vol. 4, no. 9

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

FREE SPEECH FREE PRESS FREE ASSEMBLAGE

“Eternal is the price of liberty.”

Vol. IV SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, SEPTEMBER, 1939 No. 9

7 C. S. VICTIMS SEEK PARDONS

Governor Refers Applications To Advisory Pardon Board

Seven pardon applications for past victims of the California Criminal Syndicalism Act have been filed with Governor Culbert L. Olson by the A.C.L.U. These applications have been referred to the Advisory Pardon Board for consideration and recommendation to the Governor. But in view of the fact that about two hundred cases are ahead of these: seven, it may take two or three months before they are acted upon. While the Board’s recommendation is not binding upon the Governor, it has been the practice to refer all pardon applications to the Board.

The Pardon Board is composed of the five following members: Lieut. Governor Ellis E. Patterson, Chairman; Attorney General Earl Warren; C. S. Morrill, Chief, Division of Criminal Investigation; Court Smith, Warden, San Quentin Prison, and Clyde I. Plummer, Warden, Folsom Prison.

No C. S. Victims In Prison

None of the applicants are now in prison. In fact, with the reversal of the Sacramento criminal syndicalism conviction two years ago, not one person convicted under the law remains in any of the State penitentiaries. Consequently, if the pardons are granted, they wilk merely restore full citizenship rights to the applicants.

The seven applicants are as follows: Patrick Casey, San Pedro, and Howard Welton, San Francisco, convicted in Oakland in 1921; Wallace I. Fruit, San Francisco, con- victed in Los Angeles in 1921; T. O. Kleiberg, San Francisco, William Minton, San Francisco, and Jose Varela, Portland, Ore., all convicted in Los Angeles in 19238; and Oscar Adolf Erickson of Fort Bragg, convicted in the Imperial Valley in 1930. All of the foregoing except Erickson belonged to the hated Industrial Workers of the World, and were convicted solely on that account. Erickson was charged with membership in the Communist Party.

Of course, the seven applications repre sent but a handful of the convictions se- cured under the California Criminal Syndicalism Act. In all, more than 150 persons were sent to prison or paroled. Many of those persons are now dead, at least one was deported, and others have been unheard of for years.

Some Wobblies Oppose Pardons

Some of the available ‘““‘Wobblies” who were convicted will not apply for pardons. They take the position, as does the secretary of their General Defense Committee, that ‘“‘None of our members convicted under this damnable anti-labor act were found guilty of any overt act, or crime as we may call it, against the State of California, and I do not believe that any of these members should crawl on their hands and knees to a so-called liberal Governor for reinstatement to the good graces of California. California committed a crime against our members and the working class, and I say let California make amends for its dastardly deeds.” Of course, the most simple way of cor- recting the wrong that was done to the victims of the C. 8S. law, would be for the Governor to grant a general amnesty by proclamation, then the Wobblies would not feel that they were hegging.for merey. But under our State Constitution, the Governor has no power to grant a general amnesty.

In order to obtain a pardon, a person con-, victed of a felony must follow certain pro- cedure, just as Tom Mooney did to secure his pardon. If any pardons are granted to the C. 8. victims they would have no less value than the Mooney pardon.

Because of the position taken by the IW.W., it is not expected that more than a dozen pardon applications will be filed with the Governor in the long run.

Petaluma and Hemet Challenge Right To Assemble

Two cases testing the right of assembly have recently arisen in California. In Peta- luma on August 16th the Young Democrats requested use of the school auditorium for a meeting to be addressed by Lieutenant Governor Ellis E. Patterson. The Board referred the request to the District Attorney for a ruling despite the fact that the Civic Center Act permits political meetings in school buildings. In response to a protest from the A.C.L.U., the secretary of the Board on August 25 declared that they were still awaiting an opinion from the District Attorney.

In Hemet, the Board of Education denied use of the school auditorium to the Workers Alliance. Investigation by the A.C.L.U. disclosed that the Board was under complete domination of the Associated Farmers, and had granted the use of school premises to other political and social groups, while diseriminating against the Workers Alliance.

