well as those who are against us. For the Bill of Rights protects not only American citizens but all human beings who live on our American soil, under our American flag. (From a speech on the 150th Anniversary of the Bill of Rights, December 15, 1941.)

BRIDGES DEPORTATION ORDER BLOCKED

The deportation order against Harry Bridges, West Coast labor leader has been unanimously reversed by the Immigration Appeals Board, which disapproved the finding of Special. Examiner Charles B. Sears that Bridges had been affiliated with Communist organizations and was therefore deportable. This decision, if approved by Attorney General Francis Biddle, is expected -to put an end to repeated attempts to have Bridges deported. —

HARRY BRIDGES THANKS THE THE A. C. L. U. FOR ITS HELP

Harry Bridges, West Coast leader of the Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union, sent the following letter of appreciation to the director of the Southern California branch for the help the Union gave in carrying his contempt of court case to the United States Supreme Court:

“I would like to express the appreciation of myself, my associatesand my organiza- tion for the role that you and the American Civil Liberties Union played in the recent contempt case that was decided in my favor by the United States Supreme Court.

“I am aware of the fact that the American Civil Liberties Union and you as director presented a brief on my behalf as a ‘friend of the court’ and also concerned yourselves with the question of supplying funds for Mr. Al Wirin to help argue the case before the Supreme Court.

“I hope that the victory achieved in this case—a victory that came about through the efforts of yourself and others—will determine that democratic rights and institu- tions shall be preserved and will be of value in further defending such rights.”

UNION APPEALS NEW YORK CITY DIPLOMA CASE TO BOARD OF EDUCATION

The American Civil Liberties Union has appealed to the New York City Board of Higher Education for a hearing in the case of Rosalyn Cohen, Brooklyn College student, refused a diploma last year for alleged perjury before the Rapp-Coudert Committee investigating New York schools. A letter from Osmond K. Fraenkel, counsel for the New York City Committee of the Union, to Ordway Tead, chairman of the Board, points out that Miss Cohen never had a chance to refute the charge made against her by President Gideonse of Brooklyn College, who held up her diploma. The Union also asks consideration of proposals for standard procedure, with adequate hearings, in future cases involving student rights.

American Civil Liberties Union-News

Published monthly at 216 Pine Street, San Francisco, Calif., by the Northern California Branch of The American Civil Liberties Union.

Phone: EXbrook 1816 : ERNEST BESIG Editor Entered as second-class matter, July 31, 1941, at the Post Office at San Francisco, California, under the Act of March 8, 1879.

Subscription Rates—Seventy-five Cents a Year.

FRED BEAL IS RELEASED

Fred Beal, former Communist, arrested as a fugitive after his return from Russia, where he had gone to evade a twenty-year sentence in North Carolina, has been paroled by Governor J. M. Broughton after serving three years and eleven months. Beal had been convicted of conspiracy to murder arising out of the Gastonia textile strike disorders of 1929, where he had been active as a labor.organizer. :

Beal was arrested in Massachusetts in 1938 and extradited to North Carolina. Efforts by a special defense committee in his behalf resulted in lopping off seven years from his sentence. The A.C.L.U. supported the appeals for commutation on the ground that Beal was not guilty. The Union had unsuccessfully presented the case of Beal and his associates to the North Carolina Supreme Court, retaining U. S. Senator ee W. Hardwick of Georgia as counsel.

Restrictions On Sale of Literature to Be Tested

The American Civil Liberties Union has received permission to file a brief as friend of the court in an Alabama case involving sale of literature on public streets, scheduled for hearing before the United States Supreme Court in the near future.

The case arose when Roscoe Jones, Jehovah’s Witness, was arrested and convicted in Opelika, Ala., for failure to obtain a municipal license to sell religious pamphlets. The Alabama Court of Appeals held the licensing ordinance unconstitutional, but the Alabama Supreme Court upheld the ordinance on the ground that freedom of the press does not apply to “sale.”

The case presents squarely the right of municipalities to license for the sale of literature on the public streets. The A.C.L.U. holds that “the distribution of in- formation and opinion should not be cireumscribed, whether free or sold, and that licenses should be required only for the sale of merchandise.”

The Opelika decision is expected to settle numerous other licensing cases now in lower courts.

ST. LOUIS NEGRO DISCRIMINATION SUIT SUPPORTED BY GOVERNMENT

Responding to a suit by eight Negro workers, supported by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union, the Federal Government has admitted that Negroes have been discriminated against in hiring for a St. Louis housing project. The Negroes had asked for an injunction restraining the Housing Authority and its subcontractors from discriminating against their race in hiring skilled workers on a housing project intended for Negroes.

The government’s response, filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the United States Housing Authority, joined the Negroes in asking the State Circuit Court in St. Louis to issue a decree enforcing a non-discrimination clause in the contracts for the housing project. Two subcontractors sued have already filed responses indicating their willingness to hire Negroes, but claiming that the unions would not send Negro workers to be hired.

Socialists May Meet In san Francisco Schools

(Continued from Page 1, Col. 2) character because the latter holds views contrary to those of the first group.”

Attorney Wayne M. Collins of San Francisco handled the case. As usual, such serv- ices were contributed. The A.C.L.U. met the court costs of the test suit out of its treasury.

A Recurring Problem

The Union has been troubled with similar cases for the past eight or nine years. Thus, in Bakersfield, in 1984, Upton Sinclair was not permitted to speak in a schoolhouse during his gubernatorial campaign, for no other reason than that the local board opposed his Epic Plan. And, before the Sinclair case, the board would not permit Socialist sponsored meetings.

