vol. 11, no. 7

AMERICAN

CIVIL LIBERTIES

-UNION- NEWS

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

DEE ler lads

PREG PRE So

FREE ASSEMBLAGE (c)

Vol. XI.

SAN FRANCISCO, JULY, 1946

No. 7

Fair Employment Practice Act

Qualifies for Nov. Election

An initiative proposal to establish a California

Fair Employment Practice Act has qualified for

the November general election. Exactly 181,297

valid signatures were presented to the Secretary

of State, whereas 178,764 were needed.

The proposal is substantially the same as the

bill introduced by Assemblyman Augustus Haw-

kins and others which was defeated at the special

session of the legislature in January, 1946. It

makes it unlawful for an employer ``to refuse to

hire or employ or to bar, or to discharge from

employment any person because of the race, re-

ligion, color, national origin or ancestry of such

person," or for an employment agency "to refuse

or fail to refer any person for employment, be-

cause of the race, religion, color, national origin

or ancestry of such person, or for any of them to

discriminate against such person in compensation

or in terms, conditions or privileges of employ-

ment." It is also made an unlawful practice for a

"labor organization to exclude, expel or restrict

from its membership or fail or refuse to refer to

employment any person because of his race," etc.

Moreover, it provides against auxiliary segregated

unions. Every contract made by the State would

contain .a provision requiring the contractor to

abide by the act.

The Act would be administered by a Commis-

sion of five full-time members to be appointed by

the Governor serving four-year terms, and re-

ceiving salaries of $7500 a year. The commission

"may act upon a written complaint or as a result

of its own investigation wherever it shall appear

.to it that an unfair employment practice has

been committed." The case is referred to one

commissioner who, with the aid of the staff,

makes an investigation. If an unfair employment

practice is found to exist, the commissioner

"shall immediately endeavor to eliminate such

unlawful employment practice by conciliation

and persuasion." If the commissioner is unsuc-

`cessful, the matter then goes before the com-

mission for a full hearing, except that the com-

missioner who made the investigation would not

participate in the hearings except as a witness.

If the commission finds any unlawful employ-

ment practice, it may issue an order to "`cease and

desist." Appeals may be taken to the District

Court of Appeals within twenty days after the

entry of the order. Violation of an order of the

commission "shall constitute contempt of court,"

and the commission may obtain a court order en-

forcing its own order.

- Complaints must be filed within six months

after the alleged unfair labor practice occurred.

Reviewing courts must act within five months af-

ter a petition is filed. $250,000 is appropriated

each fiscal year to carry out the provisions of

the Act.

California Supreme Court

Hears Arguments in San Diego

Civic Center Act Case

On June 10, the California Supreme Court

heard arguments on a petition for a writ of

mandate which would require the San Diego

Board of Education to allow the Civil Liberties

Union the use of school property without sub-

mitting an affidavit declaring that it does not ad-

vocate the overthrow of the government by force.

The affidavit is provided for under an amendment

to the law proposed by Senator Jack B. Tenney

of Los Angeles and adopted at the last regular

session of the State Legislature.

Counsel for the Union argued that although

it does not advocate such doctrines, it refused to

sign such a statement because it constituted a

limitation on freedom of speech. The case was

taken under submission.

Two Kidnapped Peruvian Japanese File Test

Suits to Prevent Their Deportation to Japan

Charging that they were kidnapped in Peru

by U. 8S. Military Police, brought to the United

States against their will and imprisoned here in

various internment camps by the U. S. Immigra-

tion Service two long-time Japanese residents of

Peru on June 25 filed suits in the United States'

District Court in San Francisco to prevent their

deportation to Japan, and to secure their return

to Peru. Judge Louis Goodman issued an order

for the case to be heard on Aug. 5.

The deportations, scheduled for July 1, are

based on charges that the Japanese entered the

United States illegally, because they are racially

inadmissible, and because they did not present the

required passports and immigration visas.

The petitioners in the suits are Iwamori Saka-

segawa, 03, a mechanic, who has resided in Peru

since 1910, and Chika Yamasaki, 58, a tailor, who

has resided in Peru since 1916. The latter is single,

while Sakasegawa has a Spanish-American wife

and seven children, ranging in age from 23 years

to 3 years, all living in Peru. The wife and children

are citizens of Peru, and a twenty-year-old son is

presently serving in the Peruvian army.

Defendant in the suits is Irving F. Wixon,

District Director of the U. S. Immigration and

Naturalization Service in San Francisco. The

Japanese, while awaiting shipment to Japan, are

being held in the Immigration Service detention

quarters at the Appraisers Building in San

Francisco.

The legal proceedings are in the nature of test

suits filed by Attorney Wayne M. Collins of San

Francisco with the full support of the American

Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

_ The Union disclosed that 78 more Peruvian

Japanese brought here against their will are be-

ing held by the Immigration Service at Terminal

Island, Calif., for deportation to Japan. The

majority have Peruvian wives and children who

are residing in Peru. Forty-nine more Peruvian

Japanese are being held at the Crystal City In-

ternment Camp, Texas, together with some 410x00B0

wives and 260 children. Twenty of the children

were born in the United States and, hence, are

United States citizens. The Peruvian Japanese

have been detained in this country from two to

three and one-half years. One of the Japanese

has lived in Peru since Christmas Day 1901, while,

on an average, they have resided in Peru for 22

years. Seven of their children are presently serv-

ing in the Peruvian army.