As a basis for a court test, a second application was filed. The Board thereupon held a public hearing at which the Workers Alliance and A.C.L.U. urged granting of a permit. Sole opposition came from the Associated Farmers. Following the hearing, the Board took the application under submission.

A.C.L.U. Opposes Bakersfield Ban On “Grapes of Wrath”

Raymond W. Henderson, counsel for the Kern County Civil Liberties Committee, appeared before a crowded session of the Kern County Board of Supervisors in Bakersfield on August 28 to urge rescission of its action banning John Steinbeck’s novel, “Grapes of Wrath” from county libraries and schools. ‘We do not take the position that the book should be placed in the hands of school children,” declared ‘Henderson; “that’s a problem for parents and teachers. We aren’t interested in the truth of the facts of the book—that’s for the reader to decide. What we do protest is a public board setting itself up as a board of censorship in violation of the first amendment of the Federal Constitution.” The Board, after a lengthy hearing, adjourned after a 2 to 2 vote, with one Supervisor opposed to the bar being absent.

The A.C.L.U. is also planning to hold a public meeting protesting the ban at which it is hoped that John Steinbeck, Carey McWilliams, author of ‘Factories in the Fields” and other nationally known writers, ‘will appear.

A communication was sent to the Fox Twentieth Century Corp. by the A.C.L.U. insisting that the action of the Board of Supervisors did not represent the opinion of the people of Kern County. Plans were initiated for a big theatre party at the initial showing of the film taken from Steinbeck’s book in Bakersfield.

A committee of attorneys was requested to consider the possibility of a taxpayers suit against the Board of Supervisors for “willful misappropriation or destruction of public property.”’ The suit would be based on the idea that the Board of Supervisors has no more right to destroy books purchased by the library department in the regular course of its duty than it would have to burn down a public building.

To date, sole supporters of the Board’s ban are the Associated Farmers of Kern County, and ProAmerica. The book has an been banned in Buffalo and Kansas City.

CITIZENSHIP DELAYED BECAUSE

No. 9. ee ALIEN’S ATTORNEY TERMED RED

In San Jose an alien faces denial of citizenship, according to his attorney, because: 1. “He took a Yugoslavian Communist newspaper for two years;’”’ and 2. Because when he appeared to answer questions for his first papers he was represented by George R. Anderson, San Francisco attorney, whom the Examiner dubbed “a known Communist.”” On these two grounds, the Examiner last June recommended that the alien be debarred from citizenship, but the court put the case over until the second — week of September.

The attorney also declares that his client’s wife, American born, has also been refused citizenship thus far because of the. objections held against her husband,

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Roger N. Baldwin's Tentative Speaking Program, Nov. 5-12 Nov. 5, Sunday evening, International House Supper speaker, Berkeley. Nov. 6, Monday noon, A.C.L.U. Committee meeting, San Francisco. Nov. 6, Monday evening, A.C.L.U. dinner meeting, Berkeley. - Nov. , Tuesday evening, School of Social Studies Forum, San Erancisco. Nov. 8, Wednesday evening, School of Jewish Studies Forum, San Francisco. Nov. 9, Thursday evening, The Oakland Forum. Nov. 10, Friday evening, dinner meeting, World Problem Club, Palo Alto. Nov. 11, Saturday, open. Nov. 12, Supper meeting, Berkeley. Mr. Baldwin is also scheduled to make an afternoon appearance before the San Francisco Center, California League of Women Voters, one afternoon during his visit.

SAN FRANCISCO OPPOSES USE OF AUDITORIUM BY COMMUNISTS

In response to a suit filed by the State Committee of the Communist Party to compel San Francisco city officials to rent them the Civic Auditorium, the City Attorney’s office answered that the plaintiff is merely a political club and not a duly organized political party, but “an organization of persons interested in political and economic viewpoints and matters of no interest or “moment to the general public, citizens or taxpayers of San Francisco.”

