vol. 14, no. 12

?

American

Civil Libertie S

_Free Press

Free Speech -

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

Vol. XIV

_ SAN FRANCISCO, DECEMBER, 1949

No. 12.

Watsonville Says It Will

Poor From Civic Center

John L. McCarthy, Deputy District Attorney

of Santa Cruz County, advised the Union last

month that if the `Watsonville Readers of the

People's World" apply for the use of a meeting

place under the Civic Center Act, "the granting

or denial of the permit would `depend upon an

investigation of the group.

"Should the permit be denied," the letter to

the Union's director went on to say, "I assure

you that it would not be because of any political

belief, or the identity or political belief of any

proposed speaker, but purely on the ground of

lack of responsibility or inability to respond in

damages."

The question arose during Och: when an

application for the use of a school was made by

the Independent Progressive Party, but as the

time for the meeting approached the permit was

sought by the `Watsonville Readers of the Peo-

ple's World." The permit was denied, reportedly -

because the Civic Center Act bans subversive

groups. However, that section of the law was

held to be unconstitutional by the California Su-

preme Court. Mr. McCarthy claimed he advised

"the Superintendent of Schools that our contract

was with the I.P.P. and not with anybody else

and advised him not to permit the use of the hall

at that particular time." If that was the basis

for Mr. McCarthy's action, it seems to the Union

~ `that he was on sound ground,

The Union has suggested to Mr. McCarthy that

"inability to respond in damages" does not afford

`ground for denying citizens the use of a Civic

Center.

"Schools have been dedicated for free speech

purposes," said the Union in a letter to Mr. Mc-

Carthy. "It was something the Legislature did

not have to do, but having done so, all persons,

irrespective of race, color, creed, economic or

political views or economic circumstances may

use the facilities. .. . Free speech is not a matter

of dollars and cents."

Mr. McCarthy has not indicated whether a per-

mit will be granted to the "Watsonville Readers

of the People's World," if the application for a

permit is renewed.

Bills of Rights Day (Dec. 15)

Celebration Set

To bring the celebration of the 158th anniver-

sary of the adoption of the Bill of Rights on Dec.

15th in line with current efforts to extend civil

rights, ACLU last month planned to forward

adoption of the civil rights program in the next

session of Congress and also to stimulate cities

to adopt what in effect would be local "Bill of

Rights."

Radio broadcasts, including a program over the

National Broadcasting Company network, and

the distribution of printed commentaries on the

present state of the Bill of Rights will feature the

day. Questionnaires to officials and organizations

in fifty leading cities have been sent to gather

information on local practices and laws affecting

civil rights in all fields. The results will be an-

nounced on Dec. 15th. The work is preliminary to

_ the drafting of a model "Bill of Rights" for cities,

intended for use in pushing for common standards

all over the country.

In announcing the Union's celebration of the

historic day, Roger N. Baldwin, Union director

said: `Too long the recognition of the anniversary

of the adoption of the ten amendments to the con-

stitution known as the Bill of Rights has been

devoted to looking backward to 1791. We propose

to look forward to the job still to be done to

extend equal civil rights to everybody. Public

interest was never greater, nor political issues

~sharper than today. It is the plain obligation of

champions of civil rights to make the Dec. 15th

celebration an inspiration to `action, not a memo-

rial to the past." The Union's campaign is being

conducted by the Union's publicity director, Alan

Reitman, and David Quinlan and Associates.

The ACLU States [ts Position on the

"Crisis at the

The American Civil Liberties Union of North-

ern California last month made public a full and

detailed expression of the Union's formal position

in the current crisis between regents and faculty

of the University of California. The statement,

addressed to the People of the State of Calif-

ornia, is entitled "Crisis at the University of

California." It was mailed to Pres. Sproul, the

Regents, U.C. faculty members, leading educa-

tors throughout the State and Nation and the

press. The San Francisco News reprinted the

complete statement in its issue of November 18.

In releasing the statement, the Union declared

that `No phase of the Union's work is more es-

sential than the defense and extension of the

freedom of our teachers. The attempt to impose

an additional loyalty oath raises questions wider

than that of the right of faculty members to hold

unpopular opinions,

"It is the position of the American Civil Liber-

THANK YOU!

The office takes this means of thanking

_ the more than 600 persons (20% more than

a year ago), who last mouth seat in contri-

butions and pledges toward the Union's

$13,500 budget for the fiscal year ending

October 31, 1949. We appreciate your loyal

support and hope you won't mind our prac-

tice of not sending receipts except upon re-

quest. We hope you will agree with us that

the time and money such acknowledgments

require is better spent on civil liberties

issues.

We trust that those who have not yet con-

tributed toward our budget drive will do so

without delay. We would like to dispose of

our fund-raising activities just as swiftly as

possible in order to concentrate on our main

job-defending civil liberties. Your coopera-

tion will be appreciated.

Finally, as we go to press, about 170 of the

more than 500 persons whose memberships

`expired in November have not yet gotten

around to sending us their renewals. If YOU

are one of these persons, you can save us a

lot of clerical work by sending us your re-:

newal as promptly as possible.

2 Prisoners Serving Illegal

Sentences Released on Writs (c)

Thomas Abernathy and Edwin Collins, who

were serving illegal sentences in the San Fran-

cisco County Jail, were ordered released by Su-

perior Court J udge `Albert Wollenberg last month

after hearings on writs of habeas corpus. The

`men had each received two-year sentences in the

County Jail on misdeameanor charges, whereas

the law provides that the maximum sentence in

the County Jail on a misdemeanor is one year.

