vol. 7, no. 1

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

FREE SPEECH FREE PRESS FREE ASSEMBLAGE

“Eternal is the price of liberty.”

Vol. VII SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, JANUARY, 1942 No. 1

FEW "WAR CASES" REPORTED

War Brings No Abandonment of Civil Rights.

The entrance of the United States into the war has not resulted in an abandonment of civil liberties by the government. Indeed, at this juncture, the prospects seem ex- tremely favorable that civil rights will be maintained throughout the conflict. At the same time, several ‘‘war cases’? have arisen out of the shock of the first few days of the war, and the government has imposed a number of expected restrictions, but, by and large, the record for the first 3/4 weeks of the war is excellent.

Biddle Defends Free Speech

The chief reason for this good record would seem to lie in the sane attitude adopted by Attorney General Francis Biddle and his staff. For example, when United States attorneys in Los Angeles and Kansas City instituted sedition charges against outspoken opponents of the war, Mr. Biddle at once notified all United States attorneys that such prosecutions could not be started without authority from his office. As a result, sedition charges against Herman D. Kissenger of Kansas City, who wrote a critical letter to his congressman, were dismissed and like action was taken in the cases against seven persons who had been arrested in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Sedition Cases

The latter cases involved Robert Noble “$25 on Monday’’ pension plan advocate and admitted admirer of Hitler, and Ellis O. Jones, founder of an anti-war group called the ‘‘National Copperheads.”’ They, and five of their followers, were arrested on December 11 after addressing a meeting in downtown Los Angeles.

According to reports, Noble had demanded the impeachment of President Roosevelt. He is alleged to have charged this country with ‘“‘messing in Japan’s affairs,” and asserted that Roosevelt “‘egged Poland into an attack on Germany.” Among other things, the F.B.I. claimed he said “Japan did not attack the United States. Hitler should be allowed to run Europe, Japan should run the Orient and Americans should run America.”

Ellis O. Jones, the other principal defendant, was charged with stating, ‘“‘I’d rather see the United States fighting on the side of Germany against Britain.”

Bail in each case was set at the rather prohibitive sum of $25,000, but on orders from Mr. Biddle it was reduced to $500, pending a report to his office.

Dangerous Enemy Aliens Detained

The Attorney General showed the same solicitude for civil liberties in dealing with the problem of enemy aliens. Pursuant to law, the President had authorized the detention of dangerous enemy aliens. The F.B.I. rounded up about 38000 persons throughout the country, half of whom were Japanese. Despite the declaration of Mr. Biddle that “State and local authorities are urged to take no direct action against Japanese in their communities but should consult with representatives of the F.B.I.,” local police, especially in the smaller communities, took it upon themselves to detain Japanese, but they were speedily released when the F.B.I. declared thy were looking only for a limited number of dangerous aliens. Incidentally, each detained alien (Continued on Page 4, Col. 1)

Union Offers Aid to Willkie In Citizenship Case

Congratulating Wendell L. Willkie. for his decision to participate in the appeal of William Schneiderman, California secretary of the Communist Party, whose nat- uralization was revoked in lower Federal courts because of his political views, Arthur Garfield Hays, general counsel, has offered the cooperation of the American Civil Liberties Union in filing a brief as a friend of the court in the United States Supreme Court.

“The issues in the Schneiderman case squarely raise points of civil liberties in which we are deeply interested,’”’ Mr. Hays said. “The injustice there calls to high heaven and it is about time that the principle involved is made clear to the American people.” The issues at stake are three-fold, he pointed out: whether citizenship may be revoked where an alien fails to disclose what is not required by law; retroactive ap- plication of a law, and “whether mere membership in an organization commits every member to every belief that can be attached to it.”

RIGHT TO BOO TO BE TESTED IN CHICAGO

Following conviction and imprisonment of Edward A. Loss, 23-year-old Chicago welder, for having booed President Roosevelt in a movie theatre, attorneys for the Chicago branch of the American Civil Liberties Union are drawing up an appeal. In court Loss said he was a Republican and booed “automatically” when President Roosevelt appeared on the screen. Judge Caplan said his action ‘‘bordered on treason” and fined him $200, which he was unable to pay.

