Open forum, vol. 14, no. 21 (May, 1937)

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Free Speech - Gree Press - Free Assemblage

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

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Vol. XIV.

No. 22

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, MAY 22, 1937

---o re

FATE OF

THE FOREIGN-BORN

ae

IS IN THE HANDS OF CONGRESS

A great number of bills relating to the

foreign-born have been introduced in the

present session of Congress. It is notable

that certain harmful provisions which be-

yan to appear in one or two of the bills dur-

ing the 74th Congress are now incorporated

in all sorts of bills dealing with the foreign-

born, no matter what the main provision of

the bill may be. It is also notable that the

game of political demagoguery apparent

jast year in the Kerr-Coolidge Bill, which

provided one inch of wordy provisions that

that would be supported by progressives to

yards of reactionary provisions is extended

even further this year.

The harmful provisions of bills presented

this year may be summarized as follows:

(1) Fingerprinting and registration of the

foreign-born; (2) Depriving the foreign-

born of the right to work; (38) Depriving the

foreign-born of the right to relief; (4) Pro-

visions for issuance of warrants of arrest by

immigration inspectors and other minor of-

ficials of the service; (5) Providing for the

arrest without warrant, and holding for in-

vestigation of foreign-born (some bills

merely say "persons suspected of being de-

portable,' which might include native-born

strikers, for example) for periods varying

from 24 to 48 hours without warrant; (6)

For deportation of foreign-born on relief;

(i)Making -eyen more stringent present

laws for deportation of foreign-born en-

gaging in political activity.

Substantial objections to a deportation

bill (H.R. 6891) by Representative Dies,

recently reported favorably, were raised by

the American Civil Liberties Union in a

memorandum sent to members of the House

of Representatives. The measure, which in-

cludes the leading provisions of last year's

Kerr-Coolidge' bill, for the first time gives

the Department of Labor some discretion in

holding up deportations, although it does

not affect deportations for opinion.

Amendments to the Dies bill suggested

by the Union provide, in brief :

1. That the Secretary of Labor be given

discretion not to deport aliens convicted of

a crime involving moral turpitude, for

Which the alien is sentenced to any institu-

tion, or the crime of possessing or carrying

any firearm, rather than making such de-

portation absolutely mandatory.

2. That no time limit be placed on the

discretion given the Secretary of Labor to

Permit certain aliens of good character with

Merican wives or children, to remain in

the country. If discretion is good for four

years itis good as a permanent policy.

That aliens who change from the

status of temporary visitors to permanent

--

OPEN FORUM'S EDITOR ILL

: Dr. Clinton J. Taft, editor of The Open

`orum, was obliged to undergo an emer-

sency operation last week which has laid

Im up for a couple of weeks. He is mak-

ing a splendid recovery, however, and ex-

Pects to be back in his office hard at work

{gain shortly.

Although ill, Dr. Taft has found time and

fnergy enough to write a review of Albert

ang Williams' new book, "The Soviets,"

"Nich will be found elsewhere in the paper.

P . keenly interested in Russia. He con-

a ted a tour to Europe last summer, spend-

Ai three weeks in the Soviet Union, and

; ects to visit it again this summer for an

ual length of time. His doctor assures

fia that he will be completely recovered

*m his present illness and well able to

residents may do so without the expense and

bother of leaving the country and coming

back in, as they now are required to do.

Although the bill does not aid aliens

charged with political offenses, the Union

is interested because of the humanitarian

provisions in softening hardships of the

present stringent deportation laws. The

principle of discretion in the Secretary of

Labor, the Union's memorandum declared,

is an important precedent.

The American Committee for the Protec-

tion of Foreign-Born reports two cases

which strikingly illustrate the need for re-

vision of the present deportation laws.

Thomas Scarpone, an Italian who has been

in this country continuously since 1920 and

before that between the years 1906 and

1916, faces deportation now because of an

assault conviction twenty-six years ago in

Connecticut. He will be separated from his

wife, who was naturalized in 1931, and six

American-born children. Mario Nacinovich

and his wife Victoria, also Italians, face

separation from their two children unless a

special bill which has been introduced in

Congress to legalize their stay is passed.

THEATER LICENSING BILL FOUGHT

Despite vigorous opposition by actors,

producers and the National Council on

Freedom: from Censorship, the New York

legislature jammed through without a hear-

ing the Dunnigan bill permitting revocation

of a theater license for presenting "immoral

shows and exhibitions.'' The bill provides

that proof "satisfactory to the licensing au-

thority" is all that is needed for the License

Commissioner to take action. Heretofore,

the License Commissioner had to await a

court conviction before revoking a theater

license.

