vol. 4, no. 11

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

FREE SPEECH FREE PRESS FREE ASSEMBLAGE

“Eternal is the price of liberty.”

Vol. IV SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, NOVEMBER, 1939 No. 11

HEAR ROGER BALDWIN SPEAK

Attendance Urged At Three Special A. C. L. U. Meetings

Roger Nash Baldwin, national director of the A. C. L. U., comes to San Francisco on November 5—the first time since 1926, in the course of a month’s speaking tour of the Pacific Coast. During his week’s stay, he will address nine meetings in the bay area. In his speeches, “One Hundred Fifty Years of the Bill of Rights,” “The Fight for the Bill

the Bill of Rights in the war crisis, opposing the measures pending in Congress to restrict them as they apply to aliens, radicals, pacifists and labor. He will consider the issue of the control of radio broadcasting both by the government and the industry, postoffice censorship, and the rights of labor and em-nlovers under the National Labor Relations Act. His speeches will analyze the forces upholding the Bill of Rights and those opposed to it. \ Three of the nine meetings are public but have been arranged with an eye toward the members and friends of the A. C. L. U. We trust that our supporters will help in every way to make them successful, not only by their own attendance but by bringing persons who should be associated with the Union. One of the meetings is in San Francisco, the second in Berkeley, and the third in Palo Alto.

San Francisco Meeting

The San Francisco meeting is in the nature of a luncheon at the Maison Paul res- taurant, 1214 Market St. (at Eighth, opposite the Hotel Whitcomb), Monday, Nowember 6, at 12:15 o’clock. Cost of the luncheon is 62c per plate. Mr. Baldwin will speak on “One Hundred Fifty Years of the Bill of Rights.” Dr. Charles A. Hogan, local chairman of the A. C. L. U. for the past five years, will preside. Mr. George P. West, assistant director of the State Department of Industrial Relations, and member of the National Committee of the A. C. L. U., will introduce Mr. Baldwin. Reservations should be made at the A. C. L. U. office, 216 Pine St., phone EXbrook 1816. The speaking program starts at about 1 o’clock. Persons wishing merely to hear the speech should come at that hour.

Berkeley Meeting

The Berkeley meeting is an informa] dinner program at International House, Piedmont Avenue and Bancroft Way, on Mon-’ day evening, November 6, at 6:15 o’clock. Cost of the dinner is 85c per plate. Reservations should be made at the A. C. L. U. office, 216 Pine St., phone EXbrook 1816. Reservations may also be phoned to Kathleen Drew Tolman in Berkeley, at Ashberry -§829. The subject of Mr. Baldwin’s speech is ‘War and Democracy.” George R. Stewart, writer and Professor of English at the University of California, will serve as Chairman of the meeting, and Dr. Alexander M. Kidd, Boalt Professor of of Rights,” and “War and Democracy,’ Mr. Baldwin will discuss the maintenance of Law at the University, will introduce Mr. Baldwin. The speaking program will start at 7:30 o’clock. Visitors not attending the dinner are welcome at that time.

Palo Alto Meeting

The Palo Alto dinner meeting is sponsored by the World Problem Club. It will be held at the Parish House, All Saints Episcopal Church, Hamilton Avenue and Waverley Street, Palo Alto, on Friday evening, November 10, at 6:30 o’clock. Cost of the dinner is 60c per plate, and reservations should be addressed to Rev. Oscar F. Green, Box 322, Palo Alto, phone Palo Alto 4657. Visitors not attending the dinner are invited to come at about 7:30 o’clock. The subject of Mr. Baldwin’s address will be “The Fight for the Bill of Rights.” If you cannot attend any of the foregoing meetings, we suggest your attendance at one of the other meetings listed on Mr. Baldwin’s program (See page 2).

22% Increase In Membership

The end of the fiscal year on October 31 showed an increase in the paid-up membership of the A. C. L. U. of 22%. A year ago the paid-up membership stood at 488; today it has risen to 596.

ROGER N. BALDWIN

WHO IS ROGER | NASH BALDWIN?

