vol. 12, no. 8

American

Civil Liberties

~ Union-News

Free Press

Free Speech

Free Assemblage

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

Vol. XII.

SAN FRANCISCO, AUGUST, 1947

No. 8

Benicia Pool Masquerades as

Private Club to Bar Negroes

Adult Negroes are being barred from the

Benecia, Solano County, California, swimming

pool which opened on July 4, even though the

pool was built on city property with money raised

by public subscription. Directors of the pool claim

it is a private club whose use is restricted to

members only, and, of course, adult Negroes have

not been taken into membership. It appears, how-

ever, that Negro children are being admitted.

Admission to the pool is 50c for adults and 25c

for children. The membership cards cost nothing.

No membership cards are being demanded from

non-residents, except Negroes. oe,

In order to complete the pool, it was found

necessary to borrow approximately $16,000 in

$1,000 loans from 16 individuals. The loans were

arranged through the Chamber of Commerce,

after which the City Council leased the pool to a

Swimming Pool Committee of the Chamber for

18 months at a rate of $1.00 a year, effective

July 1. The loans bear no interest. They'are to be

repaid from the net proceeds of the pool, and

when the loans are completely repaid, the lease

will be cancelled and the city will take over the

ool.

e On July 4, five adult Negroes applied for mem-

___..bershin cards, but the director of the pool in-

formed the group he was out of cards and they

would have to return on July 7. At that time the

Negroes renewed their request for membership

ecards, but Mr. James Lemos, chairman of the

swimming pool committee and a member of the

City Council, is reported to have said, `"We can-

- not let adult Negroes in the pool because 98% of

the whites will refuse to swim, and we owe

$16,000." Mr. Lemos is also reported to have said

that they had consulted three attorneys who

advised them that adult Negroes could be ex-

cluded from the pool.

The Union telephoned Mr. Lemos who insisted

that the swimming pool was being operated as a

private club but that it was not discriminating

against Negroes. The Union informed Mr. Lemos

that in order to test his claims the Negroes would

be instructed to apply for membership, and they

did so. Thus far, however, it is claimed that the

membership committee has been unable to act

because of the lack of a quorum. The Union is

informed that Mr. Lemos recently resigned from

the committee, possibly because of his connection

with the City Council, and to make it appear that

the City has no control over the pool.

The Union will allow a reasonable time for the

membership committee to act on the pending

applications. If the applications are rejected, or

if no action is taken, the Union will consider filing

appropriate legal action.

The issue was called to the Union's attention by

Deorman T. Neal, Chaiman of Benicia's Inter-

racial Club.

ACLU Secures Release Of

Of Jilted Russian Girl

After being detained by the Immigration Serv-

ice in San Francisco for more than six months,

Eroeda Sinitskaya, 26, was paroled to the Inter-

national Institute on July 29 through the ACLU's

intervention. :

Miss Sinitskaya entered the country legally

from Shanghai only to discover that her GI

fiancee had remarried his divorced wife. Her re-

moval was stayed when, at the Union's request

Sen. Downey and Congressman Havenner intro-

duced special bills in Congress which would per-

mit the girl to legalize her entry, but pending

action on the bills, the Service would not permit

her release on parole. With Congress adjourned

the bills have gone over to the next session in

January and Miss Sinitskaya was paroled when

the Union indicated it was considering legal action

if the Service sought to detain her until then.

Fairfax Crea

tes Nation's First `Little Dies

Comm." on Community Level and Purges Writer

Fairfax, California, got a "little Dies Commit-

tee" last month and the first victim of its activi-

ties was Elsa Gidlow, writer, who was ousted

from her non-paid job on the City Planning Com-

mission until such time (believe it or not) as she

disproves charges of Communism and un-Ameri-

can activities.

Leslie A. Grosbauer, former City Clerk, and

present member of the City Council, was named

to the one-man Committee, and, so far as we

know, he holds the distinction of being America's

first Red Hunter, or "little Dies Committee," on

a community level. It's a labor of love for Mr.

Grosbauer, because his official job does not have

a salary attached to it, but-then, he doesn't need

a salary because we understand he enjoys a very

lucrative patent medicine business, selling

"Breathe Easy," which he peddles to asthma

sufferers. =o

The "Committee of One' came about by a 3 to

2 vote of the City Council on July 11. Under the

motion the Council voted "to oppose all Com-

munistic and un-American activities in the city

of Fairfax" and Mr. Grosbauer was given "full

power without cost to the city to investigate ~

files and other information available" and report

his findings on such activities in the town to the

council. The motion also provided that any ap-

pointive job held by a person engaging in the

prohibited activities would be declared vacant

"if substantial evidence is given to the council."

What is "substantial evidence" may be judged

by an examination of the record in the Gidlow

case. Grosbauer stated that he had had confer-

ences with Senator Jack B. Tenney, Chairman of

California's Senate Committee on un-American

Activities and had examined reports in Tenney's

office. He said that references to Miss Gidlow

were contained "on pages 1446 and 1563 of Vol-

ume 2 of the U. S. Congressional report." If Mr.

