New-York tribune., 1919-08-26
South Carolina Member of
House Demands Attorney
General Find Out Who Is
Backing New Propaganda
Spy Act Violated, He Says
Reads Editorials Calling u. S.
Shameful Land,' Urging
|. W. W. and Socialist Aid
NeW York Tribune
Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25.-Demand
that Attorney General Palmer take ac-
tion to determine who is back of the
anti-American propaganda in the negro
press was made in the House to-day
by Representative Byrnes, of South
Carolina. He called the attention of
the Attorney General to an editorial
IN "The Crisis" a negro magazine ed
tied by W. f. B. Du Bois, which, de-
clared Representative Byrnes. consti
tutes violation of the espionage act.
1T is evident from the quality Of
the negro magazines, their lack of ad-
vertising and the nature of their
propagand~' declared Representative
Byrnes, that some one with anti
American motives is financing them"
Among the statements contained in
The Messenger" and other negro
periodicals brought upon the floor of
the House by Representative Byrnes
were the following:
l. That the negroes should join the
l. W. W, which was frankly charac-
terized as the father of the zone big
union" movement.
= That the American SPECIALIST
party was right in opposing the war
and that negroes should join the So
cialist party.
War Is Minimized
j. That during the war it was less
important to defeat Germany than to
work for negro rights
l. That sll big negro communities
like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago,
Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington and
St Louis are now magazines of race
prejudice ready to explode at any
moment with race riots
TLot
books, magazines and papers as Scott
Nearing's The Great Madness. .sThe
Liberator," The Milwaukee Leader"
and The New York Call"
s. That the $4,000 negroes employed
on the railroads in the United States
have the power, by joining the |. W.
W. to tie up the railroads as COM
pletely as the Big Four Brotherhood
could
Z That no intelligent negro is will
ing to lay down his life for the United
states as it now exists.
The Messenger" also was cited in
varlous issues as praising Eugene V.
Debs, Lenine and the BolsheviH and
attacking the American Federation Of
Labor Direct action in connection
With the L W ". also was advocated.
Says Violence Is Urged
Radical leaders of the negroes are
urging their followers to resort to vio-
ience in order to secure privileges they
believe them selves entitled to- de-
clAred Representative Byrnes, "and re-
cent riots indicate that the advice is
being taken
An editorial from "-The Crisis. en-
Titled Returning Soldiers was cited
by Representative Byrnes in asking the
Attorney General to proceed against
Dir. Du Bois under the espionage act
This country, it said in part
- is shameful land It
i{ncnes - mes ,;+irs. 1t disffanchanchises "a
ignorance il steals from US
This IS the country to which we
soldiers of democracy return. This is
the fatherland TO which we soldiers Of
democracy return This is the father
land for which we fought But it
is our fatherland. 1t vas right for
Us to fight The faults OF the country
are our faults. Under similar circum-
stances we would fight again. But by
the God Of Heaven we are towards and
Jackasses if now that war is over we
do not marshal every ounce Of our
brain and Drawn 10 fight a sterner,
longer, more unbeuding battle against
the forces Of hell in our own land.
I'VE return.
1--WE return from fighting.
I'VE return fighting"
Cites Espionage Act
Representative Byrnes then called
attention to the fact that the espionage
law, still in force, forbids any one TO
publish language intended TO incite or