Open forum, vol. 18, no. 48 (November, 1941)

HE OPEN FORU

Free Speech - Free Press - Free Assemblage _

) "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty''--John Philpot Curran

LOS ANGELES,CALIFORNIA, NOVEMBER 29, 1941

' --

DIRECTOR'S REPORT CALLS

| COUNTRY CALM DESPITE CRISIS

America is calm in the midst of the na-

tional debate on the threatening conflict,

but "ominous tendencies" imperilling our

civil liberties "clearly mark the scene,"

`Roger N. Baldwin, director of the Ameri-

can Civil Liberties Union, reported at a

luncheon in his honor last week at the

Town Hall Club.

Addressing members of the board and

friends of the Union upon his return from

a four-weeks' coast-to-coast tour of the

country in behalf of the A.C.L.U., Mr.

Baldwin said that, ``on the whole, the pro-

cesses of debate and dissent are reasonably

intact. The calmness is marked, however,

by a growing apprehension both as to the

Administration's policies and public intol-

erance in the critical days ahead." The

Rev. John Haynes Holmes, chairman of the

board, presided at the luncheon, which was

attended by 200 guests.

In his "Report from the Country," Mr.

Baldwin said, in part:

Coast-to-coast contacts with people in

all walks of life reveal an amazing calm-

ness in the midst of the most critical debate

in American history. The national tem-

perature has not risen. There is no excite-

ment even on the Pacific Coast in the face

of threatened conflict with Japan. The in-

terventionists and anti-interventionists de-

bate without bitterness. The whole climate

of public opinion is free from the kind of

hysteria which marked similar days in

1917,

"This extraordinary temper is to be ac-

counted for, I think, by the fact that peo-

ple feel the issues too big for control by

debate and discussion. The world situation

has got beyond them, resulting in the

numbness induced by the long strain of re-

curring crises. The net effect, so far as civil

liberties are concerned, is an unusual toler-

ance. I encountered no spirit of vigilantism

anywhere. Hositility to unpopular minori-

ties has declined. Jehovah's Witnesses, as

the most conspicuous victims on account of

their refusal to salute the flag, are suffer-

ing less interference than in months. There

is little anti-alien feeling and comparatively

little anti-Semitism.

"But ominous tendencies clearly mark

the scene. Interests hostile to civil liberties

are in commanding positions in many state

defense councils. A formidable public

opinion favoring suspension of liberties in

crisis is directed chiefly against the right

of labor to strike. Hositility to Communists

has not decreased since the entry of Rus-

Sla into the war, and they are everywhere

tending to disguise their activities under

Professedly non-partisan auspices. Consid-

erable fear is expressed in liberal circles

throughout the country against the activi-

lies of the F.B.I. in investigating subversive

activities and opinions. Resistance to en-

troachments on liberties is obviously likely

to be less and public attention to them com-

Paratively slight in view of preoccupation

with the international scene."

Meee Southern Calif. Branch, Seeks

Aid of U.S. Att'y Gen'l in C.O. Case

Referring Methodist Critics of the Sentencing of Kuhns to the F.B.I.

for Investigation Branded as Suppressive Tactics by Local U.S. Attorney

In his nation-wide radio address last

week former President Herbert Hoover

said: "Even today. our country is justly

alarmed that freedom is slipping in Amer-

ica. Truly under intolerance we are slip-

ping in the freedom of expression."

Kividence of the truth of this statement

was furnished here in Southern California

last week by the action taken by U.S. At-

torney William Fleet Palmer. A committee

of leading Methodists had criticised the

sending of H. Welty Kuhns, conscientious

objector, to a federal prison for two years.

Palmer resented such criticism and turned

over to the F.B.I. the matter for investiga-

tion.

The Southern California Branch of the

A.C.L.U., believing that Palmer was using

a method violative of the freedom guaran-

teed by the Bill of Rights, sent the follow-

ing message to Attorney General Biddle,

Washington, D. C., signed by Dr. E. P. Ry-

land, Chairman of the Executive Com., Dr.

Clinton J: Taft, Director, and Atty. A. L.

