Open forum, vol. 13, no. 22 (May, 1936)

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

----

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, MAY 30, 1936

No. 22

oo x

Japanese Fire on

Sing |)

hese |

An armed band of over one hundred

Japanese last Monday afternoon descended

upon the Mexican settlement in Dominguez

Hills and staged a Fascist reign of terror,

riding the strike headquarters, destroying

the typewriter and property there, enter-

ing the homes of six or seven Mexican fam-

ilies, breaking doors and windows, terror-

izing women and small children, threaten-

ing all persons with whom they came in

contact In an attempt to secure informa-

tion, and finally demolishing the Mexican

school which was maintained among the

Mexican families in Dominguez Hills.

A committee of the strikers were in con-

just completed signing up a contract, in

which the grower recognized the union and

agreed to pay the union scale, when the

raid began. The strikers fled in all direc-

tions and the Japanese followed, firing

shotguns, riflles and pistols as the workers

yan. It is asserted that members of the

Sheriff's office and the police department

were present at this happening, although

they did not participate in the shooting.

The Japanese proceeded to round up the

strikers from their various places of refuge

ad drove them across the fields at the

joint of their guns to a large building

" where there were asscenttmbled more Japa-

: nese fully armed.

Asif by prearranged understanding, the

Sheriff's Red Squad and police officers ar-

tived when this task was completed. `They

wok the strikers to Compton where a short

hearing was conducted before the Justice

of the Peace. He released all but twelve

of them. These twelve were charged with

assault with a deadly weapon, the charge

based apparently on an incident which had

occured that morning, a brush between

strikers and. strikebreakers. Unarmed

strikers were met by strikebreakers armed

with guns and various dangerous weapons.

During the skirmish, the strikers disarmed

the strikebreakers and proceeded to break,

bend, and ruin all the weapons they could

get into their possession. These damaged

guns, etc., are now in the possession of the

Sheriff's office.

Peieeeweien

Mexican Strikers

The assaults with deadly weapons have

been made by the strikebreakers and grow-

ers, and not the strikers. The fact that

several strikers have been shot within the

last few days indicates that. Union of-

ficials constantly warn the strikers against

the dangers of carrying weapons, and the

pickets are searched before sent on duty.

RALLY AGAINST C. S. LAW

Friday night, May 29th, a great

mass meeting has been announced in

the interest of the repeal of the crim-

inal syndicalism law at the Epic Audi-

torium, 123 North Lake St., Los An-

geles. Among the speakers engaged

are Assemblymen Lee E. Geyer, John

Pelletier and Ben Rosenthal; Council-

man Parley P. Christensen; David

Hubbard of the Socialist Party; John

Leach, Communist organizer; A. C.

Rogers of the A.F. of L; Dr. Floyd Sea-

man, Pastor of Grace M. E. Church;

and Kate Richards O'Hare, formerly

one of the active leaders in the Epic

movement. It is hoped that there will

be a great turnout of liberals from ail

parts of Southern California. The sig-

nature campaign has been making

considerable progress to date, but

there is need of speeding it up if the

minimum of 125,000 names by June

10 is to be reached. If you have a

petition, go out with it and fill it up

with names immediately. If you have

not yet enlisted in the campaign, get a

petition without delay and get busy

with it. This huge task is not going

| to be accomplished by a few people.

It is a mass movement that calls for the

utter devotion of hundreds and thous-

ands of circulators of these petitions.

anamaee

The reports which appeared in the daily

press, the Los Angeles Times, Examiner,

and Herald-Express, were pure fiction, ac-

cording to William Velarde, strike leader,

it being absolutely untrue that the strikers

carried any weapons whatsoever.

(Continued on Page 2, Column 3)

VIGILANTISM IN LONG BEACH

The following affidavit made by Ernest

Woodyard of Long Beach shows that the

Vigilante impulse which has manifested

self in the beach city at times is not yet

altogether squelched:

On the night of Thursday, April 30,

pes accompanied by George Baker, mem-

er of the Long Beach Building Trades

Council, and two other friends, I attended

a Political meeting at the American Legion

a torium on East Sixth Street, Long

ch.

"The affair was `Candidates Night,'

`Ponsored by the United Veterans and was

*Pen to the public.

bout 11:15 p. m., after the close of

(c) meeting, I was approached and told

Was wanted back in the main auditorium.

` * followed the man who informed me

id as the door closed behind me, I was

Pye down by a blow in the face deliv-

*d by another individual.

