Open forum, vol. 18, no. 21 (May, 1941)

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HE OPEN FORU

Free Speech - Free Press - Free Assemblage

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"-John Philpot Curran

Vol, XVIII el LOS ANGELES; CALIFORNIA, MAY24, 1941 s45 ary 6S e swath No. 21

A New Survey is Made by the A.C.L.U. Ho v Hitlerism Can Best

Be Warded Off

Civil liberties are always put to a sharper

test in time of crisis. Fear and excitement,

demands for national unity, efforts for na-

tional defense, all tend to impose tighter

restrictions on dissenters, critics and oppo-

nents of government policies. The balance

of forces by which the rights of minorities

are protected always becomes shakier under

the threat of involvement in war.

The Civil Liberties Union takes no posi-

tion on military defense nor the involve-

ment of the United States in the war. What-

ever course the nation follows it is clear be-

yond question that the maintenance of

democracy is the first charge on our loyal-

ties.

But the contention is apparently gaining

ground that democracies are helpless in a

contest with dictatorships because of their

tolerance of dissent. It is evident that free-

dom of speech, press and assembly are vital

to the national defense of a democracy.

Public policies cannot be fairly determined

without free discussion. Any notion that we

can defend democracy by adopting Hiiler's

methods already dooms us in advance. If

we concede that, Hitlerism can conquer the

United States without arms.

Democracy demands that all minorities,

whatever their policies, shall have the right

to carry on their propaganda. But civil lib-

erty does not, of course, extend to acts

against democracy nor to espionage and

sabotage. Those should be severely dealt

with by our already wholly adequate laws.

Whatever may be regarded as subversive

elements in the field of political opinion,

short of acts in violation of the law, can be

far better dealt with in the open than

underground. No democracy can lay claim

to that name if it forces any minority move-

ment into an underground secret conspir-

wey. A fighting spirit in defense of demo-

cratic rights is the best guarantee that

Americans can offer against totalitarianism.

_ This survey of the national issues in rela-

tion to civil liberties is intended to indicate

the points of present danger to civil liber-

ties and the action required.

The Department of Justice

By far the most powerful agency of the

ederal government in relation to civil lib-

erties is the Department of Justice. It has

complete jurisdiction over:

: 1. The enforcement of statutes relating

0 utterances and publications construed to

advocate certain prohibited doctrines.

20 The enforcement of all laws relating

to aliens.

8. Final advisory power in regard to the

`position of conscientious objectors under

euro military training act.

e ee. Enforcement of the statute requiring

ae ration of organizations engaged in

lary training or advocating the over-

Yow by violence of any government.

Under a special proclamation by the Pres-

ident the F.B.I. is charged with the investi-

gation of "subversive activities''-an obvi-

ously dangerous grant of broad powers eas-

ily extended into the field of political opin-

ion. Despite this grant of powers the De-

partment of Justice up to the present has

held within reasonable bounds the opera-

tions of the F.B.I. The Civil Liberties Unit

of the Department of Justice, operating

through investigations by the F.B.I1., is a

salutary influence in checking local viola-

tions of civil rights by officials, even though

it has instituted no prosecutions.

No action required, except to counteract

pressures on the Department for repressive

policies.

The Dies Committee

The continuance of the Dies Committee

(the special committee investigating un-

American activities) by the House of Repre-

sentatives with an appropriation of $150,-

000 for fifteen months, gives free rein to

one of the most irresponsible and hysterical

agencies of the government, as proved by

(Continued on Page 2, Col. 1)

COLLEGES URGED TO ADOPT A

"STUDENT BILL OF RIGHTS"

Adoption of a student "Bill of Rights" by

colleges is urged by the Committee on Aca-

demic Freedom of the American Civil Lib-

erties Union in a forty-eight-page pamph-

let, "What Freedom for American Stu-

dents?"' based on a study of the practices

affecting student freedom in 111 leading

colleges and universities. The pamphlet,

published last week, attempts to set up

standards for a charter defining the rights

of students. Declaring that at present i1

spite of "conditions increasingly faverah!s

to student freedom in a majority of col-

leges,'"' very few have established cefinite

policies, the committee makes the follow-

ing recommendations:

1. "The policy of every college in rela-

tion to student activities outside the class-

room should be set forth in definite terms,

and accepted by the college community.