Union Pledges Cooperation To Maintain Bill of Rights

Tendering its cooperation in maintaining the Bill of Rights inviolate in war-time, the American Civil Liberties Union has written to President Roosevelt pledging its aid to the government in safeguarding the principles embodied in the First Ten Amendments to the Constitution.

“Never in American history,” said the Union’s letter, signed by the Rev. John Haynes Holmes, chairman of the board, and Professor Edward A. Ross, chairman of the national committee, “has our Bill of Rights rested upon such a firm foundation of law.” While appreciating “the necessary restraints which accompany the conduct of war,’’ the letter said, “we are concerned that jlegai restraints should not go beyond military needs. The vast majority of our citizens will of course exercise selfrestraint. There are, however, minorities which will properly insist upon recognition of their rights either not to be discriminated against or to speak their minds.

The letter expressed confidence that the now almost universally condemned record of persecutions for mere opinion in the last war will not be repeated, but pointed out that reactionary forces may try ‘‘to take advantage of the war to weaken the democratic cause.”

“The Bill of Rights,” the letter concluded, “is the heart of democracy. Democracy is the basis of national defense and an enduring peace. As a body of citizens with no cause to serve save maintenance of the Bill of Rights for everybody without distinction, we pledge to the government our unremitting labors in the cause in which for over twenty years we have been privileged to play a part.”

Racial Bias Hit In Suit By Negro Workers

With the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union, eight Negroes have started an injunction suit in St. Louis to prevent discrimination against skilled workers of their race in a federal housing project, charging violation of a contract to build Carr Square Village in that city.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to restrain a breach of contract. The contract contains a clause providing ‘‘there shall be no discrimination because of race, creed or political affiliation” in the hiring of skilled labor for the project, specifically asserting that at least 3.2 per cent of the total payroll in any month shall be allocated for Negro skilled labor. The United States Housing Authority, the St. Louis Housing Authority and thirteen contractors and subcontractors are named as defendants in the suit. It is understood that their defense will rest on closed shop contracts with unions which bar Negroes.

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APPEAL CHARGES LOSS OF POSTAL JOB DUE TO RELIGIOUS REASONS

The A.C.L.U. has appealed to the United States Civil Service Commission in behalf of Helge C. Peterson, who last November 28 was dismissed from his job as special post office clerk at Turlock. The Union claims that the dismissal was for religious reasons, and that the procedure by which it was accomplished did not conform to civil service regulations. :

Mr. Peterson’s troubles spring from his membership in Jehovah’s Witnesses. Several months ago, the Rex Ish Post 88 of the American Legion, in a letter to Congressman Bertrand W. Gearhart of the ninth district, demanded Peterson’s dismissal because of his membership in a religious group which refuses to salute the flag. Upon an investigation by postal investigators, the local press reports ‘a group of Legion- naires registered a complaint that they were being served directly by a man to whose doctrines they objected, and that Peterson was obtaining a livelihood from the government whose flag he refused to support.” :

The Legion objected specifically to Peterson’s distribution of a pamphlet, “God and the State” to members of the City Council, to his street corner distribution of the Witnesses’ literature, and to his appearance at a meeting of the Turlock elementary school district board in behalf of several children of Jehovah’s Witnesses expelled for refusing to salute the flag. The local postmaster sided with the Legion, and on three occasions called Mr. Peterson into his office to warn him that unless he ceased his ‘‘objectionable activities” he would lose his job. He did continue his activities and the loss of the job followed.

The Civil Service Commission has power to review dismissals resulting from political --—or religious reasons, or where the. procedure regulating dismissals has not been followed. In this case, the Union not only ‘claims that Peterson’s dismissal is because of his membership in Jehovah’s Witnesses, but that he was not furnished with a copy of the charges filed against him, as the regulations require.

