vol. 11, no. 6

AMERICAN

PV LIER TEs

UNION - NEWS

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.'

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SAN FRANCISCO, MAY, 1946

J 417@

No. 5S

Two Japanese Deportation

Parties Due To Leave In June

As we go to press, the Immigration Service

has just informed the ACLU that a Japanese

deportation party scheduled to depart from San

Francisco on May 29 has now been postponed un-

til June 14. This party will include numerous

aliens from the Crystal City Interment Camp

(Texas), as well as families who are subject to

deportation. Another Japanese deportation party

has been scheduled for June 27. It is supposed

to include all able-bodied males. Whether the

parties will leave on scheduled time is some-

thing the Union cannot say.

During the past month, not only was a

deportation party suddenly scheduled for May

29, but one was also set for May 13. The May

13 sailing was cancelled and scores of persons

throughout the country who were hurriedly

picked up in their homes were released.

Wayne M. Collins, private attorney for 70 to

80 of the deportees, is planning to file legal ac-

tion in behalf of any of his clients who are

picked up. Indeed, test cases may be filed any

day in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco

in order to stay the deportations.

In the meantime, The House Immigration and

Naturalization Committee was urged as an act

_of "simple justice and humanity" to prevent

deportation to Japan of some 250 Japanese at

hearings before the Committee on May 15. Two.

Congressmen as well as representatives of the

American Civil Liberties Union and the Japanese

American Citizens League, asked the Committee

to report favorably a bill (H.R. 5450) authoriz-

ing the Attorney General to grant a stay of de-

portation for Japanese in "hardship" cases.

Present law permits such clemency for all aliens

except those "ineligible to citizenship." Most of

the Japanese who entered the United States as

treaty merchants, on student visas, or by other

means, have dependents in this country, and

some have children in the armed forces.

Rep. Herman Eberharter, (D. Penn.) sponsor

of the Bill and Assistant Democratic Whip urged

the passage of the bill, as did Rep. Walter N.

~ Judd (R. Minn.). If the bill is favorably reported

it is expected that the Department of Justice will

hold up the deportations now scheduled for the

immediate future, until fate of the bill in the

house is determined. The bill permits the Attor-

ney General to grant a stay of deportation of

six months only in cases of extreme hardships.

WE MOVE JUNE 7

On June 7 the American Civil Liberties Union of

Northern California will move to new office quarters

in the Sheldon Building, 461 Market St., San Fran-

cisco. After renting space at the Exposition Build-

ing, 216 Pine Street, for almost nine years, the

Union suddenly received a notice to move by June

10, because the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company

had signed a ten-year lease for the entire building.

While desirable office space is almost unobtain-

able in the downtown office building section of San

Francisco, the Union fortunately found a room that

the Army was vacating. The new office is slightly

Jarger than our present quarters and rents for -

$42.50 a month. It is expected that a more adequate

office, presently occupied by the Army, will become

available in the near future. -

The June 7 moving day has one string attached.

The San Francisco elevator operators are scheduled

to strike on June 3. If the strike takes place on

scheduled time, the Union may be compelled to

postpone its moving day.

We invite you to visit us at our new quarters.

The Sheldon Building is located at the corner of

First and Market Streets, only one block from the

East Bay Terminal. All Market Street cars go as

far as First Street.

Hereafter, our address will be as follows:

`American Civil Liberties Union,

421 Sheldon Building, 461 Market Street,

San Francisco 5, Calif.

*Phone: EXbrogk 1816 (until further notice). -

Negroes Subjected to Illegal Searches and

Mass Arrests in Vallejo Housing Project

Vallejo, California, Negroes were treated to

justice `Southern style' last month when Sheriff

John R. Thornton of Solano county, bent on

apprehending two murder suspects, but without

the benefit of warrants, invaded and searched

the apartments of countless Negroes residing at

the Chabot Terrace housing project and took

into custody for questioning scores of Negro

men who happened to be home when the Sheriff's

drag-net went into operation.

The Civil Liberties Union of Northern Cali-

fornia at once wired Attorney General Tom

Clark calling for an investigation by the USS. -

Attorney's office in San Francisco to determine -

whether there should be prosecutions under the

Federal Civil Rights statute,

`The incident started around noon on May 17

when Dwight W. Hayward, 32, a groceryman,

was murdered in his shop by two armed robbers.

The evidence is conflicting whether the murder-

ers were colored or white.

Shortly thereafter, the Sheriff's office decided

to search the quarters of Negroes residing in

the Chabot Terrace housing project. The Sher-

iff's deputies asked the housing director to turn.

over to them the master keys but he refused

to do so. Thereafter, James Richardson, Execu-

tive Secretary of the Vallejo Housing Authority,

authorized the project director to turn over the

master keys of occupied apartments of Negroes

to the Sheriff's deputies. Without knocking, the

Sheriff's men unlocked apartments and searched

for guns and suspects. Colored men who were

found at home were seized and taken to a sub-

station for questioning. The Sheriff admits that

114 Negroes were picked up in their homes and

on the streets of Vallejo. In one or two instances

the deputies invaded the apdrtments of white

people, but they apologized when they discovered

their mistake.

A colored man, and his wife, arriving home

in their car from a movie, were apprehended

at gun point because a gun for which the Negro

had a license, was found in his apartment by

the searching deputy sheriffs. The deputies pro-

ceeded to tear the car's upholstery in a fruitless

search for more guns.

