vol. 4, no. 8

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

FREE SPEECH FREE PRESS FREE ASSEMBLAGE

“Eternal is the price of liberty.”

Vol. IV SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, AUGUST, 1939 No. 8

SUPPRESSIVE BILLS VETOED

Governor Olson Pocket Votoes Flag Salute Bill and Anti-Alien Measures

When Governor Culbert L. Olson: pocket vetoed four anti-civil liberties bills on July 25, the final record of the 1939 session of the State Legislature showed that not one suppressive measure had been enacted into law. On the other hand, only one minor bill in aid of civil liberties became law, and thus, as far as civil liberties are concerned, the past session ended as a virtual stalemate. The favorable measure amends the Eater Code to provide that, “No discrimination shall be made in the employment of persons upon public works because of the race, color or religion of such persons and every contractor for public works violating this section is subject to all the penalties imposed for a violation of this chapter.”

Flag Bill Vetoed

Outstanding among the four bills vetoed by Governor Olson is one of the most bitterly contested proposals of the session, -§. B. 310, by Senator Nielsen of Sacramento, .which permitted school boards to make rules and regulations governing the . flag salute, and which allowed students to be suspended or expelled for failing to -abide by such rules and regulations. Another flag salute bill was adopted by the Assembly, but it was killed in the Senate Education Committee.

Limitation of Relief to Aliens Loses

Two anti-alien bills were vetoed by the Governor. The most important was S. B. 470 by Senator Swing, which limited the granting of relief to aliens. The bill prohibited relief to the following classes of aliens:

1. Illegal entrants;

2. Those ineligible for citizenship, unless they had resided here more than five years;

3. Persons who had resided here more than five years without declaring their in- tention of becoming citizens;

4, Those who had declared their. intention of becoming citizens but who had ne- glected for five years or more thereafter to ‘take out a naturalization certificate, except “nersons eligible for citizenship and resi‘dents of this State for more than 20 years | who had declared their intention to become a citizen, but who have been denied a nat‘uralization certificate by the courts on the ground of long delay in making said application.”

Anti-Refugee Bill Killed

The second anti-alien bill vetoed by the Governor was directed at doctors who are refugees from fascist countries. This was A. B. 449 by red-baiter Chester Gannon of ‘Sacramento. It required every applicant for a doctor’s license to be a citizen of the United States.

The fourth bill to be pocket vetoed by the Governor was one that in its original form was in aid of civil liberties. A. B. 274 made it unlawful for any person to install a dictograph on any property without the consent of the owner, lessee or occupant. Un- fortunately, the Assembly Committee on Judiciary added an amendment exempting police officers. Some of the sting of this amendment was removed by a further amendment on the Senate floor declaring that ‘‘any information obtained by a peace officer or by any other person through the use of a dictograph without the consent of such owner, lessee or occupant shall not be admitted as evidence in any court.’”’ Since the amended bill was nevertheless in de(Continued on Page 2, Col. 1)

Another Appeal Taken In Graham Deportation Case

The Marcus Graham deportation case has once again been appealed to the United States Circuit Court of Appeal in San Francisco. The appeal followed a ruling by Federal Judge Harry Holzer adjudging Graham, philosophical anarchist, tempt for refusing to answer all questions put to him by an Immigrant Inspector in the twenty-year-old deportation proceedings:

Explaining its position in the case, the Southern California Branch of the A.C.L.U. declared as follows:

“With Graham’s refusal to recognize judicial authority in general, and to answer fair questions put to him in particular, we have neither concern nor sympathy. Were these the only. matters in issue, the A.C.L.U. would not continue active participation in the case, nor would we have heeded Graham’s appeal for help when first made to us over two years ago.

“We see in the deportation prosecution against Graham evidence of relentless, ma- licious and unconscionable hounding and persecution of Graham by the immigration officials, and particularly by an alien-baiting fascist-minded local immigrant inspec- tor, Albert Del Guercio; and we observe a shocking and indefensible official lawless- ness. We believe that Graham’s constitutional rights to freedom of speech and free- dom of the press have been violated, and that the execution of a twenty-year-old warrant of deportation would deny Graham certain fundamental rights which are part of the concept of ‘due process of law.’ We are convinced that the central issue in the case revolves about civil liberties guaranteed to Graham by the Bill of Rights as they are vouchsafed to all.”

