vol. 13, no. 5

~ American

Civil Liberties

Union-News

Free Press

Free Speech

Free Assemblage

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

Vol. XIII

_ Immigration Service Revives

Red Hunt in San Francisco

The Immigration Service has revived deporta-

tion proceedings against a bay area man who

was a dues paying member of the Communist

Party for only four months in 1934. The sole

basis for the proceedings is the alien's past

membership in the Party. It is one of about 40

cases throughout the country in the current

deportation drive against alien "reds." The alien

is represented by Ernest Besig, local director

of the Union. .

Typical of the arbitrary and unfair procedures

of the Immigration Service was the refusal of

Lloyd Gowen, Presiding Inspector at the hear-

ings last month, to produce for cross-examina-

tion the Government's expert witness, who had

testified as to the Party's aims and purposes.

The witness was Manning Johnson of New York

City, an ex-member of the National Committee

of the Communist Party, who returned to New

York City before his cross-examination could be

completed. 3

The alien was offered a choice of cross-examin-

ing the witness in New York City, submitting

written interrogatories, or stipulating to the ad-

_ mission in evidence of testimony given by John- |

- gon in another case. When the alien's counsel

refused to accept any of these alternatives, the

hearings were abruptly closed and the Presiding

Inspector announced he would prepare his find-

ings and recommendations. The Union will now

request the Board of Immigration Appeals to

overrule the Presiding Inspector.

The latter also refused to allow the alien's

counsel to have anyone present to take notes for

him or to assist him in a clerical capacity. When-

ever it pleased the Presiding Inspector, he would

order the stenographer to quit taking a record

of the proceedings,

Union Supports Picketing to

Compel Hiring of Negroes

The American Civil Liberties Union of North-

ern California last month filed in the California

Supreme Court an amicus curiae brief supporting

picketing for the purpose of securing proportion-

al employment of Negroes in a Richmond. Califor-

nia, store owned by Lucky Stores. The case,

Hughes v. Superior Court, is set for argument

in San Francisco on May 4.

The store in question, although located in a

Negro district of Richmond and enjoying a

substantial portion of Negro trade, nevertheless

did not employ Negro workers. The pickets

carried signs stating: `Don't patronize Lucky

Stores. Lucky won't hire Negro workers in pro-

portion to Negro trade." The picketing was

peacefu! and the statements truthfvl ;

The Union's brief declared that ``Picketine to

inform the public regarding matters of public

concern is a form,of freedom of sneech, and as

such is squarely "within the constitrtienal pro-

tection of the First and Fourteenth amendments."

The brief points out that if the Nevroes had

"called a public meeting at some other place in

town. at which speakers exhorted the audience

to fight racial discrimination by boycotting stores

which practice it and naming Lucky Stores. we

do not believe the present proceedine would be

here on appeal before this Court. Such public

`discussion, on a matter concededly one of public

eoncern, is

doctrine."

Also, while arguing that the case did nresent

a labor dispute, the brief declared that "The

right to vicket peacefully, for lawful purposes,

is not limited to a labor disnute.' "'

The brief was written by attornevs Robert

E. Herman and Herbert Prashker of the New

clearly within the free speech

_ York bar, and presented to the Court by attorney

Philip Adams of San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO, MAY, 1948

No. 5

Honorably Discharged Veteran of World War II

Loses Federal Job on Disloyalty Charges

Without a hearing, except an opportunity to

file affidavits, Raymond Caldwell of Berkeley,

an honorably discharged Negro veteran of World

War II has been removed from his federal civil

service job as "auto-maintenance mechanic' at

the Oakland Army Base in Oakland on charges

of disloyalty. Last month, Caldwell received a

letter from the War Department informing him

that. his dismissal had been affirmed by the

Employee Loyalty Review Board. The Union is

now studing the case to determine possibility of

court action.

Last November 24, Caldwell was presented

Loyalty Review Board Will

Consider Air Station Case

The Navy Department Loyalty Appeal Board

in Washington, D.C., last month affirmed the

dismissal of an aircraft mechanic at the Alameda

Naval Air Station who had been charged with

disloyalty because of membership in the Com-

munist Party for two months in 1945. The Navy

Department advised the employee that "charges

preferred against you have been supported and

reasonable grounds exist for belief that you are

disloyal to the Government of the United States."

Under date of April 16, an appeal was taken

to the Loyalty Review Board of the U.S. Civil

Service Commission.

The employee had a so-called hearing on the

charges before a Loyalty Board on September

9, 1947. At that hearing, the Government intro-

duced no evidence against the employee. He was

merely given an opportunity to answer brief

written charges that he was a Communist, that

he had received an invitation to attend a meeting

of the Communist Party of Alameda county, and

that he had been on the Communist Party mail-

ing list in 1945,

The employee insisted that he had never been

disloyal to the United States and that he had

never done anything to injure the country. He

denied that his brief membership in the Commun

ist Party constituted an act of disloyalty on his

part.

McCollum Case Does Not Affect

Cal. Released Time, Howser Says

Attorney General Fred N, Howser on April 21

handed down an opinion upholding the constitu-

tionality of Sec. 8286 of the California Education

Code permitting pupils to be released from public

school classes to attend religious classes away

from public school buildings. Bue

The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided in

the McCollum case, that a `released time" plan

in use in Champaign, Ill., in which religious

classes were held in school buildings, violated the

Constitutional guarantee of separation of Church

and State. Because of that decision, the Califor-

nia Superintendent of Public Instruction wanted

+o know whether the California "released time"

law was constitutional."

