vol. 11, no. 2

AMERICAN

CIVIL LIBERTIES

~ UNION-NEWS

`

#u

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

FREE SPEECH

FREE PRESS

FREE ASSEMBLAGE

Vol. XI.

SAN FRANCISCO, FEBRUARY, 1946

No. 2

50 Negro Seamen Convicted

Of Mutiny Restored to Duty

_ Court martial sentences of 8 to 15 years im-

_ posed on 50 Negro sailors for alleged mutiny

at a munitions loading port in California in

1944 were set aside and the men restored to

duty by Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal

on January 7, following a report by Lester

Granger, secretary of the National Urban

League, made at Secretary Forrestal's request.

The order applied to 47 of the men; two others

now in Navy hospitals will presumably be con-

sidered later; while one was refused clemency

on the grounds of his record. Similar clemency

action was extended to 36 Negro sailors con-

victed on rioting charges growing out of dis-

turbances in Guam late in 1944. Both cases

aroused widespread criticism and protest on

the grounds that racial discrimination was in-

volved in the trials.

Secretary Forrestal's action was commended

by the American Civil Liberties Union as "an

act of justice that gives substance to the Navy's

_ declared policy of eliminating racial discrimi-

nation." The Union last year urged a review of

the convictions of the 50 alleged mutiners on

the ground that their trial and sentence was a.

"shocking example of racial bias." The 50 were

~ corivicted ior refusing to ioad a munitions ship

at Port Chicago, California, shortly after an

explosion had resulted in the deaths of 300 Ne-

gro sailors and five white officers. The charges

_against the 36 grew out of riots on Guam in

which one Negro sailor was killed and several

Negro and white sailors and marines were in-

jured. a ;

The 83 men ordered restored to duty will

receive honorable discharges if they complete

their enlistments with good records.

Terrorist Pleads Guilty;

Stray Bullet Probe Closed

Robert Franklin Hailey, 36, on January 28

withdrew not guilty pleas and pleaded guilty to

two charges of assault with a deadly weapon,

which were filed after he fired shotgun blasts

into the homes of Motonosuka Motosazi and

Toshiaki Idota near Centerville, Alameda Coun-

ty, last September. Superior Judge Edward J.

Tyrrell dismissed two counts of attempted mur-

der when Hailey pleaded guilty to the lesser

offenses. | ;

Sentencing was deferred until February 27

to allow the probation officer to make a report

to assist the judge in fixing the sentence. Hailey

faces terms of 1 to 10 years on each count. He

is not eligible for probation because the law de-

nies probation to those committing offenses

while armed.

In Contra Costa county, the shooting of

Kanejiro Fujinaga, 49, while he was pruning

trees at the Philip Bancroft ranch on January

23, was termed an accident by the Contra Costa

county sheriff's office. A cook employed on a

ranch three-quarters of a mile distant admitted

_target-shooting at bottles thrown into the air

at about the time Fujinaga was struck by the

bullet. He was struck in the temple but suffered

only a superficial wound.

L. A. BAR ASSOCIATION VOTES ON

ADMITTING NEGROES TO MEMBERSHIP

Members of the Los Angeles Bar Association

will vote on February 4 on whether to admit

colored persons to membership. Opponents of

the proposal contend that there is no issue of

racial equality. "The considerations involved,"

they say, "are those reflected elsewhere in the

restrictive membership qualifications of many

clubs and organizations whose functions are so-

cial in character."

Slave Labor Racket Enjoyed by Caucasians

At Tule Lake Concentration Camp

War Relocation Authority employees at the

Tule Lake Center are exploiting the Japanese

under their charge as virtual "slave labor." That

fact was just discovered during the past month,

but the shocking labor practices have been going

on for years, with the full knowledge and consent

of the W. R.A. = :

During the war, domestic help has been at a

premium in most cities, but not at Tule Lake.

Nursemaids, cooks, cleaning women, etc, have

been available at concentration camp bargain

prices of $19 a month for a forty-hour week. If

you want a nursemaid you apply to the Recreation

Club, operated for the Caucasian personnel, and

pay them thirty dollars a month. The Club pays

the nursemaid her month wages of $19 and a

$3.75 clothing allowance required by W.R. A.,

and places the balance in the Club's treasury, to

be spent for the benefit of its membership.

A Personnel Mess Hall. is operated at the

camp, which serves cheap meals only because

Japanese concentration camp labor is paid slave

wages. The head waitress and assistant head

waitress both receive $19 a month, as does the

Fates Poste eee ee ogi ge a Na aE Re ee Oe ne ee 7 Sa

~-euroaSniei, WierSas iS CUUNS alll WalLLeESsEs CECCIVE

$16 a month, all for a forty-hour week. However,

the Caucasian who relieves the Japanese cashier

four times a month is paid time and a half her

regular WRA wages for overtime.

At Christmas time the 8 waitresses served"

dinners to 108 persons. They collected exactly

97c in tips, or about 12c for each girl. But then,

that's high, because tips are a rarity.

The Recreation Club, built by the Japanese

out of scraps and operated for the benefit of the

Caucasian personnel, has a barber shop where

men's hair cuts can be secured for 40c, which is

a considerable saving over San Francisco's pre-

sent price of 85c. Of course, the evacuee barber

is paid ony $19 a month for a 40-hour week.