In a telegram to leaders of the State As-

sembly prior to passage of the bill, the Na-

tional Council declared: ``This bill, how-

ever well intentioned in effect, opens the

way to dangerous abuses by public officials

and would ultimately lead to an official pre-

censorship of theatrical productions, a con-

dition as unwholesome to the development

of the American theater as it is alien to

American traditions. The present penal law

gives adequate safeguards against the sort

of performance Senator Dunnigan's bill

seeks to prevent."

A campaign appealing to Governor Leh-

man to veto the measure is being carried on

by the Council.

MICHIGAN `WAGNER' BILL ATTACKED

Opposition to the labor relations bill in-

troduced in the Michigan legislature was

voiced by the American Civil Liberties

Union in a telegram to Governor Murphy.

"We are distressed," the Union wired, ``to

hear of your sponsorship of the Michigan

Labor Relations Act which would abridge

labor's right to strike. This right has been

consistently upheld by the Supreme Court

of the United States which declared the

Kansas Industrial Act invalid because it

outlawed strikes, and upheld the Wagner

Labor Relations Act which specifically

guaranteed to workers no impairment of the

right to strike. Michigan should instead

enact the anti-injunction bill now pending

in the legislature curbing the authority of

the courts to deny workers their civil rights

in industrial disputes."

Governor Murphy issued a statement say-

ing that the bill was submitted only as a

draft for discussion.

NIPOMO DEFENDANTS CONVICTED

C. D. Mensalves and Ed _ Bushnell,

charged with disturbing the peace of Nipo-

mo Township a month ago when the strike

among the pea pickers was on, were tried

and convicted last week.

Julia Walsh, International Labor De-

fense secretary who accompanied Attorney

.Leo Gallagher to Nipomo, reports that the

jury was obviously prejudiced against the

defendants and convicted them seemingly

on general principles rather than the evi-

dence presented. The prosecution concen-

trated its efforts on trying to prove the men

to be "`agitators" and "`outsiders'' who were

committing the crime of assisting the field

workers to carry on their strike. The best

evidence that they could muster to prove

that the two were disturbing the peace con-

sisted of statements by deputy sheriffs

about how the crowd milled around after

the men had been arrested. They had little

luck with the ``outside agitator' charges,

either, as one of the men was proved to be a

native of San Luis Obispo County who had

grown up some ten miles from Nipomo, and

neither of the men had arrived upon the -

scene until the strike had been called and

they were invited to address the workers.

Attorney Gallagher in the trial raised the

issue of involuntary servitude involved in

the command of the sheriff and district at-

torney to the workers to "go back to work,

be jailed as vagrants or get out of the

county.' He protested also the jury panel

as it was drawn, on the ground that it was

not a cross-section of the population. Farm-

ers and deputy sheriffs predominated on the

panel. The superabundance of the latter,

however, was perhaps natural, inasmuch as

some 200 men in the surrounding neighbor-

hood had been deputized during the strike

to help break it, as reported in earlier issues

of The Open Forum.

After the verdict of guilty was rendered,

Mr. Gallagher made a motion for a new

trial. The date set for the hearing on the

motion is May 28th. If it is refused the case

will be appealed to higher courts.

FLAG SALUTE CASE IN FED. COURT

For the first time since school boards

throughout the country began expelling

disciples of Jehovah's Witnesses from pub-

lic schools for refusing on religious grounds

to salute the flag, a case reached a federal

court when Lillian and William Gobitis

sought an injunction against the Miners-

ville (Penna.) Board of Education in the U.

S. District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania.

Expelled in November, 19385, on the

ground that their failure to salute the flag

was `fan act of insubordination," the chil-

dren ask that the school board be restrained

from prohibiting their attendance at school,

from requiring the flag-salute and from in-

terfering with their religious freedom. Vio-

lations of the Eighth and Fourteeenth

Amendments are charged. The American

Civil Liberties Union is cooperating in the

test case.

Although Pennsylvania has no statute

requiring compulsory flag-saluting, the

Court of Common Pleas of Washington

County, Penna., recently upheld the expul-

sion from the Canonsburg public schools of

Murray Estep, a member of Jehovah's Wit-

nesses who refused to salute the flag.

