vol. 8, no. 6

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

FREE SPEECH FREE PRESS FREE ASSEMBLAGE

“Eternal is the price of liberty.”

Vol. VIII SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, JUNE, 1943 No. 6

EVACUATION CASES ARGUED

Claim Military’s Orders Based on Race Prejudice

The United States Supreme Court on May 11 and 12 heard arguments in the cases of three citizens of Japanese extraction prosecuted for refusing to obey military orders aimed at Pacific Coast Japanese. The government argued that the evacuation was a valid exercise of the war powers, while counsel for the Japanese insisted that the wholesale evacuation was based on race prejudice; that the military evacuation orders were due to political pressure exerted by the Pacific Coast race-baiting-pseudo-patriotic and selfish economic groups; and that because the military orders discriminated against citizens because of their race, they were unconstitutional.

The Court Interrogates

In the course of a colloquy between Jus-. tice Jackson and Attorney Wirin, the Judge expressed the view that the courts could not question the acts of a military commander during war-time. Of the Solicitor General, Justice Murphy inquired as to whether an order evacuating all of Ger‘man descent from the entire Eastern Coast would be legal; Mr. Fahy replied that in his opinion it would. Justice Frankfurter, most outspoken of the Justices, surprised everyone in the courtroom by indicating that he did not follow the law as laid down in the famous decision of ex parte Milligan, for three-fourths of a century a bulwark of civil liberties.

Harold Evans, distinguished Quaker attorney from Philadelphia, and Walter Bernard of Seattle, appeared for Gordon Hirabayashi, while Minoru Yasui was represented by Earl F. Bernard of Portland, and A. L. Wirin of Los Angeles. Counsel for the Japanese-Americans also attacked the President’s Executive Order as unconstitutional, and the statute making it a misdemeanor to violate orders of military commanders as indefinite and uncertain and an invalid delegation of legislative power. |

The government did not attempt to support the lower court’s contention in the. Yasui case that upon attaining his majority Yasui had elected to give up his American citizenship by working for the Japanese consulate in Chicago.

Gov’t Changes Stand

In the case of Fred T. Korematsu, the third case to be heard, the only question is whether an appeal may be taken from a sentence of probation. Although the government moved to dismiss the appeal in the Circuit Court on the ground that the District Court’s decision was not final, it changed its mind when the case got to the Supreme Court. ‘We think,” said Solicitor General Charles Fahy, “the order of the district court was appealable.”’

“Friends, and others, have sought of me a prophecy as to what the Supreme Court will do,” says Mr. Wirin. ‘‘Prophesying is always risky; and the foretelling of a Supreme Court decision rests on reeds too slender for a wise or careful lawyer to lean upon.

“If the numerous critical questions asked of counsel for the Japanese-Americans are any guide, we must be ready for the worst.” At the same time, Mr. Wirin is of the opinion that the court will decide the technical question in the Korematsu case favor- ably.

a Correction

The May issue of the “News” stated that (Continued on Page 3, Col. 3)

FROM NEW GUINEA!

Enclosed is my check for $50 to renew my membership, which has lapsed . for several years. Please keep me informed about the activities of the S. F. Branch, as I consider your work especially valuable in a time like the present. My greetings to Mr. Besig, if he is still in your office. Pfc. W.C.R. (U. S. Army, New Guinea—April 8, 1943).

Deportation Charges Against Anti-Fascist Dismissed

The Board of Immigration Appeals has dismissed the deportation proceedings against John Nicola Pinna, San Francisco anti-fascist.

Two years ago, Pinna, while a tuberculosis patient at the San Francisco Hospital, was served with a warrant of arrest, charg‘ing that at the time of entry into this country in 1937 he was afflicted with tuberculosis and, therefore, not eligible for entry. Since Pinna had written newspaper articles assailing Mussolini as a traitor, his deportation to Italy would have meant possible death and at least imprisonment. Con- sequently, the Union intervened in the case. While the Immigration Inspector who heard the case recommended deportation, the Board of Immigration Appeals reversed the ruling.

