The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1920-06-18
Lawyers Report on
Illegal Practices
of Dept. of Justice

(From National Popular Government
League, 637 Munsey Building,
Washington, D. c.
Shocking revelations of lawless-
ness, cruelty and persecution on the
part Of officials and agents of the
Department of Justice in connection
with the anti-radical activities of
the Department, and a vigorous con-
demnation of the methods employed
by Attorney General Palmer in his
campaign against the radicals, are
contained in "Report Upon the H.
legal Practices of the United States
Department of Justice" made by
twelve prominent attorneys from
various section of the country, made
Secretary of the National Popular
Government League, under whose
auspices the report was prepared.
The signers of the document are:
Roscoe Pound, Dean of the Law
School, Harvard University; Tyrrell
Williams, st. Louis, Mo-, Dean of
The Law School, Washington Uni
versity; Frank P. Walsh, New York
City, former joint Chairman National
War Labor Board; David Wallerstein,
Philadelphia, member American Bar
Association; Jackson II. Ralston,
Washington, D. c., Umpire Italian
Venezuelan Claim Commission; For
mer Judge Alfred Niles, Baltimore,
Md, Professor, Maryland University
Law School; Francis Fisher Kane,
recently resigned United States Dis
trict Attorney. Philadelphia, Pa.
Felix Frankfurter, Assistant to the
Secretary Of War and Assistant Sec
rotary of Labor during the War, and
now Professor of Law, Hazard Uni
! versity; Swinburne Hale, New York,
former Captain, Military Intelligence
Division, General Staff, U. S. Army;
Ernest Freund, Chicago, Professor,
Chicago University Law School; r.
G. Brown, Memphis, Tenn; Zechariah
Chafee, Jr., Boston, Professor, Har-
ward Law School.
The charges in the report include:
Maintenance by the Department of
provocative agents throughout the
country for the purpose of joining
and becoming officers of radical or
CARNATIONS to spy upon them and
incite their members to criminal &C
tivities;
Wholesale arrest and Imprisonment
of men and women without warrants,
and illegal searches and seizures, in
violation of the Constitution;
Forgery by agents of the Depart
ment to make cases against inno-
cent persons caught in the illegal
raids;
Criminal thefts of money, watches
jewelry, and other personal property
from victims of raids by agents OF
the Department.;
Information concerning members OF
labor organizations furnished to De.
partment of Justice agents by spies
employed by private detective agen
cies in the service of the steel anC
coal companies. In other words
these companies use the local anc
Federal governments to get rid OF
troublesome workers."
! Cruel and unusual punishments
visited upon prisoners taken into
custody with and without warrants
in violation of the Constitution
Use of Government funds in viola.
ton of law to spread newspaper
propaganda favorable to campaign OF
repression, and to purchase "boilel
plate distributed free to country
newspapers to create popular opin.
ion favorable to acts of the Depart.
ment;
Compulsion of prisoners to be wit
nesses against themselves in viola,
ton Of the Constitution;
Brutal and indecent treatment OF
women taken in raids;
Filthy conditions of confinement
and refusal to let prisoners com.
municate with friends or lawyers.
The Report, covering 68 printed
pages and embracing hundreds of af
fidavits and exhibits, the latter in
GLIDING copies of secret instructions
to special agents by William j
Flynn, Chief of the Bureau of In.
vestigation, and Frank Burke, AS,
sistant Director and Chief, declares
that methods exactly similar to those
employed in Old Russia and SPAR
are now in use by the Department
in its treatment of men and womer
falling into its hands.
The Report praised Assistant Sec,
iCb"ly Vi LhDOI, LOUIS L IOSI, u
whose courageous re-establisment Of
American Constitutional Law in de
portation proceedings are due the at
tacks that have been made upor
him" In conclusion the Repolr
says:
There is no danger of revolution
so great as that created by suppress
sion, by ruthlessness, and by de
liberate violation of the simple rules
Of American law and American de
cency.
1T is a fallacy to suppose that
any more than in the past, any ser
want of the people can safely AFRO
gate to himself unlimited authority
To proceed upon such suppositior
is to deny the fundamental American
theory Of the consent of the gov
erned Here is no question of /;
vague and threatening menace, bu