To rent the auditorium to such, the an-swer asserted, ‘would disturb the general peace and might precipitate acts of violence, might result in death and much bloodshed together with the destruction, m whole or in part, of the Civic Auditorium.”’

The present suit was filed on June 27. It is the third of its kind to meet the refusal of the Custodian of Property to lease the auditorium to “reds.” The first two suits were dismissed on technicalities.

576

The paid-up membership of the local branch of the A.C.L.U. again increased during the past month to the highest point in our five-year history—576. The figure would be still larger if we would receive prompt renewals from our supporters. If your membership has expired, may we not have a check without delay?

ROGER NASH BALDWIN

Roger Nash Baldwin .. . Defender of Civil Liberties

Roger N. Baldwin, national director of the American Civil Liberties Union, will make his first visit to the San Francisco Bay Area since 1926 during the week of November 5 to 12.

In the course of his brief stay, he will address many groups on such subjects as One Hundred and Fifty Years of the Bill of Rights, What’s Ahead for Democracy?, and The Fight for the Bill of Rights. (His speaking program as it stands today appears elsewhere on this page). To answer the question, “Who is Roger N. Baldwin,” we submit the following generous portion of an article by Sidney Carroll which appeared in the June 15, 1939, issue of KEN magazine under the title, “Roger of THE Baldwins has his own brand of anarchy.”

Roger Nash Baldwin came from the Baldwins of Back Bay. It is a family tree that can be traced back to an acorn planted by William the Conqueror. In some instances, further back. There are Baldwins who would not stop at claiming kinship .with Beowulf. This picture of a blooded Back Bayer devoting his life to the underdog is not a contradiction in terms. Baldwin’s anecestors were abolitionists when Abolition was a horrid word, and Unitarians when Unitarianism was a schism. This seed of revolt can explain away a good part of the illusion that Roger Baldwin is a contradictory character. He is simply as many-sided a man as there is in public life today.

A Naturalist and Ornithologist.

Left to himself he goes out to a shack on the Hackensack River, walks barefoot in the swamp and bares a chest more flat than fat to the breeze. He is a naturalist and ornithologist. The two pictures in his dingy Union Square office in New York are the best views of Baldwin, the inner man. One picture is a replica of the Bill of Rights, the other is an Audobon print of the Pileated Woodpecker. If there were no social evils in the world today, Baldwin would undoubtedly live, Thoreau-like, in the woods. He comes by his naturalism through environment—he studied his Thoreau at Harvard—and heredity. One of his ancestors, Loammi Baldwin, gave the Baldwin apple to the world.

But the business of tramping on life is saved for week-ends. In the city he lives the handsome life on West 11th Street. His wife is related to the Bowles family that owns the Springfield Republican and, in a more distant way, to J. P. Morgan.

Friends and enemies often make the mistake of calling him a lawyer. Baldwin got his Harvard M. A. in anthropology. In college he belonged to Hasty Pudding, which depends largely on your antecedents, and to Signet, which depends largely on your personality. After college he spent a year in Europe. Then he went to St. Louis to do social work. He taught sociology at Washington University and was chief probation officer of the juvenile court. In 1912 he wrote Juvenile Courts and Probation.

A Young Man’s Hero

He is a young man’s hero. His life has been carried on with much less noise than accompanied the activities of John Reed, but among the young men who know him, Baldwin gets the same sort of idolatry that Reed gets posthumously. He can take his satellites out to the Hackensack shack, walk their legs off, and make them love it. When he was in St. Louis he adopted two boys who had been haled into the Juvenile Court. When the war came one of the boys went to France to fight, the other went to Leavenworth as a conscientious objector. A few years ago, when the soldier died, the rebel stoked his way back from the Philippines to be near his foster-father. Baldwin has one child of his own by his second wife, Evelyn Preston. His first wife was Madeleine Zabriskie Doty, feminist and suffragette.

He can sing, play excellent piano, draw and paint. His sketches of birds once caused him to be compared to Audubon. He is also a remarkable cook. The legend goes that he was first apprenticed to the culinary art at Barney Gallant’s place down in Greenwich Village. He speaks several foreign languages fluently.