Grosbauer was referring to Volume 2 of the

Hearings before the Dies Committee, we have

Sac. Postmaster Withholds

Dispatch Of Nudist Magazine

The Sacramento Postmaster is holding 1,000

copies of the May-June issue of the Nudist maga-

zine, Naturel Health, published by Ivan A. Bro-

vont of Sacramento. This action was taken pur-

suant to a ruling of the Post Office Department

Solicitor, Frank J. Delany, declaring the March

issue of the publication to be obscene and there-

fore non-mailable. "If copies of other issues of

the magazine are mailed," stated Mr. Delany to

the Sacramento Postmaster, "you should with-

hold them from dispatch and submit a specimen

of same to this office for a ruling."

Pending receipt of Solicitor Delany's ruling,

the April issue of Naturel Herald was mailed

without interference, and the May-June issue

became the first one to feel the effects of it. Thus

far the Solicitor has not decided whether that

particular issue is mailable. ae

The Union has examined the issues in question

and can find nothing obscene about them. To be

sure, every issue of the magazine contains pic-

tures of unclothed men, women and children, but

there is nothing vicious about these pictures.

Since the action of the Post Office Department

can be challenged effectively only in Washington,

the matter was referred to the national office of

the A. C. L. U., and Victor Rotnem, Washington,

D. C., attorney will handle the case.

Mr. Rotnem is also handling the case of Sun-

shine and Health, official journal of the American

Sunbathing Association, whose April, 1947, issue

was also declared non-mailable. A hearing on the

Sunshine and Health case was held in Washington

on July 30.

searched in vain for any reference to Miss Gidlow.

When Miss Gidlow denied the charges and de-

manded proof, Grosbauer answered that she had

been associate editor of "Black and White," a

Communist "newspaper" in Los Angeles.

Mr. Grosbauer presented no evidence to the

Council in support of his charges besides the fore-

going statements. There were no formal charges

which would enable the accused to put in a de-

fense. In fact, there was no hearing to determine

the truth of the charges. It was sufficient for

Mr. Grosbauer to say that Miss Gidlow was men-

tioned in "Vol. 2 of the U. S. Congressional Re- |

port," and that she had been an associate editor

of a magazine which Mr. Grosbauer characterized

as Communist. The Mayor obligingly ousted Miss

Gidlow and the Council forthwith approved the

action.

"IT have never been sympathetic to any variety

of totalitarian or authoritarian government,"' Miss:

Gidlow. recently told the Union. "As an English-

born Protestant with liberalism and respect for

individual freedom in my marrow dominance by

the State, of the individual, is anathema and ai- _ 4

though I am pacifistically inclined, such usurpa-

tion of power over the individual is one thing I

would fight."

In explaining her connection with "Black and

White," Miss Gidlow stated it was "one of those

`little magazines' that endure for three or four.

dozen issues and have a few hundred circulation,

whose founders try to build prestige by listing

as many known names on the masthead as they

can marshall. ... As far as I can remember now

(eight years have elapsed since `Black and White'

had its brief day) someone I was not acquainted

with wrote or told me that Robert Brady and

Haakon Chevalier, both of U. C., and perhaps one

or two others whose writing reputation I respect-

ed, were to be listed as Associate Editors of this

new magazine and would I allow my name to be

added and contribute something. Evidently I said

`yes' and gave them some verses. The only issue I

ever saw is still in my possession; I have glanced

through it to refresh my memory. .. . The con-

tents of the issue I have are about as revolution-

ary as the Roosevelt New Deal." .

Miss Gidlow also offers the information that

"In the thirties, like many liberals and some good

conservatives as well, I aided organizations that

were sending ambulances and blood plasma to

(Continued on Page 4, Col. 1)

Oak. Housing Auth. Permits Tenants

To Meet Only After Pressure by ACLU

After intervention by the ACLU, the Oakland

Public Housing Authority last month permitted

a tenant group at Peralta' Villa to meet in the

Peralta auditorium on July 25 to discuss their

housing problems. The director of the project had

summarily turned down their application, even

though outside groups are permitted to use the

meeting hall.

The tenants then applied to the director of the

Housing Authority only to be informed that the

matter would have to be presented to the Com-

mission, and, of course, it did not meet for an-

other month. Thereupon, the tenants carried their

-complaint to the Union.

The Union's director telephoned the housing

director and advised him that unless the tenants

were permitted to meet inside the auditorium we

would recommend that they meet outside the

auditorium and make an issue of his attempt tc

stifle freedom of assemblage. The housing di-

rector said he would contact the Commissioner:

and advise the Union of his decision next morn-

ing. At that time the favorable decision was giver

and the meeting was duly held.

Page 2

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

Union Opposes Federally

Subsidized Religious Education

: Upholding the American tradition of separation

of church and state, the ACLU and its Committee

on Academic Freedom recently told the members

of House and Senate committees that the pending

federal aid-to-education bills must be amended

`Jest such federal aid serve to breach fundamental

civil rights guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution.

In a statement addressed to the House Educa-

tion and Labor Committee and the Senate Labor

and Public Welfare Committee, and signed by

John Haynes Holmes, Arthur Garfield Hays, Vinal

Tibbetts, V. T. Thayer, Alonzo Myers, Eduard Cc

Lindeman, and R. Lawrence Siegel, the Union

declared: "`The ACLU has studied all of the bills |

before both branches of Congress dealing with

federal aid to education. In essence these will

provide for the appropriation of funds so that

educational opportunities in public elementary

and secondary schools may be more nearly

equalized. About the merits of a federal-aid-to

education program per se, we shall not comment,

since this consideration lies outside our scope.