Alien Registration: . Measure Opposed

Asserting that compulsory registration of aliens would promote prejudice and intol- erance, the American Civil Liberties Union has called upon progressive Senators to:de- feat a bill (S. 409) by Senator Robert R. Reynolds of North Carolina which has’ been reported by the Senate Committee on: Immigration and is expected shortly to reach - the floor of the Senate.

Other sections of the measure provide for the suspension for five years of all quota immigration, except the 10,000 German refugee children each year for the next two years—the amended WagnerRogers: proposal.

In letters to members of the Senate? 6pposing particularly the alien: repielretion section of the bill, the Union declared:

“Our objections to the bill are based on the provisions of that section which provide for compulsory registration of aliens. It would set up a vast system of federal espionage, and subject foreign-born. citizens as well as aliens to constant annoy- ance. It would promote prejudice and intolerance and might serve as a strike-breaking weapon by unscrupulous employers during industrial disputes. It would add to law- lessness and law evasion, crowding: sthe courts with petty cases, and would in: fact offer little check on illegal entry. Ws

“Compulsory registration of all: citizens would eventually result. Such an aim is openly admitted by many of the present advocates of the alien registration acts.’

The Union has sent to its Pennsylvania members an announcement offering to ‘handle in the courts without cost the case of any alien desiring to test the constitutionality of the statute recently passed’ by the Pennsylvania legislature requiring the reg- istration and finger-printing of all aliens. :

CHRYSLER WORKERS TO BE RETRIED IN LOS ANGELES “EXTORTION” CASE

Retrial of the Chrysler ‘‘extortion” case involving fifteen C.I.O. auto workers in con- nection with the solicitation of dues has been set for August 11th in the Los Angeles Superior Court, following the recent mistrial after ten days deliberations. The Southern California branch of the Civil Liberties Union will continue to cooneia in aiding the defense.

The jury’s announcement that. it was “hopelessly deadlocked”? marked the second setback to District Attorney Buron Fitts and his special anti-union prosecutor, Russell E. Parsons. A month ago, Superior Court Judge Kincaid, for the third time, dismissed an extortion indictment against Amalgamated Clothing Workers union leaders. Testimony in the Chrysler case exposed the efforts of the Neutral Thousands and other open shop interests to send labor leaders to the penitentiary on the “extortion” charges. Both C.I.O. and A.F.L. attorneys cooperated in the case.

Page2

LET FREEDOM RING

Civil Liberties Broadcast

A five-minute news broadcast on civil liberties can be heard each Sunday morning over Station KROW, 930 kilocycles, at 9:55 o’clock. The program is prepared by the national office of the A.C.L.U.

Bridges Witness A. C. L. U. Ganiticcman

Professor Harold Chapman Brown of Stanford University, member of the Executive Committee of the A.C.L.U., has been subpoened as an expert on Marxism by attorneys for Bridges in the current deporta. tion proceedings.

Professional Red-Baiter

Also subpoened as a defense witness in the Bridges case is Stanley M. (Larry) Doyle, professional red-baiter, whose name has been mentioned frequently in the proceedings as one who helped build the Government’s case against Bridges. Our readers will remember Doyle as the man who attacked Ernest Besig, local director of the Union, while the latter took motion pictures of a demonstration before the Nazi consulate in San Francisco on April 23, 1938. Besig secured a warrant for Doyle’s arrest, “which was never served because Doyle chose to leave town.

Doyle will also be remembered as the special prosecutor in the Portland, Oregon, Dirk DeJonge criminal syndicalism case, reversed by the U. S. Supreme Court, and as one of the defense attorneys in the prosecution against the Santa Rosa tar and feather party vigilantes. Doyle is a war veteran, one-time special agent for Goyernor Martin of Oregon, and admitted to the bar in several states. Ivan Francis Cox claims he was duped by Doyle and others into filing a fantastic $5,100,000 suit more than a year ago, charging he was the victim of a vast Communist plot.