The petitioners allege that they were brought

to the United States without any charge or accu-

sation of any kind and without any hearing be-

ing accorded them, "by reason of secret lettres

de cachet, verbal or written, issued against them

by the governments of the United States and Peru

because of their Japanese lineage and pursuant

to a secret agreement existing between said gov-

ernment, the exact nature and contents of which

said lettres de cachet and agreement have never

been revealed... ."

_ Sakasegawa charges that "He was seized at

his place of employment in Lima, Peru, on April

24, 1944, by agents of the Peruvian Secret Police

and was taken by them to the Sixth Street Police

Station in Lima, where he was held incommuni-

cado in jail from April 25, 1944, to May 21, 1944,

from which he, along with four other persons of

like ancestry there detained, was taken in the

custody of Peruvian Police agents to an aero-

drome and delivered into the custody of United

States military police and was forced aboard a

United States airplane manned by United States

_ military personnel; said airplane landed at the

Panama Canal Zone, C. A., where the petitioner

and said other four persons were taken therefrom,

under like guard, and interned in the Panama

Canal Zone Headquarters Internment Camp, Pan-

ama Canal Zone, C. A., an internment camp main-

tained, operated and controlled by the United

States Government; he was interned in said camp

from May 22, 1944, to June 20, 1944, on which

date, he, along with 400 similarly seized and

treated men, women and children, were compelled

to board a United States transport, the `Cuba,' at

Balboa, Panama Canal Zone, the while and where

they were kept under like guard; the said vessel

sailed therefrom and docked at New Orleans, La.,

on or about July 1, 1944, where said four hundred

persons were taken therefrom under armed guard

and were interned at the Alien Internment Camp

Crystal City, Texas. . . . ; the petitioner, along -

with the aforesaid four other persons, was taken

from said vessel and was transported to the Ken-

edy Internment Camp, Kenedy, Texas," after

which he was held successively at the Santa Fe

Internment Camp, Terminal Island and the de- (c)

tention quarters in the Appraisers Bldg., San

Francisco. - :

Yamasaki was seized under similar circum-

stances on Feb. 23, 1943. He was brought to San

Francisco by U. S. military police on June 15,

1943, together with other Peruvian Japanese. For

almost two months he was detained at Sharps

Park, after which he was transferred successively

to four other detention camps before being

brought to the Immigration Service detention

quarters in San Francisco on June 9, 1946.

All of the Peruvian Japanese were originally

detained in this country as enemy aliens, pursuant

to the Enemy Alien Act of 1798. On April 9, 1946,

however, Jonathan B. Bingham, Chief, Alien En-.

emy Control Section, Department of State, de- :

clared that none of the Japanese could be re-

garded as dangerous enemy aliens, but the Peru-

vian government was "opposed to the return to

. Peru of any of the internees who are Japanese

citizens."' In the meantime, the Peruvian govern-

ment had confiscated their property."

A month later, May 9, 1946, Spruille Braden,

Assistant Secretary of State, advised the Civil

Liberties Union that the Peruvian government

"has taken the position that only those Japanese

_who are considered to be Peruvian citizens may

be permitted to reenter Peru. There remains the

possibility, however, that Peru will reconsider on

. @ case-to-case basis the applications of those

Japanese who have particularly strong family

ties to Peruvians. The Department is now await-

ing the views of the Peruvian Government on this

point.

"All the Peruvian Japanese have been released

from their status as enemy aliens,' said Mr.

Braden, "and they are now free to go to any

country that will admit them." After the Justice

Department released the Peruvian Japanese from

detention as enemy aliens, deportation proceed-

ings were filed against them under the immigra-

tion laws looking toward their deportation to

Japan as illegal entrants into the United States.

ARGUMENTS IN RENUNCIATION TEST SUIT

AWAIT JUDGE'S RETURN FROM VACATION

Arguments in the Nisei renunciation test suit |

were again postponed during the past month be-

cause of the continued absence of Federal Judge

A. F. St. Sure, who is still on vacation. The hear-

ing is set tentatively for July 1, but it is highly

doubtful whether the case will be heard at that

time, and no one knows exactly when the Judge

will return to the bench.

In the meantime, the government has released

a few more renunciants, including Harry Take-

uchi, spokesman for the group.

ae 2

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

Judge John Beardsley, Civil

Liberties Union Pioneer, Dies

Kindly and beloved Superior Court Judge John

Beardsley of Los Angeles died suddenly in Los

'Angeles on June 10. He was seventy years old.

At the time of his death he had due been re-

elected to the bench.

Judge Beardsley was one of the founders of

the Southern California Branch and served as

chairman from its inception in 1923 until 1935.

During recent years he has served as a member

of the Union's national committee.

Judge Beardsley was the attorney in a num-

ber of important civil liberties cases. He won the

famous California `red flag" case before the U. S.

Supreme Court, but lost the Hamilton case, in

which the Supreme Court held that the University

of California could require military training of its

students. He appeared successfully before the

Supreme Court in the case of a German-American, |

whom hysterical citizens tried to evict from his .

civil service job during the first World War.