One Negro claims deputies took some of his

money in searching him, and the same man

shows a cut lip and bruised shins received when

he failed to answer questions to the satisfaction

of a deputy. Upon being released from custody,

he telephoned a complaint to the sheriff's office

concerning the treatment he received, and was

requested to make a written report to the sub-

station. Upon reporting there he was detained

for 24 hours. Another Negro was picked up in

his home and while returning home after being

released he was again taken into custody and

questioned by different officers.

At least one house in Chabot Terrace was

broken into when deputies were unable to gain

access with a key. Some tenants, who were ab-

sent at the time of the search, claim they re-

turned home to find lights burning and doors un-

locked, while a few tenants claim personal pro-

perty was missing or damaged after the mass

search. |

The Union's appeal to Attorney General

Clark was made in conformance with a directive

he issued to all U.S. Attorneys last March, fol-

lowing the Columbia, Tennessee, case, in which

he stated, in part,

"It is my desire that you immediately devote

special attention and investigation to protec-

tion of all Americans in their civil liberties, re-

gardless of race or color. Special attention should

be paid to laxity or inefficiency of peace officers

of any category.

"I am seeking to determine the causes of po-

tential disorders, no matter how minor they may

seem. In these days of rapid transmission of in-

formation, an outbreak in one locality might

well inspire a similar condition in another. I de-

sire that you acquaint peace and law enforcement

officers, prosecutors, and_ local governmental

authorities with the fact that every resource at

my command will be used to prevent such out-

breaks, and that when and if they occur every

effort will be made to prosecute those respons-

ible. Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investiga-

tion will be used unsparingly to effect this end."

The Vallejo Council for Civic Unity has re-

quested investigations by Attorney General Rob-

ert Kenny and the U.S. Attorney, and protests

against the lawless enforcement of the law have

been lodged by the Council with the local Sher-

iff and the District Attorney. The Civil Liberties

Union, besides presenting the matter to Attorney

General Tom Clark has requested assurances

from the housing director that there will' be no

recurrence of his actions in permitting entry

into hemes, and has also requested that ten-

ants affected be compensated for any loss or _

damage resulting from the search. oe

James Richardson, executive director of the

Vallejo Housing Authority, at first took the

position that he was within his rights in allow-

ing the search of the apartments because the '

leases permit a right of reasonable inspection

by the management. Later, in a telephone con-

versation with the director of the ACLU, he

admitted he had made a mistake and even agreed ~

to compensate the tenants for any loss or dam- ~

age to their property. Thus far, however, the |

Union has been unable to get Mr. Richardson to

commit himself in writing.

- Langdon Post, regional director of the FPHA,

under whose direction war housing is operated,

also admitted that a mistake had been made, and

he advised the Union that instructions were be-

ing sent to the various housing authority direc-

tors not to turn over the keys of occupied apart-

ments to law enforcement agents.

There is considerable resentment in the Cha-

bot Terrace project against Mr. Richardson. It

is reported that some of the tenants are banding

together for the purpose of bringing damage

suits against him for permitting the invasion

of their homes. In addition, the Council for Civic

Unity and other organizations have gone to the

Vallejo Housing Commission with a demand that

Richardson be ousted as Executive Secretary.

Richardson is a newcomer to his job, but he has

already antagonized the Negro tenants by oust-

ing employees who were friendly to them.

The State Highway Patrol also took a hand

in invading the rights of the Negroes. Buses -

and pleasure cars were stopped with the in- _

quiry, "Are there any burly black niggers in

here?" The Negroes whose cars were stopped

were questioned in a brusque manner and were

threatened with violence if they did not move

rapidly enough to suit the officers,

ARGUMENTS IN RENUNCIATION TEST SUIT

DELAYED BECAUSE OF JUDGE'S VACATION

Arguments in the Nisei renuciation test suits

scheduled to be heard by Federal Judge A.

F. St. Sure last month, have been postponed until

June 3 because the Judge has been absent on

vacation. In fact, there is a possibility that the

Judge may not be back on June 3, in which

case there may be a further postponement for

a week or two.

In the meantime, a few more renunciants

have been released from the Crystal City Intern-

ment Camp. -

Page 2

N

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

ad

Deportation Of Peruvian

Japanese Stayed For 90 Days

During the past month, the Department of

Justice granted 90-day stays to the Peruvian

Japanese who were brought to the United States

against their will, but whom this country now

seeks to deport to Japan as illegal entrants into

the United `States.

Answering an inquiry from the Civil Liberties

Union, Spruille Braden, Assistant Secretary of

State, declared:

"The status of these Peruvian Japanese who

were deported from Peru to the United States

for security reasons during the war is receiving

_ this government's sympathetic consideration. The

question of their disposition after release from

restraint already has been the subject of nego-

tiations between the American Embassy at Lima

`and the Peruvian Government. The latter has

_taken the position that only those Japanese who

are considered to be Peruvian citizens may be

TES RTA TOMMY 6 Sawa ET AON NE GRIESE RT ; Pei sasermeeaiti

Ras Gren Pe ean aac su es Meas : Sie Bt ae

e

permitted to reenter Peru. There remains the

possibility, however, that Peru will reconsider on

a case-to-case basis the applications of those

Japanese who have particularly strong family

ties to Peruvians. The Department is now await-

ing the views of the Peruvian Government on

this point."