_ The Union had hoped to solve the problem with-

out resort to court action, but Sheriff Dan Mur-

phy refused to participate in a parole arrange-

ment suggested by District Attorney Edmund G.

Brown. There are still a number of prisoners at

the San Francisco County Jail who are serving

two-year instead of one-year sentences, but legal

action in their behalf will be taken when they

have served a year, minus any credit for good

behavior.

At this writing, the case of Wichacd Weber,

argued before the District Court of Appeals on

October 24, remains undecided. Weber was con-

`victed on a felony charge and was granted five

years' probation, conditioned on his serving two

years in the county jail. The county jail is not

a fit place for long-term prisoners because they

have no work or recreation programs.

University of California'

ties Union of Northern California that the uni- -

versity's whole system of academic freedom and ~

tenure is involved, and that the conflict of author-

ity between regents and faculty will continue,

on the issue of loyalty oaths or on some other

issue, until specific recognition is given to the (c)

faculty's special fitness and right to make deci-

sions on teacher qualifications and other essen-

tially academic matters.

"Only by the safeguarding of this `academic

authority' of the faculty can the environment of

free intellectual inquiry which is essential to any

_ university be maintained. The Union therefore

feels that the critical issue is not the mere impo-

sition or phrasing of a loyalty oath, but the ques-

tion of who, if anyone, has the right to impose .

conditions such as this oath upon a nlyerey

faculty."'

The letter accompanying the statement was

signed by Rt. Rev. Edward L. Parsons, Chairman

Helen Salz and Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn, Vice--

Chairmen and Joseph S. Thompson, Sec'y-Trea-

surer.

Because of lack of space, the Union is unable

to reprint the 8-page pamphlet, but it will be glad

to supply copies on request. Nevertheless, the

Wnion is reprinting the following excerpts. from

the pamphlet:

Can a State Government maintain a free Une

versity? Is the control of research and teaching

by State officials, such as Regents, compatible

with the freedom, the self-direction without

which research and teaching cannot be "free?"

As our State universities grow in numbers, in

wealth, in influence, the fears underlying those

queries are widely entertained throughout the

nation. On the Pacific Coast, they have recently

been heightened and sharpened by two contro-

versies, last year at the University of Washing-

ton and, this year, at the University of California.

. . By rejecting a virtually unanimous re-

quest of the Faculty that no special oath be im-

posed, the Regents have raised the issue, "By

whom shall it be decided whether or not oaths are

needed and if they are judged to be necessary,

' who shall determine what the content of the oath

shall be?" This question implies no criticism of

the good faith of the Regents. It has to do with

the allocation of academic authority, as between

Regents and Faculty. Which of these two bodies,

in' a genuinely free university, should have

authority to define and to administer "academic

freedom."':

At this point, it should be noted that in-

stitutions of learning and teaching are confront-

ed by the authority-freedom dilemma in its most

difficult form. There can be no doubt that, for the

sake of good learning and teaching, some re-

liable way must be found of judging the quali-

fications of members of the Faculty. They must

be rated as valuable or not valuable for the work

which is being done. But how can a Faculty

member be thus approved or rejected without

limiting his freedom, without subjecting him to

external control which is incompatible with what

he is asked to do? Can minds be free if they are

thus subjected to administrative authority?

The Association of University Professors, it

need hardly be said, has not completely solved

that problem. But it has recognized that the prob- |

lem exists. And it has pointed a way toward its'

solution. We can assess scholars without enslav-

ing them, the- Association tends to say, if the

assessing is done by their colleagues, by their

fellow- members on a Faculty. Those colleagues

are "competent," as no one else is. And, further,

they are members of the same intellectual group,

bound together by a common purpose, fused to-

gether into mutual confidence as they pursue to-

gether a common enterprise. And for these rea-

(Continued on Page 4, Col. 2)

Page 2

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS

iserpene

Ss Pi

Breeder Ban on Sectarian

Teaching in N.M. Sought

Seeking to broaden a ruling which banned sec-

-_ tarian teaching in New Mexico public schools and

forbade state financial aid to parochial schools,

-an appeal has been taken by the Free Schools

Committee to the N.M. Supreme Court from a

decision by state District Judge E. Turner Hens-

ley last summer barring 143 religious-garbed

Catholic nuns and priests from teaching in the

public schools. The decision also forbade use of

church-owned buildings for public school use

and banned state aid for free textbooks to par-

ochial schools and free bus transportation for

parochial school students.

Although Judge Hensley's decision in the

"Dixon case'' was first hailed as a victory by the

Free Schools Committee in its fight for greater

adherence to the doctrine of separation of church

and state, in its present action it declares that

Judge Hensley's decision did not bar nuns and

priests "as a class' from teaching in the public

schools, The decision to appeal was. made after a.

survey at the beginning of the fall term revealed

_ that nuns and priests are still employed in many

public schools.

_.. Mrs. Lydia Zellers, who heads the list of plain-

tiffs, stated that the state district court also

left certain "loopholes"? which permitted state

and county school boards to provide free bus

transportation and text, books to parochial school

students.

When the lower court ruling was Ootced

N.M. State Att. Gen. Joseph Martinez advised the

State Board of Education that free text books

could be distributed to individual students. He

also ruled that priests and nuns could be em-

ployed as teachers, provided they were hired in-

dividually and not as a group, and that church-

owned buldings might be used for public schools

if all evidences of religious symbols and influence

were removed from the classrooms.

