vol. 11, no. 5

AMEHICAN

Evils LDR ES

UNIUN-NEWS-

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.'

FREE SPEECH

FREE PRESS

FREE ASSEMBLAGE

Vol. XI.

SAN FRANCISCO, MAY, 1946

No.

Or

Court Action Due in

Renunciation Cases

_ After six months' delay sought by the govern-

ment, the habeas corpus suits brought by the

Nisei who renounced their citizenship under du-

ress will finally go on for a hearing before Fed-

eral Judge A. F. St. Sure in San Francisco on

May 13. At that time, Thomas M. Cooley II, di-

rector of the Alien Enemy Control Unit of the

Department of Justice, will move the court to

strike from the mass habeas corpus petition the

letter of Abe Fortas, former Secretary of the

Interior, who admits "It was primarily due to the

pressure of the (subversive) organizations that

over 80 per cent of the citizens eligible to do so

applied for renunciation of citizenship... " It

has been stipulated by counsel that the govern-

ment will file a formal answer to the petition a

week after the motion to strike is heard. _

About 400 renunciants are still in custody. All

of them are now held at the Crystal City, Texas,

internment center. Incidentally, 31 more renunci-

ants have joined the mass suit being handled

privately by attorney Wayne M. Collins of San

Francisco.

Among the renunciants recently released was

Miss Yukiye Teshiba of Los Angeles, one of the

trio who filed an independent suit challenging the

government's renunciation program among the

Nisei, but who later switched to the mass suit

after spending time in a San Franciscce jail. The -

only one of the trio still detained is Henry Mitt-

wer, who has been transferred to the Crystal City

internment center. ; :

The Justice Department has advised the Union

that a small group of Japanese aliens who are

still detained as "dangerous enemy aliens," and

_who failed to obtain hearings, will shortly be

granted hearings by a special hearing board. |

High Court Rules Pacifists

May Be Naturalized

Over-ruling the famous 5-4 decisions in the

McIntosh-Bland cases of 1931, and the 6-3 deci-

sion in the Rosika Schwimmer case of. 1929, the

U. S. Supreme Court on April 22, in a 5 to 3

decision, ruled that an alien does not have to be

willing to bear arms to defend this country in

order to be admitted to citizenship.

The ruling was made on the appeal of James

Louis Girouard, of Stoneham, Mass. He was born

at Monton, New Brunswick, Canada, and is a.

member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Girouard is willing to perform non-combatant

service in the Army, but he is unwilling to bear

arms.

The question about willingness to bear arms

_appears nowhere in the Nationality Act of 1940.

It was introduced into the naturalization petition

form in 1924 by Commissioner Crist of the

Naturalization Service, upon the request of

several "patriotic" groups.

Justice Douglas, writing for the court, declared

that the oath required of aliens "does not in

terms require that they promise to bear arms."

Nor has Congress expressly made any such find-

ing a prerequisite to citizenship, he pointed out.

"To hold that it is required is to read into the

(Nationality) act by implication. But we could

not assume that Congress intends to make such

an abrupt and radical departure from our tradi-

tions unless it spoke in unequivocal terms."

Chief Justice Stone and Justices Reed and

Frankfurter dissented. Justice Jackson took no

part in the case.

`Union Dues Raised To $3 Per Year

At the April meeting of the Executive Com-

mittee of the ACLU of Northern California, it

was voted to increase the annual membership

dues from $2 to $3. The annual dues includes a

subscription to the "News" at $1.00 per year.

After Kidnaping Peruvian Japanese U. S. Now

Seeks `'o Deport Them To Japan As Illegal Entrants

Virtually kidnapped by the U. S. government

and brought into this country for internment,

scores of Japanese who resided in Peru face de-

portation to Japan as illegal entrants into the

United States. The United States characterized -

_them as illegal entrants because when they en-

tered as "immigrants" they were not in posses-

sion of valid immigration visas, nor did they have

passports. If these people are illegal entrants,

then it should be remembered that they did not

come here willingly; and that the United States

government participated in the illegality and in-

deed was responsible for it.

Most of the Japanese-Peruvians were arrested

by officers of the Peruvian government in Jan-

uary or June of 1943 and, without hearings of -

any kind, handed over to officers of the U. S.

government at their request. They were then

placed on U. S. transports, guarded by U. S. war-

ships, and transferred to a Panama internment

camp for a brief stay before being shipped to

internment camps in the United States.

Sixty-five Japanese, some of whom entered

Twenty of the 65 are bachelors. Three are widow-

ers, but the remaining 42 have wives and general-

ly children in Peru. Twenty-seven of the wives

are Peruvians, while 15 are Japanese. The 45

have an average of three children, or an aggre-

gate of 145, who are all citizens of Peru. Indeed,

seven of the children are serving in the Peruvian

army. Although their families are residing in

Peru, it is proposed to deport these men to Japan,

because -the Peruvian government does not wish

to accept them. .