A couple of years ago the Boards of Education of Eureka and Vallejo closed their school auditoriums to Harry Bridges. In Vallejo, under the auspices of the United Federal Workers of America, the announced subject ‘‘Understanding the Modern Labor Movement, Its Program and Its Principles,” was regarded as too “highly controversial,’ and because Legionnaires and other patrioteers opposed the meeting, the Board also based its refusal on the “grave danger of the meeting getting out of hand.”

In Ventura, just three years ago, a Tom Mooney meeting was banned as too “highly controversial,’’ but the Superior Court in a rare decision issued its order permitting the meeting.

Communist Groups Also Banned

These are just a few of the instances where school boards have sought to dictate what shall be discussed by the citizens in civic centers. Of course, the Communist Party, Young Communist League, Friends of the Soviet Union, Workers Alliance and the American League for Peace and Democracy, have nearly always been banned, either on the ground that they advocate the violent overthrow of the government, or because they are said to be affiliated with groups which do so. In February, 1937, a group of young Spanish loyalists were barred from speaking in a Chico school, under the auspices of a sponsoring committee of ministers, professors, business men and others, because the visitors were alleged to be Communists.

Board Must Prove Group ‘‘Subversive”’

In this connection, the District Court in the instant case points out that the Board’s only discretionary power “is that it. may deny permission to use the schoolhouse by Subversive organizations, the burden of proving the character and affiliation of the group being upon the board.’”’ The Court goes to the trouble of pointing out, however, that ‘‘The statute is silent upon the method of determining whether the object of an applicant group is in fact advocacy of the overthrow of the government of the United States or of the State of California.” If the board is unable to prove the ‘‘subversive’”’ character of a group, then the schoolhouse may be used by citizens to discuss whatever subjects they please.

“The question is not presented upon this appeal,” the court adds, ‘‘but it may be as- sumed that the violation of, or intention to violate, a statute or ordinance would justify the refusal to grant the use of school property, or the revocation of permission theretofore granted.”

RADIO MONOPOLY SUIT UNDER CONSIDERATION

Argument on the NBC-CBS suit to enjoin the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing regulations which would weaken the networks’ domination of the airwaves has been concluded in the Southern District Federal Court in New York City. The American Civil Liberties Union participated as a friend of the court, advocating that the contested regulations be enforced to insure greater free speech on the air. The court decision, expected in the near future, will probably be appealed to the United States Supreme Court, whatever the verdict.

Union Wins Free Speech Appeal

Freedom of the press has been affirmed In a recent decision of the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia following an appeal against a Federal Trade Com- mission order by the American Civil Liberties Union in behalf of Howard J. Force, president of the Force Manufacturing Co., at Seranton, Pa. Force had been ordered by the FTC to ‘‘cease and desist”? from circulating pamphlets stating that aluminum kitchenware is poisonous. The A.C.L.U.’s brief pointed out that Force, a graduate pharmacist, had no pecuniary interest in the kitchenware business. In setting aside the FTC order, the court ruled that Congress had not intended to authorize the FTC ‘to foreclosure honest opinion.”

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

An unusual case of racial discrimination has arisen in San Francisco. Twenty-three- year-old Audley Cole, negro, was certified by the Civil Service Commission for a job as Municipal Railway carman. When he reported for the usual 17-day “breaking-in” no one was willing to train him. Ag a reresult, at least nine of the regular carmen who have from time to time been assigned for such training, have each been suspended by the manager of the railway for two days. On the other hand, the A. F. of L. Carmen’s Union has overwhelmingly opposed any training for Mr. Cole and adopted a resolution calling for a $100 fine for any carman who does train him. Incidentally, Mr. Cole is presently a member of the A. F. of L. Janitor’s Union. We have been informed that the railway will continue to take disciplinary action against any man refusing to train Mr. Cole. Eventually it may be necessary to bring dismissal proceedings against the recalcitrant carmen. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is backing Mr. Cole.

BOOKS ON CIVIL LIBERTIES

Censorship 1917, by James R. Mock. Princeton University Press. A timely story of censorship during the first. World War.

Mr. Mock collaborated with Cedric Larson in the study of the records of the Creel Committee, published two years ago under the title: Words That Won the War. The earlier book dealt with the Creel Committee’s positive propaganda. Censorship 1917 is a study of its restraints on the mails, cables, radio, telegrams, books, films and military information. In addition Mr. Mock covers censorship through Department of Justice prosecutions, and Post Office orders. A prologue covers the aftermath of the war in restraints by states under criminal syndicalism, anti-red flag, sedition, and other laws.

The book constitutes a warning for today by reciting the excesses of caution and bureaucratic unreasonableness in the first World War. For the first time it brings to- gether in a brief volume of 200 pages information of the utmost significance to democratic liberties in war-time. (List $2.50).

Clarence Darrow for the Defense, by Irving Stone. Doubleday Doran and Co. 570 pages.

With emphasis on Darrow as the advocate of liberal causes this biography of the “propagandist for humanity” traces Darrow’s growth from a country lawyer to a corporation lawyer to a household name as a defender of the underdog. The histories of the famous trials in which Darrow par-ticipated are of special interest to all friends of the Civil Liberties Union, with which Darrow was associated.

Modern Democracy and New Liberties for Old, by Carl L. Becker. Yale University Press. 100 and 180 pages respectively. $2.00 each.

These two collections of Professor Becker’s essays on democracy constitute a fresh challenge to common preconceptions. Prof. Becker comes to grips with virtually all the dilemmas which confront thoughtful people today; and while he comes to no dogmatic conclusions he throws much light on the uses and goals of liberty.