The Llano colonist. [volume] (Llano, Calif.) 191?-1937, 1922-08-05
REACTION GONE INSANE


The monthly report Of the restric-
tons on free speech and free assem-
blage made for June by the American
Civil Liberties Union shows sharply
their varying thruout the country, and
particularly the increasing use of VIC
lence and of armed forces. In a state
ment given out with the summary of
the cases, the Civil Liberties Union
says:
in all the months Of growing reac-
ton since the war, there has never
been a time when the resort 10 force
to suppress free speech and lawful as
semblage was more general than it is
to-day. The reports coming to us from
all ove- the country of attacks by mobs
particularly in the South and South
west, and the use of military forces iii
strike areas without provocation, show
that the temper Of those in power is to
put their opponents out Of business
without regard to law. This attitude is
equally out Of lawless mobe and Of du-
ly-constituted authorities. The many
prosecutions Of radicals which marked
| the course of events two and three
! years ago have fallen off to fe7
scattered cases here and there, with the
exception Of California where vide
spread anti-radical campaign has been
in full swing for months under reac-
tionary commercial auspices. :"
In the introduction to the tabuIation
of cases in June, the following sum
mary is made by the Civil Liberties
Union:
Increasing violence has marked the
course Of the coal and textile strikes
during June, with the outstanding fea-
ture the fatal riot at Herrin, ILL.,, in
which more than twenty-five strike
breakers and two strikers were killed.
In both strikes the injunction is being
used repeatedly by the employers.
Mobilization of state troops has Just
been ordered to deal with the coal
strike in Colorado and in West Virgin
Ia. making six states in which the
troops are on duty in connection with
either the coal or textile strikes. Pro-
tests against the use of the troops with
out a showing of any substantial cause
have been sent the governors Of all the
states except West Virginia. Martial
law is in force in Mingo County, w.
Va, Carbon County, Utah, and has re-
Gently been ended in the Gallup fields
of New Mexico.
Thirty attacks by mobs. in which
five negroes and one white man were
killed, were reported in June. Only
nine Of the thirty cases involved ne !
groes. The excuses Of the Ku KIux
Khan, which is charged with the re-
sponsibility for the majority Of these
acts Of violence. have caused the in
dictment and conviction Of Khan Of
ficials in California, Phoenix. Arizona, |
and III Beaumont, Texas.
The harvest season brings the re-
newaI Of the persecution Of /. w. w.
harvest hands in The wheat districts IF
Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. On
the Pacific coast the persecution Of the
1 w. w. under the criminal syndica-
ism laws. especially in California and
continues undiminished.
The wholesale arrest and Indictment
IF members Of the Socialist Labor Par
y at Los Angeles brings a new radical
group into the long list Of California
criminal syndicalist prosecutions. The
courts of California and IlIi-
lois in June confirmed the convictions
n two Of the best-known communist
sases, those Of Miss Charlotte Anita
of Oakland and Of William
3ross Lloyd and other members Of the
Communist Labor Porty at Chicago.
Both cases will be taken to the Unit
d States Supreme Court.