In addition to the Japanese-Peruvians at Santa

Fe, New Mexico, there are said to-be some 46

families at the Crystal City internment center. (c)

The Union is informed that 100 families accepted

voluntary repatriation to Japan. Some of the

Crystal City Peruvians, having lost all of their

property in Peru, would prefer to remain in the

United States. Many of them now have children

ACLU Not Involved in New Left-Wing

; "Civil Rights"' Move

A meeting was held in Detroit on April 27-28

to form a new federation for civil rights in order

to create greater unity in the fight against what

the signers of the call term "fascism." The pro-

posal was originally made by the Chicago Civil

Liberties Committee which last year withdrew

its affiliation from the ACLU under pressures

arising from controversies in the committee. The

announcement by the Committee says that its

proposal for "a new national civil rights federa-

tion" was "finally agreed to by the National Fed-

eration for Constitutional Liberties, International

Labor Defense, and the Michigan Civil Rights

Federation," These are all left-wing groups whose

policies differ sharply at many points from those

of the ACLU. The ACLU therefore was. not in-

vited, and was not represented.

School Segregation Case Appealed

Four Orange County, California, school dis-

tricts, who on February 18 were enjoined by

Federal Judge Paul J. McCormick from discrim-

inatory practices against pupils of Mexican

descent, have appealed the decision to the Ninth

Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The

Southern California branch of the A.C.L.U. will

now intervene as friend of the court.

Peru in the early 1900s, and most of whom en-_

tered Peru after 1910, are presently interned at"

the Santa Fe, New Mexico, internment camp.

born in this country. Practically all of these

people are Roman Catholics.

The U. S. State Department has admitted that

none of the Peruvians are "dangerous to hemi-

spheric security." In a letter directed to the group

at Crystal City, under date of April 9, Jonathan

B. Bingham, Chief Alien Enemy Control Section 0x00B0

of the State Department, declared: "As you know,

the Peruvian Government has indicated that it is

opposed to the return to Peru of any of the in-

ternees who are Japanese citizens. Through its

Embassy in Lima the Government of the United

States has expressed the view that all of the

internees who appear not to he dangerous to

hemispheric security (this applies to the entire

Japanese group) should in fairness be permitted

to return to Peru. The Peruvian Government indi-:

cated that it was unwilling to change its position

in principle, and the Department of State is not

now in a position to take the matter up with the

Peruvian Government once again."

The refusal of the Peruvian government to

allow its former Japanese residents to return can

perhaps be understood in the light of that gOv-

ernment's confiscation of the properties of Jap-.-.2

anese nationals. The Union is informed that on

December 8, 1945, a law was enacted applying

. Such confiscated property to claims by the Peru-

vian government.

In answering the claims of the U. 0x00A7. govern-

ment that they entered illegally, the Peruvians

have pointed out that they came into the United

States at a port of entry, and that they were

inspected by immigration and customs inspectors.

Obviously, too, their entry was pre-arranged be-

tween the governments of Peru and the United

States.

The Peruvians have.sought legal counsel, and

the Union is informed that attorney Wayne M.

Collins of San Francisco will represent the group

presently at Santa Fe, and possibly most of those

at Crystal City, The Immigration Service late last

month said it Still hoped to return most of the

Peruvian Japanese to Peru, particularly those

Cases - in which the wives and children are

Peruvians.

ACLU PROTESTS ROTTEN CONDITIONS

IN CAMP SHOEMAKER BRIG

The American Civil Liberties Union of North-

ern California has protested to the Secretary of _

the Navy against the treatment accorded Trice

E. Knight, who was held at the Camp Shoemaker

brig for about 90 days while awaiting court mar-

tial on desertion charges.

Knight is an 18-year-old boy. He was placed

in solitary confinement in a cell six feet by eight

feet and lighted by a 150-watt bulb 24 hours a

day. After the case came to public attention, the

white bulb was replaced with a blue one. The cell

has no bunks and prisoners sleep on a mattress

which is placed on the floor.

The Union said it was concerned not only with

`the question of why the boy was denied a speedy

trial, but also with his confinement under such -

outrageous conditions. `

Lily White D.A.R. Opens Censtitution

Halli to Negro Artists

After barring Marian Anderson and pianist

Hazel Scott from Constitution Hall, the DAR

has finally succumbed to criticism and resigna-

tions and has extended use of the hail to

artists. On June 3, the Tuskegee, Ala., Institute

choir will be allowed to use the hall "entirely

without cost''.

Page 2

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

ACLU to Aid Appeal from

Decision vs. New Jersey

Anti-Injunction Law

An appeal by the United Electrical Workers,

CIO; against the recent decision of Vice Chancel-

lor John O. Bigelow declaring New Jersey's anti-

injunction statute unconstitutional will be aided

by the American Civil Liberties Union. The CIO

group has announced that it will appeal Chancel-

lor Bigelow's decision in a Newark picketing case

to New Jersey's highest court, the Court of

Errors and Appeals, and to the U. 8S. Supreme

Court if necessary. Participation by the ACLU in

the appeals will be settled after conference be-

tween interested groups.

Vice Chancellor Bigelow held unconstitutional

a section of the New Jersey law enacted in 1941,

which is modeled on the federal Norris-LaGuardia

Act, and prohibits the issuing of injunctions

against picketing where there is no "fraud or

violence."' The voided section also upheld the

right of workers to refuse to work, to join a

union and to demand a closed shop. Chancellor

Bigelow based his decision on the fact that the

law appeared to deprive injured parties of their

right to-sue for damages resulting from labor

pactices, and because the legislature had no

power to pass a law preventing the courts from

providing protection for "those entitled to it

under established principles of equity."