But the ACLU has traditionally opposed all at-

tempts to narrow the gulf separating Church and

State activities. This separation was regarded as

so essential to a democratic way of life that it

was embodied in the First Amendment to the

Constitution."

The Union warned that unless the bills were

amended they raised the possibility of "federally

subsidized religious education." It opposes spect

fically the Aiken (S. 199) and Taft (S. 472) bills

in the Senate, and the Battle (H. R. 1870), Me-

Gowen (H. R. 2953), Morrison (H. R. 2033, 2525) ,

Morton (H. R. 3076) and Welch (H. R. 156) bills

in the House. All of these were characterized as

"diverting federal funds for the support of sec-

tarian institutions.' Four House bills (Pace, H. R.

140; Kefauver, H. R. 2188: Rohrbough, H. R.

2683; and Allen, H. R. 3104), providing that fed-

eral funds paid to a state in aid of its educational

programs be expended only by public agencies and

under public control, have been approved by the

_ ACLU.

Eleanor Roosevelt Speaks Out For

Separation of Church and State.

Upholding the right of citizens to criticize de-

cisions of the U. S. Supreme Court, and particu-

larly the 5.to 4 decision of the U. S. Supreme

Court in the New Jersey school bus case, per-

mitting parents to be reimbursed from public

funds for bus transportation paid by them for

conveying their children to a religious school,

Eleanor Roosevelt had the following to say con-

cerning separation of Church and State in her

column of July 25:

I believe in freedom of conscience and freedom

of religious belief, but I do not advocate a change

in our oldtime theory of division between church

and state. We have a right to send our children

to private schools or religious schools of any de-

nomination. But such schools should be on an

entirely different basis from the public schools

which are free to all children.

Making any religious school the same as our

public schools seems to me to change our funda.

mental idea of the right to worship as we choose

and the right of our children to receive free edu-

eation. without interference with their religious

beliefs. I have been somewhat troubled lately as

to whether this old safeguard is slipping away

and might lead to a point where there would be

bad feeling between religious groups in our coun-

try. That is something which we wish to avoid,

if possible.

Atlanta Civil Liberties Committee

Becomes Union's Fifteenth Branch

The newly formed Atlanta Civil Liberties Com-

mittee has brought the number of ACLU branches

to a total of fifteen. The Committee is headed by

outstanding local citizens, among whom are, as

chairman, William George, NLRB field examiner;

as vice presidents, Mrs. Grace Towns Hamilton,

executive director of the Atlanta Urban League;

Mrs. M. E. Tilly of the President's Committee on

Civil Rights; and Frank McCallister, director of

the Georgia Workers Education Service.

MARZANI BAIL DENIAL PROTESTED

Denial of bail to Carl Marzani, former State

Department employee convicted in the U. S. Dis-

trict Court of Washington, D. C., of making

false statements to federal authorities concealing

Communist affiliations, has been protested to the

Attorney General by the ACLU. The Union held

that, in view of his appeal, the denial of bail is

unjust. The Union took no part in Marzani's

defense. 2

Racial Discrimination Ends

_At Madera Municipal Pluage

Last month Madera Negroes gained the use of _

the Municipal Plunge without trouble after the

pool director had previously inspired racial con-

flict in order to exclude them.

In the meantime, the Union had appealed to

the Justice Department to investigate the actions

of Madera public officials in stirring up violence

in attempting to deny Negroes their rights.

Assistant Attorney General Theron L. Caudle

advised the Union "that this matter is receiving

the careful attention of the Department. In due

course, you will be further advised as to what-

ever action may seem appropriate."

The Union's director was visited by two FBI

agents to whom he gave an account of what

happened in Madera. It is understood that the

FBI also conducted an investigation in Madera.

Such action no doubt had a salutary effect on

Madera public officials and caused them to end

their discriminatory practices.

The State Attorney General Howser's office

evinced little concern in the matter, and Walter

H. Lentz, Chief Special Agent, declared that

"there has not been sufficient information pre-

sented to this office to indicate that law and

order has broken down in the County of Madera."

The Union will follow the situation closely to see

that there is no recurrence of racial discrimina-

tion at the Plunge.

ACLU DECLINES TO ACT AS JURY

IN 'UN-AMERICAN' CHARGE

AGAINST SO. CONFERENCE

A request by the Southern Conference for

Human Welfare that the ACLU set up a jury to

pass on the charges of Communist control of that

organization, made by the House Committee on

Un-American Activities without a hearing, was

declined by the Union's Board of Directors last

month on the ground that it is so wholly opposed

to the House Committee as to be unable to act in

a judicial capacity. The Union further replied

that it was not equipped to undertake a function

which would involve it in other controversies with

the House Committee, and that the activity pro-

posed exceeded its established scope. The South-

ern Conference had made its request public at the

time of the House Committee report.

No Race Equality in Metropolitan

Life-UN Housing Agreement

The `year-long fight of the Metropolitan Life

Insurance Co. to exercise the right to select

"desirable tenants' for 600 apartments in Peter

Cooper Village for which the United Nations have

been negotiating, advanced a step on July 8 when

a company-UN contract was signed. The final

agreement, postponed while the UN negotiated

for rental of the dwelling units in a block, was

revealed in an affidavit filed by a Metropolitan

executive in the New York Supreme Court last

month. The affidavit was in answer to allega-

tions made by Charles Abrams, housing author-

ity, who filed a suit on behalf of several organi-

zations, including the ACLU, protesting the com-

pany's racial policies in view of its special tax

exemptions.

