Open forum, vol. 12, no. 10 (March, 1935)

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THE OPEN FORUM

Free Speech - Free Press - Free Assemblage

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.-Milton

Vol XII.

LOS AN Sizans, CALIFORNIA,

MARCH 9, 1985

No. 10

"Keep Free Speech Lanes Open'

P|

By Etta Mae. Wallace

Even while the right to censor the use

of schools was being tested in the Superior

Court of San Dicgo, the school board is-

sued the following regulation:

"This Board is unalterably opposed to

Communism....and will not grant to any

such party, person, organization, society,

groups, or assemblage of persons the use

of any schoolhouse, grounds, civic center

or auditorium.

"That the issuance of all permits and the

making of all agreements for said purpose

shall be wholly dependent upon the follow-

ing terms and conditions:

'"(Ca} Whenever required each applica-

tion shall be accompanied by a copy of all

proposed speeches to be made which shall

be subject to the approval of the Board;

""(b) Before any use is made of such

school, every person and speaker appearing

or desiring to use the same shall by written

or oral statement personally pledge al-

legiance to the American flag and to the

republie for which it stands, and to the

laws and constitution of the United States

of America and 0x00B0 of the State of Cali-

fornia."

"The above Se acrraha are taken from a

form of permit and agreement dated

February 7, issued by the San Diego

School Board.

On the grounds that such censorship was

un-American and that ``a compulsory oath

defeats its own purpose," Paul A. Richie,

Democratic Assemblyman from San Diego

refused to speak in the public schools. The

occasion vas a meeting of the Bill of Rights

Society scheduled to be held in one of the

San Diego Schools. However, when re-

quired to carry out the terms of the agree-

ment gucted above the society refused to

comply and the meeting was held in the

Unitarian Church.

Paul A. Richie, Democratic Assembly-

man, was questioned about his refusal to

accept the school building on those terms

"that in troublous

times like these it is-of the utmost import-

ance to keep the lanes of free speech open;

that: if from school, church, and other

platforms there can be freely. presented to

the people remedies and solutions, I believe (c)

that they will be able to choose the .way

out. The revolution which is. coming

might be brought about peacefully in the

realm of idas, but if lanes of speech and

expression are blocked, the revolution will

nor be stopped but turned into violent chan-

nels.

"You know some people can not distin-

guish the difference between predicting

an eclipse of the sun and bringing about

the eclipse.

"Those who think that by driving the

radicals under ground they are stopping

the revolution do not know the laws of

revolution; but I am here to say that you

can neither import, export, nor deport a.

revolution."

Imperial Valley Testimony

-Richic was on the stand last Friday.

On Thursday, Edward Goodman, deputy

district attorney, brought over people

from Imperial Valley to testify about the

activities of the Civil Liberties Union in

the lettuce strike last year. The speeches

delivered at the meeting of March 17,

1934, held under the protection of federal

injunction by the ALC. LU. in. Azteca

Hall, were read with no objection from the

petitioners.

Helen Marston was called to the stand

by attorneys for the school board. She

was asked if she believed in allowing

Communists to speak.

Her answer was, ``Yes I do. I don't think

you can kill ideas by suppressing them."'

She made reference to the public forum

which has been established in Des Moines,

Iowa, where Communists are allowed to

speak, which is proving a great success.

Her testimony brought out the fact that

she disagreed with the Communistic pre-

diction of revolution by force and violence,

and felt that all our efforts should go to

bring about peaceful economic change.

Goodman asked: `Do you think that our

form of Government should be changed ?"'

"Yes" came the answer. "I think it

should be changed in many ways to meet

the technical advances in industry. I think

5S. O.. S: CALL

Will all of you who read this please

send us a contribution immediately to

help meet the heavy expenses incurred

by the mandamus suit now being tried

in San Diego. This case has already

consumed four weeks and is not yet

done; it may go on for a week or two

more. The cost is mounting away be-

yond what we estimated at the start.

But it is proving to be one of the

most important cases that the Amer- |

ican Civil Liberties Union has conduct-

ed ia this state. So, give us a help-

ing hand, friends. Forget the depres-

sion for a moment or two, and dig

deep in your pocket for the biggest

donation you can possibly make for

freedom from the domination of pre-

judiced school boards in California.

Send us something too for the cam-

paign we are waging against Fascist..

legislation at Sacramento. We need

money badly at this time. Don't delay

therefore; rush something to us by.

the next mail. -We are your servants:

and can carry on only as you give us

funds. Send your gifts to the A. C.

