Great Falls daily tribune., 1920-04-05
A CELEBRATED CASE

The attention of The Tribune has been called
to the case of Jacob Abrams, and four others
convicted in the United States district court OF
New York, under the espionage act, OF consplr-
ing during the war to bring the government into
contempt and to incte and provoke and encour-
age resistance to the United States in it's war
with Germany and advocating curtailment OF
things and products, towit: ordance and am
munition necessary to the prosecution OF the
war. There were four counts in the Indictment,
all in the language used in the espionage statute
and the court found them guilty. Tie supreme
court upheld the verdict, but Justice Holmes ana
Justice Brandeis signed dissenting OPINION.
So much public interest has been aroused by the
decision and the dissent of the two judges, that
we think our readers will be interested IN an
abstract of the courts decision considerably
more detailed than that heretofore carried by
the press dispatches in these columns. we
therefore make these extracts from law report
of the case issued by the West Publishing 20.
It appears that all of the five defendants were
born in Russia. They were intelligent, hao con-
siderable schooling, and at the time they were
arrested they had lived in the United States
terms varying from five to 10 years, but none
of them had applied for naturalization. Four
of them testified as witnesses in their own be-
hail. and of these three frankly avoWed that
they were "rebels," "revolutlonlsts, anarcn-
lists" that they did not believe in government
in any form, and they declared that they had
no interest whatever in the government OF the
United States. The fourth defendant testltled
that he was Socialist" and believed in "a
proper kind of government, not capltalstc,
but in his classification the government OF the
United States was "capitalistic.
It was admitted on the trial that the defend
ants had united to print and distribute the de-
scribed circulars and that 5000 of them had
been printed and distributed about the 22nd day
of August, 1918 The group had meeting
place in New York City, in rooms rented by de-
fendant Abrams, under an assumed name, and
there the subject of printing the circulars was
discussed about two weeks before the defendants
were arrested. The defendant Abrams, although
not printer, on July q, 1918, purchased the
printing outfit with which the circulars were
printed. and installed it in basement room
where the work was done at night. The cir
culars were distributed, some by throwing them
from window of building where one OF the
defendants was employed and others secretly, in
New York City.
The first of the two articles attached to the
Indictment is conspicuously headed, "The Hypoc-
risy of the United States and her Allies" After
denouncing President Wilson as a hypocrlte and
a coward because troops were sent into Russia,
it proceeds to assail our government IN general
saying:
Iis the presidents, shameful. cowardly silence about
the intervention reveals the hypocrisy of the
plutocratic gang in Washington and vicinity
1t continues:
"He (the PRESIDENT is too much of coward to come
openly and say we captasc nations cannot afford
to have proetarian republic in Russia
Among the capitastc nations Abrams testi-
fled the United States was included.
Growing more inflammatory as it proceeds,
the circular eliminates in:
"The Russian Revolution cries. Workers of the World
Awake Rise Put down your enemy and mine me- =.
Yes
This is clearly an appeal to the workers" of
this country to arise and put down by force the
government of the United States which they
characterize as their "hypocritical," "cowardly'
and "captalistic' enemy.
It concludes:
awake! Awake, you Workers of the world!-Revolu-
tionists.'
The second of the articles was printed in the
Yiddish language and in the translation is head
ed. "Workers-Wake Up" After referring to
"his Majesty, Mr.. Wilson, and the rest of the
gang, dogs of all colors," it continues:
.Workers Russian emigrants you who had the least
lief in the honesty of our government
which defendants admitted referred to the
United States government
"must now throw away confidence spit the
oed 90 ede voa SO calling forth ympathy
help to the prosecution of the war.
The purpose of this obviously was to persuade
the persons to whom it was addressed to turn
deaf ear to patriotic appeals in behalf of the
government of the United States, and to cease
to render it assistance in the prosecution of
the war.
1t goes on:
"wth the money which you have loaned, going
Germans but also for the of Russia
ers in the ammunition factories producing bullets,
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