vol. 10, no. 9

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

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“Eternal is the price of liberty.”

Vol. X SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, SEPTEMBER 1945 No. 9

Mother Cannot Be Deprived of Children's Care Beeause She Is a "Witness", Court Rules

The Third District Court of Appeal ruled last month that a mother could not be deprived of the custody of two minor children, aged five and two and one-half years, solely because she is a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The unanimous decision was handed down on August 18 in the case of Kathleen B. Cory. The Superior Court of Sacramento county had awarded. custody of the children to her ex-husband in modifying an interlocutory decree of divorce which Mrs. Cory had obtained.

“We think,” said the opinion, “that in this case the trial court—probably because of his own intense patriotism and loyalty to his country in time of war, and a not unnatural irritation at the attitude of mind of persons who, though they blandly accept the protection of a government which guarantees them the right to religious freedom, are unwilling to fight for its preservation, and who in the light of the present world conflict still insist that by inaction their rights and their lives will be preserved by a divine providence without the necessity of fighting for them—lost sight of the constitutional provisions which guarantee religious freedom to all, and, in depriving this mother of the custody of her children because of her religious convic- tions, has deprived her of a constitutional right which she may not be compelled to exercise only conditionally, and in so doing has exceeded the bounds of wise judicial discretion.”

The opinion swept aside the findings of the trial court that the teachings of the children’s mother would prevent them from becoming “Joyal American citizens,” and also prevent them from “joining any of our leading character-building groups and organizations, as well as ail of the leading fraternal organizations and fraterni- ties.” It was apparently assumed, said the opinion,“ that those who refuse to salute the flag and do not believe in war because of adherence to the commandment that ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ are for these reasons alone to be considered as ‘disloyal Americans’, and not ‘good American citizens’.” The opinion went on to say that ‘“Jehovah’s Witnesses are not the only religious group that, adhering with what we might believe to be too strict adherence to the teachings of Christ, refuse, to.a greater or less extent, to participate in waging war. One need not go far back into the history of this country to find men conceded to be great Americans who were taught such principles as a part of the religious faith of their fathers and mothers and the religious organizations of which they were members. A striking example of this should occur to the mind of anyone familier with the religious background of a living American (General Eisenhow- er) whom history will doubtless record as one of the greatest military leaders of all time. As for the conclusion that appellant’s teachings will prevent these children from joining ‘our leading character building organizations’—whatever they may be—adherence to the teachings of any one religious group may have the effect of excluding its adherents from membership in organizations built upon the creeds of other dissenting religious groups, but such fact should have no bearing upon the rights of parents to bring their children up in their own faith, nor justify courts in arrogating to themselves the right to determine that the religious teachings of such parents will not be for the best interests of their children. Aside from the fact that she is a Jehovah’s Witness there is no contention that appellant is not a fit and proper person to have the custody of her infant children. The court stated, as above set forth, that she is a moral person, and her teachings of the scriptures to her children may, in themselves, be quite as ‘character building’ as would membership in the groups and organizations of whose benefits the trial court fears these children may be deprived if left in their mother’s custody.

“The conclusion seems inescapable that appellant has been deprived of the custody of said children solely because she is a Jehovah’s Witness, and, in the opinion of the trial court, the beliefs of the followers of that faith are inimical to the welfare of their children because they do not salute the flag and are unwilling to fight for their country. If it is right to take these childgen from their mother’s custody for the reasons stated, then by the same course of reasoning we must conclude that it would be right and proper to deprive all Jehovah’s Witnesses of (Continued on Page 4, Col. 1)

Japanese Applicant For License Gets A Hearing

Nobusuke Nakinishi of San Francisco, who applied for a real estate broker’s license on March 30, was given a special hearing by the Real Estate Commissioner last month to determine his “honesty, truthfulness and good reputation.” Such hearings are held in one case in a thousand and then only if something unfavorable, such as a criminal offense, is found in the applicant’s record. Nevertheless, every Japanese alien who applies for a broker’s license is subjected to such a hearing, no matter how excel- lent his record.

In this case, Nakinishi is a Japanese enemy alien, who has resided in this country for 29 of his 45 years, without returning to Japan for a visit. The treatment accorded to him is clearly discriminatory because no instructions have been issued by the Real Estate Commissioner requir ing hearings for every applicant who is a German or Italian enemy alien.

Ordinarily, it takes only a few weeks for a decision to be handed down following a hearing. H. K. Osada of Sacramento, another alien Japanese applicant, received his hearing on July 19. He is still awaiting a decision. A similar wait is expected in Nakinishi’s case. If the decision is favorable, he will then be allowed to take the regular broker’s examination.

Nakinishi held a broker’s license prior to the evacuation. At the hearing, all seven of his witnesses spoke most highly of his past record, and no evidence was presented against him.