According to the Civil Liberties Union, Vice

Chancellor Bigelow's decision ``goes for beyond

the limits necessary to insure access of non-

strikers and others to struck plants, a right which

we have always supported. We do not contest his

power to issue injunctions in support of this

right, but we do contest his decision outlawing

valuable and established labor legislation." The

Chancellor's decision was handed down in auth-

orizing injunctions restraifing picketing. at

Westinghouse plants in Newark and Bloomfield,

and a Phelps-Dodge Copper Company plant in

Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Chancellor Bigelow's action bears out a widely

publicized warning to strike leaders by the Amer-

~ican Civil Liberties Union in January, pointing

out that if pickets continued to bar access to

struck plants by force, the `inevitable effect will

be resort to the courts for injunctions. Even the

labor's legitimate rights from,

statutes protecting labor's. ute

injunctions may thus be endangered."

-PUERTO RICAN HOUSE OF REPS.

_ HAILS ACLU SUPPORT

Following publication in Puerto Rico of the

text of a recent letter to President Truman from

the American Civil Liberties Union urging him

to veto a Puerto Rican bill for a plebiscite on the

Island's political future, the Puerto Rican House

of Representatives adopted a resolution express-

ing their "deep appreciation" to the Union. In a

_ cable to Arthur Garfield Hays, who signed the

Union's letter, Ernesto Ramos Antonini, speaker

of the House, said in part:

"The House of Representatives of Puerto

Rico at its meeting this day adopted a resolution

to express its deep appreciation to you for the

strong support that you as a member of the

American Civil Liberties Union have given to our

right of self-determination by sending President

Truman a message on March 15 urging on him

immediate approval of two bills of the Senate of

Puerto Rico referred to the White House after

they were vetoed by Governor Tugwell." ~

A bill is pending in Congress to permit the

Puerto Ricans to vote on their future status. The

action of the Island legislature sought to antici-

pate Congressional action and was therefore ve-

toed. The ACLU took the position that a prompt

expression by the voters of Puerto Rico should

aid Congress in determining policy. A delegate

from the Puerto Rican legislature is due in

Washington to endeavor to bring the long-stand-

ing issue to a head.

BOSTON CIVIL LIBERTIES GROUP SCORES

CENSORSHIP BY BOOK PUBLISHER

Refusal of Doubleday Doran and Co., New

York publisher of `Memoirs of Hecate Countv'",

by Edmund Wilson, to send copies to Boston for

sale in that city was scored as "censorship" by

the Massachusetts Civil Liberties Union last

week. "It's still censorship, whether initiated by

the Watch and Ward Society, the local book deal-

ers or by the publishers', Miss Mary Elizabeth

Sanger, secretary of the Boston group said.

Doubleday Doran were reported unwilling to try

bucking Boston censorship with the Wilson book

on account of passages giving a detailed account

of a love affair. This is the first instance of a

publisher's censoring his own book.

_@

Att'ys Urged To Recommend

Probation For War Objectors

United States attorneys all over the country

were urged to recommend probation for con-

scientious objectors "still being brought into

federal courts at the rate of about one a day",

in a circular letter from the American Civil Lib-

erties Union on April 15. Signed by three ACLU

attorneys, the letter says that "there is no such

necessity as in war-time to buttress morale by

substantial sentences for objectors who refuse

to be drafted,' and noted that the Department

of Justice has already indicated that shorter

sentences are in order.

The signers said they were acting "not as

partisans of conscientious objectors but as

lawyers concerned for the fair treatment of con-

science". Noting that even during the war in

"several hundred cases" judges had placed ob-

jectors on probation to work of national impor-

tance, the letter said that this procedure is even

more appropriate now that no practical purpose

is served by imprisoning men whose conduct is

clearly prompted by `conscientious motives'

rather than "draft dodging'.

The letter said that a large proportion of the

men still being tried for refusal to accept military

service were Jehovah's Witnesses who demand

status as ministers, but who are mostly willing

to accept assignment on probation to any work

that does not interfere with their "witnessing" in

public places in off hours. Signing the letter sent.

to all U.S. attorneys were Arthur Garfield Hays,

counsel for the ACLU; Ernest Angell, chairman

of the ACLU's National Committee on Conscien-

tious Objectors; and Julien Cornell, counsel for

the Committee.

_ Ruling Due on Renunciant's Eligibility to.

Travel Between Hawaii and Mainland

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nor-

thern California has requested a ruling from the

Immigration Service as to whether a person of

Japanese ancestry residing in this country, who

renounced his United States citizenship, would

be eligible to return to the mainland after pro-

ceeding to Hawaii and remaining there as a resi-

dent. The District Director for the San Francisco

District has referred the matter to his Central

Office in Philadelphia for a decision. Awaiting

the ruling is a young lady whose fiance is residing

in Hawaii for the next few years.

School Buses May Haul Parochial Students

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 ap-

~peal will be taken to the California Supreme

Court.

THOMAS L. STOKES: The whole procedure

of setting up a congressional committee to ferret

out "un-Americanism" is unwise and dangerous.

It gives license for the exercise of passion and

prejudice to persecute anybody whose views

differ from those prevailing on the committee.

