Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-06
ADVOCATES BP PEACE
JOHN TURNER NOT DISPOSED TO
vIoLENF METHODS.
Man Accused Of Inspiring Anarchy
Says He Is Merely Man
of New IDEAS.

Mr.. John Turner. of. London, England.
organizer of the National Amalgamated
Union OF Shop Assistants, Warehousemen
and Clerks. who was arrested last October
by order of Secretary Cortelyou Of the De-
partment of Commerce and Labor, upon a
warrant sworn out under certain sections
of the immigration laws and regulations,
charging him with being an anarchist,
talked with reporter of The Star today
relative to his case, which is pending be-
fore the United States Supreme Court Mr.
Iurner mas secured the services of Mr..
Clarence barrow Of Chicago, ILL.,, who rep
resented the United Mine Workers or Amer
lea In the arbitration proceedings before
the late anthracite coal strike commission.
10 oppose his deportation. Mr.. Turner is
supported in his suit by the Free Sneech
League, which is at present Represented in
Washington by DR.. Emmanuel Pfeiffer of
Boston, Mass, and a large number of per-
sonal friends.
Although a confessed anarchist in
thought, Mr.. Turner bears no resemblanc nee
~ the typical oppoSers of government and
cIalms TO entertain views vastly in conflict
Will, VIII the IDEAS or anarchy generally pre-
Valilng. He is seemingly a man of high in
tellectual attainments and uses the Eng
nsh language eloquently, with a charac-
terlstic English accent. Mr.. Turner is rath-
Z, a
van Dyke beard and heavy mustache
Almost Immediately after his arrival in
li.is country, he was arrested by the officers
OF OF .ne immigration bureau, under that part
Oh sectlon NO. 81 reading, "That no person
VINO dlsoelieves in, or who is opposed to all
part OF section No. 2, which reads +"
anarchists or persons who believe in or
advocate the overthrow by force or vio-
fence OF the government of the United
States The arrest was made in Cooper
Union while Mr.. Turner was address sing a.
labor mass meeting His talk before the
meeting, he claims, was purely one on
labor subjects, and declareA that his ar
rest was not made for any utterances on
that occasion, for the reason that the war;
rant against him was sworn out four days
previous to the meeting.
In Prison Nineteen Weeks.
Mr.. Turner states that he was kept in
prison on Ellis Island nineteen weeks the
presiding judge in the case holding that 1t
was the first of the kind under the latest
immigration laws, and refused to accept
the responsibility Of releasing him on bail.
Turner speaks in the highest terms of the
treatment he received at the hands of the
off1cials at the island and says he realizes
that they acted under orders from Wash
1ngton. He refers in ocular manner ri
the fact that of the nineteen weeks he re-
manned in the island, sixteen were spent
IN nine-by-six-foot steel cage twelve feet
under ground, which had just been com
pleted for the safe detention of insane and
violent persons
Inc labor organizer maintains that under
the wording of the quoted portion of sec
llon NO. " of the immigration laws and
regulations. or rather by the use of the
word or In the, ,phraseology. such men
as Herbert Spencer, T01stoi Ibsen, Reclus
and kroptkin can be or could have been
excluded from the United States and that
under another section of the law, the per-
son who invites n1afAssch men termed by
the authorities as dangerous persons
are amenable to the law and incur a fine
o. 5000 or Imprisonment for not less than
one year nor more than five years. AS
ffee-thinker. or aTman of new IDEAS
Turner claims he has as much right to re-
main in America as Were those above
named. He further claims that had the
word and been used in the place of orr
the authorities could not have touched him
unless he attempted dactS of Violence
against the government.
He explained that it is. not his purpose to
lead revolution against the government
or conspire against the life of the Presi-
Gent or any other living being. He says
his methods to improve the condition of the
general people Will be peaceful in the eX-
IRENE. His purposes known through
out Europe, he added. and he has never
been excluded from country therefor He
claims that the immigration laws of the
United States are more rigid than those Of
Russia.
lis xlApClACi 11O1Odos
AS an instance of the friendly feeling of
the Belgian government to him and the
labor organization he represents. Turner
stated that NJ. Veerhees. second head of
the department of industry and labor of
the government was deputed to attend the
sessions in Brussels last September of the.
convention of the International Clerks
Union of England France, Belgium. Spain,
Italy and Germany. Turner presided over
the sessions of the convention, and is per-
sonally acquainted with the heads of the
government.
Turner says his campaigns will always be
by means of the press and platform and
the courts; by persuasion, argument, petit
ton, protest and demand, through the
agencies of election and rejection. He
stands for peaceful methods in all his cam
paigns. Had he not been detained at Ellis
Island, he said. he would now be in Eng
land He came here on lecture tour, and
intended to address liberal. single tax, la
Dor and other reform organizations on
labor and anarchy.
He emphaticaIly declares that he does not
advocate violence or force of any kind. In
reply to the question as to whether his ut
terances might inspire other persons to acts
of violence, he said II such were the out
come of his remarks the United States must
exclude all new ideas. Stagnation. he de-
clared will then ensue, which, in turn
means death. The activity of the world, he
declared, is made possible by new ideas.
Turner admits that he became an an
archist in thought through the Haymarket
sriot, in, Chicago, a number of years ago.
when number of men alleged to have been
anarchists were hung, it being charged that
they threw the bombs that killed a number
of people. Turner claims that the men
were charged with constructive murder,
which was never proved conclusively The
hanging was looked upon by the English
people as very unjust, he says.
Turner first came to the United States in
1896 At that time he took out naturaliza-
ton papers and intended to make his home
here. When he returned to England, how
ever. he decided to remain a subject of
that government. He has one brother in
Colorado and two in Chicago.