In another notable case, Judge Beardsley rep-

resented 35 aliens in deportation proceedings. He

found the official stenographer was taking a

transcript of the government's case but not that

of the aliens. Thereupon, he provided his own

stenographer and the deportation orders in the

cases were ultimately reversed.

In short, Judge Beardsley made a very valu-

able contribution to the cause of civil liberties,

and his passing is a distinct loss to the cause and

to the Union.

He is survived by his widow, Helen Marston

Beardsley, who is a member of the Executive

Committee of the Southern California branch, and

an eight-year-old son. He is also survived by two

sons by a former marriage.

Federal Court Strikes

At Movie Monopoly

A great improvement in the circulation of

motion picture films to local houses was seen as

the likely consequence of the decision of a three-

man U. 8. Court in New York City on June 11,

banning monopoly practices in film distribution.

While the court failed to divest the big producers

from ownership of local theatres, a remedy asked

by the government and advocated by the Ameri-

can Civil Liberties Union, it did lay down a series

of rules for distribution and exhibition of films

"that ought to go a considerable way toward

ending monopoly bottle-necks,'"' according to

ACLU attorneys.

The court ruled in effect that pictures will

now be distributed by a system of free bidding

for individual films, and it outlawed the mono-

poly practice of "block-booking,'"' under which

exhibitors have been required to buy a number

of films at a time sight unseen. Also outlawed

were agreements whereby films are distributed to

be shown at minimum admission prices.

On the question of divesting ownership of

theatres by the big producers as asked by the

government, the court pointed out that only

2,000 of the country's 17,000 theatres are pro-

ducer-owned, and said: "We think that the op-

portunity of independents to compete under the

bidding system for pictures and runs renders

such harsh remedy unnecessary, at least until

the efficiency of that system has been tried and

found wanting." The court added however that

the big: producers cannot buy any more theatres

without the court's consent.

It is not expected that either the government

or the companies will appeal the decision, which

apparently leaves the way open to a new decision

later if the proposed remedies do not adequately

protect the public from monopoly practices. The

suit against the companies was first brought by

the government under the Sherman anti-trust

act in 1938 postponed under a consent decree in

1940, and reopened last year. The ACLU tried

unsuccessfully to file a brief as a friend of the

court supporting divorcement of producers from

theatre ownership.

Philippine and East Indian Citizenship

Bills Delayed by Technicalty

House bills to admit Filipinos and East In-

dians to the U. S. under small quotas and to

permit their resident nationals to become U. S.

citizens were passed by the Senate on June 14.

They would have gone to the President for signa-

ture but. for discovery after passage that the

two separate bills created conflicting amend-

ments of the oriental exclusion act. A. revised

bill covering both nationalities was subsequently

passed by the Senate and is expected to pass the

House shortly, since the principle involved has -

already heen, accepted.

Freedom To Criticize Judges

Affirmed By Supreme Court

Freedom of the press to criticize judicial pro-

ceedings was forcefully sustained in the unani-

mous decision uf the U. S. Supreme Court on

June 3 in the appeal of the Miami "Herald"

against contempt convictions earlier upheld by

the Florida Supreme Court, according to the

American Civil Liberties Union which filed a

brief supporting the "Herald." The majority opin-

ion by Justice Stanley Reed held in effect that a

newspaper may publish even untrue statements _

about pending cases in non-jury trials, without

necessarily going over the line into contempt of

court, which could only result from a "clear and

present danger" to justice.

Jusice Reed said if comment only after a

case was closed were to be permitted' the public

welfare might not be adequately protected and

emphasized that `in borderline cases where it is

difficult to say upon which side the alleged of-

fense falls, we think the specific freedom of pub-

lic comment should weigh heavily against a pos-

sible tendency to influence pending cases. Free-

dom of discussion should be given the widest

range compatible with the essential requirements

of the fair and orderly administration of justice."'

Noting complaints that the editorials cited in

the "Herald" had run down the character of

Florida judges, Justice Reed said the law was

obliged to suppose that judges had sufficient

character not to let criticism affect their de-

cisions, and pointed out that their remedy was

to sue for libel if the criticism was defamatory.

Separate concurring opinions were filed by Jus-

tices Murphy, Frankfurter and Rutledge. Justice

Rutledge said that legal matters are so inaccu-

rately reported on the whole, that almost any

newspaper might be punished for contempt if

mere inaccuracy were the criterion.

Citizenship of Naturalized

Nazi Revoked by High Court

In a 5 to 2 decision on June 10 the U. S. Su-

preme Court upheld the revocation of U. S. citi-

zenship of Paul Knauer, Milwaukee Nazi, in a

decision that clarifies the conditions under which

the citizenship of naturalized aliens may be re-

voked, according to ACLU attorneys. Two years

ago the court terminated a series of citizenship

revocations by the Department of Justice in its

decision on the Baumgartner case, in which it was

held that a naturalized citizen may not lose his

citizenship because he engages in Nazi activities

after his naturalization.