NO DEPORTATION PARTY SCHEDULED

IN JAPANESE HARDSHIP CASES

Alien Japanese who are faced with deporta-

tion as illegal entrants in so-called hardship cases

were thrown into a state of panic last month

when some of them suddenly received notices that

they would be deported on April 17. Subsequently,-

the Central Office of the Immigration Service

indicated it had been unable to arrange trans-

portation, so the deportations were again post-

poned. As we go to press, the District Office of

the Immigration Service has advised us that they

have received no information to arrange a depor-

tation party to Japan.

- In the event that any of the alien Japanese are

taken into custody for deportation, it is pro-

posed to bring legal action in their behalf. In

the meantime, legislation is pending in Congress

which wouid grant relief in hardship cases.

Japanese Deportations Due

FLASH!!! A deportation party is leaving

Seattle for Japan on May 13. The Immigra-

tion Service has just informed the Union

that the party will be limited to able-bodied

adult males. No married men will-be taken.

NO HARDSHIP CASES WILL BE IN-

CLUDED IN THE PARTY!

-On May 6, another deportation party is

leaving San Pedro for Japan. Included in

that party will be Peruvian Japanese who

are single or who have Japanese wives but

no children.

It is anticipated that legal action will be

filed on behalf of most of the foregoing per-

sons.

- People.

Carriers Balk at Lifting

Nisei Travel Restrictions

Hawaiian transportation companies are balking

at obeying an order of the Immigration Service

to cease requiring American citizens of Japanese

ancestry to get "certificates of citizenship'"' be-

fore leaving the Hawaiian Islands for the U. S.

mainland. Among the travellers to the mainland,

orientals alone must still establish their citizen-

ship to the satisfaction of the carriers before

they can secure transportation. As a result,

further representations will be made to the Im- (c)

migration Service by the A.C.L.U. to end the

discrimination against citizens of oriental an-

cestry.

One transportation company has announced

that while it is no longer requiring certificates

of citizenship, it is inspecting birth certificates

"as a point of service" and will recommend certifi-

cates of citizenship where the birth certificate

may not be considered adequate proof on the

mainland. It appears that the Immigration Serv-

ice in San Francisco will not recognize Hawaiian

birth certificates that were not issued at the

time of birth, but many years after birth on the

basis of affidavits. The carrier defends its action

on the ground that the law imposes a $1000

penalty on him for transporting illegal entrants.

The Immigration Service says it cannot recall a

case in which the carrier has been fined.

_ Pan-American Airways says it will refer ques-

tionable cases to the immigration authorities be-

fore selling tickets to the mainland. -

The Immigration law permits inspection of all

persons travelling between our island-possessions

and between our island possessions and the main.

land. Whereas, all persons travelling from the

Territory of Hawaii to the mainland must be in-

spected by the Immigration Service, persons en-

tering from the Territory of Alaska are not sub-

ject to such inspection.

Last month, the A.C.L.U. received a letter from

TB: Shoemaker, Deputy Commissioner of the

Immigration Service, which said in part:

_ We have received a report from our District

director at San Francisco covering his investiga-

tion of this matter, and he has been advised to

follow the procedure indicated below: (1) Advise

transportation companies in Hawaii, in writing

that there is no requirement in the law or regula-

_ tions on the part of this service that any citizen

obtain a certificate of citizenship in order to pro-

-eeed.to the mainland or elsewhere. (2) Further

advise such companies that the procedure for the

issuance of_such certificates is solely for the

convenience of the citizens themselves and that

any such citizen, when about to travel to the

mainland or elsewhere, may obtain such a certifi-

cate if he elects to do so, but, on the other hand

Se ee ee such a certificate. (3)

euro-press at Honolulu wi i

foregoing notifications," Se =

_ Deputy Commissioner Shoemaker's letter was

in answer. to a query by the ACLU based on re-

ports that Americans of Japanese ancestry in

Hawaii, including war veterans, had been pre-

vented from leaving for the mainland until they

| had obtained certificates of citizenship.

a

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS GEOR

NEGRO PRIMARY vOne oS

By refusing on April 1 to review tk isi

of lower federal courts granting hee

to_vote in Georgia Democratic primaries

the U. S. Supreme Court put the final seal on

litigation over the issue. A Georgia federal dis-

trict court last year ruled that Negroes should

be permitted to vote, on the ground that the

Democratic primary is the only real election in

Georgia. It was upheld by the Circuit Court in

New Orleans on March 6. The Supreme Court's

refusal has the effect of sustaining the lower

courts. The case came to the high court on appeal

by three Georgia election officials against a suit

by. Primus E. King, a Negro who was awarded

$100 damages in the district court after he was

barred from voting in a primary in 1944. The

case was handled by counsel for the National

Association for the Advancement of Colored

oe

BOOK NOTE

Nationalities and National Minor

I. Janowsky of the faculty of the

City of New York, MacMillan Co.

Although Professor Janowsk

with national minorities in Euro

of the minority probl

ities by Oscar

College of the

y deals wholly

-} pe, his treatment

14S an immediate. relev-

ance to the general world problem of re

how confronting the United Nations. In iti

it is of special Significance in the United Ge

where so many of the European peoples are rep-

resented by vigorous nationality organizations.