Pinna is not only an active anti-fascist, but he has no relatives in Italy. His father and step-mother reside in this country and are both citizens, while his own mother was buried in Pennsylvania. He himself made an application for citizenship five months after entry.

SUPREME COURT REFUSES REVIEW OF NISEI CITIZENSHIP

The Native Sons of the Golden West and other California organizations which sought in the federal court at San Francisco to deprive American-born citizens of Japanese ancestry of their citizenship were finally defeated when the U. §S. Supreme Court on May 17 refused to review a decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco upholding their citizenship.

The California organization, long hostile to the Japanese, had sought to upset a long- standing decision of the Supreme Court that all persons born on American soil of whatever ancestry are American citizens.

They contended that Japanese-Americans — . are dual citizens, owing allegiance also to Japan, and therefore should be distinguished from others. The Circuit Court of Ap peals threw out that contention after it was presented, without hearing the defense. The action of the Supreme Court ends the litigation.

The local branch and national office filed a brief as friend of the court in the Circuit Court of Appeals through Attorney Wayne M. Collins.

First Court Decision To Free C. O. From Army

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on May 7 in a 2 to 1 decision in the case of Randolph Phillips, brought before the court on habeas corpus, discharged him from the army and directed his reclassification by his draft board as a conscientious objector. Phillips had been denied that status by his local and appeals boards. He accepted induction into the army last March and then sued out a writ of habeas corpus through his counsel, Osmond K. Fraenkel. The District Judge refused to issue the writ, and an appeal was taken.

The court in effect reversed the findings of Lamar Hardy, the hearing officer ap- pointed by the Department of Justice, who heard Phillips’ case on appeal. Hardy’s decision was based largely on a play written by Phillips which the hearing officer interpreted as negating his professions of pacifist belief. The hearing officer, ac- cording to the appeals court, erred in identifying Phillips with one of the characters in the play. The dissenting judge held that the draft agencies had classified him law« fully on adequate evidence.

Phillips will be freed from the army and doubtless given the status of conscientious objector and assigned to a C.P.S. camp. Phillips is a financial writer who was formerly an editor of “The Columbia Spectator.”

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Warren Signs Anti-Civil Liberties Bills

While the Fifty-fifth session of the California State Legislature ended on May 5, Governor Earl Warren has 30 days, excluding Sundays and holidays to act on the various bills that are before him.

The Governor has already signed two measures which the Union opposed. The first requires the publisher of a publication “in the foreign language of any enemy nation” to file a correct English translation of every word with the local District Attorney. Other foreign language must submit upon request, to the Attorney General or the local district attorney, translations of any article, statement or word.

The Governor has also signed the bill providing for released school time for religious instruction. The Union is not concerned with the wisdom of this legislation. Its only concern is whether it violates constitutional guarantees. Under the terms of the bill, local boards may excuse pupils from school for such religious instruction no more than four days per school month and still get credit for their attendance, so long as they don’t adopt rules and regulations governing the attendance of pupils at such instruction and the reporting thereof. If Johnny goes fishing instead of attending church school, we assume the truant officer will deal with him.

Still unsigned, as we go to press, is the bill having the effect of outlawing the Communist Party from the ballot, and another, by Senator Tenney for the licensing of schools and individuals teaching foreign languages. The state may refuse a license if it feels the teaching may create disloy— alty to the United States or to the State of California.

Also unsigned, as yet, is a bill aimed at former Japanese civil service employees who were discharged by the State Personnel Board because of their race. It provides that it is an act of bad behavior to be “a dual citizen of the United States and of'any country -with which the United States 1s at war.” ;

The Japanese were also the targets of a resolution sent to Congress urging legisla- tion to take away the citizenship of dual citizens. Aliens ineligible for citizenship are to be denied commercial fishing licenses, and a Legislative Committee will inquire into the eventual return of Japanese to California. The latter bit of legislation appears to be part and parcel of the pressure campaign that has been put on during the past month or more to prevent the return of the Japanese. We don’t know exactly who is behind that campaign, but our guess is that it was started by people who stand to gain financially by exclusion of the Japanese.