The ACLU is cooperating with -Nakinishi’s attorney. It has also sent a protest to the Governor, because Hubert Scudder, the Real Estate Commissioner responsible for the above policy, is the Governor’s appointee.

On September 15 a new law will go into effect in California barring Orientals ineligible to citizenship from securing real estate broker’s licenses, unless they were licensed prior to 1942. The law provides that, “The commissioner shall not grant a real estate broker’s license to any person who is neither a citizen of the United States nor an applicant for such citizenship who has received his first citizenship papers, unless such person has been licensed in this State as a Ae ae broker at any time prior to January , 1942.

“If the applicant has received his first citizenship papers, failure to become a citizen of the United States in due course shall be cause for revocation of license.”

Evacuees Forced To Return Despite Lack of Housing

A second evacuation looms for 40,000 Japanese as the War Relocation Authority prepares to close its centers, except Tule Lake, in the next three and one-half months and return the Japanese to their former Pacific Coast communities, despite the almost total lack of housing for them. The first train load of evacuees compelled to leave the centers will depart from Poston by special train on September 5. Just what provision has been made to house them when they arrive in California, the San Francisco office of the WRA refuses to disclose. The current WRA policy, however, according to one of, its Washington officials, is to create such a situation of “imminent crisis” that municipal autharities and the Army and Navy will be compelled to make available some type of housing.

The manner in which the evacuees are compelled to leave the camps is as follows: Families are instructed to come to the office to make departure arrangements, If they fail to appear, the Internal Security section will “escort the family head to the relocation office” and he will be advised of the date on which his family will be required to leave the center. If the evacuee fails to pick a destination, transportation will be arranged to his place of legal residence. If any resident refuses to arrange for packing of his personal effects, arrangements for the packing to insure his leaving according to schedule shall be made for him.

The ACLU of Northern California has sent a protest to Abe Fortas, Under Secretary of the Interior, declaring that Japanese cannot be dumped on their former Pacific Coast communities and left homeless without creating difficult problems and visiting additional injustices and extreme hardships upon the evacuees. While the ACLU has always favored the speedy closing of the centers, it insists that reasonable provisions should be made for housing the returning evacuees,

Army Appecls Denial Of Ouster Enforcement Powers

A ruling enjoining the Army from enforcing exclusion orders by military or physical force in the absence of martial law was taken last month to the Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco by Generals Charles Hartwell Bonesteel and H. C. Pratt, commanding generais respectively of the Western Defense Command. The appeal was taken from a decision of Federal Judge Pierson M. Hall of the U. S. District Court of Los Angeles in June in the cases of three Japanese Americans excluded from the West Coast by individual military orders.

Without passing upon the validity of the exclusion orders themselves. Judge Hall, after an extended trial, in a lengthy opinion ruled that neither Congress nor the President delegated powers to the Army to use “military force to execute the orders of the military commanders upon civilians by a squad of soldiers, but preserved the right of civilians to be tried by a jury in civilian courts with all the safeguards inherent in such procedure, and made such prosecution the exclusive means of enforcement.” An injunction was then issued restraining General Pratt from using military force to prevent Elmer Yamamoto, Dr. George Ochikubo and Kiyoshi Shigekawa, the excluded Nisei, from going anywhere in the United States, including California.

The appeal in the most important case now affecting American citizens of Japanese ancestry thus opens the door to an ultimate decision by the U. S. Supreme Court.

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AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

Past Year Marked by Racial | Issues, Reports Union

Discrimination against Negroes and other minority races in the United States furnished the “most numerous and publicized” issues of civil liberty during 1944-45 according to the annual report of the national office of the American Civil Liberties Union. The most important national issue was seen in the efforts supported by the ACLU to establish a permanent federal Fair Employment Practices Committee, “pledged by both major parties but sabotaged by southern politicians and industrial interests.” New York State was praised for “leading the way” in establishing a state FEPC, as were two other’ states that adopted similar but less effective’ measures (New Jersey and Indiana).

Favorable Trade Union Decisions “An encouraging advance” against discrimination against Negroes inside trade unions was seen by the ACLU in three decisions by higher, courts:

(1) the decision of the U. S. Supreme Court voiding collective bargaining contracts with’ Southern railroads under which Negro firemen were denied rights of representation and pro-' motion on a basis of equality; .

(2) a Supreme Court decision holding that; the Railway Mail Association, a postal clerks, union, came under the provisions of the New, York State Civil Rights law forbidding discrimi-, nation in admissions to membership; and

(3) a California Supreme Court decision in, ‘the Boilermakers Union AFL case holding that, ' closed shop unions must admit Negroes on a, basis of complete equality. :

“Some disappointment” was expressed by the ACLU with the failure of the National Labor Relations Board to hold in the Larus case and two others that unions segregating Negroes ini separate locals are not entitled to certification under the National Labor Relations Act. The ACLU participated in all these cases.