The camp maintains a beauty parlor for its

Caucasian personnel where women get shampoos

for 75centc and permanents for $4.50. The operators

are paid $16 a month for a forty-hour week. Not

content to pay these minimum prices, some of the

personnel go inside the Japanese camp to the

evacuee's beauty parlor where permanents retail

at only $1.10 and where the operators still get

only $16 a month for a 40-hour week. Recently,

the Japanese operators in the Personnel Beauty

Parlor left camp and no Japanese replacements

were available. Only then were Caucasian operat-

ors hired, but at the going wage for regular

operators.

Auto repair and car washing used to be

handled for the camp's personnel by the same

slave labor. In general, it is interesting to note

that private persons on farms outside the camp

paid going rates to the government for prisoner |

of war labor. And, prisoners of war performing -

such work received eighty cents a day. That's

, just about the highest rate of pay the evacuees

received from private employers inside the camp.

In a limited sense, the Japanese could take

these jobs or leave them. But, unless you work

you receive no clothing allowance of from $1.75

to $3.75 per month.

Some of the foregoing practices existed in

the other WRA camps now closed, although in

some cases the personnel paid extra wages to the

Japanese without the knowledge of the directing

personnel. Originally ail of the Japanese were

hired through the Co-operatives established by

the evacuees, and the evacuees got the benefit of

the few extra dollars above the monthly wages _ `

paid by an employer. At Tule Lake, however,

when the Co-operatives demanded that the em-

_ninvers inerease their naymente the amploumont ___

nlavers increase their naymente. the aD

bureau was transferred to the Recreation Center

operated for the benefit of the Caucasion person-

nel. Incidentally, while the evacuees are even

excluded from the Recreation Center as guests

of Caucasion personnel, they serve and perform

the other duties which the government employees

enjoy tax-free. :

The amazing thing is that a good number of

the Caucasions who express sympathy for the

evacuees and are critical of our war-time treat-

ment of them, nevertheless participate in the

slave labor racket. They see nothing wrong with

the system or, if they do, they feel they are pow-

erless to correct it. The usual defense goes some-

what like this: If the evacuees we hired were

paid a greater wage than those inside the Japan-

ese area, great dissatisfaction would be created -

among the entire Japanese colony. It seems never

to have occurred to these people that the differ-

ence between the camp wage scale and the gen-

eral wage scale could be paid into a welfare fund

for the benefit of all of the Japanese evacuees.

In the past, the W.R. A. has been subjected

to a lot of unfair criticism by the Dies Committee,

the Tenney Committee and others. If these groups

had not been so intent upon smearing the W.R.A.

they might have discovered numerous things at -

Tule Lake that needed exposure, and, among

them, the slave labor racket.

UNION HELPS TWO NISEI RECOVER THEIR

AUTOMATIC SHOTGUNS FROM BORROWER

The ACLU of Northern California last month

was instrumental in restoring a couple of auto-

matic shotguns, valued at $300, to two Nisei

brothers in Colusa, one a wounded war veteran.

The guns had been loaned to a Caucasian neigh-

bor, at his urging, at the time of the evacuation.

When the boys sought 'to reclaim their guns the

man refused to return them, first on one ground

and then on another. After receiving a couple

of letters from the Union, the borrower person-

ally returned the guns to the boys.

Incidentally, a government representative last

month informed the Union that he had just seen

two guns that were reclaimed by their Nisei

owners from the Sheriff's office in Yuba City.

"The barrels of both guns were bent and ruined.

When the Japanese owner complained the Sher-

iff told him to saw the barrels off. Other guns

held for Japanese in the same Sheriff's office

have been damaged in the same way."

NISEI SOLDIERS SUBJECTED TO INSULTS

AND ATTACKS IN THE PHILIPPINES

The American uniform is no protection for

Nisei in the Philippines. They are not only in-

sulted by Filipinos but also attacked. "These

citizen soldiers of ours," says the New York -

Times, "deserve better of us and of the Filipinos

than they are getting. The Nisei who served in

American uniforms in the Pacific took greater

risks than did most other American soldiers.

In addition to the usual hazards of war, they

knew they could expect only the worst tortures

if they were captured, and they were in con- |

`stant danger on their own side of the line from

trigger-happy fellow soldiers who might mistake

them in bad light for an enemy. Now, even with

the war over, their lives still are in jeopardy.

"Because of their unique value as translators

and interpreters, it is quite probable that they

will have to stay. It is to be hoped, however,

that every reasonable precaution will be taken

to ensure their safety and that their activities

and true identity as loyal Americans will be well -

advertised among the Filipinos."

Page 2

LONGO WINS NEW TRIAL

IN JERSEY CITY

John R. Longo of Jersey City, long-time polit-

ical foe of Mayor Frank Hague, won a two-year

battle against a conviction for fraudulently alter-

ing his voting record when he was granted a new

trial on January 18. Longo was originally con-

-victed and sentenced to one to three years after

a trial in which he was fiot represented by coun-

sel, and in which one of the main prosecution

witnessess was a perjurer. In granting Longo a

new trial Common Pleas Judge August Ziegener

characterized the activities of William George,

prosecutor in the first trial and a Hague support-

er, as "more those of a persecutor than a prose-

cutor."

Mr. Longo was convicted in November 1943.

