vol. 13, no. 2

American

Civil Liberties

Union-News

Free Press

Free Speech

Free Assemblage

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." |

Vol. XIII

SAN FRANCISCO, FEBRUARY, 1948

No. 2

_Howser Upholds Subversive

Organization Regist. Law.

Attorney General Fred Howser on January 1pound

upheld the constitutionality of the Subversive Or-

ganizations Registration law enacted by the 1941

Legislature. The opinion was handed down follow-

ing an inquiry from the Senate Committee on Un-

American Activities, headed by Senator Jack B..

Tenney, wanting to know `What is the legal status

of the Subversive Organizations Registration Act

and what is the procedure necessary to institute

enforcement thereof ?"'

_ The law requires registration of groups advo-

cating the violent overthrow of the government or

which are subject to foreign control. Thus far nc

organizations have ever registered under the law

In 1945 the conviction of Robert Noble, Ellis O

Jones and six other leaders of the "Friends of

_ Progress," an alleged fascist group, was reversed

by the Third District Court of Appeal. They hac

been charged with failure to register. While ex:

pressing "grave doubts" as to the constitutionality

of the law, the court held that the evidence against

the defendants was insufficient to sustain a con.

viction. The State Supreme Court, by a 4 to 3 vote

declined to review the District Court's decision.

The Attorney General informed Sen. Tenney':

group that prosecutions for violations of the law

may be mitiated by complaint filed by anyone

having the required knowledge of the facts. |

whether the District Attorney, a member of thc

Legislature, or a private citizen. Apparently Sena-

tor Tenney's Committee intends to demand prose-

cution of the Communist Party for failure to

register under the law.

@

Dr. Holmes' Permit to Visit

Japan Restored Too Late

Officials in the Department of the Army and

in the State Department expressed regret last

month over the revocation of the military per-

mit which would have allowed Dr. John Haynes

Holmes, chairman of the Board of the ACLU,

to accept an invitation of General Douglas Mac-

Arthur to visit occupied Japan en route home

from a lecture tour in India.

The permit was apparently revoked by the

Military Permit Section of the Department of

the Army after receiving an unfavorable report

of Dr. Holmes' lectures in India and without

notice to Dr. Holmes, higher officials or Gen-

eral MacArthur. Protests by the ACLU and a

cable from General MacArthur resulted in clear-

ance for Dr. Holmes, but by that time he had

reached Hawaii and could not consider a return

to Japan,

Dr. Holmes, who is minister of the Com-

munity Church in New York, went to India in

early October to deliver a series of lectures

under the Watamul Foundation. He left India

on December 30 by air. He was detained in

Tokyo by engine trouble for several. days and

during that time managed to meet a few Amer-

icans and Japanese. He reached New York

January 18.

FBI Figures Show Federal

Loyalty Probe Unnecessary

Support of the ACLU's contention that the

present wholesale loyalty check of two million

federal employees was not called for by any rea'.

danger was seen in the announcement by the FBI

last month of the results of its investigations tc

date. With ten percent of the files of employees

so far checked, only 277 apparently warranted

some investigation. Of these employees eleven re-

signed during the investigation. All the rest were

_ cleared, though two were found to have been un-

witting members or adherents of "disloyal"

ee Not one has yet had to face a loyalty

oard.

Oyama Alien Land Law Decision Dodges

Basic Constitutional Question

Dodging the question of the constitutionality

of California's Alien Land Law, the U. S. Supreme

- Court on January 19 decided "that the Alien Land

Law, as applied in (the Oyama) case, deprives

Fred Oyama of the equal protection of:California's

laws and of his privilege as an American citizen"

to accept a gift of land from his father, who is

ineligible to citizenship, on the same basis as the

citizen son of a father eligible for citizenship.

Consequently, the trial court's decision escheating

Fred Oyama's land to the state was reversed.

The prevailing opinion was written by Chief

Justice Vinson who also spoke for Justice Frank-

furter. Justices Black and Douglas wrote one

concurring opinion and Justices Murphy and Rut-

ledge concurred in another. All four justices

All Escheat Suits Dismissed

Stating that "there is little if anything

left of our Alien Land Law of California"

since the recent Supreme Court decision in

the case of Oyama v. California, Attorney

General Fred N. Howser on dan. 28 revealed

that he was arranging to have all the

pending cases of alleged violations dis-

missed. His decision was conveyed in a

letter to Mr. A. L. Wirin, Attorney for

the Japanese-American Citizens League

and the Southern California branch of the

ACLU.

"The attitude expressed by the Supreme

Court," Howser wrote, "in my opinion is

such that if we were to succeed in arriving

again before the court as it is now con-

stituted they would no doubt invalidate our

Alien Land Law as unconstitutional.

"I have not had the opportunity to comb

case by case those matters pending in court.

or under investigation, but I see no alter-

native other than to dismiss the cases on

file as the presumption has been obliter-

ated. The burden to be carried by the

State is equivalent to impossible."

Oklahoma Law School Case

Again Before High Court

Ada Lois Sipuel has again petitioned the U. S.

