Open forum, vol. 23, no. 13 (March, 1946)

THE OPEN FORUM

Official Organ of THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, Southern California Branch

`When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle,

then evil men prevail.''"-Pearl Buck

VOL. XXIII

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, MARCH 30,

1946 No. 13

ACLU. Intervenes

For Labor's Rights

Works for Recognized Principles

In Pittsburg, Philadelphia and

New York.

PrrrssurcH, Pa.-Representatives of

the American Civil Liberties Union here

have been instructed to support in the

Pennsylvania Supreme Court the refusal

of Judge Smart of the local Court of Com-

mon Pleas to issue an injunction for-

bidding mass picketing in the Westing-

house strike. The judge held on February

28 that the mass picketing complained of

did not amount to seizure of the plant,

and therefore could no be enjoined. Ap-

parently non-strikers are permitted access

through picket lines. The company ap-

pealed.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held

on February 18, on an appeal involving

an injunction against the Pittsburgh local

of the CIO Steelworkers Union, that mass

picketing could be enjoined as constitut-

ing seizure where the picketing blocked

access to the plant.

In Philadelphia ACLU attorney Wil-

liam Woolston intervened in a hearing on

February 28 of ten General Electric pick-

ets and union officials charged with con-

spiracy to violate a mass picketing injunc-

tion. Ina memorandum to the local court

the ACLU limited itself to pointing out

that the defendents were entitled to a

jury trial under Pennsylvania law. The

law provides such trials for contempt of

court "not committed in the presence of

the court". The jury trials were granted

by Judge Bluett.

In New York an invitation from the

New York CIO Council for the ACLU to

participate in a mass meeting on March 6

to "mobilize" against violations of civil

liberty on picket lines in New York, New

Jersey, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere was

answered with a statement that the

ACLU was ready to join any "well-con-

sidered move to oppose police brutality

or unreasonable injunctions against pick-

eting." The ACLU pointed out, however,

that the tactics of some unions in barring

Americans."

CALL FOR AMNESTY

SeNATOR Davin I. Wausu of Massa-

chusetts, in answer to a letter from one

of his constituents, replied: "I am in sym-

pathy with your views in respect to am-

nesty restoring civil rights to the war ob-

jectors and Selective Service violators of

World War II."

L. A. PresByTERIANS: A petition re-

questing amnesty for war - objectors,

"guilty of no moral offense," was ad-

dressed to the President by a meeting of

the Los Angeles Presbytery last month.

According to the Religious News Service,

the meeting represented 125. churches

with 70,000 members.

Tue NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

of the Socialist Party, U.S.A., meeting at

Madison, Wisc., in `December, recom-

mended to its members, its locals and its

friends, urgent activity directed toward

pressure for amnesty for the conscienti-

ous objectors, including Jehovah's Wit-

nesses, now confined in prisons, military

or civil, with restoration of their civil

rights.

Rep. CLARE BootHeE Luce of Connecti-

cut, read into the Congressional Record

of Jan. 16 a report of the Department of

Christian Social Relations and Local

Church Activities of the Methodist

Church, on "A Social Creed For All

Mrs. Luce said: "Here is

the conscience of American at work... .

This is as comprehensive and as Chris- .

(Continued on page 2, column 3)

access to struck plants "invite the very

excesses which you condemn."

The ACLU declined to participate in

debate at the meeting on the ground that

trade union policy "is not properly our

concern". A letter to the CIO Council

declared that "it is a matter of regret to

us that union leaders in many instances

did not so regulate picketing as to avoid

the consequences of a refusal to accord

the right of acces to non-strikers. It has

been a mater of equal regret that some

courts went far beyond the implications

of our position to prohibit mass picketing

altogether."

ACLU To Seek

Citizenship For Issei

Prepares Court Test Of Right

Of Parents Of Heroic Nisei To

Citizenship.

Can America go on denying citizenship

to men and women who have reared

typically American families, members of

which, despite the worst kind of discrim-

ination, entered the armed services and

served with unequalled heroism? That

question is to have its day in court-prob-

ably the United States Supreme Court-

as a result of the action of the Executive

Committee of the Southern California

Branch in authorizing its Counsel, A. L.

Wirin to prepare a test of existing pro-

hibitive laws.