PUBLIC HEARINGS ASKED ON ANTI-STRIKE BILL

Requesting the Senate Committee on Education and Labor for ‘‘full and immediate public hearings” on the House bill controlling strikes in defense industries, the American Civil Liberties Union has asked Senator Elbert Thomas of Utah, chairman of the committee, and its members to allow a complete hearing on the bill. The committee has indicated, however, that it will shelve the Smith bill on the ground that it will not be necessary to invoke its severe strictures in the present war emergency. The Union informed Senator Thomas that “public hearings alone would reveal to Congress and the country the full significance of the bill in virtually repealing all of the recent progressive labor legislation establishing labor’s civil rights.”

INQUIRY ON CHURCH ROLE IN DRAFT CASES SUSPENDED

Following protest by the Southern California Branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, Attorney General Francis Biddle has suspended an investigation of alleged interference by Methodist ministers in California with enforcement of the Selective Service Act. Ordering a complete review of the case of Henry Welty Kuhns, 22-year-old son of a Methodist minister and former Redlands University student, Mr. Biddle suspended an investigation begun by U.S. Attorney William F. Palmer into the activities of Methodist church officials who supported Kuhns’ case as a conscientious objector. Kuhns was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment as a draft law violator for failure to report for induction after his claim for exemption as a conscientious objector was rejected.

cial censorship.”

War-Time Restrictions Summarized In Union Memorandum

A summary of war-time restrictions upon civil liberties is contained in a memorandum just drawn up by the American Civil Liberties Union as a guide to Union activity during the war. The A.C.L.U. is particularly concerned with maintaining freedom of speech, press and communications; and the rights of Negroes and conscientious objectors.

Under the Espionage Act, automatically operative on declaration of war, and the Smith Act penalizing incitement of disaffection in the Army and advocacy of the overthrow of the government, utterances may be prosecuted whether public or private. State criminal syndicalism and sedition laws also may furnish the basis of prosecutions, but are unlikely to be involved. The Attorney General has ordered that no prosecutions for opinions be undertaken except with his prior consent...

Control of the Mails

Limitations on freedom of the press, according to the Union, derive principally from drastic controls of the mails by the Post Office Department. Publishers, authors and senders may be prosecuted for language held to incite to military disaffection. Particular issues of a periodical may be declared unmailable, resulting in revocation of second-class mailing privileges. Postal authorities may also declare mail to such address undeliverable. Foreign mail is also subject to censorship, the memorandum continues, though declaring it “unlikely that the government will censor first-class mail except to and from members of the military forces.”

The Union also notes that sweeping censorship of telephone, telegraph and radio is authorized under war powers legislation, “but unlikely, save as telegrams are addressed to or sent by members of the military forces.” Strict control of outgoing cables is maintained by the Navy. Similar restrictions affect telephonic communica

QUINCY HOWE PROTESTS WITHDRAWAL OF FILM

Action of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, producers of “Two Faced Woman’, in withdrawing the Greta Garbo film which has been banned in many cities after condemnation by the Legion of Decency, has been condemned by Quincy Howe, chairman of the National Council on Freedom From Censorship, as ‘“‘worse than an act of offiThe picture has been withdrawn for revisions to meet objections from various quarters.

“Motion picture producers should encourage free expression and a variety of ideas in new art forms,” said Mr. Howe. “They should not restrict their production, but instead widen the scope of their work.”

The National Council had urged M-G-M to make a court test of the film ban and volunteered legal services.

tion with foreign countries. While the entire radio industry may be taken over by the government and operated by it, ‘‘such sweeping power is evidently not contemplated.” The President, however, has issued an order permitting the Army and Navy to take over any station, if necessary for military purposes.

Enemy Aliens

As for enemy aliens, the Union notes that “as a practical matter, only those suspected of hostile activities are taken into custody.” The government has set up special boards to sift cases rapidly and to detain only those whose activities are objectionable or suspicious.

Provisions in war-time for conscientious objectors are no different from those under the draft act in peace-time, says the A.C.L.U. and adds that on the whole the system is working fairly to provide civilian or non-combatant service.