Subsequently, his attorney, Raymond Chasan,

appealed through the Supreme Court to the Court

of Errors and Appeals, New Jersey's highest

court. After losing in both courts he appealed to

the State Board of Pardons, and considered an.

appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. After being

~ turned down on the pardon appeal, application for

a new trial was made to Judge Ziegener who had

meanwhile succeeded Judge Thomas H. Brown in

the Court of Common Pleas. The American Civil

Liberties Union supported Longo at various

points in his long legal fight.

Mr. Longo is out on bail pending his new trial, :

set for March 4. Three state handwritting experts.

have been unable to find any evidence of the

alleged alteration in Longo's voting record, and

conviction in a fair trial would appear unlikely.

Resumption of Mail to German U. S.

Zone Due Soon, Says War Dept.

Reopening of mail service to the U. S. zone

in Germany does not depend on agreements with

other occupying powers and will occur by "early

spring," according to information from the War

Department, the American Civil Liberties Union

told Senator Kenneth Wherry on January 9. The

"Senator was reported as stating that he Id

been told by President Truman that mail serv-

ice could not be restored without "unanimous

agreement of the Allied Control Commission."

Senator Wherry criticized other nations for re-

straining the American people from expressing

their "native humanitarianism" by sending food

to Germany. =

The ACLU wrote Senator Wherry quoting a

letter from John W. Martyn, Administrative As-

sistant to the Secretary of War, to the effect

that "reopening of limited postal service 1s ex-

pected by early spring. Similar privileges may

not immediately be granted to German nationals

living in the other three zones. However, it may

be assumed that, when communications with

residents of the U. S. zone are permitted, the

theater commander will initiate negotiations to

have the other three occupying powers similarly

relax restrictions."

The ACLU said that in view of this state-

ment it would seem that communications with

the U. S. zone are "solely a matter for decision

by our government and that postal service with

the American zone will be resumed in the near

future." The ACLU added that it had been com-

municating "with various government depart-

ments about resumption of service and that from

replies it appeared that the obstacles are partly

the breakdown of transportation and partly

political." -

STATE DEPARTMENT FAVORS OPENING

MAILS TO ALL GERMANY

The U.S. State Department considers it

"desirable" to open mail service to all Germany

for personal correspondance and relief parcels,

but this has not "thus far been possible' because _

of the lack of a central postal agency in Germany,

- according to a letter to the American Civil Liber-

ties Union from Francis C. DeWolf, chief of the

Tele-communications Division, on behalf of the

Department. Mr. DeWolf says that the establish-

ment of a central postal agency for all Germany

was provided for in the Potsdam agreement; but

requires unanimous consent of the occupying

authorities. "Such an agency has not yet been

established," Mr. DeWolf says.

Reopening of the mails to the American zone

of occupation "is being considered by the State

- Department and other interested agencies of the

government," he continues," it is not known how-

ever, how soon it will be possible to begin this

service," while the resumption of mail service to

_Japan has not been "formally considered."

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

Blockading of Struck

Plants Endangers

Right to Picket

Use of force by pickets to bar managers or

maintenance employees from struck plants was

condemned as "endangering the basic right to

picket" by the American Civil Liberties Union

in a letter dated Jan. 21 to CIO President Philip

Murray, AFL President William Green, and lead-

ers of unions involved in the present strike wave.

The union leaders were advised that it is "greatly

in the interest of the unions themselves to control

picketing so that access to plants is not denied

by force." The full text of a memorandum sent

by the ACLU to the union leaders reads:

"The American Civil Liberties Union has al-

ways supported the right to picket at any time,

at any place, for any purpose. Picketing, as the

courts have held, is a form of free speech and

assembly and is supported on that principle. The

only limitations by public authorities on picketing

supported by the Union are those to keep traffic

open for pedestrians and vehicles, to insure access

to places picketed, to prevent the use of fraudu-

lent signs, and to maintain order. The Union has

supported mass picketing where these conditions

are met.

"But no claims of the rights to picket justify

the use of force to prevent access to plants on

strike by those who are willing to cross picket

lines. Reports of current strikes show instances

in which pickets have prevented access to plants

by executive officers, by maintenance crews keep-

ing up such services as heat and lighting, and by -

clerical workers not members of the striking

union. These are plain abuses of the right of |

picketing. In the view of the American Civil Liber-

ties Union, the right of access, not only of these

persons, but of any and all others, is undebatable.

The two rights-of picketing and of access to

places picketed-are not conflicting.

"The present issue, however, goes further

`than the right of access to places across a picket

line. It affects profoundly the rights of organized (c)

labor itself, for wherever the use of force by

pickets is successful, public sympathy with unions

is alienated and encouragement is given to the

opponents of labor's rights. _

cent

"These excesses connected

bound to have a disastrous effect in the long run

on the basic right to picket. It is therefore greatly

in the interest of the unions themselves so to con-

trol picketing that access to plants is not denied

by force. Police efforts to keep access to plants

open should be supported by responsible leaders;

not resisted as some reports indicate. If they are

defied, the inevitable effect will be resort to the

courts by those aggrieved, with consequent in-

junctions. Even the statutes protecting labor's

legitimate rights from injunctions may thus be

endangered."

eo

Executive Committee

American Givil Liberties Union

of Northern California

Sara Bard Field

Honorary Member

Rt. Rev. Edw. L. Parsons

Chairman

Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn

Helen. Salz

Vice-Chairman

Joseph S. Thompson

Secretary-Treasurer

Ernest Besig

Director

Philip Adams

John H. Brill

H, C. Carrasco

Wayne M. Collins

James J. Cronin, Jr.