High Court Order May :

Return Convict to Chain Gang

On technical grounds, the U. S. Supreme Court

November 7 ruled against Leon Johnson, Negro

steelworker, who. waged a six-year struggle to

keep from being returned to Georgia's road gang.

Johnson's case had been taken up by the Pitts-

burgh branch of ACLU which carried on a legal

fight in the lower courts to bar Johnson's extra-

dition to Georgia. Johnson escaped in 1943 while

serving a life term for murder. The U. S. Circuit

_ Court of Appeals last May threw out the ex-

tradition order, stating that "a state cannot

extradite prisoners it has treated cruelly and

inhumanely."'

When the case was appealed, the Supreme

Court held that Johnson's suit for a writ of

habeas corpus had not gone through all the

proper state channels and re-instated a lower

court ruling that Johnson was not entitled to a

writ. In its ruling it did not offer an opinion as

to the Circuit Court decision which still stands as

a beacon in cases involving prisoners who have

ppouonccd the terror of southern prison one

' . Action has already begun to petition the Su-

preme Court for a rehearing in the case.

In other tests involving racial discrimination,

the high court. approved review of cases attack-

ing educational segregation in Texas and Okla-

homa and a discrimination complaint by Negro

firemen directed against the Brotherhood of Lo-

comotive Firemen and Enginemen and three

-southern railroads.

Conviction for Counseling

Against Draft Regist. Upheld |

A United States Circuit oa ruled PS month.

that the nation's security comes before consti-

~ tutional rights of free speech .and religion. The

court, sitting in Denver, Col. turned down an ap-

peal from Dr. Wirt A. Warren, Kansas physician,

who had been convicted last `April in a Federal

District Court on charges of counseling his step-

son to refuse to register for the draft. The youth

did not take this advice and later registered.

' It was one of the first tests of the constitution-

ality of the peace-time Selective Service Act of

1948 which makes it a crime to "knowingly aid

or abet another to refuse or evade registration

for service in the armed forces."

Warren was sentenced to two years in priso

He based his action on his religious pacifist oa

and a desire to test the legality of the law. In

' upholding the conviction, the court ruled "that

freedom of speech and religion guaranteeed by

_ the Constitution cannot interfere with the power

of Congress for a common defense and insure

the survival of the nation."'

The ACLU had filed a brief in Dr. Warren's

behalf in the Circuit Court, and will probably

aid if Dr. ees appeals to the Supreme Court.

High Court Urged to Review

@ a @ me

`Jim Crow' Housing Case |

A petition has been filed with the U. S. Su-

preme Court urging review of a N.Y. State Court

of Appeals decision last July upholding the Met-

ropolitan Life Insurance Company's racial dis-

crimination policy in its N.Y.C. Stuyvesant Town

Housing project. The petition was filed by the

American Jewish Congress, the National Associa-

tion for the Advancement of Colored People and

the ACLU in behalf of three Negre war veterans

who had applied for apartments in the project.

The petition requests intervention to prevent

an attempt "to corrupt a legislative device for

sound community planning into an instrument

for enforcing racial segregation."

The New York Court, in a 4-3 decision, held

that the state Redevelopment Companies Law,

under. which the project was built, did not con-

tain a provision barring discrimination. The three

groups originally argued that the state supported

discrimination, since construction would have

been impossible without state and city financial

aid and a 25-year tax exemption.

New York Appeals Court Bars

Return of Children to Father

Upholding lower court decisions, the N. Y.

State Court of Appeals recently ruled that the

children of an Armenian immigrant, who re-

nounced his American citizenship to return to

Soviet Armenia, did not have to be returned to

him from Roman Catholic institutions.

The case, fought by ACLU, involves Ham-

portzoon Choolokian who left the United States

in 1947 with his wife and two older children.

Catholic institutions, which had cared for the six

children during Choolokian's wife's illness, re-

fused to release the three youngest children,

stating they doubted whether it would be good

for their spiritual welfare to be raised in a state

where the "system of law" was so different from

the U.S.

When Choolokian sailed, proceedings were be-

gun to have the children released. ACLU at-

torneys Raymond L. Wise and Margaret K. Udell

contended that Choolokian was deprived of his

"natural, inherent, and legal right to maintain

the integrity of his family, to change his place of

abode which includes expatriation, and his free-

dom of religious worship which includes the right

to determine the religion of his minor children."

Choolokian's counsel now states he will appeal .

the issue to the U. S. Supreme Court.

Stringent Va. Vote Laws Lose;

Texas Poll Tax Retained

Virginia voters rejected a disguised poll tax

repeal measure Nov. 8 which would have set more

stringent voting requirements, as Texas voters

also turned down repeal of its poll tax law.

While the Virginia proposition submitted to

the voters contained elimination of the $1.50 an-

nual voting tax, it would have given authority

to the Virginia General Assembly to establish

broad voting qualifications. This authority in-

cluded the right to demand annual registration,

to frame literacy tests and to impose other voting

regulations as the Assembly deemed necessary.

The opposition of such groups as the CIO,

AFL and National Association for the Advance-

ment of Colored People, which are vigorous foes

of the poll tax, as well as the objections of the

Right to Vote League and the Virginia Council

of Churches spelled doom for the proposal by a

4 to 1 margin.

An-ACLU sponsored test of the constitution-

ality of the Virginia poll tax is now pending in

the courts.