Discrimination against Negroes in the armed forces, the memorandum observes, “takes the form of segregation and limitation of entrance into certain branches.” Discrimination in defense industries is be-| ing contested by efforts to “work out in practice the policies voiced in principle by the administration.”

“Subversive Activities”

Investigations of “subversive activities” by the F.B.I1., it is noted, tend to concen- trate on Communist or German organizations, while ignoring organizations sympathetic with other foreign dictatorships and native groups of semi-fascist character. The F.B.I. also under a $100,000 Congressional .grant is engaged in investigating the “‘loyalty’ of federal employees. “It is evident that in war-time,” says the Union, ‘“‘connections with organizations allegedly sympathetic with enemy countries will be regarded as subversive, in addition to the apparently fixed assumption that all Communist activities, direct or indirect, are subversive.” ;

UNION TO APPEAL DECISION » ON JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

Following an adverse decision by the New York State Court of Appeals in the case of two Jehovah’s Witnesses, George Bohnke and Mrs. Henry T. Brown, convicted under a Southampton, Long Island, ordinance prohibiting peddling on private property, the A.C.L.U. is drawing up a brief with a view to appealing the case to the United States Supreme Court. In its argument before the New York State court, the A.C.L.U. contended that the Southampton ordinance was unconstitutional and void as an “invasion of the rights of free speech and free press” when applied to distributors of non-commercial pamphlets. A similar case involving the distribution of religious literature by Jehovah’s Witnesses was decided for the defendants in the Vermont Superior Court.

1942. And that would be all!

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OUR JANUARY COMPLAINT

The job we dislike most of all in this struggle for civil liberties is the begging for money that must be done to carry on. If we had a choice in the matter, you may be sure we’d content ourselves with a brief statement that we needed $4,480 during Yes, that would be all! It would be the end of the Union, too. Because we have found that most people must be reminded several times about their annual conTo the almost three hundred faithful who have thus far responded with pledges . and contributions for 1942, we express our gratitude and apologize for intruding another reminder. Please ignore it; it’s not directed to you.

It is directed to several hundred supporters still unheard from at this date. If you are one of these, and especially if your membership has expired, now that the holiday demands have subsided, won’t you please respond without any further rePledge cards and return envelopes have already been sent to you. Give what you can. And, if you can’t afford anything at the moment, we’ll be glad to keep

THE REMEDY LIES WITH YOU!

UNION TO AID IN APPEAL OF MINN. CONVICTIONS

The American Civil Liberties Union will assist in the appeal of the conviction of the eighteen members of the Socialist Workers Party and of the Teamsters’ Union who were found guilty in Minneapolis Federal Court of conducting propaganda to create insubordination in the armed forces of the government and to advocate overthrow of the government. Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to 16 months in a federal penitentiary. The other six were given sentences of a year and a day. Pending appeal all 18 were released on bond.

Arthur Garfield Hays, general counsel, and Roger N. Baldwin, director of the Civil eres Union, issued the following statement:

“The conviction for sedition of eighteen members of the Socialist Workers’ Party, so-called Trotskyites, and of the Teamsters’ Union, in the Federal Court at Minneapolis, is the first of its sort in peace-time since 1798. It raises squarely the issue of opinion alone. They were found guilty of no overt act, but solely of carrying on propaganda calculated to cause disaffection in the military forces and overthrow of the government. The alleged conspiracy was not backed by any showing that they had made the slightest attempt to put into effect their ‘dangerous thoughts.’

“It is obvious that so unprecedented a conviction must be appealed to the higher courts. There is reasonable ground to suppose that the United States Supreme Court will not sustain convictions for mere utterances and publications in the absence of overt acts or any ‘clear and present danger’ of them.

“The proceeding in Minneapolis is evi-dently an isolated case brought under rather unusual circumstances, in part involving a conflict between A. F. of L. and CIO unions. We have Attorney General Biddle’s assurance that it is not to be regarded as a precedent for bringing similar prosecutions under the new peace-time sedition law. But if the conviction stands, the law is a dangerous weapon against the civil rights of labor and radicals of all varieties. “The A.C.L.U. will render all possible as| sistance to the convicted defendants in carrying the case to the higher courts.”

