vol. 13, no. 5
Primary tabs
~ American
Civil Liberties
Union-News
Free Press
Free Speech
Free Assemblage
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
Vol. XIII
_ Immigration Service Revives
Red Hunt in San Francisco
The Immigration Service has revived deporta-
tion proceedings against a bay area man who
was a dues paying member of the Communist
Party for only four months in 1934. The sole
basis for the proceedings is the alien's past
membership in the Party. It is one of about 40
cases throughout the country in the current
deportation drive against alien "reds." The alien
is represented by Ernest Besig, local director
of the Union. .
Typical of the arbitrary and unfair procedures
of the Immigration Service was the refusal of
Lloyd Gowen, Presiding Inspector at the hear-
ings last month, to produce for cross-examina-
tion the Government's expert witness, who had
testified as to the Party's aims and purposes.
The witness was Manning Johnson of New York
City, an ex-member of the National Committee
of the Communist Party, who returned to New
York City before his cross-examination could be
completed. 3
The alien was offered a choice of cross-examin-
ing the witness in New York City, submitting
written interrogatories, or stipulating to the ad-
_ mission in evidence of testimony given by John- |
- gon in another case. When the alien's counsel
refused to accept any of these alternatives, the
hearings were abruptly closed and the Presiding
Inspector announced he would prepare his find-
ings and recommendations. The Union will now
request the Board of Immigration Appeals to
overrule the Presiding Inspector.
The latter also refused to allow the alien's
counsel to have anyone present to take notes for
him or to assist him in a clerical capacity. When-
ever it pleased the Presiding Inspector, he would
order the stenographer to quit taking a record
of the proceedings,
Union Supports Picketing to
Compel Hiring of Negroes
The American Civil Liberties Union of North-
ern California last month filed in the California
Supreme Court an amicus curiae brief supporting
picketing for the purpose of securing proportion-
al employment of Negroes in a Richmond. Califor-
nia, store owned by Lucky Stores. The case,
Hughes v. Superior Court, is set for argument
in San Francisco on May 4.
The store in question, although located in a
Negro district of Richmond and enjoying a
substantial portion of Negro trade, nevertheless
did not employ Negro workers. The pickets
carried signs stating: `Don't patronize Lucky
Stores. Lucky won't hire Negro workers in pro-
portion to Negro trade." The picketing was
peacefu! and the statements truthfvl ;
The Union's brief declared that ``Picketine to
inform the public regarding matters of public
concern is a form,of freedom of sneech, and as
such is squarely "within the constitrtienal pro-
tection of the First and Fourteenth amendments."
The brief points out that if the Nevroes had
"called a public meeting at some other place in
town. at which speakers exhorted the audience
to fight racial discrimination by boycotting stores
which practice it and naming Lucky Stores. we
do not believe the present proceedine would be
here on appeal before this Court. Such public
`discussion, on a matter concededly one of public
eoncern, is
doctrine."
Also, while arguing that the case did nresent
a labor dispute, the brief declared that "The
right to vicket peacefully, for lawful purposes,
is not limited to a labor disnute.' "'
The brief was written by attornevs Robert
E. Herman and Herbert Prashker of the New
clearly within the free speech
_ York bar, and presented to the Court by attorney
Philip Adams of San Francisco.
SAN FRANCISCO, MAY, 1948
No. 5
Honorably Discharged Veteran of World War II
Loses Federal Job on Disloyalty Charges
Without a hearing, except an opportunity to
file affidavits, Raymond Caldwell of Berkeley,
an honorably discharged Negro veteran of World
War II has been removed from his federal civil
service job as "auto-maintenance mechanic' at
the Oakland Army Base in Oakland on charges
of disloyalty. Last month, Caldwell received a
letter from the War Department informing him
that. his dismissal had been affirmed by the
Employee Loyalty Review Board. The Union is
now studing the case to determine possibility of
court action.
Last November 24, Caldwell was presented
Loyalty Review Board Will
Consider Air Station Case
The Navy Department Loyalty Appeal Board
in Washington, D.C., last month affirmed the
dismissal of an aircraft mechanic at the Alameda
Naval Air Station who had been charged with
disloyalty because of membership in the Com-
munist Party for two months in 1945. The Navy
Department advised the employee that "charges
preferred against you have been supported and
reasonable grounds exist for belief that you are
disloyal to the Government of the United States."
Under date of April 16, an appeal was taken
to the Loyalty Review Board of the U.S. Civil
Service Commission.
The employee had a so-called hearing on the
charges before a Loyalty Board on September
9, 1947. At that hearing, the Government intro-
duced no evidence against the employee. He was
merely given an opportunity to answer brief
written charges that he was a Communist, that
he had received an invitation to attend a meeting
of the Communist Party of Alameda county, and
that he had been on the Communist Party mail-
ing list in 1945,
The employee insisted that he had never been
disloyal to the United States and that he had
never done anything to injure the country. He
denied that his brief membership in the Commun
ist Party constituted an act of disloyalty on his
part.
McCollum Case Does Not Affect
Cal. Released Time, Howser Says
Attorney General Fred N, Howser on April 21
handed down an opinion upholding the constitu-
tionality of Sec. 8286 of the California Education
Code permitting pupils to be released from public
school classes to attend religious classes away
from public school buildings. Bue
The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided in
the McCollum case, that a `released time" plan
in use in Champaign, Ill., in which religious
classes were held in school buildings, violated the
Constitutional guarantee of separation of Church
and State. Because of that decision, the Califor-
nia Superintendent of Public Instruction wanted
+o know whether the California "released time"
law was constitutional."