The Attorney General concluded that since the

California law does not permit use of school

buildings for religious classes, it is constitutional.

In any case, he was reluctant to hold other-

wise since a California appellate court upheld

the law before the McCollum case was decided.

The Attorney General acknowledged that the

California law would appear to be affected by

Mr. Justice Black's statement that released time

"helps to provide pupils for their religious classes

through use of the State's compulsory school

machinery." He contents himself with saying,

however, that "there can be no doubt that the

Supreme Court of the United States has cast a

cloud over the question."

with a letter advising him that he was being

removed `pursuant to authority contained in Sec-

tion 3 of the Act of 17 December, 1942 (Public

Law 808, 77th Congress)" for the following

reasons:

"1. That you are so closely implicated

with the Communist Party as to provide a

reasonable assumption of membership there-

in; and

"2. That you associate with known Com-

munists, have engaged in Communist Party

organizational work, and have shown your-

self to be actively and sympathetically as-

sociated with the Communist Movement in

the United States.

"Within thirty (30) days from the date you

appear before the Intelligence Officer and re-

"eeive this letter, you may submit to him such

statements or affidavits (or both as you may

desire) in duplicate, by way of your defense."

Public Law 808, under which the War De-

partment acted, gives the armed services the

war-time authority to hire and fire civil service

employees without regard to regulations protec-

ting the discharge of permanent civil service __

employees,

Caldwell had been transferred at government

expense from Seattle, Washington, to Oakland, in

September, 1947. Then, two months after he

moved to the bay area with his wife and five

children, he was dismissed from his job.

Caldwell came to the Pacific Coast from

Louisiana about six years ago. Until he arrived

here, he says he had never heard the word Com-

munist. From January 6, 1944 to February 5,

1945, he served in the U.S. Navy and received an

honorable discharge as a Stewards Mate, Second

Class,

After his discharge he worked at the Pacific

Electric Mechanical Co. in Seattle, and there-

after he went to work for the Army as an auto-

mobile mechanic. The only organization he! be-

longs to is the American Veterans Committee in

Berkeley. Otherwise, the only organization he

ever belonged to was the Scalers Union during

his war-time service in the shipyards.

Caldwell filed the following statement with the

Army in answer to the charges that were placed

against him:

Caldwell's Statement

"T wish to clearly state that at no time in the

past or present have I ever been closely associ-

ated with the Communist Party so as to provide

a reasonable assusption of membership, nor have

I associated with known Communists, engaged

in Communist Party organizational work.

"T am the father of five children and at no

time have I marred my record by a jail sentence

or any other type of misconduct. I served in the

U.S. Navy from January 6, 1944, to February 9,

1945, at which time I received an honorable

discharge as a Stewards Mate, Second Class.

"I have always received `very good' efficiency

ratings and when I was transferred from the

Seattle Port of Embarkation to the Oakland POE

I was transferred at Government expense. My

(Continued on Page 4, Col. 2)

New Membership Record

As the "News" goes to press, the American

Civil Liberties of Northern California has a paid

up membership of 1345. There has been a net

increase of exactly 120 members since the begin-

nig of the fiscal year last November 1. In addi-

tion, the Union has 268 separate subscribers to

the "News," and a total paid mailing list of 1613.

The branch is now about 13% years old, having

been founded September 15, 1934. During the

past 414 years, its membership has increased

, 115%.

Page 2

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

Refusal of Travel Permits to

lsacson and O'Donnell Scored

The vital principle of freedom of movement has

been dealt a telling blow by the U. S. State De-

partment's denial of a passport to Representative

Leo Isacson (American Labor Party, New York),

and refusal to issue a visa to Peadar O'Donnell,

Irish editor, the American Civil Liberties Union

charged in letters to Acting Secretary of State

Robert Lovett on April 5. Mr. Isaeson's applica:

tion for permission to attend a Paris conference of

the American Council for Aid to Democratic

Greece and for a visa thence to Palestine was

turned down by the department as "not in the

interests of the Government of the United States

because the Council has for its avowed purpose.

the furnishing of material and morale assistance

in Greece."

"The United States has publicly supported, as

an essential human freedom, the right to freedom

of movement," Roger N, Baldwin, ACLU director,

_and Arthur Garfield Hays, general counsel, said

in their protest message. They said: "However

unfortunate may be the contrary views expressed

by an American citizen while abroad, neverthe-

less, the right to make them should not be denied

by means of refusal to issue a passport." They

urged that the system under which passports are

denied be subject to review in the department with

a full explanation to the public of the policy and:

considerations

partment.

Censorship of what the American public may

hear is the gist of the department's action in the

O'Donnell matter, the ACLU charged. A trend

toward insulating the American public from what

the State Department considers subversive. influ-

ences seems to be emerging from a recent series

of events, the letter charged, referring to the re-

cent passport refusal to Daily Worker reporter

A. B. Magill, which was reversed on the unani-

mous plea of the U. S. delegation to the United

Nations conference at Geneva on Freedom of

Information. a

Fly Defends 'Mayflower'

_ Decision at FCC Hearing

James Lawrence Fly, former FCC chairman

and chairman of thhe ACLU's Committee on

Freedom of Communications, on April 20th de-

fended the authority of the Federal Communica-

tions Commission to prohibit. editorializing by

radio station owners and to require them to pro-

vide full and equal opportunity for presentation

of all sides of public issues. Mr. Fly appeared

at a "review hearing" of the "Mayflower" deci-

sion under which the rule was laid down that

a broadcaster "cannot be an advocate."