Hawaii Law Allows Teaching

Of Languages in Schools

Prohibitions on teaching of foreign languages

in Hawaiian schools, which had resulted in court

tests of the law, have been eliminated by a new

Hawaiian statute providing that children below

the third grade may receive instructions in a

foreign language in any school up to a maximum

of five hours a week.

The issue, brought to the Supreme Court last

March by ACLU, was referred "back to local

Hawaiian courts on technical and procedural

grounds. The test case arose out of the Hawaiian

government's action against a Chinese language

school, on the ground that the Hawaiian law pro-

hibits foreign language instruction to children

under the age of 10. The ACLU's contention was

that parents have the right to send their children

to schools of their choice.

Since the enactment of the new law, Oriental

foreign-language schools in Hawaii are operating

warbous difficulty.

New Hearing | Ordered i in Case

Of White Ricsian War Bride

Federal Judge George B. Harris last month

ordered the Immigration Service to grant a new

hearing to Valentina Ivanova Gardner, White

Russian war bride, who has been detained ever

since November 30, 1948 on the ground that her

entry would be prejudicial to the interests of the

United States.

The court retained jurisdiction of the case

pending the results of the new administrative

proceeding. While Judge Harris requested prompt -

action, the Union has not yet been informed when _

the hearing will be held. The Immigration Service

is apparently awaiting instructions from Wash-

ington before proceeding. It is conceivable that

Judge Harris' order will be appealed.

Pending a final decision in the case, A.C.L.U.

attorney Wayne M. Collins urged Mrs. `Gardner's

release on bail, which the Union was ready to

provide. Judge Harris denied bail, but suggested

that the request be taken to the Ninth Circuit

Court of Appeals. Unfortunately, such action is =

out of the question because there is no appealable

order.

It is not entirely clear why the Government

regards Mrs. Gardner as dangerous. The original

hearing, where she appeared without counsel, dis-

closed that she secured a Soviet passport after

the war, and that she answered "Yes" when asked

whether she believed in the "tenets and princi-

ples" of the Soviet Government. Mrs. Gardner

was convent educated and has no knowledge of

politics or economics. She was born in Manchuria

and has resided in Japan since she was 7 years

of age. She married Mr. Gardner in Japan three

years ago.

In another case, the Intmieration Service final-

ly released a White Russian alien who had been

detained since last January. This woman had also

been denied entry apparently because she has

relatives in the Soviet Union. She was ordered

excluded because her entry, would be prejudicial

to the interests of the United States.

Williams Death Sentence

Commuted to Life Sentence

In a dramatic last-minute `move, New York

Governor Thomas E. Dewey commuted Nov. 16

the death sentence of Samuel Titto Williams, -

convicted of murder,, to life imprisonment. Will-

iams was slated to die in the electric chair on

the night of November 17.

It was the second time the Biechiye youth (c)

was saved from execution by a matter of hours.

On February 23, 24 hours before the first exe-

cution was scheduled to take place, the U.S.

Supreme Court agreed to hear an ACLU appeal

of the case. The high court later turned down the

appeal by a 7-2 vote, and Williams was re-sen-

tenced to death.

The ACLU urged the court to revoke the death

penalty ordered by Judge Louis Goldstein after

the jury had recommended life imprisonment.

Goldstein made his judgment on the basis of pro-

bation reports, which the ACLU contended, the

defense had no chance to contest.

John Finerty, ACLU lawyer and Board mem-

ber, aided by Herbert M. Levy, ACLU staff

counsel, were instrumental in carrying the ap-

peals through the courts and together with

Thurgood Marshall, chief counsel for the Nation- -

_al Association for the Advancement of Colored -

People, intervened to help secure the commuta-

tion. :

Expatriate Denied Citizenship

By U.S. Supreme Court

Seeking to regain his American citizenship

voided by his voluntary expatriation abroad be-

yond the legal limit of five years, the appeal of

Louis B. Lapides was recently turned down by

the U. 8. Supreme Court. Lapides was a natural-

ized citizen who left in 1934 to live in Palestine. |

When he sought to re-enter the country in 1947,

he was denied entry on the ground that he had s

expatriated himself by remaining abroad beyond

the legal limit, although at the time of his de-

parture the law did not exist. When the case was

appealed to the D. C. Circuit Court of Appeals,

the ACLU urged a reversal of the lower court's

findings, holding that the law was discriminatory

since native born citizens may remain abroad in-

definitely without loss of citizenship. ~

The Appeals Court sustained the trial court

and the Supreme Court refused review. The

ACLU commented: "It does not seem reasonable

to us that naturalized citizens should be denied

any right granted native-born citizens. We do not

think the law reasonable, but obviously it will

stand so far as the courts are concerned. Con-

gress can hardly be expected to change it in view

of its current attitude to the foe born."

4

od

ee

U.S. Supreme Court Hears

_ First Loyalty Order Case

"In the first U. S. Supreme Court test of loyalty

oaths for government employees, the ACLU

argued November 8 that Los Angeles County's

loyalty order should be declared unconstitutional |

on the ground that it violates free speech and

assembly and freedom of the press.

A. L. Wirin, counsel for the ACLU's Southern

California branch, appeared before the high court

in the case of Julia Steiner, Los Angeles librarian,

who is appealing a decision of California's Su-

preme Court upholding the loyalty pledge. The

-court's decision, aside from affecting 20,000 Los

Angeles county employees, may establish an im-

`portant precedent in cases involving loyalty

pledges from state and federal employees.

After three hours of legal wrangling, Chief

_ Justice Fred Vinson ordered attorneys for both

sides to submit written statements as to whether

the loyalty order applies to present county em-

_ployees..