In the Knauer case just decided the court

held that Knauer's oath of allegiance to the U. S.

was fraudulent in view of the fact that he en-

gaged in Nazi activities before, during, and long

after his naturalization. A dissent by Justice Rut-

ledge supported by Justice Murphy held that a

bad precedent was set by taking citizenship away

for political activities, however reprehensible.

Increasing Number of Out-of-State

Doctors Fail Calif. Oral Examinations

The California Board of Medical Examiners

last month furnished the Civil Liberties Union

certain statistical information which it had

sought for almost three months. The Union re-

quested these statistics after it had received com-

plaints that out-of-State doctors, who had prac-

ticed more than ten years, were the victims of

arbitrary action in oral examinations which they

are required to take. It has been known that the

Board has pursued a policy of exclusion, and it

has even been suggested that it is anti- Semitic,

put thus far the Union has not been furnished

proof of the latter charge.

According to the figures provided by the

Board, 53% of the doctors who' took the oral

examinations in 1945 failed to pass, and thus far

in 1946 the failures have numbered 55%. Back in

1939 when there were many fewer applicants

qgnly 34% failed, while in 1941 only 42% failed.

In 1939, only 95 doctors took the oral examina-

tions, while during the first three months of 1946

alone, 231 doctors took the examinations.

In sending its figures to the Union, the Board

explained that `The increase in the percentage of

failures is probably due to the fact that a great

number of applicants who appear for examina-

tion at the present time have spent three to four

years in one of the branches of the armed forces,

and their practice has been restricted to one phase

of the practice of medicine or surgery, or they

have served in an administrative capacity."

The Union is continuing its investigations.

c

`alternative here.

Public Authorities Fail to

Actin Vallejo Race Case

The authorities have done very little the past

month in connection with the protests against

the illegal searches and the mass arrest of Ne-

groes in the Chabot Terrace housing project in

Vallejo on May 17.

Despite the search of only Negro homes by

the Sheriff's men, Sheriff Thornton testified at

the coroner's inquest, that there was no evidence

that Negroes were involved in the murder that

led to the lawless enforcement of the law.

While James Richardson, director of the

Vallejo Housing Authority has admitted to the

Union that he made a mistake in turning over

the master keys of the apartments to the Sher-

iff's deputies, there have been no assurances

given the tenants that the same thing will not

happen again. At the same time, it is reported

that Richardson has indicated he will make resti-

tution te those who suffered any loss.

The Vallejo Council for Civic Unity, the

N.A.A.C.P., and other groups, met with the Val-

lejo Housing Authority recently to demand the

ouster of Director Richardson. Only one com-

missioner, Dr. Quinney, seemed to think that Mr.

Richardson had done anything that was wrong-

ful.

In the meantime, the Authority has added to

its public relations staff a Negro, who is a mem-

ber of the NAACP, and the Authority has ap-

proved a proposal to establish a race relations

department in the Authority. The appointment,

however, is looked upon in most quarters as a

political move, especially since the appointee is

not particularly y qualified for the job.

Assistant U. S. Attorney General Theron L.

Caudle has informed the Union that an inquiry

is being made to determine "whether the acts

referred to by you constitute a violation of any

Federal criminal statute." The Union has sug-

gested to the Attorney General that there have

been violations of Sections 51 and 52 of Title 18,

United States Code. Sec. 51 punishes conspiracies

to injure citizens in the enjoyment of rights con-

ferred by the U. S. Constitution and federal laws,

and Sec. 52 makes it a crime for anyone under

color of law to subject any person to the de-

privation of rights by reason of his color or race.

Chabot Terrace is a federal war housing proj-

ect managed by the Vallejo Housing Authority

under an agreement made by them with the U. S.

Public Housing Authority. It has been suggested

to Langdon Post, area director, of the USPHA,

and Commissioner Philip Klutznick in Washing-

ton, that its managers should be required to as-

sure their tenants that master keys of apart-

ments will not be turned over to Sheriffs to al- -

low them to conduct searches without warrants.

Supreme Court Vindicates

Watson, Lovett, and Dodd

Three Federal employees whose salaries were

withheld by Congressional act in 1943 after the

Dies Committee published charges that they were

"subversive," won a long legal battle on June 3,

when the U. S. Supreme Court threw out 0x00B0 the

Congressional statute as an unconstitutional "bill

of attainder." A bill of attainder has been defined

by the Supreme Court as "a legislative act which

inflicts punishment without a judicial trial." The

act withholding salaries of Robert Morss Lovett,

Secretary of the Virgin Islands, and Goodwin R.

Watson and William E. Dodd, Jr., both executives

of the Federal Communications Commission, was

scored at the time it was passed both by Presi-

dent Roosevelt and the Department of Justice as

unconstitutional.

The unanimous opinion of the court delivered

by Justice Hugo L. Black said the act withhold-

ing the salaries "clearly accomplishes the punish-

ment of the named individuals without a judicial

trial. Much as we regret to declare an act of

Congress violates the constitution we have no

" Attorneys for the American

Civil Liberties Union expressed some disappoint-

ment, however, over another section of Justice

Black's decision in which he said that Congress

might have the power to exclude people from

government employment if it first held hearings

and found them guilty of subversive activities.

Some doubt was expressed as to whether hear-

ings before the Dies Committee, for instance,

would be really "judicial" in their impartiality.