The “Little Dies Committee,” headed by the ambitious Senator Jack B. Tenney of Los Angeles, has been continued for another two years with an appropriation of $20,000.

SUP. COURT URGED TO REHEAR CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR CASE

Attorneys for Whitney Bowles, conscientious objector, whose appeal was recently denied by the Supreme Court, have petitioned the court for a rehearing on the ground that the court did not deal with the essential issue. In deciding the case, the court rejected Bowles’ contention that his local draft board and appeals board had erred in denying him C. O. status because he was a member of an established sect opposed to war, asserting that the action of the local boards was superseded by General Hershey’s ruling on the registrant’s Presidental appeal.

The court refused to rule on the issue raised in many lower courts—whether a conscientious objector must submit to induction before he can challenge a claimed erroneous classification

papers,

Kerr Committee Procedure On Subversion Scored

The activities of the special committee of the House of Representatives under Con- gressman John H. Kerr of North Carolina appointed to review the Dies Committee charges of subversive activities of federal employees were scored by the American Civil Liberties Union for a “loose and untenable definition of subversive activity, failure to accord the accused counsel, witnesses or a stenographic transcript, and conclusions unsupported by evidence.”

The committee has made adverse reports on three of the 39 persons charged by the Dies Committee with subversive activity, and exonerated three. The three whom the committee recommended for discharge from federal jobs are Prof. Goodwin Watson and Dr. William E. Dodd, Jr., of the F.C.C. and Prof. Robert Morss Lovett, government secretary of the Virgin Islands. Riders were attached to the appropriation bills providing that no part of the appropriation should be used for paying their salaries.

It is expected that the Senate will decline to follow the action of the House, as they did previously in the case of Prof. Goodwin Watson. No bill aimed at particular federal employees has ever passed Congress. According to the Union, the constitutionality of such legislation is ‘“‘exceedingly doubtful.” If the bill should pass, test cases would doubtless be at once brought.

Criticizing the Kerr Committee’s definition of subversion, the Union in a letter to Chairman Kerr said:

“We are amazed at the loose definition of subversive activity adopted by the com mittee as a yardstick by which you evidently measure loyalty to the United States. You say: ‘Subversive activity in this country derives from conduct intentionally de- structive of or inimical to the Government of the United States—that which seeks to undermine its institutions, or to distort its functions, or to impede its projects, or to lessen its efforts, the ultimate end being to overthrow it all. Such activity may be open and direct as by effort to overthrow, or subtle and indirect as by sabotage.”

“With some of this definition reasonable men and women would agree. Any person -whose conduct indicates an attempt to destroy the government of the United States or to adopt unlawful means to change it certainly should not be in public employment. But your definition goes far beyond and such reasonable requirement. It talks about ‘distorting its functions,’ which is a vague phrase which might be applied to almost any critic of some or another’ government activity.

“You speak of ‘impeding its projects.’ That phrase could be applied to all critics of federal enterprises, and there are legions of them. You speak of ‘lessing its efforts.’ Do you suggest by that that the entire business community favoring free private en- terprise and against government regulation should be indicted as subversive; it cer- tainly is engaged in lessening the efforts of our government to regulate our economy. You qualify the phrases by referring to the “ultimate end being to overturn it all.” That is obviously a conclusion which rests upon a pure assumption that certain ac- tivities or connections have that object. But there is not the slightest indication of proof that the organizations you cite have any such purpose.

“Commenting on Dr. Goodwin Watson’s writings, you state that he ‘criticized our capitalistic and profit system and advocated its overthrow.” Certainly criticizing the capitalist system is not un-American; some of our leading public officials have done that. Nor is there anything un-American in advocating the ‘overthrow of a system of economy’ by any lawful means.

“We regard it as exceedingly ominous to our institutions for a Corfimittee of fe Congress to adopt any such vague test of the loyalty of federal employees.”