2. "A college's stated policy should

make it clear that students are free to

organize associations for political, religious,

social, and other purposes.

3. `Students' associations should be per-

mitted to take the name of the college and

to use their names in all activities on college

(Continued on Page 2, Cal. 3)

Moscow Returns

A victory for freedom of expression was

won in Moscow, Idaho, last week when Fed-

eral Judge C. C. Cavanah declared Mos-

cow's handbill ordinance regulating the dis-

tribution of literature on downtown streets

to be unconstitutional.

The ordinance, which had been adopted

manifestly to prevent Jehovah's Witnesses

from scattering their literature throughout

the city, read as follows:

"Section 1. No person shall distribute

or cause to be distributed any hand-bill,

card, poster, pamphlet, dodger, or other

printed or advertising matter along or

upon any street, alley, sidewalk, or park;

or throw, place or attach any such

printed matter in, to or upon any auto-

mobile or other vehicle within the cor-

porate limits of the City of Moscow with-

out a permit obtained in the manner set

forth hereinafter.

`Section 2. Any person may obtain

such permit without charge by applying

to any police officer of the City of Mos-

cow, and in his presence saluting the flag

of the United States by reciting what is

known as the `pledge of Allegiance,'

and furnishing information sufficient to

identify in the future the person perform-

ing such salute.

"Section 8. Such police officer shall

issue a permit in such form as he may

deem adequate, containing the name of

the permit holder, the date the salute was

performed, and any description of the

person of the permit holder that he may

deem sufficient..."

to American Fold

It is no wonder that in giving his decision

Judge Cavanah declared that this ordi-

aance "strikes at the very foundation of

freedom of the press. .. . It has never been

regarded as inconsistent with civil liberties

to grant to a city authority to impose a regu-

lation in order to insure convenience, clean-

liness, sanitation, preventing obstruction

and safety of the people in the use of the

public streets."

The judge pointed out that a city is not

empowered to abridge the individual liber-

ties offered by the constitution to those who

wish to speak, write or circulate informa-

tion in an orderly fashion. This ordinance

however, he declared, provided a `"`censor-

ship on one engaged in distributing pamph-

lets ... Under this ordinance even a news-

boy would have to obtain permission to sell

papers."

Three members of Jehovah's Witnesscs

had been jailed ender the ordinance April

14. They were ordered released immedi-

ately after the decision. A fourth member

of the sect was released several days ago

after serving a sentence under the ordi-

nance.

The A.C.L.U. congratulates Judge Cav-

anah on his courage in restoring to the city

of Moscow liberties guaranteed by the Bill

of Rights of the Federal Constitution. His

act reveals the fact that even in hysterical

times like these through which we are pass-

ing the courts may become bulwarks of

freedom if they will not lose their heads and

will interpret the Constitution in a sane,

fair way.

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~~ = THEOPEN FORUM"

a

THE OPEN FORUM

Published every Saturday at 505 Douglas Building; . -

257 South Spring Street, Los Angeles, California by

the Southern California Branch of the American

Civil Liberties Union. Phone: MUtual 2412

RENO ad Sekar tae sek ce ere etnias Me en PE ce Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Upton Sinclair Kate Crane Gartz

Doremus Scudder

Leo Gallagher Ernest: Besig0x2122

John Packard Edwin Ryland

PE bag NN EE ie cae

A. A. Heist

Carey McWilliams

. Subscription Rates-One Dollar a Year. Five Cents .:

~- "per Copy. trbundles of ten `or more to' one address "" --

Two Cents Each, if ordered in advance.