The Attorney General concluded that since the
California law does not permit use of school
buildings for religious classes, it is constitutional.
In any case, he was reluctant to hold other-
wise since a California appellate court upheld
the law before the McCollum case was decided.
The Attorney General acknowledged that the
California law would appear to be affected by
Mr. Justice Black's statement that released time
"helps to provide pupils for their religious classes
through use of the State's compulsory school
machinery." He contents himself with saying,
however, that "there can be no doubt that the
Supreme Court of the United States has cast a
cloud over the question."
with a letter advising him that he was being
removed `pursuant to authority contained in Sec-
tion 3 of the Act of 17 December, 1942 (Public
Law 808, 77th Congress)" for the following
reasons:
"1. That you are so closely implicated
with the Communist Party as to provide a
reasonable assumption of membership there-
in; and
"2. That you associate with known Com-
munists, have engaged in Communist Party
organizational work, and have shown your-
self to be actively and sympathetically as-
sociated with the Communist Movement in
the United States.
"Within thirty (30) days from the date you
appear before the Intelligence Officer and re-
"eeive this letter, you may submit to him such
statements or affidavits (or both as you may
desire) in duplicate, by way of your defense."
Public Law 808, under which the War De-
partment acted, gives the armed services the
war-time authority to hire and fire civil service
employees without regard to regulations protec-
ting the discharge of permanent civil service __
employees,
Caldwell had been transferred at government
expense from Seattle, Washington, to Oakland, in
September, 1947. Then, two months after he
moved to the bay area with his wife and five
children, he was dismissed from his job.
Caldwell came to the Pacific Coast from
Louisiana about six years ago. Until he arrived
here, he says he had never heard the word Com-
munist. From January 6, 1944 to February 5,
1945, he served in the U.S. Navy and received an
honorable discharge as a Stewards Mate, Second
Class,
After his discharge he worked at the Pacific
Electric Mechanical Co. in Seattle, and there-
after he went to work for the Army as an auto-
mobile mechanic. The only organization he! be-
longs to is the American Veterans Committee in
Berkeley. Otherwise, the only organization he
ever belonged to was the Scalers Union during
his war-time service in the shipyards.
Caldwell filed the following statement with the
Army in answer to the charges that were placed
against him:
Caldwell's Statement
"T wish to clearly state that at no time in the
past or present have I ever been closely associ-
ated with the Communist Party so as to provide
a reasonable assusption of membership, nor have
I associated with known Communists, engaged
in Communist Party organizational work.
"T am the father of five children and at no
time have I marred my record by a jail sentence
or any other type of misconduct. I served in the
U.S. Navy from January 6, 1944, to February 9,
1945, at which time I received an honorable
discharge as a Stewards Mate, Second Class.
"I have always received `very good' efficiency
ratings and when I was transferred from the
Seattle Port of Embarkation to the Oakland POE
I was transferred at Government expense. My
(Continued on Page 4, Col. 2)
New Membership Record
As the "News" goes to press, the American
Civil Liberties of Northern California has a paid
up membership of 1345. There has been a net
increase of exactly 120 members since the begin-
nig of the fiscal year last November 1. In addi-
tion, the Union has 268 separate subscribers to
the "News," and a total paid mailing list of 1613.
The branch is now about 13% years old, having
been founded September 15, 1934. During the
past 414 years, its membership has increased
, 115%.
Page 2
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS
Refusal of Travel Permits to
lsacson and O'Donnell Scored
The vital principle of freedom of movement has
been dealt a telling blow by the U. S. State De-
partment's denial of a passport to Representative
Leo Isacson (American Labor Party, New York),
and refusal to issue a visa to Peadar O'Donnell,
Irish editor, the American Civil Liberties Union
charged in letters to Acting Secretary of State
Robert Lovett on April 5. Mr. Isaeson's applica:
tion for permission to attend a Paris conference of
the American Council for Aid to Democratic
Greece and for a visa thence to Palestine was
turned down by the department as "not in the
interests of the Government of the United States
because the Council has for its avowed purpose.
the furnishing of material and morale assistance
in Greece."
"The United States has publicly supported, as
an essential human freedom, the right to freedom
of movement," Roger N, Baldwin, ACLU director,
_and Arthur Garfield Hays, general counsel, said
in their protest message. They said: "However
unfortunate may be the contrary views expressed
by an American citizen while abroad, neverthe-
less, the right to make them should not be denied
by means of refusal to issue a passport." They
urged that the system under which passports are
denied be subject to review in the department with
a full explanation to the public of the policy and:
considerations
partment.
Censorship of what the American public may
hear is the gist of the department's action in the
O'Donnell matter, the ACLU charged. A trend
toward insulating the American public from what
the State Department considers subversive. influ-
ences seems to be emerging from a recent series
of events, the letter charged, referring to the re-
cent passport refusal to Daily Worker reporter
A. B. Magill, which was reversed on the unani-
mous plea of the U. S. delegation to the United
Nations conference at Geneva on Freedom of
Information. a
Fly Defends 'Mayflower'
_ Decision at FCC Hearing
James Lawrence Fly, former FCC chairman
and chairman of thhe ACLU's Committee on
Freedom of Communications, on April 20th de-
fended the authority of the Federal Communica-
tions Commission to prohibit. editorializing by
radio station owners and to require them to pro-
vide full and equal opportunity for presentation
of all sides of public issues. Mr. Fly appeared
at a "review hearing" of the "Mayflower" deci-
sion under which the rule was laid down that
a broadcaster "cannot be an advocate."