Last month, the Civil Liberties Union con-

_ ferred with representatives of the Peruvian Jap-

anese at Terminal Island, California, where 81

men are now awaiting deportation. They com-

plained that two weeks,after their transfer from

Santa Fe to Terminal Island they were still de-

nied access to their baggage, and, as a result,

many of them were without sufficient wearing

apparel. The group of 1 had only three books

- to read, because the Immigration Service would

not allow them to have the three cases of books

stored in the baggage room. `Worst of all, 81 men

were allowed only four chairs and one table.

Moreover, at Santa Fe the Peruvian Japanese

_ deposited their money with a finance officer and

would draw upon it as the occasion demanded.

- Because there was no finance officer at Terminal

Island, their money was still at Santa Fe and

many of the men were penniless and,

_ therefore, unable to buy a few personal neces-,

sities. The Union upon hearing these complaints -

presented the matter to both the local and na-

tional officials of the Immigration Service. The

complaints were all quickly remedied.

On June 11 deportation hearings have been

scheduled in the cases of eight men at Terminal

Island who have not previously received hear-

ings. These men are all citizens of Peru, who

gained such citizenship either by birth in Peru

or through naturalization. It is not known

- whether the United States government will seek

to deport them to Peru or to Japan.

SENATE COMMITTEE APPROVES

WOMAN'S EQUAL PAY BILL

The Woman's Equal Pay bill, sponsored by

Senators Wayne Morse and Claude Pepper and

supported by the American Civil Liberties Union

and many other organizations, was favorably re-

ported by a sub-committee of the Senate Educa-

tion and Labor Committee on May 18. Hearings

on the bill were concluded last October. The bill

requires all employers engaged in interstate com-

- merce to pay equal wages for equal work regard-

less of sex. In supporting the bill the ACLU held

that "discrimination solely on the basis of sex

without any relation to a purposeful end is as

-much a violation of civil liberty as any other un-

reasonable or arbitrary discrimination."

The bill now goes before the Senate Commit-

tee itself, under the chairmanship of Senator

James E. Murray of Montana. While supporting

the equal pay bill the ACLU has opposed the

Senate bill amending the Constitution to provide

equal.rights for women, on the ground that such

sweeping legislation would do more harm than

good.

ROXAS OPPOSES PHILIPPINE PROPERTY

AMENDMENT TO INDEPENDENCE ACT

If Congress desires to enable the U. S. gov-

ernment to hold and purchase property in the

Philippines after independence on July 4, it should

be done by special statute and not as an amend-

ment to the Independence Act, Philippine Presi-

dent-elect Manuel Roxas said in a statement on

May 20. Roxas bore out criticisms of the pro-

posed amentments now before the Senate and

House Committees on Insular Affairs made by

the American Civil Liberties Union, which pointed

out that the amendments are being interpreted

in the Philippines as "emasculating" indepen-

dence. ee

z

Right to Imprison Women `Suspected' of Having a

Venereal Disease May Be Tested in Berkeley Case

Clarence Rust, a member of the. Union's Exe-

cutive Committee, has called its attention to an

incident that occured in Berkeley on May 17. Two

girls about twenty-five years of age were seated -

in a restaurant preparing to order food when

Officer Pepper, wearing plain clothes, took them

into custody. The officer stated that a couple of

sailors claimed they had contracted a venereal

disease infection from the girls.

The girls, neither of whom had ever been ar-

rested, were taken to the Berkeley jail, but no

charges were placed against them. The next

morning, for some unaccountable reason, they

were transferred to the Oakland city jail, where

they were required to submit to venereal disease

~ tests. The tests disclosed NO INFECTION. There-

upon, the girls were released on the evening of

May 22nd without any charges being placed

against them.

While they were held in jail, they were not per-

mitted access to a telephone and their relatives

discovered their whereabouts only after diligent

search. In consequence of the five-day detention,

one of the girls lost her job. Incidentally, one of

the girls is the mother of two small children.

The problem presented by this case is not a

new one. More than a year ago, in consequence of

numerous complaints in San Franciso, the Union's

Executive Committee voted to suport a test ca.

but it has been difficult to procure such a case,

and other pressing problems have prevented

diligent action: Now, however, it is hoped that the

foregoing case will be tested in the courts by Mr

Rust, with the Union's support.

In San Francisco and many other California

communities, it is now a common practice fo~

police to pick up girls in bars, public dance halls

or simply on the streets and quarantine them for

three to five days while the results of venereal

disease tests are awaited. During the period of

quarantine they are not allowed bail. In San Fran-

cisco, police officers frequently "vag" their vic-

tims and thus, in effect, make it a crime even to

be suspected of having a venereal disease.

In an address before the International As-

sociation of Chiefs of Police in Miami, Fla., De-

cember 13, 1945, Eugene A. Gillis, Senior Sur-

geon, United States Public Health Service, point-

ed out that "one of the most difficult problems in

venereal disease control is the formulation and

enforcement of laws and regulations which will

afford adequate protection of public health and

order and at the same time safeguard the prin-

ciples of individual liberty.' "The loose legal

framework now in use in many states,"' comments

the Journal of Venereal Disease Information,

March, 1946, ". . : became apparent under the

pressure of wartime needs. As the laws stand, all

too oe the individual is not sufficiently pro-

tected." x

The report of the Section on Education and

Community Action of the National Conference on

Postwar Venereal Disease Control emphasizes

that "Law enforcement officers should not: ar-

rest, hold or detain women and girls simply be-

cause they `suspect them of `having a venereal

disease.' Nor should law enforcement officers be

used as `contact-tracers' by the health depart-

ment. Only after the health department has ex-

hausted its resources for locating or interviewing

persons suspected of being infected with venereal

disease should it furnish the law enforcement

with a health warrant or quarantine order so

that the person may be detained for examination.

