vol. 7, no. 8

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

FREE SPEECH FREE PRESS FREE ASSEMBLAGE

“Eternal is the price of liberty.”

Vol. VII SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, AUGUST, 1942 No. 8

PRISON RULES FOR EVACUEES

Suppressive Regulations Imposed Upon Japanese Assembly Centers

Virtual prison regulations have been established in the Japanese Assembly Centers operated by the Army’s Wartime Civil Control Administration. Today, citizens of Japa- nese extraction are not only being detained for unlimited time without trial or hearing in concentration camps guarded by soldiers, but conditions have gradually been imposed in the Centers that make a mockery of the liberties guaranteed under the Bill of Rights.

““Contraband”’

Recently, every barrack was searched for ‘‘contraband.” All Japanese literature, with the exception of Bibles, hymn books and dictionaries, was seized. So were screw drivers, chisels, small saws and even baseball bats. One super-patriot seized a col- lege text book on dictatorial governments — which is used at the University of Cali- fornia. —

In Los Angeles on July 8th, four Japanese-American citizens, held at the Santa Anita Assembly Center, were indicted for conspiring to violate “‘orders of the Military Commander of the Western Defense Command, issued pursuant to his authority by Public Law 503.” The only “crime” committed by these people was to hold a meeting to discuss conditions at the Center. It also appears that while the ‘“‘crime’’ was committed on June 18, the rules in question were not officially promulgated until June 25.

-Hitleresque Control Over Meetings Judge for yourself how much freedom of speech and assemblage is enjoyed by our citizens of Japanese extraction at the Santa Anita Assembly Center, and the Hitleresque control exercised by the military:

PROCEDURE COVERING MEETINGS HELD WITHIN THE SANTA ANITA ASSEMBLY CENTERS

Effective at:once, all meetings within the Santa Anita Assembly Center may be held only in strict compliance with the following rules and regulations.

Meetings Defined

For the purpose of this bulletin, the term “meeting” is used to denote an assemblage of residents for any length of time, for any purpose, held at any place within the Center.

Rules Covering Meetings

No meeting shall be sponsored or held by residents of this Center having for its sub- ject a discussion of:

1. International Affairs.

2. National, State, County, or City Politics.

3. The Present War with Japan.

All Other Meetings

It shall be the duty of the Chairman, the sponsor, the promoter, or any resident at- tending the meeting to comply with the following rules:

1. No language other than English, written or spoken, shall be used.

2. A request in writing to hold a meeting, with an agenda complete in every detail, must be submitted to the Personnel Relations Officer to be routed to the Center Manager for final approval or disapproval.

3. One or more Caucasian American citizens representing the management must be present at all meetings to act as an observer.

4, A complete stenographic transcription (Continued on Page 4, Col. 3)

SOME JAPANESE IN MIXED RACIAL FAMILY GROUPS MAY BE RELEASED

For the fourth time, the Wartime Civil Control Administration has changed its policy with reference to the detention of Japanese members of mixed racial family groups. Belated releases from Assembly and Relocation Centers have been promised by the Military to some of the Japanese who have been separated from their husbands and wives of other races.

The Wartime Civil Control Administration has “instructed” the various Center managers that such Japanese may be released and remain within the Western Defense Command area, if they are citizens and have children. Applications must be filed with the Center managers and must also be cleared by the Army Intelligence. If a particular applicant is suspected of being ‘‘subversive,” the release will not be granted.

Where either or both of the partners in a mixed marriage is not a citizen, as in the case of a Japanese married to a Filipino, the Japanese may make application to the Center manager for departure from the Western Defense Command area, but only if there are children. However, police approval must be secured at the proposed destination, and there must also be clearance by the Army Intelligence.

The new rules would also seem to apply to Filipinos, etc., who have joined their spouses in the various centers. Obviously, no consideration has been shown the mixed racial family groups without children.

The W.C.C.A. declined to furnish the Union with a copy of the new regulations. They insisted that they were merely “‘instructions” to Center managers.

