vol. 8, no. 5

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

FREE SPEECH FREE PRESS FREE ASSEMBLAGE

“Eternal is the price of liberty.”

Vol. VIII SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, MAY, 1943 No. 5

KOREMATSU CASE CERTIFIED

Three Test Suits Will Be Argued Before High Court on May 10

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on April 8 certified one question to the United States Supreme Court in the case of Fred T. Korematsu, testing the government’s right to exclude citizens of Japanese extraction from the Pacific Coast. The case was certified on a technical procedural question, namely, whether the unre- quested five-year probation sentence imposed on Korematsu is a final judgment from which an appeal may be taken.

' Following the certification, a motion was filed in the United States Supreme Court to bring up the entire record in the case for a determination of all issues raised by the case, but this motion was denied by the court without comment.

The Question

The question that has been certified reads as follows: “After a finding of guilt in such a criminal proceeding as the instant case, in which neither imprisonment in a jail or penitentiary nor a fine is imposed, is an order by the district court, that the convicted man ‘be placed on probation for the period of five (5) years,’ a final de- cision reviewable on appeal by this circuit court of appeals?” The A.C.L.U. has con- tended that a defendant should be allowed the privilege of an appeal, even though he is granted probation and not fined or imprisoned, in order to enable him to clear his record of the blot of a criminal conviction.

The court certified the question because it claimed that the Second and Fifth Circuit Courts have reached conflicting results. In order to prevent further confusion, the court wants to know the proper answer to its question. The Korematsu case, conse- quently remains before the Ninth Circuit Court. When the court receives its answer to the certified question it will proceed to make a final decision in the case.

Argument May 10

The case has been set for argument before the Supreme Court on Monday, May 10. The argument in the Korematsu case follows immediately after the arguments in the Hirabayashi and Yasui cases. While in the latter cases the Ninth Circuit Court certified questions as to the constitutionality of the exclusion and curfew orders, as well as the Congressional statute under which violations of the order were punished, the Supreme Court has, in effect, taken any further consideration of the cases out of the hands of the Circuit Court. Instead of undertaking to answer the certified questions, the Supreme Court ‘‘ordered that the entire record in each of these cases be sent up to this Court for its consideration of the whole matter in controversy.”

Collins Prepares Briefs

Attorney Wayne M. Collins of San Francisco is preparing amicus curiae briefs to be filed on behalf of the A.C.L.U. in the Hirabayashi and Korematsu cases. He is also preparing the brief in the Korematsu case.

SCHOOL TRUSTEES DEFY REIN. STATEMENT ORDER IN FLAG CASES; COURT ACTION PENDS

Robert Drey and June Whitney have been expelled from the Burns Valley School, Lake County, by the Board of Trustees following their refusal to salute the flag. The: action was taken in defiance of the following decision of the Lake County Board. of Education; handed down on April 10: “It was moved, seconded and passed that Robert Drey and June Whitney both be reinstated in the Burns Valley School and that they be required to stand at attention mie the flag ceremony is being performe Be

The California School Code provides that cases of expulsion or suspension may be appealed to the county board, and its decision is final. Attorney Clarence E. Rust of Oakland is about to file an application for a writ of mandate in the Superior Court to compel the Trustees to abide by the County Board’s decision.

Robert Drey and June Whitney are both Jehovah’s Witnesses. Robert was originally expelled on October 19. On three separate occasions the County Board has now ordered his reinstatement, but the Trustees have on each occasion refused to abide by the Board’s decision.

June Whitney was not expelled until February 12. Her father is not only a World War veteran but served over half of his life in the armed forces of the United States. He holds an honorable discharge from the Navy.

VALIDITY OF INDIVIDUAL EXCLUSION ORDER ARGUED IN FEDERAL COURT

United States District Judge Ben Harrison on April 26 heard arguments in Los An- geles on a petition for a temporary injunction restraining Gen’l J. L. DeWitt from enforcing his orders directing Homer C. Wilcox’s removal from the Pacific Coast as a “potentially dangerous” citizen. The injunction proceeding is part of Wilcox’s suit for damages against Gen’] DeWitt, and certain Army officers and F.B.I. agents.