President Asked to Commute Earl Browder’s Sentence

Executive clemency for Earl Browder, secretary of the Communist Party, now serving a four-year term for passport fraud, is sought by the American Civil Liberties Union. :

In a letter to President Roosevelt, the Union based its appeal for commutation of sentence on the “inescapable”? conclusion that “the length of sentence was due to po- jitical prejudice.” The letter was signed by the Rev. John Haynes Holmes, chairman of the board; Arthur Garfield Hays, gen eral counsel, and Roger N. Baldwin, director.

“We have examined all the circumstances | attending the prosecution of Mr. Browder from the inception of the case and concluded that no issue of civil liberty was raised except the length of sentence 1mposed upon him,” said their letter. ‘‘There is nothing in the nature of Mr. Browder’s offense to justify such a sentence,”’ they said, pointing out that “a study of the record shows that in no other case of like character was so long a sentence imposed.”

The President was asked to commute sentence “in the immediate future to the time already served, a sufficient period for the offense, judging by the record in other such cases.” The communist leader has served more than 8 months of his sentence to date.

In urging this action, the Union emphasized that it spoke without any connection with or sympathy for the Communist movement or its political principles. “We are interested solely that no American citizen should be discriminated against for his political views, whatever their character,” the letter concluded.

Decision of | ligh Court In ‘Times’

— Page 3

Bridges Cases Hailed As Great Victory

In a Sweeping decision, supporting and extending freedom of the press to a con- servative on the one hand and a militant labor leader on the other, the Supreme Court of the United States last month wrote another significant chapter in the history of the struggle for freedom of expression in the United States.

The opinion was handed down in the now celebrated ‘“L. A. Times” and Harry Bridges cases ; in both cases the A.C.L-U. through its Southern California counsel had appeared either directly or as a “friend of the court” in the California courts and in the Supreme Court of the United States; in both cases the A.C.L.U. had urged the application, to publications charged to be in contempt of court, of the “clear and present danger rule’ originally enunciated by Justices Holmes and Brandeis; in both cases, in a consolidated opinion, a majority of the Supreme Court, speaking through Justice Hugo L. Black, accepted that principle, applied it to the contempts charged against Bridges and the “Times” and exonerated both of them of all charges. The court recognized that the ‘‘Times”’ had for many years been vigorously anti-labor; at the same time it acknowledged that Bridges was an “outstanding labor leader.” At another point, Bridges was called by Justice Black, speaking for the majority, ‘a leading spokesman for labor.’”’ The minority views were expressed by Justice Felix Frankfurter, for twenty years a member of the National Committee of the American Civil Liberties Union. Concurring with Justice Frankfurter were Chief Justice Stone and Justices Byrns and Roberts; and concurring in the majority opinion were : ustices Jackson, Murphy, Douglas and

Bridges’ telegram to the. Secretary of Labor, made public and appearing in the “Tos Angeles Times,” had called the decision of Judge Reuben S. Schmidt of the Los Angeles Superior Court, which decision ordered a receiver to take over the longshore hiring hall at San Pedro, “outrageous.” The telegram recited that the attempted enforcement of the order would result in a Pacific Coast tie-up. The California courts, over the dissent of Chief Justice Phil Gibson and Justices Traynor and Edmonds, held the telegram to have constituted an illegal “threat.” The Supreme Court rejected this view, stating:

“It is not claimed that such a strike would have been in violation of the terms of the decree, nor that in any other way it would have run afoul of the law of California. On no construction, therefore, can the telegram be taken as a threat either by Bridges or the union to follow an illegal course of action.”

The Court ruled accordingly that freedom of discussion and expression of current controversial issues may take place in the press, whether or not those issues happen to be pending before some judge for decision, declaring.

“It must be recognized that public imterest is much more likely to be kindled by a controversial event of the day than by a generalization, however penetrating, of the historian or scientist. Since they punish utterances made during the pendency of a case, the judgments below therefore produce their restrictive results at the precise time when public interest in the matter discussed would naturally be at its height.”