Professor Janowsky's book is a plea for the prin-

_ ciple of federalism in a multi-national state and

- economic unity. :

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

Page 3

Army Court Martial System

To Be Overhauled

A nine man civilian commission to overhaul the

Army's court martial procedure was appointed

by War Secretary Patterson on March 25. The

Army court martial system has been criticized in

both houses of Congress and by private agencies,

partly on the ground that enlisted men are tried

only by their superiors; and that officers have

sometimes received preferential treatment for

similar crimes. Heading the new commission

which will meet in Washington this month is

Dean Arthur .T. Vanderbilt of New York Uni-

versity law school, former President of the

American Bar Association. The American Civil

Liberties Union has received scores of complaints

of injustices by courts martial, and will make

representations to the commission for reforms in

procedure long advocated to extend to enlisted

men the protection accorded defendants in civilian

courts.

Firemen May Talk, New York's

Highest Court Decides

A gag rule forbidding New York City firemen

to discuss their working conditions in public,

imposed by former Fire Commissioner Patrick

Walsh during the LaGuardia administration, was

recently thrown out by the New York Court of

Appeals in Albany. The Court of Appeals, highest

state court, reversed two lower courts which had

sustained the gag rule under which John P.

Crane, president of the Uniformed Firemen's

Association, was punished in 1944 by being exiled

_ to Staten Island, fifteen miles from his home.

The Walsh gag rule was issued in the middle

of a dispute between the Firemen's Association

and the Fire Commissioner about wages and

hours, and forbade the firemen to make any

_ further pronouncements on their working condi-

tions `or anything else'. It was opposed in the

lower courts and before the Court of Appeals by

the American Civil Liberties Union as depriving

firemen of their constitutional right to freedom

of speech, and reducing them to "the level. of

abject slaves of a benevolent departmental

despotism." The Court of Appeals relied in part

on the fact that the New York Legislature "has

unequivocally declared that no citizen shall be

deprived of the right of appeal to the Legislature,

or to any public officer, board, commission or

_ other public body for the redress of grievances

on account of employment in the civil service of

the state or any of its civil divisions or Cities."

The Uniformed Firemen's Association an-

nounced that Mayor O'Dwyer's new Fire Com-

missioner, Frank J. Quayle, has "made it plain"

that the right of free speech would not now be

denied any member of the Fire Department.

_ PRES. TRUMAN CLARIFIES STAND ON

POLL TAX: FAVORS FEDERAL ACTION

Gratification was expressed to President Tru-

man by the American Civil Liberties Union last

month following an interview on April 11 in'

which the President stated his support of federal

legislation to abolish the poll tax as a condition

for voting in federal elections. The ACLU had

previously written the President expressing

alarm over reports that he had said at an inter-

view in Chicago on April 6 that he favored "state

action".

In his later interview the President said: "I

have `not changed my position on the federal

anti-poll tax legislation. I am still in favor of

federal legislation. I voted for cloture on this

issue in the Senate and I would do so again if I

were a Senator. However, I also favor state

_ action. There is no contradiction between federal

and state action on this matter." In writing the

_ President the ACLU said it was "gratified by

reports that we were in error in imputing to you

lack of support of the federal bill."

Senators Urged To Kill "Women's

Equal Rights" Amendment __

_ The constitutional amendment to grant equal

rights to women now scheduled for an early vote

in the Senate was recently opposed in letters to

all members of the Senate by the American Civil

Liberties Union. The ACLU said it was 100% in

favor of giving women equal rights, but that

the proposed amendment actually would not ac-

complish that result, and would jeopardize "valu-

able social and labor legislation." The Senators

were told that the best way to obtain equal rights

for women was by the itemized method of "spe-

cific bills for specific ills," such as the pending

bill granting equal pay. The letter was signed by

former Judge Dorothy Kenyon of New York

City, chairman of the Union's Committee on Wo-

men's Rights, and Dr. John Haynes Holmes,

chairman of the Board of Directors.

- arrested. In restoring order,

The Truth Abou? The

Mass Terror And

Murders In Columbia, Tennessee

In Columbia, Tenn., 28 Negroes have been

charged with attempted murder and three others

have been charged with "attempt to commit a

felony', as an outgrowth of the shocking mass

terrorism that occurred there late last February.

They are scheduled for trial early this month.

The public has received only meager press

reports of what happened, and these accounts

have been highly inaccurate. According to press

stories, a.Negro woman and her son were

arrested for assaulting a white man, after which

the town's Negroes rioted, wounding six white

persons and one Negro. Seventy Negroes were

the homes of

Negroes were raided by law enforcement officers

and 300 weapons were confiscated. State Guard

reinforcements appeared "after a burst of gun-

play in the Maury county jail in which two

Negroes were killed by highway patrolmen.'

Now, let's see what really happened in Columbia,

Tenn. = :

On Monday, February 25, 1946, at about 10

A.M., Mrs. Gladys Stephenson went to the

Castner-Knot Electric Appliance store in Co-

lumbia, Tenn., to see about a radio which was

being repaired. With her went her 19-year-old

son. Mrs. Stephenson complained to William

Fleming about a faulty repair job. Fleming be-

came abusive, and, when Mrs. Stephenson

objected to the abuse, he slapped and kicked her.

Thereupon, Mrs. Stephenson's son hit Fleming,

who fell through the store's plate glass window.