~ Mr. Fly had also appeared before an FCC "re-

view hearing'"' on March 2nd when he presented

the ACLU point-of-view that the "Mayflower"

ruling be upheld and the request of the radio

industry for a change in policy be opposed,

governing the action of the de-

Executive Committee

American Givil Liberties Union

of Northern California

Sara Bard Field

Henorary Member

Rt. Rev. Edw. L. Parsons

Chairman

Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn

Heien Salz

Vice-Chairman

Joseph S. Thompson

Secretary-Treasurer

Ernest Besig

: Director

Philip Adams

John H. Brill

Prof. James R. Caldwell

H. C. Carrasco

Wayne M. Collins

Rev. Oscar F. Green

Margaret C. Hayes

Prof. Ernest R. Hilgard

Ruth Kingman

Ralph N. Kleps

Dr, Edgar A. Lowther

Seaton W. Manning

Mrs. Bruce Porter

Clarence E. Rust

" Rabbi Irving F. Reichert

Prof. Laurence Sears

Dr. Howard Thurman

Kathleen Drew Tolman

Supreme Court Voids

New York Press Gag Law

The conviction of Murray Winters, New York

City book dealer in 1942 for selling a magazine,

"Headquarters Detective, True Cases from the

Police Blotter," was recently reversed by the.

United States Supreme Court, by a six to three

vote, and the New York.law under which he was

convicted held void as. "vague and indefinite."

Winters' conviction had been upheld by the New

York Court of Appeals under the New York law

penalizing "stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or

crime." The Supreme Court heard arguments

three times. The ACLU filed a brief as a friend of

the court, and in two hearings shared in the argu-

"ment through Emanuel Redfield, New York attor-

ney. : - ee eee

The majority opinion said, "We can see nothing

of any possible value to society in these maga-

zines.'"' But the Court said the magazines "are as

much entitled to the protection of free speech as

the best of literature." -

In finding the law unconstitutional, the court

_said that its decision carried: no implication that

a state might not punish circulation of printed

matter, "assuming that it is not protected by the

principles of the First Amendment to the Consti-

tution, by the use of apt words to describe the

prohibited publications."'

The majority position stated by Justice Stanley

Reed, said: "Even though all detective tales and

treatises on criminology are not forbidden, and

though publications made up of criminal deeds are "

not characterized by bloodshed or lust are omitted

from the interpretation of the Court of Appeals,

we think fair use of collections of pictures and

stories would be interdicted because of the utter

impossibility of the actor or trier to know where

this new standard of guilt would draw the line

between the allowable and the forbidden publica-

tions."

The majority held that the questioned legisla-

tion was not definite enough for any one bent on

obedience to the law. Dissenting Justice Felix

Frankfurter protested that in striking down the

statute, both state and federal governments were

being left powerless to deal with literature which

they conceive to contribute to crime. He pointed

out that similar statutes in twenty states were

definitely voided by the decision and possibly simi-

lar enactments in four other states. He warned

that crime prevention legislation should not be

outlawed as indefinite merely because the major-

ity judges "do not trust state tribunals, even

ultimately this Court, to safeguard inoffensive

publications from condemnation under this legis-

lation." ee

Ae ,

Supreme Court Bans South's

All-White Primaries

~ Southern Democratic parties who have sought

to bar Negroes from primaries by operating as

private clubs outside legally established election

machinery were dealt a final blow on April 19th

when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear

an appeal from two lower court decisions in

South Carolina affirming the voting rights of

Negroes, The high court's action leaves in effect,

the decision of the Federal Circuit Court of

Appeals at Richmond, Va., which stated: "No

election machinery can be upheld if its purpose

or effect is to deny the Negro, on account of

his race or color, an effective voice in the gov-

ernment of his country or of the state or com-

- munity wherein he lives." --

In 1944, after the Supreme Court ruled that

Negroes could vote in Democratic primaries in

Texas and Louisiana, South Carolina repealed ail |

laws which had tied party operations to the state

election machinery. The 1946 primary then was

held under party control alone,

Southern Democrats were greatly concerned

by possible repercussions of the action which

was greeted by Negro leaders as a _ victory.

Thurgood Marshall, special counsel of the NAA-

CP, termed the decision a "culmination of a

twenty-year fight by the NAACP to void racial

restrictions upon the ballot."

Following the decision, nearly 500 Negroes in

Columbia, S:C., who possessed the required

registration certificates were invited by the

chairman of the State Democratic party to vote

in the city primary election.

Sacramento Area Members Meet

A meeting of A.C.L.U. members and friends

in the Sacramento area was addressed on April

23 by Ernest Besig, who spoke on the question,

"Civil Liberities for Whom?" Ralph Kleps, Sacra-

mento member of the Union's Executive Com-

mittee, served as chairman of the meeting. A

committee of three was named by the group

to consider the feasibility of a continuing local

committee as well as periodic local meetings. .