Picketing Upheld As Free Speech

Antioch’s anti-picketing ordinance was declared unconstitutional by Superior Court Judge Thomas Johnston on July 6 as violating freedom of speech. The city will appeal the decision.

In Los Angeles, the Appellate Department of the Superior Court on July 18 ruled that the following two provisions of the L. A. anti-picketing ordinance are uncon- stitutional:

1. Restricting pickets to workers who are on strike; and,

2. Prohibiting picketing unless a majority of the workers are on strike. One of the three judges, B. Rey Schauer, in a concurring opinion, ruled that picketing is a form of freedom of speech.

571

Present paid-up membership of the local A.C.L.U. is 571, the highest in our history. May we again urge delinquent members to send in their renewals.

A.C.L.U. Meetings

E Plans are now being made for meetings in the bay region when Roger N. Baldwin, national director of the A.C.L.U., visits this. area from November 5-12. Persons who are interested in securing Mr. Baldwin as a speaker before their organizations should contact the office without delay. This will Seas Baldwin’s first visit to the coast since

S. F. District Attorney Investigates Alleged “Secret Fascist Army”

California’s ‘‘secret fascist army,” the United States Police Reserve Association, turned out to be a dream that never came true. Testifying before William J. Connolly, Assistant District Attorney of San Francisco, Major Richard L. Dinely, former Ma-. rine Corp officer, licensed munitions dealer and the founder of the Reserves, declared that instead of 6,000 members in Southern California and 3,000 “‘on call’’ in the bay area, as reported, “only a dozen persons have sent in their dues of $1.00.” He in- sisted that they have no uniforms or guns, that they have never held a meeting or -drilled, and that they have no mysterious financial backers. In fact, the venture has been a losing one because it cost Dinely $250 for printing circulars and other ex- penses.

Dinely and hig assistant, Sumner Dodge, who is alleged to be a member of the Silver Shirts, appeared at the District Attorney’s office in response to a citation issued upon the complaint of the A.C.L.U. That complaint called attention to a sensational story in the June 29 issue of Ken magazine which pictured the Reserves as a “‘secret fascist army,” and supported the charge with the reproduction of a letter written by Dinely to William Dudley Pelley, leader of the Silver Shirts, in which Dineley referred to his proposed organization as ‘‘an armed, uniformed body.’’ Since the Military and Veterans Code prohibits private military groups, the Union asked District Attorney Brady to investigate.

Ken Story Written by John Spivak

Dineley disclosed that he had given the story voluntarily to John Spivak, who told him frankly that he would “table-thump and breathe hard.’”’ Dineley had no objections because he wanted the publicity, but, of course, not the kind he received.

The affable and soft-spoken Mr. Dineley explained that the organization was his own brain child, which he outlined in 350 letters. to Chiefs of Police, Mayors and Chambers of Commerce from whom he received favorable responses. The by-laws of the Reserves explain its purposes in the following language: ‘‘The purposes of the Association being purely that of providing a trained emergency police reserve to assist the regularly constituted police authorities in time of local, state or national distress,

the members shall be subject to voluntary duty only and that. duty shall be done only in response to a call from the State Commander, who, when requested by proper authority of a political subdivision of the local government, may, at his option, re- quest authority from the Commandant to call upon the members of the Association to volunteer for duty. Such members, when so. volunteering for such duty, shall be sworn in, receive orders from, and properly execute the orders of, such properly constituted authority.

“No unit Commander will, under any circumstances other than a major catastrophe, mobilize his unit without authority of the State Commander, or, if and when so mobil- ized, exercise any independent authority unless there is an entire absence of regu- larly constituted police.”

Reserves Would Be Trained

The by-laws also make the following provision for training:

“The training of individual members of the Association will consist of lectures on emergency police duty, by members of the local regular police departments, military officers and officers of the Association and by the issue of manuals and pamphlets, and such training is to be entirely optional with the members.”

