The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-06-04

all the details concerning lnter1er
ences with scheduled May Day ce
lbrations. Numerous arrests were
pulled off; some under the various
state criminal syndicalist" statutes
some by the agents of the fedora
Department Of Justice(?); and some
were merely arrested, held for
few hours and released without being
booked. Needless to state, in most
cases the authorities were themselves
the most flagrant violators Of their
own laws. Homes were entered with
out warrant, and papers widely
heralded as evidence" seized with
out even semblance of legality.
Law and order must be maintained,
even though every law be smashed
by the constituted authorities.
In New York City A. Jackira, !.
Amter, and E. Lindgren were ar
rested April 29th. Bail was first set
at $5O,OOO.O0 each; later reduced to
S25,O0O.00; cases dismissed by the
magistrate owing to lack Of evidence,
whereupon they were kidnapped by
the police and held illegally while
a grand jury hastily issued indict-
ments against them. When arraigned
for alleged violation Of the New
York criminal anarchy statute, bail
was set at s5,OOO.OO. Lindgren was
also charged under federal act
with sending seditious literature
through the mails. On being brought
before Federal Judge Learned Hand,
copy of The Communist was offer
ed by the district attorney in sup
port of his contention that bail
should be set at $4,000. 1t was at
this time that Judge Hand stated
that institutions that cannot sur
vive this sort of criticism are al
ready lost" and placed Lingrens bail
at $4,000. Three women, M. Kali
man, T. Jerson, and Mrs. Leisman
were also indicted for alleged viola
tion of this infamous New York
statute and held for trial under bail
of $5,OO0.0O each. Bail has been Sc
cured in all instances now and the
comrades are at liberty.
Philadelphia had the largest num-
ber Of arrests. April 25th forty-eight
men and women were arrested, some
in their homes, others on the streets.
They are charged with having in
their possession, and circulating
literature Of a supposed seditious
character. Thirty-eight of them have
been indicted under the Pennsylvania
anti-sedition act and bail has been
set at s., ,5Q0, which has been secured
for most Of them. In one instance a
home was entered wherein group
of people had come together; they
were arrested without warrant and
hustled off to Jail. In ransacking the
place the police found some home
made wine and proceeded to get
gloriously drunk and INDUCED in a
fight among themselves to demon
v
strate their respect for law and
order.
The secretlry Of the Midwestern
Division of the National Defense
Committee sends the information
that Pittsburgh, Pa, and Akron, Ash
tabula, Warren, Cleveland and Day
ton, Ohio, contributed victims-20 in
number-to the fear Of the capitalist
class of an uprising Of the work.
ers. As usual, the charge is "crim-
inal anarchy"
A number Of arrests were report
ed from Chicago Division. Most of
these did not have serious results.
However, there were two cases in
which the distribution Of alleged Sc
ditious literature is involved which
has been brought before the Imigra-
tion Department and deportation
proceedings instituted.
Milwaukee Division reports the ar
rests Of four men charged with the
distribution Of literature that urged
"force and violence" for the over
throw Of government. Three were
released on account Of lack of
evidence, but the fourth is being
held by the federal authorities.
In Kansas City 10 men and women
were holding a committee meeting
to make arrangements for May Day.
Enter the police. It appears there is
no criminal aranchy statute in Mis-
souri--an oversight which will pro-
badly be remedied at the next ses-
sion Of the legislature--but a couple
Of copies Of Marguerite Sanger's
pamphlets on Birth Control were
found, so the charge in this case
was "obscene literature which calls
to mind Aesop's fable Of the Lamb