Rev. Oscar F. Green

Morris M. Grupp

Margaret C. Hayes

Prof. Ernest R. Hilgard

Ruth Kingman

Ralph N. Kleps

Dr, Edgar A. Lowther

Mrs. Bruce Porter

Clarence E. Rust

Rabbi Irving F. Reichert

Dr. Howard Thurman

Kathleen Drew Tolman

with picketing are

SURVEY OF RACE BIAS IN

NAT'L AGENCIES RELEASED

A survey of the race practices in relation

to Negroes of 141 leading American professional,

cultural and scientific associations was made

public by the American Civil Liberties Union

last month. The survey is based on question-

naires answered by the leading associations, ex-

clusive of churches and trade unions, and is

embodied in a 14-page pamphlet.

According to the Union, the "most striking

and unexpected fact is the number reporting

no racial segregation or discrimination." Ninety-

three of the 141 organizations were so listed. The

survey notes, however, that the total member-

ships of the 93 is less than a million, as com-

pared with memberships totaling almost 40 mil-

lion in organizations which segregate locally.

The Union comments that "segregation is

the prevailing pattern in the bigger national

associations. They tend to admit to national

membership without discrimination, but exclude

or segregate Negroes locally." Among the larg-

est of the national organizations cited as seg-

regating are the American Red Cross, the Boy

Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of America,

the American Legion, the Military Order-of the (c)

Purple Heart, the National Congress of Parents

and Teachers, the National Women's Christian

Temperance Union, the Young Women's Christ-

ian Association. and the Co-operative League of

America.

The survey lists 29 leading national Negro

organizations which parallel general national as-

sociations, in order to show the extent to which

Negroes have been obliged to form their own

associations.

Of the 93 national organizations which pro-

fess no discrimination, the Union comments:

"one of three facts, or all, are true of the large

majority: (1) Negroes are discouraged from

participation, or (2) few are qualified-for mem-

bership, or (3) Negroes are not interested in

seeking membership." Of the 93, 12 reported no

Negro members at all, and only nine had as -

many as 100 Negro members. On the bright side,

however, 29 reported Negroes serving on their

governing boards, and 19 reported Negroes

their paid staffs.

. The survey was published in order-te-bring -

`pressure to bear on national public service or-

ganizations to drop policies of discrimination

and segregation and to induce more Negroes to

apply for membership in the associations in

which they are professionally interested.

ATTY. GENERAL ASKED TO END FURTHER

SENTENCES FOR "OBJECTORS"

Further prison sentences for conscientious |

objectors should be avoided, the American Civil

Liberties Union told Attorney General Tom C..

Clark in a letter on January 10. Pointing out:

that the Department of Justice is already con-

on

fronted with the problem of releasing more than -

3,000 objectors in prison, the Union said "no

apparent purpose would be served by more com-

mitments." The Attorney General was urged to

instruct U. S. attorneys to request suspended

sentences or probation where trials are held, and

wherever possible to seek other dispositions

than prosecution.

The Union said that while the Selective Serv-

ice Act continues in effect cases of conscientious -

objectors still come before U. S. Attorneys "in

small numbers: some for refusal to accept alter-

native civilian service some for failure to gain

recognition as objectors by draft boards; and a

few for refusal to register. With the close of

the war it would appear unnecessary for the

purposes of discipline, morale, or justice to com-

mit such men to prison."'

The letter was signed by Attorney Ernest -

Angell of New York, chairman of the Union's

National Committee on Conscientious Objectors.

High Court To Review Jim Crow

Travel Law But Won't Consider

Miscegenation Statute

The U. S. Supreme Court on January 28 (c)

agreed to review a Virginia "Jim Crow" law re-

quiring Negro passengers to use rear seats. of

buses traveling through the state. The appellant

is Irene Morgan, who was convicted and fined

$10 in October, 1944, after she refused to move

' to the segregated seats of a Greyhound bus

while traveling from Closter county, Virginia, to

Baltimore, Maryland. The Union will support

Miss Morgan's appeal. So

At the same time, however, the court re-

fused to review a suit attacking the constitution-

ality of Arizona's miscegenation statute forbid-

ding persons of white blood to marry Negroes,

Mongolians or Indians. '

TULE LAKE HEARINGS END:

RESULTS NOT KNOWN

_ Special hearings in the cases of over 3000

persons of Japanese ancestry at the Tule Lake

concentration camp, who claim they renounced

their U. S. citizenship under duress, were con-

cluded on January 31. The results of the three

weeks of hearings are not yet known. The Union

is informed that all of the files have been sent

to Washington for final review. At most, those

who receive favorable decisions will merely be

released from detention. No one's citizenship

will be restored in consequence of the hearings.

The hearings were given for the purpose of

allowing the renunciants to show cause why

they should not be removed to Japan. In reach-

ing a decision in each case, the government will

consider the circumstances surrounding the re-

nunciation, whether there are any citizen de-

pendents in the household, whether any im-

mediate relatives served or are serving in the

armed forces and whether the subject performed:

any affirmative acts of loyalty during the war

period.