Gen'l DeWitt Shows His Race Prejudice

A year ago all persons of Japanese ancestry, including United States citizens, were excluded from the Pacific Coast by General J. L. DeWitt, on the ground of military necessity. Now, however, it appears — that the wholesale abridgment of constitutional rights was not dictated by military necessity but by blind race prejudice.

Testifying before a House naval affairs subcommittee in San Francisco last month, General DeWitt opposed return of any of the J apanese to the Pacific Coast. ‘A Jap’s a Jap,” said he, ‘“‘and it makes no difference whether he is an American citizen or not piece of paper.” :

On April 19, however, General DeWitt suspended his exclusion orders ‘as to persons of Japanese ancestry who are members of the Army of the United States on active duty or who have been inducted and are in uniform while on furlough or leave.” By this order, the thousands of Japanese who are members of the Army will be permitted to visit their relatives and friends in the Tule Lake and Manzanar relocation centers in California.

... You can’t change him by giving hima

SENATOR PROPOSES RELOCATION CENTERS BE DISBANDED

After completing a tour of several western relocation centers housing the west coast Japanese population, Sen. A. B. Chandler last month said he would propose to a subcommittee of the Senate Military Affairs Committee that all loyal Japanese should be freed as quickly as possible and that the army should draft all men of military age in the centers. Japanese who are avowedly disloyal to this country, he said, should be sent to concentration camps.

The Senator was sent on the fact-finding tour several months ago when the Senate received a bill, sponsored by Sen. Mon C. Wallgren, providing that the army replace the War Relocation Authority in supervising the relocation camps. The bill was opposed by the A.C.L.U.

Senator Wallgren has proposed a “‘sponsorship plan’? under which loyal evacuees would be placed under the direction of trustworthy citizens in communities ““where they should have freedom to work.’

NEW TRIAL ORDERED IN JAPANESE PROPERTY CASES

The Second District Court of Appeals of California, acting on the appeal of O. Oshiro from a decision of the Los Angeles ‘Superior Court that property obligations of Japanese were not dissolved by the west coast evacuation, last month ordered a retrial on the ground the record in the lower court was not complete.

Page 2

Union Files Brief In Supreme Court Test of Mississippi Gag Law

A brief challenging the constitutionality of a Mississippi law aimed at the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses was filed last month in the United States Supreme Court by the American Civil Liberties Union. The case before the court is an appeal of three sect members, in separate actions, from convictions under the statute which makes it unlawful in wartime “to encourage by speech or print disloyalty to the governmen or to create an attitude of stubborn refusal to salute the flag.’’ The penalty is imprisonment for the duration of the war up to ten years.

The evidence on which the Witnesses

were convicted consisted of statements to civilians in alleged depreciation of the war effort, and pamphlets explaining the religious basis for their refusal to support the war or salute the flag. . The Union’s brief, signed by Charles C. Evans of the Mississippi Bar and Zarah Williamson of the New York Bar, contends that the statute is “so vague and indefinite as to render it an unconstitutional dragnet violative of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.”

The brief charges also that the ‘‘evidence in support of these convictions is so far from showing any ‘clear and present danger’ to the security of the state that the con- victions here obtained are violative of the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Ist Amendment.”’

The defendants are Ralph E. Taylor, Clem Cummings, and Betty Benoit.

N.C. C. O. PROTESTS LIFE -” SENTENCE FOR NONSALUTER

es The National Committee on Conscientious -Objectors, A.C.L.U. affiliate, has protested to Gen. Myron C. Cramer the unprecedented life sentence imposed recently by a Fort MacArthur, Cal., court-martial on Herbert Weatherbee, a Jehovah’s Witness for refusal to salute the flag.

