The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-12-09
AMERICANISM
AND WAR
by Robert Bridges)

The First Amendment to the Con-
stitution of the United States reads
Congress shall make no law re-
speeding an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble
and to petition the government for
a redress of grievances"
The 18th Amendment is, if any
thing, still more sweeping in its pro-
visions declaring liberty to the peo-
pie of the United States:
Section /. All persons born or
naturalized in the United States, and
subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
are citizens of the United States and
of the state wherein they reside. No
state shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United
States, nor shall any state deprive
any person of life, liberty or prop
erty, without due process of law, nor
deny to any person within its iuris-
diction the equal protection of the
laws.
Section 2. Congress shall have
power to enforce by appropriate leg
islation the provisions of this ar
ticle."
There is no ambiguity about these
words. They are sweeping and pow
erful.
Yet | contend that the United
States authorities during and since
the war have swept away these con-
eli a1 ICrl1 re in
Some have been hurled into prison
without due process Of law and de-
prived of their liberty; the right of
free speech has been openly denied.
Still the mad drunkenness goes on.
Drugs and whisky are not the only
things that will make men drunk.
They can be drunk on POWER. Now,
when a man is drunk on drugs and
whisk, the remedy is to take the
drugs and whisk away from him.
And likewise when men are drunken
with power the remedy is to deprive
them of that power.
The espionage act was passed to
prosecute pro-Germans and spies but
| never yet have heard of a single
spy or German they caught. They
were used to Cypress good old-fash-
toned Americans who protested
against some of the infamous abuses
they observed. The Union Record
of Seattle and the Equity printing
plants were closed; but have you
heard of any of the profiteers-those
who defrauded the government of
hundreds of millions of dollars-be-
brought to justice?
A few Judges have managed to re-
main sane during and after the war.
A few of them held their heads and
realized that the frenzy sweeping
the country was undermining our
liberties.
In the case of ex parte Gilroy, 257
Federal Reports, ITO, IL, Judge
Mayer said:
Vital as is the necessity in time
of war not to hamper acts of the eX-
ecutive in the defense of the nation
and in the prosecution of the war, of
equal and perhaps greater impor-
lance, is the preservation of consti-
tutional rights"
In New York a fellow named Ro-
sansby was sent up for 20 years for
printing leaflet headed:
"The Hypocrisy of the United
States and her Allies.
Awake! Awake! You Workers
of the World. Revolutionists!"
In commenting on this case, JUS
tice Holmes of the United States SUI
preme court seems to have held his
head and not to have gone clear
crazy like some of the rest. He said
"In this case sentences of 20 years
Imprisonment have been imposed for
the publishing of two leaflets that
believe the defendants had as much
right to publish as the government
has to publish the Constitution of
the United States now vainly in
volled by them"
The leaflets were in the Yiddish
language.
A man of Everett named Shafer
was sent up for many years; among
other things he had leaflet on his
wall which said, Don't be a soldier;
be q man"
And the immigration authorities
seized Alexander Snellenberg of Sc
attic, president of the Occidental
Sheet Metal Workers, a man of fam
lily, a native of Holland who has
been in America for 25 years, and
who supported the government in the
war. He was charged with being an
anarchist: They raided his home,
seized his books, and among them
were the works of--who do you sup
pose?-Tolstoy greatest of Russian
writers and one of the best men that
ever walked this earth since Christ
died on Calvary.
Snellenberg was put under $4,000
bail and held for two years and his
business ruined. Local immigration
office recommended that he be de-
ported; but when his case reached
Washington it was dismissed with
an apology to Mr.. Snellenberg, and
a finding that the case "was base
less"
Ito be continued next week.