The case reached the Supreme Court on

appeal from the U. S. Court of Claims which

last year awarded the men back salaries without

passing on the constitutionality of the Congress-

ional act. The three men were represented by

hee Horsky, Washington counsel for the

LU

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

Page 3

Shocking Federal Grand Jury U, 0x00A7. Supreme Court Outlaws `Jim Crow' On

Report on Columbia Riot

A federal grand jury in Nashville, Tennessee,

reported on June 14 after two months' investi-

gation that there were no violations of civil

rights in connection with the Columbia, Tennes-

see, riots last February, and attacked alleged

falsehoods about the riot in the alleged Com-

munist press as "designed to foster racial hatred

and array class against class." Following publi-

cation of the report, officials of the National

Association for the Advancement of Colored

People, with the support of the American Civil

Liberties Union, telegraphed President Truman

and Attorney General Tom Clark scoring the

report as a "shocking" encouragement to race

violence against Negroes.

The federal grand jury was originally called

_ after protest by many interested groups, includ-

ing the ACLU, which pointed out to Attorney

General Clark that civil rights were involved in

the riot since Negroes were arrested without

warrants, held incommunicado, denied bail and

counsel, subjected to third degree, denied pro-

tection of the law, and finally two of their num-

ber shot to death while in jail. It was apparently

these statements enlarged and documented in

pamphlets that the federal grand jury considered

the only crime connected with the riot.

In a telegram to the Attorney General, the

NAACP said that "the grand jury instead of

performing its directed job of locating the crim-

inals, devoted itself to a denunciation of those

who exposed the crime. There has been in exist-

ence at all times photographic and eye-witness |

evidence of actual violations of federal rights by

State Highway Patrol and State Guard. The

finding of the grand jury flies in the face of

evidence . . . and will be interpreted as a signal

by state officials and the Ku Klux Klan through-

out the South to terrorize Negro communities

during the coming elections without fear of fed-

eral interference." 0

Seek Change of Venue in |

Columbia, Tenn., Terror Trial

Twenty-six Negroes are presertly on trial in

Columbia, Tennessee, on charges of attempted

murder and inciting to murder, after indictment

by an all-white grand jury. The indictments are

an aftermath of the virtual destruction of Colum-

bia's Negro community by State patrolmen and

guardsmen, mass arrests of Negroes and the kill-

ing of two Negroes while they were in jail, in

consequence of a fight between a white radio

repairman and Mrs. Gladys Stephenson and her

19-year-old veteran son, Negroes, that arose in

connection with the alleged faulty repair of a

radio.

Thurgood Marshall, NAACP attorney ana

chief defense counsel, has requested a change of

venue from Maury county, because he feels that

the hostility of the white residents makes it im-

possible for the defendants to get a fair trial.

The defense has also sought to have the in-

dictments set aside because of the exclusion of

Negroes from the Grand Jury. Two hundred

seventeen Negroes, who are qualified for jury

duty, testified they had never been called. The

state's attorney finally conceded that the defense

could put on the stand many more witnesses who

had never heard of Negroes sitting on a jury in

Maury county. The county has a colored popula-

tion of about 10,000.

The situation in Columbia is very tense. De-

fense attorneys have found it prudent to commute

from Nashville to Columbia, a 90-mile round trip

each day, rather than stay in Columbia. Maurice

Weaver, white defense attorney from Chatta-

nooga, has been told that his body would -be

found at the bottom of Duck River, and Howard

Dome court stenographer, admitted that he had

heard the threat made against the attorney.

J. J. Underwood, county sheriff, admitted on

the witness stand that he never saw a Negro

serve on a local jury, but then claimed they had

been called for service. He stated that when he

was a deputy three or more Negroes had been

called, but he could not name them and promised

to get the information "From a man in the phos-

phate plant." "Who is the man," he was asked.

"T don't know," was the answer.

Miss Dabney Anderson, Clerk of the Maury

County Court, testified she did not know whether

any Negroes had been called for jury service dur- |

ing the seven years she had been Clerk but had

noticed one Negro who had been excused by the

judge in open court.

A defense witness has been threatened and ad-

vised to leave town. While he took the advice, he

_is still available to the defense.

Busses; More Test Cases Are Planned

The decision of the U. S. Supreme Court out-

lawing Jim Crow regulations in interstate bus

travel by a 6-1 decision on June 3 is "only the

beginning of the legal fight to eliminate racial

segregation on American carriers," according to

attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union,

who filed a brief in the case. The court's decision

reversing the conviction and $10 fine of Irene

Morgan, who refused to sit in the segregated

section of a bus traveling from Gloucester Coun-

ty, Virginia, to Baltimore, was seen as "at least

a start in removing racial discrimination in

transportation."

The ACLU in going beyond points raised by

Miss Morgan asked the high court to reverse its

traditional ruling that racial segregation is not

discrimination so long as equal accommodations

are provided for the two races, pointing out that

segregation by itself regardless of the accommo-

dations is a form of discrimination barred by the

Constitution. The majority opinion of the court

by Justice Stanley Reed, however. did not deal

with the question of discrimination at all, but

merely held that segregation in interstate bus

travel causes so much confusion and trouble as to

put an "undue burden" on interstate commerce.