Ernest Angell, chairman of the committee requested in the letter to Gen. Cramer that the sentence be set aside and that Weatherbee be released from the army and turned over to the civil authorities. “We make this request,” Mr. Angell said “in view of the fact that he is, like the other -members of his religious sect, opposed to participation in war and should have been classified as a conscientious objector. Pre- sumably he would have refused to accept that status, demanding exemption as a minister like most of his brethren. In that event he would be prosecuted and imprisoned. “That procedure, which has been followed with the great majority of the Jehovah’s Witnesses refusing to serve in the army or to go to a conscientious objectors’ camp, is vastly preferable to his treatment as a disobedient and disloyal soldier. The whole intent of that section of the Selective Service Act dealing with religious conscienc is to keep such men out of the army and to leave their treatment solely to civilian officials.”

POLICEMAN FINED $100 FOR ASSAULT ON JEHOVAH’S WITNESS

Charles Ellis, Redondo Beach, California, police sergeant, was convicted on a charge of simple assault last month and fined $100. He had been indicted on two charges, assault with a deadly weapon and assault with intent to do great bodily harm.

The indictment followed an atttack upon August Schmidt, a Jehovah’s Witness. Ellis resented Schmidt’s distribution of religious literature, arrested him at his home, where he menaced Schmidt and his wife with a gun, beat Schmidt over the head with his blackjack and continued the beating at the police headquarters. When he was through beating Schmidt he threw down his badge and gun before the desk sergeant and said, “Tell the Chief he can get another man.” Ellis was defended by high-priced Jerry Giesler.

As “Red”

The 445-page printed report of the Joint Fact-Finding Committee on un-American Activities in California (The Little Dies Committee), headed by Senator Jack B. Tenney of Los Angeles, mentions the A.C.L.U. exactly seven times at pages 92, 96 and 98. The principal reference is the following:

“The American Civil Liberties Union may be definitely classed as a Communist frent or “transmission belt” organization. At least 90 per cent of its efforts are expended on behalf of Communists who come into conflict with the law. While it professes to stand for free speech, a free press and free assembly, it is quite obvious that its main function is to protect Communists in their activities of force and violence in their program to overthrow the government.”

No Opportunity To Be Heard

Absolutely no evidence is presented by the Committee in support of its conclusions. Indeed, at no time did the Committee seek the testimony of any A.C.L.U. official, nor was the Union aware that it was under investigation. Before condemning the A.C.° L.U. as a “Communist front or ‘transmission belt,’”’ it would seem only just and fair that the Union would be given an opportunity to be heard in its own defense.

Certainly, the most casual kind of investigation would have disclosed the error of the Committee’s conclusions. If Senator Tenney had merely turned to.the Reports of the Dies Committee he would have found at page 6309 of Volume 10, the following statement. by Chairman Dies: “This committee found last year, in its reports, there was not any evidence that the American Civil Liberties Union was a Communist organization. That being true, I do not see why we would be justified in going into it. | I mean, after all, they have been dismissed by unanimous report of the committee as not a Communist organization,”

Resolution of Feb. 5, 1940

Apparently, too, the Committee was uninformed about the Resolution of February 5, 1940, adopted by the national board of the A.C.L.U. It reads, in part, as follows: “The Board of Directors and the National Committee of the American Civil Liberties Union therefore hold it inappropriate for any person to serve on the governing coimmittees of the Union or on its staff, who is a member of any political organization which supports totalitarian dictatorship in any country, or who by his public declarations indicates his support of such a principle.

“Within this category we include organizations in the United States supporting the totalitarian governments of the Soviet Union and of the Fascist and Nazi countries (such as the Communist Party, the German-American Bund and others); as well as native organizations with obvious anti-democratic objectives or practices.” It was in consequence of the foregoing resolution that Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was dropped from membership on the national board.