D. C. Federal Court Upholds

Taft-Hartley Communist Oath

The provision of the Taft-Hartley law that

labor leaders must certify that they are not Com-

munists before their organization can fesort to the

National Labor Relations Board, was ruled con-

stitutional by a 2 to 1 decision of a special federal

court in Washington on April 13th. The case

originally arose on a ruling made by NLRB coun-

sel Robert N. Denham that "the forms must be

signed by all AFL and CIO international and local

officers as weil as by the parent organization's

officers'.

The majority opinion pointed out that no union

has the right to be exclusive bargaining agent,

except by grant of Congress and that Congress

- decided. to condition the privilege of being an ex-

clusive bargaining agent with which an employer

must deal.

The NLRB, the majority judges said, is directed

to ask the question, "Are you a Communist?"

In putting the query, the court went on, `"`the board

does nothing more than seek factual information

to use as a guide in making the condition effective;

for the act does not require the question to be

answered, does not punish the witness for declin-

ing to answer, and does not penalize him if he

answers by saying he is a Communist."

Judge Prettyman, dissenting, held that "The

problem is how to deal with the Communists and

. at the same time preserve inviolate the freedoms

of speech, press and assembly."

The National Maritime Union which brought

the test, has announced it will appeal to the United

States Supreme Court. The ACLU will file a brief

supporting the contention that the requirement

is unconstituticnal.

Congressional Committee

Adopts Fair Procedural Rules

Safeguarding witnesses and accused, the House

Procurement Subcommittee, Representative

George H. Bender (Republican, Ohio), chairman,

adopted a set of formal rules of procedure on

April 7.

The committee's new rules are almost identical

twins to the ones the American Civil Liberties

Union has drawn up for the same purpose, Arthur

-Garfield Hays, ACLU general counsel, wrote Mr:

Bender in congratulation. "Your subcommittee

may well establish a precedent which it would be

fruitful for the Congress to follow for its other

committees," Mr. Hays said.

Specifically, the Un-American Activities Com-

mittee might well adopt these rules, Dr. John

Haynes Holmes, ACLU chairman of the board of

directors, and Mr. Hays urged in a separate letter

to Representative J. Parnell Thomas, House Un-

American Activities Committee chairman. They

said: "The obvious public and official concern for

the methods of procedure of investigating com-

mittees will be largely obviated by the adoption

of the procedures of the House Procurement sub-

committee."

Hitting Speaker Joseph Martin's support of

Representative Thomas' demand for a confiden-

tial letter by Mr. J. Edgar Hoover in the pos-

session of Secretary of Commerce Averell Harri-

man on Dr. Edward U. Condon, Dr. Holmes and

Mr. Hays asked the Speaker directly in a letter

to him, `Since you fully support the Un-American

Activities committee, do you support Mr. Ben-

der's new rules for it and for other House com-

mittees ?"'

Thomas Committee Drafts

Communist Gag Bill

As a result of recent hearings before the House

Committee on Un-American Activities on bills to

outlaw or restrict the Communist Party, a novel

. bill has been approved for the registration of the

Communist Party and all or(R)anizations found by

the Attorney General to be Communist front

agencies. The bill is based on the assumption that

Communism is an "international conspiracy"

aimed at democratic government and therefore

justifies restrictions. The bill would require the

filing of all names of members of the organiza-

tions, forbid them government employment and

deny them passports to travel abroad.

Members of the Thomas Committee said they

expect to get a House vote by May ist and a

favorable reception in the Senate. The ACLU has

requested the House Committee to be heard in

opposition to the bill on the understanding that

though the bill has the committee's approval,

hearings will be granted before its final form is

reported to the House. The Union's opposition is

based both on the unconstitutional aspects of the

proposal and on public policy in restricting rights

solely because of political opinion.

`Some of Sen. Jack B. Tenney's

Past Comes to Light

Last month, the Union's director received in the

mails a' book entitled "The Horncasters," by

Victor H. Johnson, which was recently published

in New York by Greenberg. On the fly leaf was

written, "To, Ernest Besig-With appreciation

and respect. Victor H. Johnson."

Mr. Besig couldn't remember any Victor H.

Johnson, but, fortunately, the book's jacket con-

tained a brief history of Mr. Johnson. It seems,

he was a graduate of San Quentin. But, he was

no ordinary graduate. "In 1935," says the state-

ment, "I was arrested along with eight other

strikers and was convicted of possession of dyna-

mite in Modesto, California, and sentenced to 414

years in San Quentin."

In San Quentin, Johnson not only got acquainted

with Tom Mooney, Jim McNamara, Matt Schmidt

and the Sacramento Criminal Syndicalism prison-

ers, but he also attended "an excellent school run

by a chaplain from the First World War, Dr. H. A.

Shuder. Among other things, I studied English

composition, psychology, and philosophy. Cor-

respondence courses from the University of Cali-

fornia were sent over free." :

The "Modesto Case" was a cause celebre in

Labor circles, and, in, 1937, an Assembly investi-

gating committee found "strong evidence of what

may be termed a tacit conspiracy to frame the de-

fendants." Governor Culbert L. Olson pardoned

Johnson on December 28, 1942.

_ Why should this item be of interest to readers

of the News? Well, the Chairman of the Assembly

Committee that investigated the "Modesto Case".