Supreme Court for an order to compel her ad-

mission to the Oklahoma Law School. The new

petition was filed on January 26, a few hours

before Miss Sipuel's application for admission

was rejected on the ground that a "substan-

tially equal" law school for Negroes had just

been created in Oklahoma City. The new law

school consists of three instructors with offices

in the State Capitol building. Miss Sipuel de-

clined to enroll.

Two years ago Miss Sipuel's application was

turned down solely because of her race. After

the case was argued in the U. 8S. Supreme Court,

that court, on January 12, with a speed and

unanimity that aroused nation-wide. comment,

held she had been deprived of her constitutional

rights, and, evidently to permit her enrollment

for the new school term, handed down the order

weeks ahead of the Court's normal schedule.

The ACLU in its brief had insisted that a

segregated law school would still deprive. Miss

Sipuel of her rights. Another case, challenging

the constitutionality of the Texas Law School

for Negroes, also supported by the Union, is

expected to compel the Supreme Court to pass

on the basic constitutional issue whieh it begged

in the Sipuel case.

wanted to strike down the law as denying the

equal protection of the law to Japanese aliens,

or, in this case, to Kajiro Oyama, as well as his

son Fred. Justices Read, Burton and Jackson

dissented.

The facts of the Oyama case are relatively sim-

ple, but the technical point on which the case

was decided is rather difficult for the average

layman to understand. In fact, even for judges it

would appear to be a rather questionable argu-

ment to reach a desired end.

In 1934, Kajiro Oyama purchased farm land in

the name ot #red Oyama, his six-year-old son,

and tive years later he made a similar purchase.

in the meantime, he was appointed Fred's guar-

dian. `the Alien Land Law, which forbids aliens

ineligible to citizenship from in any way owning,

using or enjoying agricultural land, specifically

provides that whenever a citizen takes title to

land and the purchase price is paid by an alien

ineligible for citizenship, a presumption arises

that the transfer is an evasion of the law, and is

not a bona fide gift. In other words, what ordi-

narily would be regarded as a gift of land from

a father to a son is in this case, because the

father is ineligible for citizenship and barred -

from holding agricultural land, presumed to be

in violation of the Alien Land Law.

"The only basis for this discrimination against

an American citizen (Fred Oyama)," said the

court, "was the fact that his father was Japanese

and not American, Russian, Chinese or English.

But for that fact alone, Fred Oyama, now a little

over a year from majority, would be the undis-

puted owner of the eight acres in question... .

The right of a citizen (Fred Oyama) may not be

subordinated merely because of his father's

country of origin." -

Mr. Justice Black, with whom Justice Douglas

concurred, declared, "That the effect and purpose

of the law is to discriminate against Japanese be-

cause they are Japanese is too plain to call for

more than a statement of that well-known fact."

Consequently, he would have struck down the law

on the ground that it violated the rights of aliens

under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Said Justice Black, in part, `The Supreme Court

of California has said that one purpose of that

State's Land Law is to `discourage the coming of

Japanese into this State...' California should

not be permitted to erect obstacles designed to

prevent the immigration of people whom Congress

has authorized to come into and remain in the

country. There are additional reasons now why

that law stands as an obstacle to the free accom-

plishment of our policy in the international field.

One of these reasons is that we have recently

pledged ourselves to cooperate with the United

Nations to `promote .. . universal respect for, and

observance of, human rights and fundamental

freedoms for all without distinction as to race,

sex, language, or religion.' How can this nation

be faithful to this international pledge if state

laws which bar land ownership and occupancy by

aliens on account of race are permitted to be

enforced."

Mr. Justice Murphy, with whom Justice Rut- -

ledge joined in an opinion, likewise sought to hold

the law repugnant to the U. S. Constitution, and

it was condemned in strong language. "The Cali-

fornia statute," said he, "is nothing more than an

outright racial discrimination. As such it de-

serves constitutional condemnation."

Justice Murphy declared that the law was aimed

solely at alien Japanese. "Among those ineligible

for citizenship when the law was under consid-

eration were Chinese aliens. But the Chinese in

(Continued on Page 4, Col, 1)

0x00B0

Page 2

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

N. Y. Appeliate Court Opens

Up Closed Shop Union

A union in New York City which limits new

members to sons of members in good standing

for twenty years, will have to face trial on com-

plaint of three employees of a newspaper delivery

concern denied admission, according to a three tc

two decision of the Appellate Division of the New

York Supreme Cotirt on December 29.

The majority of the court held in effect that a

closed union operating under a closed shop con-

tract is obligated to admit all qualified workers.

The minority held that since the union does noi

discriminate on grounds prohibited by the civil

rights law "membership may be withheld or ac..

corded at its pleasure.'' The ACLU filed a brief

in the case on the ground that unions may nc

longer be considered as private clubs with ar.

bitrary standards of admission.

Gov't. Appeals Los Angeles Decision -

Restoring Citizenship to Four Nisei

ROLE

The Government has appealed the decision of

Federal Judge Paul Cavanaugh of Los Angeles,

handed down September 7, 1947, setting aside

the wartime renunciations of U. S. citizenship of

four Nisei. The appeal was docketed in the

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco

on January 27.

In one of the cases, the iower court held that

no citizen under 21 may validly renounce his

citizenship, while in the other cases the Court

conciuded the renunciants had acted "under un-

due influence, duress and coercion and not of

their own free. will and act."