Wirin, Counsel:

U. S. Atty. General's Aid Asked

"United States Attorney William Fleet

Palmer at Los Angeles today announced

that he `had turned over to the F.B.I. an

investigation of circumstances behind the

resolution adopted by a committee repre-

senting the Southern California-Arizona

Conference of the Methodist Church.'

"The action taken by that conference

committee consisted of the adoption of a

resolution which charged that the sentence

of H. Welty Kuhns, University of Redlands

student, to a two-year federal prison term

upon his refusal to be inducted into the

army after classification as a conscientious

objector had been rejected, `was a miscar-

riage of justice.' Palmer is quoted in the

press as having stated:

" "We are undertaking this investigation

to ascertain if any action was taken in this

case or others to advise young men about

complying with the Selective Service Act.

If any advice was given contrary to law the

Federal grand jury will be asked to take

action.'

"We earnestly urge you, as Mr. Palmer's

superior, and as responsible for the policies

of the Department of Justice, to cause an

investigation into Mr. Palmer's announce-

ments and upon the completion of the in-

vestigation, to repudiate Mr. Palmer's

statements as without authority from the

Department, and not in accordance with

the Department's policy.

"We have no objection to a thorough-

going investigation by the F.B.I. or anyone

else into acts of anyone constituting viola-

tions of the terms of the Selective Service

Act.

"Mr. Palmer's announcement, however,

is calculated to intimidate law-abiding, and

particularly religious, leaders and organi-

zations from expressing themselves upon

the administration of the Selective Service

Act; and from the calling of the attention

of the public to miscarriage of justice in the

enforcement of-that Act as to conscientious

objectors. We believe that maximum pub-

lic discussion of the conduct of government

officers, whether in the administration of

the Selective Service Act or in enforcement

of any other national policy, is the more

imperative today, in our present national

emergency, if the democratic process is to

survive assaults from its enemies both from

abroad and within.

"Your staunch belief in civil liberties en-

courages us to believe that you will take

immediate, forthright and vigorous action

in this matter."

Methodists Unafraid

Despite the threat of being investigated

by the F.B.I., the Methodists who have been

backing young Kuhns do not show any

signs of backing down. Said Bishop James

C. Baker, when informed that he and other

leading churchmen were being investi-

gated: "They can investigate all they want

to, but it is indeed strange if American

citizens cannot try to find a cure for what

seems to us an injustice."

Dr. Willsie Martin, pastor of the Wilshire

Methodist Church in Los Angeles and a

member of the committee, declared: "I am

- not a pacifist and am known in the church

(Continued on Page 2)

A.C.L.U. OFFERS SPEAKERS FOR

BILL OF RIGHTS ANNIVERSARY

The American Civil Liberties Union,

Southern California Branch, urges

churches, clubs and groups of all kinds to

arrange for a fitting celebration of the

150th anniversary of the Bill of Rights on

the 15th of December or sometime near

that date.

We have speakers whom we can offer

such groups gratuitously within the limits

of the city of Los Angeles. A small charge

would be made to cover expenses in case

the speaker were required to journey to

another city.

Among those who have volunteered for

such service are Dr. E. P. Ryland, Attorney

EK. W. Camp, Mrs. John Beardsley, Attor-

ney A. L Wirin, Rev Raymond Kinney;

Frank Barry, Jr., and Dr. Clinton J. Taft.

Please communicate with our office (MU-

tual 2412) soon if your organization desires

a speaker. Fis

We would further recommend that all

radio broadcasters, platform speakers,

teachers, ministers and others who address

the public take advantage of the anniver-

sary to give their listeners some wholesome

education as to the origin of our funda-

mental freedoms and the importance of

preserving them intact during this period

of crisis through which we are passing.

sees a passin

ara

Page 2

THE OPEN FORUM

THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 505 Douglas Building,

257 South Spring Street, Los Angeles, California by

the Southern California Branch of the American

Civil Liberties Union. Phone: MUtual 2412

ISINg toll Ue eht ca port ce ty een ce Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz

Doremus Scudder A. A. Heist Carey McWilliams

Leo Gallagher Ernest Besig

John Packard Edwin Ryland

A. L. Wirin

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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.