~ was none other than Jack B. Tenney, California's

No. 1 "Red Hunter," who in those days was a

staunch civil liberterian, opposed on the Commit-

tee by Assemblymen Kent Redwine and Seth

Millington, who were pretty expert at making a

hue and-cry about "Reds." That year, too, Mr.

Tenney was a co-author, together with 22 other

assemblymen, of A.B. 311, which would have re-

pealed outright California's criminal syndicalism

law, punishing advocacy of the violent overthrow

of the government, about which Mr. Tenney sees

red today.

~-- Apparently the reason the Union's director re- _

ceived a free copy of the book was that he drafted

the resolution adopted by the Assembly to con-

duct the Assembly investigation of the "Modesto

Case," and successfully helped fight the opposi-

tion of Standard Oil, which admittedly paid the

Special Prosecutor, Glen Devore, $7,500 to try

the case at the time the Modesto defendants were

convicted.

45 Law Professors Urge

Fair Hearing for Dr. Condon

Urging that the House Un-American Activities

Committee adopt procedures to afford a fair

hearing to Dr. Edward U. Condon, Chief of the

Bureau of Standards, 45 teachers in 27 Ameri-

can law schools in all sections of the country,

including 38 professors and seven deans, on April

18th requested Rep. J. Parnell Thomas, chair-

man of the committee, to avoid proceedings

"tending to undermine or destroy our free insti-

tutions." The Condon hearing scheduled for April

21st was postponed by Rep. Thomas.

Condemning "proclamation of guilt" before

hearings have been afforded the accused, the

lawyers pointed out that "a hearing which occurs

after the conclusions have already been stated

may degenerate into a mere effort to sustain the

findings and thus lose its basic value as a2 means

of learning the facts." Six proposals advanced

_ by the group included providing the accused the

right fully to receive and answer charges, cross-

examining witnesses making derogatory state-

ments, and having the case determined only on

the basis of "the material presented at the

_ hearing."

Signees of the letter included Dean Erwin N.

Griswold of Harvard University Law School;

Prof. Walter Gellhorn of Columbia University

Law School; Dean Earl G, Harrison of the Uni-

versity of Pennsylvania Law School, and _ Prof.

Max Radin of the University of California School

_ of Jurisprudence.

BENICIA RACE BIGOTS LOSE

Benicia race bigots went down to defeat last

month as Councilman James Lemos and Mayor

Wright were both defeated for reelection. and

_ Sol Rose, who opposed the `deal' whereby the

municipal swimming pool was "`sold'' to a non-

profit corporation in order to exclude Benicia's

_ 200 Negroes, was elected a councilman. Legal

_ proceedings seeking to set aside the transfer of

the swimming pool are still in preparation.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS :

Thomas Committee Powers

| Challenged in Cour?

Following the upholding on appeal of the con-

viction in the District of Columbia federal court

of Dr. Edward Barsky and 15 members of the

Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Commitee for refus-

ing to prod:*s vecords before the House Com-

mittee on Un-American Activities, the ACLU

acted to intervene in the appeal to the U.S.

Supreme Court on the sole issue cf the House

Committee's powers.

The Court of Appeals split on the issue, with

a minority dissent by Judge Henry W. Edgerton

challenging the broad mandate of the committee.

Said he, "In my opinion the House Committce's

investigation abridges freedom of speech and in-

flicts punishment without trail; and the statute

appellants are convicted of violating provides no

ascertainable stondard of guilt."

Elaborating on his declaration that the invest-

igation abridges freedom of speech, Judge Edger-

ton declared:

"The investigation restricts the freedom of

speech by uncovering and advertising expressions

of unpopular views. The Committee gives wide

publicity to its proceedings. This exposes the

men and women whose views are advertised to

risks of insult, ostracism, and lasting loss of em-

ployment. Persons disposed to express unpopular

views privately or to a selected group are often

not disposed to risk the consequences to them-

selves and their families that publication may

entail. The Committee's practice of discovering

and advertising unpopular views is therefore a

strong deterrent to any expression, however

private, of such views

"The investigation restricts the freedom of

speech by forcing people to express views. Free-

dom of speech is freedom in resnect to speech

and includes freedom not to speak. `To force an

American citizen publicity to profess any state-

ment of belief' is to violate the First Amend-

ment. `If there is any fixed star in our constitu:

tional constellation, it is that no official. high

or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox.

in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters

of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or

act their faith therein.' That is the rule of the

Barnette case, which involved pressure on school

children to profess approved beliefs, They can- |

not express others without exposing themselves

to. disastrous consequences. Yet if they have

previously expressed others they cannot credit- _dapanese, the American Civil Liberties Union

ably or credibly profess those that are approved.

If they decline `publicly to profess anv state-

ment of belief? they invite punishment for con- |

tempt. The privilege of choosing between speech

that means ostracism and speech that means

perjury is not freedom of speech." :

diated

Tenney Comm. Renz

In Fairfax Council Election

The voters of Fairfax, California. on April 18,

in effect. repudiated the Tenney Committee on

Un-American Activities by rejecting Mayor

Charles Campbell and two cronies of Lelie A.

Grosbauer, Fairfax' one-man Committee on Un-

American Activities. who did not run for reelect-

ion. Campbell ran last in a field of six.