Seattle Judge Indicates He Will Uphold Validity — Of Japanese Evacuation

U.S. District Judge Lloyd L. Black more - or less indicated that he would uphold the Japanese evacuation and internment orders | when the Gordon K. Hirabayashi case was:- argued before him in Seattle on July 18.

Frank L. Walters, attorney for Hirabay-" ashi, argued that the Military orders de- prived his client of his liberty without due process of law in violation of the Fifth Amendment 'to the Constitution. He con-. ceded that American-born Japanese could be evacuated legally, if the Constitution were amended to deny them citizenship.

“Tf we are going to do it, let’s do it the . constitutional wav, rather than through an — . arbitrary military commander,” said Mr. — Walters. ‘More than one of us in this room have been in the service and know how arbitrary a military commander can be.”’ Answering Mr. Walters, Judge Black declared, “I don’t believe the Constitution of the United States is so unsuited for survival in days of lightning war that we have to protect ourselves by the slow process of. constitutional amendment.’’

The U. S. Attorney argued that the are : ders were justified by military necessity. “Suppose they had not been evacuated and that Japanese parachutists landed here in. civilian clothing. Who could tell who’s who?”

The Hiribayashi case is the second evacuation case to come before Judge Black. — Last April he denied an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed in behalf of a Japanese woman married to a Filipino. Since the woman was at liberty, Judge Black ruled that the application for the — writ had been filed prematurely. At the same time, however, he commented that if . the woman was as loyal as her petition declared, then she should conform to the orders that were issued by the Military.

LOS ANGELES CASE TO TEST ORDER “FREEZING” WEST COAST JAPANESE

A test of the military order “freezing” a Japanese-American citizens still on the West Coast will be made by the Southern California Branch of the American Civil Liberties Union in the defense of Mrs. Toki Wakayama, born in Fruitland, California,’ and now held at the Santa Anita Assembly Center at Arcadia, California.

The Union will file a petition for a writ — of habeas corpus on behalf of Mrs. Waka-: yama, who is being held under Public Pro© a clamation No. 4 prohibiting ‘‘all alien Japanese and persons of Japanese ancestry’ from leaving Military Area No. 1. torneys for the Union will argue that the order is unreasonable class legislation and denies the right to a hearing, besides abridging other guarantees of the Bill of Rights

‘State Supreme Court | : Opens Ballot To Calif. Communists

Noting a lack of proof that the Communist Party advocates the overthrow of the government by force and violence, the Supreme Court of California recently declared unconstitutional a state law barring the Communist Party from the ballot. A unanimous decision written by Chief Justice Phil Gibson held that the legislation is discriminatory.

The decision was the result of a test case supported by the American Civil Liberties Union to require the California Secretary of State to qualify the names of the Com- munist candidates for the August 25. primary.

A brief filed before the Superior Court by Attorney A. L. Wirin as a friend of the court on behalf of the -A.C.L.U. held that the law which bars any party advocating - overthrow of the government by force and violence or any party with “international affiliations’ is unconstitutional in itself. In consequence of the Court’s decision, all of the Tenney Act, enacted at the 1940. session of the State Legislature, was stricken out, except that portion reading, “Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code, no party shall be recognized or qualified to participate in any primary election which either directly or indirectly carries on, advocates, teaches, justifies, aids or abets the overthrow by any unlawful means of, or which either directly or indirectly carries on, advocates, teaches, justifies, aids or abets a program of sabotage, force and violence, sedition or treason against, the Government of the eed States or of this State.”’

Before the Communist Party can be barred from the ballot, as things now stand, it must be proved in a court proceeding that it comes within the terms of the statute. The court, at the same time, declared tots DES. the attempt to vest. in the secretary of .- state and the attorney general discretion to determine what political parties come within the prohibition of the statute was improper because no opportunity. was given for a hearing.

The Court also declared it unreasonable to prohibit the use of the word ‘ nist?’ by a political party, or to forbid foreign affiliation.

The decision also criticized as antidemocratic a portion of the state law denying a place on the ballot to any political party that had fewer than 2,500 registered voters at-the preceding primary.