- The L. A. loyalty check program required all

employees to disclose whether they have ever been

members of, supported or followed 144 organiza-

tions indicated as "subversive" by the California

Un-American Activities Committee, or two Com-

munist publications, the Daily Worker and the

New Masses magazine.

In a brief filed with the court, the ACLU as-

serted that the effect of the oath is to coerce

county employees not to emgage in associations

or hold beliefs which they must eventually dis-

close, stating ``subjection to the obligation to ac-

court, like subjection to censorship, necessarily

deprives the citizen of full freedom of choice."

Noting that the organizations marked subver-

sive cover "political, social and economic ques-

tions of current interest and... all types from

youth groups to trade union," the brief attacked "

the Tenney Committee's - methods in preparing

`the list.

- It said condemnation of the prea none was

based on "inference" loose charges and guilt by

association. "Clearly no organization venturing

to entertain or study a non-conformist viewpoint

is safe from the accounting requirement in view

of lack of standards the county has utilized in

' compiling the oath list.'"' The loyalty nledge re-

strains the "freedom to assemble and hold beliefs

relative to any minority view.'

| Roaer Baldwin Relinauishes

Director's Post Jan. 1, 1959

The American Civil Liberties Union recently

announced through its Board chairman. Rev.

John Haynes Holmes, that Roger N. Baldwin,

executive director since its formation in 1920, :

_ would relinquish that post on Januarv 1, 1950,

_ to engage in specialized work in the field of inter-

national civil rights. The announcement stated |

that "increasing concern of the Union with the

relation of the United States to the problems of '

international standards of civil liberties now

tackled by the United Nations, prompts the ex-

tended work which Mr. Baldwin will undertake."

He will act not only for the Union but also for

the International League for the Rights of Man,

a United Nations consultative agency with which

the. Union is affiliated. Mr. Baldwin is Board

chairman of the League, which has nineteen af- -

filiated national organizations in fifteen coun-

tries. He will also handle the work of three agen-

cies of the Civil Liberties Union-the Committee

on International Civil Liberties headed bv Prof.

Robert M. McIver of Columbia University. the

Committee on Occupied Countries and the Com-

mittee on American Colonies, headed by Adolf A.

Berle, Jr., former Assistant Secretary of State.

Mr. Holmes i in making the announcement. said:

"We desire to relieve Mr. Baldwin of all adminis-

trative responsibilities in the office. to free him

for this work outside, at Lake Success, in Wash-

"ington and wherever it may call him. His lone

participation in international work, his recent

visits to Japan and Germany as guest of the com-

mandine generals, and his close association with

_ United Nations activities, all qualify him for the

`tasks he will assume'"'.

_, A successor as director is being sought. If none

is appointed by Jan. 1, Clifford Forster, staff

counsel who has just returned after a vear's

leave. will serve temporarily as acting director.

_ Besides his activities in the Civil L*herties Un-

ion, and the International T.cacue. Mr. Baldwin is a

: member of the Harvard Overseers Committee on

_ the Economics Department, a trustee of the Rob-

ert Marshall Civil Liberties Trust, co-chairman

of the Coordinating Committee of US. Agencies

for Human Rights, and a member of the national

committees for wy S. Ratification of the Genocide

Convention, and the International Rescue and

: pene' Committee.

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION-NEWS 7

FLASH! ALBANY, Be A lower

N. Y., Nov.

court today held the Femberg law to be uncon:

stitutional.

Marking its first legal test of loyalty oaths for

teachers, the American Civil Liberties Union

filed suit in Kings County Supreme Court Nov.

21st to have declared unconstitutional New York

State's Feinberg Law, which aims at expelling

"subversive" teachers from New York's public

schools. The action was brought by the New

York City Committee and Committee on Aca-

demic Freedom in conjunction with the United

Parents Association.

In a memorandum which was filed with the

suit in behalf of Jordan B. LaGuardia, teacher

at Boys High School, Brooklyn, and Herbert Hal-

pern, father of a student at the school, the Union

asserted, "The whole tenor of the Feinberg Law

is away from the historic American tradition of

free thought and expression and in the direction

of censorship and suppression, which are odious

and abhorrent to us.'

The Communist Party, the cro Teachers

Union, and a citizens group, headed by state Sen-

ator Fred H. Morritt, have all filed suits op-

posing the law.

The ACLU statement called the law Unawige

-and undemocratic in principle, probably uncon-

stitutional . . . and certain to disrupt our school

system. .. Measures that impute guilt by associ-

ation... . that refuse judicial trial . . . and

smack of thought control are likely to defeat

their own purpose. In defending itself against

the internal threat of Communism, our Country

can ill afford to curtail its precious and hard-

won liberties."'

The law, passed at the last session of the state

legislature, calls on the State Board of Regents

to draw up and enforce regulations for the dis-

Page 3

lleng'

`Subversive' Teacher:

qualification of "subversive school officials."

Membership in organizations, which the Board

deems subversive on the ground they advocate

overthrow of the government by force or vio-

lence, lays the basis for dismissal. The organiza-

tions named may be taken from the U. S. At-

torney General's subversive list, which has been

under severe attack, because of the failure to

permit the organizations to defend ee at

hearings.

The attempt to uncover "Communist teach-

ers ... will start a frenzied witch hunt in the

school system," the ACLU statement declares.

"Tt will convert school administrators and prin-

cipals into special prosecutors ... and make prin- -

cipals, teachers, pupils and parents, informers,

thereby casting a shadow of suspicion `over the

teacher . . . and interfering with the quality of

teaching."