L. U., 1022 Civic Center PRIEg Los

Angeles, SS

that our political democracy should be ex-

tended to economic democracy."

The trial continues but it is clear already

that unless restrained by a court order the

San Diego School Board will persist in

dictatirg to the people of San Diego, so far

as the schools are concerned, "WHAT they

shall hear, and by whom it shall be

spoken."'

W. I. L. RALLIES FORCES AGAINST

FASCIST MEASURES AT SACRAMENTO

The California State Council of the Wo-

men's International League from Peace and

Freedom at its meeting in Los Angeles

March 2nd enthusiastically entered the

legislative feid as to proposed California

bills with the idea that W. I. L. members

will work for the defeat of the various re-

pressive, Fascistic bills and for the passage

of measures designed to guarantee consti-

tutional rights and civil liberties and to

make compulsory military training impos-

sible in the universities of the state.

-ist literature"'

RORTY AND MALAMUTH JAILED

IN VALLEY; DRIVEN FROM STATE

James K. Rorty of New York City, well

known writer, was grabbed by Imperial

Valley;authorities at El Centro last week

Tuesday, thrown into jail and held over-

night incommunicado because he was su-

spected of being a Red.

The sheriff and his cohorts in the Valley

have been very jittery since the strike

among the lettuce workers, reported by

The Open Forum two weeks ago. Sheriff

Ware has been extra vigilant in spotting

all newcomers to the Valley as possible

trouble makers. When James Rorty made

his appearance there to investigate con-

ditions on the strike-front for The Nation

and the New York Post, for which he is

making a country-wide tour, he was al-

most immediately placed under arrest.

Professor Charles Malamuth,, a former

lecturer at the University of California at

Berkeley, who was with Rorty, was also

grabbed at El Centro by the officials for

investigation.

It was a clear-cut case of invasion of the

constitutional rights of these two men by

the Vallev officials, but that counts for lit-

tle with them, as the readers of this paper

well know. Officials in the Imperial Val-

ley, sworn to uphold the constitution, have

again and again trampled it under foot in

their zeal to support the policies of the

grower-shipper organizations in prevent-

ing the workers from organizing and in

keeping out so-called ``agitators." Rorty

and Malamuth protested their arrest and

incarceration in the local Bastile at. El

Centro, but their protests availed nothing.

It-was declared that they had `"`Commun-

in their automobile and that

Rorty bore a letter addressed to ``dear com-

rade," plainly allying them with the. Reds.

The Southern California office of. the

A. C. L. U. started an investigation of the

affair Wednesday afternoon. , Almost im-

mediately the men were released, and un-

der escort of a company of deputy sheriffs

were driven out of the state into Arizona

in the direction of Yuma. Mr. Rorty, we

understand, pressed on from there to Tex-

as where he had certain. lecture eragrage-

ments with some of the colleges. It-is pos-

sible that he will bring suit in federal.court

`against the: high-handed action of. these

Valley officials. The Southern: California

Branch of the A. C..L. U. has offered him

legal support if he deems it wise to-sue.

N. M. SENATE CONGRATULATED -

ON DEFEAT OF SYNDICALISM BILL.

Congratulations were voted Monday by

the Board of Directors of the American

Civil Liberties Union to the State Senate of

New Mexico on its action in defeating the

eriminal svndicalism bill which last week

passed the House.

The bill was defeated that mor ning: ac-

cording to a wire received from Edward

D. Tittman, attorney at Hillsboro, New

Mexico, and a member of the National

Committee of the American Civil Liberties

Union. .

"The defeat in the Senate of this meas-

ure,' the Board declared, "is a decided

victory for the American tradition of free

speech and free press. New Mexico has

set a distinguished example to Arizona,

Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma,

Tennessee where similar bills punishing

mere opinions and remarks are pending.

Defeat of this bill is an encouraging symp-

tom of the reaction against the threat to

the Bill of Rights in stringent, repressive

legislation supported by the American

Legion, the United States Chamber of Com-

merce, and the D. A. R."

|

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THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 1022 Civic Center Bldg.

205 South Broadway

Los Angeles, California, by the Southern California

Branch of The American Civil Liberties Union. -

Phone: TUcker 6836

Clinton J. Taft Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

_ Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz

Doremus Scudder A. L. Wirin

Leo Gallagher Ethelwyn Mills P. D. Noel

John Packard John Beardsley Edwin P. Ryland

Subscription Rates-One Dollar a Year, Five Cents

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Entered as second-class matter Dec. 13, 1924, at the

post office of Los Angeles, California, under the

Act of March 3, 1879.