While UN officials were silent on the agree-

ment, which runs counter to UN charter provi-

sions for race equality, a few privately stated

that the housing shortage had forced the UN to

sign. The Supreme Court, however, has the issue

under consideration.

SOUTH CAROLINA LAW SCHOOL

RACIAL SEGREGATION TESTED

The petition of John H. Wrighten, Charleston

Negro student, for a court order enjoining the

University of South Carolina from refusing to

admit "qualified" Negroes to its law school on

grounds of race, was turned down last month by

Judge J. Waties Waring of the Federal District

Court. He ruled, however, that Wrighten would

be entitled to enter unless by the opening of the

next school year the state provides an adequate

course in the College for Negroes at Orangeburg.

The court also observed as an alternative that

"the state furnish no law school education to any

persons of either the white or Negro race."

Union's Membership. Reaches 1200

The paid up membership of the ACLU of

Northern California reached the 1200 mark for

the first time in its history on July 24. The Union

also had 247 separate subscribers to the ``News,"'

or a paid up mailing list of 1447.

The Union's membership has enjoyed a slow

but steady growth, and in the last four years the

membership has almost doubled from the figure

on October 31, 1943.

Legal Attack Against Race

Restrictive Covenants Set

The Union is launching an all-out legal drive

against race restrictive covenants in housing. On

June 30 the U. S. Supreme Court decided to re-

view two decisions by the Missouri and Michigan

state supreme courts upholding restrictive cove-

nants. The ACLU national office announced July

7 that it will file briefs amicus curiae on the

merits in both these cases. In the Missouri case,

the Union's St. Louis committee filed briefs both

in the state and federal Supreme Courts.

A brief as friend of the court is also being filed

by the ACLU in the New York Appellate Division

in the much publicized Sophie Rubin case, in

which a Queens Supreme Court judge refused to

invalidate a restrictive covenant excluding Ne-

groes from a residential area. In a fourth case,

in which the District of Columbia Circuit Court

of Appeals upheld a similar covenant, the Union

announced it would file a brief if the decision is

appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court.

In addition to this campaign through the courts,

the ACLU announced the joint publication with

the National Association for the Advancement of

Colored People and the American Council on Race

Relations of the pamphlet "Race Bias in Housing."

Written by Charles Abrams, well-known lawyer

and housing expert, it attacks discrimination in

housing and sets forth a national program of

action for its correction. The pamphlet will be

distributed to all the national and local housing

agencies throughout the country. It is available

at the Union's office in San Francisco.

So. Carolina Negroes Win

Vote in Democratic Primary

A step forward in the fight against the dis-

franchisement of Negroes in the South was taken

on July 12 when a South Carolina federal judge

ruled that a political party does not cease to be

one when it calls itself a club. "Negroes are

entitled to be enrolled to vote" in South Carolina's

Democratic primaries was the decision of Judge

J. Waties Waring of the District Court in the

case of George Elmore, Columbia Negro who

contended he was not permitted to vote in the

1946 primary because of his color.

The case was directed at the Democratic Club

in Columbia, whose attorneys argued that they

were entitled to stipulate who was eligible to

membership. The Democratic Party, they assert-

ed, had assumed the status of a private organiza-

tion in 1944, following the Supreme Court decision

in the Texas primary case, when South, Carolina

repealed all statutes pertaining to primaries. A

similar move by the Georgia state legislature

under the leadership of ousted John Talmadge,

was vetoed by Gov. Thompson.

"To say that there is any material difference

in the governance of the Democratic Party in this

state prior to and subsequent to 1944, is pure (c)

sophistry," said the court, An appeal is planned

by the State Democratic Executive Committee.

The Union has not participated in the case, which (c)

was handled by the NAACP.

UNION URGES ACTION ON

ADMISSION OF DISPLACED PERSONS

In line with the ACLU's traditional position

encouraging the admission to the country of

refugees from foreign tyrannies who on racial

and political grounds refuse to return to the land

of their origin, the Union joined forces last month -

_ with the campaign for the Stratton bill to allow

the U. S. to accept 400,000 displaced persons over

a four-year period.

In a letter to Earl G. Harrison, chairman of the

Citizens' Committee on Displaced Persons, signed

by Roger N. Baldwin, the ACLU recognized the

bill's poor chances for favorable consideration

before Congressional adjournment and pledged

aid in a continued campaign toward the entry of

European DPs. In the event that the bill is stalled.

despite recent testimony of Secretaries Marshall

and Patterson, the ACLU will support the pro-

posal for action this session to admit 100,000

displaced persons.

`FASCISM IN ACTION' OKAYED BY HOUSE

The long struggle to obtain publication of

"Fascism in Action,' a report prepared by the ~

Library of Congress and blocked by a House

committee, was won on July 8 when the House

approved a resolution authorizing its release as

a House document.

