The Connecticut labor press., 1920-06-19
ACTUAL CRIMES
 COMMITTED IN
 NAME OF JUSTICE
Unbiased Legal Board Shows Up Methods Used By
 Palmer. ~

Shocking revelations of 1aw1essness, cruelty and persecution on the part of officials and agents of the Department of Justice Ill connection with the anti radical activities of the department, and a vigorous condemnation of the methods employed by Attorney General Palmer in his campaign against the radicals, are contained in a Report Upon the Illegal Practices of the United States Department of Justice, g made by F prominent attorneys from various sections of the country, made public by Judson King, executive sec retary of the National Popular Govern ment League under whose auspices the report was prepared.
 The signers of the document are Roscoe Pound, dean of the Law School, Harvard University; .Tyrre1l Williams, St. Louis, Mo-, dean of the Law School, Washington University i; Frank P. Walsh, New York City, former joint, chairman National War Labor Board; David Walleerstein, Philadelphia, member American Bar Association; Jackson H. Ra1ston, Washington, D. C., umpire Italian Venezuelan Claim Commission; former Judge Alfred Niles, Baltimore, Md, professor, Maryland University Law School; Francis Fisher Kane, recently resigned United States District Attor- ney Philadelphia, Pa; Felix Frank furter, assistant to the Secretary of War and Assistant Secretary of Labor during the war, and now professor of law, Harvard. University; Swinburne Hale, New York, former captain, Mi1i- tary Intelligence Division, general staff, U. S. army; Ernst Freund, Chicago, professor, Chicago University Law School; R. c. Brown, Memphis, Tenn. i; sor, Harvard 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 organiza- tions to spy upon them and incite their members to criminal activities;
 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 department to make cases against innocent persons caught i'll the illegal raids;
 Criminal thefts of money, watches, jewe1ry 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 em- p1oyed by private detective agencies in the service of the steel and coal com panies. In other words, these com panies use the local and Federal gov ernments to- get rid of troublesome workers"
 Cruel and unusual punishments vis- ited 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 propa- ganda favorable to campaign of repres- sion, and to purchase boiler plate" dis tributed free to country newspapers to create popular opinion favorable to acts of the department;
 Compulsion of prisoners to be wit nesses against themselves in violation of the Constitution
 Brutal and indecent treatment of women taken in raids;
 Filthy conditions of confinement, and refusal to let prisoners communicate with friends or lawyers.
 The report, covering 6S printed pages and embracing hundreds of aff1- davits and exhibits, the latter including copies of secret instructions to special agents by William J. Flynn, chief of the Bureau of Investigation, and Frank Burke, assistant director and chief, de- c1ares that methods exactly similar to those employed in old Russia and Spain are now in use by the department in its treatment of men and women falling into it's hands.
 The report praised Assistant Secre- tary of Labor, Louis F. Post, ito whose courageous establishment of Ameri- can constitutional law in deportation proceedings are due the attacks that have been made upon him." In con- clusion the report says:
 There is no danger of revolution so great as that created by suppression, by ruthlessness, and by deliberate violation of the simple rules of American law and American decency * ~.
 It is fallacy to suppose that, any more than in the past, any servant of the people can safely arrogate to him. self unlimited authority To proceed upol SuCll d SuppOSlllOl IS to uSlly lllS fundamental American theory of the consent of the governed Here is. no question of a vague and threatening menace, but present assault upon the most sacred principles of our constitu tional liberty"
 The attorney generals attempt to re- ply to these charges before the Rules Committee was hasco. In an 80,O0O word statement he devOteS most of his time to an assault on Mir. Post, and calling names at those opposed to him.. He ignored over half of the facts pro duced, and his answer- 70 the rest con- sisted merely of denials by himself or his agents without any evidence of a trustworthy character offered.
 A copy of the Lawyers Report on the Illegal Practices of the Depart ment of Justice Under Attorney Gen eral Palmer" can be had by sending 35 cents 1stamps accepted) to Judson King, executive secretary, National Popular Government League, 637 Mun-
 D. l.