This is particularly true with respect to labor controversies. On this subject the Court’s views are.

“| Here, for example, labor controversies were the topics of some of the pub- lications. Experience shows that the more acute labor controversies are, the more like- ly it is that in some aspect they will get into court. It is therefore the controversies that command most interest that the decisions below would remove from the arena of public discussion.

= . . No suggestion can be found in the Constitution that the freedom there guar- -anteed for speech and the press bears an inverse ratio to the timeliness and impor- tance of the ideas seeking expression. Yet, it would follow as a practical result of the decisions below that anyone who might wish to give public expression to his views of a pending case involving no matter what problem of public interest, just at the time his audience would be most receptive, would be as effectively discouraged asif a deliberate statutory scheme of censorship had been adopted.”

Judges, according to the majority decision, are not to be free from criticism.

Said Justice Black:

“... The assumption that respect for the judiciary can be won by shielding judges from published criticism wrongly appraises the character of American public opinion. “ . . And an enforced silence, however limited, solely in the name of preserving the dignity of the bench, would probably engender resentment, suspicion, and contempt much more than it would enhance respect,”’ :

“ihe major significance of the decision lies in its acceptance and application to contempts of the court by publication of the “clear and present danger’ rule. Here- tofore the U.S. Supreme Court had applied the rule in cases involving sedition, espion- age and criminal syndicalism prosecutions.

Upon this subject the Court had the following to say:

“. .. The liklihood, however great, that a substantive evil will result cannot alone justify a restriction upon freedom of speech or the press.

).. In accordance: swith. what we have © said on the ‘clear and present danger’ cases, neither ‘inherent tendency’ nor ‘reasonable — tendency’ is enough to justify a restriction © of free expression. But even if they were appropriate measures, we should find exaggeration in the use of these phrases to describe the facts here.

“ . . And even the expression of ‘legislative preferences or beliefs’ cannot trans- form minor matters of public inconvenience or annoyance into substantive evils of suf- ficient weight to warrant the curtailment of liberty of expression.”

And so the “clear and present dan-ger rule” received a new welcome in the mansions of the law, and the Southern California Branch of the A.C.L.U. happily records “Finis” to a three-year-old fight in the courts for the preservation and extension of freedom of th press, alike to citizen and alien, conservative and “radical,” capitalist and working man. (The Open Forum, Dec. 20, 1941.)

DEVANY ACT TEST DROPPED | BY DISMISSED EMPLOYEE

Following a decision by.Nancy Reed, dismissed from her post in the New York State Department of Labor for alleged membership in the Communist Party, not to take further action, the New York City Civil Liberties Committee will await another case to test the constitutionality of the Devany Act.

The Devany Act of 1939 bars from public service persons who advocate the overthrow of the government by force and violence. At the time the law was passed by the New York State Legislature, the Civil Liberties Union opposed it on the ground that it violated the Bill of Rights in penalizing mere opinions.

The Union maintains the basic principle that “mere membership in an organization should not be the basis for discipline or dismissal” in public services. It urges that a line be drawn between mere membership and overt acts committed by an employee on the job to further the fortunes of a political party.

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American Civil Liberties Union-News

Published monthly at 216 Pine Street, San Francisco, Calif., by the Northern California Branch of The American Civil Liberties Union. Phone: EXbrook 1816 ERNEST BESIG Editor

Entered as second-class matter, July 31, 1941, at the Post Office at San Francisco, California, under the Act of March 8, 1879. Subscription Rates—Seventy-five Cents a Year. Ten Cents per Copy.

Resolution Adopted By the Union On the King-RamsayConner Case

The following resolution was adopted by the Executive Committee of the Northern California branch of the A.C.L.U. at a meeting held on December 5, 1941:

WHEREAS, on October 6, 1941, our director, Ernest Besig, wrote a letter to Governor Olson which has been mistakenly interpreted as opposing a pardon to Earl King, Ernest G. Ramsay and Frank Conner, the American Civil Liberties Union Executive Committee issues the following statement:

1. The letter of the director was not intended to oppose a pardon in the cases in question;

2. The director’s letter recorded faithfully the decision taken by the Committee to the effect that no civil liberties issue was involved in the cases as presented to the Committee;

3. The Committee’s only action upon the cases was therefore the decision that civil liberties were not involved and that however sympathetic or unsympathetic members might be to the application for pardon, it could not officially go beyond its function.