Under our legal code, it is no crime to be infected

or suspected of being infected with a venereal dis-

ease; ..." With respect to persons arrested on

morals charges, the committee states, "The pres-

TRUMAN VETOES PUERTO RICAN BILL

PROVIDING FOR A PLEBISCITE

Two bills by the Puerto Rican legislature pro-

viding a plebiscite on the island's future political

status and a referendum on nominees for govern-

or were vetoed. by President Truman on May 18,

despite what is reported to have been a favorable

recommendation from the Dept. of the Interior,

and pressure from the American Civil Liberties

Union and other interested groups.

The President took the position that Congress

alone has the power to determine Puerto Rico's

future status, and that if it refused to follow the

wishes of the Puerto Ricans as expressed in an

advisory note, great resentment and _ ill-feeling

would be created. It is understood that the Presi-

dent intends to appoint a Puerto Rican as gov-

ernor to succeed Rexford Tugwell in July, and

for that reason evidently vetoed the bill for 2

expression of Puerto Rican preferences.

ence or absence of venereal disease is not a factor

to be considered in the determination of innocense

or guilt by the court."

"Obviously," says Dr. Gillis, `there is no abso-

lute identity between immorality and venereal

disease infection. In most states, conviction of

prostitution is deemed reasonable grounds for

suspicion of infection, and therefore for diagnosis

and treatment, with quarantine as the alterna-

tive for refusal to submit to diagnosis or treat-

ment. Diagnosis and treatment imposed by the

threat of quarantine for persons merely sus-

_ pected of prostitution is another matter. It would

be a disservice to the principles of civil liberty, -

of law enforcement, and of public health to per-

mit further strengthening of the wartime tenden-

cy to assume venereal disease infection in persons

arrested on morals charges, before innocence or

guilt has been established by the courts.

"Another tendency to be avoided is the war-

time expedient of making promiscuity synono-

mous with prostitution and therefore subject to

antiprostitution methods for venereal disease

control purposes. By tortuous but inevitable

logic, suspicion of promiscuity then becomes rea-

sonable ground for police action and forced diag-

nosis.

". . The reasons for the concern of health

officers with this subject are obvious. If official

policy is permitted to reestablish in the public

mind the notion that having a venereal disease is

a crime and absolute proof of immorality, syphil-

lis and gonorrhea will go back into hiding. Volun-

tary reporting for diagnosis, our greatest hope

`for early case finding, will virtually disappear.

The already difficult task of obtaining names of

contacts will become doubly difficult. Rapid treat-

ment centers will tend to resemble prison camps

rather than hospitals. Ethical physicians in pri-

vate practice will lose their new-found interest in

venereal disease diagnosis and treatment. Quack-

ery and self-treatment may again become major

peterrents to the control of syphilis and gon-

orrhea.

", . Police officials are as alert to the differ- _

ence between crime and disease as are health-of----

ficers. This is evidenced by views expressed in

.the manual on Techniques of Law Enforcement

Against Prostitution compiled by the National

Advisory Police Committee to the Federal Secur-.

ity Administrator, and approved by the Inter-

national Association of Chiefs of Police and the

National Sheriffs' Association:

"`Arrest of prostitutes or detention of ex-

tremely promiscuous women should be based up-

on violation or suspected violation of specific or- -

dinances or statutes, and not as suspect of having

a venereal disease.' The committee points out,

`There is no legal charge of this kind and without

visible lesions not even a physician could, at sight, .

suspect a man or woman of being infected. A

police officer testifying to his suspicion of the

accused being venereally infected would be laugh-

ed out of court.'

"The committee further states that if a man

or woman is infected, the fact should have no

bearing on the type of charge to be filed against

the defendant unless it could be proved that the

defendant was a prostitute or patron who, know-

ing he was infected, had relations with an unin-

fected person.

"The Police Advisory Committee further rec-

ognizes that the effort to educate the public re-

garding the voluntary application for treatment

of venereal disease could be retarded seriously if

the public should identify health department ven-

ereal disease control work with that of the law

enforcement branch o fthe government."

HANNEGAN AND MAC ARTHUR MOVE

TOWARD REOPENING OF MAIL TO JAPAN

A move toward reopening mail service from

the United States to Japan was revealed in the

announcement on May 19 by Postmaster General

Robert Hannegan that a nine-man commission of

postal experts is going to Japan at General Doug-

las MacArthur's request to study the situation. -

The announcement said the commission was go-

ing to study means of putting Japan's postal

system ``back on an efficient basis." Earlier com-

munications from various government depart-

ments in answer to queries from the American

Civil Liberties Union, however, have cited the (c)

disruption of the Japanese postal system as the

reason why mail service to that country has not

been reopened. The ACLU points out that Japan

is the only country not now getting mail service,

since limited and censored service to Germany

was reopened on April 1.

Paes

%

~~. tation orders.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

Page 3

Court Decision Adverse to

450 Nisei Renunciants

Future court determination of the status

of 450 Japanese Americans who renounced citi-

zenship during the war and are slated for depor-

tation was seen by the American Civil Liberties

Union as adversly affected by a decision of the

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District

of Columbia on May 2. According to ACLU at-

torneys an unfavorable precedent was set in a

_ Circuit Court decision refusing habeas corpus to

Werner Reimann and 159 other German enemy

aliens scheduled for deportation to Germany.