The court said: “In the case of a newly: organized party, the test (2,500 registered voters) imposes an absolute bar to participation in a primary election held after its organization because the right to participate is measured by events which transpired before it was in existence. Such a test cannot possibly avoid impairing constitutional rights of suffrage by barring from the ballot political parties which represent a substantial number of citizens.”

S. F. SCHOOL BOARD REFUSES TO BAN RUGG TEXTBOOKS

The San Francisco Board of Reucohion, by a 4-2 vote, on July 28 refused to follow the recommendation of Superintendent Nourse that the Rugg social studies textbooks be excluded from the schools as “subversive.” Instead, the Board has requested the Presidents of seven California colleges and universities to name a committee of educators and laymen to pass upon the merits of the books that have “been used in the San Francisco schools. for almost twenty years.

“While we recognize that any individual or group has the right of suggesting what text books should be used in the public schools,” said the A.C.L.U. in a letter to the board, ‘“‘we are strongly opposed to any dictation by pressure groups. To our mind, the final determination should be left in. the hands of qualified educators, if academic freedom is to be maintained.”

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| Plight of a Eurasian Woman Married to a Caucasion

Following isa @omiuica ion received by the Union last month which illustrates how unfairly the Army’s mass evacuation and internment of ee has worked in particular cases:

Dear sirs:

I have learned that your organization is behind the Japanese-American citizens in fighting for their constitutional rights. Among the cases that are to be tried, I find none that are similar to mine, therefore, I shall present to you a summary of my case which, in my opinion, has never been given deep consideration by military authorities.

1. My father is Japanese, and my mother Swedish.

2. My father, an alien, has been a respectable -citizen and was well-known among the business men in our town. He was not turned in by the F. B. I.

3. Our home life has ben strictly of American fashion. My sister and I have no knowledge of the Japanese language or customs due to the fact that our father did not wish us to learn the language, so he never spoke to us in his native tongue. He wanted us t6 be reared like any other Caucasian.

4. Because we have been aioe into Caucasian society, we have no friends among the Japanese.

5. My sister and I have, been quite popular either in social or professional affairs. She was active in Red Cross and church work. I am a California registered pharmacist and have been employed in two well-known hospitals besides a leading drug store in Palm Springs.

6. Unlike others who are of mixed blood and are married to full-blooded Japanese, my sister married a Scotch-Irish, and I, a Scotch-Dane. Both husbands are worthy in character. My brother-in-law has been connected with the State Department of Agriculture, while my husband has been ‘attending the University of Redlands.

7. Among our business and social associates, none ever suspected that we had Japanese blood. :

From this information, you can judge for yourselves as to the unfairness on the part of the Army to place us in a relocation center. I trust this’ case will be of interest touyou.-—L. M.W. \

Marysville C. O. Faces Jail As Drait Boards Reject Claims

' The A.C.L.U. has requested both the State and National Selective Servite Systems to investigate the refusal of a Marysville draft board fully to recognize the conscientious objections of Clarence Francis Bush, 30.

Mr. Bush is a member of the Methodist Church and claims to be a conscientious objector opposed to non-combatant work. His claim was reguiariy presented but rejected by his local board, and classified 1-A. After an oral hearing, however, the Board re-classified him to do noncombatant work (1-AO), and indicated that if he was dissatisfied he should appeal rather than ask for another hearing.

Such an appeal was taken and on June 8 came before a special hearing officer, Hon. Francis V. Keesling in San Francisco. Previous to that hearing, Mr. Keesling, in response to the registrant’s inquiry, notified him “I find no unfavorable evidence in the files.’ In the opinion of the registrant, nothing occurred at the hearing to raise any doubt about his claims and his wife, who attended the hearing with him, confirms his statement.

Nevertheless,.under date of July 21, the local board notified the registrant that the Appeal Board, by a vote of 3-0, had sustained the classification made by the local board.