Communists Involved In Few Cases |

Not only is the A.C.L.U. not a “Communist front’? but it certainly does not spend “at least 90 per cent of its efforts” on behalf of Communists who come into conflict with the law. That is clearly shown by the last annual report of the local branch of the Union, dated June 1, 1942, where it is stated that, “Since the change in the Party line in support: of all-out prosecution of the war, very little has been heard in this area concerning any violation of the civil rights of Communists.”’ And, at another point, the report declares, “Jehovah’s Witnesses, because of the persistent advocacy of their doctrines, their refusal to salute the flag, and their pacifism, have supplanted labor and the Communists as the main source of

Director Denies Charges

civil liberties violations in Northern California.”’ Tie: report that is due June 1 of this year will show the same dearth of cases where civil liberties of Communists are affected. We have not tried to arrive at an exact figure, but our guess is that during the past couple of years the Northern Californit branch of the Union has not spent ONE PER CENT of its efforts on behalf of Communists whose civil liberties have been violated. :

Defend Civil Liberties of All

The A.C.L.U. does not refuse to defend the civil liberties of Communists or any other group. Indeed, we defend the civil liberties of all without distinction, and we handle such cases as come along.

Extensive information concerning activities of the Northern and Southern California branches of the A.C.L.U. is not only chronicled in their annual reports but also in the two regularly printed papers of the branches. This information was available to the Tenney Committee even without approaching the A.C.L.U. But the Union has no secrets, and it is ready at all times to tell the world, and the Tenney Committee, what it is doing.

These matters have already been called to the attention of Senator Tenney by the local director of the A.C.L.U., although the issue has not yet been considered by the Executive Committee. If the Tenney Committee is interested in doing more than smear persons and groups, it will hasten to investigate its unsupported charges against the A.C.L.U. and publicly confess its error.

“Witnesses” Back On Jobs - Aft

er F.E.P.C, Acts

Action of the Fair Employment Practice Committee on its first case involving re- ligious discrimination resulted last month in the reinstatement of several Jehovah’s Witnesses to their jobs with the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. in Clarksburg, W. Va.

Seven of the sect members were fired shortly after Pearl Harbor on the insistence of other employees who were incensed at the refusal of the Witnesses to participate in a flag-saluting ceremony at the plant. The company explained it took this action to avert disruption of war work.

The F.E.B.C. investigated last December at the request of the American Civil Lib- erties Union and finding that the men had been discriminated against because of their religious beliefs, directed the company to reemploy them. When the management re‘fused to comply, contending that a disruptive situation would again be precipitated, the F.E.P.C. held further hearings with the result that all the Witnesses who wished to return were permitted to do so last week.

The finding of the Committee was that’ “the refusal of the complainants to salute the flag or stand during the playing of the national anthem was because of their religious convictions” and that “the company dismissed and discriminated against complainants because of their creed in violation of the Executive Order 8802.”

In New Jersey, preliminary court action was started in the Supreme Court to effect the appointment in acivil service position of Daniel Morgan, a Jehovah’s Witness of Englewood. The court will decide after argument on May 4th whether it should take jurisdiction.

The State Civil Service Commission denied Morgan a job as bridge-tender in January even though he received first ranking in an examination. The reason given at first was the Witness’ unwillingness to salute the flag, but this was later changed to a criticism of his personal qualifications. Morgan charges his religious freedom is being violated. The A.C.L.U. is cooperating with James A. Major, New Jersey attorney, in bringing the suit.

Page 3

C. O. CASE HEARD BY SUPREME COURT

The United States Supreme Court last month heard argument in the first case of a conscientious objector to come before that tribunal in war-time.

Whitney Bowles, 24, of Newfoundland, N. J., appealed to the court from the ruling of lower federal courts that an alleged erroneous classification by a local draft board may not be reviewed prior to induction.

Claiming exemption from military service on religious and philosophical grounds, Bowles was denied status as a, conscientious objector last year, his local board holding that only members of established sects opposed to war could be so classified.

Bowles refused to be inducted and was tried by the Federal District Court at Newark for violating the draft act. The court refused to hear evidence that the local board had wrongly interpreted the law, found him guilty and sentenced him to three years. An appeal to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Philadelphia failed. Both courts held that a classification could be tested only on a writ of habeas corpus after induction.