The principal Nisei citizenship renunciation

test suit, involving directly about 2400 persons,

is still under consideration by Federal Judge

Louis Goodman in San Francisco. A decision is

long overdue,

BOOKNOTES

Federal Protection of Civil Rights: by Robert

K. Carr, professor of Government, Dartmouth

College, and recently secretary of the President's

Committee on Civil Rights. Cornell University

Press, 270 pages, $3.00.

This second volume of the Cornell Studies: in

Civil Liberty, made on a grant by the Rockefeller

Foundation, deals with the as yet experimental

protection of civil rights by the federal govern.

ment through the Civil Rights Section of the De-

partment of Justice, founded in 1939. While it is a

scholarly analysis of law and policy of interest

chiefly to lawyers and students, its broader as.

pects in treating the new role of the federal gov:

ernment as a protector of rights appeals to a wider

audience. Its sub-title, "Quest for a Sword'', indi-

cates the dual tasks of government-positive pro-

tection of rights contrasted with the negative Bil!

of Rights "shield" of citizen's against the govern-

ment itself.

Executive Committee

American Givil Liberties Union

of Northern California

Sara Bard Field

Honorary Member

Rt. Rev. Edw. L. Parsons

Chairman

Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn

Helen Salz

Vice-Chairman

Joseph S. Thompson

Secretary-Treasurer

Ernest Besig

Director

Philip Adams

John H. Brill

Prof. James R. Caldwell

H, C. Carrasco

Wayne M. Collins

Rev. Oscar F. Green

Margaret C. Hayes

Prof. Ernest R. Hilgard.

Ruth Kingman

Ralph N. Kleps

Dr, Edgar A. Lowther

Seaton W. Manning

Mrs. Bruce Porter

Clarence E. Rust

Rabbi Irving F. Reichert

Prof. Laurence Sears

Dr. Howard Thurman

Kathleen Drew Tolman

District Court Disagrees As to What Constitutes

Reasonable Cause to Permit V.D. Quarantine

The State's power to quarantine women merely

suspected of being infected with a venereal disease

was upheld in a case decided last month by the

Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento in a

2to1 decision. |

The case is important because of the widespread

police practice in this State of "vagging" women

frequenting bars and other public places and

quarantining them in jail, without right to bail,

until it is ascertained whether they are infected

with a venereal disease. During the war, it was

found that about 25% of such women who were

detained in San Francisco were infected, but the

present disease rate is said to be only 7%. The

men associating with these women are rarely

examined or quarantined.

The three-judge court was agreed that before a

person's liberty can be taken from him there must

be "probable cause to believe the person so held

has an infectious disease."" There was sharp dis-

agreement, however, as to whether the facts dis-

closed such probable cause.

The three petitioners were arrested at a room-

ing house in Stockton called the De Luxe Rooms.

The police picked them up for questioning follow-

ing a reported robbery at the place and then filed

vagrancy charges against them. On the basis of

the arrest report, the health officer quarantined

the women.

A couple of private doctors, whose qualifica-

tions were not challenged, testified that three of

the detained women had no gonococci infection.

and that two of them were without syphlis. There

was no report as to syphlis for the third.

The court relied upon the testimony of a police

officer who stated he had made one arrest for

prostitution at the particular rooming house

during the past year; that the place had a reputa-

tion of being a house of prostitution; that three

women who gave their addresses at the De Luxe

Rooms had voluntarily procured examinations for

venereal disease, but with one exception the

examinations were negative; that one of the

petitioners admitted working as a prostitute, while

another admitted trying to run a house of prosti-

tution. (This the petitioners denied.) "The officer

had no knowledge of any prior arrests of either of

the petitioners."

The court rejected the medical reports of the

private physicians because there was no evidence

that the petitioners prior to the examinations had

not masked the presence of venereal disease by

the use of local disinfectants or drugs which would

temporarily prevent the detection of a venerea!

disease, according to the local health department

doctors.

Presiding Judge Miss Adams, who dissented

declared: "Even a prostitute is entitled to the

protection of these fundamental principles of

liberty which are the basis of our civil and political

institutions."' She insisted that the health officer

had failed to show reasonable cause for his ac-

tions. She rejected the officers' testimony as one %

man's opinion that the place was a house of prosti-

tution.

The court also rejected the contention that the

county jail was not a proper place to care for sick

people. The women were required to sleep four in

a bed in a jail that had been condemned by a legis-

lative investigating committee. The court quoted

with approval the following language of the Attor-

ney General: "`While jails, as public institutions

were established for purposes other than confine-

ment of diseased persons, occasions of emergency

or lack of other public facilities for quarantine

require that jails be used as places of quarantine."