Dineley denied that his organization ‘is anti-Catholic or anti-Semitic, although he admitted that Negroes would be excluded. He volunteered the information that he appeared before the Dies Committee about his Reserves, but they “laughed it off.”

In consequence of the Ken story, patrioteer Sumner Dodge filed suit in the United States District court against the publishers for $1,100,000 damages to his reputation resulting from being called “rabidly antiCatholic and anti-Semitic.” Incidentally, when Dodge left the District Attorney’s office he gave Connolly a leaflet attacking Walter Winchell for his anti-Nazi activities.

And, in the meantime, Dineley also made the headlines over the discovery of a $70,000 arms cache in a Los Angeles warehouse upon which the Assessor sought to — levy a $1308.02 personal property tax. Din© eley finally paid, and that is the last story we hope of publicity-seeking Major Richard L. Dineley.

F.C. C. Withdraws Radio Censorship Rule At Hearing

As hearings based on a petition by the American Civil Liberties Union opened in Washington, the Federal Communications Commission announced suspension of its controversial rule requiring that international broadcasts “reflect the culture of this country” and ‘promote international good-will, understanding and cooperation.” The Union charged that enforcement of the rule, promulgated on May 23, opened the door to outright censorship of all broadcasts and held that the F.C.C. is forbidden by the Federal Communications Act from interfering with the rights of free speech.

Asserting that the Commission had no intention of setting itself up as a board of censorship, Acting Chairman Thad H. Brown of the F.C.C. suspended the regulation “pending an opportunity to hear and consider the evidence, views and arguments to be presented on the issues.’

“It is not the intention of the commission,” declared Mr. Brown, “ever to require the submission of any program contin‘uity or script for editing, modification or revision, or for any other purpose prior to its use by a station.”

First to be heard at the hearings, attorneys for the Civil Liberties Union contended that the rule “‘tends to deprive the American public, including the petitioner, of the right of free ,speech by means of radio communication.”

Opposition to the rule was led by the National Association of Broadcasters. The International Catholic Truth Society championed the regulation on the ground that it was necessary to promote good-will in South America.

LAST TWO GALLUP, NEW MEXICO, DEFENDANTS ARE PARDONED

After spending four years of their 45-60year sentences in state prison merely for being present at a riot in Gallup, New Mexico, in 1935 in which the sheriff was shot, Juan Ochoa and Manuel Avitia were pardoned by Governor Miles. The Civil Liberties Union had joined other liberal and labor groups in defending the victims of the Gallup miners frame-up.

Under the conditions of the pardon, Avitia was to leave the United States and Ochoa to leave the state. The two men were the only remaining defendants in jail asa result of the reign of terror during the miners’ strike when 660 miners were arrested charged with first degree murder. The sheriff and a miner were shot when the sheriff and his deputies let loose a tear-gas barrage at the miners and bullets went wild as the tear-gas was caught in a wind. Only 10 of the 660 defendants eventually faced trial; three were convicted, one of whom was freed last year.

Gab présaive Bills. Weloed”

(Continued from mage L Col. 2)

rogation of the constitutional right against unlawful searches and seizures, its. veto by the Governor is to be applauded.

25 Anti-Civil Liberties Bills Beaten

In all, 25 anti-civil liberties bills were introduced and finally defeated at the past session of the legislature. Among the repressive bills that failed to reach the Governor’s desk were several anti-alien bills, to-wit, one providing for compulsory registration and fingerprinting, another estab lishing an Alien Labor Permit Law, under which all aliens would be registered and required to give up their jobs if citizens applied for them, and still another requiring all foreign language radio broadcasts to be rebroadcast in English. A spurious antiNazi bill, a far-reaching measure to regulate uniformed groups, compulsory fingerprinting of applicants for operators’ and chauffeurs’ licenses, a measure. establishing a border patrol to exclude indigents from California, and a bill to exclude advocates of certain doctrines from holding pub-. lic office were among other repressive measures rejected by the legislature.