Selective Service Probes Induction of C. O. Into Army

The National Selective Service System has undertaken to conduct a full investigation into the case of Morris C. Graves, artist and conscientious objector of Seattle, Washington, who “was inducted into the Army as a non-combatant but who refuses to: perform any duties under military direction. Graves charges his draft board denied him a hearing on his claim to be classified as a conscientious objector to perform work of national importance under civilian direction.

Graves’ claims are being supported by numerous persons who have filed affidavits in his behalf, including Attorney Matthew W. Hill of Seattle. Mr. Hill declared that Mr. Graves’ draft board “‘had never sent anyone to a conscientious objector camp, taking pride in the fact that they have persuaded all conscientious objectors to accept non-combatant service.’’ The clerk in the office stated to him that no hearing had been granted Graves because the matter had been ‘‘overlooked.”’.

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Right To Detain Evacuees Being Tested In Endo Case

A second legal test of the Military’s evacuation and internment of all persons. of Japanese antecedents on the Pacific Coast was initiated in the U. S. District Court in.San Francisco last month. Differing from the Korematsu came, which the A.C.L.U. is handling, it does not question the right of the Government to evacuate Japanese from the Military Area established by General DeWitt. What it does do, however, is to challenge the right of the Military to imprison and hold for an indefinite time, without any semblance of a hearing, the Japanese who have been evacuated.

The test is in the nature of an application for a writ of habeas corpus in behalf. of Mitsuye Endo, 22, a citizen of the United States of Japanese antecedents, who was: born in Sacramento. She is confined in the concentration camp at Tule Lake “under armed guard, and is detained there against her will,’ says the petition.

Miss Endo was a permanent civil service employee of the State of California. One of the reasons now given by the State Personnel Board for depriving her of all civil service rights is that because of her detention, she is unable to perform her duties as a State employee.

Miss Endo’s brother, Kunio Endo, ironi-. cally enough, “is at the present time a sol- dier in the military forces of the United States.”

EVACUATION TEST CASE ARISES IN MILWAUKEE

The A.C.L.U. has intervened in the case: of Lincoln S. Kanai,San Francisco Y.M.C.A. secretary, who was arrested by the F.B.1. in Milwaukee and charged with violating | the Pacific Coast Japanese evacuation orders. Attorney Perry Stearns has sought a writ of habeas corpus in his behalf in the U.S. District Court in Milwaukee. ; The interesting thing about this case is that Kanai is now outside the military area set up by General J. L. DeWitt, just where the General said he wanted all Japanese. The Army, however, is contending for the privilege of putting him in a concentration camp or prison for the duration of the war. It is resting its case on the fact that he left the Pacific Coast after General DeWitt prohibited voluntary departures.

Whether Kanai is a Japanese is uncertain. He is a foundling, born in Hawaii, who was raised by various Island families. The name he adopted is Hawaiian.

AS Briefs Filed In Rorenidia Evacuation Test Case

The Fred T. Korematsu evacuation test case has made little progress during the past month because of the continued absence of Judge Welsh. While the case is on the August 4th calendar in the U. S. District Court in San Francisco, a further postponement is anticipated because Judge Welsh is not expected to be on hand at that time. Korematsu is still held at the Tanforan Assembly Center by the Military, who seized him when his release was ordered on $2,500. bail.

In the meatime, however, both sides have filed their briefs, so the case may be speedily disposed of once it is heard. Two briefs, aggregating 68 pages, were filed in support of the defendant’s case. The one attacks the penal statute under which Korematsu is prosecuted as void for uncertainty, and also as void on its face and as applied to the defendant, because it discriminates against American citizens of Japanese ancestry.

An amicus curiae brief, filed on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, attacks the order of the President under which the evacuation was undertaken as an usurpation of legislative power. It is also argued that the Japanese have been deprived of their liberty without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment, that they have been deprived of a judicial hearing, that the security of their persons has been violated under the Fourth Amendment, and that they have been reduced to a condition of involuntary servitude.