TypicaL CASES

Three Issei families are to be -used as

exhibits of the unfairness of present citi-

zenship laws. The X- family will serve

as an illustration. The father came from

Japan in 1899 and was followed by his

young wife seven years later. While help--

ing to make a garden spot of what is now

one of California's finest valleys, they

reared eight children that would be a

credit to any community. The eight of

them were graduated from a nearby high

school. All four sons entered the United

States Army. One paid the full price of

his devotion while serving in Italy with

the most decorated group in the USS.

forces, and was posthumosly decorated

by the famous General (Vinegar Joe)

Stillwell. From the first the parents did

their utmost to make good Americans of

their children while they were denied the

coveted prize of citizenship in the land of

their adoption.

NATION-WIDE EFFORT

The court action on part of the local

branch of the ACLU is but a part of a

nation-wide movement to secure justice

for long resident Japanese who have

demonstrated their right to be recog-

nized as Americans. In a letter to the

United Stats Congress, the American

Corhmittee for Protection of Foreign

Born, petitioned for Citizenship for non-

PAGE TWO

THE OPEN FORUM

citizen Americans of Japanese descent

who participated actively in support of

the war against Japan.

The letter, which was sent to the Com-

mittee on Immigration of the United

States Senate and to the Committee on

Immigration and Naturalization of the

House of Representatives, follows:

"We wish to bring to the special atten-

tion of the Committee on Immigration ,

and Naturalization of the House of Rep-

resentatives the problem of those non-

citizen Americans of Japanese descent

who participated actively in support of

the war against Japan and Germany.

"Many of these non-citizens worked for

the Office of War Information, the War

Department, the Office of Strategic Ser-

vices, and other war-time government

agencies. They contributed immeasur-

ably to our victory in the war against the

Axis. Their loyalty to the United States

during the war was based on their sup-

port of our democratic institutions.

F'AcEeD PossiBLE EXECUTION

"Many of these non-citizens faced exe-

cution if captured by the Japanese forces

during the war. But, they were ready to

sacrifice their lives in defense of the

United States, the land of their adoption.

"Today these non-citizens find that

they are barred from becoming Ameri-

can citizens because of their race. Many

of them even face deportation from the

United States for illegal entry despite

their service during the war.

"We feel that the war-time service of

Japanese-American aliens should be rec-

ognized by the Congress of the United

States. We petition your Committee to

initiate appropriate legislation to grant

American citizenship to Japanese-Ameri-

can aliens who contributed to our victory

in the recent war."

NO DISCRIMINATION

Miami-The globe-girdling Pan Ameri-

can airways system last week boasted of

its 17-year-old non-discrimination policy,

which is credited to its founder, Juan T.

Trippe, president.

A spokesman for the company said,

"Pan American World airways bears no

discrimination as to the color, race or

creed of its passengers," and added that

"this policy of complete non-discrimina-

tion is also observed in our employment

of personnel."

The company shows absolutely no dis-

crimination against the several hundred

colored men and women it employes

here, he declared. "They enjoy the same

rights, privileges and benefits that are

given to all other employes."

YW CAS TS

TO INTEGRATE

NEGRO WOMEN

Atuantic Crry, N. J.-With only a few

scattered votes in opposition the 3000

delegates representing 434 Y.W.C.A.

communities at the 17th annual conven-

tion held here, adopted a 35-point pro-

gram recommending inclusion of Negro

women and girls "into a full share in as-

sociation and community life."

The recommendations were made by

the Y.W.C.A. national board and, though

they were concerned primarily with the

joining of white and Negro activities,

there was a provision for further integra-

tion "of other minority races into the

associations."

_ One recommendation suggested that

"in communities where because of rigid

patterns of separation it may not now be

possible for white and N egro women and

girls to be members of the same groups,

interclub council processes and other in-

tergroup activities be consciously em-

ployed to bridge the gaps between

B

groups.

ARE OFFICERS

RESPONSIBLE?

Whether a military commander is sub-

ject to a suit for damages for the forcible

exclusion from California of an American

citizen, against whom the military author-

ities had issued an individual exclusion

order, is the question which Federal

Judge Pierson M. Hall was called upon

to decide when the case of Homer G.

Wilcox against General J. L. DeWitt was

heard in the Federal Court in Los

Angeles, on March 25th. Wilcox, an asso-

ciate of "Mankind United", a California

religious organization, was forcibly re-

moved by a squad of soldiers from his

home in San Diego to Arizona following

an order for his removal issued by Gen-

eral DeWitt.

The case will serve as a precedent to

determine the liability of military officers

in the enforcement of removal orders;

and it will involve the question as to

whether military officers are equally lia-

ble for damages in the enforcement of the

exclusion orders against Japanese resi-

dents.