C. S. Repeal Rejected

Most of the bills in support of civil liberties were killed in committee, but repeal of the criminal syndicalism law reached the Assembly floor for the first time since re- peal measures have been introduced, only to be overwhelmed by a vote of 19 to 52. Two bills to outlaw anti-picketing ordinances were beaten on the Assembly floor, . while a measure regulating activities of private detectives in labor disputes passed the Assembly only to die in the Senate Labor and Capital Committee. Two other bills in support of labor’s civil rights were defeated on the floor of the Assembly. The first provided residence requirements for persons deputized by peace officers, and the second regulated the purchase and use of gases by city, county and state employees.

Several bills aimed at the elimination of racial discrimination got out of Committee but failed of passage. One prohibited racial or religious discrimination in the applica- tion of the Civil Service Act; a second discrimination in the employment of persons by public utilities, and a third made it a misdemeanor to deny equal accommodations to all persons. in places where the general public isinvited. .

A bill aimed at outlawing private military groups, which added little to the exist- ing law, died in the Senate after being adopted in the Assembly.

A.C.L.U.-Sponsored Bills Fail

Various bills sponsored by the Union, including amendment of the Civic Center Act to permit all groups to use school houses without discrimination; repeal of teachers loyalty oaths; a measure declaring it to be lawful to distribute economic, political and religious handbills; and amendments to the vagrancy law, were defeated in Committee.

In brief, out of 90 bills affecting civil liberties that weré introduced, only one was adopted, and that one is in support of civil liberties.

NEW BOOKS ON CIVIL LIBERTIES “In Blood and Ink: The Life and Documents of American Democracy,” by Maury Maverick. (Modern Bee 282 pages, 75 cents.)

The former Congressman from Texas and present mayor of San Antonio has written a non-technical, humanized story of our living constitution and what is in it. For those who want to know what our rights are, this book is as readable as you’d want it. One-fourth of the book is devoted to a collection of the principal constitutional -documents in American history, with “‘un necessary junk and verbiage’ cut out. These documents include the Magna Carta; charters, constitutions and ordinances of the colonial period; the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation,

Northwest Ordinance, Confederate Constitution, and the ‘Constitution of the United States.

Page 3.

Growing Vigilance For Civil Rights Annual Report Shows |

“Unprecedented support of our constitutional guarantees under the stimulus of the world-wide attacks on democracy,” has marked the past year up to June, the American Civil Liberties Union reports in its annual survey of the status of civil liberties in the United States, just published. In the year which celebrates the 150th anniversary of the submission of the Bill of Rights to the states, the Union finds a growing vigilance, both private and official, for civil rights.

“Interference with the rights of political, racial and religious minorities has steadily diminished,’”’ the Union reveals, “though propaganda against them is ominously increasing. Interference with the activities of the Communist Party continue to be comparatively slight in marked contrast with the record of a few years ago. More in- stances of interference with the rights of the German-American Bund were reported, and the Union was called upon more frequently to protest in behalf of their rights than of Communists or leone organiza.tions.’

The Union: Ss general survey, the only one of its kind compiled in this country, is being released as its 19th annual report in an 80page pamphlet entitled ‘“‘The Bill of Rights —150 Years After.”’

Civil Rights Agencies Increase

As signs of increasing support of the Bill of Rights, the Union cites the formation by the American Bar Association of a national committee on civil rights and of similar committees in many state and city bar associations; the creation by Attorney General Murphy of a civil liberties unit in the Department of Justice; and a series of U. S. Supreme Court decisions favorable to civil liberties.

“Against these and other favorable: advances, there developed during the year a more intense anti-democratic propaganda, whose effect, if successful, inevitably will result in sweeping denials of civil liberty. This propaganda, aimed allegedly at the Communists and in part against Jews, is in sive movements, the New Deal, and the C.1.0.” fact directed generally against progres Appraising the effects upon civil liberties in federal and state courts during the past year, the Union finds that ‘“‘on the whole the record of the courts throughout the country showed a more favorable interpretation of civil rights.’”’ As to legislation, the Union reports that “no bill of any importance protecting or extending civil rights has as yet passed Congress or a single state legislature. In Congress, the main efforts of the champions of civil liberties have been directed to preventing the passage of bills curtailing civil rights, aliens. In the 43 state bodies which met this year, considerable legislation was adopted restricting civil liberties. Set backs to the achievements in law for the protection of labor’s rights were marked all over ' the country.