Osmond K. Fraenkel, A.C.L.U. counsel representing Bowles in the Supreme Court, pointed out that to require a conscientious objector to submit to induction in order to challenge a classification ‘‘is to require that he submit to participation in the very activity from which he claims exemption.’’ He urged the court to rule for pre-induction review. Bowles, who served some months of a three-year sentence, is free on bail.

Negro Youth Saved F rom Extradition To Georgia

Thomas Mattox, 17-year-old Negro boy who fled to Philadelphia last summer to escape lynching in Bowman, Ga., after an altercation with a white man was freed last month by the Pennsylvania Superior Court at Philadelphia.

This was the second defeat for the State of Georgia in its attempt to have the youth reurned to face charges of “assault with intent to murder.” Last fall Judge C. G. Fenerty of the Common Pleas Court denied extradition in a habeas corpus proceeding on the ground that there was evidence the boy would not receive a fair trial and would probably be lynched: ' The Superior Court, acting on the appeal of the Georgia prosecutor from Judge Fenerty’s decision, ruled unanimously that “an ounce of prevention in this respect is worth a pound of cure; and we are of the opinion that where the judge granting the writ of habeas corpus is satisfied by substantial and competent evidence that the feeling against the relator and the attitude of the prosecuting and peace officers of the demanding state is such as to furnish reason- able grounds for the belief that he will not receive a fair trial and is in grave danger of being lynched or abused by mob action, he may discharge him from custody and refuse to deliver him.”

Mattox, charged with a stabbing, said he acted in self-defense after he and his two sisters were beaten with a jack-handle. He was represented by Raymond Pace Alexander and Joseph A. Palmer of Philadelphia. Mr. Palmer acted on behalf of the A.C.L.U.

PLAN TRANSFER OF C.O.’s TO USEFUL FARM WORK

Tentative plans to transfer to farm work some 2,000 C.O.’s in C.P.S. camps were dis- closed last month in Washington. This announcement came after repeated pleas from interested organizations that as many objectors as possible be relieved of the “C.C.C. type work’ performed in the camps and placed in useful agricultural or hospital work.

It has not been made clear whether the assignment to farm work will be compulsory, although federal authorities have infunds.

Four Anti-Civil Liberties Bills sc veer meeenunacrencnreamarie Headed For Governor’s Desk

While no suppressive legislation has thus far been enacted by the Fifty-fifth Session of the California Legislature, there is strong likelihood four anti-civil liberties bills will reach the Governor’s desk before adjournment on May 5.

Ballot Bill

As we go to press, two of such bills have reached the Senate from the Assembly, while one Senate measure has reached the Assembly. The first of these is A.B. 582, which would have the effect of eliminating the Communist Party from the ballot. senator Jack Tenney has a bill with a similar intent in the Senate, but his measure, which has not been acted on, would simply prohibit a group advocating the violent overthrow of the government from participating in a primary election. The Dilworth bill, on the other hand, would require all parties to maintain a registration of 1/10 of 1 per cent of the total State registration in order to retain a place on the ballot. As a practical matter, that means that of the parties now occupying a place on the ballot only the Communists would be eliminated because that is the only party with a registration below the figure established by the proposal. The party has heretofore maintained its place on the ballot by poiling at least 3 per cent of the vote at a gubernatorial election for one of its candidates.

Religious Instruction

The second bill that has passed the Assembly is A. B. 283, permitting released school time for religious instruction. As amended, the measure allows local school districts to permit students ‘‘with the written consent of their parents or guardians,” to be absent from school for religious instruction. Such absences are to be ignored in computing average daily attendance for which schools secure money from State Also, the governing board of the district is required to adopt regulations governing the attendance of pupils at such instruction, and the reporting thereof. The bill passed the Assembly by a vote of 54 to 20. While it has been opposed as violating the constitutional guarantee of separation of Church and State, it seems very likely that the measure will get through in the Senate, where it has already been voted out of Committee.