Headed American Committee Against Militarism

When America entered the War he was doubly smitten, First—this is the best of all Baldwinisms—with German measles. Second, with pacifism. From St. Louis he wired Paul Kellog of the Survey, offering his services in the cause of pacifism. Kellog told him to come up and take charge of the American Committee Against Militarism. Baldwin came. In the midst of his activities, Archibald Stevenson and a few of his. flag-wavers walked into Baldwin’s offices and started to ransack the files for evidences of treason. Baldwin (his good manners are notorious) cheerfully pitched in and helped Mr. Stevenson upset the filing system. No treason was found.

“When Baldwin got the call to arms on the last draft he arranged his affairs and prepared to go to jail. His trial is still a famous one, mainly because of the speech Baldwin delivered on the day he heard sentence. That speech had a strange Debsian quality. Its last few words were these:

“I know that as far as my principles are concerned they seem to be utterly imprac- tical—mere moonshine. They are not the views that work in the world today. I fully realize that. But I fully realize that they are the views which are going to guide the future.”

Sentenced To Jail

He was sentenced to serve 11 months and» 10 days in jail. And the harpies continued to hound him. Whereas they had given him German measles when the war broke out, this time they sent him to prison on Armistice Day. :

His sojourn in jail also sounds like a fragment from the legend of Eugene Debs. First he went to Newark jail. There he organized a charity society for families of the prisoners, a welfare league, a current events club. He was in charge of the green- house, had the run of the library and the daily papers, and was allowed to use the warden’s typewriter and piano. When friends came to visit him he was allowed to escort them back to the train. Because of his passion for organizing he was removed to the jail in Caldwell, New Jersey. There he was placed in charge of the penitentiary garden. He served nine months of his sentence.

A Character Out of Dos Passos

Baldwin traveled after he got out of jail, but it was no grand tour such as the Har- vard scion had taken after graduation. This time Baldwin bummed it. He saw America. He worked in a lead smelting factory, in a brickyard, in an armor plate works. When he needed transportation he rode the rails. He also joined the Cooks and Waiters Union of the AFL. Baldwin’s hobo career in the period of post-war labor troubles is a chapter straight out of Dos Passos.

When he came back he picked up the old threads. Under his leadership the American Committee Against Militarism was absorbed into the American Civil Liberties Union, and the year of the great rebirth was 1919.

TO THE FAITHFUL

Who recently came to our assistance when we were faced with a $300 deficit, please accept our sincere thanks. | While the prospect of a deficit has not entirely disappeared, we now expect to end the fiscal year on October 31st without being overwhelmed with debts.

Fingerprinting In Misde. meanor Cases Held Illegal In L. A.

In a decision sustaining completely the contentions of the American Civil Liberties Union, Municipal Court Judge Alfred H. Paonessa in Los Angeles has ruled that fin- gerprinting before trial and conviction in misdemeanor cases is illegal. The Southern California branch of the Union had instituted an action for damages against po‘lice officials on behalf of a man arrested for a minor infraction of a park ordinance, fingerprinted, and later found not guilty ‘by the court.

Judge Paonessa overruled a demurrer interposed by former Acting Chief of Police David H. Davidson. It is expected that the City Attorney’s office, representing the police officers, will appeal the decision to the -Appellate Department of the Superior Court. The International Labor Defense cooperated with the A.C.L.U. in sponsoring the suit.

In his opinion, Judge Paonessa declared: “Fingerprinting and photographing of -persons before trial and conviction has in .some jurisdictions been held generally to be an unwarranted exercise of police power . Even where the right to take fingerprints before trial has been upheld, a desire has been indicated upon the part of the court to limit this exercise of police power to cases of hardened, habitual criminals. . .

