The Connecticut labor news., 1922-11-24

AN>ShAaANSo oI pOl1l1Nd1 dAllldllOl partisanship or the church's una1tera ble attitude of condemnation against socialism, eminent authorities of the Catholic church are beginning to take notice of the outrageous treatment i that the United States government is
 according to the political prisoners
 imf1ured in federal jai1s because they dared to be honest and opposed the European war. 'A
 For 50 years, the Catholic church
 has waged unrelenting hostility to-
 ward the tenets of socialism and has
 not wavered in the slightest degree,
 from denouncing that brand of po1iti-
 cal philosophy .. ..~>
 But, while the authorities of the
 American branch of the Catholic
 church are united in their condemna-
 ton of socialism as political creed
 or doctrine, they are also united in
 their attitude that it is un-American to
 imprison socialists just because they
 are socialists and to keep them in jail
 simply because they ayailed them
 selves of the precious right of free speech. The church authorities see in that arrogant action of the govern ment, a dire threat against the rights of all the people.
 ooCldISlS uIuSl AOl UC 1IIIpI1SOuSu because of their political opinions, is the unanimous decree and they are beginning to array themselves against what is nothing less than crime against the American Constitution While the church has no liknig for the teachings of socialism and directs all it's forces against that political cult, yet the church does not sanction the punishing of men and women merely because they choose to fol- low that peculiar school of political thought.
 In the latest issue of his diocesan newspaper, the Providence Visitor, the Right Rev. William A. Hickey, bishop of the Providence diocese, formerly of Worcester, prints scath- ing denunciation of the course of the administration in keeping political prisoners behind bars for holding their own rightful ideas on the sub ject of war. The bishops paper calls the matter national scandal and calls upon President Harding to grant at once. The article fol- lows:
 ''The Joint Committee on Amnesty has just been enlarged to include groups from several other cities, for the purpose of carrying on a nation wide campaign for the release of the political prisoners. Some $ men are still confined in federal jails for writ ten or spoken opposition to the war. None of them is serving time for an act of violence All of them have been in confinement for at least three i. than four years. The great majority l
 ef;11 &0 serve, and II of them more than I6 l years In general, their utterances l against war amounted to no more 1 han the assertion that this is cap talistic war; or that the working classes should go on strike against ! he war. The case of Dan Buckley | S typical. He received 10 year sentence for publishing or permitting o be, published in the bulletin of the :. w. w. union of which he was sec etary, statements to the effect that he war was made by the capitalist lass, and that the union would de- end members who had been arrested or failing to register. MT. Buckley S still in prison, although his appli .ation for pardon was under consid- ration months ago. Nor is this the worst of the situation. It Is probable hat the majority of these prisoners we're not proved to be guilty of even legal utterances; for more than half # them were among the groups of o8 vho were convicted on 400 counts in -hicago by jury which took only 5 minutes to do the job.
 All the other countries that par icipated in the war freed their politi al prisoners within a year after the signing of the armistice. President Harding has steadfastly refused to grant general amnesty. He contends ts merits. If we are to judge by the ate at which the Department of Jus ice has moved up to the present in he examination of individual cases, he process will not inprobably con inue for two or three more years 1 the department is acting | on the theory that since these men be- l Ionged to the I.W. W. they must l nave been guilty of serious crimes in 1 addition to the things that they wrote l or said. Therefore, the trial records 1 must be searched and scrutinized for l testimony which would tend to con meet the prisoners with such offenses, 1 for example sabotage even though l hey were not formerly convicted on i such charges. Any man whose rec ord reveals indications of this sort l s not. regarded as fit subject for | ,lemency. Apparently; few, if anys of the cases thus far examined have yielded this information
 This theory and this method are essentially uni just The sentence inn l