The Tenney Committee had played hand in

glove with the group that had ousted Miss Elsa

Gidlow from her post on the Planning Commis-

gion until such time as she disnroved charges

that she was Un-American. The Tenney Commit-

tee obligingly issued its unfair Fairfax revort in

time for it to be used as campaign ammunition -

by the Grosbauer forces, and the Jatter circu-

lated a thousand mineographed copies to the

voters over his signature.

The day before the the Gidlow

vacancy on the Planning Commission was filled,

but a new vacancy has heen created by the elec-

tion of Councilwoman Galbraith, The latter has

announced that she will move to have the Council

grant Miss Gidlow the hearing the "revious

majority on the Council had authorized but had

refused to hold.

Last, but not least. the new Council eliminated

election.

Leslie Grosbauer's iob of one-man Committee -

on Un-American Activities and requested him

to turn his files over to the Council.

PHILADELPHIA MASS BOOK SEIZURE

The recent seizure by police without warrants

of 2,000 books in Philadelphia as "obscene" was

protested by ACLU attornev William Woolston in

the Philadelphia Federal Court on April 5. Mr, -

Woolston supported the injunction sought hy

Houghton-Mifflin Company, publisher of "Rain-

tree County," by Ross Lockridge. Jr., against

nolice seizure. He said that the action was illegal

because the books were taken without subpoena

and that the drive constituted "a vicious form of

censorship" rather than an attempt to suppress

obscene literature. .

Page 3

Birra |

Place oi

The American Civil Liberties Union of North-

ern California last month disputed the right of

the U.S. Immigration Service to determine a

person's citizenship after a California court has

handed down a final judgment as to the person's

birth in this State. The matter is presently be-

fore the Federal. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

in San Francisco for decision,

The issue arose in the case of Lee Fong Fook

who holds an honorable discharge from the U.S.

Army in the last war. Lee recently visited China

where he married. Upon his return, he and his

wife were denied entry to this country because

the Immigration Service doubted his birth in

California. It refused to give full faith and credit

to a judgment of the San Francisco Superior

Court declaring Lee was born in California

(which makes him a U.S. citizen). Under Cali-

fornia law, any person may file a suit to establish

"the fact of, and the time and place of" his

birth. :

Upon being denied entry, Lee sought a writ

of habeas corpus, which was denied by the U.S.

District Court. An appeal was then taken to

the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the

Union filed an amicus curiae brief written by

Wayne M. Collins of San Francisco. a

The Union's brief argues that Congress "has

not prescribed a method whereby the facts re-

lating to the births of natives may be established

and citizenship by birth in this country be

determined." In the absence of such legislation

the brief asserts that the States may determine

these matters for themselves. A California court

having determined the facts in this case, the

only federal tribunal that may review the matter

is the U.S. Supreme Court, after the California

courts have disposed of the question, if a federal

cuestion is involved. Since the Superior Court's

judgement that Fook was a citizen had become

final. it must be given full faith and credit by

the Immigration Service, the brief argues.

es

ACLU Backs Celifernia Fishing

Case in Supreme Court

Charging that the California law denying

_coramercial fishing licenses to "aliens ineligible -

, to citizenship" is racial discrimination aimed at

on April 2ist filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme

Court in the case of a Japanese fisherman, Toroa

Takahashi, which Attorney General Tom Clark

has declared "raises civil liberties issues of na-

tional importance." A. L. Wirin, counsel of the

ACLU Southern California Branch, represented

Takahashi in attacking the constitutionality of

the California statute,

The Union asked a reversal of the California

Supreme Court decision which overruled a Super-

`jor Court and upheld the law on the ground

that it was a "valid conservation measure."

Challenging the majority opinion the Union con-

tended that to exclude from fishing privileges

aliens inelivible to citizenship is not a conserva-

tion measure hecause the classification is based

"not on the kinds of fish to be taken, or the

season, or the method or the quantity, but solely

on the ancestry of the fisherman." The Union

also charged that Takahashi has been denied the

opnortiunitv to earn a livelihood as ineligible to

citizenshin because of his race. The Union argued

that the statute violates the: eaual `protection

clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and con-

flicts with treaty obligations undertaken by the

United States under the United Nations.

e

on Muehes Meetines

Run inte Treuble

The Sunerintendent of Schools of Palo Alto

last month reversed himself and granted a ner-

mit for a meeting in a school house to hear

Negro poet Langston Hughes. Issuance of the

rmit had at first been refused on the ground

t the Civie Center Act prohibits use of

schools bv "subversives," and Hughes has the re-

_ putation of being a Communist. The Superinten-

dent

' Counsel advised him that the varticular section

ATTACKED IN FEDERAL COURT: 1

granted the permit when the County

of the Civie Center-Act had been held urtcon-

stitntional bv the State Supreme Court, The

A.C1.U. filed written protests with Robert Lit-

`fle: (c) gan of the School Board, as well as

the "intendent. and the matter was also

discussed et length over the telephone with

these officials.

In Vallejo, however, a scheduled appearance

of Laneston Hughes was-cancelled by the Coun-

eil of Civic Unity after local patrioteers demand-

ed such action. The Council's Board decided it

might destroy the organization's effectiveness

in the community if it held the meeting.

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 2-3255

WORUNG Sd BHSIG seh 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 -151 wee.