Slight Advances In Armed Forces

In the armed forces “comparatively slight”, advances against racial discrimination were seen, the greatest advance being in a War Department order opening army post facilities to Negroes and whites equally, and in an order abolishing segregation in veterans hospitals. The Navy Department was commended by the ACLU for opening up all services to Negroes, some without segregation. A considerable victory was scored according to the Union, in the widely publicized case of fourteen Negro Seabees whose dishonorable discharges for criticizing Navy Jim Crow were reversed on appeal supported by the ACLU by a Naval Board of Review sitting in Washington, D. C. A setback was registered during the year when the Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a soldier, Winfred Lynn, challenging the legality of racially segregated draft quotas. Lynn had been sent overseas while his appeal was pending.

The report notes that of 33 persons serving prison sentences under war laws for speeches or publications, “25 are members of obscure Negro anti-war religious sects.”

Discrimination against Negro teachers in matters of pay received a “strong judicial blow,” in a recent decision of the U. S. Circuit Court sitting in St. Paul, Minn., reversing an Arkansas federal court and upholding the suit of Little Rock, Ark. Negro teachers who claimed they were being discriminated against. An attempt to get the U. S. Supreme Court to review the legality of restrictive covenants barring Negroes from ownership or occupancy of real estate failed, however, when the court declined to hear a District of Columbia case, ‘presumably because the covenant in question was about to expire.”

White Primaries Still The Fashion

. The effect of the U. S. Supreme Court decision last year out-lawing the exclusive white primary election in the Solid South “varied greatly in the different Southern states,” according to the ACLU. In Texas tens of thousands of Negroes and Mexican Americans voted in the Democratic primary for the first time because of a party split in which both sides tried to enlist as many votes as possible. Negroes voted freely in Arkansas, but were rebuffed in their efforts to vote in Georgia and other states. Test cases were arranged by the ACLU in cooperation with the NAACP in Georgia, and another one rought by the Department of Justice is pending.

SOF issues affecting other racial minorities the ACLU noted that “the most complete tragic exhibition of race prejudice against a single minority in American history — the wholesale evacuation of the entire population of Japanese ancestry from the west coast—was concluded, in

Objectors Fared Badly During Past Year

The “generally unsatisfactory” conditions affecting the treatment of conscientious objectors remained “largely unchanged’’ throughout the last year despite “vigorous efforts,’ according to the annual report of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Union noted that there are now more than 3,500 objectors in prison, “seven times as many as in World War I,” and that efforts to parole them have been “on the whole un- successful.’ Over two thirds are Jehovah’s Witnesses. Disappointment was also expressed with the “uniformly adverse” decisions of the federal courts on the constitutionality of civilian service as now applied to some 8,000 drafted objectors, “who serve without pay, compensation for injury, or provision for their dependents.”

But “most shocking of all court decisions,” the Union reported was the 5 to 4 Supreme Court denial of the right of conscientious objectors to practice law, in the appeal of Illinois Lawyer Clyde W. Summers, who was represented by the Union.

The report noted that a delegation to President Roosevelt last year urging “fundamental changes” in the handling of objectors had not been successful. Selective Service and the War Department to whom the proposals were referred turned them down, “apparently from fear of public criticism,” although press reaction and public opinion surveys “did not bear out these fears.” Attorney General Francis Biddle in his departmental report this year ‘‘voiced many of the same criticisms,” said the Union, adding that nothing has been done to implement his recommendations. A petition signed by “distinguished churchmen all over the country” urged that the hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses denied @raft classification as ministers and imprisoned be granted more lenient parole terms.

One “encouraging and unexpected” incident was noted in the veto by Governor Earl Warren of California of a bill intended to discourage the employment of objectors in public service. Two “minor injustices” were corrected: (1) in a War Department order permitting the assignment of genuine objectors to the medical corps even though denied classification as.objectors by their draft boards; and (2) in a Selective Service or- der providing for discharge from civilian work camps of objectors who applied for army service and were rejected as 4F. Writs to secure the release of objectors forcibly drafted into the army without taking the oath of induction were successful in two cases, following a Supreme Court decision that’a man is not inducted until he takes the oath. In two other cases the courts refused to intervene and the objectors are now serving court martial sentences.

The case of two objectors, Stanley Murphy and Louis Taylor, which received nationwide attention following newspaper exposure of brutalities at the U. S. Prison Hospital at Springfield, Mo., was finally brought into court on habeas corpus proceedings. The district judge denied their plea for release on the ground that the brutalities had ceased and assurances were given that none would take place in the future.

The report also notes another “nationally advertised” case, the court martial sentence of death imposed on Henry Weber, a member of the Socialist Labor Party. The sentence was later reduced in successive stages to life imprisonment, twenty years, and finally five years. It is still before the War Department on the Union’s plea to “commute the sentence altogether and permit Weber to take service in the medical corps which he desired from the beginning.”