A companion piece to the already published

"Communism in Action," the report on the his-

tory, methods and significance of fascism in

Europe was finally approved on a voice vote at

the end of a two hour floor battle.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS|

Page 3

House Adopts Bill Affording

Relief in Deportation Cases

On July 7, the House of Representatives adopt-

ed H. R. 3566, which permits the Attorney Gen-

eral to extend relief in hardship deportation

cases without regard to race. Under present law,

the Attorney General may suspend deportation

where the alien has dependents residing in this

country, but only if the alien is racially admissible

to citizenship. Consequently, Japanese, Burmese,

Koreans and others have been ordered deported,

while those racially admissible to citizenship have

been permitted to stay.

The bill also provides that if an alien of good

moral character, with or without dependents, has

resided continuously in the United States for

seven years, "and is residing in the United States

upon the effective date of this act," the Attorney

General may suspend deportation.

About 2,000 Japanese are effected by this pro-

posal, and the local ACLU is handling over 125

cases involving hundreds of persons. Most of

these cases involve illegal entrants who have

resided here as much as 23 years and who have

citizen wives and children. Other cases involve so

called treaty traders, who came here legally

enough and may have citizen wives and children,

but whose continued residence became illegal be-

cause of the abrogation of the Treaty of Trade

and Commerce between the United States and

Japan shortly before the declaration of war.

Single aliens would also be permitted to legalize

their entry, if they have resided here for seven

years.

While this bill has passed the House it must

still pass the Senate, and such action cannot take

place before sometime in 1948. In the meantime,

the deportation test suits being handled by attor-

ney Wayne M. Collins of San Francisco, under

which the Attorney General agreed not to deport

pending a final determination by the U. S.

Supreme Court, are still pending in the courts.

While they are presently scheduled for a hearing

in the U. S. District Court in San Francisco some-

time in September, the chances are that the hear-

ing will again be postponed until the Senate con-

siders the legislation which would wipe out the

need for the test suits.

- Truman Signs G.I. Brides' Act

Amended to include Orientals

The G.I. Brides Act of 1943, amended so as to

extend the right to enter the United States to

soldiers' oriental wives ineligible to citizenship,

was signed by President Truman on July 23. The

bill was supported by the Union and the Japanese

American Citizens' League.

The act legalizes marriages made prior to or

within thirty days after enactment and applies

only to present or formed military personnel. It

will not provide for future marriages nor those

contracted by civilians. Fifty cases of marriages

between American servicemen and Japanese

women are estimated to be affected by the bill, as

well as between 100 and 150 G.I.'s in Japan whose

military permits for marriage will probably now

be forthcoming. All permits have been held up

since last January. .

- The amended act will probably moot the case

of Helene Emily Bouiss, Japanese wife of an

American G.I., filed for review in the Supreme

Court by the JACL. The July, 1946, decision of

a District Court in Seattle that she was admis-

sible was reversed in May by the 9th Circuit

Court of Appeals on the ground that it was the

clear intent of Congress not to extend entry to

alien wives ineligible to citizenship.

-Anti-Poll Tax Bill Adopted By House;

Senate Action Due in "48

For the fourth time in five years the House on

July 21 passed a bill to ban the poll tax as a pre-

requisite to voting in primary and general elec-

tions for federal offices. The measure, endorsed

by the Union among scores of agencies in the

National Committee to Abolish the Poll Tax, was

sent to the already crowded calendar of the Sen-

ate where it will be on next year's agenda. The

- pill's supporters hope to place it before the Senate

early in 1948 so that a filibuster, such as has

killed the three previous bills, would have to run,

all year to guarantee its defeat.

The House action, accompanied by the usual

charges and counter-charges, was taken by a

~ vote of 290 to 112, a record vote for any poll tax

bill, after a suspension of the rules required a

two-thirds vote for passage. State laws aow pro-

vide for a poll tax in seven Southern St. tes,

Federal Court Orders Release Of 331 Nisei

Field In Concentration Camps For Five Years

Federal Judge Louis E. Goodman of San Fran-

cisco on June 30 signed an order granting writs

of habeas corpus to certain Nisei who renounced

their citizenship under duress during the last few

months of the war and who are being held for

removal to Japan as alien enemies despite their

birth in the United States. Three hundred and

thirty-one Nisei, who are being held at Crystal

City, Texas, and Seabrook Farms, New Jersey,

are affected by the order. They have been held in

concentration camps for over five years.

Judge Goodman ruled that "the detained appli-

cants are not alien enemies within the provisions

of the Alien Enemy Act of 1798 and hence may

not be detained for removal or deportation from

the United States, pursuant to said Act." The

government had claimed ``that many of the appli-

cants were and have been disloyal to the United

States. But," said Judge Goodman, "this is not

a ground for deportation under the Alien Enemy

Act of 1789, except as to persons who are alien

enemies under its provisions,

The reasons for Judge Goodman's decision have

been promised in an opinion he will hand down in |

another case affecting the citizenship of some

5300 Nisei, the majority of whom claim they re-

nounced their citizenship under duress. About

1500 of the renunciants accepted removal to

Japan more or less voluntarily, but the remaining

3800 continue to reside here in the United States.

The government claims they became citizens of

Japan merely by renouncing their United States

citizenship. On the other hand, it has been argued

that even if the renunciations are good, the Nisei

merely become stateless persons, because renun-

ciation does not automatically mean they acquired

Appeal Filed in Cases Of

34 Issei Held As Alien Enemies

Notice of. appeal was filed on July 10 from the

ruling of U. S. District Judge J. Cullen Ganey of

Philadelphia, upholding the removal to Japan as

dangerous enemy aliens 34 alien Japanese, some

of whom have resided here as much as 40 years.