The Committee takes this occasion to explain again that it is not a partisan organi- zation. It is not pro-Labor nor anti-Labor. It is not pro-New Deal nor anti-New Deal. It is not pro-War nor anti-War. Its sole. function is that of attempting to keep all - conflicts of party and of interest within the limits prescribed by the Constitution of the United States and that of the State of California. It is determined that no person or ‘group, however good or however bad its cause, shall be allowed to violate the civil liberties which are guaranteed to all our people. The committee is under constant pressure and temptation to-take sides in partisan disputes. To do so would be, how- ever, to desert its proper task—that of preserving the civil liberties which a democ- racy establishes as setting limits to the activities of all interests and of all factions.

THE WAR AND CIVIL RIGHTS

(Continued from Page 1, Col. 2)

will have his case reviewed by a local board of three citizens, appointed by the Attorney General, who will determine whether the alien should be detained for the duration of the war, paroled on bond, or released. No doubt, some mistakes have been made in carrying out such an extensive and necessary war measure. Indeed, in Los Ange- les, at least four citizens were held as aliens but they were eventually released by the BB. LE.

Japanese Students Have Difficulties

The government naturally undertook to restrict the travel of enemy aliens. The State Department..issued an order forbidding all “Japanese individuals” to travel on railroads, busses, boats or airplanes. As a result, several hundred citizens of Jap- anese extraction, students at the University of California, were stranded in Berkeley for the Christmas recess. Ninety or more students at San Jose State College, according to one of our correspondents, were not permitted to commute from Palo Alto to San Jose. Similar conditions existed throughout the state.

The State Department’s order was so strictly enforced that a soldier in uniform with a travel order in his hand and government authorized travel pay in his pocket was refused the right to ride on a train until his case could be cleared through the

THE YEAR’S BALANCE SHEET OF CIVIL LIBERTIES

The outbreak of the war came at a time when the country was debating a major issue of civil liberties. The government's policy toward the rights of labor largely centered in the issue of strikes for a closed union shop. Passage by the House of Rep-resentatives of a sweeping act restrictive of labor’s rights reflected the impatience of Congress with strikes which interfered with the national defense. The bill has been held up in the Senate pending the outcome of efforts to effect voluntary agreement between employers and employees.

Rights of Minorities

The rights of other minorities have raised in recent months comparatively few issues. Attacks on Communists have taken the form chiefly of discharges from the public service and hostile propaganda by the Dies Committee, the Rapp-Coudert Committee in New York State and similar committees in Colorado, California and Oklahoma. Old cases involving Communists originating in the 1940 election campaign are before the courts in Pennsylvania, where four groups of petition gatherers stand convicted of ir- regularities, and in Oklahoma, where twelve Communists charged with criminal syndicalism for possessing or distributing literature face ten-year sentences. Four of the Oklahoma cases are on appeal. In addition a campaign has been conducted to commute the excessive sentence imposed upon Earl Browder, the secretary of the party, for passport fraud.

The entire leadership of the Socialist — Workers Party, followers of Leon Trotsky, was convicted in a federal prosecution at Minneapolis involving also the leaders of the local Teamsters’ Union, charged with advocating the overthrow of the government and with spreading disaffection in the armed forces. Eighteen persons have been sentencd to from one year to sixtee months. The cases are on appeal.

Attacks On Jehovah’s Witnesses

More severe than the attack on Communists or Trotskyites is the record of lawless interference with the distribution of literature by Jehovah’s Witnesses, notably in Texas, Arkansas, Alabama and Indiana. In addition two elderly women members of the organization convicted in Indiana for desecrating the flag and sentenced to ten years have just been freed by the State Supreme Court. Indictments against 73 other members at Connersville, Ind., under the criminal syndicalism law will probably be dismissed as a result. Cases involving the right to sell literature as well as distribute it free are on the way to the U. S. Supreme Court.