Roger N. Baldwin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union has been active in the many-sided fight for free speech since the beginning of World War No. 1. When the United States entered the war, he at once volunteered his services to the cause of civil liberties, severing his connections in public work in St. Louis, Mo., where he had lived for ten years since his graduation from Harvard. He organized the National Civil Liberties Bureau to oppose conscription, aid conscientious objectors and defend persons prosecuted for their opinions against war. When he was called to service late in the war, he refused to obey the draft act and was sentenced to prison for one — 4 year. On his release from prison he spent some months as a manual worker in the middle west to get first-hand labor experience,

He resumed the work for civil liberties in 1920, expanding the Civil Liberties Bureau into the American Civil Liberties Union. He has been involved in all the free speech fights and campaigns since—affecting the rights of labor, of aliens, of Negroes, of po- litical minorities and the issues of censorship and academic freedom. Mr. Baldwin is also on the faculty of The New School for Social Research in New York. He is a member of the Harvard Overseers’ Committee in the Economics Department. He delivered at Harvard the 1938 Godkin Lecture on “Civil Liberties and Industrial Conflict,” published in book form with a companion lecture, by the Harvard University Press.

In addition to his activities for civil liberty, Mr. Baldwin is president of the American Fund for Public Service to which Charles Garland left his fortune. He is chairman of the International Committee for Political Prisoners, which organizes American aid for victims of repression abroad. He is also a member of the directing boards of numerous organizations, among them the League for Peace and Democracy, the North American Committee to aid Spanish Democracy, the National Urban League and the National Association of Audubon Societies.

Mr. Baldwin has spent considerable time in Europe in connection with international movements against war, imperialism and fascism. He made a two-months’ survey of liberty and repression in Soviet Russia, covered in a book, ‘‘Liberty Under the Soviets.”

Mr. Baldwin, born in Massachusetts, is a Harvard .A. M. 1906, who taught sociology at Washington University, St. Louis for several years. He later became executive uf- ficer of the St. Louis Juvenile Court, and is a joint author of a book on “Juvenile Courts and Probation,’”’ written when secretary of the National Probation Association.

‘He was active in social, civic and political reform work both locally in St. Louis andnationally before giving up those connections on the country’s entrance into the war,

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Roger N. Baldwin's

Spasking Program, November 5-12

Following is the complete speaking schedule of Roger N. Baldwin during his week’s stay in the bay area, Nov. 5-12:

Nov. 5—Sunday evening, 6:00 o’clock, International House, Berkeley. Attendance limited to International House members.

Nov. 6—Monday, 12:15 o’clock, luncheon meeting for members and friends of the A.C.L. U. and the general public. Maison Paul restaurant, 1214 Market St. (at Kighth, opposite Hotel Whitcomb), San Francisco. Cost of lunch, 62c per plate. Subject: “One Hundred Fifty Years of the Bill of Rights.”

Nov. 6—Monday evening, 6:15 o’clock. Dinner meeting for members and friends of A. C. L. U. and the general public at International House, Piedmont Avenue and Bancroft Way, Berkeley. Cost of dinner, 85c per plate. Subject: “War and Democracy.”’

Nov. 7—Tuesday evening, 8:00 o’clock. School of Social Studies Forum, Century Club of California, 1855 Franklin St. (at Sutter), San Francisco. Subject: ‘Civil Liberties in American Cities.’’ Admission for persons not members of forum, $1.00.

Nov. 8—Wednesday afternoon, 2:30 o’clock, San Francisco Center, California League of Women Voters. Italian Room, St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco. Admission by card; guests, 50c. Subject: “War and Democracy.”

Nov. 8—W ednesday evening. (15 0 clock, School for Jewish Studies Forum, 3061 Clay St., San Francisco. Subject: “One Hundred Fifty Years of the Bill of Rights.” Admission for guests, 50c.

Nov. 9—Thursday evening, 8:00 o’clock, ‘the Oakland Forum, Oakland City Club— ‘Hotel Theatre, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Subject: “War and Deniocracy. ”” Admission charge.