Southern California Branch

Of Union Falls Heir to $59,000

The Southern California branch of the Civil

Liberties Union, which will celebrate its 25th

anniversary this month, has fallen heir to $59,-

000, three thousand of which it received last

-month.

During March, two wills were probated in Los

Angeles county. Under one, the branch will re-

ceive $6000 to be established as the Frederick

Pischel Memorial Fund. A second will makes the

branch the residuary legatee of half an estate

which its attorneys estimate will net $100,000.

This estate will not be distributed until after a

70-year-old step-mother has enjoyed a life in-

terest. The branch plans to put the money in a

reserve fund for important work that cannot be

handled under its regular budget.

In 1940, for the first and only time, the ACLU

of Northern California fell heir to an estate of

over $4000. Because of these reserve funds, the

Union was able to finance the handling of nu-

merous legal issues that arose out of the ex-

clusion and detention of persons of Japanese

ancestry during the last war.

When you have a will drawn, why not instruct

your attorney to include a bequest to the Ameri-

can Civil Liberties Union of Northern California?

Some such provision as the following is all that

is necessary: "I give $.. to ethe American

Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, an

unincorporated association, with headquarters in

San Francisco." You can help the Union build a

reserve fund to do important work!

Japanese Agencies Permitted

International Affiliation

The State Department has recently advised the

ACLU that Japanese societies may now affiliate

with "scientific or learned societies abroad", pro-

vided payment of dues is not involved. Japanese

nationals will also be permitted to go abroad for

"cultural purposes" by permission of Occupation

authorities in individual cases. Printed matter can

now be sent from Japan to other parts of the

world, but all printed matter coming into Japan

must be channeled through Occupation headquar-

ters. Efforts are being made to remove the control

of incoming mail to Japan.

The ACLU has for some months been making

. efforts to open up international contacts of the

Japanese along the same lines permitted the Kore-

ans and Germans., All mail is subject to military

censorship, but the practice is to spot-check only

a small proportion.

BOOKNOTES

All Manner of Men by Malcolm Ross, chairman

of the war-time Fair Employment Practice Com-

mittee; Reynal and Hitchcock, 300 pages, $3.50.

This is a highly readable and authoritative

account of the struggle of the war-time agency to

insure fair employment regardless of race or re-

ligion. Mr. Ross in lively style frankly expresses

the forces for and against equal opportunity. It is

useful in the present and future fight for the same

ends, as well as a telling historical document.

A Mask for Privilege by Carey McWilliams;

Little, Brown and Co., 280 pages, $2.75.

_ Mr. McWilliams, whose books on racial minori-

ties qualify him as an authority, dissects anti-

semitism as a social disease of a competitive so-

ciety inherently seeking a scape-goat for its ills.

Its anti-democratic purposes are always the "mask

for privilege", The remedies lie basically in the

creation of a non-competitive order; meanwhile

in law for equal opportunities, The product of wide

research and study, the volume contributes both

evidence and conclusions valuable to those con-

cerned with civil liberties.

DETROIT POLICE SEIZE COMIC BOOKS AS

`COMMUNISTIC AND IMMORAL'

Wholesale seizure of comic books in Detroit on

April 18 by Police Commissioner Harry S. Toy on

the grounds that they were "Communistic and

immoral'? was sharply protested by the ACLU.

Arthur Garfield Hays, ACLU counsel, and Elmer

Rice, chairman, Council on Freedom from Censor-

ship, wired Mr. Toy: "Proper criminal procedure

exists where you wish to bring such charges with-

out the police office setting itself up as censor

and guardian of public morals."

Honorably Discharged Veteran of World War Il

Loses Federal Job on Disloyalty Charges

(Continued from Page 1, Col. 3)

foreman has personally told me that at all times

I have done very good work.

"This action has come to me as a complete

shock and I am at a loss to understand how or

why such charges can be made against me. It is

my personal opinion that I am possibly being mis-

takenly identified with some other individual

with the same name and work record. In re-

viewing these facts it is urgently and respect-

fully requested that fingerprint records which

are available to the War Department be checked

and re-checked so as to possibly indicate that I

am being mistakenly identified,

"To the best of my knowledge, the only meet-

ings of any sort whatsoever I have ever attended

have been purely social meetings which were

sponsored by the Seattle Labor School at which

time subjects regarding housing, transportation

and child care facilities were discussed. If these

meetings were sponsored or attended by Com-

munists, such a fact was never known to me,

to the best of my knowledge, I was invited to

attend `get acquainted' meetings and not realiz-

ing what was involved I attended a couple of

these meetings, but as soon as it was known to

me that these people were either sympathetic

to or possibly were Communists I quickly dis-

associated myself with them and refused to

attend any further meetings. If it is upon this

basis that you feel I am closely implicated with

the Communist Party please realize that I only

attended these meetings because they had been

camouflaged as `get acquainted' meetings. There-

fore, my quick disassociation with this group

Tenny Report On `Front

Organizations Available

Late last month the Fourth Report of the Sen-

ate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Ac-

tivities (Tenney Committee or "Little Dies Com-

mittee") finally became available to the public.

It is titled "Communist Front Organizations."

The 448 page book may be procured at a price of

$1.03 from the Legislative Bill Room, Capitol,

Sacramento, or free copies are sometimes avail-

able from the Secretary of State in Sacramento,

your local Assemblyman or State Senator, or

members of the Committee.

