The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1920-05-21
Echoes of Secy.
Wilson's Ruling
By Paul Hanna,

staff correspondent. The FEEDER. Press. |
WASH HINGrON.-Secrotary Wilson IS
ruling in favor of the Communist |
Labor Party of America is kick that |
sends Attorney General Palmer reeling
a long way toward the end of his game
of bluff, bluster and secret persecu
tion of political opinion.
That part of the department of JUS
tcc which received the full force of
the blow is represented by Francis P.
Garvan, assistant attorney general in
special charge of WITHDRAWING un-
der the New Freedom. 1t was Garvan
who said of the destitute wives and
children of men deported on the Blu
ford that they were better off without !
such men, no matter what their suffer
ing and privation. Garvan is also
author of the celebrated statement that
the illegal raids conducted by his Of
flee had "create8 belief in God
among the agitators for
economic iustfS
the o1ienH dspartment m9gS S'is' is heid %sH re p
sponsible for lead q ser up the
bling alley of polit 10 Ey where
he now finds himself% z recogni-
tion that the jig is 2 Arvan S
furious outcry: "Every s. ~. W.
W., communist or whatA 0S now
find in the Communist La, 3 ~ al
baven where he can continty sgitation
without abandoning one of his theories
or purposes"
The anguish of Palmer and Garvan
10 ba, h., Lo;r al,
hensiOn that the White House will
sustain Secretary Wilson unless the
department of Justice shall lay it's
cards on the public table and there
STOW by argument and the law why
men who aim at drastic alteration of
our institutions by peaceful, const-
tutional means should be declared out
laws.
1t is reliably reported that Secretary
Wilson s sensational decision is merely
sequel to the recent cObinet meeting
at which Palmer tried and failed to-
convince the president that seizure
without warrent, Imprisonment with
out trial and deportation without cvi-
dence were the proper and American
way of dealing with persistent agi.
tators against the rule of putocracy.
Two facts are known. Louis F.. Post
wrote out his resignation when as
acting secretary of labor. he began his
policy of releasing aliens against whom
Palmer could produce no evidence ex-
cept loud-mouthed innuendo and news
paper headlines.
William b. Wilson is ready to quit
as secretary of labor If, without con
sidering the facts of the law, the
White House should give its support
to Attorney General Palmer and Gar
van.
Politically considered, Palmer has
been utterly isolated for the time be-
ing. As a candidate for president he
has been shown to have no following
anywhere. From the A. F. of L. cabinet
to the ]. W. w. he is detested by
labor. Federal judges denounce him
from the bench as ridiculous tyrant
All the middle class liberals who once
supported this administration despise
and revile the attorney general. Aside
from Judge Gary's following and n
few liberty baiters in Congress he
stands absolutely alone.
To self-respecting man in Palmer S
place there is only enc course open. lie
must meet and disprove the labor
department s indictment of his meth
ods and force the President to fire
both Post and Secretary Wilson. or
he must resign himself. That is. if he
is a self-respecting man.
But nobody familiar with his Off
cial course charges Palmer with being
that. His real calibre is shown in the
so'called movement by Congress to i'm
peach Post. To the extent that the
impeachment effort had basis at
all, it was founded upon Palmer s
tale-bearing about the department of
labor. Fools and knavcs in the House
took up the charges and instituted
hearings. Posts counsel sat through
tho imitation Lusk proceedings, and
calmly waited for their chance to
refuse the slander and to present their
client as witness in his own defense.
ALI this time the attorney general kept
far in the background. He has not
dared associate his name or his office
directly with any of the charges
against Post. He has known that facts
and the law were with Post, and has
studiodsly avoided direct encounter.
That spectacle of shuffling evasion
gave Secretary Wilson his final
measure of the attorney general, who
stood revealed as man afraid to
finish what he had started Members
of Congress who began the proceed
:ngs found themselves marooned with
Palmer, unable to proceed without
being faced by the man they strove
to destroy. So they tried 10 duck on.
of the whole mess by concluding the
hearings abruptly,
At such moment Secretary Wilson
strikes the hot iron with the slcdge OF
his Communist Labor Party decision
Let Palmer dodge the sparks if he
can.
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