In Alameda county, the ACLU has a false arrest

damage suit on file resulting from the arrest by a

Berkeley police officer of two sisters who were

picked up while seated in a restaurant preparing

to order food. The officer claimed a couple of

sailors had reported they had contracted venereal -

disease from the girls. The girls were held in jail

for five days and required to submit to venereal!

disease tests. The tests disclosed NO INFECTION.

so the women were released. Trial of the case has

been delayed by the crowded Alameda county trial

calendar. - '

N. Y. Court Refuses to Return

Children to Parents Abroad

A New York court on December 30 upheld the

right of two Catholic child-caring institutions to

keep the three children of a 48-year-old shoe-

maker, Hamportzoon Choolokian, who sought tc

get them to join him in Soviet Armenia. Raymond

L. Wise, New York attorney, acting on behalf of

the ACLU as a friend of the court, had argued

for the superior right of parents to the custody

and education of their children. |

The New York City Department of Welfare.

which had originally committed the children, had

approved their release, but the institutions claimed

the children would lose the opportunity for Catho-

lic religious education. Justice Edward Lumbard

Jr. of the New York Supreme Court avoiding the

religious issue, held that the children's rights tc

American citizenship might be lost, and that there

was insufficient evidence that the parents could

adequately care for them in Soviet Armenia.

Workers Right to Join Left-Wing Union -

Questioned In S. F. "Tomfoolery"

William L. Henderson, Secretary of San Fran-

cisco's Civil Service Commission, and John E.

_ Jeffery, business agent of the CIO United Pub-

lic Workers' Union, traded insults last month.

Jeffery called Henderson a tool of the downtown

interests in making current salary studies, and

the latter reciprocated by blasting the Union as

Communist dominated and accusing Mr. Jeffery

of following a policy of creating dissention, dis-

ruption and distrust. About 800 of San Fran-

cisco's 8500 employees belong to the Union.

Suggestions that City employees should be

prohibited from belonging to any organization

"having a taint of Communism," were swiftly for-

`gotten as Dan Gallagher, Chairman of the Board

of Supervisors' Finance Committee, which held

a three-hour hearing, condemned the entire inci-

dent as "a lot of tomfoolery."

WENDELL PHILLIPS: No matter whose the

lips that would speak, they must be free and un-

gagged. The community which dares not protect

its humblest and most hated member in the free

utterance of his opinions, no matter how false or

hateful, is only a gang of slaves. If there is any-

thing in the universe that can't stand discussion,

let it crack.

Protecting Our Civil Rights

Yes, it takes courage to stand between an

unpopular minority and the community, in-

_ sisting that our Bill of Rights was designed

for the protection of all people whatever their

race, creed, or political faith. The lawyer may

feel uneasy when it seems that important

clients may slip away because of his attitude.

The editor may be tempted to stand mute by

reason of the views of important advertisers.

Even the clergyman may be under pressure to

hold his tongue because of the influence of

his parishioners.

But those who are devoted to the demo-

cratic ideal expressed in our Bill of Rights

will take the direct and daring course. Once .

they are sure of their facts and know they

are doing right they will, like Altgeld, espouse

the cause of the victims of ignorance, preju-

dice, or passion. They, too, may be pilloried

or cursed. But: institutions become great by

the greatness of the men who champion them,

by the greatness of the advocacy that defends

them. A people indifferent to their civil

liberties do not deserve to keep them, and in

this revoluntionary age may not be expected

to keep them long. A people who proclaim

their civil liberties but extend them only to

preferred groups start down the path to

totalitarianism. They emulate either the dic-

tatorship of the right or the dictatorship of

the left. In doing this they erase a basic dis-

tinction between our system of government

and totalitarianism.

To allow that to happen is to lose by de-

fault. Far better to lose pleading the cause of

decency and of justice. Then we win greatness

even in defeat, and leave behind a rich heri-

tage for those who later rebuild on the ashes

of our lost hopes. But there will be no failure

if we adhere steadfastly to our faith. For the

goal of people of all races is toward a system

which respects their dignity, frees their

minds, and allows them to worship their God

in their own way. None has yet designed an

article of political faith more suited to those

ends than our own Bill of Rights.-From an

address of Mr. Justice Wm. O. Douglas of the

U. S. Supreme Court, delivered at a dinner

in Chicago, December 30, 1947, commemorat-

ing the 100th anniversary of Gov. John Peter -

Altgeld, who pardoned the Haymarket vic-

tims.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

Page 8

Movie Monopoly Challenged

In U. S. Supreme Court

Monopolistic trends in the moving picture in-

dustry were held to be a threat to freedom of the

press in a brief filed by the ACLU last month in

the U. S. Supreme Court. Asserting that the

movies, like radio, are part of the country's

"press," and that freedom to read, see or hear

are implied in freedom to publish or produce, the

Union's brief supported the Attorney General's

demand that Paramount and the other big movie

producers give up their ownership of theatres,

since their control of the first run houses and

most of the best theatres serves to limit the ac-

cess of independent producers to the screen.

The brief was signed by Harold J. Sherman

and H. William Fitelson, both of the New York

bar, as counsel for the American Civil Liberties

Union appearing as a friend of the court. Also

signing the brief were Wendell Berge, former

Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Anti-

Trust Division, who initiated the proceedings

against the movie producers, and James Law-

rence Fly, former chairman of the Federal Com-

munications Commission.