Nov. 10—Friday evening, 6:30 o’clock, ain: ner meeting, World Problem Club, Parish House, All Saints Episcopal Church, Hamilton Avenue and Waverley Street, Palo Alto. Subject: “The Fight for the Bill of Rights.”? Cost of dinner, 60c per plate. The general public is invited. Noy. 12—Sunday afternoon, 4:00 o’clock. ‘Tea in Berkeley. Attendance by invitation only.

Cases Against Harlan Miners And Officials Quashed

Dismissal of indictments by Kentucky state authorities against more than four hundred mine union officials, members and sympathizers in Harlan was followed by federal government action dismissing antilabor conspiracy charges against fifty-two coal companies and individuals. The Civil Liberties Union last spring offered to cooperate with United Mine Workers attorneys in contesting charges of “banding and confederating’”’ against the Harlan miners gun battle between National Guardsmen and pickets.

Indicted in September, 1937, under an 1870 civil rights statute, the coal company operators and law enforcement officials were charged with conspiring to prevent the miners from exercising their right to organize under the Wagner Act. Their trial last year ended in a hung jury. Witnesses testified that organizers were shadowed, beaten and fired upon; union meetings were dispersed; union sympathizers imprisoned and beaten, and one organizer’s son slain. During and after the trial, six men were slain.

Four Harlan miners serving life sentences for murder in connection with the battle be- tween miners and deputies at Evarts: in 1931 were not included in the settlement despite vigorous efforts to do so. The Governor of Kentucky has long declined to pardon or parole them.

this land

Conference On Civil Li

“CIVIL LIBERTY IN WAR-TIME.” Attorney General Frank Murphy.

“An emergency does not abrogate the Constitution or dissolve the Bill of Rights. That is not only good sense; it is good constitutional law. Seventy-three years ago, the Supreme Court declared in the famous Milligan case that ‘The Constitution of the Unit- ed States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with ne same shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circum- stances.’

“To the many friends of civil liberty gathered at this Conference, I want to give the emphatic assurance that in this emergency, as well as in time of peace, the Department of Justice embraces that policy without reservation... .”

“Whether it be peace-time or war-time, there could be nothing more unpatriotic in > . than the persecution of minorities and the fomenting of hatred and str ife on the basis of race or religion.

“Tf, in the atmosphere of war, we allow civil liberty to slip away from us, it may not be long before our recent great gains in social and economic justice will also have.. vanished. For a nation that is calloused in its attitude toward civil rights ig not likely a Be eas toward the many grave problems that affect the dignity and security of its Citizens...

“RIGHTS OF LABOR.” J. Warren Madden, Chairman of N. L. R. B.

“As employers have come to concede the rights of their employees under the Wagner Act, other troublesome problems concerning civil liberties have been eliminated or simplified in many communities. In the past, many of the asserted violations of civil liberties have occurred in industrial towns. In those towns, the question of freedom of assembly, speech, or publication, nearly always arose in connection with the attempted organization or activity of a labor union. When the principal employers in such communi- ties have begun to obey the National Labor Relations Act and to keep their hands out of the union question, the other civil liberties problems largely disappear. The police do not interfere with assembly, speech or publication, because no one is asking them to interfere. Magistrates do not jail union organizers under ‘disorderly conduct’ or ‘sus- picious person’ statutes or ordinances, because there is no pressure upon them to do so. . And if the town is ‘open’ for labor union meetings, there is little likelihood of any interference with speech, press, or assembly for other purposes.”

SENATOR ELBERT D. THOMAS, member Senate Committee on Civil Liberties.

“No gains in civil rights have been made asa matter of mere accident or as a result of keeping government out of the realm of labor and industrial disputes... These gains © have not been made except by hard work, and usually have followed the path of real suffering so acute as to threaten the fact of a true democracy at work. The Bill of Rights must have been a bitter pill to the exploiters of that day. The rights of man, asserted, are hard medicine for abusive men and agencies in any generation.”’