Union Asks Hearing On Tenney Comm. Charges

The last regular meeting of the Executive Committee of the Northern California Branch of the A.C.L.U. instructed the local director to deny the charges of the Tenney Committee, contained in its recent report, that the A.C.L.U. is “a Communist front or ‘transmission belt’ organization. At least 90 per cent of its efforts are expended on behalf of Communists who come into conflict with the law. .. .”’ The director had previously himself written a letter to Mr. Tenney denying the charges. No answer has been received to either letter.

“Not only does our committee wish emphatically to deny these charges,” says the letter, “but we also desire to point out that the Union was never given an opportunity to be heard with reference to them. ... The A.C.L.U. has nothing to conceal, and we think that in all fairness it should begiven an opportunity to be heard before it is convicted by your Committee.”’ Since the life of the Committee has been extended for another two years, the Union requested an opportunity to be heard at this time.

FACTS—NOT FICTION

Japanese population of continental US, (1940). 22.2) 126,947 Decrease from 19380 11,887 Citizens = 79,642 Allens 47,305 Male 71,967 Kemale= 54,980 A large majority of the aliens range from 35 to 65 years of age.

According to the W.R.A., twenty-five per cent of the Japanese are under 15 years of age.

PHILADELPHIAN CHALLENGES ARMY'S EXCLUSION ORDER

Another individual exclusion test case has arisen, this time in Philadelphia. The Army ordered 53-year-old Mrs. Olga Schueller, naturalized citizen and mother of a U. S. Navy seaman to leave the area by May 6, but Mrs. Schueller chose to defy the order and sought relief in the courts.

While the United States District Court ‘declined to issue an injunction, it did un- dertake to hear Mrs. Schueller’s petition for a declaratory judgment. The court is quoted as saying, “This is very close to a star-chamber hearing, such as we have been hearing about in Europe.”

UNION JOINS IN PROTEST AGAINST .FOQD CONFERENCE PRESS GAG

Criticism of the press arrangements at ‘the United Nations Food Conference at Hot Springs, Virginia, was voiced by the ACLU in a telegram to Secretary of State Cordell Hull, urging that “even at this late date stringent regulations on the press be re- laxed for the benefit of the American pub- lib.”’ The Union’s telegram read:

“As American citizens solicitous for the cause of democratic liberties which depend upon public access to all sources of information, we are greatly disturbed by the arrangements at the United Nations Food Conference at Hot Springs. While appreciating the need for secrecy in executive sessions the precautions taken appear to be far more stringent than the circumstances warrant thus depriving the American public of information which is rightfully theirs. May we urge that even at this late date the stringent regulations may be relaxed to a point consistent with the protection of con- fidental discussion.”’

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SUPREME COURT DISMISSES ZIMMERMAN CASE

The Supreme Court last month dismissed the case of Hans Zimmerman, Hawaiian, who sought to test the power of the military authorities in the Hawaiian Islands to detain him as “dangerous to military security, and to suspend the writ of habeas corpus indefinitely under martial law. The court held that since Zimmerman is no longer in custody, the issue is moot.

Zimmerman was freed in March after being imprisoned 14 months. After he was seized in Honolulu in December, 1941, he sought his release on a writ of habeas corpus. This was denied by the federal district court-which held it was powerless to act since martial law had been declared and the writ of habeas corpus suspended.

The district court was upheld on appeal to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco. The case reached the Supreme Court, but shortly after the petition for appeal was filed, Zimmerman was released.

Now at Los Angeles, Zimmerman has started an injunction suit to void an order of the Military Governor prohibiting his return to the Islands. He is represented by A.C.L.U. Attorneys Arthur Garfield Hays, Osmond K. Fraenkel and A. L. Wirin.