Disputing the claim there is wide-spread Com-

munist infiltration in the schools, the suit cites.

the statement of New York City School Superin-

tendent William -Jansen who has denied such

charges. Those few are `masters of duplicity"'

and if cornered with records of Communist ac-

tivity will probably evade the Feinberg law's pen-

alties by resigning membership in the "subvers-

ive' organizations. "Inexorably the victims of

the law will be teacher-liberals and progressives,

and all those who express deviant or unpopular

views or ideas.

"The school loyalty drive will .weaken the

morale of our school teachers. . . Many of those

who teach, and are not Communists as well as ~

strident anti-Communists, will be tempted to

leave their chosen professions. . . Teachers have

the right to speak as citizens, to speak and write

as men of independence and the students have the

right to be taught by men of independent mind."

"Jehovah's Witness' Held by

Army on Old Draft Charge

Seven years after he walked out of an Army

camp and returned to his home in San Jose, fol-

lowing refusal to take the oath of induction, Mil-

ton H. Cox, a Jehovah's Witness, was arrested

_ by the F.B.I. and turned over to the Army to face

desertion charges.

Last month, habeas corpus proceedings were

filed in San Francisco in behalf of Cox and Fed-

eral Judge Herbert Erskine will hear evidence in

the case on December 13. In the meantime, Cox

has ben relased on $500 bond furnished by the

A.C.L.U. of Northern California.

Although Cox claimed exemption ee the

draft as a "Minister,'"' he also filed the form re-

quired of conscientious objectors. He was raised

by a Quaker mother and has at all times been

opposed to military service. He and his wife had

been Jehovah's Witnesses long before he regis-

tered for the draft.

The Chairman of the local board investigated

the sincerity of his claims and reported in a writ-

ten memorandum that they were honestly held.

He recommended that Cox should be classified

IV-E and sent to a camp for conscientious objec-

tors.. Instead, the board classified Cox as a non-

combatant TA- O, and ordered him to report to

the Army.

His appeal was of no avail, so he complied with

the order to report to the induction center in San

Francisco, because he was promised a further

hearing on his objections. Instead. he was lined

up for induction with others, and although he

refused to take the oath he was told, "That makes

no difference; you're in the Army now." Never-

theless, he was told he would get a hearing on his

claims when he reached Monterey.

He was kept only a short time at Monterey

before being shipped to Camp Rucker, Alabama,

for combat training. He refused to bear arms

and was imprisoned in the stockade. Finallv, he

was transferred to a medical unit. As soon as he

got enough money to buy a railroad ticket, he left

camp and returned to San Jose where he has re-

`sided ever since.

Cox was arrested last May 2 and taken to the

Presidio of San Franciseo. On June 10 he was

tried on charges of desertion, found guilty and

sentenced to imprisonment for five years. General

Mark Clark disapproved the decision and ordered

a new trial. The matter was then referred to the

Judge Advocate and pending his decision, Cox

vras released in the custody of his attorney. When

the Judge Advocate did not approve the release,

Cox was required to return to the cuStgdy of the

ALMy. :

Of course, Cox could have been Peed un-

der the Selective Service Act of 1940, if timely

action had been taken against him.

Union Active in 5 Loyalty

Cases During Past Month

The Industrial Employment Review Board last

month cleared an ex-member of the Communist

Party for employment as a "laboratory assistant" -

in the U. C. Bacteriology Department. The man ~

washes and sterilizes glassware at $230 a month

and has no access to "classified" material. The

case comes within the Government's purview be-

cause it has asserted the right to check the loyalty

of private employees working on defense con-

tracts. The U. C. Bacteriology Department has

a contract with the Navy. |

In a second case, the Regional Loyalty Board

of the U. 8. Civil Service Commission has set a

hearing for December 5 in the case of a clerical -

worker at Treasure Island who is alleged to have

been a member of the Socialist Workers Party.

She denies the membership but admits attending

six to nine meetings sponsored by the organiza-

tion. When her membership in the group was

solicited, she declined to join because she was not

in agreement with its principles or methods. _

In a third case, a panel of the Loyalty Review

Board sitting in San Francisco on December 15

will hear the case of a man charged with member-

ship in the Communist Party. The Regional Loy-

alty Board barred him from federal employment -

for three years at a hearing where he was not

represented by counsel.

In a fourth case, the Loyalty Review Board has

just taken jurisdiction of an appeal. from a de-

cision of the Veterans Administration barring an

ex-Communist from a job as a nurse. :

In still another case, in which a Presidio typist

was cleared for loyalty after two hearings, she is

again faced with loyalty proceedings, this time

under Public Law 808, instead of the President's

Loyalty Order, which gives the Armed Services

absolute power to hire and fire civilian employees.

Nothing has been heard in the matter since a

sworn answer was filed to written interrogatories.

High Court Denies Review Of Michigan

Student's Free Speech Case

James Zarichny,. Michigan University's stu-

dent expelled last year for participating in an

off-campus Progressive Party political meeting,

was denied a review of his case by the U. S.

Supreme Court last month. Zarichny, who had

appealed from a decision of the Michigan Su-

preme Court, had been expelled for arranging a

meeting across the street from the College

grounds. He had previously been barred from

making speeches on university property. The

ACLU, which supported Zarichny's plea for re- _

view, had emphasized it was an infringement of

political and academic freedom to expel a stu-

dent for political activities off college property.