The extensive legal work on the case has been done by A.C.L.U. Attorney Wayne M. Collins. Says he, in concluding the amicus curiae brief, “If the rights and liberties which are our pride be lost to a minority of our citizens here and now they are likewise lost to all citizens and a military dictatorship over this nation will be an established fact. If this statute and these exclusion orders are not declared void it will become quite clear that the Bill of Rights has been plucked from the Constitution and the American Eagle has lost its most important feathers. If they are not declared void the rights and liberties we have prized and cherished are mere phrases and the Constitution itself will become a dead instrument of academic interest only to the professional historians who dissect ancient documents with professorial interest. We need not emulate the tyrant to destroy tyranny. Why abolish at home the very civil and human liberties we are fighting to reestablish in the world? Liberties are not gifts—-they are rights. Restore them to us and “The rays of Freedom’s light shall spread For her spirit is not dead But lives to set men free.”’

NORMAN THOMAS WRITES PAMPHLET OPPOSING THE JAPANESE EVACUATION

Under the title, “Democracy and Japanese Americans,’’ Norman Thomas has just written a fairly long pamphlet for the Post War World Council on the subject of the Japanese evacuation from the Pacific Coast. Copies of the pamphlet may be secured directly from the Council at 112 E. 19th Street, New York City. The local branch of the Union expects to have a supply of the pamphlets available in the near future.

Says Mr. pamphlet:

“For all of us there is the task of educating American public opinion and the American government on the significance of the issues raised by the evacuation of citizens into concentration camps. The greatest victim of our procedure against the Japanese is not the Japanese themselves; it is our whole concept of liberty, Thomas in concluding his our standard of justice, and the appeal which American democracy ought to be making to the oppressed peoples of the world.”

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Federal Court Dismisses Attempt to Disfranchise Japanese-Americans Last month U. S. District Court Judge A. F. St. Sure dismissed the action brought in the name of John T. Regan to compel the San Francisco Registrar of Voters to strike the names of all Japanese from the register of voters on the ground that ‘they are enemy aliens, citizens of Japan, and therefore ineligible to citizenship and the right to vote.’

“This case is exceptional,” said Judge St. Sure in his memorandum opinion, “‘because the sole question it presents to this court is one which has been definitely decided by the United States Supreme Court: Is a person of the Japanese race, born within the United States, a citizen? The question has been answered in the affirmative in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S8S.; Morrison v. California, 291 U.S. 82; and Perkins v. Elg, 307 U.S. 325.

“Counsel for plaintiff frankly stated that he was asking this court to overrule the leading case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, supra, because he believed the decision was erroneous. Since the decision was rendered it has been twice cited with approval by the Supreme Court in Morrison v. California, supra, and in Perkins v. Elg, supra. In the Morrison case Justice Cardozo, speaking for the Court, said: “A person of the Japanese race is a citizen of the United States if he was born in the United States.”’ In the Perkins case, Chief Justice Hughes delivering the opinion, it was held that a child born here of alien parentage becomes a citizen of the United States.

“It is unnecessary to discuss the arguments of counsel. In my opinion the law is settled by the decisions of the Supreme rt just: alluded to, and th tio ill be : Court just alluded: to, a1 ee ae that the Communist Party advocates vio-— dismissed with costs to the defendant.”

Attorney Wayne M. Collins filed a brief as “friend of the court’ on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union. “Those who instituted this action,” complained the Union in its brief, “‘have chosen a strange time in which to launch an assault on. cherished constitutional rights. The attack is the embodiment of intolerance toward minorities within our midst who are good and loyal citizens and an affront to our allies of other races and other creeds.”’

The Union argued that General U. S. Webb, in contending for a “‘white”’ America “is over a century and a half too late.” The Fourteenth Amendment and the cases decided under it by the Supreme Court have — consistently upheld the citizenship of persons of colored races born in the United States. And, even so far as naturalization is concerned, the United States Congress broke its policy of limiting naturalization only to ‘‘whites” by allowing foreign-born colored peoples, including Japanese, who served in our armed forces during the World War to be admitted to citizenship.