Foreign Language Papers

The third measure, S.B. 273, has been largely rewritten since it was introduced on behalf of the American Legion. Originally, it required all foreign language newspapers to print English translations in columns immediately adjacent to the foreign language print. Then it was amended to place the requirement on “newspapers printed in the foreign language of any enemy nation,” and other foreign language papers could be required to give translations to the local District Attorney. In this form, the bill was refused passage by a vote of 15 to 19.

Reconsideration was granted, and the bill was amended to require “Axis language papers” to supply translations of all articles to the local District Attorney, while other foreign language papers must provide translations of articles upon request. In that form, the bill was adopted and sent to the Assembly. Needless to say, if this proposal is adopted, the increased cost of operation for papers written in German, Italian and Japanese would be such that they would have to suspend operation.

Foreign Language Schools

Senator Tenney is the author of a bill that may reach the Governor’s desk. S.B. 53 prohibits the teaching of a foreign language by a person, society, school, etc., without first securing a license from the State Board of Education, which is the judge of whether the instruction “creates or materially tends to create disloyalty’’, or whether it tends to create loyalty to any foreign government.

Another bill by Mr. Tenney, S.B. 589, to allow the denial, suspension or revocation of the license of a ‘“‘subversive” doctor was Ofeio lo = oes = fe

A.B. 1881, having the effect of excluding “dual citizens” from civil service jobs, and S.B. 848, prohibiting relief to any so-called | “disloyal persons,” including the aged, have thus far made little progress but may be pushed through the Legislature in the last couple of weeks of the session. —

Recently introduced is Senate Joint Resolution 45, by Hugh Donnelly of Stanilaus county, providing $5,000 for a legislative in— vestigation of the possible return of Japanese from Relocation Centers to California.

refused adoption in the Senate by a vote =

KLX BANNED FROM BROADCASTING MADAME CHIANG’S SPEECH; F.C. C. INVESTIGATION SOUGHT

The Northern California branch of the A.C.L.U. has requested the Federal Com- munications Commission to investigate the denial of the right of Station KLX in Oak- land to broadcast the public address of Madame Chiang Kai-shek at the San Francisco Municipal Auditorium on the night of Saturday, March 27.

N.B.C. was permitted to broadcast the speech, but the wires of KLX were cut and the manager of the radio station and its technicians were escorted from the stage by military police.

Mayor Rossi’s office claimed they received a telegram saying N.B.C. was granted exclusive broadcasting rights of Madame Chiang’s speech in San Francisco. Who signed this telegram, the Mayor’s office declines to reveal.

Also, N.B.C. claims it had exclusive rights to carry Madame Chiang’s address. Just who granted this exclusive right, has not been made clear.

dicated they disapprove the placement of men whose unwillingness to do the work would create personnel problems on the farms. Nor is it yet known whether the men will be permitted to retain their wages up to a soldier’s pay, as in World War I. Men now on farm projects received only $2.50 a month, the balance going to the U.S. Treasury.

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 — H. C. Carrasco Wayne M. Collins James J. Cronin, Jr. Charles R. Garry Rev. Oscar F. Green Morris M. Grupp Prof. Ernest R. Hilgard Mrs. Harry Kingman Dr. Edgar A. Lowther Mrs. Bruce Porter Judge Jackson H. Ralston Rabbi Irving F. Reichert Clarence E. Rust | Kathleen Drew Tolman Col. Chas. Erskine Scott Wood

-ment.”’ quarters where entire families live in one room with about 25 to 30 feet of space and practically no privacy.

she.

Keneiiban Civil Liberties Unicn 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 28) 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. Ten Cents per Copy.

Statement Concerning “Resolution of Oct. 19”

In view of the differences which have arisen between the National Board and the Northern California Branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Executive Committee of the branch, desiring to bring the matter to a close, offers the following statement:

1. This branch has no desire to sever its. relations with the National A.C.L.U. It is convinced that in all essentials we are seeking the same end, namely, the preservation of civil liberties.

