The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-11-23

| for Kidding this country OF danefOuS
aliens. Now, if YOU were secretary of
labor, what would YOU do in a case
like this:
Nicolai Mansevitch is a Russian by
birth. He has lived in Detroit for
eight years. During that time he WIS
an employee of the Ford Motor factory.
He bought himself house costing
$500 He paid $500 down on it, and
by later instalments ran his equity in
the property to $1,000. He had taken
out first citizenship papers. He mar
ried and had three little girls. To all
appearances, Nicolai Mansevitch was a
quiet and orderly man. The friends of
Manscvitch used these things in his
favor-to the limit.
What were the facts, what was the
truth about Mansevitch?
On September 2, 1921, Nicolai Man
sevitch was arrested by agents of the
Department of Justice. The charge
against this outwardly quiet and peace
, able man was that in reality he was an
anarchist. The charge against him
was that he belonged to several societies
of an extreme anarchist character. The
charge against him was that he was
not only member of these societies,
but that he was secretary of one, that
he acted as a delegate at soviet meet
ings, that he preached their principles,
and circulated their literature.
On September 3, the following day,
Nicolai Mansevitch was given hearing
before the immigration officer for the
Detroit district. This hearing was
granted him according to law. At this
meetin he admitted the charges against
him. He added to the charges against
him. He admitted more than was
charged against him An interpreter
was necessary, because Mansevitch. al
though he had had lived for eight years
in America, he had not found the time
to learn the English language.
The word for word record of this
! hearing was referred for action to the
/ department of labor in Washington. 1t
happens that the administration of the
immigration department has been wise
| ly and properly made one of the func
| tions of that government department,
which was purpOsely created to safe
I guard the interests of the American
working man.
| Ordered Him DepOrteG
After sitting the evidence against
Mansevitch and reviewing the record
{
Ihe department of Labor ordered him
! deported The law left no course to he
pursued in the case of confessed ali
archist Common sense and decent
respect for the safety Of our country
left no other course to be pursued in the
case of Nicolai Mansevitch.
| What American wants an anarchist
quietly doing his stuff in our Amer
lea? What would you have done, Mr..
American citizen, if you had been secre-
tary of labor and it was part of your
solemn duty to rid your cuntry of dan
gerus aliens?
Nicolai Mansevitch was finally de-
ported-in May. 1924 nearly three
years after the hearing at which he
admitted he was an anarchist and be-
lieved in the destruction of property
and the killing of government officials.
1t took nearly three years to settle
this clear and simple case against Mic
olaf Mansevitch because Immediately
after he was arrested a group of De-
troit people and Detroit newspaper
began a determined campaign to block
the deportation of elf-confessed enc
my of our institutions. Even now,
when the anarchist Mansevitch is back
in Russia. they keep spreading protests
against the injustice" of his arrest and
removal, and working for his trium-
plant return.
The campaign of blockade finished in
failure. But before it did so, those
who waged it exhausted every legal
device and tried every pressure of sen
timent to save self confessed anar-
chist. Because Mansevitch could af-
ford no lawyer. four lawyers were en-
ployed to defend him-or volunteered
to his aid. Stays in favor of Man
sevitch were demanded and granted.
Rehearings of the Mansevitch case were
demanded, and granted. One after the
other, each rehearing only fixed upon
Mansevitch more than ever the
character of an undesirable and
dangerous alien. One after the other,
each rehearing only confirmed the order
for his deportation. One after the
other each rehearing only confirmed
the champions of Mansevitch in their
misguided efforts to save him from de-
pOrtation. A writ of habeas corpus
was obtained in New York---in New
York because its advisors. l understand,
had their doubts of getting such writ
i'll Detroit. When the writ was dis
missed, the case was appealed to til =
-
The technicality was that Grodno. the
place of Mansevitch's birth, was no
longer in Russia but in Poland. And
in an opinion signed by Mr.. Justice
Brandeis, noted as a liberal. the De
partment of Labor was upheld and its
order for the deportation of Mansevitch
was once more confirmed, whether
Grodno was i'll Russia or Poland.
/.
moves aimed to bring sentiment to bear
in favor of Mansevitch were many in
number, and even more persistent The
immigration law leaves to the secretary
of labor measure of discretion in
handling special cases, and / was del
uged with u flood of petitions and tel
egrams begging me to save NicoIai Man
sevitch from deportation. The attor-
ney general of the United States was
likewise deluged. So was President
Coolidge. Altogether a volume of eff
fort that would bring ibout the mill
lenium. if that effort were general and
really for the interest of our country,
was put forth in the interest of Aaar-
chist Nicolai Mansevitch. And in May
of this year, Nicolai Mansevitch was at
last depOrtcd. | am firmly convinced
with right and justice.
Organized From Detroit
This organized campaign for Manse
witch was organized in the main by
welfare workers purporting TO represent
the Detroit Committee OF the American
Civil Liberties Union. | am willing to
believe these people thought they were
acting for upright ends. They were
misguided and misinformed, neverthe-
less, and their campaign gained the
strength it had by the spread of misin-
formation. The newspaper that came
to their support did 50 fer reasons of
it's own The DpWSDaDar was tho no.