"Tt seems clear to us," said the Court, "that seat-

ing arrangements for the different races in inter-

state motor`travel require a single, uniform rule

to promote and protect national travel."

ACLU attorneys pointed out that the decision

does not affect segregation on buses traveling in-

side state borders; and that in any case there

would be difficulty enforcing the rule even on

busses traveling between states in the Deep

South. Newspaper reports the day after the de-

cision revealed Southern officials busy ``study-

ing" the document. Apparently Southern bus

companies are now faced with the problem of two

classes of Negroes: interstate Negroes who can-

not legally be segregated, and intrastate Negroes

who can be.

Application of the decision to racial segrega-

tion on interstate railway travel has not yet been

clarified, and depends upon whether segregation

in a railway car puts a burden on the railroad.

The court already held in an Arizona case last

year that a law requiring railroads to attach

extra cars to freight trains does constitute

an "undue burden." Thus separate Jim Crow cars

are apparently ruled out. The legal situation with

respect to segregation inside any single railway

car, however, is obscure. eo

pit is expected that numerous test cases will

have to be brought to establish the rule both for

in and out of state busses and railroads in the

Southern states. It may be possible through one

of these cases to bring up the whole issue of

segregation to the Supreme Court again, and get (c)

a ruling on wider grounds. :

U. S. Supreme Court Turns

Down Virginia Poll Tax Suit

A suit to reduce Virginia's representation in

Congress while the poll tax remains in effect was

refused hearing by the U. S. Supreme Court on

June 10. At the same time the court handed

down 2 decision denying a suit by three Illinois

taxpayers for a reapportionment of Illinois con-

gressional districts on grounds that applied to

the Virginia suit. According to ACLU lawyers

who filed a brief supporting the Virginia suit |

the decision on the Illinois case was "unexpect-

edly close." The court split 4 to 3.

Justice Frankfurter for the majority, reaf-

firmed the court's traditional refusal to inter-

vene in electoral apportionment on the ground

that it is a "political question," which could only

be solved by the Illinois Legislature or by Con-

gress. The suit pointed out that congressional

districts in Illinois are based on forty year old

figures, and actually vary from 112,000 to 900,000

in population. Justice Black wrote the dissent,

supported by Justices Murphy and Douglas, hold-

ing that the constitutional right to vote was in-

volved, and that the court ought tg invalidate

the Illinois apportionment. He said "that "such

gross inequality in the voting power of citizens

irrefutably demonstrates a complete lack of ef-

fort to make an equitable apportionment."

The Virginia suit which the court declined to

hear maintained that Virginia's representation in

Congress should be diminished so long as her

citizens were hindered from voting by the poll

tax. The suit, brought by Henry L. Saunders of

Roanoke, Va., urged that instead of nine repre-

sentatives from nine districts, Virginia was en-

titled only to a reduced number of Congressmen-

at-large.

UNION SUPPORTS UEW PICKETING

APPEAL IN NEW JERSEY

Appeal of the United Electrical Workers CIO

from the decision of Vice-Chancellor John O.

Bigelow holding the New Jersey anti-injunction

law unconstitutional is supported by the Ameri-

can Civil Liberties Union in a brief filed in the

Court of Errors and Appeals. Argument was

heard on May 27. The ACLU says the restraints

on picketing in the Vice-Chancellor's decision on

a Newark case last March violates the rights of

peaceful picketing, free speech and assembly

guaranteed in the Constitution, and upheld by

the U. S. Supreme Court and many state courts.

Noting the Vice-Chancellor's holding that

New Jersey's anti-injunction law is unconstitu-

tional because it infringes on the power of the

courts, the ACLU says: `Some 23 states, includ-

ing New Jersey, have enacted laws governing and

restricting the issuance of injunctions in labor

disputes. All of these statutes have been pattern-

ed after the Norris-LaGuardia Anti-Injunction

Law passed by Congress in 1939. In none of the

other 22 states have these acts been declared un-

constitutional either for infringing on the power

of the courts or as violating due process of law."

Calif. Anti-Alien Fishing

Law Held Unconstitutional

California's anti-alien fishing law adopted in

1945 was held unconstitutional by Superior Court

Judge Henry M. Willis of Los Angeles on June 13.

The California Fish and Game Commission was

ordered to issue a commercial fishing license to

Torao Takahashi, an alien Japanese who has been

engaged in commercial fishing in California for

30 years. It is expected that the Commission will

appeal the decision tothe District Court of

Appeal.

The law in question provides that "A com-

mercial fishing license may be issued to any per-

son other than a person ineligible to citizenship."

Such a law, Judge Willis held, constitutes a denial

of the equal protection of the laws under the

Fourteenth Amendment of the U. S. Constitu-

tion, since it imposes an "unequal exaction and

a greater burden on the class named" (that is, a

person ineligible to citizenship).

Affected by this decision will be other dis-

criminatory laws, also-enacted in 1945, which bar

aliens ineligible to citizenship from securing sports

fishing and hunting licenses. .

While the laws in question were aimed at

Japanese, other alien Asiatics such as Koreans,

East Indians, etc., were also barred from secur-

ing such commercial and sports licenses.

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

H, C. Carrasco

Wayne M. Collins

James J. Cronin, Jr.