The court held in effect that enemy aliens have

no rights under the constitution, and that the

only question for the courts is whether they

are actually enemy aliens.

The Circuit Court in holding deportations

under the Alien Enemy Act constitutional, said:

"Under no concept of government could a na-

tion be held powerless to rid itself of enemies

within its borders in time of war, whether the

`individuals concerned be actually hostile or

merely potentially so because of their allegiance

. ... No constitutional principle is violated by

the lodgement in the president of the power to

remove alien enemies without resort or recourse

to the courts. The one question, whether the

individual involved is or is not an alien enemy

is admitted . . . to be open to judicial deter-

mination."

Answering arguments that since hostilities

have ended the Alien Enemy Act is no longer

in effect, the court held that "it is not for the

courts to determine the end of a war declared

by Congress." `

The pending suits for the Japanese American

renunciants to be argued in the Federal District

Court in San Francisco maintain that the re-

nunciations of citizenship are invalid because

_ obtained under duress in war-time concentration

' camps. It may still be decided that the 450 are

not deportable because they are still American

_ citizens, or that most of them are not Japanese

nationals but stateless. The suits also contend

that deportation under the Alien Enemy Act is

unconstitutional. Of the 3500 Nisei originally

slated for deportation all but 450 now held at

Crystal City, Texas have been freed from depor-

URGE TREATY RATHER THAN LAW

FOR U.S. PROPERTY IN PHILIPPINES

Opposition to bills in the House and Senate

which would grant the U.S. government con-

tinued rights over property now held in the

Philippine Islands after independence was voiced

by the American Civil Liberties Union in letters

to committee chairmen on April 30. The Union

told Rep. Jasper C. Bell, chairman of the House

Committee on Insular Affairs, and Senator Mil-

lard E. Tydings, chairman of the Senate Commit-

tee on Territories and Insular affairs that mat-

ters of property ights should be negotiated by

treaty or convention "in view of the imminent

independence of the Philippines."

The Union said that it was evident from op-

position to this amendment voiced in the Philip-

pines that action by Congress would be regard-

ed as "an infringement on Philippines sover-

eignty". On April 9 the ACLU released a tele-

gram from the Philippine Civil Liberties Union,

an associate, which characterized the two bills

as "emasculating Philippine Independence". The

two bills have been introduced as amendments

to the Philippine Independence Act, and provide

that the U.S. shall continue to own all properties

. held at independence on July 4 of this year in

the Islands, and provide for further purchases

after that date.

ACLU TO AID C.0. CAMP STRIKERS AT

GLENDORA AND BIG FLATS

Twelve conscientious objectors recently ar-

rested for refusing any longer to work in Civil-

ian Public Service government camps in Cali-

fornia and New York in protest against failure of

Selective Service to speed up demobilization or to

give them pay or allotments for dependents, have

enlisted the legal aid of the American Civil Liber-

ties Union. The ACLU is raising bail and will

supply lawyers to assist six objectors arrested at

the Glendora, California, camp; and six more ar-

rested at the Big Flats, New York Camp.

Union lawyers will not, however, defend the

legal right to strike under the draft act. The

twelve men arrested were part of a much larger

group at both camps striking against continued

lack of pay, discrimination in discharges, boon-

doggling projects, and other grievances against

Selective Service. Treatment of conscientious ob-

jectors by Selective Service has been discrimina-

- tory and punitive throughout the entire war, ac-

cording to the ACLU, and the "moral blame for

the current strikes' rests on Selective Service.

Congress Gets Bills for

Japanese Evacuation Claims

Legislation to permit Japanese evacuated

from their West Coast homes during the war to

collect damages from the government for their

"heavy financial and property losses," has been

introduced in both houses at the request of the

U.S. Department of the Interior. In letters to

Speaker Sam Rayburn of the House, and Sena-

tor McKellar; president pro tempore of the

Senate, Secretary of the Interior J. A. Krug

urges passage of the bills "as a matter of fair-

`ness and good/ conscience, and because these

particular American citizens and law-abiding

aliens have borne with patience and undefeated

loyalty the unique burdens which this govern-

ment has thrown upon them."

Pointing out that some of the evacuees "lost

everything they had; many lost most of what

they had," Secretary Krug noted that the

evacuation orders gave them "desperately little

. time in which to settle their affairs," and that

many "sold their personal possessions for a

small fraction of their value. A large number

had to accept totally inadequate arrangements

for protection and management of their pro-

perty." The Secretary noted that persons. of

Japanese ancestry are appearing on relief rolls

"for the first time in our history."

Mr. Krug stated that the evacuees "were

not individually charged with any crime or with

disloyalty, and subsequent experience has clearly

demonstrated that the vast majority of them

were and are good Americans." This was. at-

tested by the outstanding service record of

Japanese Americans in the armed forces, and

by records showing "no case of sabotage or

espionage by Americans of Japanese ancestry

during the war."

The bills set up an Evacuation Claims Com-

mission within the Interior Department to

hear and determine claims by the evacuees. A

time limit of 18 months for the bringing of

claims is provided, and the Commission is to

finish its work within three and a half years

thereafter. Awards may not exceed $2500.

Similar legislation has been advocated by the

American Civil Liberties Union and other agen-

cies since the end of the evacuation, and the

present bills are endorsed as "`the very minimum

that justice and decency require."