~ Mr. Fly had also appeared before an FCC "re-
view hearing'"' on March 2nd when he presented
the ACLU point-of-view that the "Mayflower"
ruling be upheld and the request of the radio
industry for a change in policy be opposed,
governing the action of the de-
Executive Committee
American Givil Liberties Union
of Northern California
Sara Bard Field
Henorary Member
Rt. Rev. Edw. L. Parsons
Chairman
Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn
Heien Salz
Vice-Chairman
Joseph S. Thompson
Secretary-Treasurer
Ernest Besig
: Director
Philip Adams
John H. Brill
Prof. James R. Caldwell
H. C. Carrasco
Wayne M. Collins
Rev. Oscar F. Green
Margaret C. Hayes
Prof. Ernest R. Hilgard
Ruth Kingman
Ralph N. Kleps
Dr, Edgar A. Lowther
Seaton W. Manning
Mrs. Bruce Porter
Clarence E. Rust
" Rabbi Irving F. Reichert
Prof. Laurence Sears
Dr. Howard Thurman
Kathleen Drew Tolman
Supreme Court Voids
New York Press Gag Law
The conviction of Murray Winters, New York
City book dealer in 1942 for selling a magazine,
"Headquarters Detective, True Cases from the
Police Blotter," was recently reversed by the.
United States Supreme Court, by a six to three
vote, and the New York.law under which he was
convicted held void as. "vague and indefinite."
Winters' conviction had been upheld by the New
York Court of Appeals under the New York law
penalizing "stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or
crime." The Supreme Court heard arguments
three times. The ACLU filed a brief as a friend of
the court, and in two hearings shared in the argu-
"ment through Emanuel Redfield, New York attor-
ney. : - ee eee
The majority opinion said, "We can see nothing
of any possible value to society in these maga-
zines.'"' But the Court said the magazines "are as
much entitled to the protection of free speech as
the best of literature." -
In finding the law unconstitutional, the court
_said that its decision carried: no implication that
a state might not punish circulation of printed
matter, "assuming that it is not protected by the
principles of the First Amendment to the Consti-
tution, by the use of apt words to describe the
prohibited publications."'
The majority position stated by Justice Stanley
Reed, said: "Even though all detective tales and
treatises on criminology are not forbidden, and
though publications made up of criminal deeds are "
not characterized by bloodshed or lust are omitted
from the interpretation of the Court of Appeals,
we think fair use of collections of pictures and
stories would be interdicted because of the utter
impossibility of the actor or trier to know where
this new standard of guilt would draw the line
between the allowable and the forbidden publica-
tions."
The majority held that the questioned legisla-
tion was not definite enough for any one bent on
obedience to the law. Dissenting Justice Felix
Frankfurter protested that in striking down the
statute, both state and federal governments were
being left powerless to deal with literature which
they conceive to contribute to crime. He pointed
out that similar statutes in twenty states were
definitely voided by the decision and possibly simi-
lar enactments in four other states. He warned
that crime prevention legislation should not be
outlawed as indefinite merely because the major-
ity judges "do not trust state tribunals, even
ultimately this Court, to safeguard inoffensive
publications from condemnation under this legis-
lation." ee
Ae ,
Supreme Court Bans South's
All-White Primaries
~ Southern Democratic parties who have sought
to bar Negroes from primaries by operating as
private clubs outside legally established election
machinery were dealt a final blow on April 19th
when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear
an appeal from two lower court decisions in
South Carolina affirming the voting rights of
Negroes, The high court's action leaves in effect,
the decision of the Federal Circuit Court of
Appeals at Richmond, Va., which stated: "No
election machinery can be upheld if its purpose
or effect is to deny the Negro, on account of
his race or color, an effective voice in the gov-
ernment of his country or of the state or com-
- munity wherein he lives." --
In 1944, after the Supreme Court ruled that
Negroes could vote in Democratic primaries in
Texas and Louisiana, South Carolina repealed ail |
laws which had tied party operations to the state
election machinery. The 1946 primary then was
held under party control alone,
Southern Democrats were greatly concerned
by possible repercussions of the action which
was greeted by Negro leaders as a _ victory.
Thurgood Marshall, special counsel of the NAA-
CP, termed the decision a "culmination of a
twenty-year fight by the NAACP to void racial
restrictions upon the ballot."
Following the decision, nearly 500 Negroes in
Columbia, S:C., who possessed the required
registration certificates were invited by the
chairman of the State Democratic party to vote
in the city primary election.
Sacramento Area Members Meet
A meeting of A.C.L.U. members and friends
in the Sacramento area was addressed on April
23 by Ernest Besig, who spoke on the question,
"Civil Liberities for Whom?" Ralph Kleps, Sacra-
mento member of the Union's Executive Com-
mittee, served as chairman of the meeting. A
committee of three was named by the group
to consider the feasibility of a continuing local
committee as well as periodic local meetings. .