About 4144 pages of the report are devoted

to the American Civil Liberties Union. The com-

mittee comes to the conclusion that the Union

"was resorting to drastic Communist strategy" in

barring totalitarians from positions of leadership

in the Union in 1940. The argument is loosely

drawn, because while the Stalin-Hitler pact oc-

curred in 1939, the Union is charged with retreat-

ing "during the Stalin-Hitler pact,' when, in fact,

it changed its policy in 1940 when Hitler and

Stalin were again at each other's throats.

In any case, the Committee comes to the fol-

lowing conclusion: "The Senate Fact-Finding

Committee of Un-American Activities reiterates

the findings of former legislative committees con-

cerning the Communist character of the Ameri-

ean Civil Liberties Union. The International La-

bor Defense, called `the legal arm of the Commu-

nist Party' by former Attorney General Francis

Biddle, has not established a better Communist

record than this thinly disguised organization

that devotes its energies to the defense of enemies

of the United States.

"The committee has stated in previous reports

that all Communist fronts are characterized by

the fact that many of the individuals attracted to

such organizations are not necessarily Commu-

nists and, in many cases, the membership of a

Communist front organization will be composed,

for the greater part, of non-Communists. This

same finding applies, of course, to the American

Civil Liberties Union. Ernest Besig, the director

of the Northern California Branch of the Ameri-

can Civil Liberties Union, appears to be a sincere,

conscientious American, whose reasoning leads

him to the defense of most anyone, regardless of

the accusation."

Vern Smith Convicted of Contempt

Of the Tenny Committee

Vern Smith, former foreign editor of the Daily

People's World, was convicted of contempt of the

Tenney Committee by an Oakland Justice Court

jury on April 26 and fined $300 by Justice of the

Peace Edward A. Quaresma. Smith was recently

expelled from the Communist Party as a "devia-

tionist."'

On November 5, 1947, Smith was called as a

witness at the Oakland hearing of the Committee

but refused to be sworn and to testify. ~

should prove that it was never my intention to

become involved.

"Tf organizations. which I have belonged to

were in any way whatsover associated with the

Communist Party it was without my knowledge

and at all times I have tried to be true and loyal

to my Government. I also wish it known that at

this time I do not even know what the Com-

munist Party or its workers are attempting to

accomplish other than in a general way their

aims are to change the present form of |

Government. .. ."

A Neighbor's Statement

Mr. Caldwell also furnished a statement to the

Army from a former neighbor of his in Seattle.

It reads, in part, as follows:

"T believe that I may be able to throw some

light on Mr, Caldwell's dilemma. If my memory,

serve me, this occured about two years ago.

My household was besieged with pamphlets and

invitations to `get acquainted' meetings held by

the communist group. However, they were word-

ed in such a way as to give the impression that

they were sponsored by the housing authority-

but I read them thoroughly, caught the letter-

head, and burned them. They also sent a number

of personal representatives door to door through

the project-one of whom became so objection-

able, I was forced to invite her to leave my

`home. I am writing this in a desire to indicate

how Mr. Caldwell may have run afoul of these |

accusations."

Mr. Caldwell at first secured the assistance

of the American Veterans Committee in Berk-

eley, but that organization sent him to the Civil

Liberties Union last February.

Union Assessment to Fight

Anti-Clesed Shop Proposal Upheld

After nearly five years of court contests,

Cecil B. DeMille, Hollywood producer, lost his

final fight against a .political assessment of 0x00B0$1

on its members by a radio union when the U.S.

Supreme Court refused on April 19th to review

his appeal.

_ The action of the American Federation of Radio

- Artists in expelling DeMille was upheld by: the

California Supreme Court which decided that

as a union member he was subject to "union

methods." The Federation contended that the

tax, levied to defeat an anti-closed shop amend-

ment to the state constitution, was a union, not

a political matter.

The ACLU had examined the issue when the

case first arose because of it opposition to com-

pulsory political contributions from union mem-

bers, but concluded that a tax for a purpose

so close to a union's interest was not in fact

political.

Status of Women Inquiry Supported

Joseph Kovner, ACLU representative and sole

masculine witness at a Senate Judiciary sub-

committee hearing on April 16th, testified in be-

half of a resolution to establish a commission

to study the legal status of women in the United

States. In supporting the proposal which is

sponsored by Sen. Robert A, Taft, Mr. Kovner

said that "rights of human beings are irrespec-

tive of sex, race, nationality, religion or opinion."

The ACLU, while opposing the so-called Equal

Rights Amendment as a "shot-gun method" of

preventing discrimination against women, is also

supporting in the House a bill similar to that

in the Senate.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

American Civil Liberties Union of No. Calif.;

461 Market Street,

San Francisco 5, Calif.

1. Please enroll me as a member at dues of

$e? for the current year. (Types of mem-

bership: Associate Member, $3; Annual Mem-

ber, $5; Business and Professional Member,

$10; Family Membership, $25; Contributing

Member, $50; Patron, $100 and over. Mem-

bership includes subscription to the "American

Civil Liberties Union-News" at $1 a year.)

. I pledge $............ per month........or 0x00A7............ per yr.

. Please enter my subscription to the NEWS, $1

per year)

Enclosed please find $..............-.:..-ccc-+s Please bill

ene eee see,

City and Zone

ee eee caer seca e sect seeeces Occupation:.......

=