The Union continued to maintain throughout the year offices to aid conscientious objectors both in Washington and New York under the National Committee on Conscientious Objectors, headed by Ernest Angell, New York lawyer and member of the American Legion. Over forty court proceedings challenging the treatment of objectors were brought, and over $70,000 furnished in bail bonds. Several hundred claims were pushed with parole authorities or with Selective Service.

principle anyhow by the revocation of the military exclusion orders last December.” The ACLU scored the Supreme Court opinion sustaining the evacuation, however, as furnishing a constitutional precedent for racial discrimination. Discrimination against Mexican Americans, “prevalent throughout the southwest,” was but little improved during the year, except at the polls where a considerable number voted for the first time after the Supreme Court decision in the White Primary case.

NAVY CONTINUES BAN ON JAPANESE AMERICANS

Solicitude for the safety of Japanese Americans because of possible mistaken identity in combat was the reason given last month by the Navy Department for its continued refusal to accept Nisei for naval service or in the WAVES. In a communication to Dr. John Haynes Holmes, chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union, Arthur Garfield Hays, counsel, and Roger N. Baldwin, director, Rear Admiral Fechteler, speaking for Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, stated on August 14th that “the employment of Japanese Americans in duties other than Intelligence was considered impracticable in view of the additional danger that these men would encounter in combat from other Marines through mistaken identity.”

The, Navy Department had earlier rejected. Japanese American applicants even from shore duty largely on the ground they would be subjected to even unjustifiable suspicion “because of certain deep seated prejudices which are aggravated in the psychology of war.” This, the Navy feared, would create “collateral racial problems’”’ difficult to handle under war conditions at home or in combat. Women were refused service in the WAVES because the Navy felt that “we should not discriminate between male and female citizens of Japanese ancestry.”

Exception was immediately taken by the Union, which pointed out that the present rea-. son for refusal to admit American citizens of Japanese ancestry was now invalidated with the successful termination of the war. In a reply dated August 20th to Secretary Forrestal, Roger N. Baldwin called attention to the earlier pro-' tests made by the Union against the policies which it feared the Navy had adopted solely because of racial bias, and asked a reconsideration of the policy.

Meanwhile, the Union was assured that Japanese American war veterans honorably dis- charged from military service are no longer excluded from employment in naval installations naval activities in the Fourteenth Naval District in California, Oregon and Washington or from covering the west coast.

Statutory Limitation On Deportations Recommended To Federal Committee

A ten-year statute of limitations on deportations was proposed last month to a sub-committee of the House Immigration and Naturalization Committee holding hearings in New York City, by Herbert DeVarco, chairman of the Alien Civil Rights Committee of the ACLU. He appeared before a committee dealing with immigration and deportation established by the House of Representatives last spring to study the postwar problems of immigration and naturalization. Pointing out that at the present time aliens il- legally within the country or who have over| stayed their leaves may be deported at any time. Mr. DeVarco urged that for humanitarian reasons and as a measure to promote the administration of justice such deportations should be outlawed after ten years of the illegal action. Noting that statutes of limitations are fundamental to American jurisprudence and are operative not only in the civil but in the criminal law, he also told the committee that many cases of hardship would be obviated, particularly where the alien has established himself and raised a family here.

In answer to fears that the proposed bill. might invite border jumping and whoesale violations of the immigration laws, he said, “There would not seem to be an insuperable burden placed on the government as modern techniques, registration statutes, public employment and social security records militate against any possibility for long-term concealment.” Mr. DeVarco also stated that the bill would act as an incentive to prompt and efficient action by the government and that under the present unlimited period dilatory procedure might operate to deny. the alien a proper opportunity to defend himself because of lost papers, witnesses dead or with hazy recollections.

Acts of Terrorism Against Returning

Japanese at a Minimum Last Month Acts of terrorism against returning Japanese were at a minimum during the past month. When a Japanese just returned to the Sebasto-: pol area was threatened by two men, the Union at once advertised its $1000 reward offer in the Sebastopol Times, and the Attorney General was requested to make a prompt investigation of the case. 4

Because of hostility against returning Japanese in Vacaville and Fresno, the Union also advertised its reward offer in the local papers: of those communities during the past month.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

5 IMPRISONED BOYS FAVORABLE CIVIL LIBERTIES REC THE FOURTH YEAR OF FREED BY W.R.A.

ACLU attorney Wayne M. Collins of San Francisco on August 28 secured the release from the Tule Lake Center jail of four boys of Japanese ancestry, ranging in age from 15 to 17, who had been imprisoned on charges of violating the Special Project Regulations, and sentenced to from 120 to 370 days in jail.