Compensation Urged for

Hawaiian Martial Law Victims

One dollar a day is inadequate compensation

for time spent in prison on an unjust sentence

the American Civil Liberties Union held in criti-

cizing a bill introduced in the House of Repre-

sentatives to reimburse persons convicted under

martial law in the Hawaiian Islands during the

war. The bill was introduced following the recent

Supreme Court decision holding that trials of

civilians by military courts in Hawaii were illegal.

In a letter to Hawaiian Delegate to Congress

Joseph Farrington on May 8 the ACLU said

it supported the bill (HR 5652) in principle for

recognizing the. liability of the United States

for unlawful imprisonment.

Noting reports that more than 1,000 con-

victions were obtained in military courts in

Hawaii during the war, the ACLU approved part

of the bill which gives the Federal District Court

in Hawaii the power to hear damage suits

against the government, but said it "opposed the

provision limiting damages to $1.00 per day's

imprisonment as being inadequate. Any limita-

tion on the amount of recovery should not be

less than the $5,000 provided in the comparable

federal erroneous conviction law of 1938." The

letter was signed for the ACLU by Counsel

- Osmond K. Fraenkel and Arthur Garfield Hays,

both of New York City.

Membership Cresses 1000 Mark

- On May 23 the Union's local membership crossed

the thousand mark, and, as this story is being

' written, the paid-up membership stands at 1005.

In addition, the Union has 169 separate subscribers

to the "News." Also, there is a list of 102 persons

whose memberships expired sometime during the

past six months. If your membership has expired,

won't you please send us your renewal without

further reminders.

Here are the figures on how the Union's local

membership has grown during recent years:

June 1, 1946...) 3 1005

June -1,-1945 = 785

June. 1; 1944. 731

June 1,.1943 . 2.3 s: 607

June: 1, 1942 2. 585

Won't you please help build the Union's momber-

ship and influence by getting your friends to join!

Ordinance Licensing Labor

Organizers Held Invalid

The California Supreme Court on April 30

decided that a Redding ordinance requiring labor

organizers to procure licenses is unconstitutional.

The question arose in the case of James

Porterfield, business agent of the Construction

and General Laborers Union in Redding. Porter-

field solicited the membership of one Shaw, who

did not join. Nevertheless, he was charged with

soliciting memberships without a license, with

failure to apply for a license, and with failing to

pay the license fee of $5.00 per quarter. Porter-

field was convicted and the conviction was sus-

tained by the Superior Court and the Third

District Court of Appeal.

The ordinance provides that a license to solicit

members in any organization shall be granted

only after a hearing before the City Council

which "shall receive evidence and determine

whether said applicant is of good moral charac-

ter, and is likely to use force, violence, threats,

menace, coercion, intimidation or corrupt means

in his proposed work of solicitation."

The court decided that the foregoing part of

the ordinance established an indefinite standard

that arbitarily deprived Porterfield of his rights.

"Certainly the standard provided by .. . the Red-

ding ordinance is entirely subjective," said the

court. "Each council member is left to determine

in his own mind what is `likely' to be the future

conduct of the applicant. The character or extent

of showing necessary to satisfy the council that

the applicant is of good moral character and will

not resort to the activities mentioned is not set

forth. Satisfaction may be circumscribed by in-

dividual whim, caprice, or personal prejudice."

Moreover, `"`to meet the standard required for a

license, he would be bound to prove that he and

his union (at his request or with his connivance)

would not (i.e., would forego the right to) engage

in strikes, picketing, or boycotts as means of pro-

curing members. Inasmuch as such conduct is

inherently entirely lawful the consequent depriva- -

tion of a license would be arbitrary and in deroga-

tion of the applicant's constitutional right to car-

ry on a lawful business or professional activity."

The court also decided that the tax provisions. - :

of the ordinance were not consistent with a de-

claration of State policy by the Legislature guar-

anteeing a worker "full freedom of association,

self-organization, and designation of representa-_

tives of his own choosing, to negotiate the terms

and conditions of his employment." In a matter

of state-wide concern, local regulation may be en-

forced only if it is not in conflict with the statutes

of the state. If the city of Redding may fix the

rate of the tax it could thus "control at will an

activity in a field where the Legislature has de-

clared that full freedom shall exist. `The power

to tax the exercise of a privilege is the power to

control or suppress its enjoyment.' Further, if

the city of Redding may impose such a tax every

other municipality in the state may impose a:

similar tax upon the same individual if he crosses

its borders. . . . Here, the license tax obviously

operates to make conditional and to restrict the

"full freedom" of self-organization which the

state law declares and protects."

The American Civil Liberties Union filed an

amicus curiae brief signed by Wayne M. Collins.

The Union attacked the ordinance as an invalid

restriction on freedom of speech, and also con-

tended that the test to be applied before a license

is granted violates the Fourteenth Amendment

as being arbitrary and unreasonable. "The City

Council of Redding," said the Union's brief, "by

going into the applicant's propensities and his

background for the purpose of determining how

he will act in soliciting, has the arbitrary power

and discretion to grant or refuse a license to the

applicant."

"Civil Rights Congress,' New Civil

Rights Group, Formed By Left Wingers

A new left-wing, civil rights organization was

formed at a convention in Detroit, Michigan on -

April 29 attended by delegates said to represent

one million persons, according to reports in the

"Daily Worker". Merging in the new group, to

be called the Civil Rights Congress, were the

National Federation for Constitutional Liberties

and the International Labor Defense, among

others. According to the report the program of

the new organization is intended to safeguard

and extend democratic civil rights, "especially

for labor and minority groups, and to combat

all forms of discrimination, Jim-crowism, Jew-

baiting, and Red-baiting." The American Civil

Liberties Union was not invited to the Congress,

did not attend, and has no connection with the

new group, which will apparently confine its

activities largely to the defense of partisan

groups. oe :

Page 4

AMERICAN CiVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

American Civil Liberties Union-News

Published monthly at 461 Market St., San Francisco, 5

Calif., by the American Civil Liberties Union

of Northern California.