. “In a pamphlet. published by the American, Civil Liberties Union, entitled, ‘Thumbs Down,’ directed generally against indiseriminate fingerprinting, the New York case of Gow v. Bingham is called a memorable decision, and is therein commented upon as follows, with quotations from the case:

The taking of measurements or photographs before a person has been convicted, according to the court, is an invasion of “the inviolability of the person,’’ where there is no statute authorizing such procedure. Answering the proposition that po- ‘lice are justified in taking photographs and fingerprints by reason of their authority to prevent crime, the court said: ‘‘The time has not yet come when the entire sovereign power of the people of the state, executive legislative and judicial, is united in a member of the police force.”’”’

“Personal liberty is a precious right and should be preserved and respected unless good and sufficient cause is shown for curtailing it. In the absence of any real neces- sity for making a criminal record of a person’s fingerprints, individuals should be protected against such an admittedly humiliating experience. While the desirability of taking the fingerprints of all persons for purpose of record might be argued, yet desirability and necessity are two different ‘things, and to limit the exercise of police power upon the desirability of the act in question, instead of upon the necessity therefor, is to give too broad a range to ‘police power and too narrow a scope to the exercise of personal liberty.”

‘HEARING SET ON CITIZENSHIP APPLICATION OF SPANISH LOYALIST SUPPORTER

The case of Esteban Aguirre, whose application for citizenship has been pending since October 22, 1937, because of his membership in the Workers Alliance and finan-cial support of the Spanish Loyalist cause, will have another hearing before Examiner Stanley Johnston in San Francisco on September 14. Aguirre will be represented by Attorney Philip Adams, member of the ‘A.C.L.U.

The Naturalization Department excused its long delay in this case on the grounds that its investigator because of the pressure of other work had not had opportunity to complete his investigation of the case. Now, “further investigation has been made and ‘the petition has been referred to Designat‘ed Examiner Stanley Johnston who desires “to take the testimony of Mr. Aguirre and -others and then to submit the petition to the court here for final determination.”

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Trials of 22 Postponed As Appeals ae Taken in 19 Marysville Picketing Cases

Following two trials, in which 19 out eee ClO an 22 defendants were convicted in the Marysville Justice Court for violating the Yuba County anti-picketing ordinance, further trials in the cases of 22 defendants held on the same charges were postponed by stipulation between attorneys until appeals are concluded in the first two cases. The nineteen already convicted have been sentenced to pay fines of $500 or serve six months in jail. Most of those whose trials have been postponed have been released on their own recognizance.

37 Persons Arrested

In all, 37 different persons have been accused of violating the ordinance, first, by obstructing a highway; and, second, by coercing and intimidating persons seeking to enter a place of employment. Violation of the ordinance, a misdemeanor, is punishable by six months in jail or by a fine not exceeding $500, or by both fine and im- prisonment.

In addition, twelve men are charged with conspiracy to violate the anti-picketing or- dinance, a felony. Only two of these twelve » are at liberty on the $2500 bail set by the court, and none of them have as yet been arraigned. Superior Judge Warren Steele turned down an application for a writ of habeas corpus, and Herbert Resner, attorney for the defendants, on August 25, then sought a writ of habeas corpus from the District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, which will be argued on September 1. The arrests on the conspiracy charge were made after raids on the headquarters of the agricultural workers union UCAPAWA, a CIO affiliate.

Picket For Jobs

These. wholesale arrests and prosecutions stem back to an unorganized strike that occurred in the Yuba County orchards early in May. The workers were successful in having pay cuts restored. About that time, the CIO union sent organizers into the field, and a local union was started. The Earl Fruit Co., controlled by the powerful Di Georgio Corp., refused to rehire its workers, especially after they were organized by the CIO, and replaced them with Japanese and Filipino workers. Thereupon, the members of the union picketed the Earl]: Fruit Co. orchards, not for any wage increase or improvement in conditions, but merely to regain their jobs. Five pickets were arrested -on July 9, and the other arrests followed on subsequent days.