In Texas, another flag-salute case was

recently brought to the Court of Civil Ap-

peals in Galveston, and in New Jersey the

Hering case is being appealed to the Court

of Errors and Appeals. In the event of an

unfavorable decision in New Jersey, it is

planned to carry the case to the U. S. Su-

preme Court. ae

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THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 624 American Bank Build-

ing, 129 West Second Street, Los Angeles, California,

by the Southern California Branch of The American

Civil Liberties Union. Phone: TUcker 6836.

ate eee Tbe Se SS Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz

Doremus Scudder A. A. Heist Carey McWilliams

Leo Gallagher Ethelwyn Mills Ernest Besig

John Packard 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.

an areepnn eee nnmangs -~mamngnemen

LOS ANGELES, CALIF, MAY 22, 1937

PLAN WORKERS' SUMMER SCHOOL

The Western Summer School for Work-

ers announces the opening of its fifth an-

nual session on July 10th at Berkeley, Cali-

fornia. The school is conducted under the

auspices of the Workers Education Bureau,

American Federation of Labor, the Califor-

nia State Federation of Labor, the Exten-

sion Division of the University of California,

the State. Department of Education, Divi-

sion of Adult Education, the California As-

sociation for Adult Education and a com-

mittee of workers.

The courses are designed both to supply

information and to stimulate further study,

providing a basis for interpretation of the

world with which the wage-earner has to

deal. A wide range of subjects is offered,

including the following: European Social

and Political Movements; Trade Union

Methods; Economies of Labor; History of

the Labor Movement; English, Literature;

Public Speaking, Teaching Methods in

Workers' Education; the Cooperative

Movement; Parliamentary Law, and Social

Fundamentals.

Dr. George Hedley is Director of the

school. Any inquiries should be sent to him

at 2451 Hearst Avenue, Berkeley, or to Mil-

dred Taylor, 311 California State Building,

Los Angeles.

| "NO PASARAN!"

(They Shall Not Pass!)

By Upton Sinclair

A New Novel-Just Off the Press.

This book tells about the Spanish

civil war-how a group of American

boys in the International Brigade stop

the Fascists at the gates of Madrid.

Ordinarily the book would sell for

$2.00, but it is being issued in cheap

form for wide distribution.

Send 25c immediately for your copy,

or $1.75 for ten copies, to The Open

Forum, 624 American Bank Bldg.,

Los Angeles.

--

A NOTABLE NEW BOOK

"The Soviets,'"? by Albert Rhys Williams.

Harcourt, Brace and Co., N. Y., $3.00.

This is a volume that is sure to attract

wide attention and to be accorded a high

place in the bibliography of the New Russia.

The author lived in the Soviet Union for nine

years, knew Lenin and the other revolution-

ary leaders intimately, is familiar with the

Russian language and understands by im-

mediate contact the forces that are building

the new regime. For the past ten years Mr.

Williams and his collaborators have been

gathering with painstaking care the mate-

rials incorporated in this book.

It is encyclopaedic in scope. Like the two-

volume work of the Webbs, "Soviet Com-

munism, a New Civilization,"' published last

year, it covers practically all phases of life

in the Soviet Union. Students will find it an

invaluable aid to the understanding of what

has taken place in the U.S. S. R. during the

past twenty years. Scarcely any question

concerning government, industry, social

life, religion, military matters or the foreign

relations of the Soviet Union can be asked

that Williams does not answer and answer

adequately.

One subject to which he gives extended

attention is the new soviet constitution,

adopted last November. Those who follow

through his exposition of this marvelous

document will be well informed as to how

the people of the U.S.S. R. are governed.

The book has 554 pages, with a good

index and an extended bibliography at the

end. It is printed in alternating sections of

large and small type. By reading only the

large-type paragraphs, covering altogether

about 200 pages, one is able to get the gist

of the book. The small-type sections furnish

one an abundance of detailed information.

It is safe to predict, however, that having

once started reading this book one is not

going to skip much of it, for the style is

vivacious, and the matter is related so in-

terestingly that one feels he must absorb

every word of it.

Albert Rhys Williams is entitled to

abundant praise for a comprehensive piece

of work well done. -C. J. T.

EDUCATION OF THE D. A. R.

"The American Revolution was a social

movement and its leaders were vigorous

young men who were not afraid of being

called subversive influences. I can't help

thinking that Governor Hutchinson of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony must have felt

toward Samuel Adams and John Hancock

a good deal as some high automobile offi-

cials feel toward sit-down strikes."