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

ERNEST BHSIG? 2. 2

`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"

Financial Report for Fiscal.

Year Ended October 31, 1949

The A.C.L.U. of Northern California ended its

fiscal year on October 31 with a surplus of

$191.93. Expenditures for the fiscal year reached

a record high of $12,650.15, almost $1400 more

than the previous year, while the Union's income

was $12,842.08, also a record high and almost

_ $1700 above the income of the previous fiscal

year. In contrast with the previous year's deficit

of $71.65, the Union found itself with a surplus

of $191.93 in its Operating Fund.

Reserve funds on October 31 consisted of

$3500 in U.S. Treasury bonds (which are used

for bail purposes), and a bank balance of $200.44

after the. surplus from the Operating Fund was

added,-an increase of $308.44 in the Reserve

Funds for the fiscal year.

The Union also ended the fiscal year with the

largest paid-up membership in its 15-year history.

There were exactly 1441 members in good stand-

ing, besides 262 separate subscribers to the

"News," or a paid mailing list of 1703. Five years

ago the membership stood at 742. A year ago it

stood at 1378.

Here is the way your money was spent from

November 1, 1948 to October 31, 1949:

Income

General Receipts 0 $12,842.08

Expenditures

Salaries and Retirement $7415.11

Printing and Stationery 2412.83

Rent) er 800.00

Postage 0 627.68

Telephone and Telegraph 250.50

Taxes and Insurance ...... 247.00

Furniture and Equipment 272.39

4

eave 295.01

ublications;: 2.2 9. 76.88

Miscellaneous _.............. 37.80

Contingent Fund _...... 224.95

_ Total Expenditures _.. 12,650.15

Sitrolus Oct..31 1940; 2 191.93

RESERVE FUNDS

Balanee on hand, Oct. 31, 1948... $3392.00

Income:

Interesh: $ 79.66

Sale 1930 De Soto: 50.00

Surplus (Oper.

Hund) 232 191.93....$321.59

Expenditures:

Treasury Bond). 5 13.15 308.44

Balance on hand, Oct, 31,1940 $3700.44

Movie Censorship Test

Started in Atlanta, Ga.

The long-awaited test of movie censorship was

`begun November 18th when film producer Louis

De Rochemont announced he was bringing suit

in the Atlanta, Ga. Federal District Court against

the Atlanta Censor Board for its banning of the

film, "Lost Boundaries." The picture deals with

the effort of a Negro family to pass as white in

a New England community.

ACLU will be associated with Mr. De Roche-

pont in this constitutional test of film censor-

ship. (c)

The suit, asking for an injunction against the

Atlanta film board, will be filed on December

16th. Judge Samuel Rosenman, nationally-known

attorney and former assistant to the late Presi-

dent Roosevelt, will argue the case for Mr. De

Rochemont.

Challenging the right of the board to censor

films, the suit will argue that this is an infringe-

ment of free speech under the First Amendment '

and a violation of due process of law under the

Fourteenth Amendment.

Another test of movie censorship is awaiting

final action in the Tennessee Supreme Court. It

involves a case brought by the Motion Picture

Association against the Memphis, Tenn. censor

board which banned the showing of the Hal Roach

comedy, "Curley," which showed Negro and white

children playing together. It was lost in the lower

courts on technical grounds, and there is consid-

erable doubt that the issue will ever get to the

U.S. Supreme Court.

e

Editor "

The ACLU States Its Position on the ae

`Crisis at the University of California' :

(Continued from Page 1, Col. 3)

sons the Association has strongly urged that the

university administration be so reorganized that,

with respect to the qualifications of its members,

the Faculty shall be a self-governing body. In the

last resort, it insists, a man's scholarship and

teaching must be judged, not by the Regents, not

by the President, but by the Faculty. This de-

mand is one phase of the program commonly in-

dicated by the words, "Academic Freedom" and

"Academic Tenure."

But it will be asked whether, in our State Uni-

versities, authority over qualifications can be

thus granted to the Faculty ... Legally, then, the

Regents have all control over the activities of the

president, the deans, scholars, teachers, students,

officials, and organizations of every kind.

But over against this `legal' authority of the

Regents is a prior authority, for the sake of

which alone the "legal'"' authority has been estab-

lished. It is the `"`academic'"' authority of the Fa-

culty. And the basic principle on this side of the

issue can be simply stated. An institution in

which academic men are judged, in which their

qualifications are defined and assessed, by other

men who are not academic, who are not accre-

dited as scholars and teachers, who do not be-

long to that Community of Learning which is

the Faculty,-such an institution may have the

virtues of a Factory or of a Business Office. But

it is not a University. Unless the Pursuit of Truth

is Self-Governing, it is not the Pursuit of Truth...

With respect, then, to- the qualifications of

members of a university Faculty, the principles of

Academic Freedom may be formulated somewhat

as follows,-

1. No person may be appointed to a Faculty

except with the approval of colleagues com-

petent to judge his qualifications.

2. No person may be dismissed from a Facul-

ty except as, in the judgment of his col-

leagues, he has failed to meet requirements

established by the Faculty as a whole.

3. No definition of qualifications or conditions

of membership in a Faculty may be adopted

except on recommendation of the Faculty

as a whole. e

Action upon matters of appointment or dis-

missal cannot, of course, be legally effective, un-

less it is taken by the Regents. But, on the other

hand, such action cannot be academically justi-

fied unless it is taken on Faculty recommenda-

tion. If that recommendation is lacking, then

legal authority has destroyed academic freedom.