Mob Violence Declines

particularly for In the field of force, mob violence drop: ped to a new low with only one major instance reported through the year, and two or three slight skirmishes. Not a single person was sent to prison during the year for a> term of a year or more for political or labor activities not involving acts of violence. The Union found “extraordinarily little interfer ence” with the right to hold meetings indoors, in parks or on the streets.

Censorship of movies, radio, the theatre and literature declined in the past year. Most of the reported instances affected the censorship of films, imported or independently produced in the United States. In radio, while numerous instances arose of | unfair discrimination by station program directors in the selection of speakers and — topics, the main issue during the year concerned the growing tendency of the F.C.C. to take jurisdiction over program content in violation of the explicit provision in the > law prohibiting censorship. The most fre| quent “freedom of the press”’ tion of handbills.

Yuba County Officials Attempt To Break Strike

As we go to press, the director of the A.C.L.U. has just returned from an investi- gation of the Marysville agricultural disturbances. A CIO union picketed the Earl Fruit company ranches when the company replaced its members on the job. Scores have been arrested, charges of kidnappings and beatings have been made against the police, and state and federal agencies have intervened.

Police made two raids on the union’s headquarters, arresting numerous persons and charging them with conspiracy to violate the Yuba County anti-picketing ordinance. Because of inability to post prohibitive bonds of $2500 cash or $5000 property, the men are still in jail awaiting a hearing on August 7.

The conclusion is inescapable that these arrests were calculated to break the strike, because the evidence is clear that the strikers were under. strict orders to picket peacefully. Therefore, what amounts virtually to a charge that the strikers con- spired to commit violence on the picket line cannot be sustained. Moreover, the Sheriff . has undertaken to prevent ALL picketing, while the ordinance prohibits only picket- ing of a coercive or intimidatory nature. There is obviously no legal excuse for such action, and its purpose is no doubt to help break ‘the strike. In the party that made the fe to Marysville were the following: Mrs. Sidney Joseph, Adelaide Frances Joseph, Mr. and Mrs. George West, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Farr, and Ernest Besig.

CONVICTION OF ARKANSAS COTTON PICKER FOR ARSON IS APPEALED

Contending that the defendant did not receive a fair trial, attorneys for Louis Johnson, a Negro member of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, are appealing to the Arkansas Supreme Court from his conviction and ten-year sentence on a trumpedup charge of arson. The American Civil Liberties Union is cooperating with the S.T.F.U and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the defense.

In a campaign by cotton planters to break up the S.T.F.U. in Mississippi County, Johnson was convicted in the Circuit Court of Osceola District last March on the charge of having set on fire a load of cotton worth $50 on the property of R. C. Branch, a planter. The case was interwoven with the previous prosecution of Johnson and three others for the crime of “‘night riding,” in which Johnson was released and the three others convicted. The fire occurred the day after he was set free.

The only evidence against Johnson on the arson charge was a confession which the defendant charged was extorted. Although the court instructed the jury that the evi- dence was insufficient to establish the fact that a crime was committed, a verdict of guilty was rendered after three minutes of deliberation.

Attorneys for Johnson assert that the verdict was the result of “bias, prejudice and passion.”

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

issue to arise — all over the country affected the distribu

Page 4

American Civil Liberties Union News Published monthly at 216 Pine St, San Fran cisco, Calif., by the Northern California Branch of The American Civil Liberties Union. Phone: EXbrook 1816 ERNEST BESIG Editor PAULINE W. DAVIES................-Associate Editor Subscription Rates—Fifty Cent3 a Year. Five Cents per Copy.

Police Brutality Charged In Salinas Lettuce Strike

“Inexcusable police brutality, in many instances bordering upon sadism,” was charged in a ruling by the N.L.R.B. in the Salinas lettuce shed workers strike of 1936.