Rev. Oscar F. Green

Morris M. Grupp

Margaret C. Hayes

Prof. Ernest R. Hilgard

Ruth Kingman

Ralph N. Kleps

Dr, Edgar A. Lowther

Mrs. Bruce Porter : :

Clarence E. Rust

Rabbi Irving F. Reichert

Dr. Howard Thurman

Kathleen Drew Tolman

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 1818

ERNEST BBESIG ...... ees Editor

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

_ Post Office at San Francisco, California,

i. under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Subscription Rates-One Dollar a Year. -

Ten Cents per Copy.

Human Rights Comm. of the

United Nations Gets Powers

Future activities of the Human Rights Com-

151-.

mission of the United Nations are outlined in a |

series of resolutions adopted recently by its

parent body, the Economic and Social Council,

after hearing the report of Commission chair-

man, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, on May 28th. The

resolutions adopted by the Council carry out

most of the recommendations of the Commission

itself, and those made at hearings by some forty

American private associations including the

American Civil Liberties Union.

A broad field of action was guaranteed the

Commission in a resolution adopted by a 6-4

vote of the Ccuncil on June 12, which would

give the Commission power to deal with "any

matter concerning human rights." The resolu-

tion was opposed by. the Soviet delegate and

others on the ground that it was so vague and

broad as to involve the Commission in "political

questions." Another widely supported recommen-

dation of the Commission empowering it to form

a special sub-commission on Freedom of Informa-

tion and the Press was passed unanimously by

the Council on June 13. Also passed was a pro-,

posal that member nations be "invited" to form

non-governmental information groups or human

rights committees to report on observance of

civil liberties in their countries. Voted down,

however, was a proposal, supported by the ACLU

and other American groups, that human rights

provisions be included in all future international

treaties, especially peace treaties. ;

Future composition of the Commission was

determined by an 11-5 vote providing that all

members of all commissions operating under the

Council should sit as representatives of their

governments and not as private individuals, as

recommended by the Commissions. The proposal

was supported by the Soviet delegate on the

ground that decisions of the commissions would

have no "useful" result unless made by govern-

mental representatives. It was opposed by the

U. S. and other delegates who pointed out that

it wouid be difficult to obtain frank discussion

of human rights questions if commission mem-

bers are obliged to represent only the point-of-

view of their governments.

, Strings On Philippines

Rehabilitation Act Deplored

House and Scnate Committeemen were urged

to report favorably at once a bill to amend the

recent Philippine Rehabilitation Act to make it

independent of the, Philippine Trade Act in let-

ters from the American Civil Liberties Union

on June 17. The ACLU wrote Senator Millard

E. Tydings and Rep. Jasper C. Bell, chairman

of the Senate and House Committees on Insular

Affairs after receiving a cabled protest from

Manila signed by the Philippine Civil Liberties

Union and nine other Philippine groups.

The ACLU urged an early and favorable re-

port on a bill by Rep. Harold Knutson of Minne-

gota cancelling the objectionable provision, "in

view of the critical shortage of time for action

before Philippine Independence on July 4". It

pointed out to the committeemen that President

Truman had criticized the tying up of the Re-

habilitation and Trade Acts in signing them on

April 30, but hai held that the benefits to the

Philippines in both acts were so great as fo

insure their passage by the Philippine legislature.

The objectionable clause in the Rehabilitation

Act provides that no payments of more than

$500 shall be made to Philippine citizens for war

damages until the Trade Act has become ef-

fective; while the latter act requires the amend-

ment of the Philippine Constitution to grant

preferential treatment to Americans in connec-

tion with the development of natural resources

in the Philippines before it can go into effect.

The cablegram from Manila received by the

ACLU pointed cut that the tying up of the two

acts makes it necessary for the Philippines to ac-

cept the Trade ct or give up vitally needed

rehabilitation funds. The Trade Act was con-

demned as depriving the Philippines of rights

to their own natural resources, and being ``dero-

gatory to the sovereignty and dignity of the

Philippine Republic', Noting that President

Deporiations in Japanese Cases Stayed

Pending Final Determination of Test Cases

An agreement was entered into last month

between attorney Wayne M. Collins. and the

Central Office of the Immigration Service in

Philadelphia under which the government will

stay the deportations of alien Japanese who have

family ties in this country, as well as the de-

portations of Japanese who entered the country

-as treaty merchants to engage in foreign trade

under a treaty with Japan that was abrogated

in January of 1940.

The stays will continue until the courts final-

ly determine lega! questions raised in test cases

filed on May 29 in the U. S. District Court in

San Francisco. Those cases are now scheduled

for a hearing before Judge Louis Goodman on

August 5. Assistant Attorney General Thomas

Cooley, II, has been designated to handle the

cases for the government.

At the same time, the Immigration Service

has proceeded with its plans to deport Japanese

illegal entrants without family ties in this coun-

try. As a. result, twenty-eight aliens who were

picked up by the San Francisco District Office

of the Immigration Service were each compelled

to file petitions for writs of habeas corpus to

secure their release. Their cases will also be

heard on August 4.