The Union was not favorably impressed with

the manner in which the hearings were conduct-

ed. By American standards, they were not `fair

hearings. The Justice Department took the po-

sition that the hearings were an act of grace, |

and that they could run them in almost any

fashion they pleased. The public was excluded

and no counsel was allowed the renunciant. He

could bring a "friend" as an observer, but many

of the hearing officers were obviously annoyed

when anyone did this. In fact, on one occasion,

a hearing officer violated the regulations by

barring a Civil Liberties Union `friend', and on

another occasion the hearing officer frightened

the subject of the hearing into excluding the

"friend."

Witnesses were allowed to testify for the

renunciants, but most of the witnesses had al-

ready left the camp, or the subjects of the hear-

ings did not know how to go about preparing

their cases. Indeed, the government discouraged

the calling of witnesses by telling people they

did not need them.

Thirteen of the fifteen hearing officers were

recruited from the Immigration Service, while

-- __.. the remaining two were attorneys from the

Department of Justice. Prof. Paul Hayes, on

- leave from Columbia University Law School, got

the hearings under way, and then turned the

supervisory job over to Mr. Charles Rothstein

of the Justice Department. _

In general, the Immigration Service men

acted as they do in immigration cases. They

don't try to get all the facts. Instead, they are

satisfied to make out a case against the subject

of the hearing, and then leave it to the latter's

attorney to develop any favorable evidence. Un-

fortunately, in the present hearings, no attor-

neys were allowed to perform that important

- function. .

A few of the hearing officers were kindly

and sympathetic, but others were brusque,

overbearing, and browbeat the subject of the

hearings with unfair cross-examination, so that

they were badly frightened and became con-

fused. In general, the hearings reflected the ig-

-norance of the government men as to what the

whole thing was about, while for their part the

renunciants lacked the knowledge and skill. to

present their own cases. =

~ In some cases, hearing officers were allowed

to conduct rehearings in cases in which they

sat originally. We question the wisdom of allow-

ing an individual to review his own actions.

In the meantime, the habeas corpus suit on

behalf of 1000 renunciants has been postponed

to await the results of the mitigation hearings.

The suit may possibly be heard by Federal

Judge A. F. St. Sure in San Francisco aroun

the 15th of March.

UNION'S LOCAL BRANCH SUPPORTS |

STATE FEPC, REFERENDUM

The Executive Committee of the ACLU of

Northern California recently voted to support

Assemblyman Hawkins' proposal for a California

FEPC at the special session of the Legislature,

and, in the event the bill is defeated, to support

the present plan for a referendum measure.

As we go to press, the chances of favorable

action in the Legislature appear to be remote,

because the Hawkins bill has already been turned ,

down in the Assembly by the Governmental

Efficiency and Economy Committee by a vote

of 10 to 7. A motion to withdraw the bill from

Committee may prove successful, but it is ex-

pected that the Assembly will ultimately turn

the bill down.

Members of the ACLU are urged to add their

names to the petitions to place the issue before

the voters at the next general election.

g

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

Page 3

ALIEN JAPANESE FACE DEPORTATION

IN HARDSHIP CASES;

STAYS SOUGHT

Besides the cases of thousands of persons of

Japanese ancestry who renounced their citizen-

ship under duress and who face removal to Japan

as enemy aliens, a relatively small number of

alien Japanese (our guess is over 100) face

deportation to Japan in proceedings instituted by

the Immigration Service. Some 27 of these per-

sons have appealed to the ACLU of Northern

California for help. In practically all of the cases,

if the alien is not married to an American citizen,

he has children who were born in this country

and deportation would result in splitting the

family.

Many of these Japanese aliens entered the

country legally as so-called `treaty traders."

Under the then existing treaty they were allowed

to engage in the export-import business, but with

the abrogation of the treaty in 1940 their con-

tinued stay in the country became illegal. Of

course, there are others who entered as visitors

or en route to Mexico, posted $500 bonds, for-

feited the bonds and lost themselves in the com-

munity, only to be discovered when Pacific Coast

Japanese were herded into concentration camps

in 1942.

Except for a few bachelors, nearly all of the

cases fall into the hardship category. In one case,

for example, a forty-year-old mother entered

the U.S. in March, 1927, in order to visit her

husband. She over-stayed the 6-months entry

permit, and forfeited her bond. She has had eight

children since arriving here, five of whom are

living. Their ages are 15, 10, 6, 3 and 2. Her

husband is a legal entrant and is working, while

she is held at the Tule Lake Center where her

citizen children reside with her. Obviously, if

this woman' is separated from her family the

children, who are citizens, will be deprived of the

maternal care which they need and to which they

are entitled.

If this woman were .a Caucasion, there is no

question that, being a person of good moral

" character, she would be allowed to legalize her

entry. But, orientals, except for Chinese, have

no such privilege. They are barred from perman-

ent entry into the country.

In another case, the alien scheduled for de-

portation has a married son who is now serving -

in the United States Army. In still another case,

the alien's son will be drafted into the Army in

a few months. But while the son is being drafted,

NISEI TO BE ADMTTED

TO U.S. MARINE CORPS.