“THE FOREIGN-BORN IN TIMES OF CRISIS” — Secretary of Labor

berties

“The so-called ‘alien problem’ is nowhere near as aeaple as popularly supposed. The a pee melting pot has worked better than most of us know. The nation is approximately 97 per cent American ‘citizenized.’ Thousands more are appealing for naturalization facilities which are not available in sufficient measure. It now appears that citizenship will be well-nigh universal within a decade. On the basis of these facts is there justification for exaggerated worries, much less intolerance toward a minority rapidly being absorbed? The facts are against the alarmist. Our American tradition of tolerance and fair play will not permit stigmas and penalties to be imposed upon a law-abiding alien: minority. We are still and will continue to be a country in which there is one standard of civil liberty and political freedom for all.” LAW AND CIVIL LIBERTIES—Ass’t Attorney General O. John Rogge.

“The Department of Justice has already announced that it is considering the creation ofa special unit to handle espionage, propaganda, and similar problems which neutrals face in a world at war. That unit will be placed within the Criminal Division, under my supervision, and I can give you assurance that it will be closely coordinated with the Civil Liberties Unit, in order that the Department of Justice, which seeks to maintain those liberties, will not become an instrument of oppression. \

“Let me express my earnest hope and my confident expectation that the Department of Justice will respect the civil rights of all persons living in this country, whether or not its officers approve of their political program or social views. Officers of the Department were recently subjected to severe criticism by a member of Congress for supposedly giving aid and support to the Communist Party in the United States by participating in this National Conference on Civil Liberties. Apparent to any one is the injustice of so characterizing the work of a conference which has brought together individuals and organizations representing diverse political views for the sole purpose of preparing to meet the threat which the conflicts of other nations hold to the American standards of liberty and justice.

“T think that the record of the Department of Justice adequately demonstrates the impartiality with which the Department seeks to enforce the laws of this nation. When- ever we have legally competent evidence, we in the Department will vigorously prosecute to the full extent of our authority those who, seeking to undermine American institu- tions, violate Federal laws. In the process, however, we will not lose sight of the Con- stitutional guarantees and will not risk destroying our liberties in an excess of zeal in seeking to defend them.”’

WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE, Chairman of the National Conference.

“The Bill of Rights is a fighting ground for the preservation of American liberty in the present emergency and in the threatened war... We can get and keep justice only if we keep the Bill of Rights. If we save the Bill of Rights, we can rewrite the Consti- tution if necessary and. get justice, but if we save the Constitution and lose the Bill of. Rights—God help the country! ;

RADIO CENSORSHIP—Neville Miller, President, National Association of Broadcasters.

“There is nothing in the N. A. B. Code which denies the right of free speech to any, but just the reverse. In fact, the action the broadcasters have taken is a guarantee to you and to every American that radio cannot be bought and monopolized for any one-sided discussion of any public issue. By their action, the broadcasters decided that the mere possession of money would not give to dangerous influences in America the right to flood the public mind with propaganda which may be uncontradicted by other and truer ideas not backed by money. Fair presentation of the different sides of controversial issues is assurred. The discussion of controversial questions remains on the air,” (Continued on Page 4, Cols. 2 and 3)

Marshall E. oe Second Assistant oe not at all unlikely, however, that Governor

Let Freedom Ring

The Bridges Case

Briefs in the Harry Bridges deportation case were filed with Dean Landis by opposing counsel on October 238. No provision has been made for the filing of further briefs, so the next step in the proceedings will be the decision or recommendation of Dean Landis, which may not be handed down for at least a couple months. While the Special Examiner’s recommendation is not binding upon the Secretary of Labor, with whom the decision on the question of deportation ultimately rests, it is almost a foregone conclusion that it will be followed. If it goes against the alien, we can be sure that it will be tested in the United States Supreme Court.

Doyle’s Expense Money

Stanley M. (Larry) Doyle has not collected his expense money in the Bridges case. Doyle, it will be recalled, demanded payment in advance and then refused to testify, whereupon the attorneys for Bridges, Gladstein, Grossman and Margolies, stopped payment on the check. The money, $1381, is still tied up in the bank. Dean Landis ruled recently that Doyle would not have to be paid. The bank will now be requested to release the money to the attorneys, and if it fails to do so, the matter will go into the courts for settlement.