The case is a test case; and according

to Attorney A. L. Wirin, Counsel for Wil-.

cox, will be taken to the Supreme Court

of the United States, if necessary. The

Southern California Branch of the Ameri-

can Civil Liberties Union is cooperatin

in the case.

oC

o

WASHINGTON - The Senate went the

House one better recently, passing and

returning to the House a bill authorizing

the government to contribute $100,000,-

000 annually to state-operated free school

lunch programs for needy children.

The House measure, violently debated

before passage, had squeezed through

authorizing $50,000,000. Both measures

bar aid to schools or states discriminating

against children on the basis of race,

creed, or color.

(Continued from page 1, column 2)

_tian a program as any Memeber of this

House is likely to come upon in this ses-

sion of Congress." The reporte mentioned

the support of the Commission on World

Peace of the Methodist Church for a

Christmas amnesty, and recommended

personal letters to the President as evi-

dence of "a desire to implement religious

freedom."

Tue Catuotic Worker (New York),

January, 1946, urges support of the Com-

mittee For Amnesty. Referring to the

support of Bishop Edwin V. O'Hara to

the letter presented to President Truman

by the American Civil Liberties Union,

the paper printed a petition to the Presi-

dent for the release of political prisoners.

BotsE Vattey Heratp (Middleton,

Idaho), January 17, 1946: After mention-

ing the recent amnesty in behalf of ex-

convicts who served meritoriously in the

armed forces, the editor said: "At the

same time, the President and presumably

his advisers were deaf to the fact that

more than 8000 men who acted from

idealistic and human-interest motives"

were still in prison.

Wuy? (A Bulletin of Free Inquiry,

New York), Jan.-Feb., 1946: "The war to

end fascism has resulted in a greater ex-

tension of fascism. . . . What was done

for freedom's cause? Very little - most

men bowed their heads and submitted

meekly to the yoke of the State - most

men offered no resistance and allowed

themselves to be herded like sheep into

the armies. However, some men did re:

sist, and they were persecuted for this

resistance. .. . Something must be done

to help these men. We must open. the

jails."

THE AMERICAN Crvit Liserties Union

stands against "all forms of compulsion

on religious conscience . . . and release

from prison of all genuine objectors."

(See 1945-46 Program. )

HAVE YOU WRITTEN President Truman

and your representative in Congress.

a ms rn etal

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1

THE OPEN FORUM

THE OPEN FORUM

OFFICIAL ORGAN

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BRANCH

Aaron Allen Heist, Director-Editor

CLINTON J. TAFT, Director Emeritus

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Dr. E, P. RYLAND Pror. Ropert Emerson

Chairman Morrison Hanpsaker

A, L, Wirtn, Counsel Rev. ALLAN Hunter

JouN C, Packarp J. W. MacNair

Treasurer Carny McWi.ilamMs

Mrs. JOHN BEARDSLEY

Dr. OLiver H. Bronson

REUBEN, BorouGH

FLoyp Covincton

Loren MiILier

Rozert Morris

GLENN SMILEY

Mrs. Ratpyu Smitu

J.B. Tintrz

Published every Saturday at

Room 501, 257 South Spring Street

Los Angeles 12

Phone TUcker 8514

One Dollar the year.

Five cents per copy.

Entered as second-class matter Hecenies 18, 1924, at

the post office of Los Angeles, California., under

the Act of March 8, 1879.

Los Angeles, California, March 30, 1946

"IT IS ALWAYS EASIER to fight for one's

principles than to live up to them."-

Alfred Adler,

"The education in the obvious we need

today is education of the people-to the

end that they may educate their repre-

sentatives-that our problems won't sim-

ply correct themselves."-Oliver Wendell

Holmes.

Tue KFAC Open Forum next Sunday

evening will consider the question, "Shall

Communists be allowed to hold public

office." Clore Warne and A. IL. Wirin will

support the affirmative and John Lechner

and some other speaker will take the neg-

ative. While Mr. Wirin will be speaking

as a private individual his comment is

likely to express the principles of civil

liberty,

"In his book: Science, Religion and the

Future, Dr. C. E. Raven, eminent scien-

tist and one of England's leading religi-

ous thinkers, blames both science and

religion for the catastrophes that have

overtaken the world. He points to the

failure of both scientific and religious

Men and Movements whose duty it was

to direct the thought of mankind. He

held the intellectual and religious teach-

ers of the world responsible for the in-

ability of mankind to make sense out of

this world."