Phone: EXbrook 1816

ERNEST BSESIG ...... ; 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.

SUPREME COURT URGED TO REDUCE

REPRESENTATION OF POLL TAX STATES

In a brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court

by the American Civil Liberties Union the court

is urged to hear a poll tax suit which would

reduce Virginia's representation in Congress. The

brief supports an appeal for review by Henry

L. Saunders of Ashland, Va., contending that ac-

cording to the Constitution Virginia's representa-

tion should be reduced as. long as her citizens

are hindered from voting by the state poll-tax

law.

The ACLU told the Supreme Court that Con-

gress' ruling in the apportionment act of 1941

that Virginia is entitled to nine representatives

evidently meant that she is only entitled to nine

representatives if the right to vote is not le-

gally curtailed. If the court agrees to hear the

case and rules for Saunders, representation in

all the poll tax states will be reduced until the

tax is lifted as a condition of voting. The ACLU

brief, signed by Osmond K. Fraenkel and John

F. Finerty, of New York City holds that "should

an offending state remove any illegal disen-

franchisement, such state would automatically

be restored to the number of representatives

originally apportioned by Congress."

Saunders' appeal reaches the Supreme Court

in the form of a $20,000 damage suit against

the Secretary of State for Virginia for refusing

to certify him as a candidate for Congressman-

at-large in the election of November 1944.

Through his attorney, Moss Plunkett of Roanoke,

Va., Saunders is maintaining that under the 14th

Amendment Virginia is not entitled to nine repre-

sentatives who now run in nine districts, and

therefore ought to run a reduced number of

candidates at large. The lower federal courts

ruled against him on the ground that representa-

tion is not a matter for the courts, but a "`poli-

tical question" up to Congress itself.

SURVEY OF RACE PRACTICES OF

NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS REVISED

A "Survey of Race Practices of National

Associations," issued by the American Civil Lib-

erties Union in September of last year, has been

reissued with revisions based on later informa-

tion. The survey lists 141 national semi-public

associations and classifies them according to

questionnaires in five classes: Class A, those re-

` porting no racial segregation or discrimination;

Class B, reporting segregation in local or state

chapters only; Class C reporting discrimination

but no segregation; Class D, reporting complete

segregation; and Class EH, excluding Negroes al-

together.

Changes of classification in the new edition

_ are: The Cooperative League of America from

Class B to Class A; the American War Mothers

from Class D to Class B; the National Committee

on Mental Hygiene from Class B to Class A; the

National League of Nursing Education from

Class B to Class A. In addition note is taken of

the fact that the YWCA, listed in Class B, has

taken action to combat segregation in `local

branches. Special recognition will be given in fu-

ture editions to agencies endeavoring to overcome

segregation in local branches.

N. Y. LICENSE COMMISSIONER SCORED

FOR REVOKING MOVIE THEATRE LICENSE

New York City License Commissioner Ben-

jamin Fielding was scored for creating a danger-

ous precedent of censorship by the American Civil

Liberties Union on May 15 in protesting revoca-

tion of the license of the Miami movie theatre

after it had shown the film "Guilty Parents" doc-

tored up with uncensored "hot shots." The ACLU

told the License Commissioner that the law al-

ready covers such situations, and that instead of

revoking the theater's license, he should have re-

ferred complaints to the district attorney for

prosecution. It is an offense to show any film

in N. Y. State not passed by the state board of

motion picture censors, or to restore and show

censored matter.

Although the ACLU had several times tangled

with Commissioner Fielding's predecessor under

the LaGuardia regime over censorship of plays

- through the licensing power, this is the first such

action against N. Y. movies in decades.

Despite charges that the Federal Communica-

tions Commission is attempting to censor radio

through standards for judging "station per-

formance," the American Civil Liberties Union

last month expressed to the Commission support

of its recent 139 page report on "Public Service

Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees." A resolu-

tion adopted by the Civil Liberties Union and

transmitted to the FCC maintains that the

standards proposed in the report "make no at-

tempt to prescribe or to police program content."

According to the Union, radio executives are

opposing the F'CC report on the ground that

freedom of speech on the air is endangered. The

Unicn resolution recognizes "the reality of the

danger that the proposed regulations might at

some future time be used as an excuse or start-

ing point for imposing some form of censor-

`ship' but points out the protection afforded by

court review of FCC decisions, and by the "basic

safeguard" against censorship in the Federal

Communications Act.

The FCC report setting standards for issuing

or renewing licenses of broadcasting stations

gives particular attention to: (a) the carrying

of sustaining programs as a part of a welli-

balanced program structure; (b) the carrying

of local live programs; (c) the carrying of pro-

gams devoted to the discussion of public issues;

and (d) the elimination of advertising excesses.

The ACLU told the Commission that "it has

long advocated legislation to accomplish these

ends by requiring time to be set aside for non-

commercial programs in the public interest," and

maintains "the main impact of the present pro-

posals will be to increase freedom of access to

the air, to bring about more adequate presenta-

tion of public questions, and to raise program

CLU Approves FCC Report On Radio's

Public Service Responsibility -

standards generally. This seems a social gain so -

desirable as to overbalance the risk of possible

misuse of power or possible later drift toward

censorship."