American citizens of Japanese descent will

now be admitted to the U. S. Marine Corps, ac-

cording to a recent statement by Major General

A. H. Turnage. The general's statement was

made in a letter to Peter Aoki, eastern repre-

sentative of the Japanese American Citizens

League, who had inquired whether the Marine

Corps intended to follow the new policy of the

Navy permitting the enlistment of Japanese

Americans.

Major General Turnage said that "during

the war the Marine Corps considered that the

use of Americans of Japanese descent was re-

stricted, in that because of the likelihood of

mistaken identity by other Marines, they could

not be used with assault troops. However, in

accordance with the recently expressed policy of

the Navy Department, the enlisting into the

Marine Corps of American citizens of Japanese

descent has been authorized."'

The Navy's change of policy was embodied

in an announcement by Secretary of the Navy

Forrestal last November 15. The action of the

Marine Corps commander removes the last bar-

rier on racial grounds to service in the armed

forces of any citizen.

U.S. SUPREME COURT TO HEAR NEW

YORK GAG LAW CASE

The U. S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal

against the New York State law forbidding the

publication of matter dealing with "bloodshed,

lust or crime," according to an announcement

by the Court on January 2. The American Civil

Liberties Union is backing Murray Winters of

New York City, publisher of "Headquarters De-

tective" magazine, in appealing a conviction un-

der the law upheld by the New York Court of

Appeals last July. The ACLU maintained in the

state courts and will maintain before the Su-

preme Court that the law is an unconstitutional

_ limitation upon freedom of speech and press.

Winters was originally convicted in the New

York Court of Special Sessions in 1943, and

fined $100. He still publishes the magazine.

the father is being sent out of the country. Some-

how or other, it doesn't make sense.

Some of the cases are complicated by the

fact that citizen spouses have renounced their

citizenship under duress, and are now suing to

be released from detention and to secure restora-

tion of their citizenship.

The District Office of the Immigration Service -

in San Francisco has sent its list of possible

Japanese deportees to its central office in Phila-

delphia, and it expected that sometime in Febru- - |

ary the latter office will make its decision in the

various cases. They have indicated to the Union,

however, that petitions for stays of deportation

will be considered in hardship, cases and such

petitions are being prepared in the various cases.

Such stays have been prepared by the ACLU

of Northern California and the International

daeutale of San Francisco without charge to the

alien.

In most of the Japanese deportation cases

that have come to the Union's attention, the hear-

ings were held either at the Tule Lake Center or _

at a relocation center. In a Southern California

case, hearings at such centers were challenged

on the ground that there was a denial of due

process because of the detention and because the -

alien was unable to secure an attorney to repre-

sent him at the hearing. Federal Judge Ben

Harrison turned down these contentions, declar-

ing "The court takes judicial notice of the hard-

ships attended upon the evacuation of the (c)

Japanese from the West Coast but does not see

wherein a hearing held during that period in a

camp where the petitioner was confined precluded

him from asserting or waiving any rights to

which he was entitled." An appeal has been taken

to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and, in

the meantime, the alien has been released on

$1500 bail.

Court action is no permanent remedy in such

cases. The trouble is that the present law dis-

criminates against all Orientals except Chinese, - :

and where the Caucasian in most hardship cases

can legalize his entry, that privilege is denied to

an Oriental. Consequently, if due process has -

been denied in a case, it will merly be sent back .

for another hearing. The resulting delay, how--

ever, is of value, because Congress may possibly _

be prevailed upon to eliminate the present racial

discrimination contained in the law.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ENJOYS

ANOTHER RED SCARE

Every couple of years the University of Cali-

fornia, at either Berkeley or Los Angeles, enjoys

a red scare. Recently, the Tenney Committee, in-

vestigating Communist activity at U. C. L. A.,

charged that the campus was "Communist in- -

fested," and Dr. Clarence Dykstra answered that

the campus might hold 40 or 50 Young Commu-

nist League members, known today as American

Youth for Democracy. :

Springing to the defense of the University,

the Board of Regents adopted a_ resolution

threatening dismissal to any teacher or student

"seeking to alter our American government by

other than constitutional means." The Union's

Southern California branch, in line with good

ACLU practices, released a statement declaring

that the Board's action "`menaces accademic free-

dom and freedom of thought."

We doubt whether the students will be inhib- _

ited by the Board's resolution. In fact, as far as

we could observe, the students didn't lose a mo-

ment in tearing the resolution apart.

Then, Assemblyman Thomas H. Werdel of

Bakersfield introduced a resolution in the Legis-

lature to place the student newspapers under

faculty control in order "to prevent harmful

ideas" from being circulated. Mr. Werdel's reso-

lution got a warm reception from the students.

It stands little or no chance of being adopted,

and, even if it were adopted, it would have little

meaning except as an expression of the Legisla-

ture's opinion, because under the State Constitu-

tion the Board of Regents manages the Uni-

versity. ;

We say again, aS we have on many previous

occasions, if the University takes action against

any person because of his unpopular political -

opinions, the Union stands ready to intervene. -

Ethel Livingston Osborne :

. Last month the Union received a $100 con

tribution from Lester D. Osborne, in memory of

his wife, Ethel Livingston Osborne. -

Mrs. Osborne, who died last November 21,

was a practicing attorney in the bay area. Mr. -

Osborne made the contribution to the Union be-

cause his wife was actively interested in the

cause of justice and liberty.