A ++

LOS ANGELES, CALIF., NOV. 29, 1941

MINNESOTA SEDITIOUS

CONSPIRACY TRIAL DRAGS

ON INTO FIFTH WEEK

The first few weeks of the "sedition"

trial in Minneapolis, where 28 defendants

are being prosecuted for conspiracy to

overthrow the government, saw the prose-

cution introduce a mass of radical literature

into evidence, while the defense claimed

that opinions, not acts, were on trial. Vin-

cent Johnson, Minneapolis attorney, is ob-

serving the Federal Court proceedings for

the American Civil Liberties Union, which

will test the constitutionality of the sedi-

tion law in the event of conviction.

According to the government, the theo-

ries of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trosky are

conspiratorial. U.S. Attorney Victor And-

erson charged the Socialist Workers Party,

members of which are on trial, with advo-

cating these theories. Much of the govern-

ment's tangible evidence of conspiracy con-

sists of excerpts from books which have

been classics of the socialist movement for

decades.

The American Civil Liberties Union

wrote to Attorney General Biddle on Au-

gust 2, declaring that the government ap-

peared to have "injected itself into an

inter-union controversy in order to promote

the interests of the one side which support-

ed the administration's foreign and domes-

tic policies."' The letter, which was signed by

the Rev. John Haynes Holmes, Chairman

of the Board of the A.C.L.U., Arthur Gar-

field Hays, general counsel of the Union,

and Roger Baldwin, its director, urged Mr.

Biddle to withdraw the case .

Five of the 28 defendants were cleared

of guilt and released following the pre-

sentation of the government's side. The

defense is now submitting its evidence.

DISMISSED TEACHER

AIDED BY AMERICAN

CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

The New York City Civil Liberties Com-

mittee will offer its services as a friend of

the court when argument is heard in the

Supreme Court of New York on a motion

to order the Board of Education to rein-

state David Goldway, dismissed instructor

at Townsend Harris Hall. Hearing on the

motion is scheduled for Dee. 5.

Goldway was discharged after refusing

to sign a waiver of immunity when asked

to testify before the Rapp-Coudert Com-

mittee investigating alleged subversive in-

fluences in the New York school system.

The Civil Liberties Committee is assisting

in his court test of the dismissal on the

ground that the waiver offered him was too

broad, and hence violated his constitutional

rights of immunity. It is claimed that the

waiver he was asked to sign covered sub-

jects outside the scope of the Rapp-Coudert

Committee's investigation.

COMMISSIONER REBUKED FOR

STAND ON PARK MEETINGS

In reply to Park Commissioner Robert

Moses' published letter answering a re-

quest for information on the recent banning

of spontaneous informal meetings at Union

Square, Osmond K. Fraenkel, counsel to

the New York City Civil Liberties Commit-

tee, charged the commissioner had `"en-

tirely missed the point" of the committee's

inquiry. Mr. Fraenkel in a letter to Mr.

Moses characterizing the commissioner's

answer as "insulting and uninformative,"

said the Civil Liberties Committee was con-

cerned solely with ``the apparently new

practice of breaking up discussion groups

which frequently form spontaneously in

the park.

Mr. Moses' reply, the letter declared,

was addressed to a question with which

the New York Committee was not con-

cerned, scheduled public meetings for

which permits are necessary.

Mr. Fraekel pointed out that, in reply to

an identical inquiry from the Civil Liberties

Committee, Police Commissioner Lewis J.

Valentine immediately sent a represen-

tative to confer with Mr. Victor S. Gettner,

of the committee board, to explain the pol-

icy regarding informal meetings in Union

Square.

Mr. Fraenkel's letter to Mr. Moses said

that, "while it is, of course, proper for a

public official to justify his actions before

the public when he has been criticized, it

seems to me that it is incumbent upon such

public official to defend his position in a

reasonable and temperate manner. Indeed,

in this particular instance I see no reason

why any public statement on your part was

necessary at all. The basis for the new

practice has since been explained to Mr.