Noting that its position has been criticized by

leaders of the radio industry as "condoning cen-

sorship," the ACLU states that it "has always

opposed censorsyip by the FCC. We have always

supported the so-called American system of

private ownership of radio, but we have also sup-

ported for over ten years the principle that radio

stations owe the public in return for their li-

censes which they do not own, a. reasonable

contribution to public education and enlighten-

ment. We have also always insisted on the right

of access to the air by all elements of the popu-

lation. We have drafted legislation to insure

this result.

"The Commission's report does not differ in

principle from this legislation. There is no impli-

cation in the report that the character of pro-

grams will in any way be controlled. The report

is based solely upon a balanced use of time, and

the standads proposed are largely quantitative

rather than qualitative. The proposal maintains

freedom of speech on the air by preserving the -

right of broadcasters now as heretofore, to have

complete authority and responsibility for de-

ciding what shall or shall not go into their

programs."

Among members of the ACLU Radio Com-

mittee who drew up the resolution are the chair-

man, Thomas Carskadon, chief of the Education

Division of the Twentieth Century Fund; James

Lawrence Fly, former chairman of the Federal

Communications Commission; Morris L. Ernst,

general counsel for the ACLU; and Morris No-

vik, radio consultant and former manager of

WNYC in New York.

"God's Little Acre' Banned

By St. Paul Police

ACLUN_1946 ACLUN_1946.MODS ACLUN_1946.batch ACLUN_1947 ACLUN_1947.MODS ACLUN_ladd ACLUN_ladd.MODS ACLUN_ladd.bags ACLUN_ladd.batch ACLUN_test_batch ACLUN_testyear ACLUN_testyear.MODS ACLUN_testyear.bags ACLUN_testyear.batch add-tei.sh create-bags.sh create-manuscript-bags.sh create-manuscript-batch.sh fits.log Reported censorship of the book `"`God's Little

Acre" by Erskine Caldwell by St. Paul authori-

ties was castigated as "preposterous" by the

American Civil Liberties Union in a telegram

last month to a local representative requesting

he give "legal assistance in event of prosecu-

tion." The ACLU wired after receiving reports

that the book had been banned by Police Chief

Frank Mondike on May 1, and that St. Paul

bookseller Harry Fredhove was threatened with

prosecution. Signed by Roger N. Baldwin, di-

rector of the ACLU, the telegram said: "We will

back up any bookseller or other person who

sells the book and would welcome a test case

of such preposterous public censorship of a book

in circulation over twelve years and cleared in

_ 1933 by a New York court in the only proceeding

against it."

Reports that the ban was imposed by the

Police Chief on the basis of a literary opinion

by one of his patrolmen were characterized by

the ACLU as "almost unbelievable. Not even' in

Boston has censorship ever sunk to the level

where one patrolman decided the literary. ive

of the entire city."

OPPOSE POLICE BAN ON `THE OUTLAW' IN

BRIDGEPORT, CONN.; S. F. CASE DISMISSED

Banning of the motion picture "The Outlaw"

by a police censor in Bridgeport, Conn. was pro- .

tested to Mayor Jasper McLevy by the American

Civil Liberties Union last month. An offer of

free legal assistance was made to any Bridge-

port exhibitor who contests the ban. Playwright

Elmer Rice, chairman of the ACLU's Committee

on Censorship, told the mayor that: "we feel that

if there are any violations of the obscenity law,

resort should be had to prosecution in court

rather than by the exercise of censorship powers,

particularly by officials who are not qualified to

determine difficult questions of morality."

Mayor McLevy was informed that "The Out- |

law" has been passed by the New York Board

of Regents, and reminded that this is the second

recent instance of censorship in Bridgeport.

Mayor McLevy last year lifted a ban on the

showing of a musical stage version of "Uncle

Tom's Cabin" after protest by the 20 and

others.

In San Francisco, efforts of the Police to

ban "The Outlaw" failed, Prosecutions were ini-

tiated under the local obscenity ordinance, but

after the Judge and jury viewed the picture, the

judge directed the jury to bring in a "Not

Guilty" verdict.

"The Outlaw" is presently banned by Bolide

threats in Wilmington, Delaware.

School Bus Law to Be Opposed"

In U. S. Supreme Court

Transportation of children to private schools

in public school buses will be opposed in the

U.S. Supreme Court by the American Civil

Liberties Union, it was announced after the high

court agreed on May 6 to hear an appeal against

a New Jersey law allowing such transportation.

The court granted an appeal for review by Arch

Everson, director of the New Jersey Taxpayers (c)

Association, who is contesting payments by the

Ewing, N.J. school board for the transportation |

of children to Trenton parochial schools. The

ACLU `has joined in the suits as friend of the

court.

Everson and the American Civil Liberties

Union through the state courts maintain that

such payments amount to the support of reli-

gious institutions out of public funds, and hence

- violate the traditional American separation of

church and state. New Jersey's highest judicial

body, the Court of Errors and Appeals last year

held constitutional the New Jersey law of 1941

which requires such payments, on the ground

that any other course would discriminate against

parents of parochial school children.

In California, the Fourth District Court of

Appeals in Fresno recently affirmed a lower

court decision that public school buses may |

transport pupils of parochial schools. The suit

was filed by Victor Bowker of Porterville in

January, 1944. An appeal will be taken to the

California Supreme Court.

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of Northern California

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San Francisco 5, Calif.

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