"GOOD SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS will

henceforth include a goodly number of

colored voters-at least in Florida. Ac-

cording to word reaching headquarters in

Miami the registration of Negro voters

for city, county, and state elections in

West Palm Beach outnnmber whites by

almost 2 to 1. It is estimated that of the

2,800 persons who have registered since

the books opened January 2, three-

fourths are colored. Practically all Ne-

groes are signing up as Democrats. Some

"lily-whites" may be wishing they had

lived in Hiroshimo.

PRESIDENT TRUMAN remains firtnly back

of FEPG legislation.-Sounding the key-

note of a great rally in Madison Square

Garden recently, Secretary of Labor

Schellenbach said, "I come here tonight

clothed with full authority to speak on

behalf of President Truman. I come with

authority to tell you that he is just as

determined. as was his predecessor that

this fair employment practices principle

be enacted into law by the Congress of

the United States. And he intends to

carry on that fight just as did Franklin

D. Roosevelt."

BUILD DEMOCRACY

ZOE ONT

There is one important thing you and

I, as individuals, can do about the com-

plex and baffling problems that keep us

uneasy these days. Perfect here at home

the kind of democracy we want to see

prevail abroad. The moral leadership

America should give the world can come

only if we ourselves learn to live togeth-

er, despite differences of race, origin and

religion, in a spirit of genuine equality.

Yet even here in the United States, equal

opportunities are denied all too many

Americans because they happen tobe

darker skinned, or speak with an accent,

or share a minority faith.

Our victories over intolerance abroad

are only half won as long as Jim-Crow-

ism, anti-Semitism, Bilboism, and preju-

dice against Japanese-Americans are ac-

tive at home. These are not just "minor-

ity problems." They hit us all. Either our

generation must overcome them, or our

children will face a third world conflict.

-Common Council for American Unity.

INVOLVES "PERNICOUS

CONSEQUENCES!"

There quite evidently is a common

source for the type of resolutions now

being widely adopted. In the name of

democracy SOHIC groups are seeking to

create impatient dissatisfaction with the

PAGE THREE

process of American democracy. In the

interests of getting what they want they

seek to shortcurcuit constitutional safe-

guards.

The action reported taken by the Los

Angeles Area Convention of the Ameri-

can Veterans Committee is a case in

point. The phraseology is familiar-" The

time has come for a concept of civil lib-

erties whereby we may be enabled to

prevent the prostitution of our precious

freedoms for the very purpose of destroy-

ing them."

Two things must not be forgotten in

this connection. First, the people really

back of these resolutions have had to be

protected in their right to carry on in a

way which most Americans felt was a

"prostitution of our precious freedoms for

the very purpose of destroying them."

Second, any new concept of civil liberties

-if American-will have to square with

our constitution as interpreted by our

Supreme Court. Distasteful as Smiths

et al may be to some of our modern pat-

riots he and his kind are a small price for

the great heritage of free speech, and that

price we shall have to pay if we are to

continue to enjoy our rights. Benjamin

Franklin's words come back to us "Of

course, the abuse of free speech should be

suppresser but to whom dare we entrust

the task?" And Justice Murphy support-

ing the unanimous decision of the Su-

preme Court in setting aside a state law

punishing the distribution of literature

"calculated to encourage disloyalty" well

said, "An American citizen has the right

to discuss these matters either by tem-

perate reasoning or by immoderate and

vicious invective..."

Then.there stands the Gibraltar of our

liberties-the decision of the Supreme

Court after the "war necessity" short cuts

of the Civil War-"Those great and good

men foresaw that troublous times would

arise, when rulers and people would be-

come restive under restraint, and seek

sharp and decisive measures to accom-

plish ends deemed just and proper; and

that the principles of constitutional lib-

erty would be in peril, unless established

by irrepealable law. The history of the

world has taught them that what was

done in the past might be attempted in

the future. The Constitution of the Uni-

ted States is a law for rulers and people.

equally in war and in peace, and covers

with the shield of its protection all class

of men, at all times, and under all cir-

cumstances. No doctrine, involving more

pernicious consequences, was ever in-

vented by the wit of man than that any

of its provisions can be suspended during

any of the great exigencies of govern-

ment."-Ex Parte Milligan.

ENJOY THEIR RIGHTS

AGAIN

SAN Dieco, CatirorntA-Americans of

Japanese ancestry returned to the Cali-

fornia tuna fishing industry this week

when the San Diego tuna clipper, the

Costa Rica, went to sea with a full crew

of American fishermen of Japanese an-

cestry.

Operations by commercial fishermen

of Japanese ancestry were suspended

with the outbreak of war. Until the war

the industry had employed several thous-

and Japanese and Japanese Americans

whose fishing craft were based in San

Diego, Los Angeles and Monterey har-

bors.