The alien Japanese who have been granted

stays of deportations are the so-called hardship

cases. In all of these cases, citizen wives and/or

children are involved. So far, the Union's local

office has intervened in 114 Japanese deporta-

tion cases, the greater part being of the hard-

ship type. :

Four test suits have been filed. One case was

brought on behalf of Futoshi Amino, a treaty

trader; a second case was brought on behalf of

Shigejirc Sakaguchi, who has a citizen wife and

three citizen children; a third case was brought

on behalf of Hideo Yano, a single man; and the

fourth case, is 2 so-called ``class action," includ-

ing a large number of petitioners, which alleges

that there are common questions of fact and

law.

A number of important legal issues have been

raised in the suits. One of the principal conten-

tions is that in the hardship cases the law dis-

criminates against the Japanese because of their

race. If the Japanese were racially admissible to

citizenship, the Attorney General could suspend

their deportation.

It is also contended that deportation of

Japanese to Japan at the present time "would -

be contrary to the dictates of humanity and na-

tional hospitality and to public policy and nation-

al morality." Anyone sent to Japan now would,

as a result of the devastation wrought by the

war, face starvation and epidemics, and ``would

seriously jeopardize and endanger the life and

well-being" of the deportees and their families."

The petitions also charge that there is no

power to send the deportees to Japan because

admission to Japan requires consent of that

government, and since Japan surrendered un-

conditionally, no consent can be obtained from

any Japanese government. It is also suggested,

that under present circumstances the consent of

the United Nations would have to be secured

before any, deportees could be admitted to Japan.

Finally, it is claimed the deportees were denied

the right to counsel, because their hearings were

held in concentration camps in isolated areas

where it was practically impossible to secure an -

attorney.

It is not at all unlikely that a couple of years

will elapse before these cases are finally de-

termined by the courts, and, until then, the

deportees will remain in the United States.

In the meantime, some 32 private bills have

been introduced in Congress which would legal-

ize the entry of some 56 alien Japanese facing

deportation-to Japan. Most of the bills concern

treaty traders or hardship cases. Nineteen of

the bills have reached the House or Senate

calendar, but, thus far, none has been adopted,

and because of the shortness of time before

Congress adjourns, it is unlikely that any of the

bills will reach the President's desk.

SEC. PATTERSON SAYS GERMAN BOOK-

BURNING REPORTS WERE EXAGGERATED

Reported book-burnings by Allied Military

Government officials in Germany have been ex-

aggerated in the press, according to War Sec- |

retary Robert P. Patterson in a letter on June

18 replying to a protest by the American Civil

Liberties Union. -Secretary Patterson points out

that the Allies pledged themselves in the Pots-

dam Declaration to eliminate Nazi and militarist

doctrines in Germany and says that this pre-

sents "an excecdingly complex task in dealing

with Nazi propaganda." He says it is "incon-

ceivable tq, me that we should permit schools,

libraries, atid other public institutions operating

under AMG to function as_ publicly-supported

propaganda centers for the doctrines which car-

ried the Nazi party to the depths of crime and

depravity."

Secretary Patterson says there is no inten-

tion of permitting ceremonial book-burnings "as

suggested in certain reports in the press," and

adds that "private home libraries will not be

disturbed. Complete collections of Nazi materials

will be retained by German reference and uni-

versity libraries for the use of students." He also

points cut the order "does not affect the Library

of: Congress Mission which is gathering a com-

plete collection of Nazi publications and other

materials for study in the U. S8.," and concludes

with the statement that "every effort will be

made to give as much opportunity as possible for

the free expressicn of ideas in the reviving in

tellectual life of Germany." :

Pe aS as

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

HEARS ARGUMENTS IN NISEI DRAFT CASE

The question whether Nisei held in concentra-

tion camps during the war were subject to the

Selective Service Act was argued before the Ninth

Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on

June 17.

Principals in the case are three Nisei, Hide-

ichi Takeguma, Wauto Fujioka and Kingo Tajii,

held at the Poston Relocation Center, who refused

to report for induction into the Army. They were

sentenced to a year's imprisonment by the Federal

Court at Phoenix on June 11, 1945.

Roxas was pressing for acceptance of both bills

as they stand, the cablegram alleged that "`popu-

lar sentiment" was for rejecting both if not

divorced.

Draft Labor Precedent Seen

In War Objectors' Camps

_ William Green, Philip Murray, and other AFL,

and CIO leaders were warned of a dangerous pre-

cedent for the drafting of labor by the American

Civil Liberties Union last month in letters urging

them to protest to Major Lewis B. Hershey, Se-

lective Service head, his policy of holding consci-

entious objectors at "hard labor without pay."

The labor leaders were told that the "govern-

ment operation of labor camps under the draft

act in which the men get no wages whatever for

work connected with the U. S. Forestry Service _

establishes a dangerous precedent which might

be extended along the lines of the threats already

made to draft striking workers." Noting that

Hershey has the authority to secure pay for the

men but has refused to do so, the ACLU asks

the labor leaders to urge on him the danger of

establishing a policy of hard labor without pay in

time of peace.

Some fifty of the conscientious objectors now

`on strike at camps in Glendora, California, and

Big Flats, New York, against failure of the gov-

ernment to give them pay, allotments for depend-

ents or compensation for accidents, have been

arrested and face five year sentences.

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