Discrimination against Negroes in the armed forces and in defense projects is rife. Efforts have been made by the federal government to check discrimination in employment. An attempt to get court intervention against discrimination has been made in St. Louis, where an injunction suit has been brought against defense housing contractors to require them to employ a fair proportion of skilled Negro workers.

Other Issues

Other issues pending in the courts at the outbreak of the war involve three Commun- ists cited for contempt for refusing to furnish party membership lists to the Dies Committee, and a number of cases in the New York courts of teachers dismissed as a result of the Rapp-Coudert investigation.

A formula is being sought to provide hearings in cases of civil service dismissals for alleged subversive activity. In addition judicial determination is awaited on the question of whether the libel laws may be extended so as to hold a newspaper liable for stating its opinion about what the views of a public official are.

Other cases of importance include deportation proceedings against alleged past members of the Communist Party; the trial of four WPA workers charged with making false affidavits that they were not Communists, and two cases in the U. S. — Supreme Court involving revocation of citizenship for past Communist membership: ong denial of naturalization to an indigent. | alien

headquarters in San Francisco.

The Union appealed to the State Department and the Department of Justice to modify the order. Fortunately, this was done without too great delay, and citizens of Japanese extraction may now travel on public carriers, if they can establish their citizenship.

Some Censorship Established

After our entry into the war, Congress gave the President certain powers of cen- sorship. Pursuant thereto, restrictions will be placed on mail coming into and leaving the country. Also, international cable and radio communications will be limited. A voluntary censorship is being sought on military information disseminated by news- papers and the radio. A government ‘‘coordinator” of films has been appointed by the President.

Espionage Act Revived

Our entry into the war automatically revived certain sections of the Espionage Act of 1917. Those sections, 1, prohibit the making or conveying of false reports intended to injure the operation of our military forces; 2, punish attempts to cause disaffection in the armed forces; and, 3, punish attempts to obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the country. These ‘sections are fortified by provisions punishing conspiracies to violate any of the sections, and authorizing the issuance of search warrants for the seizure of property used as a means of committing a felony, which would include violations of these sections just mentioned.

During the last world war, the foregoing provisions of the Espionage Act afforded the legal basis for widespread oppression of minority groups, particularly pacifists. Under Attorney General Biddle, it is anticipated that the law will receive a more reasonable application.

RACE HATRED ACT VOIDED BY JERSEY COURT

The decision of the Supreme Court of New Jersey at Trenton holding unconstitutional the socalled anti-Nazi law of 1935 in a prosecution of German-American members, was welcomed by the American Civil Liberties Union on the ground that, “although it detested the anti-Semitic speeches of the defendants, it maintained for them the same rights of free speech as for anybody else.” The decision can be appealed to the Court of Errors.

COURTS BAN DISCRIMINATION | IN USE OF SWIMMING POOLS

Mexicans as well as Negroes may not be discriminated against in the use of public swimming pools and bath houses, according to a decision last month by Los Angeles county Superior Court Judge Walter S. Gates. Judge Gates issued a peremptory writ of mandate directing the city of Po| mona and its officials to permit the use of bath and swimming pool facilities to Mexicans on an equality with all other races.

The suit was filed in behalf of a number of Mexicans by Attorney Edward Mosk. Cooperating in the suit and appearing as “friend of the court” was the A.C.L.U., through Attorneys A. L. Wirin and Fred Okrand.

Recently the U. 8. Dist. Court of Appeals decided unanimously that the city of Pasa- dena has no right to bar anyone on account of race or color from a tax-supported swim- ming pool. This concludes a two-year fight carried on by Attorney Thomas L. Griffith, Jr., president of the Logs Angeles branch of the N.A.A.C.P. and a member of the Executive Committee of the Southern California branch of the A.C.L.U. It is a major victory for Negroes who were formerly allowed to use the Brookside Park pool only on ‘International Day.”