Claiming that the First Amendment of -the

Constitution, in protecting freedom of the press.

now must be held to protect the right of the pub-

lic "to enjoy the benefits of maximum diversifi-

cation" and ``competition of ideas in the produc-

tion and the exhibiting of motion pictures," the

Union's brief charged that the big producers

"have, in effect, established an economic dictator.

ship over one of the world's three greatest media

for the dissemination of ideas and materials of

persuasion and public opinion." Their ownershir

of theatres enables them to restrict the nation's

"movie fare" chiefly to their own productions

and to discriminate against independent produc-

tions."

Freedom From Arbitrary

Arrest Upheld by High Court

In another of its far-reaching civil liberties

decisions, the U. S. Supreme Court, 7-2, last

month strengthened "the right of the people to

be secure in their persons, houses, papers and

effects against unreasonable searches and seiz-

ures." In marked contrast to the trend to arbi-

trary arrest in other parts of the world, the

Court's decision freed an obvious offender be-

cause of an improper arrest.

Michael DiRe was arrested and searched with-

out a warrant during the war by an OPA invest1-

gator and a Buffalo police official. Counterfeit

OPA: coupons were found under his shirt, and he

was sentenced to a year in jail. Justice Jackson

wrote in the opinion which upset DiRe's convic-

tion, that the writers of the Constitution sought

"to place obstacles in the way of a too-permeating

police surveillance, which they seemd to think was

a greater danger to a free people than the escapc

of some criminals from punishment."

Free Speech in Public Parks

Defended in N. Y. High Court

Claiming that a regulation requiring a permit

for a speech in a public park is unconstitutional

the New York City Civil Liberties Committee has

joined in the defense of demonstrators arrestec

in March 1946 for carrying anti-Churchill placards

in New York's City Hall Park at the time Winston

Churchill was entering City Hall to receive the

greetings of the city. The brief, filed in the Court

_ of Appeals on behalf of the Committee by Osmond

K. Fraenkel and Emanuel Redfield, New York City

attorneys, cites John Milton's famous "Appeal for

the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing", as basis for

the argument that freedom of speech necessarily

means freedom from the arbitrary power of any

official to license it. At most, it is contended, park

regulations may set aside areas for enjoyment of

"repose free from the turmoil of daily harangues."'

Chinese Veteran May Secure Liberty

To Obtain Witnesses of His Birth

Federal Judge Louis Goodman of San Fran-

cisco on January 26 ordered Lee Fong Fook,

a U. S. war veteran seeking re-entry into this

country as a citizen after a trip to China to

acquire a wife, to be brought into court on

February 2 to determine whether he should be

released from custody to enable him to obtain

witnesses on his behalf. "In justice to him,"

said Judge Goodman, "he should have some

liberty, if the circumstances warrant it, to ob-

tain witnesses to prove the fact, if it be such, of

his birth."

ltalian Film Seized as Police and Minister

Team as San Francisco Censors

Henry Pincus, manager of the Larkin Theatre

in San Francisco, was arrested on December 30

and charged with exhibiting an obscene and

indecent film as well as contributing to the de-

linquency of two minors who were in the theatre

at the time the arrest was made. The picture in

question was "Furia," an Italian language film,

which was seized as evidence. Trial of the case,

before a jury, is expected sometime in February

in the Superior Court, a preliminary hearing

having been waived. Jake Ehrlich, high-priced

San Francisco criminal attorney, will handle the

- defense.

The complaints were signed by the Rev. Ray

V. Pedrotti, pastor of the Westminster Presby-

terian Church at 423 Oak St., San Francisco.

The Union's representative talked with the Rev.

Pedrotti who stated that his interest in the film

was aroused by a review in the San Francisco

Chronicle, written by John Hobart, in which Mr.

Hobart declares, "It is definitely not a picture

to recommend to the kiddies."

Mr. Pedrotti immediately attended the theatre,

decided the picture was obscene and caused the

arrest. When he talked to the Union's repre-

sentative, Mr. Pedrotti could not specify any

obscenities in the picture, although he did object

to some of the obvious inferences which he had

not failed to draw. He also objected to a scene

in which an idiot throttles the principal woman

character, throwing her on a bed and falling on

top of her in the process.

An ACLU representative talked to Chronicle

writer John Hobart, who declared he never in-

tended to give the impression that the picture

was obscene, but merely that it was not the

kind of fare he would recommend for children.

He explained that his story was influenced some-

what by the sensational advance billing the pic-

ture was given. His own story was titled,

"Furia? Is Warm Enough-But the Larkin

Didn't Burn Down."

Emilia Hodel, San Francisco News drama edi-

tor, wrote a more favorable review than Mr.

Hobart and stated to this writer that she classed

the picture as good; that she saw nothing ob-

scene about it, although it could not be classed

as a children's picture.

The ACLU arranged for a private showing of

the picture and about eight persons were on

hand, together with Frank Brown, the District

Attorney's brother, and a stenographer from his

office. The Union's group included a former

probation officer, a couple of lawyers, a doctor's

_wife, an artist, a professor's wife, a woman

who has conducted psychological studies among

children, and an office employee of the Union.

The unanimous reaction was that "Furia" was

a good picture, although not in the same class

with `Shoe Shine," and that charges of obscen-

ity were fantastic.

The Union discussed the case with District

Attorney Edmund Brown who stated that he has

an arrangement with the Police Department

whereby one of his deputies reviews a film before

it is stopped. In this case, Vincent Malone saw the

picture before the warrant of arrest was issued.