" `Advertising Rates on Request

Entered as second-class matter Dec. 13,

1924, at. the `post office of Los--Angeles, ._

California, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

ie 3

- LOS ANGELES, CALIF., MAY 24, 1941

WHEELER CLEARED OF FRAUD BY

wieid WEST VIRGINIA HIGH COURT

-. Osear Wheeler, 1940 Communist Party

candidate for governor, has just been freed

by the supreme court of West Virginia from

a prison sentence of six to ten years for

"obtaining signatures to election petitions

The decision by a unanimous

court ends the last of the cases in West Vir-

ginia involving alleged fraud in the 1940

election campaign. The A.C.L.U. partici-

by fraud."

pated in the case in the lower courts.

(Continued from Page 1, Col. 2)

its record over three years.

liberty itself.

A similar attitude appears to character-

ize the several legislative investigating com-

mittees created by state legislatures to ac-

complish like purposes, either in the gen-

eral field of ``subversive activities" or in re-

lation to the public school system.

Action required; constant check on these

inquiries, with public protest against re-

pressive activities, and resort where neces-

sary to the courts.

Freedom of the Press

The federal government has wide powers

in law over the distribution of printed mat-

ter by mail and by express. It has wide pow-

ers over the importation of printed matter

from abroad.

The Post Office Department may exclude

from the mails by the decision of a single

lawyer (its solicitor) any matter which he

deems to be "seditious" or ``obscene.''

section of the war-time espionage act is still

in force authorizing the post office depart-

ment to exclude all matter which "advo-

cates or urges treason, insurrection, or for-

cible resistance to any law of the United

States."' Under the obscenity laws the Post

Office Department may exclude anything

which in the judgment of the solicitor is

obscene-including birth control informa-

tion or the advocacy of "`anarchy or assas-

sination" (a phrase included in the obscen-

ity statute). The Post Office Department

The lurid

charges made by the committee or its chair-

man against a host of progressive and lib-

eral agencies as Communist, and its unfair

methods of publicizing all sorts of baseless

charges have created a misinformed public

opinion only too ready to sanction repres-

sion. The committee's demand for the out-

lawry of organizations reflecting the inter-

ests of foreign dictatorships strikes at civil

FURNITURE

PIANOS

MOVING txv2..

Storage, Packing, Shipping

FE, 9952 SUMMERS

N. H. SUPREME COURT FREES

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CHILDREN

Upholding the argument of the American

Civil Liberties Union that authorities of

Nashua, N. H., had no right to punish as

_ delinquents three-children expelled from

public school because of refusal to salute

the flag, the Supreme Court of New Hamp-

shire has voided sentences imposed on

__Roland,.. Loraine, .and...Loretta._Lefebvre.....

children of Jehovah's Witnesses, by a local' 1.9 Follette of Wisconsin as_ prine;

court.. The Union participated: inthe appeal "sneaker. ee aoe

with a brief amicus curiae. The. children

were represented by counsel for Jehovah's

Witnesses.

Expressing the unanimous decision of the

court, Justice Elwin L. Paige wrote that "`in.

view of the sacredness in which the state

has always held freedom of religious con-

`science, it is impossible for us to attribute

to the legislature an intent to authorize the

breaking up of family life for no other rea-

son than because some of its members have

conscientious religious scruples not shared

by the majority of the community, at least

provided those scruples are exercised in

good faith and their exercise is not tinged

with immorality or marked by damage to

the rights of others. ... We cannot order

the school authorities to revoke the suspen-

sion of the children. Still less can we order

the children to salute the flag so that they

may be accepted again as students in the

schools."

The Lefebvre children were expelled

from public school last October. A com-

plaint of delinquency was issued against

them in December. They were committed

to the state industrial school at Manchester

on sentences to expire when they reached

the age of 21. The superior court refused

to suspend sentence but the children were

released in the custody of their parents

pending outcome of the appeal.

may also revoke the second-class mailing

privileges of periodicals held to violate the

law, and it may hold undeliverable all mail

matter addressed to those publications

whose second-class mailing privileges are

revoked.