Page 4

a

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS -

American Civil Liberties Union-News

Published monthly at 216 Pine Street, San Francisco, 4,

Calif., by the American Civil Liberties Union

of Northern California.

- Phone: EXbrook 1816

ERNEST BESIG ....... Editor

Entered as second-class matter, July 31, 1941, at the

- Post Office at San Francisco, California,

under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Subscription Rates-One Dollar a Year.

Ten Cents per Copy.

s @ e

Maj. Gen. Willoughby Lauds

_ Nisei Heroism and Loyalty

_ Returning from Japan last month, Maj. Gen.

Cc. A. Willoughby, intelligence chief for Gen.

MacArthur, spoke up for the Nisei because of

reports they were being discriminated against,

reviled and treated as outcasts by unthinking

community elements in some localities.

Between 2000 and 3000 Nisei, recruited from

_ Pacific Coast States and Hawaii, worked under

Gen. Willoughby's `jurisdiction during the war.

_ Their principal tasks were translation, interpre-

_ tation and interrogation.

"But their job didn't keep them.out of shell

fire, and they were worthy of our best Army

traditions," the San Francisco Chronicle quotes

Gen. Willoughby as saying. "We used them even

on Bataan. They collected information on the

battlefield, and they shared death in battle, and

when one of them was captured, his fate was

a terrible one. :

"In all, they handled between two and three

`million documents. The information received

through their special skills proved invaluable to

our battle forces. Not one single case of dis-

loyaity by a Nisei ever came to my attention."

Seven Nisei Freed on Draft

Evasion Conspiracy Charge

Seven Japanese American evacuees convicted

of conspiracy to evade the draft were freed by

_ decision of the U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in

Denver, Colorado, on December 26. The court

upset convictions carrying two to four year sen-

tences of seven former inmates of the Heart.

Mountain, Wyoming, Relocation Center. A

he defendants, leading members of a Fair

Play Committee at the Center, were convicted

after they had urged other evacuees not to re-

spond to induction notices until they had made

a court test of their legal status. In reversing

the convictions, the Circuit Court quoted the

U. S. Supreme Court to the effect that "one

with innocent motives, who honestly believes a

law is unconstitutional, and therefore not obli-

gatory, may well counsel that the law shall not

be obeyed; that its command shall _ be resisted

until a court shall have held it valid, but this

is not knowingly counseling to evade its com-

mand." l

The Circuit Court ruled that the trial judge

had erred in not instructing the jury that coun-

seling refusal of service in order to create a test

ease did not constitute a crime. The defendants

were represented by A. L. Wirin, counsel for

the Southern California Branch of the American

. Civil Liberties Union, acting privately.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

_. American Civil Liberties Union

of Northern California

`216 Pine Street

San Francisco 4, Calif.

(Please check appropriate blank or blanks)

1. Please enroll me as a member..........

(Annual dues, $2; unemployed and stu-

dents, $1. Membership dues includes sub-

scription to the "American Civil Liberties

Union-News'"' at $1 a year.)

2. I pledge $....per month or $....per yr.

3. Please enter my subscription to the

NEWS, SE per. year); 5.3 eo Poo

Enclosed please find $....... Please bill

WG ae os

PemiG: 2 ee Eis

Wireete 6 ee

City and Zonee.......:. Gi es.

Mecipauone 2. Se Gs

Witnesses' Literature Distribution Rights

Extended by U.S. Supreme Court

The right of Jehovah's Witnesses to distribute

religious literature on public property and in a

company town was extended in two decisions of

the U.S. Supreme Court on January 7. In two

five to three decisions, the court held that mem-

bers of the sect cannot be barred from distribut-

ing literature within a company-owned town or

a federal housing project. In one case the court

reversed the conviction under an Alabama statute

of Grace Marsh for trespassing on a suburb of

Mobile, Alabama, owned by the Gulf Shipbuilding

Corp.; and in the other reversed the conviction

of A. R. Tucker under a Texas statute, for tres-

passing on a federal housing project in Medina

County, Texas.

Justice Hugo L. Black wrote the majority

opinion in each case, and Justice Stanley Reed,

the minority dissent supported by Chief Justice

Harlan F. Stone and Justice Harold H. Burton.

"Many people in the United States live in

company-owned towns," said Justice Black in the

Marsh case. `These people, just as residents of

municipalities, are free citizens of their State and

county. Just as all other citizens they must make

decisions which affect the welfare of community

and nation. To act as good citizens they must be

informed. In order to enable them to be properly

informed their information must be uncensored.

There is no more reason for depriving these

people of the liberties guaranteed by the First -

and Fourteenth Amendments than there is for

curtailing these freedoms with respect to any

other citizen. aS

`", , the right to exercise the liberties safe-

guarded by the First Amendment `lies at the

foundation of free government by free men' and

we must in all cases `weight the circumstances

and appraise the reasons in support of the regu-.

lation of those rights.' In our view the circum-

stance that the property rights to the premises

where the deprivation of liberty, here involved,

took place, were held by others than the public,

is not sufficient to justify the State's permitting

a corporation to govern a community of citizens

so as to restrict their fundamental liberties and

_the enforcement of such restraint by the applica-

tion of State statute."