According to Mr. Brown, Mr. Malone did not

think the picture was obscene but felt that chil-

dren should not be allowed to see it. Mr. Brown

promised that the obscenity charge would be

dropped and that the prosecution would simply

be on the charge of contributing to the de-

linquency of a minor. What we have difficulty

in understanding, however, is how the picture

can contribute to the delinquency of a minor if

it is not obscene. We venture to say that Mr.

Brown has blundered and that no jury will

convict.

In this connection it is interesting to note that

"Furia" has been shown in other states without

running into any trouble. In fact, three boards

of censors have passed the film and it is not

even listed as objectionable by the Roman

Catholic Legion of Decency.

Police Department censorship of the theatre

was revived in San Francisco some time in 1948.

Under the Police Code the Chief of Police is

charged with the responsibility of detailing an

officer to see that the local ordinance against

indecent moving pictures and other perform-

ances is complied with. The problem was re-

ferred to the Juvenile Detail, headed by Lt.

Meehan, and two officers-Valentine and Key-

worth-now decide what is fit for San Fran-

cisco consumption.

Since 19438, the Union is informed that the

police have sought to stop 20 shows. Included in

the list are "The Outlaw," "Narcotics," a Sally

Rand show and "Furia.' Prosecutions in the

first three cases were all unsuccessful.

But the work of the Police Censors is more

insidious than this. After all, if a case is

prosecuted a jury decides whether there is any

basis for the arrest. It appears, however, that

in many cases the police either induce an ex-

hibitor not to show a picture or to cut portions

that are objectionable to the officers. Such

practices compare with anything the notorious

Watch and Ward Society has done in Boston.

As a matter of fact, the Rev. Mr. Pedrotti

would seem to be San Francisco's equivalent of

Boston's Watch and Ward Society. The clergy-

man some time ago objected to certain pictures

that appeared in the lobby of the Liberty -

Theatre. A complaint was sworn out but the

matter was dismissed by the Court which de-

clared it did not see anything indecent about

the pictures. The Court commented rather acid-

ly upon the Rev. Mr. Pedrotti's efforts to set

himself up as the town's censor.

The Rev. Mr. Pedrotti has also been involved

in a number of other cases and seems to work

very closely with Officers Valentine and Key-

worth. Assistant District Attorney Vincent

Malone stated to the writer that the Rev. Mr.

Pedrotti was present in court throughout the

obscenity trial of the "Memoirs of Hecate

County," in which the District Attorney's office

failed to get a conviction.

Sacramento Discontinues

"Release Time' Program

On January 12 the Sacramento Board of Educa-

tion voted to discontinue releasing elementary

students from classes for religious instruction.

_ The Board had granted an hour a week off from

classes in the fourth and fifth grades where a`

least 50% of the parents of the pupils applied for

such instruction. The program had been cancelled

in three of the four elementary schools because

the enrollment had dropped below the required

level. :

The Inter Faith Committee of the Sacramentc

Council of Churches declared that the attendance

requirement made it extremely difficult to operate.

"Therefore until definite conditions can be agreed

upon," said the Committee, "we will not request

the continuance of the religious training pro-

gram."

"Thus, an unwisely conceived project will die

for the lack of pupil-parent support, as was

bound to happen sooner or later," commented

the Sacramento Bee.

"Religious instruction is, of course, a splendid

thing and should be encouraged. But the system

of released time from the public schools is not the

way to achieve it, as Sacramento results have

demonstrated. Not only did it fail to appeal tc

even a small minority of the pupils, but it also

worked a handicap upon those who did not choose

to avail themselves of the free time from their

classes, by disrupting the school work.

"For those who desire religious instruction,

there is ample time to attain it after school and on

Saturdays and Sundays and during vacation."

FREE SPEECH RESTORED

IN INDEPENDENCE SQUARE

__Last month in Philadelphia's Independence

Square, the Philadelphia Youth Council to Oppose

Conscription, supported by several other anti-

conscription and liberal groups, succeeded in

breaking a ban on the holding of meetings at this

shrine of freedom. Two months earlier a meeting

in that square, sponsored by the Progressive Citi-

zens of America to protest the Hollywood investi-

gation, had been broken up by hoodlums. The

anti-conscription rally not only reasserted free-

dom of speech against such threats, but also

challenged a city ordinance requiring permits for

meetings in the square. A ruling was obtained in

the U. S. District Court on January 6 holding

the ordinance unconstitutional.

Legion of Decency Censorship

Attempt Fails In Vallejo

Last month the Roman Catholic Legion of

Decency on threats of prosecution demanded

that Raymond Syufy, operator of the Rita

Theatre in Vallejo, cancel the scheduled showing

of a picture entitled "Mom and Dad," which is

said to deal with the question of venereal dis-

ease. The exhibitor refused to be intimidated

and the District Attorney refused to prosecute.

The local priest, however, cautioned his congre-

gation from the pulpit not to attend the picture.

The Union has learned that the same picture

was excluded from San Francisco because of a

police threat to seize the film.

Page 4

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

American Civil Liberties Union-News

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

Calif., by the American Civil Liberties Union

of Northern California.