Fleming wasn't injured, but a crowd collected.

The mother and her son were slapped and

punched, and a policeman clubbed the boy. They

were finally taken to jail and released on $3500

bond each. The bondsman was just in time,

because shortly after their release an armed

mob stormed the jail demanding that the Ste-

phensons be turned over to them.

The town's Negroes barricaded themselves in

their homes, turned off the lights and stood

ready to protect themselves. Bands of white men,

fully armed, roamed the streets adjoining the

Negro section. Several cars tore through the

darkened area pumping shots into the houses.

Then a car, carrying a group of city policemen

certain that the mob was finally moving in

against them, waited. And then someone shouted

hysterically, "Here they come!" Scattered shots

rang out. No one knows who fired the shots but

they were aimed at the dark car moving through

a dark street. Although there were no serious

wounds four of the policemen' were hit with

buckshot. According to the sheriff, a cordon of

state patrolmen and helmeted state guardsmen

were thrown about the section so that no one

could enter or leave.

SUIT SEEKS NATURALIZATION FOR

FATHERS OF NISEI SERVICEMEN

The Southern California branch of the A.C.L.U.

last month filed a suit in the U. S. District

Court challenging the refusal of the District

Director of Immigration and Naturalization to

process petitions for naturalization of three alien

Japanese, Shosuke Nitta, Gensuke Masuda and -

C. Kendo, whose sons served in the U. 8. Army.

All three of the men have lived in this country -~

more than 40 years.

If the court rules in favor of the Japanese, it

will upset the law that has been applied for the

past 25 years, which has excluded orientals from

the privilege of naturalization. Recently, the first (c)

break in the law was secured when Congress ex- -

tended immigration and naturalization privileges

to Chinese, and a bill is now pending in the Senate

Immigration Committee, which has already been

adopted by the House, establishing an immigra- |

tion quota for East Indians and permitting them

to be naturalized.

DANGER OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN

URBAN REDEVELOPMENT PLANS

The San Francisco branch .of the N.A.A.C.P. ~

has adopted a resolution endorsing the principle

of urban redevelopment legislation, but pointing `to certain dangers that may result in freezing

Negroes out of the proposed new housing in the (c)

Fillmore District. Included in the resolution are

the following demands:

"That. substantial amounts of low rent, public

or private, housing be included within the area -

to be redeveloped;

"That preferential rights be given to displaced

persons to reoccupy the redeveloped area; and, |

"That the Redevelopment Agency guarantee in 4

all purchase, sale, lease, or rental of property |

segregation or

acquired that there shall be no

discrimination."

At dawn on Tuesday morning, 500 State patrol-

men and guardsmen in full battle dress, armed

with tommy-guns, automatic rifles and machine

`guns, lay down a barrage, battle fashion. Then

(the houses were rushed. The frightened people

were clubbed and jabbed. Screaming children

running wildly for their mothers were sent

-Sprawling. The Negroes were marched off to the

jail while mop-up squads emptied the homes of

hunting rifles and ancient relics.

In the business section, the police and guards-

men, working in platoons, smashed through the

`Shop windows, chopped down the doors. The

`streets were soon littered with furniture hurled

out of windows. In a poolroom the cloth was

Slashed on all of the tables. A doctor's office was

smashed, the medical furniture chopped beyond

repair. Surgical instruments, drugs, and valuable

`clinical apparatus were wantonly destroyed or

Stolen. In the offices of the Atlanta Life Insur-

ance Company the uniformed vandals left a hope-

`less shambles after carefully destroying all files

and records. In a funeral parlor, draperies were

cut up, chandeliers and all other lighting fixtures

`were ripped from their sockets. The pulpit was

-hacked and the light over the Bible smashed with

a well placed gun stock. The hate-ridden orgy

was topped off with a huge KKK scrawled in

white chalk across one of the chopped caskets.

oe registers in all of these establishments were

rifled.

The Negro prisoners were held incommunicado

for days, some for more than a week, while a

three-man "board of investigation' sifted the

evidence to decide which persons should be

charged with crime. Z. Alexander Loody, Negro

attorney of Nashville, and Maurice Weaver, white

attorney of Chattanooga, were employed for

them by the National Association for the Ad-

vancement of Colored People. Officials refused

Weaver the right to see the prisoners and to be

present when they were questioned.

On Thursday, February 28, two of the prison-

ers, William Gordon and James Johnson, were

shot to death in the jail. The official explanation

was that Gordon had grabbed a gun from the

: . confiscated we `

and showing no illumination, drove slowly into , weapons stacked in the room and

the tense, blacked-out section. The Negroes, |

fired it, giving Deputy R. T. Darnell a slight flesh

wound in the left arm. No one has explained why -

prisoners were in a room where there were loose

guns lying around, nor why the prisoners could

not be subdued without killing them, nor what

methods of questioning were used which could

drive helpless prisoners (against whom there were

no serlous charges) to so desperate and hopeless

an extremity.

The legal defense is in the hands of the

N.A.A.C.P. Contributions towards the defense

may be sent to the organization at 20 West 40th

Street, New York 18, N. Y. Checks should be

made payable to NAACP. Legal Def d

Education Fund. : 2

Executive Committee

American Civil Liberties Union

of Northern California

_ Sara Bard Field

Honorary Member

Rt. Rev. Edw. L. Parsons

Chairman -

Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn

Helen Salz

Vice-Chairman

Joseph 8. Thompson

Secretary-Treasurer

Ernest Besig

Director

Philip Adams 2

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

Page 4

AMERICAN CLVIL 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 1818

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.