} I got to my feet and was knocked down

ain. I do not know how many times I

_ 188 struck or how many times I fell. There

Nere three other men present, two of them

tretended to hold back my attacker. I

f ble. Probably knocked `out' by one of the

WS, and the first words I remember hear-

ing were by Mr. Ronald A. Gehring who

was protesting and telling the others to

`lay off.'

"At no time did I strike back or attempt

to defend myself. As the assault was with-

out provocation, I demanded to know what

it was all about.

"T was then told that I was a. Com-

munist. I told them this was not so. They

named names I was not familiar with. I

told them so. I told them I was a building

laborer, a member of Local No. 507, Long

Beach, California, and a delegate of that

Local to the Building Trades Council. I

have cooperated with the Public Works

and Unemployed Union as a delegate of

my union, but this did not make me a Com-

munist.

"T was taken into a smaller room and

two of the men remained with me. I was

threatened repeatedly and only released

after I promised I would not associate with

`Reds.' "'

The American Civil Liberties Union is

looking into this weird story told by Mr.

W oodyard with the idea of bringing a dam-

age suit against the guilty parties if the

facts seem to warrant it.

AM. LEGION SEEKS TO THWART

RADICAL'S ADMISSION TO BAR

The American Legion's attempt to pre-

vent Aubrey Grossman's being admitted to

the Bar in California because he is a ``rad-

ical' is a matter of more than trivial sig-

nificance. Grossman, just graduated from

the law school at Berkeley, passed his Bar

examination and was recommended for

admission, when suddenly the chairman of

the subversive activities committee of the

Legion objected to his being admitted on

the ground that his "moral character was

not good." What the Legionnaires were

objecting to really were Grossman's polit-

ical beliefs. He had shown certain left-

wing tendencies on the campus during the

general strike in San Francisco two years

ago, and in the matter of the criminal syn-

dicalism prosecutions at Sacramento. If

he took an oath to support the Constitution,

they said, it would be "with his tongue in

his check."'

As soon as it became known that the Le-

gion was trying to prevent Grossman's ad-

mission, protests began to pour in upon

Claude Minard, Secretary of the State Bar,

at San Francisco. Both the Northern and

Southern California Branches of the A. C.

L. U. assailed the move as-dangerous and

unprecedented. Said Clinton J. Taft, Di-

rector of the Southern California Branch:

"This is a most extraordinary and high-

handed effort on the part of the Legion...

To.discriminate against Grossman. because

of his alleged radicalism will be a serious

blow at freedom of thought, and will es-

tablish a precedent of far-reaching conse-

quences." Ernest Besig, the Northern Cal-

ifornia Director, declared, "`It is necessar-

ily assumed that any person taking an oath

does so in good faith. It would be an un-

wise and dangerous precedent to rule a per-

son to be of bad moral character because

he is a `radical.' We trust that member-

ship in the State Bar will never be predicat-

ed on political considerations."'

SAYS FEDERAL INVESTIGATION

WOULD KILL FASCISM IN U. S. A.

The La Follette resolution in the United

States Senate, calling for a thorough inves-

tigation of labor espionage and violation

of civil rights, has been reported favorably

by the subcommittee and will receive the

endorsement of the full committee, it is be-

lieved.

As R. R. K., writing in the Los Angeles

Illustrated Daily News, says:

"The demand for the La Follette investi-

gation is insistent in every city where Fas-

cist groups are active. The Hearst press,

which spreads the major part of the Fas-

cist propaganda, would be exposed if the

resolution goes through. Investigation

would disclose the hypocrisy and fallacy of

much already known but not apparent to

the ignorant and unthinking.

"Hearst howls for a free press after

spending a quarter of a century trying to

build up a newspaper monopoly in the

United States. The reader of a Hearst

newspaper gets only what Hearst wants

him to read. The rest is garbled, distort-

ed or flatly suppressed.

"Red squads, promoted by Fascist groups

in many cities, are smothering free speech,

while the Fascist newspapers shout for it.

The right of orderly assemblage and the

right of the teacher in the public schools

and universities to disseminate the truth

are challenged by the Fascists whose pow- -

er rests on fear, class hatreds, race prej- -

udice and the emotions of the ignorant.

"The people of the United States should

(Continued on Page 2, Column 1)

err rene ee se

a ee

apa orm peene secretes

Published every Saturday at 624 American Bank

Building, 129 West Second Street

Los Angeles, California, by the Southern California

Branch of The American Civil Liberties Union.