D. C. Federal Court Upholds
Taft-Hartley Communist Oath
The provision of the Taft-Hartley law that
labor leaders must certify that they are not Com-
munists before their organization can fesort to the
National Labor Relations Board, was ruled con-
stitutional by a 2 to 1 decision of a special federal
court in Washington on April 13th. The case
originally arose on a ruling made by NLRB coun-
sel Robert N. Denham that "the forms must be
signed by all AFL and CIO international and local
officers as weil as by the parent organization's
officers'.
The majority opinion pointed out that no union
has the right to be exclusive bargaining agent,
except by grant of Congress and that Congress
- decided. to condition the privilege of being an ex-
clusive bargaining agent with which an employer
must deal.
The NLRB, the majority judges said, is directed
to ask the question, "Are you a Communist?"
In putting the query, the court went on, `"`the board
does nothing more than seek factual information
to use as a guide in making the condition effective;
for the act does not require the question to be
answered, does not punish the witness for declin-
ing to answer, and does not penalize him if he
answers by saying he is a Communist."
Judge Prettyman, dissenting, held that "The
problem is how to deal with the Communists and
. at the same time preserve inviolate the freedoms
of speech, press and assembly."
The National Maritime Union which brought
the test, has announced it will appeal to the United
States Supreme Court. The ACLU will file a brief
supporting the contention that the requirement
is unconstituticnal.
Congressional Committee
Adopts Fair Procedural Rules
Safeguarding witnesses and accused, the House
Procurement Subcommittee, Representative
George H. Bender (Republican, Ohio), chairman,
adopted a set of formal rules of procedure on
April 7.
The committee's new rules are almost identical
twins to the ones the American Civil Liberties
Union has drawn up for the same purpose, Arthur
-Garfield Hays, ACLU general counsel, wrote Mr:
Bender in congratulation. "Your subcommittee
may well establish a precedent which it would be
fruitful for the Congress to follow for its other
committees," Mr. Hays said.
Specifically, the Un-American Activities Com-
mittee might well adopt these rules, Dr. John
Haynes Holmes, ACLU chairman of the board of
directors, and Mr. Hays urged in a separate letter
to Representative J. Parnell Thomas, House Un-
American Activities Committee chairman. They
said: "The obvious public and official concern for
the methods of procedure of investigating com-
mittees will be largely obviated by the adoption
of the procedures of the House Procurement sub-
committee."
Hitting Speaker Joseph Martin's support of
Representative Thomas' demand for a confiden-
tial letter by Mr. J. Edgar Hoover in the pos-
session of Secretary of Commerce Averell Harri-
man on Dr. Edward U. Condon, Dr. Holmes and
Mr. Hays asked the Speaker directly in a letter
to him, `Since you fully support the Un-American
Activities committee, do you support Mr. Ben-
der's new rules for it and for other House com-
mittees ?"'
Thomas Committee Drafts
Communist Gag Bill
As a result of recent hearings before the House
Committee on Un-American Activities on bills to
outlaw or restrict the Communist Party, a novel
. bill has been approved for the registration of the
Communist Party and all or(R)anizations found by
the Attorney General to be Communist front
agencies. The bill is based on the assumption that
Communism is an "international conspiracy"
aimed at democratic government and therefore
justifies restrictions. The bill would require the
filing of all names of members of the organiza-
tions, forbid them government employment and
deny them passports to travel abroad.
Members of the Thomas Committee said they
expect to get a House vote by May ist and a
favorable reception in the Senate. The ACLU has
requested the House Committee to be heard in
opposition to the bill on the understanding that
though the bill has the committee's approval,
hearings will be granted before its final form is
reported to the House. The Union's opposition is
based both on the unconstitutional aspects of the
proposal and on public policy in restricting rights
solely because of political opinion.
`Some of Sen. Jack B. Tenney's
Past Comes to Light
Last month, the Union's director received in the
mails a' book entitled "The Horncasters," by
Victor H. Johnson, which was recently published
in New York by Greenberg. On the fly leaf was
written, "To, Ernest Besig-With appreciation
and respect. Victor H. Johnson."
Mr. Besig couldn't remember any Victor H.
Johnson, but, fortunately, the book's jacket con-
tained a brief history of Mr. Johnson. It seems,
he was a graduate of San Quentin. But, he was
no ordinary graduate. "In 1935," says the state-
ment, "I was arrested along with eight other
strikers and was convicted of possession of dyna-
mite in Modesto, California, and sentenced to 414
years in San Quentin."
In San Quentin, Johnson not only got acquainted
with Tom Mooney, Jim McNamara, Matt Schmidt
and the Sacramento Criminal Syndicalism prison-
ers, but he also attended "an excellent school run
by a chaplain from the First World War, Dr. H. A.
Shuder. Among other things, I studied English
composition, psychology, and philosophy. Cor-
respondence courses from the University of Cali-
fornia were sent over free." :
The "Modesto Case" was a cause celebre in
Labor circles, and, in, 1937, an Assembly investi-
gating committee found "strong evidence of what
may be termed a tacit conspiracy to frame the de-
fendants." Governor Culbert L. Olson pardoned
Johnson on December 28, 1942.
_ Why should this item be of interest to readers
of the News? Well, the Chairman of the Assembly
Committee that investigated the "Modesto Case".