Phone: EXbrook 2-3255

ERNST 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.

Land Law Decision Dodges

Constitutional issue

(Continued from Page 1, Col. 3)

California were generaily engaged in small com-

mercial enterprises rather than in agricultural

occupations and, in addition, were not considered

a menace because of the Chinese exclusion act.

No mention was made by the statute's proponents

oi the Hindus or the Malay and Polynesian aliens

who. were resident in California. Aliens ot the

latter types were so numerically insigniticant as

to arouse no interest or animosity. Omty the Japa-

nese aliens presented the real probiem. lt wax

tney, the "yeuow horde,' who were tne object oi

the legislation. ;

`Chat tact has been further demonstrated vi,

the subsequent entorcement of the Alen Land

Law. At least (Yyen escneat actions have peen imstl-

tuted by tne State since tne stavute pecame er-

fective. UI these (Y proceedings, Iour mvoived

Hindus, two invoived Unmese aud tne reiaimng

7s mvoived vapanese. Curious euough, Ov OL tue

73 Japanese cases were vegun py tue state sud-

sequeat to Pearl riarpor, auring the period wnen

the mysterla generated DY WoOrmd War ii iiagi

fied tne opportunities Lor elective anti-vapanucs

propaganaa. Vigorous enlorcement or the allel.

Land aw has been put one of tne cruel discrimi-

natory actions which have marked this nation's

treatment since 1ly4i of those residents whc

chanced to be of Japanese origin.

"The Alien Land Law, in short, was designed

to effectuate a purely racial discrimination, to

prohibit a Japanese alien trom owning or using

agricultural land solely because he is a Japanese

alien.

Justice Murphy pointed out that in 1940, ac-

cording to the census, there were only 48,158

aliens in the United States ineligible for citizen-

ship, of whom 47,305 were Japanese, 749 Korean,

9 Polynesian, and 95 members of other Asiatic

groups.

"The basic vice... of the Alien Land Law,"

said Justice Murphy, "is that its discrimination

rests upon an unreal racial foundation. It as-

sumes that there is some racial characteristic,

common to all Japanese aliens, that makes them

unfit to own or use agricultural land in Califor-

nia. There is no such characteristic. None has

even been suggested. The arguments in support

oi the statute make no attempt whatever to dis-

cover any true racial factor. They merely repre-

sent social and economic antagonisms which have

been translated into false racial terms. As such

they cannot form the rationalization necessary

to conform the statute to the requirements of the

equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amend-

ment. Accordingly, I believe that the prior deci-

sions of this Court giving sanction to this attempt

to legalize racism should he overruled."

So. Carolina Ban on Negro

Voting Voided by Court

The U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Richmond,

Va. on December 29 upheld the right of Negroes

in South Carolina to vote in Democratic primaries

despite the repeal by the legislature of the primary

laws, intended to make the Democratic Party a

_ private organization with the right to select its

own acherents.

Judge John J. Parker for the Court said: `The

question is whether by permitting a party to take

over a part of its election machinery, a State can

avoid the provision of the Constitution forbidding

_ racial discrimination in elections, and can deny to

a part of the electorate, because of race and color,

_any effective voice in the government." The South

Carolina Attorney General's office has announcec

that an appeal would be sought to the U. S.

Supreme Court. The case has been handled by

counsel for the NAACP.

South Carolina's attempt to circumvent the

Supreme Court decision opening ap white Demo.

cratic primaries was followed by several other

Southern states. It is expected that the Supreme

Court, in the light of its several decisions on the

issue, will refuse to review and thus sustain the

Circuit Court.

L. A. County Loyalty Inquiry

Upheld by Superior Court

Superior Judge Frank G. Swain last month

upheld the power of Los Angeles county to in-

quire into the loyalty of its 20,000 employees and

in so doing dismissed a couple of test suits, one

of which was filed by the Southern California

branch of the A.C.L.U.

Under the proposed inquiry, each employee is

required to execute an affidavit (a) that he does

not advocate the overthrow of the government

by violence except... ; (b) that he has

never used any aliases except _............... ; (c) that

he has never been a member of or supported any

of some one hundred forty named organizations

except a.

"Not by any stretch of the imagination am I

holding that mere membership in any of the or-

ganizations named in the affidavit, without proof

that the employee member advocates the over-

throw of the government by force, is ground for

discharge. Nor am I ruling on the effect of a

refusal of an employee to take the oath and sign

the affidavit. As to all of these questions this

action is premature ... My ruling is that the

defendants have a right to conduct the loyalty

test in its present form."

The Court swept aside with barely a word the

contention that the Board of Supervisors `may

not even inquire whether a public employee ad-

vocates the overthrow of the government by

force without violating his constitutional rights."

The court said it had not been cited any case

making such a holding. On the other hand, the

Court found in the Government Code (Sec. 18200)

a provision against employment of a person "who

either directly or indirectly carries on, advocates,

teaches, justifies, aids or abets a program of

sabotage, force or violence, sedition or treason

against the government of the United States or

of this state."