Billings Released

We rejoice at the release of Warren K. Billings from Folsom Prison as the result of a commutation of his sentence to time served granted by Governor Olson, though we hasten to add that the Mooney-Billings case cannot be considered a closed issue until Billings receives a full pardon. It is Olson will pardon him despite the constitutional inhibition against pardoning twotime offenders without a favorable recommendation from the Supreme Court. The reason is that it seems to be a debatable question whether Billings is technically a two-time offender, because his first conviction was not proved in the second case as the law is held by some to require.

If the Governor had sought to pardon Billings while he was in prison, the Warden, on the recommendation of Attorney General Warren would have refused to honor the pardon. With Billings out, the only challenge on such a pardon could arise from an attempt by Billings to vote, or on the unlikely occasion of his running for public office.

Those who now complain against Olson “releasing two bombers,’ should direct some of their venom against the State Supreme Court. After all, Billings’ sentence could not have been commuted to time served without the majority recommendation of the State Supreme Court. Incidentally, the court did not announce how its vote stood.

Hugo Ernst

We regret to announce that Hugo Ernst, member of the local Executive Committee of the A. C. L. U. since the branch was reorganized in 1934, has been compelled to resign from the Committee because his future headquarters will be in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Ernst, until recently Vice President of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees’ International Alliance, A. F. of L., was elected General Secretary-Treasurer of the International at its last national convention.

C.1.0. OFFICIAL CONVICTED ON C. S. CHARGES IN IOWA

William D. Senter, district president of ' the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, C.I.0., who led a strike at the Maytag Washer Company Plant in Newton, Ia., last summer, was convicted on criminal syndicalism charges in

Contributions Solicited Now To Fill $4000 Budget For '40

Every member and friend of the A. C. L. U. is urged to contribute NOW in the annual drive for funds to carry on the work of the local branch of the Union during the next fiscal year ending October 31, 1940. The goal has once again been set at $4000, or about $333 a month. Small as the budget is, past experience shows that the Union’s almost 600 supporters must be more generous with their donations than they

Alien Registration Law Opposed In Pennsylvania

Asserting that under the Pennsylvania alien registration law due to go into effect in December aliens must live under a “passport system” and are compelled to remain “visiting foreigners,” the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a brief as friend of the court in behalf of two residents of the state testing the validity of the act in the U.S. District Court at Scranton. Arthur Garfield Hays, of New York, general counsel of the A. C. L. U., signs the brief. .

Under the law, all aliens eighteen years or over must register with the State Depart- ment of Labor and Industry and must carry identification cards. The suit, to enjoin state officials from enforcing the act, is being brought in behalf of Bernard Davido- witz, a citizen, and Vincenzo Travaglini, an alien.

“While the act appears to affect only the rights of aliens residing in Pennsylvania, the Union believes that the act can not be enforced without violating also the civil and — constitutional rights of all residents of the Commonwealth and of non-residents who . enter Pennsylvania,” Mr. Hays contends in his brief. ‘‘The statute is an encroachment upon powers which the Constitution vests exclusively in the United States, and vio- lates the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Pointing out that the law cannot be enforced without constant police interference with exempt aliens and citizens, as well as with those subject to the law, Mr. Hays charges that ‘“‘such a system operates to haunt the entire population.

Leaflet Cases Argued Before Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court heard arguments during the past month on three cases involving the distribution of leaflets which should have far-reaching effects. One of the few issues in which the A. F. of L. and the C. I. O. have joined forces, in cooperation with the Civil Liberties Union, the cases involve tests of the constitutionality of ordinances in Wisconsin, Massachusetts and California.