~ was none other than Jack B. Tenney, California's
No. 1 "Red Hunter," who in those days was a
staunch civil liberterian, opposed on the Commit-
tee by Assemblymen Kent Redwine and Seth
Millington, who were pretty expert at making a
hue and-cry about "Reds." That year, too, Mr.
Tenney was a co-author, together with 22 other
assemblymen, of A.B. 311, which would have re-
pealed outright California's criminal syndicalism
law, punishing advocacy of the violent overthrow
of the government, about which Mr. Tenney sees
red today.
~-- Apparently the reason the Union's director re- _
ceived a free copy of the book was that he drafted
the resolution adopted by the Assembly to con-
duct the Assembly investigation of the "Modesto
Case," and successfully helped fight the opposi-
tion of Standard Oil, which admittedly paid the
Special Prosecutor, Glen Devore, $7,500 to try
the case at the time the Modesto defendants were
convicted.
45 Law Professors Urge
Fair Hearing for Dr. Condon
Urging that the House Un-American Activities
Committee adopt procedures to afford a fair
hearing to Dr. Edward U. Condon, Chief of the
Bureau of Standards, 45 teachers in 27 Ameri-
can law schools in all sections of the country,
including 38 professors and seven deans, on April
18th requested Rep. J. Parnell Thomas, chair-
man of the committee, to avoid proceedings
"tending to undermine or destroy our free insti-
tutions." The Condon hearing scheduled for April
21st was postponed by Rep. Thomas.
Condemning "proclamation of guilt" before
hearings have been afforded the accused, the
lawyers pointed out that "a hearing which occurs
after the conclusions have already been stated
may degenerate into a mere effort to sustain the
findings and thus lose its basic value as a2 means
of learning the facts." Six proposals advanced
_ by the group included providing the accused the
right fully to receive and answer charges, cross-
examining witnesses making derogatory state-
ments, and having the case determined only on
the basis of "the material presented at the
_ hearing."
Signees of the letter included Dean Erwin N.
Griswold of Harvard University Law School;
Prof. Walter Gellhorn of Columbia University
Law School; Dean Earl G, Harrison of the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania Law School, and _ Prof.
Max Radin of the University of California School
_ of Jurisprudence.
BENICIA RACE BIGOTS LOSE
Benicia race bigots went down to defeat last
month as Councilman James Lemos and Mayor
Wright were both defeated for reelection. and
_ Sol Rose, who opposed the `deal' whereby the
municipal swimming pool was "`sold'' to a non-
profit corporation in order to exclude Benicia's
_ 200 Negroes, was elected a councilman. Legal
_ proceedings seeking to set aside the transfer of
the swimming pool are still in preparation.
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS :
Thomas Committee Powers
| Challenged in Cour?
Following the upholding on appeal of the con-
viction in the District of Columbia federal court
of Dr. Edward Barsky and 15 members of the
Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Commitee for refus-
ing to prod:*s vecords before the House Com-
mittee on Un-American Activities, the ACLU
acted to intervene in the appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court on the sole issue cf the House
Committee's powers.
The Court of Appeals split on the issue, with
a minority dissent by Judge Henry W. Edgerton
challenging the broad mandate of the committee.
Said he, "In my opinion the House Committce's
investigation abridges freedom of speech and in-
flicts punishment without trail; and the statute
appellants are convicted of violating provides no
ascertainable stondard of guilt."
Elaborating on his declaration that the invest-
igation abridges freedom of speech, Judge Edger-
ton declared:
"The investigation restricts the freedom of
speech by uncovering and advertising expressions
of unpopular views. The Committee gives wide
publicity to its proceedings. This exposes the
men and women whose views are advertised to
risks of insult, ostracism, and lasting loss of em-
ployment. Persons disposed to express unpopular
views privately or to a selected group are often
not disposed to risk the consequences to them-
selves and their families that publication may
entail. The Committee's practice of discovering
and advertising unpopular views is therefore a
strong deterrent to any expression, however
private, of such views
"The investigation restricts the freedom of
speech by forcing people to express views. Free-
dom of speech is freedom in resnect to speech
and includes freedom not to speak. `To force an
American citizen publicity to profess any state-
ment of belief' is to violate the First Amend-
ment. `If there is any fixed star in our constitu:
tional constellation, it is that no official. high
or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox.
in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters
of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or
act their faith therein.' That is the rule of the
Barnette case, which involved pressure on school
children to profess approved beliefs, They can- |
not express others without exposing themselves
to. disastrous consequences. Yet if they have
previously expressed others they cannot credit- _dapanese, the American Civil Liberties Union
ably or credibly profess those that are approved.
If they decline `publicly to profess anv state-
ment of belief? they invite punishment for con- |
tempt. The privilege of choosing between speech
that means ostracism and speech that means
perjury is not freedom of speech." :
diated
Tenney Comm. Renz
In Fairfax Council Election
The voters of Fairfax, California. on April 18,
in effect. repudiated the Tenney Committee on
Un-American Activities by rejecting Mayor
Charles Campbell and two cronies of Lelie A.
Grosbauer, Fairfax' one-man Committee on Un-
American Activities. who did not run for reelect-
ion. Campbell ran last in a field of six.