The Union maintained that the plaintiff’s case was built on a fiction because “The ‘white’ race is a product of the imagination. What plaintiff’s counsel has done is obvious. He has confused the word ‘white’ with the word ‘Aryan’ as understood in modern Germany under Nazi rule.... Tt is known that no European blood has been entirely free of Mongol, Hindu, Egyptian, Arabic and Slav blood infiltration. Those who would claim purity of blood must trace their genealogy back to the Neanderthal man, thence to the suspected ape-like ancestor of man, and then bridge the enormous gap through: aeons to a particular lowly amoeba to which the word ‘white’ would lack significance.”

“It is only a voice alien to America that would deprive unfortunate citizens of Japa- nese extraction of their voting privilege,” said the Union. ‘‘Those who are actually responsible for instigating this assault on human rights and constitutional privileges are true to their type. They fish in troubled waters. They exhibit the typical courage of the opportunists—they kick the weak, the helpless and the prostrate.”

Answering the contention in the petition ‘that “dual citizenship” is a waiver of citi- zenship in the United States, the Union pointed out that the Supreme Court has held otherwise. Moreover, “in 1924 the Diet of Japan adopted an Act releasing from Japanese citizenship any child born abroad subsequent to its passage and not registered within 14 days thereafter at a Japanese consulate.”

SUPERIOR COURT NIST RESTORED TO L. A. CITY EMPLOYMENT Judge Henry M. Willis of the Los Angeles County Superior Court last month ordered the reinstatement of Ray L. Garner to his job as roller operator for the city. The Board of Public Works had ordered his dismissal because he was a candidate Sige ae on the Communist ticket in The discharge had been made under a Los Angeles city Charter Amendment which prohibits the employment of any person who advocates the destruction of government by force and violence or who is a member of an organization that espouses such doctrines.

In an oral opinion, Judge Willis stated: “Garner was entitled to a hearing before the Board as to the purposes of the Communist Party; in denying him such a hearing the Board acted unconstitutionally. “It was wrong for the Board to take ‘judicial notice’ that that party advocates violence.

“Every time the charge has been made lence, it has denied it and distinction must be drawn between — a political party, and a party that advocates violence.

“To belong to the Communist Party that is on the ballot is to believe in Communism. Communism is a political belief that the agencies of production should belong to all the people and be equally distributed to the people as a whole.

“This is a far cry from believing in overthrowing of government by force.

“Under the Bill of Rights there is no difference between Republican, Democratic, Socialist or Communist Party.

“It is only when a group advocates violence that its activities may be made il- legal.

“There is no proof that Garner, the petitioner, was a member of any group advo- cating violence; his running for office on the Communist Party ticket, is no such evidence.

“The peremptory writ will issue.” .

Judge Willis held that a statute which bars from city employment persons who advocate the destruction of government by force and violence is valid.

Garner was represented by A. L. Wirin, counsel for the A.C.L.U., Southern Cali— fornia Branch.

FAHL WINS QUICK ACQUITTAL IN WAR SEDITION TRIAL

The third war sedition case tried has resulted in the acquittal of Rudolph Fahl, 44, former Denver teacher, on charges that he counseled insubordination in the armed forces. Charges were preferred against Fahl when officers at Lowry Field complained that he had told them that President Roosevelt stood to profit by the war by “investments in large blocks of stock in cemeteries and coffin factories,’ and that the war was being promoted by international bankers.

In his testimony before a jury which freed him in 35 minutes, the former teacher said his views on the war had changed and that ‘‘we must fight for our lives and for our form of government, which is the best in the world.”

ORDERS COMMU-—

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American Civil Liberties Union-News

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L.A. Dis. Atty. Assures Safety of “Witnesses”

Concerned over the repeated attacks on the civil liberties of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Los Angeles County, Calif., the Los Angeles branch of the American Civil Liberties Union recently received a reassuring statement from John F. Dockweiler, district attorney of Los Angeles County, directed at law enforcement officials of the county who had refused protection to members of the religious sect when victims of mob violence.