HEARINGS ON ORIENTAL EXCLUSION LAWS START IN CONGRESS

Hearings on bills to repeal laws excluding Orientals from admission to the United States and from becoming citizens were started in the House of Representatives on May 19 before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. A number of bills repealing the Chinese exclusion acts are under consideration, and a general bill repealing the Oriental Immigration Act of 1924. The repeal, if effected, would put Orientals on the same quota basis as other countries, and would admit to the United States annually less than 500 persons from, all Oriental countries. Nationals of belligerent countries are specifically excluded. If passed the repeal would permit the naturalization of Oriental residents in the United States, numbering some thousands among the Indians, Filipinos, Chinese and Malayans.

The Civil Liberties Union has endorsed ‘the repeal bills and will be represented at the hearings.

UNION CHARGES SCHOOL BOARD’S RULES VIOLATE CIVIC CENTER ACT

The Northern California branch of the Union has complained to the San Francisco Board of Education that its regulations governing the use of schools as public meeting places violate the terms of the Civic Center Act. The Union’s complaint was turned over to the Board’s legal committee and a report is expected about June 1.

The complaint charges that whereas the law provides the use of civic centers shall be free, except where an admission fee is charged, the Board’s rules require the pay- ment of “janitorial service, electricity, heat, water and any other charges,’’ besides furnishing of a $100,000 to $400,000 public liability bond.

Not only does the Civic Center Act provide for free use of civic centers, but it also provides specifically that “lighting, heating, janitor service and the services of a special supervising officer when needed, in connection with the use of public school building and grounds... shall be provided for out of the county or special school funds of the respective school districts and by the same authority as such similar services are 9

now provided for.’ A little more than a year ago, in a test suit brought by the Union, the State Courts held invalid a regulation of the San Francisco Board banning the Socialist Party from the use of the schools. : At the recent session of the State Legis- lature, Assemblyman Stream of San Diego County, introduced A.B. 1134 permitting school boards to do what the San Francisco board is doing without benefit of law.

“Remove Relocation Centers,”

Urges Dillon S. Myer

“After many months of operating relocation centers, the War Relocation Authority is convinced that they are undesirable institutions and should be removed from the American scene as soon as possible,’ said Dillon S. Myer, Director of the War Reloca- tion Authority, in a statement issued May 14. “Life in a relocation center,” Mr. Myer went on to say, “is an unnatural and unAmerican sort of life. Keep in mind that the evacuees were charged with nothing except having Japanese ancestors; yet the very fact of their confinement in relocation centers fosters suspicion of their loyalties and adds to their discouragement. It has added weight to the contentions of the enemy that we are fighting a race war; that this nation preaches democracy and practices racial discrimination. Many of the evacuees are now living in Japanese communities for the first time, and the small group of pro-Japanese which entered the relocation centers has gained converts.

What Happened To One Evacuee

“As an example of what has happened to many of the evacuated people, take the case of one man who was born in Hawaii and served in the American Army in France during 1917 and 1918. He was a leader among the Japanese Americans of his community and was a positive force for Americanization. I can only surmise as to what went on in his mind during the evacuation period and afterward, but I do know that soon after he came to the relocation center he turned from strongly pro-American to strongly anti-American, and became an agitator for resistance to the WRA administration. He turned his back on America because he felt America had turned its back on him. Continued segregation in the relocation centers has resulted in making -many individuals bitter and disillusioned ; only the hope of being able to resume a normal life can keep them from being social and political misfits for the rest of their lives.

40,000 Below the Age of 20

“There are approximately 40,000 young people below the age of 20 in the relocation centers. It is not the American way to have children growing up behind barbed wire and under the scrutiny of armed guards. Living conditions in the centers almost preclude privacy for individuals, and family life is disrupted. Family meals are almost impossible in the dining halls, and children lack the normal routine home duties which help to build good discipline. One of the major worries of parents in the relocation centers is the way the children are ‘getting out of hand’ as a result of the decrease in parental influence and the absence of the normal regimen of family economy and family life.

4,500 Evacuees Released

“Last July the War Relocation Authority announced a policy of permitting American citizens whose loyalty was beyond question to leave relocation centers to live outside. On the first of October this policy was broadened to include aliens as well as citi- zens. . . . Lo date approximately 4,500 evacuees have left the relocation centers under our indefinite leave procedures. ...