The chief point on appeal is whether the Alien

Enemy Act may continue to be applied when the

necessity which called it into operation (the war)

no longer exists. The appeal will be heard by the

Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

The case is being handled by attorneys Wayne M.

Collins, George Olshausen and Theodore Tamba.

all of San Francisco.

House Passes Bill Extending (c)

Citizenship to Parents of

Nisei Dead and Wounded

A bill extending naturalization rights to alien

parents, regardless of race, of members of the

U. S. armed services who died or were wounded

in World War II was passed by the House July

7. An estimated 10,000 resident Japanese parents

of 5,000 Nisei who received the Purple Heart for

combat wounds will be affected by the bill if it

is adopted by the Senate. Originally merely token

legislation extending only to Gold Star parents,

the bill was amended at the suggestion of the

- Japanese-American Citizens' League. Last-min-

ute efforts were made for further Senate amend-

ments to include all legal residents whose sons

- rendered honorable service in the U. S. Army

during the war.

Conscientious Objector Barred From

Membership in Millmen's Union

Theodore R. Johnson of San Francisco has been

barred from membership in Millmen's Union Lo-

cal No. 42, a Carpenter's Union affiliate, solely

because he was a conscientious objector during

the war and served in a Civilian Public Service

Camp.

Johnson, an experienced workman, worked for

a San Francisco concern for six weeks, but at

the end of June his boss had to lay him off for .

lack of Union membership. Twice Johnson ap-

peared before the Union's Membership Commit-

tee. The Committee acknowledged he was quali-

fied mechanically, but told him definitely that he

was barred because he was a conscientious ob-

jector.

Of course, the Committee did not put these

statements in writing, so it would be almost im-

possible to prove as a legal matter that a Union

which enjoyed a closed shop contract barred an

experienced workman from earning a livlihood

because of religious views which the government

had recognized as being sincerely held.

Japanese citizenship. Judge Goodman's promised |

opinion is expected sometime this month.

Despite the favorable order, the 331 Nisei are

still detained, and the government has not yet

indicated whether it will appeal the decision. As -

soon as the decision was handed down, the gov-

. ernment procured a 5-day stay of execution which

was later extended to July 15. At that time, the

government filed a motion to vacate the order

granting the writ of habeas corpus and a further

stay was granted until Judge Goodman passes

upon the motion. Unfortunately, Judge Goodman

was 6n vacation during July, so the matter has

had to await his return in August. It is expected

that he will speedily dispose of the motion and

then sign an order releasing the detained Nisei.

unless an appeal is entered by the government.

If an appeal is taken, the court will be urged to

release the renunciants on bond or parole.

The suits were filed on November 13, 1945, after

the Justice Department had announced that it

intended to remove the 3800 renunciants held at

Tule Lake to Japan around the 1st of January,

1946. The mass suits compelled the government

to change its plans because it was faced with the

alternative of caring for some 3800 renunciants,

plus their families, for two to four years until the

matter was finally determined by the United

States Supreme Court or releasing all or most of

them. It chose to release all but about 425, and

about 100 of these have been released during the

past year. :

The renunciants have been represented through-

out the extended proceedings by attorney Wayne

M. Collins of San Francisco, who has had the full

support of the American Civil Liberties Union of

Northern California.

BOOK REVIEW

For the Defense, Thomas Erskine, by Lloyd

Paul Stryker. Doubleday and Co., Garden City,

New York, 1947.

The Encyclopedia Britannica says that Thomas

Eskine, `1st Baron Erskine (1750-1823), was

probably the greatest advocate the English bar

has ever seen. Mr. Stryker, the author of this

biography, who is himself noted today as a trial

lawyer (Life, May 26, 1947), brings to life that

simple statement of fact. The lawyer-author ad-

mires his subject for his legal craftsmanship and

artistry, his power to influence a jury. He admires |

him even more because of the principles for which

he fought-freedom of the press, freedom of

' speech, the freedom of the British jury. Thomas

Erskine was one of the greatest defenders of

civil liberties in the eighteenth century.

In 1789 Erskine defended John Stockdale,

accused of seditious libel for having printed John

Logan's pamphlet, A Review of the Principal

Charges Against Warren Hastings, Esq., Late

Governor General. of Bengal. In his speech to the

jury, Erskine stated eloquently the case for free-

dom of the press. `From minds . . . subdued by

the terror of punishment, there could issue no

works of genius to expand the empire of human

reason." (P. 157). He obtained the acquittal of

Stockdale, and thus there was established a legal

precedent for freedom of the press two years

before the adding of the "Bill of Rights" to the

American Constitution. :

_ Another high point in Erskine's fight for civil

liberties came five years later, when at the end

of 1794 he obtained the acquittals of Thomas

Hardy, John Horne Tooke, and John Thelwall

who had been charged with high treason for

having advocated parliamentary reforms.-L.R.B.

MASS SEDITION TRIAL ENDS

The largest and longest sedition trial of this

war finally ended last month, when the case

against 26 of the original 30 persons accused of

conspiracy to undermine armed forces' morale.

`interfere with the draft and set up a Nazi regime

in the U. S. was dismissed. The decision by Jus-

tice D. Lawrence Groner of the U. S. Court of Ap-

peals upheld the November dismissal by a federal

court in the District of Columbia.