Phone: TUcker 6836

Clinton J. Taft

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz

" Doremus Scudder A. L. Wirin

Leo Gallagher Ethelwyn Mills Ernest Besig

John Packard Edwin P. Ryland

Bditor

Subscription Rates-One Dollar a Year, Five Cents

per Copy. in bundles of ten or more to one address,

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Hintered 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., MAY 30, 1936

FREE SPEECH A LA HEARST

Clad in the shining armour of free

speech and mounted on the backs of the

gullible American public, like Lochinvar

from out of the West, came Hearst, to pen-

etrate every corner of our national life. His

policies have been guided only by exped-

ient opportunity and his political affiliations

are as steadfast as the weathercock. To one

principle, however, he has adhered consist-

ently-the American principle of Free

Speech-this has lubricated his presses and

lined his pockets with greenbacks. How

he would like to copywrite it as his very

own. But Free Speech a la Hearst, does not

mean the freedom of expression as we un-

derstand it. Freedom for all as guaran-

teed by our national constitution-no,

Hearst believes in saying and printing and

broadcasting anything he may please, but

denies that right to others. The Black

Committee in Washington investigating

Hearst's bullying lobby, has unloosed a

pious pitiful cry for freedom of speech, that

resounds throughout the land, and even

evoked support from the' American Civil

Liberties Union-Heart's pet peeve. At

the same time however Radio Station

KEHE, formerly KTM, Los Angeles, owned

by Hearst, denied the Allied Independent

Merchants, who had contracted for time,

right to broadcast a speech unfavorable to

chain store domination in California. A

sample of free speech a la Hearst that

would find unqualified favor and support in

Russia, Germany or Italy, but has no place

in American Life.-Pacific Argus.

(Continued from Page 1, Column 3)

know who is putting up the money to breed

Fascism and learn how the profits are

made.

"The white light of publicity would kill

`Fascism as it killed the K. K. K. and other

rackets."'

PLEDGE

I promise to give the sum of $............

per month toward the support of the

American Civil Liberties Union, So.

Calif. Branch, and I enclose herewith

Wee ce as payment on the same.

I reserve the right to terminate this

pledge whenever I see fit.

PUR ech a cp ehentue eantcen peat

MO a ees ate ee rac

ROM oe ae Ve

MORN eee

FLAG SALUTE CASES NOW

PENDING IN FOUR STATES

Cases involving the right of children to

free public school education, even though

they refuse on religious grounds to salute

the flag, are pending in the courts of Cali-

fornia, Massachusetts, New Jersey and

Pennsylvania, the American Civil Liberties

Union announced this week. Plans for

similar cases where the issue has arisen are

being laid in Florida, Ohio, and Vermont.

If necessary, one of the cases now under

way will be carried to the Supreme Court

of the United States.

In all the current salute cases, the fami-

lies of the children involved are Jehovah's

Witnesses. Formerly known as the Inter-

national Bible Students Association, this

group with headquarters in Brooklyn has

carried on an active campaign in the last

year against flag salutes as a "violation of

the divine commandment" and a part of

`the creed of a false religion."

All the constitutional religious freedom

issues were raised in the petition in the

New Jersey case seeking reinstatement in

their Secaucus school of Alma and Vivian

Hering, aged 6 and 11. The petition was

drafted by Abraham J. Isserman, Newark

attorney for the Union, who at a hearing

before the Commmissioner of Education

last week, attacked the constitutionality of

the state law.

In California, a petition for a writ of

mandate was filed recently in the Sacra-

mento Superior Court by Wayne N. Collins,

attorney for the Northern California

Branch of the Union, to secure reinstate-

ment of 9-year-old Charlotte Gabrielli, sus-

pended last fall from' a local school: The

attitude of the Sacramento officials con-

trasted sharply with that of Superintend-

ent Edwin A. Lee of the San Francisco

Public Schools who wrote the Union that

to avoid arbitrary action by principals he

had warned them that their objective was

"to teach the children to love and respect

their flag and country-not to fear it.''

Several cases of refusal to salute the flag

have been handled in this light without any

dismissals.

Pennsylvania seems to have had the

largest number of expulsions: in one coun-

ty seven children and a school teacher were

dropped. In a test case in Washington

County a declaratory judgment was sought

reinstating the children with the Union and

counsel for Jehovah's Witnesses attacking

the expulsions and the American Legion

defending them. Pennsylvania has no ga-

lute law, but the attorney general, Charles

J. Margiotti, has ruled that under the

school code authorities may require salutes.