The Board’s proposed order related how a stockade was built around the packing sheds, and how Colonel Henry Sanborn, red-baiter, entered the picture as “coordinator”’ of law enforcement agencies. The enforcement officers engaged pickets and crowds of onlookers in a series of gas attacks over a period of two days. An active and “presumable enthusiastic participant” in these occurrences was George F. (“Jimmie’) Cake, Pacific Coast representative of Federal Laboratories, Inc., supplier of. most of the gas equipment. Growers Organize Associated Farmers The Growers’ Association hired Henry Strobel to “promote better relations” with the farmers, and Strobel immediately organized a county unit of the Associated Farmers. An indication of the purpose of the Associated Farmers may be gathered from the remarks of its president, Colonel Walter E. Garrison, at a local organization meeting in Salinas toward the end of June, 1936.

“He contended that the farmers must organize to protect themselves against or- ganization of the field workers,’ the Board’s proposed order stated. “‘He also stated that the Associated Farmers were considering legislative plans to restrict the furnishing of relief to strikers. He asked that members send him pictures of labor leaders or ‘radicals’ and said that he would ‘see they were handled,’ that the organi- zation had a very effective system of undercover men working in the union, and that they had handled the suppression of a strike in Orange County.”

Labor Spies Employed

Intermittently for more than a year prior to the strike the Growers’ Association em- ployed the services of the Charles N. Watkins Detective Agency and rehired it during the summer and fall of 1936, to report on “labor and labor trouble.”’

The Association kept a comprehensive file index of approximately 3000 employees in the district to be used in passing on applications for employment both during and after the strike.

. .“The cards of some individuals indicate,” -the Board’s proposed. order stated, “to what length the Association and its agents went in keeping track of the union and other activities of its employees. Report of union instructions given to members, of in- -timitate details of intra-union politics, and of apparently incriminating remarks attributed to active union members, all indicate that the Association was securing information by a system of spies planted in the Union ranks.”’

Union Members Blacklisted

After the strike the card index “black list”? was used to prevent active union mem- bers from working at any shed in the Salinas district. Follow up calls were made at various sheds by Association officials in quest of workers who participated in the strike for the purpose of securing their discharge.

Under the Board’s proposed order the Growers’ Association is required to bargain with the Union, to stop interfering with self-organization of the employees, and employing any manner of espionage to investigate the activities of the employees. Moreover, certain employees were ordered reinstated. The employers have announced that they will resist the proposed order in the courts.

Refuse Deportation Proceedings Against Cairns

In response to a complaint from the A.C. L.U., the District Commissioner of Immigra- tion, Hon. John J. McGrath, has held that Fred Cairns, who was recently denied citi- zenship for aiding and abetting the Santa Rosa tar and feather mob, is not deportable on any ground.

In the complaint it was pointed out that Cairns, now Secretary of the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, 1, led a mob to Germania Hall in Santa Rosa on August 1, 1935, and broke up an anti-fascist meeting, and, 2, that he was the leader of the tar and feather vigilantes who kidnapped five men and beat and tarred and feathered Jack Green and Sol Nitzberg on August 21s 1935.

The complaint was rejected on the ground that Cairns had not been convicted and imprisoned for either of the charges, and that to be deportable an alien must be guilty of a crime involving moral turpitude committed within five years after entry for which he is imprisoned for a term of one year or more. ‘The fact that he had not shown himself to be attached to the principles of the Constitution and was denied naturalization for this reason,” said the Commissioner, “is not in itself ground for deportation proceedings.”

It strikes us, however, that the Commissioner might spell out a case against the alien under the provision of the immigration law that is generally applied to radi- cals. That law makes it a deportable offense to advocate or teach “the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States. ...’? This case could be based not on the mere opinions of the alien, which we would oppose, but upon his overt acts which were repugnant to the Bill of Rights. Further representations will be made to the Commissioner along this line.

Religious Liberty In U. 5S. Surveyed In New Pamphlet

In the first survey ever to be compiled of . the restraints upon religious liberty in the United States, the American Civil Liberties Union has just published a 48-page pamphlet calling attention to phases ‘‘commonly neglected by defenders of democratic rights.” Entitled “Religious Liberty in the United States Today,” the study carries a foreword endorsing moves for religious tolerance signed by thirty-four prominent re- ligious leaders, educators and editors of various denominations in twelve states.