Begun in the spring of 1944, the first trial

lasted nearly eight months and ended in a mis-

trial upon the death of the presiding judge. The

case was then dismissed in November, 1946, by

Justice Bolitha J. Laws. The ACLU has taker

no part in the proceedings involving Silver Shiri

leader Dudley Pelley, `Red Network' author

Elizabeth Dilling and Lawrence Dennis, editor of

"The Weekly Foreign Letter," beyond condemn

ing Department of Justice resort to the 194cent

peacetime sedition act and drag-net conspiracy

charges. ;

Page 4

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

American Civil Liberties Union-News

Published monthly at 461 Market St., San Francisco, 5

Calif., by the Ameriean Civil Liberties Union

of Northern California.

Phone: EXbrook 3255

ERNEST BESIG ...... Editor

Entered as second-class matter, July 31, 1941, at the

Post Office at San Francisco, California,

under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Subscription Rates-One Dollar a Year.

Ten Cents per Copy.

Fairfax `Little Dies Comm.'

Ousts Writer From City Job

(Continued from Page 1, Col. 3)

Loyalist Spain during that conflict. Perhaps some

Communists were doing the same thing; `but I

have never heard that social theories were con-

tagious under those circumstances. Along with

practically every published writer in these parts,

I was a member of the Western Writers' Con-

gress (one of whose objects was to fight Fascism

-hbefore fighting it was fashionable). The Con-

gress later affiliated with the League of Amer-

ican Writers and, it appeared, came under Com-

munist Party control. A group of us in San

Francisco, when there was pressure on our local

group to pass resolutions in defense of the USSR's |

invasion of Finland and then of the Hitler-Stalin

Pact, strongly opposed such action. I remember

one meeting at my house where a hot debate was

held on this subject with about half of us oppos-

ing the Communist line. I and these others, in-

cluding Hans Otto Storm, the novelist, now dead.

subsequently withdrew from the organization be-

cause of the obvious Communist dominance."

Mr. Grosbauer's action against Miss Gidlow

may be explained by the fact that she opposed his

"election to the City Council last year, and handled

the publicity for a successful slate of three candi-

dates, one of whom later turned sour. Grosbauer

became Mayor but resigned last month and the

little town of Fairfax, with a population of close

to four thousand, is now enjoying its third Mayor

in less than a year. :

One of the Councilmen who voted for the one-

man "little Dies Committee," is quoted as saying.

"All town Councils are going to be passing reso-

lutions like this and we want Fairfax to be the

first!"

It is a dubious honor. The Marin Herald com-

mented that "a number of citizens are wondering

how much Americanism there is in a set-up which

puts so much power into the hands of one man.

As a practical matter, there is little that can be

done for Miss Gidlow. Under the city charter.

the Mayor may remove appointive city officers

with the approval of the City Council. That was

done in this case. The Union will suggest to the

Council, however, that the entire matter be recon-

sidered and that Miss Gidlow be charged and

heard before she is found guilty of such a charge

as "Communism," and that the one-man commit-

tee ought to be dissolved in the interest of

Americanism.

Rees Federal Loyalty Bill

Challenged by Union -

Declaring that the bill passed by the House

July 17 to. establish a loyalty board to screen

federal employees contains "grave dangers to

civil liberties," the Union reiterated its opposi-

tion to the bill introduced by Rep. Rees as "dis-

regarding the fundamental requirements of due

process" and "lacking even the procedural pro-

tections which characterize the exceedingly dan-

gerous Presidential Order on loyalty in govern-

ment employment." A telegram July 24 to the

Senate Civil Service Committee asserted the Un-

ion's stand.

"While we think it entirely proper for the gov-

ernment to require a test of loyalty for its em-

ployees, the lack of safeguards in the House bill

prompts us to urge careful scrutiny and amend-

ment," the statement said. "Firing a govern-

ment employee for disloyalty is as much an ac-

cusation of crime as a conviction under criminal

statute. Therefore the least that we can ask is

that the government worker be afforded the

same safeguards provided by a criminal court."

Hearings were hastily called in the Senate

without adequate notice, evidently under political

pressure to get action before adjournment.

NEW TELEPHONE NUMBER

Please note that beginning August 10 our tele-

phone number will.be EXbrook 2-3255.

Combat Veteran Ousted From Army Housing Project

As `Subversive' Because of A.V.C Membership

The following letter was received from one cf

the Union's members who is engaged in religious

work among students at the University of New

Mexico in Albuquerque. He brings to our atten-

tion the case of a decorated combat veteran who

is being excluded from a veterans' housing project

- located on a military reservation because he is

alleged to be "dangerous and subversive." What

makes him "subversive" the Army won't say, but

it appears to be his mere membership in the Amer-

ican Veterans Committee. The case serves to

underscore the growing witch hunt throughout

the country. The letter follows:

I was especially interested in the last issue of

the American Civil Liberties Union-News since

it had material pertaining to the Federal Loyalty

One of our students at the University of New

Mexico who is a combat veteran with six decora-

tions applied to the University Housing Authority

for permission to occupy one of the housing

project apartments that is on Army territory at

the Sandia Air Base. The Base has permitted

vacant office barracks to be used for veteran

`housing through the University. Of course, a

routine investigation of the applicant's character

was part of the prerequisites. The veteran and

his wife moved in one month ago. Yesterday

(July 2) the University Housing Authority noti-

fied the student that he would have to vacate the

apartment in two weeks as the Army had proof

through an FBI investigation that he was "dan-

gerous and subversive." He is faced with the

prospect of having to move in a city where hous-

ing is virtually non-existent. He"had tried in vain

to get satisfaction from the army authorities as

to what the charges were against him. They

merely state that they take the FBI as their final

word in the matter. :

The student is a close friend of mine, a regular

church attendant, and an honor student at the

University. He holds several positions of honor in

campus organizations. He has never to his knowl-

edge joined a so-called Communist-front organiza-

tion. He is, however, a member of A.V.C., but so

ACLU Asks High Court to Review

_ Wilcox Military Exclusion Case

Wartime control by military officers of the

personal liberty of civilians is again challenged by

the ACLU in the four-year-old case of Homer G.

Wilcox, `Mankind United" leader. The Union

has asked the U. 8. Supreme Court to review the

California Circuit Court of Appeals decision of

March 28 that a military commander has the

wartime power to remove by force and without

benefit of trial or martial law a U. S. citizen liv-

ing in his command.

The Union's brief asked the Supreme Court to

consider the ``primary constitutional issues aris-

ing from the military control over the persona]

liberties of civilian citizens during World War II."

It argued: "The danger of arbitrary Executive

action is greatest when war or other emergency

causes uncritical acquiescence in official deter-

minations purportedly rooted in the emergency.

It is essential therefore to reaffirm the principle

that an allegation of `military necessity' will be

subjected to searching judicial scrutiny."

Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee

Members Sentenced

Contempt of Congress proceedings against 16

members of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Com-

mittee ended on July 16 in sentences and fines

by District Court Judge Richmond B. Keech.

The Spanish Loyalist relief organization had been

declared a Communist-front by the House Un-

American Activities Committee. The defendants

were convicted in June for refusal to produce or-

ganization records subpoenaed by the House

Committee. O. John Rogge, attorney for the de-

fendants, announced that the case will be ap-

pealed, further testing the constitutionality of

the action of the Un-American Activities Com-

mittee. :

The defendants' brief maintained that the

books demanded were not accessible to the de-

fendants, and challenged the Un-American Ac-

tivities Committee action as unconstitutional.

`Five defendants received $500 fines and sus-

pended jail terms because they renounced mem-

bership in the relief group. The committee's

chairman was sentenced to six months in addition

on the fine, and the ten others to three months'

sentence and fine. The ACLU took no part in

the proceedings, although it protested the cita-

tions for contempt.

are many other students who live at the base,

and even prominent citizens of the community.

He is crushed by this senseless, malicious, and

unsupported slander against his character.

Today, we consulted a local lawyer who told us

there was no recourse to law, and, futhermore,

that the FBI was an organization "above the

law." The practical consequences of this act mean

that the boy will be branded for life as it cannot

be kept secret as to why he had to leave the base.

He wants to go into government service in "Inter-

American" affairs as that is his major, yet this

FBI stigma will always be attached to him. All

the professors who know him vouch for his

integrity.

If this kind of senseless witch-hunting can be

used to discredit intelligent, serious-minded lib-

erals, then I greatly fear for the sanity and wel-

fare of the country. The disillusionment to loyal

Americans caused by the revelation that a "supra-

legal" agency is compiling secret dossiers on

people of liberal convictions is a serious catas-

trophe.

Of course, one has no recourse in dealing with

the authorities at the Air Base. There is no evi-

-dence of overt slander for which a person could

be held liable, although it would seem to me that

the affect of the order would cause it to be said

overtly that the boy was a Communist or Com-

munist-sympathizer, which is an outright untruth

as he does not have any sympathy with Com-

munist ideology or tactics, and has never be-

longed to any such organization.

What can be done about such an injustice?

What can our ACLU national headquarters say

to the President when he claims that the "Loyalty

Tests" are not being used to persecute loyal citi-

zens? The irony here comes in the fact that the

veteran is a loyal Democratic voter.

Probably no good can come out of publicity or

protest in such a situation, but this is an accurate

case history which should furnish fuel to liberty-

conscious citizens who are endeavoring to prevent

this stupid post-war hysteria.

-HENRY HAYDEN.

Navy Drops Disloyalty Charges Based _

On Atheism and Defense of Strikers

Following intervention of the Southern Cali-

fornia branch of the ACLU, the Navy has revised

its "disloyalty" charges against a civil service

employee of the Pasadena Naval Testing Station.

Originally, the Navy charged investigation had

disclosed "that you are known among your fellow

workers and close associates as an atheist; that

you have always defended all strikers and on

numerous occasions remarked that the economic

system of the United States is all wrong, and had

argued that capital could afford to give up many

more millions of dollars of its profits to workers:

that the neighborhood in which you reside is

known to be Communist infiltrated."

The first two of these charges have now been

dropped, but, apparently, it is still regarded as

being "disloyal" to reside in a neighborhood that

is "Communist infiltrated." ;

In addition to the foregoing, the employee ir

also charged with having Communist friends and

associates, with having attended a Communist

meeting in 1946, and finally in having with having

"defended the policies of the U. S. S. R. in their

handling of International relations to which poli-

cies the government of the United States has

indicated its opposition.

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