2. We are ready to accept the National Board’s statement that the Resolution of October 19, 1942, was not intended to alter the policy of the Board. We believe that it was unhappily worded and would suggest that it be clarified by the statement that it was not proposed to change that policy but to carry it out, with the qualification that since the Board could not undertake to enter all the sedition cases which will occur in war time, it will endeavor to choose those in which the civil liberties issue is clear and the possibility of interpreting the Union’s action as a defense of sedition or treason at a minimum.

38. We recognize a difficulty i in defining accurately the relation of local branches to the National Board. Without autonomy they become mere agencies of a Board sit- uated at a great distance, which could be served as well by a local agent or director acting on instructions from the head office. With autonomy, there is always danger that the local branch may act in a manner which seems to the National Board unwise or contrary to the national policy. Hitherto we have succeeded in escaping any radical conflict of judgment. We suggest that under the circumstances we do not try to dis- cover a formula which shall cover every possible contingency, but that as a policy the National Board recognize our purpose to continue our affiliation unbroken; that we on our part will endeavor to act within what we believe to be the purpose of the National Board’s policy; and further in the event that this Branch should act in violation of the National Board’s interpretation of its own policy, we would suggest that thta Board should withdraw its support and endorsement of the particular action of which it disapproves, but should not go to ‘the extreme of severing affiliation. The foregoing statement was adopted by the Executive Committee of the Northern payiorale HED of the A.C.L.U., April 8, 43.

MRS. ROOSEVELT FAVORS RELEASE OF JAPANESE FROM RELOCATION CENTERS

Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt has expressed herself in favor of releasing the Japanese from relocation centers. “‘The sooner we can get the American Japanese out of camps, the better,’ she declared. “We don’t want to create another Indian problem if we can help it.”

Mrs. Roosevelt’s statement followed a visit to the Gila, Arizona, relocation center where she spent a day investigating charges of “pampering”? and ‘‘mistreatShe described the narrow living “T can’t say that I would choose it as a place to live,” said “It’s decent, but it certainly isn’t luxurious.”

A WALTER V. KAULFERS

1. I will applaud all who defend the rights of youth to instruction in the three Great Fundamentals of American Democracy—Reading, Writing and Arithmetic—and I will drill on these Fundamentals so intensively and exclusively that no one will ever use them as means for achieving Life, Liberty, or the Pursuit of Happiness.

2. I will imbue young people with a profound Respect for Universal Justice that is above all worldly considerations, so that they may pass laws which impartially make the stealing of bread a crime for both rich and poor.

3. I will see to it that young people salute the flag at least once each day, and Solemnly Pledge themselves to “Liberty and Justice for All,” and I will make them Tolerate all inferior Americans who stay where they belong.

4. I will help young people realize how impossible it is to be Christian without exper- iencing the Nobility of Charity, and how necessary is widespread Poverty if equal opportunities for Charity are not to vanish from the Earth.

5. I will see to it that young people abide by the Truth as expressed in our long Established Tradition of a Free Radio and Press by concealing that these instrumentalities state only viewpoints acceptable to Advertizers whose Goodwill furnishes 80 to 90 per cent of the income of newspapers, magazines, and broadcasting stations.

6. I will spare draft-age young people the painful experience of learning to investigate, discuss, or evaluate crucial, personal and social problems, so that as adults they may solve them more efficiently through strikes, bonus marches, Ku Klux Klans, lynchings, Oakie mi igrations, vice-raids, and King-Fish assassinations—or simply “leave it to the Marines.”’

7. I will steep draft-age young people in all the Great Classics that are removed from the temporary and trivial concerns of the living, for these have Eternal Values which will enable each succeeding generation to experience the same success in achieving Peace on Earth and Goodwill Toward Men.