No Violence

In the first trial, the local newspaper, Marysville Appeal-Democrat, pointed out that while the testimony showed that cars entering the orchard had been stopped “‘not one of (the witnesses) adduced evidence that any of the defendants had been guilty of annoying, threatening, molesting, coercing, intimidating, or swearing at persons attempting to drive their cars along Ella Avenue to the New England orchards on that day.”’ The Sheriff, who arrested the men, admitted that he had not seen them “do anything.” In fact, they flagged down cars and merely urged the occupants not to go through the picket lines.

In the second trial, because an unidentified person threw a rock at the Sheriff's car and broke a headlight, the Sheriff arrested seventeen persons for violating the anti-picketing ordinance. One of the Sheriff’s deputies testified that he had given certain of the defendants an opportunity to go free if they would quit the picket line, but they had refused.

Sheriff Acts As Strikebreaker

In the light of the evidence that has been adduced at the two trials, it is clear that the Sheriff’s office was intent upon stopping all picketing and breaking the strike, and not in enforcing the county ordinance which is aimed at violent picketing and blocking of highways.

Representing the pickets at the trial is Herbert Resner of San Francisco. Prosecuting the cases are District Attorney J. L. Heenan and special prosecutor, Erling S. Norby, former district attorney of Yolo County. The latter, it is charged, was appointed at the instance of the Associated Farmers who have taken a great interest in the trials.

BAN ON MARXIST CLUB AT OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY ASSAILED

The action of the Ohio State University’s board of trustees banning the Marxist Club from the campus for ‘un-American and subversive activities,’ has been condemned by the American Civil Liberties Union as “a flagrant violation of the principles of academic freedom and a grave infringement on the freedom of expression guaranteed in our Bill of Rights.”

In a letter to George W. Rightmore, president of the University, Edward C. Linde- mann, chairman, and Ellen K. Donahue, secretary, of the A.C.L.U.’s Academic Freedom Committee, declared:

“Rather than disband a student organization engaged in economic or political studies, it should be the duty of a truly educational university to encourage the exploration of ideas. The quest for truth and philosophic guidance by American students has been given a set-back by the arbitrary report of your trustees. We urge you to exert every effort to have the order rescinded.”’

The Marxist Club had a membership of twelve students. Ousting of the Club had its inception early this year when the local council of the American Legion charged there were “un-American and subversive activities-on the campus.”’

The report of a subcommittee of the university’s board of trustees held that “‘while the election laws of Ohio recognize the right of persons to be a candidate for office on the Communist ticket, we do not believe that a publicly supported institution has any right to give aid and assistance in the form of recognition and quarters to organi- zations such as the Marxist Club.”

Executive Committee Northern California Branch American Civil Liberties Union

CHAIRMAN Dr. Charles A. Hogan DIRECTOR Ernest Besig Philip Adams Gladys Brown Prof. Harold Chapman Brown Wayne M. Collins James J. Cronin, Jr. Hugo Ernst Morris M. Grupp Prof. Glenn Hoover Dr. Edgar A. Lowther Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn Prof. J. R. Oppenheimer Mrs. Bruce Porter Judge Jackson H. Ralston Clarence E. Rust Helen Salz M. C. Symonds Kathleen Drew Tolman Dr. E. C. Vanderlaan Marie de L. Welch Col. Charles Erskine Scott Wood

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American Civil Liberties Union News

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Aliens On Relief Denied Citizenship: A.C.L.U. Sponsors Appeals

Designed to protect alien indigents in their civil right to American citizenship, the Southern California Branch of the American Civil Liberties Union is sponsoring and financing appeals to the United States Court of Appeals at San Francisco, from the orders of Federal Judge Harry A. Hollzer, denying theni naturalization.

Judge Hollzer, in accordance with the practice of some of the other federal judges in Los Angeles, and following the precedents established by many federal courts throughout the United States, has been refusing naturalization to all aliens who are on relief or who are eligible to receive the benefits of the State Old-Age benefit sys- tem. Such persons have been held not to be “‘attached to the principles of the Con- stitution of the United States’? and hence lacking the necessary qualifications . for American citizenship.