. On August 10, attorney Clarence E. Rust of Oakland had filed petitions for writs of habeas corpus for the boys, and U.S. District Judge A. F. St. Sure had signed orders directing R. R. Best, the project director, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, Dillon S. Myer and Robert Cozzens, WRA officials, to show cause why writs of habeas corpus should not be issued. The show | cause order came on for a hearing on August 20, at which time the U. S. attorney had the case put over until August 27 in order to secure instruc-. tions from the Department of Justice.

In the meantime, the U. S. attorney arranged a conference between ACLU and War Relocation Authority attorneys, at which it was agreed that Wayne Collins should go to the Tule Lake center to arrange the release of the boys. When the boys were released, he merely instructed them to abide by State and Federal laws.

The boys had been accused of blowing bugles and wearing nationalistic insignia on their sweat shirts. They were hauled before the project director, who sat as a judge, and tried without a jury or the right to representation by an attorney. In filing the petitions for writs.of habeas corpus the Union. contended that the boys had been deprived of their liberty without due process of law.

The WRA contended that “the action taken by the Project Director is not a judicial proceeding but is an administrative disciplinary proceeding.” The Union has insisted that if there are any violations of the law, the persons should be charged in either the State or Federal courts. If the boys blow bugles at unreasonable hours they can be prosecuted for disturbing the peace in the State courts. Administrative officers, the Union insisted, do not have the right to arrogate to themselves the powers of judicial officers

What's Going to Happen to Japanese Barred from Pacific Coast and Those at Tule Lake?

As we go to press, the Union can only speculate as to when the Western Defense Command will lift its outstanding segregation and individual exclusion orders issued against Japanese ‘and Japanese Americans. The best guess is that the Army will act soon after the formal surrender of Japan is signed. Moreover, since the orders in question are based on “military necessity,” the end of hostilities should end the military need. The most the Army would tell the Union, however, was that an announcement would be made in the near future.

The cancellation of individual exclusion orders will mean that thousands of Japanese now residing in the East will be allowed to return to the Pacific Coast. The revocation of segregation orders will result in the release of many persons at Tule Lake.

Tule Lake, however, will continue in operation, possibly under the direction of the Justice Department once the War Relocation Authority completes its business of relocating those eligible for release. Many thousands will continue to be held as enemy aliens, however, and those who still desire repatriation will continue to stay at the camp until they are shipped to Japan.

One of the questions that is bound to arise is the authority of the Justice Department to detain state-less persons. Scores of persons who renounced their American citizenship through coercion of one kind or another are now seeking to secure their liberty. Many of those persons never held dual citizenship, so after renouncing they are reduced simply to state-less persons. The Department of Justice intends to hold such persons at Tule Lake unless the courts compel them to do otherwise.

BELL MAULDIN, famous Scripps-Howard G. I. cartoonist, upon his return to the United States, had the following to say about the Japanese situation in this country: “This Nisei situation here makes me sick. Those Japanese-American troops in Italy did more than any other, and they killed themselves to prove something to the folks at home.

“JT know of two such regiments in Italy that never had a case of AWOL, never had a case of malingering, never had a case of cowardice. No, one who has not been in the war has a right to mistreat any one who has been in the war.”

WAR, SAYS UNION

The struggle for civil liberties has shifted largely to the international front and to attacks on private restraints on freedom of communication, according to the annual report of the national office of the American Civil Liberties Union, made public last month in an eighty-page pamphlet under the title, “Liberty on the Home Front.”

The Union reported that the “pressure of individual cases and issues in courts and with administrative agencies has markedly declined” but that in their place “problems of far more general import” have arisen. The Union cites not only monopolistic practices in the field of communications but the creation of agencies to promote racial equality in employment, boards dealing with rights in industrial conflict, wider faculty and student participation in educational control, and international guarantees of free communication and of the rights of colonial peoples.

Reviewing the year, the Union emphasized the continuance of the favorable record in maintaining civil liberties since the beginning of the war. The report stated that “incidents arising out of: the war have declined,” noting that “other than war issues involving democratic liberties achieved more favorable results, particularly in the higher courts.”

Favorable Developments

A balance sheet of the record up to July 1945 listed 29 favorable developments in the courts and legislatures as against 20 unfavorable. Most of the gains noted were in extending racial liberties. Among the favorable items noted in race relations were the Supreme Court decision voiding contracts between southern railroads and unions which exclude Negroes from collective bargaining; the California Supreme Court decision requiring the Boilermakers Union to admit Negroes into full membership or to give up its closed shop; the War Department order ending the exclusion of persons of Japanese ancestry from the west coast; the acceptance by the Navy of Negroes for full service, and with less segregation; New York State’s establishment of a Fair Employment Practice Committee. Favorable labor items noted were the U. S. Supreme Court decision voiding the Texas law requiring licenses for Union organizers, and the defeat in California of an anti-closed shop referendum.