“There is a great demand in agricultural areas, especially in the sugar-beet-produc- ing regions of the inter-mountain states, for evacuees as agricultural workers. Nearly 10,000 evacuees worked in the beet fields last fall, and they harvested sugar beets enough to provide a year’s sugar ration for approximately 10,000,000: people. Nearly 5,000 already have gone into agricultural work this year, and seasonal leave permits, and it is expected that the number may grow to a figure much larger than last year.

1200 Army Recruits

“On January 28, the War Department announced that a combat team of Japanese Americans would be formed, to be recruited on a volunteer basis from American citizens of Japanese ancestry in the relocation centers, in Hawaii, and on the mainland outside of relocation centers. More than 1,200 Americans in relocation centers volunteered. This was a much smaller number than volunteered in Hawaii, which in my opinion, is a commentary on the effect of evacuation and relocation on the mainland, as opposed to the almost complete assimilation of the Japanese which has taken place in Hawaii.

“As part of the process of recruiting Army volunteers, all adults in relocation centers were required to fill out questionnaires which would give much information regarding their attitudes and loyalties. ... For those who will be classed as unquestionably loyal, we advocate lifting of restrictions of all types, except those which apply to all residents of the nation under wartime conditions; we feel they should be permitted to leave the relocation centers as they wish to and to live and work wherever they may be able to establish themselves. There will be others of mixed sympathies but not dangerous to this nation, who could serve the country and themselves better outside the relocation centers. They should be granted the opportunity of leaving the re- location centers and living in the interior of the country, although they would be re- stricted in some respects. Then, there are others who have indicated that they prefer to be regarded as Japanese, regardless of birth or their years of residence in this country. They should be required to remain in detention for the duration.

Release the Loyal

“We are convinced that segregation of loyal Americans from the disloyal element is essential. The objective of such segregation should be to move the loyal citizens and law abiding aliens as rapidly as possible into the mainstream of the social and economic life of the nation. Any other approach would lead to further frustration and embitterment on the part of the evacuees, and to waste of manpower.”

THE LEGION MAKES A TYPICAL REPORT ON THE JAPANESE RELOCATION CENTERS

A special investigating committee of the California Department of the American Legion, led by Senator Jack B. Tenney, recently charged the War Relocation Authority with ‘an overwhelming pampering of the Japanese evacuees” at Tule Lake and Manzanar relocation centers. The report is fantastic and obviously part of the organized propaganda drive against the return of Japanese to their former homes in California.

Four recommendations were made by the committee. 1—-Compulsory Americanization courses for all adult evacuees. 2— Teaching of English to all adults unable to speak English. 8—Segregation of subversive from loyal evacuees. 4—-Placement of control of the centers in the hands of the Army.

EVACUATION CASES ARGUED (Continued from Page 1, Col. 2)

Wayne M. Collins had prepared amicus « curiae briefs for the Union in the Hirabayashi and Korematsu cases. The statement was inaccurate. Mr. Collins did file amicus curiae briefs in the Hirabayashi and Yasui cases on behalf of the NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BRANCH OF THE A. C. L. U. The briefs ran to more than 160 pages. A twenty-two page amicus curiae brief was filed on behalf of the national office of the A. C. L. U. That brief was signed by Attorneys Hays, Fraenkel and Wirin.

Attorney General Robert W. Kenny, of California, erstwhile liberal and civil-liber- tarian, joined the attorney generals of Washington and Oregon in an amicus curiae brief in support of the government.

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American Civil Liberties Union-News Published monthly at 216 Pine Street, San Fran- cisco, 4, Calif., by the Northern California Branch of The American Civil Liberties Union. Phone: EXbrook 1816 ERNEST BESIG Hditor

Entered as second-class matter, July 31, 1941, at the Post Office at San Francisco, California, under the Act of March 38, 1879.