8. I will teach young people that without Vision the People Perish, and I will make certain that they are never deceived by Visionaries who seek to make ideals material- ize, for only thus will youth learn to prefer chameleon Yellow to honest Red.

Prof. Kaulfers, who is Associate Professor of Education at Stanford University, has dedicated the foregoing Credo “‘to the Rugg textbook committee in San Francisco, as an exercise in double-talk.” “You will note,” says he, “that it expresses a desire that freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly may be the privilege of peoples who heretofore have been too tired and weak to talk, or too poor to afford a conscience for fear of losing their bread and butter.” Needless to add, Prof. Kaulfers is writing purely as an independent citizen.

Incidentally, at the urging of patrioteer groups, the Rugg textbooks were recently banned from San Francisco Junior High Schools, after a special committee decided the books were “‘too advanced”’ for the students.

SENATE URGED TO ASSURE BAIL UNDER WAR SECURITY BILL

Oljechons to a section of the War Security Bill permitting denial of bail to persons charged with committing a ‘hostile act” against the United States, or with violation of the Espionage Act, have been expressed by the A.C.L.U. to Sen. Van Nuys, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A letter, signed by Arthur Garfield Hays, general counsel, said that “the arguments advanced by the House Committee on the Judiciary for the denial of bail in any of these cases seems to us without force. They rest on the proposition that in many cases a defendant should be prevented from communicating with the enemy. But it is obvious that a defendant determined to so communicate could do so from detention. The denial of bail is too serious a matter to rest upon any such shaky argument.”

The Union is not concerned with the other provisions of the bill, Mr. Hays added, “since they do not raise issues of civil rights.”

RELIGIOUS OBJECTORS RELEASED FOR USEFUL WORK

Federal Judge Ralph E. Jenney of the United States District Court in Los Angeles has announced that he will not send conscientious objectors to jail. Instead, they will be placed on probation to work on farms, dairies or in hospitals.

Edward Tootell, Jehovah’s Witness who was convicted for leaving a C. O. camp and refusing to return, expressed a willingness to work in a hospital. Two other Jehovah’s Witnesses, Eldon St. Clair and Emmitt Richardson, who were convicted under the Selective Service Act, will work on a farm and in a dairy respectively.

United States District Judge Leon R. Yankwich of Los Angeles recently initiated the policy of not sending sincere religious objectors to jail but releasing them for use- ful work. Northern California judges are still sending C. O.’s to jail, generally for 2 or 3 years.

Investigation Sought Of P.O. “Decency Crusade”

A Senate investigation into the “unprecedented decency crusade”? by Postmaster General Frank Walker against more than eighty nationally known magazines during the past year was urged upon members of the Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads last month by the American Civil Liberties Union through its National Council on Freedom from Censorship.

A letter to the senators, signed by Elmer Rice, Council chairman, charged that the Postmaster General has been influenced in his action against the magazines by the standards of the National Organization for Decent Literature, directed by Bishop John F. Noll of Fort Wayne, Ind.

A connection is evident, Mr. Rice said, between lists of “‘indecent literature’”’ pub- lished monthly in the Acolyte, NODL organ, and the action of the Post Office De- partment against the magazines. Among the many publications whose second class mailing privileges have been revoked by the Post Office are Police Gazette, College Humor, Film Fun, Real Screen Fun, and Real Detective.

The Council proposed a resolution for an investigation by the Senate Committee, adding that ‘‘we are of course in favor of excluding from the mails any matter which is in fact obscene, but we are opposed to a system which permits a few postal officials to exercise their unreviewed judgment in so debatable a field.”

Ultimate determination of exclusion from the. mails should be left to the courts, the Council said, reeommending the system “‘so successfully in effect in the Customs Serv- ice.”

OVER 150 SIGNATURES ON ANTI-POLL TAX PETITION

Supporters of H. R. 7, the anti-poll tax bill pending in the House Judiciary Com- mittee have collected over 150 signatures on a Congressional petition to bring the measure to the floor. Fewer than 70 additional signatures are needed to reach the required total of 218,