Although Americans of Japanese an-

cestry were permitted to return to the

West Coast after January 2, 1945, Navy

and Coast Guard restrictions prohibited

their participation in waterfront opera-

tions until October.

NEGROES SUE FOR FALSE

ARREST

Forr LAUDERDALE, FLorRIDA-The mass

false arrests of Negroes here in 1944 un-

der Sheriff Walter R. Clark's work-or-

fight edict may cost $45,000 to Deputies

Robert L. Clark and A. D. Marshall and

to J. Dewey Hawkins, wealthy farmer.

The damage suit is a part of an effort

to break up a good old Southern game of

having Negroes arrested for vagrancy if

they refused to work. In this case Haw-

kins wanted bean pickers but a dozen

Negroes approached pointed out that

they could not earn enough picking in a

field twice picked over. Some of the men

were regularly employed as union long-

shoremen passessing ample means of

support.

Turns. Down Rep Cross - Replying

that his college could not "lend its sup-

port in discrimination of any kind," Pres-

ident Edward J. Sparling of Roosevelt

College, Chicago, turned down a prof-

fered Red Cross chapter for his chool.

Roosevelt College is the husky successor

to the Chicago YMCA College which

discriminated against Negroes only to

have its president and student body re-

sign enmass. "

PAGE FOUR

- THE OPEN FORUM

AMERICAN VETERANS

The newly organized Veterans for

Equality are not banding together for

selfish advantage but to promote the most

needed principles of Americanism. Said

Don Merrick, president of the group.

"Ours is an integral group including

Caucasians, Negroes, Mexican Americans,

Nisei and Filipinos. We are interested in

all questions facing minority race veter-

ans.

"One of our principal aims on a nation-

al scale will be to assist Negro veterans in

the South," he declared. "We want to

help veterans of all minority groups take

their rightful place in a democratic Amer-

ica.

CANCELLED CHECKS are receipts. Unless

receipts are especially requested we shall

save postage by not sending them to any

one contributing to our work by check.

Incidentally contributors need not write

out the long name of our organization.

Just ACLU is sufficient.

DRAFT `LAW APPEAL

Are persons detained in Relocation

Centers subject to the Draft Law? That

question finally reached the Federal

Court of Appeals in Los Angeles this

week on appeal from a one year jail sen-

tence imposed by Federal Judge David

Ling on three Posten evacuees, Hideichi

Takeguma, Yasute F ujioka and Kingo

Tajii. A. L. Wirin is their attorney.

The decision of the Court of Appeals

will affect the lot of approximately one

hundred Japanese boys formerly at Pos-

ton, whose cases are pending before

Judge Ling, awaiting the decision of the

Court of Appeals in the three test cases.

The Federal Court of Appeals at Den-

ver, Colorado, in the case of seven lead-

ers of the Heart Mountain Fair Play

Committee has ruled that urging persons

not to comply with Draft Board orders,

merely to secure a test case, did not con-

stitute a conspiracy to violate the Draft

Law. The seven were released last week

from the Federal Penitentiary at Ft.

Leavenworth.

money, wrote a Pomona contributor.

civic leader.

proportunately.

circulation.

within the next ten days.

12, California.

"LET'S KEEP THE FORUM

On Its Present Weekly Basis"

Writes a Supporter

"We Must Make It a Bi-Weekly Publication"

Answers The Executive Committee

"We hope you get the 100 FIVES. Yes, many more! If people could realize

what you are doing for them, I'm sure more would give financial aid . . .

Hundreds of purses ought to be opened and turned upside down so the

entire contents thereof could go for the great purposes for which you use

"You have made the FORUM a newsy, readable and thought provoking

little paper. We need it every week," said a leading Los Angeles attorney and

But Here Are Chilling Facts:

Printing costs alone have risen much beyond returns at $1.00 per sub-

scriber, and as our circulation is steadily increasing mailing costs are rising

Responses to our appeal for "additional" gifts have been nowhere near

enough to meet the estimated deficit created by increased costs and growing

| In view of these facts the Executive Committee had to vote to make the

OPEN FORUM a Bi-Weekly publication. Hence beginning with April we

shall issue on the first and third Saturdays UNLESS

Subscribers Move a Reconsideration

The editor believes that the Committee will restore the weekly status

as soon as finances permit. TO KEEP THE OPEN FORUM A WEEKLY

there must be gifts or pledges of $25, $50, and $100, totaling $500

Write checks to ACLU, Room 501, 257 Spring Street, Los Angeles