In Massachusetts, a decision is expected

in the near future from the Supreme Court

which heard arguments on an application

for a writ of mandamus last November in

the first of these cases, that involving Carle-

ton Nicholls, eight year old school boy of

Lynn, Mass. Several other children and

one school teacher have been dropped from

schools in this state which not only pro-

duced the first expulsion but the first ju-

dicial decision breaking up a family and

committing children to a county institution.

This case, involving the three Opielouski '

youngsters, has been appealed and will be

argued in June.

In Washington, an effort was made to

break up a family of Jehovah's Witnesses

and commit the children to a county insti-

tution. This case, involving the three

Opielouski youngsters, has been appealed

and will be argued in June.

In Washington, an effort was made to

break up a family of Jehovah's Witnesses

and commit the children to a reform

school for refusing to salute the flag. How-

ever, there, the case was thrown out of

court with an excellent decision. Arrange-

ments have been made for the children to

pene school after flag exercises are fin-

ished.

SIX FOUND GUILTY IN LAST

FALL'S FLORIDA OUTRAg i

Bulletin

To the surprise of both prosecution and :

defense, the jury in the Tampa case foun

six defendants guilty of kidnapping Eugen

Poulnot on the night of November 30th last, |

Judge Dewell withheld sentence until late:

in order to give time to the defense ty

make a motion for a new trial if desire] _

The dismissal of charges last weg :

against two of the seven police defendans |

in the first of the Tampa flogging-murdy

trials was condemned by the Committee for 0x00A7

the Defense of Civil Rights in Tampa ag

prelude to a whitewash."

BK. L. Chancey.

The Committee also declared that i |

dropping three of the four counts againg |

the other defendants, Judge Robert 1)

Dewell had so narrowed the case that })

would be impossible "to prove in the trial |

that the Ku Klux Klan had ordered the oy.)

rage as a part of its notorious anti-laby!

campaign in Florida."

Launching a campaign for $5,000 to sup.

port its activities, the Committee asserte(

that `Recognition of the K.K.K.'s respon. 7

sibility for this and other similar attacks)

labor organizers and reformers is fund |)

mental to an effective fight for civil right

in Florida. The Bill of Rights can haven

meaning while the Klan _,subsidized by

local industry, maintains its arrogant dom

ination of the state."'

The Committee with Norman Thomas a

Chairman was formed immediately afta

the flogging-murder of Joseph Shoemaker |

and: the beating of Eugene Poulnot ant}

The three wer |

leaders of the Modern Democrats, a te |

group that wa)

threatening the control of Tampa by the}

Sam Rogers on Nov. 30.

formist-labor political

Klan ring. It is generally accepted tha

to the committee Soes the credit or blaw

-according to one's point of view-i}

pressure thi 7

brought the indictment of ten city police 7

building up the public

men for the crime.

A united action group, the committee ii

cludes representatives of a number of |r

bor unions

the. Non-Partisan Labor

American Civil Liberties Union, the Soci!

Action Committee of the Congregational }

Church, the Labor and Socialist Defens f

Committee, Local 22 of the International

Ladies Garment Workers Union, and the}

Suit Case, Bag and Portfolio Makers Urf

ion. Pamphlets describing the Tampa

Case and the Committee's fight against the F

Klan may be secured by writing the Com

mittee at 112 East 19th St., New York.

(Continued from Page 1, Column 2)

When Raymon Welch and Abe Harkav!

were arraigned before Judge Frank Carrel

of Gardena last Monday morning chargcent

with the theft of an automobile belongite |

to one of the workers on strike in the ag!"

cultural walkout, the facts brought out (R)

to their having taken the car merely 48!

kindness to the owner caused the judge

mediately to dismiss them.

Every device is being used by the

called law-enforcing authorities to hara(R)

the workers.

grabbed last week for alleged trafic 1"

lations on minor technicalities. When"

raigned before the judge, they were fm

$2 apiece, but to the credit of that official F

he said the fines were all suspended. 0x00A7

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Nemec) io ir 28 9 idee Ca ae '

Addrese 6 --

pi

: One of thow |

cleared was Police Chief R. S. Tittsworth |

suspended a few weeks ago by Mayor, |

and defense organizations

among them the League for Industial De)

mocracy, the International Labor Defenst, |

Defense, the F

For instance, eight wl]

.

ve