The Washington herald., 1921-01-20
Their Testimony Based
on Word of Aliens,
He Charges.
MOTIVES
OF FOUR LAWYERS
Attorney General Tells
Senators He viii We'll
come Inquiry.

use VI pO"Ci W aSVhlS Ol the De-
partment of Justice in making
raids and arrests under the espion-
age, deportation and other wartime
acts were vehemently denied yes
terday by Attorney General Palmer
Rfore the Senate Judiciary Com
mfttee.
At the same time the Attorney
General struck back viciously at his
critics. He accused four of the
twelve lawyers who signed the brief
setting forth the charges on which
he was examined of having per
sonal and politicaf' motives and
something at stake" in their at
tacks on the department.
These men, the Attorney General
asserted, acted as counsel for aliens
arrested in the roundup of ex-
tremists conducted by the depart
ment in various cities. The men he
named are Prof. Felix Frankfurter
and Prof. z. Chafee, of the Harvard
University Law school: Francis
Fisher Kane, former United States
district attorney at Philadelphia,
and Jackson H. Ralston, of WASH
ington.
Based on Word of Aliens.
These men have based their
charges on the testimony of aliens"
Palmer asserted in testifying. They
have made no effort to hear the de-
partment's side Of the case, pre-
ferring to accept the stories of the
aliens, some of whom they de-
Tended"
Sharp clashes between the Attor-
ney General and Senator Walsh,
Democrat, of Montana, punctuated
ing to show that Palmer had been
making arrests under the deporta-
tion act without authority, as the
act delegates this power to the
Secretary. of Labor. Palmer's re-
sponse disclosed serious differences
existing between the Department OF
Justice and the Department of
Labor in handling deportation caseA
His department, he stated. has made
arrests only on the instructions of
the Secretary of Labor and none on
its own initiative.
But while, under the orders of the
Secretary of Labor, he has been
making arrests and bringing the
prosecutions for violations of the
deportation act, Assistant Secretary
Of Labor Post, the Attorney General
charged, has been cancelling the
cases with impunity.
Says Post Dismissed Cases.
Mr.. Post has accepted almost any
excuse to dismiss them" Palmer as
serted.
TT can't be said that he only dis
missed cases where membership in
an organization formed with the
purpose of overthrowing the govern
ment was not shown. It has hap
pened in a great many other cases"
Questioned by Senator Borah. Re-
publican, of Idaho, the Attorney
General said President Wilson now
has before him an application for
the pardon Of Eugene v. Debs, now
confined in the Federal penitentiary
at Atlanta. He stated that the rec
that the department
has submitted to the White House
in connection with the case are not
favorable to his release"
Figures submitted by Palmer
showed that his department made
1900 arrests under the war stat
utes. Convictions of 5,270, he said.
were obtained: 1924 were ACQUITTED.
while $3.50 are pending. In the es-
pionage cases, 5Sl convictions were
obtained: 736 otherwise disposed of,
and 315 still are pending.
Replies TO Untermyer Attack.
The Attorney General yesterday
also issued a statement in reply to
the speech of Samuel Untermyer,
the administration of the
during the past eight
years, and Palmer's administration
of the office of Alien Property Gus
todiaR.
In his statement, Palmer alluded
to the recent conviction of Inter
myers friend and former associate"
for conspiracy to violate the trad.
ing with-the enemy act, and de
clared Untermyer had. threatened
him with attack, quoting the latter
as having warned him in an Alien
Property Custodian case: you
ought to be more careful about op-
posing the wishes of pen with bit
ter tongues and vitriolic pens"
Palmer left his office Immediately
after debating his statement. At
tempts to reach him were futile,
and none of those at the department
would say just whom the Attorney
General referred to as Untermyer's
friend and associate.
II am perfectly wising," he states,
ito accept responsibility for the ad-
ministration of these two offices
during those periods and court the
fullest investigation into the ad-
of each.
Mr.. Untermyer's criticism of the
Alien Property Custodian's office Is
chiefly a criticism of the act of Con-
gress under which the custodian op-
Grated. He never approved of the
taking of enemy property as a war
measure, much less the sale of any
o: it to American citizens as author
lied by law.
"Iis allegation of the use of pa,
tronage in that Office for political
purposes, confessedly based upon
rumors, is wholly without warrant
or justification in fact. This charge
has been made before, and / filed
with a committee of Congress a list
of the names of the directors and
attorneys appointed by me, serving
the corporations whose enemy
owned stock 1 had taken over, and
this list showed that IS per cent of
them were Republicans"