LOS ANGELES, CALIF.,

EE 1c

SACRAMENTO C. S. DEFENDANTS

OUT ON BAIL; VIGILANTES ACTIVE

The trial of the fifteen at Sacramento,

accused of violation of the criminal syn-

dicalism law of California, is now in its

sixteenth week, and will likely run on for

several weeks to come. Bail has been furn-

ished for all of the defendants finally. The

last two to be released were A. G. Ford and

Fred Kirkwood, for whom bonds were

provided last week by Miss Anita Whitney

of Oakland. It will be remembered that

Miss Whitney herself was one of the first

victims of the criminal syndicalism law,

having been convicted in 1920 but pardon-

ed later by Governor Young. Attorney

Leo Gallagher is defending most of the

fifteen and is being assisted by Attorney

Grover Johnson of Los Angeles who recent-

ly joined the defense.

Crowds of people continue to flock to the

courtroom daily and occasionally witness

sharp clashes between the opposing coun-

sel. Prosecutor McAllister has tried to

make it appear that the Communists are

planning violence in Sacramento shortly,

but Mr. Gallagher refuted this charge in

court the fore part of the week by saying:

"T am serving notice on the court at this

time that if any acts of violence occur in

Sacramento you can ask the vigilantes or

the prosecution and not the defendants for

an explanation. Perhaps your home or the

eae iouse will be bombed before the trial

ends."'

After making this statement, Mr. Gal-

lagher demanded that warrants be issued

for a group of vigilantes who had attacked

one of the defendants, Jack Warnick, when

he wrote down the license numbers of their

automobiles. Warnick is said to have

found the vigilantes armed with pick han-

dies preparing to beat off an influx of so-

called radical sympathizers who are pre-

paring to assemble in Sacramento shortly

MARCH 9, 1935

for a convention.

INJUNCTION BILLS PENDING

Bills modeled on the Norris-LaGuardia

Act to curb state courts in the issuance of

injunctions in labor disputes are pending

in many state legislatures and are expected

to be introduced in several others. The

National Committee on Labor Injunctions,

unit of the Civil Liberties Union, is cooper-

ating with state federations of labor in

pushing these bills. Opposition comes

from tne same sources that fought the fed-

eral bill. These sources, industrial assoc-

iations and the like, are raising the same

constitutional objections they made against

the federal law although, the Union points

out, the federal courts have uniformly rul-

ed aganist these objections. States where

bills are pending include Arkansas, Cali- |

fornia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri,

New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tli-

nois, Kansas, Maine and North Dakota.

Hard Times Offer

Because of the continued financial depression we

are going to make you a very special offer-THE

OPEN FORUM eight months to new subscribers for

Get busy and flood us with new

only fifty cents.

subscriptions.

THE OPEN FORUM

1022 Civic Center Building LOS ANGELES

DRIVE AGAINST, WORKERS' RIGHTS

GAINS HEADWAY IN ARKANSAS

The nation-wide drive against ``Reds"'

has found fertile soil in Arkansas. While

liberals there with an honest Jeffersonian

belief in civil rights have raised some pro-

test, they have made little headway

against a propaganda welcome to the

feudal spirit of the cotton planter and the

ria attitude towards Negroes and poor

whites.

Recent developments include the con-

viction of Claude C. Williams, Socialist

leader and former minister, on a charge of

"barratry" for his part in a strike of F.

E. R. A workers at Fort Smith. The charge

was used at the trial to strike at "inciting

dissension"" among relief workers. Eight

others arrested at the time were released

after Municipal.Judge James A. Galaher

had angrily attacked them as radicals,

Reds, Communists."

Some miles to the south the very exist-

ence of Commonwealth College, a well-

known labor experimental school, was

threatened by a legislative investigation in-

to alleged teaching of communism. The

investigation was protested by educators

throughout the country as "an inquistion."'

The American Civil Liberties Union urged

the legislature to drop the investigation and

turn ils attention to the "lawlessness of

officials and landlords against sharecrop-

pers."

At Little Rock, a stringent Sedition Bill

passed the House and is pending in the Sen-

ate. This was condemned by liberal and

religious groups as "fa gag law aimed at

labor'' and `"a_ shocking violation '0x00A7 of

American traditions of free press and free

speech."

Though the bill is reported aimed at

Commonwealth College, it would _unques-

tionably be turned against all labor and

tenant farmer organizations, the Union

said. The bill makes a felony of the cir-

culation of "seditious" literature, thus

crushing any organization with an ade-

quate library.