District Attorney Dockweiler stated: “I charge you that it is your duty to protect the rights of every citizen, white or black, foreign or American born. The Constitution of the United States gives every citizen, regardless of his color or race, regardless of his religion, the same protection. Even though you do not agree with some of the teachings of some of the religions in this country, you must follow the precept of equal protection under the law, because we all believe in a democracy. In the case of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Supreme Court has held that this is an accepted and legal religion.

« ., lL wish to say that they have a right to speak on the streets of any city in the state of California, on the sidewalks, in churches. They have a right to do this un- molested by any chief of police, sheriff, deputy sheriff, or any other peace officer, and, it goes without saying, by any citizen or group of citizens. They have a right to knock on the doors and ring the doorbells.

of the citizenship. They have a right to pass out their literature unmolested. So long as they conduct themselves according to the laws of this land and the Constitution of the United States, they will receive, at the hands of their government, full protection. ...Sometimes we forget our obligations when our patriotism gets the best of our better judgment.”

MORE TROUBLES FOR “WITNESSES’”’ AS RESULT OF THE SUPREME COURT’S PEDDLING DECISION

Taking advantage of the recent 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Opelika case, holding that communities may lawfully require peddling licenses of Jehovah’s Witnesses who seek contributions while distributing their publications, the town of Orland has just adopted a peddling ordinance setting a license fee of $5 per day. No prosecution has thus far resulted, although the Chief of Police has warned the “Witnesses” they will be arrested unless they secure licenses.

In Eureka, Claude Hashberger, Jehovah’s Witness, will be tried on August 12 for selling the sect’s literature without a peddling license. He has already served one 25-day sentence for a previous conviction which was sustained by the Superior Court after the Opelika decision.

Attorney Clarence E. Rust of Oakland, who will defend Hashberger, will attempt to show that the Eureka ordinance, which requires a fee of $10 per day or $100 a quarter, is not' a reasonable license tax but an attempt to prohibit the distribution of the sect’s literature. These distributors do not make any profits from their work and, indeed, suffer a monetary loss.

In Redding, however, the City Council, on July 11, by a vote of 3-2, rejected a pro- posal “to charge the ‘Witnesses’ a license to sell their literature.’”’? Floyd Chamberlin, a member of the group, and Rev. Don Chase, Methodist minister, appeared be- fore the council to argue against the passage of the proposed ordinance,

COMPULSORY FLAG SALUTE ILLEGAL IN KANSAS SCHOOLS

Children of Jehovah’s Witnesses may not be expelled from the Kansas public schools for refusing for religious reasons to salute the flag under a decision delivered July 10 by the Kansas Supreme Court. The opinion was rendered in an appeal by Mr. and Mrs. J. Alfred Smith, and Mr. and Mrs. Olie Griggsby whose children were prosecuted under a Kansas law requiring all school children to salute the flag every morning. :

The Court cited Section 7 of the Bill of Rights in the, Kansas’ State Constitution which states: ‘‘The right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience shall never be infringed; nor shall any person be compelled to support or attend any form of worship. ...”’

“It will be observed,” said the Court, “that the wording of this section of our Bill of Rights is much more in detail respecting religious freedom than is the First Amendment to the Federal Constitution.” The court thereby ruled that the Gobitis decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, against the Witnesses, was based upon restrictions not so severe as those contained in the Kansas Constitution.

The court concluded: “We are not im| pressed with the suggestion that the religious beliefs of the appellants and their children are unreasonable. Perhaps the tenets of many religious sects or denominations would be called reasonable, or unreasonable, depending upon who is speaking. It is enough to know that in fact their beliefs are sincerely religious, and that is conceded by the appellee. Their beliefs are formed from the study of the Bible and are not of. a kind which would prevent them from being good, industrious, home-loving, lawabiding citizens. Upon this point the evidence is clear. :

’ “The court holds that there is and can. be no statute or regulation valid under our constitution which would authorize or justify expelling the children of appellants from school for the sole reason used as a basis for such action in the cases before us.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, commending the decision of the Kansas court, said they expected the dropping of a similar case against Mrs. Lucille Myer, of Topeka, Kansas, who was sentenced to a year in jail for urging her children, for religious reasons, not to salute the flag during public school exercises. The Union supported her appeal from the sentence.