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F.C. C. INVESTIGATES BAN ON STATION KLX

The Federal Communications Commission has informed the local branch of the Union that it has secured statements from all those involved in the incident of March 27 last when Station KLX was refused permission to broadcast the address of Mme. Chiang Kai-shek from the San Francisco Civic Auditorium and “the matter now awaits further action by the Commission.”

The National Broadcasting Company claimed it had exclusive broadcasting privileges for the program, and Mayor Rossi’s office asserted it had a telegram to that effect which it refused to make public. In any event, KLX was forcibly prevented from broadcasting the program.

The Union wrote to the Mayor who referred our letter to Charles R. Blyth, chairman of the arrangements committee. Mr. Blyth says he was sick until the afternoon of the affair. “I had been told,” he says, “that the local stations had agreed they would not place microphones on the platform, a great number of which were obviously objectionable because of their practically obscuring any view of Madame Chiang. It was my understanding that such stations as wished could take the speech off the single station which had a microphone on the platform. Apparently this arrangement was understood and agreed to by all the stations except KLX, otherwise others than the representative of KLX would surely have put in an appearance on the night of the broadcast. In view of the fact that these various stations had agreed to this arrangement, it seemed, in justice to them, -a valid reason why one station at the last minute should not be allowed to place its microphone on the platform.”

Tt may very well be that powerful N.B.C. had an understanding with other stations concerning the Mme. Chiang broadcast. It would be easy for such a large concern to reach such an understanding. It is doubtful, however, whether such ‘“understandings’ are in the public interest, since they discriminate against the listeners of particular stations, but plainly independent Station KLX should not be bound by any agreement made by N.B.C. and its related stations.

CASE NO. 20

Twenty Jehovah’s Witnesses have now been convicted for violation of the Selective Service Act. The twentieth case involved one Allen A. Lowrence, who made the usual claims of being a minister, without the usual results.

Case No. 20 is different because the court imposed a four-year sentence, whereas the usual sentence is no more than three years and generally two years. But in making a statement to the court before sentence was passed, the ‘‘Witness” gave the usual “Witness” speech, without the usual results. U.S. District Judge Louis E. Goodman for some reason lost his judicial composure and angrily denounced the views of the group as “wicked doctrine,’ and sentenced the man to four years in. prison. This man’s case was the garden variety of ‘Witness’ draft cases, and he deserved the same treatment as others have received. Instead of making martyrs of these people, Judge Goodman might well follow the example of U.S. District Judges Yankwich and Jenney in Los Angeles who grant ‘‘Witnesses’” probation, conditioned on their performing useful work.

— Supreme Court Reverses Ban on Sale of Literature

Virtually all remaining statutory curbs on the distribution and sale of literature by Jehovah’s Witnesses and on-all other non-commercial literature were swept away by the United States Supreme Court last month in three decisions. Splitting again 5 to 4, the court reversed its ruling of a year ago in the famous “Opelika” case upholding local ordinances requiring licensetaxes on the sale of literature in public places or door-to-door. The court held that such ordinances violate freedom of worship, speech, and press. Convictions were reversed of three sect members under ordinances in Opelika, Ala.; Fort Smith, Ark., and Casa Grande, Ariz. —

The alignment was identical with that in the earlier decision except that Justice Rutledge, appointed in February to replace Justice Byrnes, sided with Chief Justice Stone and Justices Black, Douglas and Murphy whereas his predecessor had voted with Justices Frankfurter, Jackson, Reed and Roberts to uphold the fees.

Another decision voiding taxes on the sale of literature was handed down in a case arising in Jeanette, Pa.; and a regulation in Struthers, Ohio, prohibiting the ringing of doorbells for the purpose of distributing literature, was invalidated.

In ruling against the local tax ordinances, the court said, in an opinion written by Justice Douglas, that the distribution of religious tracts ‘occupies the same high estate under the First Amendment as do worship in the churches and preaching from the pulpits.

“It has the same claim to protection as the more orthodox and conventional exercises of religion. It also has the same claim as the others to the guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.”