Noted as also favorable were three decisions by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia scoring Post Office censorship in the cases of Esquire Magazine and two pamphlets barred from the mail, one on birth control, and the other “Preparing for Marriage.” The Civil Liberties Union took part in all the court cases won,

Hostile Developments

Developments hostile to civil liberties, according to the Union, were the Supreme Court decision upholding the evacuation “on racial grounds” of the Japanese from the west coast; the continued refusal of the Navy Department, “alone of all federal departments,” to accept the service of any Japanese American; the Supreme Court decision denying pacifist lawyers admission to the bar; and the imprisonment of 3500 “genuine conscientious objectors,” seven times as many as in World War I, two thirds of whom are Jehovah’s Witnesses. —

Other items noted as unfavorable were the adoption of anti-closed shop laws by popular vote in Florida and Arkansas, the continuing book censorship in Boston, and the dismissal of President Homer T. Rainey of the University of Texas “on grounds of academic freedom.”

The Union noted “with satisfaction” that no prosecutions for speech or publication were instituted during the year and that several from earlier years were reversed on appeal.

The only sedition case pending for trial, that for seditious conspiracy against 29 persons in the District of Columbia, is, according to the Union, unlikely to be tried. The report credits the record, in comparison with World War I, as due to a “wholly different temper on the part of the Department of Justice, the courts and public opinion,” and adds that “it is a fair guess that if that temper had been clearly estab- lished in the early days of the war almost no cases would have been brought, or in any event convictions obtained.” A summary of sedition cases shows only 33 persons convicted and serving sentences, of whom 25, according to the Union, are members of obscure Negro anti-war sects.

Conflicts Not Arising From War

Of conflicts not arising from the war, race relations continued to “involve the most numerous and publicized issues of civil liberties covering Negroes, Japanese Americans, Mexican Americans and alien orientals.” Political rights came to the fore with the campaign against the poll tax, repealed in Georgia and challenged in the Tennessee courts. The Union, backing the campaign for a federal bill to abolish the poll tax, noted that after passage by the House “its fate is again in doubt in the face of a threatened Senate filibuster by southern senators.” The effects of the Supreme Court decision of last year in opening up the white Democratic primaries in the south to Negroes and Mexicans previously barred, were described as “hopeful, in view of its wide acceptance.” Of labor’s rights, the report says that “the national epidemic of restrictive state legislation in 1941 and 1943 ended in defeat in the Supreme Court where a series of notable decisions denied the states the power to license unions or their agents.”

The record in the courts and legislatures was borne out, according to the report, by a survey by correspondents in 36 states who reported little local interference with freedom of speech and press, and race relations as the major issue of civil liberties, ‘with rising tensions but increased activity to meet them.” The Union comments that the “correspondents’ reports were on the whole more favorable than in any recent year,” save on the Pacific Coast.

The Issues: Ahead

Civil liberties issues ahead in the courts, according to the Union’s listing, are the Government’s anti-trust suits against alleged monopolistic practices in the motion picture industry, and three war-time cases—(1) the extent of military vs. civil authority in Hawaii, (2) a federal prosecution against the leaders of Mankind United, a California sect, now in the Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco, (3) the “un- likely” trial in the District of Columbia of the © seditious conspiracy indictment against 29 alleged pro-Nazis. Also on the way to the Supreme Court is a case raising again the issue of the right of an alien conscientious objector to become a citizen, and a Virginia Negro woman’s appeal against segregation in interstate travel.

Noteworthy cases pending in state courts are the appeals of John Longo, Hague opponent, against a conviction for allegedly altering his voting record, and the appeal of a Massachusetts bookseller from a conviction for selling Lillian Smith’s novel, “Strange Fruit.” The Union cites ‘as the leading measures pending in Congress, the creation of a permanent Fair Employment Practice Committee, the abolition of the poll tax as a requirement for voting in federal elections, the transfer of censorship powers from the Post Office officials to the courts; provisions for citizenship for resident Filipinos, East Indians and Koreans; authorization of a vote by Puerto Ricans on the island’s political future, and the issue of peace-time compulsory military training.

Senate Delay On Filipino. Naturalization Bill Scored

Failure of the Senate Immigration Committee to report out H. R. 776, the Philippine naturalization bill before adjournment was scored last month by the American Civil Liberties Union. Stating that “we are in danger of forfeiting our friendship and good relations with the Filipinos by our inaction on this bill against which. there can be no conceivable opposition,” the Union in a letter signed by John Haynes Holmes, chairman, Arthur Garfield Hays, counsel and Roger N. Baldwin, director, urged Senate majority leader Alben W. Barkley of Kentucky to clear the way for a speedy consideration of the bill and its rapid passage when Congress reconvenes in October.

The bill introduced last January in the House by Rep. Dan R. McGehee of Mississippi, was unanimously passed by the lower chamber in April. It has since been pending before the Senate Immigration Committee without further action. The proposed law has the support of the State and Justice Departments, the American Legion, and representatives of labor. Members and friends of the Union are requested to write to Senator James Eastland, chairman of the sub| ‘committee of the Immigration Committee holding the bill and Senator Richard B. Russell, chairman of the Immigration Committee asking ‘a prompt and favorable report on the legisla‘tion.