While the Supreme Court’s decision voiding the Griffin, Ga., handbill ordinance had a salutary effect, in many communities— particularly in Jersey City—a number of cities began to make inroads on the decision by banning all distribution of literature on the theory that such distribution litters the streets.

base their arguments on a portion of the Griffin decision which pointed out that the ordinance in that case was “not limited to ways which might be regarded as inconsist- ent with the maintenance of public order, or as involving disorderly conduct, the mo- lestation of the inhabitants or the misuse or littering of the streets.”

Attacking the ordinances as contravening the Griffin decision, the Civil Liberties Un- ion brief contends that they ‘‘seek to do by indirection what they cannot do directly.”

Montezuma, Iowa, on October 7, because of his activities in that strike. This is the first prosecution under a criminal syndicalism law for several years.

Defenders of the ordinances will have been in the past, if it is to be filled.

Our budget plan is not new. It was introduced in 1936 in order to put the Union on a business-like. basis, and particularly to avoid the annoyance of special appeals. Year after year, the A. C. L. U. has pledged itself not to make special appeals for funds, if its supporters would fill the budget at the time of the annual financial drive.

Small Deficit This Year

Unfortunately, only two months ago, for the first time since 1936, the Union with great reluctance turned to its members with an emergency appeal to meet a deficit. The response was good, but even so the end of the fiscal year finds us with a deficit of about $25. It would have been $100 larger had it not been for a subsidy in that amount | from our national office.

In any event, the practice of emergency appeals is bad. It is expensive and limits our effectiveness. We want to be free to solve civil liberties issues as they arise with- out interrupting our activities to raise money to carry on.

So, once again, we guarantee that if each supporter of the Union who is able to do so will NOW make a generous annual or monthly pledge for the new fiscal year, and. the response is sufficient to meet our meager needs, WE WILL PROMISE NOT TO BOTHER HIM FOR FURTHER CONTRIBUTIONS FOR ANOTHER YEAR. You can help us to fulfill that promise and put the Union upon a secure financial footing by filling out the enclosed pledge card and returning it to us AT ONCE. Sending as much of your pledge as is convenient, or the entire amount, will save us the cost of fu ture billing.

How Much Should I Give?

How much should you pledge? If possible, we again ask each supporter to give $15 a year. If you can give more, we hope you will do so. We really need some $50 and $100 contributions from those who can afford them.

NO OBLIGATION is incurred by your pledge that cannot immediately be withdrawn. The pledge card reads that, “I reserve the right to terminate this pledge whenever I see fit.”’

Of course, the appeal is not directed to those who have already made pledges or contributions for the ensuing year. If anyone is in this class, or if he needs money as badly as the A. C. L. U., please ignore the request for funds. We understand full well that many of our supporters can afford only the minimum dues of $2 a year.

The Budget

Following is the budget adopted by the Executive Committee.

salaries 2. $2200 Printing and Stationery............ 750 Rent 2) ee 330 Postage . 0 270

-. Telephone and Telegraph......... 150 Traveling 20.205 23 100 Furniture and Equipment........ 100 Taxes = 25 Miscellaneous .......................0.2--75 Total $4000

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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 Cents a Year. Five Cents per Copy.

Vigilantism Story Draws Protest

Last month the A. C. L. U.-NEWS called attention to a protest made by the A. C. L. U. to the Communist Party against attacks by the Party’s supporters on persons picketing the James Ford meeting at Eagles Hall in San Francisco on September 22nd. It will be recalled that Mr. Frank Spector, secretary of the Communist Party, not only refused to accept responsibility for the vigilantism that occurred but declared that the meeting was arranged by the “Mission Peoples Forum.’”’ Thereupon, we ventured to point out that the Communist Party in San Francisco has been renting auditoriums in the names of forums because it has found it almost impossible to rent halls in its own name. In reciting that fact, we wanted to leave the impression that the meeting was held under the auspices of the Communist Party, even though it was arranged by the Mission Peoples Forum, and for that reason it should accept responsibility for anything that occurred.

We now learn that our story was the subject of a protest by a prominent member of the Communist Party to our New York office. Exception was taken to the language in which we set forth the manner in which the Communist Party secures the rental of halls and to the general tone of the article.