At another point the court warned, “... if the formula of this type of ordinance is approved, a new device for the suppression

W.P.A. REFUSES TO REVERSE “RADICALISM” CASE

The Assistant Commissioner of the dying W.P.A. has refused to clear the record of a member of the San Francisco Writer’s Project who was dismissed on charges of radicalism a year ago. The government’s action brings the case to an unsuccessful conclusion.

At the insistance of the A.C.L.U., following a denial of the general charges, the W.P.A. accorded the former employee a hearing, but no prior statement of the charges to allow the preparation of a defense were furnished. Understandably, there was no confrontation by accusing witnesses, and, consequently, no opportunity to cross-examine. Indeed, the accusing witnesses were merely identified as former fellow employees on the project, and their report of incidents and conversations, rarely, if ever, fixed as to time and place, gen erally permitted only a denial.

The substance of the complaint, then, was that certain unidentified workers accused their fellow employee of being a Communist, which the employee denied. And, now, the Assistant Commissioner has decided to believe the unidentified accusers. All of which goes to show that a person accused of political heresies doesn’t stand much chance of defending himself.

BRIEF NOTES

The Supreme Court on May 10 upheld the power of the F.C.C. to regulate broadcasting chains through its power to license their affiliated stations. The first lynch-mob suspects to be tried in 40 years under the federal civil rights statutes were acquitted last month by an all-white jury at Hattiesburg, Miss. A resolution calling for a Senate investigation of Post Office censorship was introduced in the Senate last month by Senator William Langer of North Dakota.

of religious minorities will have been found.

This method of disseminating religious beliefs can be crushed and closed out by the sheer weight of the toll or tribute which is exacted town by town, village by village.

‘The spread of religious ideas through personal visitations by the literature ministry of numerous religious groups would be stopped.”

The court took note of the fact that the communities charged the literature was “provocative, abusive and ill-mannered”’ assaulting ‘‘our established churches and the cherished faiths of many of us.” Answering this argument, the court said, “Plainly a community may not suppress, or the state tax, the dissemination of views because they are unpopular, annoying or distasteful. If that device were ever sanctioned, there would have been forged a ready instrument for the suppression of the faith which any minority cherishes but which does not happen to be in favor. That would be a complete repudiation of the philosophy of the Bill of Rights.”

Justice Reed, for the minority, said: “Even if the distribution of religious books was a religious practice protected from regulation by the First Amendment, certainly the affixation of a price for the articles would destroy the sacred character of the transaction. The evangelist becomes a book . agent. The rights which are protected by the First Amendment are in essence spiritual—prayer, mass, sermons, sacrament— not sales of religious goods.”

The petition for rehearing in the Opelika cases was supported in briefs by the Amer- ican Newspaper Publishers Association, the Seventh Day Adventists and the American - Civil Liberties Union. The Union’s. brief was signed by Osmond K. Fraenkel of New York. A brief signed by Dorothy Kenyon of New York was filed by the Union in the Struthers case. — :

LIFE SENTENCE FOR JEHOVAH'S WITNESS REVERSED

A sentence of life-imprisonment at hard labor, imposed last April by a court-martial at Monterey, Calif., on Herbert L. Weatherbee, a Jehovah’s Witness, for disobeying the command of an officer to salute the flag, was reversed last month by the Judge Advocate General. The unprecedented sentence had been protested by the National Committee on Conscientious Objectors, A.C.L.U. affiliate. Weatherbee was returned to the army. It is assumed efforts will be made to return, him to his local draft board for reclassification, since he claims erroneous induction.

Another Jehovah’s Witness, Ernie Strobel, awaiting court-martial at Camp Kohler, Calif., on a similar charge, has been reported transferred to a hospital for mental observation.

POSTAL DISTRICTS, PLEASE!

In some communities such as San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Sacramento and Los Angeles, postal authorities have assigned postal districts to be added to the usual address. If you live outside San Francisco, in a community that has been assigned postal districts, would you mind informing us by postcard of your district.

Incidentally, our own address now reads:

American Civil Liberties Union, 216 Pine St., San Francisco, 4, Calif.