State Medical Board Loath to

Give Information of Its Work

Recently the ACLU requested the State

Board of Medical Examiners to furnish it certain

information as to the number of applicants for

physicians and surgeons licenses who have been

granted or denied such licenses during each of

the past five years. In particular, the Union

151-"

wanted to secure data on the applicants who had

practiced ten years in other states, and who are

therefore required to take an oral examination.

The reason for the inquiry was that the Union

had received complaints that the latter applicants

are frequently rejected without a fair inquiry

into their qualifications. C

Here is the amazing answer to the Union's

inquiry of April 10, as contained in a letter signed

by Dr. Frederick N. Scatena, Secretary-Treasur-

er of the Board, under date of April 22:

"The matter concerning statistical data, in

my estimation, has no bearing on the subject

mentioned in the fifth paragraph of your letter.

However, these statistics are available, and at the

May meeting of the California Medical Associa-

tion, Doctor Frank Otto, President of the Board

of Medical Examiners, will give a talk before the

Association, and in this talk will give the data

you request." That was all.

The statistics may be "available," but Dr.

Seatena is obviously doing his best to make it

difficult for the Union to secure them.

In the same letter, Dr. Scatena also states that

"an applicant who has kept himself abreast of

the times and informed on all changes in medi-

cine has had no difficulty in passing the oral ex-

amination. Those who have failed, we believe,

have done so because they have taken the exam-

ination too lightly and have not prepared them-

selves sufficiently for the examination." The

Union would be more ready to accept these state-

ments if the Board was not so reluctant in shar-

ing information about its activities.

ACLU Investigating Contempt

Conviction of G. L. K. Smith

The Chicago Division of the American Civil

Liberties Union has been asked to investigate the

conviction and sixty-day sentence of G. L. Ky

Smith, leader of the America First Party, on con-

tempt of court charges in Chicago on April 8.

The local group has been asked to find out if the

contempt charge was justified under Illinois law,

and to support an appeal if it appears that

Smith's rights of free speech have been abridged.

~ Smith was convicted of contempt by Munici"

pal Judge John V. McCormick on the basis of a

press release issued by Smith during the trial

of his associate, Arthur W. Terminiello, suspends

ed Catholic priest, on disorderly conduct charges.

The release was distributed by a press agent dur-

ing a court recess. The agent was also cited and

will be sentenced on his return to Chicago. The

release held that the prosecution "has no leg to

stand on," and called it a "cold-blooded persecu-

tion." '

The ACLU is also sending observers to

Smith's pending trial on disorderly conduct

charges growing out of a riot at a Smith meeting

on February 7 last in Chicago. Attitude of the

Chicago Division of the ACLU is that they

"abhor" Smith's ideas, but will defend his rights

because "you can't have free speech for some

people and not for others."

Says THE NEW YORKER: We disagree, in a

small particular, with Owen D. Young about free

speech and the radio. "Freedom of speech for the

man. whose voice can be heard a few hundred feet

is one thing," he told Rollins College students.

"But freedom of speech for the man whose voice

may be heard around the world is another." We

think they are identical. For although the radio

has a million ears (and therefore a million times

greater reception of ill-advised sounds), it also

has a million times greater power of skepticism,

analysis, prejudice, and inattention. The beauty

of speech which is free is that it is self-annihilat-

ing, whether in tiny amounts or great amounts;

and the menace of speech which is not free is that

it is self-perpetuating, like a cellarful of rats.

Plan Legal Aid For 17 Cited

For Contempt By House

With contempt citations voted by the House

against seventeen officers of one group that

refused to produce records for the House Un-

American Committee and scheduled for vote

against officers of two other groups the Ameri-

can Civil Liberties Union last month turned its

attention to legal aid for the cited officers, whose

cases will now be brought into court by the U.S.

District Attorney. The ACLU had previously

appealed to liberal congressmen in two circular

letters to vote down the contempt citations

against officers of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee

Committee, the Council on American-Soviet

Friendship, and the National Federation on Con-

stitutional Liberties, on the ground that the

House Un-American Committee had no business

`trying to-investigate contributors to the three

groups.

The citation against officers of the Refugee

Committee for refusing to submit their books and

records to the House Un-American Committee

passed the House by a 292-56 vote on April 16.

ACLU intervention in any eventual court pro-

ceedings against the citations will contend they

are out of order on the ground that the House

Un-American Committee was empowered by Con-

gress to investigate only "Un-American" groups,

and therefore had no power to subpoena records

of organizations which had not been found to be

"Un-American."