Courts in New Hampshire,and Massachusetts have also ruled, in effect, that children barred from schools for failure to salute the flag may not be adjudged. delinquent, while in New Jersey the Su preme Court has held that parents may not be prosecuted if their children are expelled from school for not saluting the flag.

PUERTO RICO TEACHERS BILL GETS POCKET VETO

A bill to permit Puerto Rican teachers to engage in politics outside of school hours, passed unanimously by both houses of the: Puerto Rican legislature, has received a pocket veto from Governor Rexford Guy | Tugwell, it was revealed last month in a letter from Luis Muniz Souffront, president of the Puerto Rico Teachers Association, The Union backed the efforts of the Teachers Association to secure the Gov-. ernor’s signature on the bill that was. designed to nullify an act of 1925 prohibit-. ing all teachers on the island from taking any part in politics and requiring them to . resign if they became candidates for politi-. cal office.

The Teacher’s Association had expected. the Governor to sign the bill after an amendment suggested by Mr. Tugwell had been added to the effect—that political. activities of teachers should not interfere with the school work. The A.C.L.U. urged the Governor to sign the original and the amended bill.

LOUISIANA COURT SAYS JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES ARE NOT “PEDDLERS”

A recent decision by the Louisiana Supreme Court that members of Jehovah’s Witnesses are not to be regarded as “‘itin-. erant merchants” was hailed by the American Civil Liberties Union as clearing the ground for the satisfactory solution of similar cases now pending.

The Louisiana case was taken to the State Supreme Court when Amos Teague, a member of the religious sect, was fined in the city of Shreveport for “soliciting orders for the sale of goods.’’ Teague, an ordained minister in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, appealed on the ground that he asked for contributions rather than demanded payment for religious tracts. The Court held that Teague could not “by any stretch of judical interpretation, be placed in the category of a peddler, hawker or solicitor.

cil of Shreveport the intention of declaring that the visitation into homes (without previous invitations) by priests and ministers of all religious denominations, accompanied by the sale of Biblical literature, constituted a nuisance and a misdemeanor. This we wil] not do.”

To hold otherwise, we would be compelled to attribute to the City Coun-.

PRISON RULES FOR EVACUEES (Continued from Page 1, Col. 2)

of the proceedings must be made, including the names of all speakers, and submitted to the Personnel Relations | Officer within twenty-four hours after | the adjournment of the meeting.

: Center Manager. We are informed that the above rules are also in force in every other Assembly Cen ter operated by the W.C.C.A.

No Japanese Phonograph Records’ At the Fresno Assembly Center, effective July 27, all evacuees, on penalty of proseecution, are required to be in their own liv-. ing quarters between 10:00 P. M. and 6:00 A. M., and all radios and lights in such © quarters must be turned off not later than 10:30 P. M. Also, “‘All Japanese phonograph records, whether instrument or vocal . music or speeches, will be turned in to the office of the Internal Police Department not later than July 27, 1942.” We do not know at this time whether similar regulations will be enforced in all other Assembly Centers.

Naturally, freedom of the press is nonexistent at the Assembly Centers. The Center papers are under the strict control of the various managements, and nothing is , permitted to go into them that does not meet with their approval. Of course, that is typical of the camp life. Everything must be supervised and approved to the nth de- gree, otherwise it isn’t done. ’

COURT REMOVES FINE IN “WITNESS” FLAG-SALUTE CASE

Parents in New Jersey cannot be penalized if their children are expelled from school for not saluting the flag for religious reasons, the Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled last month in setting aside a disorderly conduct fine imposed upon Mr. and Mrs. Francesco Latreccia, of Fair Lawn, N. J., members of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a brief in the Supreme Court, praised the decision of Justice Joseph L.

Bodine as a “further guarantee against penalizing religious beliefs.” Justice Bodine added that the state has a right under the U. S. Supreme Court ruling to expel stu- dents who do not salute the flag, although parents cannot be prosecuted for the chil- dren’s refusal.

-H. RUSSEL AMORY