Meanwhile Ward H. Rodgers, young or-

ganizer of the Tenant Share Croppers Un-

ion, is out on bail pending his appeal on

the "anarchy" conviction. Horace Bry-

ant, organizer of the Unemployed Council,

is serving a six months sentence for the

same offense. Convictions against various

members of the tenant farmers union are

being appealed.

Argument before the Arkansas Sinreme

Court. on the motion for an injunction un-

der the the A. A. A. cotton crop reduction

contracts to restrain wealthy planters from

evicting sharecroppers is expected early in

March. The suit is being supported by

the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, the

Civil Liberties Union and other groups.

Three spokesmen for the tenant farm-

ers union came to New York recently to

speak to labor unions on the fight for the

right to organize in Arkansas. They are

guests of the Auxiliary Committee for the

defense of Ward Rodgers. Information on

speaking engagements may be secured

from the American Civil Liberties Union.

BILL AGAINST LEFT WING PARTIES

BEING FOUGHT IN ELEVEN STATES

The bill baeked by the American Legion

and the Elks to amend election laws to ban

from the ballot left wing political parties

is reported to have been introduced in the

following eleven states: Arkansas, Cali-

fornia, Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, Mis-

souri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ten-

nessee and West Virginia. The bill pass-

- ed both houses in Tennessee.

The Civil Liberties Union, the Ameri-

can Federation of Labor, the Socialist and

Communist Parties, and various. other

groups are fighting the bills.

The bills would prohibit from the ballot

any party which advocates ``the overthrow

by force or violence'"' of the government or

"which advocates or carries on a program

of sedition or of treason by radio, speech,

or press.''

`the labor union.

TWO STALWARTS PASS ON

Two American Civil Liberties Union of.

ficials have just closed their lives here jy

California. Fremont Older, one of the

vice-presidents of the national organization

and editor of the San Francisco Call-Bull.

etin, died suddenly last Sunday in Stock.

ton. Marcus A. Bettinger, for many years

a member of the Executive Committee of

the Southern California Branch of the A,

C. L. U., expired on February 24th.

Mr. Older had heen a newspaper man

for many. years and had frequently urged

the pardon of Tom Mooney, who for more

than seventeen years has been an inmate of

San Quentin Penitentiary, charged with

bombing the Preparedness Day Parade of

1916. Older was. also active back as far

as 1906 during the graft trials of Schmitz

and Ruef, political bosses of San Francisco,

He will be sorely missed by the forces

working for fair play in this state.

Mr. Bettinger was for many years con-

nected with the school system in Los An.

geles. He began as principal of the Brook.

lyn Street School in 1888, and was later

promoted to a position of assistant superin-

tendent of the city schools, in which posi-

tion he continued to serve until 1918. From

1921 to 1923 he was a member of the Los

Angeles Board of Education. He is known

as the father of the,modern Los Angeles

playground system and had a good deal to

do with the starting of the school orches-

tras.

He was a fearless champion of civil liber-

ties and although he has been inactive for

a number of years because of declining

health, he will be sorely missed by those

of us who knew him best and valued him

for his devotion to great human causes.

The Open Forum laments the passing of

two such stalwart Americans as Older and

Bettinger and hopes that their mantles may

fall on the shoulders of worthy successors

among the rising generation.

INJUNCTION SOUGHT |

An application for an injunction to pre-

vent interference with peaceful picketing

was filed last week in the Civil Liberties

Union's fight for the right to picket peace-

fully in Summit, N. J.

An order restraining Mayor Edward T.

Snook and Chief of Police, Edward Nelson

from interfering with two pickets, at least

thirty feet apart, of the United Shoe and

Leather Workers Union before the Feifer

Bros., Inc., slipper factory, was sought by

Abraham J. Tsserman, Newark attorney

for the Civil Liberties Union. Merritt

Lane, well known legal foe of labor unions,

has been retained by the City of Summit.

The. decision by Vice-Chancellor John

Backes has not yet been announced.

The trial on charges of "loitering and

having no business about the premises"

against Quincy Howe, editor of The Living

Age, and Paul Frank, Union Theological

Seminary student, has been postponed un-

til settlement of the injunction suit. The

two were arrested when they acted as vol-

untary pickets for the American Civil Lib-

erties Union' s test of the ban issued by the

. mayor.

The blanket ban on picketing followed

an unsuccessful effort by the mayor to set-

tle the strike. The Feifer Bros., Inc., is a

factory that moved recently from `New

York, allegedly to break a contract with

The mayor, through a

lumber company of which he is president,

is said to have done much business with the

slipper factory.

ee

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