We feel that the protest is not well taken and want to emphasize again that the Com- munist Party should be held responsible for the vigilantism that occurred. We are even - more emphatic now because we have before us a copy of the leaflet advertising the meeting as “20th Anniversary Celebration Communist Party.” Neither the Mission Peoples Forum nor any group other than the Communist Party is named in this leaflet, so we believe it is quite clear that the meeting was sponsored by the Communist Party.

As far as the tone of our article is concerned, we also see no ground for com- plaint. It was a factual statement, and a declaration, which we wish to reiterate, that vigilantism cannot be supported by whomever it may be committed.—E. B.

R. Becker, Last of Centralia Defendants, Freed

After serving eighteen years in W ashington State Prison, Ray Becker, 1. W. W. leader convicted with seven others of the 1919 Armistice Day killing of four World War veterans at Centralia, has been granted commutation by Governor Clarence D. Martin with full restoration of his civil rights.

The Governor had long declined to pardon Becker on the ground that it would be a confession of error by the state. Becker had unsuccessfully sought by various pro- ceedings in court to secure his pardon. Sentenced to 25 to 40 years for second degree murder, he repeatedly declined parole, although others convicted with him had in this way gained their freedom.

The case grew out of the anti-labor cam. paign by employers who sought to break up the loggers union in the Northwest. Threatened with violence, the I. W. W. in Cen- tralia requested police protection but were denied it. On Armistice Day, an American Legion parade halted before the I. W. W. hall, where men broke ranks and rushed the building. Four men were shot, Becker and his associates contending that they had fired in self-defense. One of the I. W. W. men, Wesley Everest, himself an ex-service man, was lynched by a mob. All of the eight men found in the hall were tried and convicted, including cone defendant who went insane during the trial.

A.C.L.U. Leads Civil Rights Fight In San Joaquin Cotton Strike

A. L. Wirin, counsel for the Southern California branch of the A.C.L.U., has been waging a courageous, single-handed fight for civil liberties in the San Joaquin cotton strike that has been in progress since October 9. Mr. Wirin, who is well known for his splendid work in the Imperial Valley troubles five years ago where he was severely beaten by vigilantes, herewith gives a concise account of what happened around Madera, the center of the strike. Since the story was written, there have been at least four spectacular developments, as follows:

1. Two vigilante attacks on strikers, resulting in injuries to numerous workers and an agent of the LaFollette Civil Liberties Committee; 2. The arrest of 20 strike leaders on felony charges for an alleged conspiracy to violate the anti-picketing ordinance of Madera county; 38.

The escorting of A. L. Wirin out of Madera county by police officers in order to save him from vigilante attacks; 4. An injunction suit argued in the federal district court in Fresno in which Mr. Wirin, on the basis of the Hague case, is seeking to enjoin the enforcement of a Madera county ordinance which prohibits parades and processions without a permit.

When California agricultural workers go on strike against starvation wages, the com- plete denial of fundamental] civil rights accompanies every such struggle. When cot- ton pickers assert their right to a less subhuman wage than has been their lot thru- out the year, wholesale prosecution for violation of recently adopted anti-labor and anti-picketing ordinances, the filling of jails with strikers, and the fixing of high bail follow in the wake of their struggle.

This familiar drama is being re-enacted in the San Joaquin Valley, and particularly in Madera County where many thousands of cotton pickers are on strike against a wage scale of 80 cents per hundred pounds, and are demanding $1.25 per hundred.

Last week, when A. C. L. U. counsel A. L. Wirin hurried to the strike scene to aid in the protection of civil rights, 145 workers, 29 of them women, including 3 strike lead- ers, filled the Madera jail. Their formal complaint to the authorities read:

145 Workers Placed In Filthy Jail “To whom this may concern: “We the prisoners of this jail wish to complain to the proper authorities. The conditions are unsanitary — mattresses so few many must sleep on the floor—cement floor—not half enough of other bedding. The garbage can is full and leaking—running across the floor—they will not empty it and we can’t. Eighty men enclosed in a tank—dimensions 30x40. When we com- plained they shut the windows and turned on the hot-air. Mattresses being soaked by escape from garbage can.