The Tenney Committee had played hand in
glove with the group that had ousted Miss Elsa
Gidlow from her post on the Planning Commis-
gion until such time as she disnroved charges
that she was Un-American. The Tenney Commit-
tee obligingly issued its unfair Fairfax revort in
time for it to be used as campaign ammunition -
by the Grosbauer forces, and the Jatter circu-
lated a thousand mineographed copies to the
voters over his signature.
The day before the the Gidlow
vacancy on the Planning Commission was filled,
but a new vacancy has heen created by the elec-
tion of Councilwoman Galbraith, The latter has
announced that she will move to have the Council
grant Miss Gidlow the hearing the "revious
majority on the Council had authorized but had
refused to hold.
Last, but not least. the new Council eliminated
election.
Leslie Grosbauer's iob of one-man Committee -
on Un-American Activities and requested him
to turn his files over to the Council.
PHILADELPHIA MASS BOOK SEIZURE
The recent seizure by police without warrants
of 2,000 books in Philadelphia as "obscene" was
protested by ACLU attornev William Woolston in
the Philadelphia Federal Court on April 5. Mr, -
Woolston supported the injunction sought hy
Houghton-Mifflin Company, publisher of "Rain-
tree County," by Ross Lockridge. Jr., against
nolice seizure. He said that the action was illegal
because the books were taken without subpoena
and that the drive constituted "a vicious form of
censorship" rather than an attempt to suppress
obscene literature. .
Page 3
Birra |
Place oi
The American Civil Liberties Union of North-
ern California last month disputed the right of
the U.S. Immigration Service to determine a
person's citizenship after a California court has
handed down a final judgment as to the person's
birth in this State. The matter is presently be-
fore the Federal. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
in San Francisco for decision,
The issue arose in the case of Lee Fong Fook
who holds an honorable discharge from the U.S.
Army in the last war. Lee recently visited China
where he married. Upon his return, he and his
wife were denied entry to this country because
the Immigration Service doubted his birth in
California. It refused to give full faith and credit
to a judgment of the San Francisco Superior
Court declaring Lee was born in California
(which makes him a U.S. citizen). Under Cali-
fornia law, any person may file a suit to establish
"the fact of, and the time and place of" his
birth. :
Upon being denied entry, Lee sought a writ
of habeas corpus, which was denied by the U.S.
District Court. An appeal was then taken to
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the
Union filed an amicus curiae brief written by
Wayne M. Collins of San Francisco. a
The Union's brief argues that Congress "has
not prescribed a method whereby the facts re-
lating to the births of natives may be established
and citizenship by birth in this country be
determined." In the absence of such legislation
the brief asserts that the States may determine
these matters for themselves. A California court
having determined the facts in this case, the
only federal tribunal that may review the matter
is the U.S. Supreme Court, after the California
courts have disposed of the question, if a federal
cuestion is involved. Since the Superior Court's
judgement that Fook was a citizen had become
final. it must be given full faith and credit by
the Immigration Service, the brief argues.
es
ACLU Backs Celifernia Fishing
Case in Supreme Court
Charging that the California law denying
_coramercial fishing licenses to "aliens ineligible -
, to citizenship" is racial discrimination aimed at
on April 2ist filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme
Court in the case of a Japanese fisherman, Toroa
Takahashi, which Attorney General Tom Clark
has declared "raises civil liberties issues of na-
tional importance." A. L. Wirin, counsel of the
ACLU Southern California Branch, represented
Takahashi in attacking the constitutionality of
the California statute,
The Union asked a reversal of the California
Supreme Court decision which overruled a Super-
`jor Court and upheld the law on the ground
that it was a "valid conservation measure."
Challenging the majority opinion the Union con-
tended that to exclude from fishing privileges
aliens inelivible to citizenship is not a conserva-
tion measure hecause the classification is based
"not on the kinds of fish to be taken, or the
season, or the method or the quantity, but solely
on the ancestry of the fisherman." The Union
also charged that Takahashi has been denied the
opnortiunitv to earn a livelihood as ineligible to
citizenshin because of his race. The Union argued
that the statute violates the: eaual `protection
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and con-
flicts with treaty obligations undertaken by the
United States under the United Nations.
e
on Muehes Meetines
Run inte Treuble
The Sunerintendent of Schools of Palo Alto
last month reversed himself and granted a ner-
mit for a meeting in a school house to hear
Negro poet Langston Hughes. Issuance of the
rmit had at first been refused on the ground
t the Civie Center Act prohibits use of
schools bv "subversives," and Hughes has the re-
_ putation of being a Communist. The Superinten-
dent
' Counsel advised him that the varticular section
ATTACKED IN FEDERAL COURT: 1
granted the permit when the County
of the Civie Center-Act had been held urtcon-
stitntional bv the State Supreme Court, The
A.C1.U. filed written protests with Robert Lit-
`fle: (c) gan of the School Board, as well as
the "intendent. and the matter was also
discussed et length over the telephone with
these officials.
In Vallejo, however, a scheduled appearance
of Laneston Hughes was-cancelled by the Coun-
eil of Civic Unity after local patrioteers demand-
ed such action. The Council's Board decided it
might destroy the organization's effectiveness
in the community if it held the meeting.
Page 4
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS
American Civil Liberties Union-News
Published monthly at 461 Market St., San Francisco 5,
Calif., by the American Civil Liberties Union
of Northern California.