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AMERICAN CiVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

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"Witness" Restored To Custody of 2 Children

(Continued from Page 1, Col 2) custody of their off-spring lest they become disloyal citizens. Also it would seem to follow that the teachings of this group should be prevented by the state as inimical to the public welfare.

“We have been cited to no case, and believe none will be found, wherein it has been held that the courts may deprive parents of the custody of their offspring because of a disagreement with such parents as to their religious views, at least, as long as their teachings do not conflict with the laws of the land. While respondent argues in his brief that there is no religious issue in this case, and asserts that the question is whether a father should have the right to have his children taught the ‘principles of good citizenship,” it is patent that both respondent and the trial court are of the opinion that the religious teachings of appellant are incompatable with what they consider the ‘principles of good citizenship’.” ‘

The trial court disclaimed any desire to interfere with Mrs. Cory’s religious views and attempted to base its decision on “patriotism.” “It is apparent,” said the appellate court, “that he considers it unpatriotic to refuse to salute the flag, and believes that a mother who teaches her children that it is wrong to kill and right to refuse to participate in wars, is unfit to have the custody of her children; for only on these grounds has it found that she ‘is not a fit and proper person to have the sole custody of the said children.’ In so concluding we think the said court abused its discretion. Differ as we may, and, we might say, as most of us do, as to the wisdom and soundness of the reasoning of plaintiff and her fellow Witnesses, it is not for courts to say that her religious convictions and those of her associates are necessarily such as to jeopardize the interests of their children.”

The opinion relied on the West Virginia flag salute decision in which the U. S. Supreme Court held that a regulation requiring public school pupils to salute the flag while reciting a pledge of allegiance, under penalty of expulsion, transcended constitutional limitations and invaded the sphere of intellect of which it is the purpose of. the first and 14th amendments of ‘the constitution to reserve from all official controls.

The opinion was written by Presiding Judge Adams, and Judges Peek and Thompson con- curred. Mrs. Cory was represented by Attorney Clarence E. Rust of Oakland, member of the local Executive Committee of the ACLU. An amicus curiae brief was filed by the Northern and Southern California branches of the union.

MEMPHIS BOARD REVOKES MOVIE BAN ON "THE SOUTHERNER"

Movie censorship in the South took a tactical retreat last month when the Memphis Board of Censors announced that it would permit a screening of “The Southerner,” a motion picture previously barred. The Board’s reversal resulted, however, only because the film was being shown immediately outside the city in another town directly across the river in Arkansas. It still considered the film an “infamous misrepresentation” of an average white Southern family. The Board, dominated by Chairman Lloyd T. Binford, had earlier in the year made headlines by excluding other films such as “Brewster’s Millions,” “Imitation of Life.” ‘Dead End” and “Dillinger.” Most of the films were banned because they purportedly portrayed Negroes in a too favorable light or because Mr. Binford felt that they reflected unfavorably on Southern culture or were unwholesome entertainment.

United Artists, producers of: ‘The Southerner,” when notified of the Memphis Board’s action announced that they were prepared “to institute a suit against any group of censors which tries to box out “The Southerner’ from any theater box office in any city or town in the United States.” Gradwell L. Sears, vice-president in charge of United Artists distribution, furthermore declared, “I for one am going to fight bias and bigotry in any form when it threatens freedom of the screen.”’

UNION'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS ADOPTS MEMORANDUM ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS

The American Civil Liberties Union subscribes to the view that the rights of a human being are irrespective of sex, race, nationality, religion or opinion, and that every one has the right to protection against arbitrary discrimination on any of those grounds. Women have civil liberties no less than men.

In the field of civil liberties for women, the right to work is rapidly becoming for most women as important an economic right as it has always been for men. The Union, therefore, has concentrated upon this right. It has adopted the general principle that employment of workers should be for merit, skill and experience without arbitrary discrimination because of sex or marital status.

In amplification of that principle, it has approved a campaign for the removal of legal and administrative bars to the employment of married women in public employment and for the removal of discriminations against women, whether married or unmarried, as members of trade unions. It also endorses the related principle of equal pay for equal work.

The Union has progressed thus far in the field of civil liberties for women by the method of step by step itemization of the subject matter and correction of each discrimination by specific legislation appropriate to that end.

There is a body of thinking, however, which considers this method too slow and would like to see a Woman’s Bill of Rights made a part of the Federal Constitution. Two amendments to the Constitution to that effect have been before Congress for several years.