In its circular letters to congressmen the ACLU

said "we are as zealous as any member of the

House to maintain its prerogatives but trust that

you will share the view that the Committee ex-

ceeded its mandate in demanding books and

records of these organizations. The history of

this Committee and of its predecessor makes it

evident that the submission of names of con-

tributors would be followed by harassment of the

contributors themselves. The inevitable publica-

tion of their names in the Committee records

would impute to them a wholly unjustified Un-

Americanism. We submit that the Committee's

activities in these respects are contrary to the

principle of the form of government guaranteed

by our Constitution. May we urge that you vote

against the contempt citations" ? :

OUSTERS OF WATSON, LOVETT, AND

DODD APPEALED TO HIGH COURT

The constitutionality of the Congressional

ouster in 1943 of three federal employees for

alleged subversive activities will be determined

by the U. S. Supreme Court. The appeal to the

Supreme Court was made by the U. S. Justice

Department at the request of the House Appro-

priations Committee, which attached a rider to

an appropriation bill in 1943 specifically provid-

ing that no salaries be paid the three men. Both

President Roosevelt and the Justice Department

maintained that the rider was unconstitutional.

The three concerned, Robert Morss Lovett,

former secretary of the Virgin Islands, Goodwin

B. Watson and William E. Dodd, both with the

Federal Communications Commission, continued -

in their jobs in order to bring a test suit in the

U. S. Court of Claims, which last November

awarded them back salaries without passing on

the constitutionality of the rider. Their suit was

supported by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Justice Department told the Supreme

Court that it was acting at the request of the

House Appropriations Committee, although it

still considers the rider unconstitutional. The

three men are represented by attorney Charles

A. Horsky, of Washington, who is also Washing-

ton counsel for the American Civil Liberties

Union.

Immigration Service Discriminates

Against Wives of Nisei Servicemen

A Nisei has appealed to the A.C.L.U. of North-

ern California in behalf of his brother, Sergeant

Robert Kitajima of Alameda, who has been denied

permission to bring his wife into the U. S. from

Canada.

Last December, Congress passed a law allowing

servicemen to bring their alien wives into the

United States. Sergeant Kitajima married a

Japanese Canadian girl, fully expecting that he

would be permitted to bring her to California

with him. Instead, the Immigration Service in-

formed him that while Congress made no excep-

tion in the law, they would interpret it to mean

that Congress did not intend to alter its nrevions

policy of excluding all Asiatics except Chinese.

Moreover, the Sergeant's wife has been denied

entry as a visitor.

Lieut. Makoto Kimura finds himself in the

same predicament. Fortunately, the problem is

not a pressing one with him because he is about

to embark on a 16-month stretch with the U. S.

occupation forces in Japan.

Philippine CLU Protests

Amendments To Indep. Act

' A cablegram from the Philippine Civil Liber-

ties Union, protesting against provisions in the

bills pending in Congress for relations with the

Philippines after independence next July was

released by the American Civil Liberties Union

last month. The Philippine Union scored High

Commissioner Paul V. McNutt's role as allegedly

representing "selfish interests" and opposed his

en in that office. The cablegram in full

reads:

"Tydings and Bell bills simultaneously intro-

duced in Congress providing for amendment to

Philippine Independence Law would if enacted

constitute greatest betrayal in Philippine-

American relations. These measures provide re-

tention by United States of all properties vested

in it on July 4, 1946 and authorize acquisition of

additional properties even after independence for

use of the United States government or any of

its agencies or instrumentalities. These would in

effect emasculate Philippine independence. Dis-

regarding loyalty and sacrifices of Filipinos dur-

ing war they would foist upon Filipinos a mock

Republic reminiscent of Japanese puppet govern-

ment here.

"We cannot believe Tydings-Bell bills reflect

opinion of American people whose fairness is

unquestioned. Rather we believe these proposals

inspired by American imperialists intending to

make Philippines their exclusive hunting pre-

serve. Conspiracy of silence in shrouding presen-

tation; of these bills shocking. High Commissioner

McNutt's ominous silence on Tydings-Bell bills

and efforts to make Filipinos believe these are

for their benefit identified himself with selfish

interests. We believe McNutt's' continuance in

ee prejudicial to Philippine-American rela-

ions."

The Philippine group is headed by Judge Jesus

Barrera of Manila, and is associated with the

ACLU. The ACLU has directed its legislative rep-

resentatives in Washington to report.on the effect

of the proposed amendments on Philippine inde-

pendence and sovereignty, with a view to action

in Congress.

FBI TO BE SUED FOR LAWLESS ACTS

FOLLOWING SUPREME COURT DECISION

Officers of the federal government are liable to

damage suits in the federal courts if they violate

the constitutional rights of citizens, according to

a decision of the U. S. Supreme Court on April 1

In an appeal by Arthur L. Bell of Los Angeles.

Bell and several officials of "Mankind United",

a semi-religious group in California, have beey

trying to sue the Federal Bureau of Investigation

ever since FBI agents raided their homes and

arrested them without warrants in December,

1942. They appealed to the Supreme Court after

the lower federal courts threw out their suits on

the ground that they had no jurisdiction.

_In its decision the Supreme Court held that -

federal courts are obliged to hear any claim made

in good faith that agents of the federal govern-

ment have violated a citizen's constitutional

rights, and sent the case back to the Federal

District Court in Los Angeles for hearing as to

whether Bell is actually entitled to damages. The

Supreme Court pointed out that it had never

ruled as to whether "federal courts can grant

money recovery for damages said to have been

suffered as a result of federal officers violating

the Fourth and Fifth Amendments", granting

protection from unreasonable searches and im-

prisonment without due process of law. It left

this. question up to the District Court, merely

ruling as to jurisdiction. ~

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