Phone: EXbrook 2-3255
WORUNG Sd BHSIG seh Editor
Entered as second-class matter, July 31, 1941, at the
Post Office at San Francisco, California,
under the Act of March 3, 1879
Subscription Rates-One Dollar a Year.
Ten Cents per Copy -151 wee.
Southern California Branch
Of Union Falls Heir to $59,000
The Southern California branch of the Civil
Liberties Union, which will celebrate its 25th
anniversary this month, has fallen heir to $59,-
000, three thousand of which it received last
-month.
During March, two wills were probated in Los
Angeles county. Under one, the branch will re-
ceive $6000 to be established as the Frederick
Pischel Memorial Fund. A second will makes the
branch the residuary legatee of half an estate
which its attorneys estimate will net $100,000.
This estate will not be distributed until after a
70-year-old step-mother has enjoyed a life in-
terest. The branch plans to put the money in a
reserve fund for important work that cannot be
handled under its regular budget.
In 1940, for the first and only time, the ACLU
of Northern California fell heir to an estate of
over $4000. Because of these reserve funds, the
Union was able to finance the handling of nu-
merous legal issues that arose out of the ex-
clusion and detention of persons of Japanese
ancestry during the last war.
When you have a will drawn, why not instruct
your attorney to include a bequest to the Ameri-
can Civil Liberties Union of Northern California?
Some such provision as the following is all that
is necessary: "I give $.. to ethe American
Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, an
unincorporated association, with headquarters in
San Francisco." You can help the Union build a
reserve fund to do important work!
Japanese Agencies Permitted
International Affiliation
The State Department has recently advised the
ACLU that Japanese societies may now affiliate
with "scientific or learned societies abroad", pro-
vided payment of dues is not involved. Japanese
nationals will also be permitted to go abroad for
"cultural purposes" by permission of Occupation
authorities in individual cases. Printed matter can
now be sent from Japan to other parts of the
world, but all printed matter coming into Japan
must be channeled through Occupation headquar-
ters. Efforts are being made to remove the control
of incoming mail to Japan.
The ACLU has for some months been making
. efforts to open up international contacts of the
Japanese along the same lines permitted the Kore-
ans and Germans., All mail is subject to military
censorship, but the practice is to spot-check only
a small proportion.
BOOKNOTES
All Manner of Men by Malcolm Ross, chairman
of the war-time Fair Employment Practice Com-
mittee; Reynal and Hitchcock, 300 pages, $3.50.
This is a highly readable and authoritative
account of the struggle of the war-time agency to
insure fair employment regardless of race or re-
ligion. Mr. Ross in lively style frankly expresses
the forces for and against equal opportunity. It is
useful in the present and future fight for the same
ends, as well as a telling historical document.
A Mask for Privilege by Carey McWilliams;
Little, Brown and Co., 280 pages, $2.75.
_ Mr. McWilliams, whose books on racial minori-
ties qualify him as an authority, dissects anti-
semitism as a social disease of a competitive so-
ciety inherently seeking a scape-goat for its ills.
Its anti-democratic purposes are always the "mask
for privilege", The remedies lie basically in the
creation of a non-competitive order; meanwhile
in law for equal opportunities, The product of wide
research and study, the volume contributes both
evidence and conclusions valuable to those con-
cerned with civil liberties.
DETROIT POLICE SEIZE COMIC BOOKS AS
`COMMUNISTIC AND IMMORAL'
Wholesale seizure of comic books in Detroit on
April 18 by Police Commissioner Harry S. Toy on
the grounds that they were "Communistic and
immoral'? was sharply protested by the ACLU.
Arthur Garfield Hays, ACLU counsel, and Elmer
Rice, chairman, Council on Freedom from Censor-
ship, wired Mr. Toy: "Proper criminal procedure
exists where you wish to bring such charges with-
out the police office setting itself up as censor
and guardian of public morals."
Honorably Discharged Veteran of World War Il
Loses Federal Job on Disloyalty Charges
(Continued from Page 1, Col. 3)
foreman has personally told me that at all times
I have done very good work.
"This action has come to me as a complete
shock and I am at a loss to understand how or
why such charges can be made against me. It is
my personal opinion that I am possibly being mis-
takenly identified with some other individual
with the same name and work record. In re-
viewing these facts it is urgently and respect-
fully requested that fingerprint records which
are available to the War Department be checked
and re-checked so as to possibly indicate that I
am being mistakenly identified,
"To the best of my knowledge, the only meet-
ings of any sort whatsoever I have ever attended
have been purely social meetings which were
sponsored by the Seattle Labor School at which
time subjects regarding housing, transportation
and child care facilities were discussed. If these
meetings were sponsored or attended by Com-
munists, such a fact was never known to me,
to the best of my knowledge, I was invited to
attend `get acquainted' meetings and not realiz-
ing what was involved I attended a couple of
these meetings, but as soon as it was known to
me that these people were either sympathetic
to or possibly were Communists I quickly dis-
associated myself with them and refused to
attend any further meetings. If it is upon this
basis that you feel I am closely implicated with
the Communist Party please realize that I only
attended these meetings because they had been
camouflaged as `get acquainted' meetings. There-
fore, my quick disassociation with this group
Tenny Report On `Front
Organizations Available
Late last month the Fourth Report of the Sen-
ate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Ac-
tivities (Tenney Committee or "Little Dies Com-
mittee") finally became available to the public.