The Union, however, is opposed to the writing into the Constitution of any blanket provision for equalization of the sexes along the lines of either of the measures now before Congress. It believes that such an amendment, couched in vague and sweeping language, while emotionally attractive, is bound to lead to great confusion and uncertainty in its application. It can have little or no effect upon the principal discriminations from which women suffer (many .of which are not legal at all but are primarily matters of habit and custom). It is sure to jeopardize a great body of valuable social and labor legislation without producing anything significant in the field of civil liberties in its stead. The Union believes that the best and in the long run the quickest method of obtaining equal civil rights in law for women is the method of particularization which it has thus far used.

The Union, therefore, will continue to support specific measures to remove discrimination against women in such fields for instance as jury service, guardianship of children, employment and earnings, and ownership and control of prop-. erty, all in accordance with the familiar slogan. “specific bills for specific ills.”

QUALIFIED OATH FOR PASSPORTS PERMITTED OBJECTORS

A determination of interest to conscientious objectors that the oath of allegiance required of applicants for passports does not imply a promise to perform military service was made last month by the State Department. The ruling was issued in reply to an inquiry by the American Civil Liberties Union as to the Department’s interpretation of the oath as applied to pacifists. The Union’s action was prompted by a query from a member of the Mennonite Church, a pacifist organization. He is anticipating work in the mission field for his church.

Mrs. Ruth B. Shipley, chief of the Passport Division, in a letter dated August 21st, referred the Union to an earlier departmental ruling made in 1926 when pacifist Roger N. Baldwin, ACLU director, before making an application for a passport had asked whether the oath to “support and defend the Constitution” meant the bearing of arms or the supporting of war. The Department stated at that time that it “does not construe the oath or affirmation of allegiance prescribed by the passport regulations as neces- sarily involving physical defense of the Constitution and consequently does not perceive any good reason why non-residents should decline to accept it, especially as it is administered to women and children old enough to understand its nature.” Conscientious objectors, it is stated, will be permitted to take a qualified oath or affirmation in the following form:

“Further, I do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and will, so far as my conscience will allow, defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. So help me God.”

Union officials expressed gratitude that no change had been made in the regulations. It is believed that the oath in this form is unique in government circles.

Proposal to Bar C.O.'s from L. A. County Jobs Held to Violate

Charter Provision

A proposal that conscientious objectors be barred from employment by Los Angeles county was dropped last month after the County Counsel ruled it would violate charter provisions.

“It is our opinion,” said the County Counsel, “that under existing county charter provisions no person may legally be denied the right to take a civil service examination or to be certified as an eligible after successfully passing such an examination, on the sole ground that he is a conscientious objector. Likewise, no authority now exists whereby persons now employed by the county may be denied further employment because they are conscientious objectors.”’ The Los Angeles County Charter provides specifically that “No person ... shall... in any way be discriminated against because of his .. . religi- ous opinions or affiliations.”

Democratic Primaries Opened To Florida Negroes

Negroes are entitled to vote in Florida Democratic primary elections according to a unanimous decision of the Florida Supreme Court, handed down on July 27. The ruling was made in two cases, appealed by the State, in which R. A. Cromwell and Essau Chavis, qualified Negro voters, had obtained lower court orders directing the supervisor of registration of Escanbia County to register them as Democratic electors. The opinions written by Justice Rivers Buford were based upon the U. S. Supreme Court decision rendered in 1944 by which Texas Negroes were given the right to vote in Democratic primaries on the theory that a primary is an integral part of an election in which the Constitution guarantees all citizens the right to vote.

The Court held in reply to the question raised by the supervisor as to whether a Negro person is entitled to be registered by a Democratic elector, “We think this question is put at rest adversely to the contention of the appellant by the opinion and judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Smith v. Allwright. Other questions presented have been considered but are held to be without merit.”

In commenting upon the decision, Roger N. Baldwin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union, pointed out that the judicial trend in the South was toward a general acceptance of the rule laid down in the Texas White Primary case. He said, “We are, of course, pleased to note that the decision in the Texas White Primary Case is now firmly established and has been accepted at its face value., But although reversals were sought purely on technical points, we are more impressed with the position adopted by the Florida Attorney General in these cases when he said, ‘To be candid, we must admit that under Smith v. Allwright, the question posed here should be answered in the affirmative.’ This decision removes one more obstacle to the Ne-groes’ enjoyment of civil rights in Florida.” : ' The cases were handled by John M. Coe, ACLU lawyer in Pensacola, Florida, acting privately.

STATE PERSONNEL BOARD REQUIRE IDENTIFICATION CARDS FROM NISEI

The State Personnel Board has established the policy of requiring Nisei applying for civil service jobs to present an identification card from the Western Defense Command. Needless to say, this requirement is over and above anything required of other job applicants. |

The requirement is not very onerous since the Western Defense Command does issue the identification cards upon request. However, it is rather slow in providing the cards, and, in the meantime the Nisei face loss of their jobs unless they satisfy the requirement within fifteen days after reporting for work. The Union is taking the matter up with the State Personnel Board.