Charles P. Taft, in recent address before

Continental Congress of Daughters of the

Revolution.

HARD TIMES OFFER

Because of the continued financial depression

| we are going to make you a very special offer-

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THE OPEN FORUM eights months to new sub-

scribers for only fifty cents. Get busy and flood

us with new subscriptions.

9 THE OPEN FORUM

624 American Bank Building Los Angeles

SOCIAL CHANGES IN EUROPE TOUR

Dr. Clinton J. Taft, in cooperation with the Compass Travel Bureau of New York City,

| will personally conduct another tour to Europe next summer.

Nine Countries Will Be Visited

ENGLAND, DENMARK, SWEDEN, FINLAND, SOVIET UNION, HUNGARY,

AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND and FRANCE

(Conferences with Liberal Groups in London, Paris and Vienna)

37 DAYS - Sailing from New York on the Cunard Liner ``Berengaria'' July 3, 1937.

18 Days In The Soviet Union.

Only $495 in third class (as good as tourist formerly) .

Make Your Reservations NOW

(Send $50 deposit TODAY to secure steamer reservation before all gone. Returned up

to 30 days of sailing if you can't take trip)

Send for circular giving detailed information about the Tour

624 American Bank Bldg., Los Angeles.

a}

ILLINOIS SEDITION LAW =

REPEAL URGED BY A. cent, 1, U

Knactment of a bill to repeal the Tinos

sedition act, sponsored by Senator James

O. Monroe of Collinsville, favorably 1,

ported by the Senate Judiciary Committe,

and scheduled to come soon to vote, Wag

urged by the American Civil Libertig

Union in letters to Illinois members Signed

by Roger N. Baldwin, director.

"Repeal of the Illinois sedition law," the

Union declared, ``would strike a significant

blow for civil liberty by marking the third

clean break in recent months with the Most

drastic form of repressive legislation in the

United States. Oregon and Washington yo.

pealed their criminal syndicalism laws' lag

March, following the decision of the Unite

State Supreme Court holding void the eon.

viction of Dirk de Jonge, an Oregon Com.

munist, under the law.

"Passed in thirty-four states in the hys.

teria that characterized the post-war Period

between 1919 and 1924, these repressive

laws have been used to prosecute chiefly

members of the I. W. W. and Communist

party for mere utterances or membership in

those organizations. Over 400 persons

have gone to prison, principally in foy

states - California, Pennsylvania, Oregon

and Washington."'

Besides Illinois, bills repealing criminal

syndicalism laws are now pending before

the legislatures of Pennsylvania, California,

Indiana and Ohio.

NEW EDITION "GAG ON TEACHING'

In response to requests from all parts of

the country, a second revised edition of the

pamphlet "The Gag on Teaching" is being

published by the Academic Freedom Com-

mittee of the Civil Liberties Union. The new

edition takes on added value with the in-

clusion of all legal references to court de

cisions mentioned.

The pamphlet, subtitled `The Story of |

the New Restrictions by Law on Teaching in

Schools; and by Public Opinion and Donors

on Colleges,' covers legislative restrictions

on teaching in public and private schools,

restrictions on teachers, inroads on free

dom of teaching other than by law, the gag

on colleges and academic freedom and

tenure.

Prof. Eduard C. Lindeman is chairman of

the Academic Freedom Committee.

MOONEY MASS MEETING SUNDAY

A mass meeting has been arranged by

the Los Angeles A. F. of L. Committee for

the Freedom of Mooney and Billings to be

held in the Trinity Auditorium, 9th and

Grand Avenue, Sunday evening, May 23rd,

at 7:30. Senator Culbert Olson, George

Davis (Mooney's attorney), George Rob-

erts (Rubber Workers International repre-

sentative) will speak, and the new motion

picture taken recently in the San Francisco

County Jail, a talking film, will be shown.

J. W. Gillette of the State Federation of

Labor will be chairman. There will also be

a musical program furnished by the Musi-

cians' Association. Admission will be free.

AMERICA - EUROPE

1936

By Dr. Clinton J. Taft

The Story of a Three-Months' Tour

Through America and Nine Countries

of Europe. 48 Pages, 20 Chapters -

11 of Them Describing Conditions in

Soviet Russia.

- PRICES -

Single Copies 25c - Five Copies for $1.00 4

'10 Copies, $1.75 - 100 Copies, $15.00 - Postpal

Order from the Author,

624 American Bank Bldg., Los Angeles

ee nit

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