ACLU attorneys said the decision appeared

to extend to Jehovah's Witnesses engaged in dis-

tributing religious literature the same legal pro-

tection given to persons whose regular business

"requires their presence on private property.

The decision was seen as revealing a tend-

ency of the Supreme Court to give precedence to

civil rights where they conflict with property

rights.

Civie Center Issue

Won In San Diego

The San Diego Civil Liberties Committee last

month was granted the use of a civic center in

that community without abiding by rules and

regulations which the local school board adopted

in defiance of State law. ;

When "Ham and Eggs" applied for the use of

a civic center for a Gerald L. K. Smith meeting

last year, the school board denied the use and

defeated legal action because of a faulty com-

plaint. Thereafter, the Board adopted certain

rules and regulations, including the following: -

"Pursuant to Section 8271 Education Code no

public meeting or entertainment held on the

school property will be permitted to reflect in

any way upon citizens of the United States be-

cause of their race, color, or creed." '

"The Governing Board may require that it

be furnished reasonably in advance with a com-

plete program, with copies of all speeches and

addresses and script of any entertainment pro-

posed to be given in school property. If such

copy reasonably demonstrates that the program

will be in violation of law or of these rules, the

proposed use shall not be permitted."

In petitioning for the use of a civic center,

the San Diego Civil Liberties Committee de-

clared that "in submitting this application we

do so with the specific understanding that we

shall not furnish a complete list of the speakers

nor present any manuscript of speeches which

they plan to make as `the governing board may

require' under rule 7, since we believe that such

a regulation constitutes illegal censorship and

a denial of the right of freedom of speech and

freedom of assemblage as provided by the Civic

Center Act and interpreted by the First District

Court of Appeals. While we do not anticipate

that any speaker chosen for this series of meet-

ings will `reflect in any way on citizens of the

United States because of race, creed or color' we

shall not ask anyone to refrain from the dis-

cussion of the subject .. ."' The application also

challenged the right of the board to charge rent

in the face of the declarations of the civic center

act establishing free use.

After a hearing, the school board unanimous-

ly granted the use of a school building for six

successive monthly meetings, if an affidavit is

filed declaring that the -Committee does not

advocate the violent overthrow of the govern-

ment.

STATE SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST

BOILERMAKERS "JIM CROW" UNIONS

The State Supreme Court struck two more

blows against Jim Crow unions when it handed

down decisions in two cases on January 29 hold-

ing that a union may not enjoy a closed shop

and at the same time bar Negroes from an equal-

ity of membership. The Boilermakers (AFL) had

required Negroes to join an "auxiliary" union,

instead of the main lodge. Such lodges have no

vote in electing the officers of the Union who .

represent them in job negotiations and assign-

ments, and in the adjustment of grievances. There

are also other discriminations. The court stated

that `the arbitrarily closed union should not

ANONYMOUS LITERATURE OUTLAWED BY

OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL

Almost unnoticed, the Oakland City Council

on December 18, 1945, adopted the following

ordinance restricting the circulation of anony-

mous literature:

"It shall be unlawful for any person to print,

publish, distribute or cause to be printed, pub-

lished or distributed by any means, or in any

manner whatsoever, any handbill, dodger, circu-

lar, .booklet, pamphlet, leaflet, card, sticker,

' periodical, literature or: paper which tends to

expose any individual or any racial or religious |

group to hatred, contempt, ridicule or obloquy

unless the same has clearly printed or written S

thereon:

"(a) The true name and postoffice address

of the person, firm, partnership, corporation, or

organization causing the same to be printed,

published or distributed; and

"(b) If such name is that of a firm, corpora-

tion, or organization, the name and postoffice

address of the individual acting in its behalf in

cueing such printing, publication or distribu-

ion."

No cases have as yet arisen in which the

ordinance has been applied. :

AKRON TRADE UNIONISTS LOSE ON USS.

SUPREME COURT APPEAL

An appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court by

three Akron, Ohio, trade unionists convicted of

stealing a union ballot box and sentenced to one

to twenty years failed on January 14 when the

high court refused to hear the appeal. The

American Civil Liberties Union has supported

an appeal to Governor Frank Lausche of Ohio

for a pardon or early parole for the three men,

R. C. Blackburn, J. B. Phillips, and Prof. R. L.

Schanck. Their conviction grew out of an intra-

union faction fight in a United Auto Workers

local in Akron in 1943.

Seven men were indicted for unarmed rob-

bery in connection with the theft of the ballot

an illegal election. Four who pleaded guilty re- |

ceived thirty-day sentences, while Schanck,

Blackburn, Phillips, and another worker who

box, which they maintained was being used in

failed to appeal pleaded not guilty and received

one to twenty-year sentences. The Ohio Supreme

Court sustained their conviction last year. The

Civil Liberties Union supported their defense on

the ground that their sentences were discrimina-

tory and unduly harsh.

exist with a closed shop," and that "the union

has the duty to represent all employees."

The decisions were handed down in a San

Francisco case involving the Permanente Corp.,

and another case involving the Moore Drydock

Company in Alameda. The Boilermakers held

closed shop contracts with both of these com-

panies. =

The two decisions are in line with a previous

decision of the court handed down a year ago in

the case of James against Marinship, also involv-

ing the Boilermakers union. The A.C.L.U. ap-

peared as amicus curiae in the early case.