Gettner by the representative of the Police

Department. It could as well have been

explained by you without the unseemly

letter which you wrote."

a

CIVIL LIBERTIES FRONT

Persons accused of certain categories of

crimes in Maryland are not definitely en-

titled to have counsel employed for them

when they are unable to retain attorneys,

Chief Judge Carroll T. Bond, of the Court

of Appeals, ruled in a test case brought by

the Maryland branch of the A.C.L.U. Jesse

Slingluff, Jr., lawyer for the branch, will

appeal the case, following denial of a

habeas corpus writ for Smith Betts, who is

serving an eight-year penitentiary sentence

for a hold-up.

Ten men were indicted in Roxboro, N. C:,

on a misdemeanor charge growing out of

the attempted lynching of a Negro. Judge

Henry A. Gray, of the Superior Court, con-

gratulated the grand jury which brought

in the indictment, saying: "It will be a

lesson against mob violence."

The CIO will appeal conviction of four-

teen International Harvester strikers who

allegedly resisted police action during a

picket line fight in Richmond, Ind. Twenty-

three others were acquitted.

(Continued from Page 1)

conference as in favor of all-out aid to the

democracies. But as a member of this com-

mittee, my sole interest is to see that jus-

tice is done to a man with whose views I

disagree. Why spend billions for defense

if we abandon our democratic ideal of jus-

tice.

Mr. Kuhns has been transferred to the

federal penitentiary at Terminal Island,

but a move is under way to obtain a parole

for him and permit him to render "work

of national importance under civilian

direction."

ee,

JOHN STEINBECK'S FILM

PASSED BY HIGH BOAR"

Lifting of the censor's ban on "The For.

gotten Village," following protests by the |

Council on Freedom irom Censorship of

the American Civil Liberties Union, jg

hailed by Judge Dorothy Kenyon, who

wrote the Council's brief in the appeal to

the New York State Board of Regents, as

a "blow" to censorship of motion pictures

Censors of the Motion Picture Divisio,

of the State Department of Education bap.

ned the John Steinbeck-Herbert Kline pic.

ture last August, holding scenes showing g

woman in labor 2nd a nursinz mother were

"indecent" and "inhuman." The regents

reversed the censors and granted a license

to the documentary film of Mexican life,

despite a sub-committee of regents who had

viewed the picture previously and who had |

recommended sustaining the ban.

Judge Kenyon commented following the |

regents' action: "It is refreshing to leam

that the regents have overruled the very

narrow and, if I may say go, old-fash.

ioned, viewpoint of the censor. It is to be

presumed that their decision is based on

the broad principle that pictures are a

medium of education quite as much ag of

entertainment. I hope this decision will

contribute to the finish of movie censorship

in this state as well as in the six other

states."

A.C.L.U. ATTACKS "DUAL

CITIZENSHIP 'BILL

A vigorous protest is voiced by the Amer-

ican Civil Liberties Union against the "dual

citizenship" bill (HR 5879) now before

the Committee on Immigration and Natur. t

alization in the House of Representatives.

The bill provides that naturalized citizens

and native-born citizens of foreign parent-

age who also are considered subjects by

foreign countries may be required to affirm

or renounce allegiance to this country.

The Union's objections are contained in

a letter to Representative Samuel Dick-

stein, chairman of the House Committee,

from the Rev. John Haynes Holmes, chair-

man of `the board of the "A:C:Law oe

Holmes described the bill, which calls for

loss of nationality for refusal to take the

oath, as "a fantastic and disruptive meas-

ure out of all proportion to any legitimate

aims to be accomplished." Harassment of

American citizens and an unconstitutional

discrimination between natives of Ametri-

can and of foreign-born parentage would

result, Dr. Holmes charged. The bill was

also attacked as "extremely vague" and as

potentially `a powerful weapon in the

hands of the Immigration Service when di-

rected against those deemed undesirable

by the Service.

UNITARIAN PUBLIC FORUM

"Tomorrows's World Patterns"

As Evolving In

Politics: By Fleetwood Lawton

Radio Commentator, Journalist

Friday, Nov. 28, at 8:00 P.M.

Economics: By Prof. Dudley F. Pegrum

Chairman, Dep't of Economics,

kieOs tals

Friday, Dec. 5, at 8:00 P.M. f

Lecture Series Accepted by the Los Angeles

Teachers' Institute for Attendance Credit

Each Lecture, 40c

Reserved Seat, Series, $1.00

UNITARIAN CHURCH

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