The disastrous `consequences of such destruc-

tion can be plainly seen in two dangers which

now threaten the University of California.

First, the Regent action in requiring an "other

oath" has denied to the Faculty members their |

proper status as agents of the People of the

State 7.

Second, if the Regents hold their ground, the

morale of the Faculty will change, quickly or,

slowly, from that of men who care passionately

for intellectual freedom to that of men who,

willingly or rebelliously, submit to domination. ...

' As one views the California situation in the

light of the general principles here stated, the

following observations seem justified:

1. It would be wholly wrong to regard the con-

troversy as a fight between villainy on the one

side and virtue on the other... .

2. In spite of this agreement as to ends, there

is, between Regents and Faculty, a genuine con

troversy as to means. .... ,

3. Communication between the two bodies dur-

ing the controversy has been marked by a cur-

ious mingling of mutual good will and of mutual

unintelligibility. ...

4. It now seems clear, that in dealing with

problems so perplexing and so important as those _

of Academic Freedom, the University of Califor-

nia has relied too much on Good Will, as if it

might be an adequate substitute for clear and

definite understandings. ...

d. In this respect, it must be said, California is

lagging behind in the movement which the Asso-

ciation. of University Professors is leading. Strict-

ly speaking, the university has no formulated

system of Academic Freedom or Tenure. .... The

Regents, without any consultation whatever, have

/ a ee y

Fiow to Secure "The Crisis

_ You can secure a free copy of the Union's

pamphlet, "Crisis at the University of Cali-

fornia," by mailing your request to Ameri-

ean Civil Liberties Union, 461 Market St.,

San Francisco 5, or by telephoning EX-

brook 2-3255.

- voted a change which fundamentally affects the

status, the scholarship, the teaching, of every

member of: the Faculty. And when, later, protest.

has been officially made, it has been officially

denied. The plain fact is that the Faculty has no

academic authority. It is ruled by the President

`who, in turn, is ruled by the Regents. ....

Such a lack of administrative organization, as

is revealed by the present crisis, threatens every

vital interest of the university. When legal and

academic authority come into conflict, the uni-

versity is clearly unready to deal with the situa-

tion. By explicit and official agreement between

Regents and Faculty, the two bodies should now

_ be established in right working relations with

one another. There is no other way of making

sure that the pursuit and teaching of Truth by

the university shall serve the purposes for which

it was established by the State.

The crisis now being dealt with at California

has more than local interest. It concerns the na-

tion as a whole. No one can doubt that, more and

more, the support and control of higher educa-

tion,-as already of the lower grades-will come

into the hands of our State and Local Govern-

ments. By them, therefore, must be worked out.

the reconciliation of the legal authority of the

government with that freedom of men's minds in |

which government finds its deepest justification.

The Regents and' Faculty of California are

struggling, not so much with each other, as with

the most urgent and difficult administrative prob-

lem now facing the nation. If they can solve that .

problem, as it concerns their mutual relations,

they will have won new glory for a great univer-

sity.

Effort to Ban Books of Alleged

Communist Authors Defeated

The "battle of the books" was settled in Scars-

dale, N. Y., last month as the Board of Education

turned down a request from a self-appointed Com-

- mittee of Ten to ban books of alleged Communist

authors from the library and to bar any textbook

written by `any apologist for Communism or

Fascism." The books under consideration were

written by Howard Fast, Anna Louise Strong,

Shirley Graham and Louis Untermeyer.

The Board accepted a report of a four-man

Educational Policies Committee which recom-

mended that the Board continue to delegate to the

professional staffs of the school the selection of

books "`in accordance with the sound educational

standards such as they have been following."

Concern was expressed "lest sincere efforts to

`eliminate the threat of subversive influences in

our American system of education may initiate

censorship that will be completely un-American in _

itself. . . . Protection against subversive influ-

ences can best be achieved by the positive ap-

proach of vigorous teaching, rather than bv the

negative methods of repressive censorship. Truth

is to be found through the open door."

The issue, considered to be an outgrowth of the

recent violence which marked concert anpear-

ances of Paul Robeson in, the county, received

wide notoriety because of the opposition to the:

request organized by a citizens committee of 81

prominent residents of the New York surburban

community. Leading the protest was Charles E.

Wilson, president of General Electric Co., Harry

Humphreys, Jr., head of the United States Rub-

ber Co., and several influential New York lawyers, "

industrialists and stock brokers.

Immigration Service Ban on

Canadian Professor Lifted

Indicating what may be a more liberal attitude

toward aliens seeking admission into the United

States, U. 8. Attorney General J. Howard Mc- |

Grath recently ordered the lifting of the ban

against Glen Shortliffe, Canadian. professor.

Shortliffe. Romance Lanzuage professor at

Queens College, Kingston, Ontario. recently re-

ceived a one-year appointment to the faculty of

Washineton Universitv in St. Louis. He was not _

detained when he made his first visit to St. Louis,

and.received a visa from the U. 8S. consul in

Toronto to enter the U. S. on June 20. Hovrever,

he was detained at the Canadian-U. S. border on

June 24 by the U. S. Immigration Service on

erounds that he was a `"`nerson whose entry is

deemed detrimental to the public `nterest of the

U. 8." This is the wording used to bar alleged

' subversive aliens from entering.

An inquiry was begun. and he was cleared by

Atty. Gen. McGrath who did not disclose the

evidence. Prof. Shortliffe is a member of the

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, a leading

Canadian party, Socialist but anti-Communist.