Setting forth the past and present-day infringements on religious liberty, the study concludes that the restraints are slowly giving way to a larger freedom in the United States. The survey’s announced object is ‘to counteract the intolerances which restrict our religious liberty outside the field of law and to win support for reme- dies in law or by court decision in achieving religious freedom.”

After appraising our constitutional guarantees in respect to religious liberty, the pamphlet surveys past and present. restraints upon Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, American Indians, and Christian Scientists; the role of religion in our public schools; compulsory oaths; infringements on the rights of free thinkers and atheists; compulsory military service; Sunday laws; and religious intolerance.

“In the light of court decisions, encroachments upon the religious rights of Ameri- cans are difficult, but attempts will doubtless be made in one state or another to violate them under pressure of local intolerance. Since the 14th Amendment limits the powers of the states, it is likely that future battles for religious liberty will be waged chiefly in the federal courts under its clauses.”

The chief expressions of religious intolerance, according to the pamphlet, affect em- ployment—particularly among Jews—and

The Podition of the A. Cc. T U. In the Bridges Case

The question has been asked, ‘What should be the attitude of the A.C.L.U. in the Bridges deportation proceedings?” There can be but one answer, “The A.C. L.U. must unalterably oppose any attempt to deport a man because of his political beliefs or associations.”

It makes no difference what those political beliefs may be or what they are alleged to be, and whether we agree with them or not. And dislike for the man or the labor organization he represents cannot affect support of the fundamental right of freedom of opinion.

In the present case, the charge is made that Bridges is an alien who is a member of a group which advocates the violent overthrow of the government, namely, the Communist Party, and, therefore, should be deported. The provision of the immigration law that permits deportation of an alien because of mere membership in a proscribed group is similar to the provision in the California criminal syndicalism act. While the courts have upheld the constitutionality of such statutes, we have consistently urged their repeal and have sought to limit their application to cases where, as Justice Holmes put it, there is a clear and present danger to the government.

We have adopted that course because experience shows that, ‘All laws aimed at opinion and beliefs are notoriously difficult of enforcement, and wherever the attempt is made to enforce them, grossly unfair. Prejudice inevitably plays a large part in all such proceedings. The history of the present provisions of the immigration law relating, to opinions and beliefs bears convincing testimony as to the difficulty and unfairness of the administration.”

The Bridges deportation proceedings are no exception. The government, upon the hysterical demands of patrioteers, the Hearst press and others, has chosen to rely upon the testimony of prejurers, stoolpigeons, apostates, seekers after revenge and notoriety, and others whose credibility is open to serious doubt. In fact, the whole case is clearly a monstrous witch hunt that has been carried on ever since Bridges be- came a powerful figure in the labor movement. Note that the greater part of the in- vestigation was carried on, not by the Immigration Department, whose duty it is in the first instance, but by such professional . red-baiters as Stanley M. (Larry) Doyle, who dumped the results of their schemings in the laps of the immigration authorities.

Indeed, the conclusion is inescapable to anyone who has followed the activities of Bridges during the past five years, that certain interests have been out to get him because of his waterfront activities, and deportation proceedings offer a convenient means of accomplishing the trick. Now those interests are sitting back quietly and seeking to give the impression that they had nothing to do with the plot.

Their motives are the same anti-labor motives that inspired the prosecutions on criminal syndicalism charges of the union leaders who sought to organize agricultural workers in the Imperial and Sacramento valleys. In short, the present deportation proceedings are nothing less than an attempt at union smashing. Consequently, we must oppose the deportation proceedings against Mr. Bridges.

public elective office, involving both Catholic and Jewish candidates. One “peculiar aspect of intolerance’? touches ministers who adopt a “social view of religion re- garded as radical or unpatriotic” by their congregations and the dominant influences in their communities. “The spread among Protestant clergy of the determination to make the doctrines of religion apply to the social structure has been marked in recent years, particularly in regard to the critical issues of war and capitalism,”