"Plaintiff's fundamental error," says the opin-

ion, "lies in her failure to recognize that the en-

tire loyalty program as it now exists is a fact

finding inquiry to determine whether any county

employee advocates the overthrow of the govern-

ment by force. In making such inquiry the Board

of Supervisors does not have to stop when an

employee answers no; it may pursue the inquiry

further by asking about membership in specific

organizations, not with the idea that member-

ship in any of the named organizations includ-

ing membership in the Communist Party, may

provide clues for further investigation."

L. A. Anti-Nudist Ordinance

Scheduled for Another Test

Los Angeles county's anti-Nudist Ordinance is

scheduled for another test as to its constitutional-

ity. A petition for a writ of habeas corpus war

filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court |

last month in behalf of Mrs. Lura D. Glassey who

together with Henry L. Broening, had been con-

victed for operating a nudist camp in violation of

the ordinance. The latter is not a party to the

test case because he had only a few days still tc

serve on his shorter sentence.

The petition charges the ordinance is uncon-

stitutional in that it unduly restrains the rights

of nudists to freedom of expression when there is

no necessity for such restraint. It pointed out that

nudism is a social belief, the practice of which

like all other social beliefs, may not legally be

limited unless there is a clear and present danger

to society.

Previously, the same case was carried to the

U. S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear it

The present proceeding opens the way for another

trip to the U. S. Supreme Court. :

The case is being sponsored by the Southern

California branch of the ACLU.

BOOKNOTE |

Broadcasting and the Bill of Rights; by the

National Association of Broadcasters, Washing-

ton, D..C.-- 322 pages.

quest.

A compilation of the testimony (with exhibits)

of twenty-five representatives of the radio indus-

try before a Senate committee in June, 1947, con-

sidering amendments to the federal radio law.

The gentlemen of the industry with remarkable

unanimity discuss the Bill of Rights in terms of

complete freedom of- licensed holders of a public

franchise to serve the public as they see fit-

without consideration by the Federal Communi-

cations Commission of the character of their pro-

gram service. Any intrusion into the program

field-even in choosing among competitive appli-

cants for licenses or renewals-is to them an

invasion of the Bill of Rights. The volume is on

the whole a contribution rather to the literature

of free enterprise than of freedom of the air.

Apparently free on re- |

Liberals Aroused by Anti-Red

Drive in Congress

A three-cornered battle continued last month

between the Thomas Un-American Activities

Committee, the Communist movement, and those

elements, including the ACLU, concerned that

civil liberties should not be trampled upon in any

action taken against the Communists.

Morris Ernst and Arthur Garfield Hays, coun-

sel for the Union, last month accepted invitations ~

to testify before a sub-committee of the Thomas

Committee, in hearings on proposed anti-Com-

munist legislation to begin February 5th. Mr.

Ernst has long been an advocate of requiring

Communist front organizations to move out in

the open, but both lawyers will oppose outlawing

the Party.

In another development in the current "red

scare" in Congress, a House Administration sub-

committee asked the Justice Department last

month for a ruling on the constitutionality of a

bill to "bar un-American parties from the elec-

tion ballot."" Carl W. Berueffy, Washington attor-

ney, spoke for the ACLU in opposition to the bill

in the committee hearings on January 15th. He

argued that only the states can regulate elections,

that to bar a party from the ballot merely be-

cause of its name and beliefs is unconstitutional,

and that the Communist Party has never been

proved in court to advocate overthrow of the gov-

ernment by force. Even in the case of a frankly

revolutionary party it is better to have it in the

open than under ground, in the view of the ACLU.

Attacks against the Thomas Committee and

its methods have been increasing. A memoran-

dum prepared for and released by the Senate

Judiciary Committee urged that as a minimum

protection for persons being investigated they be

given the right to cross-examine witnesses. Jus-

tice Ferdinand Pecora of the New York Supreme

Court, who conducted the famous Wall Street in-

vestigation by Congress in 1933, urged that wit-

nesses always be permitted counsel and that their

rights be safeguarded in other ways. A new

"Committee of One Thousand" was formed to

work for the abolition of the Thomas Committee,

under the chairmanship of Dr. Harlow Shapley,

Harvard astronomer, supported by thirty promi-

nent sponsors, including Dr. Albert Einstein.

Other organizations working for the abolition of

the Committee include the Committee for the

First Amendment, originating in Hollywood, and

the Civil Rights Congress. These groups are all

alleged to be Communist "fronts."

Navajo Indians Get

Congress Pledge of Aid

The plight of 60,000 poverty-stricken Navajo

Indians, the largest tribe in the United States.

received encouragement from Congress when re-

lief of two million dollars was authorized and half

a million was appropriated in December for emer-

gency aid. The desperate conditions on the reser-

vation have long been known to agencies inter-

ested in the Indians, including the Indian Rights

Committee of the ACLU, but only recently won

national attention. The money will be used for

food and medical supplies.

A long-range program to cover the schooling of

. Navajo children, pledged in the treaty of 1868 and

never fulfilled, is planned, which with other relief

to make the reservation self-supporting will cost

upward of $90 million. The ACLU was represented

at a joint conference in Washington with the

Interior Department, the Indian Rights Associa-

tion and the Association on American Indian

Affairs to consider the program. Ernest L. Wilkin-

son, Washington lawyer, represented the Union.

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