“Prisoners of Madera Co. Jail.”’

The complaints fell on deaf ears. -142 of the 145 in jail had been arrested for a violation of a county ordinance which, aimed at labor, prohibited a “procession” of automobiles on the highways without permission from the sheriff.

Madera County’s Associated Farmers’ controlled, labor-hating, red-baiting Sheriff W. O. Justice summarily refused a permit when requested to grant one by the strikers.

Peaceful Demonstration

Asserting their right of peaceful demonstration, a ‘procession’ of 19 automobiles drove along some of the highways adjacent to the cotton fields to urge the cotton pick- ers in the fields to join the ranks of the strikers. This resulted in the arrest of 142. Bail was set at $250 each. No one was released on bail.

Three strike leaders were being held without bail; two without charges, except the familiar “investigation” and “suspicion of vagrancy;” the third for “disturbing the peace.”

In the meantime, the use of the Madera public park, which has been open for public meetings for a generation, and which had been used for meetings since the inception of the strike, was taken away from the strikers by virtue of a sweeping “order” from the County Board of Supervisors, published in the local press, which announced: “NOTICE “There will be no more public meetings in the following places, unless permission of the Madera County Board of Supervisors is obtained in advance of each meeting: Madera County Park at Chowchilla, Court House Park in Madera, Memorial Hall in Madera, County Library Park, or ANY MADERA COUNTY OWNED PROPERTY. —By L. R. ADELL, Chairman.”’

Strikers’ Meeting Place Flooded

The Court House Park was flooded under direction of the authorities to make it phy- sically impossible for persons to congregate in the park. (This is an old device first “discovered” by Imperial Valley vigilantes. )

Ranchers were being deputized and granted permits to carry guns ‘“‘to prevent illegal coercion” by strikers; Sheriff Justice —aptly misnamed—announced through the public press that Madera County’s antipicketing ordinance would ‘‘be enforced to the limit—even if it means jailing the whole mob.”’

The “Madera Daily Tribune and Madera Mercury” couldn’t understand the reason for the strike since ‘farmers’ organizations reported pickers were receiving 80 cents per hundred pounds in addition to being ae furnished with cabins, free light and water.” :

The ranchers’ largess toward the pickers | was being rapidly dissipated, and its hypoc- risy exposed when farmers imposed as terms for continued occupation of quarters that the strikers return to work, and threatened wholesale evictions unless their strike- breaking demands were complied with.

142 Arrested Strikers Released

Civil liberties took a turn for the better when an announcement by Attorney Wirin that he was preparing petitions for writs of habeas corpus to secure the release of the 142 strikers, on the ground that the ordinance was unconstitutional because of | an interference with free speech, was countered by their release upon motion of Madera County’s District Attorney George Mordecai. Civil liberties improved considerably when a conference with the Board of Supervisors resulted in a rescision of the order banning all meetings in public parks and buildings, and the granting of express permission for the continued use of the Court House Park.

Constitutional rights of workers in. Madera County moved forward another step, when the refusal of Sheriff “Justice” to comply with the clear mandate of the law by having bail set for the 3 strike leaders still jailed, was offset by the granting of a writ of habeas corpus, and the setting of bail before midnight last Saturday by Superior Court Judge Stanley Murray of Madera County. The strike leaders were released on bail furnished by A. C. L. U. friends.

CIVIL RIGHTS IN AN EMERGENCY (Continued from Page 2, Cols. 2 and 3)

CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE WORLD WAR—Alfred Bettman, of Cincinnati, former Ass’t Attorney General.

“A Jarge part of the energies of the War Division of the Department of Justice, of which I was a member, went not into the inst cutions, which were only too easy to obtain, igation or carrying on of successful prosebut in preventing prosecutions on such very flimsy evidence as to amount to the suppression of fundamental civil liberties. While in times of emergency and war intensities there are practical limits to the preservation of civil liberties by government agencies, still I think agencies to seek to preserve these liberties.”

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