In order to facilitate the appeals so that a clarification of the law may be had from the higher courts, Judge Hollzer permitted A.C.L.U. counsel A. L. Wirin and Lee B. Stanton, to appear as ‘friends of the court”? in behalf of the seven aliens involved.

The Department of Labor which ordinarily makes recommendations to the federal judges upon the qualifications of applicants for citizenship, has made no rec- ommendation either for or against naturalization in these cases; thus leaving the responsibility for decision wholly upon the federal courts.

Other federal judges in Los Angeles, including Judges McCormick and Yankwich, have heretofore taken a more liberal view and have ruled that aliens do not forfeit the right to citizenship by becoming public charges through no fault of their own, and wholly because of the functioning of our economic system, over which they have no control; that aliens otherwise qualified, should not be refused citizenship for a condition for which they are not responsible. This latter view is the position of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Senator Robert W. Kenny has volunteered to cooperate in the appeals; and Carey McWilliams, Chief of the Division of Housing and Immigration of the California State Labor Department, will file a brief as a “friend of the court,” urging the Appellate Court to grant citizenship to the aliens involved.

CONGRESS ADJOURNS

As Congress wound up the session, six measures strongly opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union were buried without a vote. These include the Walsh military disaffection bill, the Smith omnibus’ anti-alien bill, the McCormack rider to the Walters Espionage bill, the Hobbs Concentration Camp bill and the Reynolds Alien Registration bill and the Dempsey Deportation bill.

Hailed by the Union was the last minute action of the Senate voting $50,000 for the continuance of the La Follette Civil Liberties Committee which will soon begin hearings in California on the Associated Farmers and other west coast groups accused of interfering with the exercise of civil rights.

U. C. ACADEMIC FREEDOM CASE

A temporary solution to the ‘Case of Prof. Beecroft”? has been arrived at in the signing between the University of California and Dr. Beecroft, of a contract for the forthcoming year, under the terms of which Professor Beecroft will be stationed at Berkeley instead of Los Angeles,

Court Voids Los Angeles Anti-Picketing Statute

In a unanimous decision judges of the Appellate Department of the Los Angeles Superior Court declared unconstitutional major provisions of an anti-picketing statute adopted in the 1938 city elections. The measure was fought in the court by representatives of the AFL, the CIO and the Southern California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Action of the court voided a statutory provision limiting the right to picket to cases in which there is a ‘“‘bona fide” strike —defined as a vote by a majority of all classes of employees in favor of the strike —and a provision prohibiting picketing except by “‘bona fide’’ employees.

The net effect of the decision, in the opinion of civil liberties spokesmen, is ‘‘to wipe the ordinance off the statute books.’’ Provisions not ruled on by the court include a limitation on the size and content of picket placards and the number of pickets, as well as the requirement that pickets carry credentials as representatives of the majority of workers.

In ruling that the particular sections of the ordinance involved in the appeals were unconstitutional, Presiding Judge Shaw, with Judges Bishop and Schauer concurring, said:

“We see nothing in reason to suggest that pickets in a place where a minority of the employees are on strike will be given any more to violence, obstruction of the streets, intimidation, annoyance or disturbances than those where a majority strikes.”’

“Neither does it appear that the length of time a picket has been employed at the place he pickets bears any rational relation to the probability of his acting in a manner contravening the ordinance.”

In an extensive supplement to the court opinion, Judge Schauer saw involved in the ease “an even more fundamental and essential constitutional right... the right of free speech together also with the independent but constitutionally cognate and equal rights of freedom of press and peaceful assembly,” defined in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and made operative on the states by Fourteenth Amendment. The invalid provisions of the ordinance were held by Judge Schauer to transgress these constitational guarantees. He also characterized the anti-picketing statute as ‘fa comprehensive prohibition of the exercise by an individual, in the vicinity of a strike, of his freedom of speech and publication.”’

The opinion of the Appellate Department is final, subject only to possible appeal by the city directly to the Supreme Court of the United States.