It is titled "Communist Front Organizations."
The 448 page book may be procured at a price of
$1.03 from the Legislative Bill Room, Capitol,
Sacramento, or free copies are sometimes avail-
able from the Secretary of State in Sacramento,
your local Assemblyman or State Senator, or
members of the Committee.
About 4144 pages of the report are devoted
to the American Civil Liberties Union. The com-
mittee comes to the conclusion that the Union
"was resorting to drastic Communist strategy" in
barring totalitarians from positions of leadership
in the Union in 1940. The argument is loosely
drawn, because while the Stalin-Hitler pact oc-
curred in 1939, the Union is charged with retreat-
ing "during the Stalin-Hitler pact,' when, in fact,
it changed its policy in 1940 when Hitler and
Stalin were again at each other's throats.
In any case, the Committee comes to the fol-
lowing conclusion: "The Senate Fact-Finding
Committee of Un-American Activities reiterates
the findings of former legislative committees con-
cerning the Communist character of the Ameri-
ean Civil Liberties Union. The International La-
bor Defense, called `the legal arm of the Commu-
nist Party' by former Attorney General Francis
Biddle, has not established a better Communist
record than this thinly disguised organization
that devotes its energies to the defense of enemies
of the United States.
"The committee has stated in previous reports
that all Communist fronts are characterized by
the fact that many of the individuals attracted to
such organizations are not necessarily Commu-
nists and, in many cases, the membership of a
Communist front organization will be composed,
for the greater part, of non-Communists. This
same finding applies, of course, to the American
Civil Liberties Union. Ernest Besig, the director
of the Northern California Branch of the Ameri-
can Civil Liberties Union, appears to be a sincere,
conscientious American, whose reasoning leads
him to the defense of most anyone, regardless of
the accusation."
Vern Smith Convicted of Contempt
Of the Tenny Committee
Vern Smith, former foreign editor of the Daily
People's World, was convicted of contempt of the
Tenney Committee by an Oakland Justice Court
jury on April 26 and fined $300 by Justice of the
Peace Edward A. Quaresma. Smith was recently
expelled from the Communist Party as a "devia-
tionist."'
On November 5, 1947, Smith was called as a
witness at the Oakland hearing of the Committee
but refused to be sworn and to testify. ~
should prove that it was never my intention to
become involved.
"Tf organizations. which I have belonged to
were in any way whatsover associated with the
Communist Party it was without my knowledge
and at all times I have tried to be true and loyal
to my Government. I also wish it known that at
this time I do not even know what the Com-
munist Party or its workers are attempting to
accomplish other than in a general way their
aims are to change the present form of |
Government. .. ."
A Neighbor's Statement
Mr. Caldwell also furnished a statement to the
Army from a former neighbor of his in Seattle.
It reads, in part, as follows:
"T believe that I may be able to throw some
light on Mr, Caldwell's dilemma. If my memory,
serve me, this occured about two years ago.
My household was besieged with pamphlets and
invitations to `get acquainted' meetings held by
the communist group. However, they were word-
ed in such a way as to give the impression that
they were sponsored by the housing authority-
but I read them thoroughly, caught the letter-
head, and burned them. They also sent a number
of personal representatives door to door through
the project-one of whom became so objection-
able, I was forced to invite her to leave my
`home. I am writing this in a desire to indicate
how Mr. Caldwell may have run afoul of these |
accusations."
Mr. Caldwell at first secured the assistance
of the American Veterans Committee in Berk-
eley, but that organization sent him to the Civil
Liberties Union last February.
Union Assessment to Fight
Anti-Clesed Shop Proposal Upheld
After nearly five years of court contests,
Cecil B. DeMille, Hollywood producer, lost his
final fight against a .political assessment of 0x00B0$1
on its members by a radio union when the U.S.
Supreme Court refused on April 19th to review
his appeal.
_ The action of the American Federation of Radio
- Artists in expelling DeMille was upheld by: the
California Supreme Court which decided that
as a union member he was subject to "union
methods." The Federation contended that the
tax, levied to defeat an anti-closed shop amend-
ment to the state constitution, was a union, not
a political matter.
The ACLU had examined the issue when the
case first arose because of it opposition to com-
pulsory political contributions from union mem-
bers, but concluded that a tax for a purpose
so close to a union's interest was not in fact
political.
Status of Women Inquiry Supported
Joseph Kovner, ACLU representative and sole
masculine witness at a Senate Judiciary sub-
committee hearing on April 16th, testified in be-
half of a resolution to establish a commission
to study the legal status of women in the United
States. In supporting the proposal which is
sponsored by Sen. Robert A, Taft, Mr. Kovner
said that "rights of human beings are irrespec-
tive of sex, race, nationality, religion or opinion."
The ACLU, while opposing the so-called Equal
Rights Amendment as a "shot-gun method" of
preventing discrimination against women, is also
supporting in the House a bill similar to that
in the Senate.
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
American Civil Liberties Union of No. Calif.;
461 Market Street,
San Francisco 5, Calif.
1. Please enroll me as a member at dues of
$e? for the current year. (Types of mem-
bership: Associate Member, $3; Annual Mem-
ber, $5; Business and Professional Member,
$10; Family Membership, $25; Contributing
Member, $50; Patron, $100 and over. Mem-
bership includes subscription to the "American
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ene eee see,
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