Those broad powers of the Post Office

Department have not been used in recent

years, but they may be invoked at any time.

Any attempt to apply them to political or

other opinions should be fought.

The Customs Bureau may exclude from

the United States all printed matter im-

ported from abroad which is held to be

obscene or seditious; but it must on demand

of the importer put the final determination

of exclusion before a federal court. These

powers have been in recent years very lib-

erally exercised---with the exception of seiz-

ures early in 1941 of material originating in

the dictatorships, seized and ordered de-

stroyed professedly on the ground of

anonymity or failure to register with the

Secretary of State.

The Department of Justice, under a new

law, may prosecute the authors and publish-

ers of any matter held to advocate the

"overthrow of the government by force and

violence or any matter tending to cause

"dissatisfaction in the armed forces." The

statute, passed in the summer of 1940, has

not been invoked. If it is, it should be

promptly tested in the courts.

Leaflet distribution on the public streets

or house-to-house is protected by decisions

of the United States Supreme Court and is

not subject to interference except under

the general statutes relating to obscenity or

the special federal statute recently enacted

and noted above.

(Continued next week)

for: May +7 with former~Governor- Phili

MIAMI LIFTS BAN ON

"AMERICA FIRST" RATIy

Following protest by the American (jy;

Liberties Union against what it termed

"illegal restrictions on free speech and ag.

semblage," the City Commission of Mian;

Fla., last week by a vote of three to ty,

`withdrew its ban against an outdoor rally of

the "America First Committee" scheduleg

Ip

al

In announcing the ban, Mayor Alexandey

Orr, Jr., had expressed the opinion that th,

committee was "subversive and opposed ty

the foreign policy of the federal goverp.

-ment:" Authorities obtained a court ordey

directing the committee to disband on the

ground that "its charter was illegally

drawn."' ae

TO FILE BRIEF FOR JEHOVAH'S)..

WITNESSES IN IND. HEARING

The American Civil Liberties Union wil]

file a brief as friend of the court this week

supporting application by attorneys' for

Jehovah's Witnesses to a three-judge fed.

eral court in Indianapolis for an order re.

straining authorities of Fayette County,

Ind., from using the Indiana sedition statute

against Jehovah's Witnesses. Hearing was

held over from April 28. The Union's action

arose from the indictment of 75 members of

the religious sect on sedition charges by

authorities in Connersville, Ind., last month,

According to the Union, the statute ig un-

constitutional as applied to the Witnesses,

(Continued from Page 1, Col. 3)

property consistent with the purposes of the

various organizations.

4. "The use of college property outside

its primary use for instruction should be

made available to any registered student or-

ganization carrying out its stated purpose.

5. "As a general principle no contro!

should be exercised by college authorities

over the subjects or outside speakers chosen

by student groups.

6. "Where they are considered advisa-

ble, faculty advisors should be chosen or

approved by the students themselves.

7. "No disciplinary action should be

taken against students for engaging in activ-

ities off the campus, provided such students

do not claim to be representing the college.

8. "College students should be permit-

ted to publish such newspapers or maga-

zines as they wish, subject to provisions for

registering with college authorities the

name, purposes, and editors.

9. "The boards or committees of stu-

dents responsible for each _ publication

should be free to select editors without con-

trol by the college authorities or faculty.

10. "The successful systems of student

government should be extended to all col-

leges."'

FILM STAR, EDITOR, JOIN

A.C.L.U. NATIONAL COMMITTEE

Election to its national committee of Mel-

vyn Douglas, motion picture star, and

Charles Clayton Morrison of Chicago, editor

of "The Christian Century," has been an

nounced by the American Civil Liberties

Union.

HUMANIST SOCIETY FORUM

HAROLD HULL, West Coast secreta!y

of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, will

speak next Sunday evening, May 25, at

the Humanist Society of Friends, 2403 Wes!

Sixth Street, at 7:30. Subject: "The Co

scientious Objector Today.' Admissio!

Free. Everybody Welcome. Dr. Lowell H.

Coate, Director,