ANTIOCH ANTI-PICKETING ORDINANCE NULLIFIED

The growing liberalism of many of the courts in their attitude towards labor rights and constitutional liberties, and the courage of judges to declare ordinances inter- fering with*these rights as unconstitutional under the guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, is demonstrated by the recent decision of Superior Court Judge Thomas D. Johnston of Contra Costa County, who, declared unconstitutional an ordinance of the City of Antioch, which undertook to prohibit all picketing, peaceful or otherwise.

It would seem that in California, long noted for its social, labor, and industrial progress, that a ban upon peaceful picketing would be harkening back to the Dark Ages of the 1890’s and 1900s.

“Should this Court hold that the instant ordinance were valid, then, it is apparent that should the employees of a business establishment of the City of Antioch become involved in a direct labor controversy with their employer they would be unable to call the attention of fellow laborers or of the populace at large to their presumed. wrongs other than by surreptitious means. This surely would be an infraction of the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech.

“As to the contention that the City of

Dies Committee Label Of A.C.L.U. As “Foreign Agent” Challenged

Rep. Martin Dies, chairman of the House Committee on un-American Activities, has retracted, in effect, his reported charge that the American Civil Liberties Union is an “agent” or “front organization” of the Communist Party.

In a telegram received by Arthur Garfield Hays, A.C.L.U. general counsel, Mr. Dies denied that he had ‘‘mentioned”’ the Union among the organizations he had referred for criminal prosecution to the Department of Justice for failure to register as an agent of foreign interests.

Replying to Mr. Dies, the Union’s general counsel wired:

“We are relieved by your telegram indicating you do not consider the Civil Liber- ties Union as an agent or front organization of the Communist Party. However, we repeat our year-old request that as a matter of fair play we be given an opportunity to appear before your committee so that you and the entire country may clearly un© derstand what we stand for. Kindly let me know when it will serve your convenience for me to appear before your committee.”

According to Associated Press dispatches early this week, Mr. Dies was quoted as saying that he had written to the Department of Justice that ‘‘The evidence indicated that certain ‘front’ organizations of the Communist Party, such as... the Civil Liberties Union and many others whose names will be found in our hearings are agents of the Communist Party.”’ Mr. Dies had requested that the Department of Justice prosecute the organizations for failure to register as agents of foreign govern-— ments.

In a vigorous protest, Mr. Hays wired Mr. Dies demanding ‘‘an unequivocal public © retraction of this false charge.” Mr. Hays declared further:

“We challenge you to produce any of the evidence you claim to have of the Union’s foreign or political connections and to give us an opportunity to appear before your committee to refute these charges. Our record of twenty years work in defense of the Bill of Rights, sponsored by men and women prominent in American life, should satisfy any honest investigator. But your | investigation has from the beginning been conducted in an unjudicial and unprincipled manner.”

S. F. LOSES RABBI WEINSTEIN, DEFENDER OF CIVIL RIGHTS

We regret to inform our readers that Rabbi Jacob J. Weinstein, member of the A.C.L.U. Executive Committee since February 14, 1936, has resigned because he is leaving San Francisco to assume his duties as Rabbi of Congregation K.A.M. in Chicago, which position he has just accepted. His resignation is a distinct loss to the Committee and the community, because he has always been a zealous, courageous and eloquent supporter of civil liberties. We wish him success and happiness in his new venture.

Antioch is fearful of possible police problems, this Court is not impressed. Without doubt, police problems might arise, and very frequently do arise, from labor diffi- culties, but to say that they must arise is patently false.

“This Court has given full consideration to the numerous decisions of the Courts of the United States and of the various States of the United States and is of the view that they are sharply divided into the classifications of liberal and narrow. It would appear that the state of California, long being devoted to liberal views as to other labor problems, should be liberal in regard to peaceful picketing.”’

The decision of the Contra Costa Appellate Court, reversing a conviction in the Antioch police court, is in line with the recent opinion of the Los Angeles Superior Court adjudging the major provisions of the Los Angeles anti picketing ordinance to be invalid,