The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-02-26
BLASPHEMY TRIAL
OP { N S.; CASE
is VERY WEAK
Continued from page u.


dismissal of the charges pointed out
that when the blasphemy law was
passed, church and state in Massa-
chusetts had not yet been separated,
that at that time nearly the whole
population was of the congregational
list faith, while now there is cosmo
politan population with many relig
ious differences. He declared that
anyone had the right to believe or dis
believe in god, and ought to be
guarded in that right.
Cannot Improve the Thing.
The prosecuting attorney, /. Man
luel Rubin, declared Bimba was not
on trial for heresy. He argued how
ever, that the people must be pro-
tected in their belief in god, and that
the crime consists in utterances de-
lsigned and calculated to destroy and
disrupt the generation that men may
have in god He said the law under
which Bimba is being held was re-en-
acted by the state legislature in 1921
He declared that there can be no
Improvement upon this law that it
must stand for all time. He said it
was upon the veneration for religion
that the government is founded, and
that Bimba in seeking to destroy the
government, was first seeking to de-
stroy that generation and the belief
in god. In urging the court to go
ahead with the sedition charges the
prosecutor cited the case against Ben
Gitlow in New York and William
Bross Lloyd in Illinois.
Judge King announced that he
wanted to get thru the trial as quick
ly as possible. He said he would be
glad to grant both motions to dis
miss. He had heard, he said, of the
dissentions among the Lithuanians in
the northeastern section of the city
for the past six years. He said that
the 1888 blasphemy decisions had
been made by divided court and he
was inclined to believe with the min
GRITTY. But he said he would still have
to abide by the decision made nearly
century ago. He didn't think that
Bimba's speech was a decent, order
ly confession of faith or unfaith, and
that it was possibly out of place at
the time and occasion" So he wanted
to go on with the case.
Question Sedltlon Charge.
In regard to the sedition charge he
pointed out that it was passed in 1919
while war sentiment was still rife in
the land. Possibly at this time," he
said, 'there is no occasion for an en-
forcement Of this statute"
'The language used" he continued,
sis not the ordinary language of In
element. 1t is more the language of
prophecy"
Nevertheless, he overruled both
motions and the trial got under way
\ with the swearing in of Is govern
ment witnesses.
First Witness Caught in Lie.
Eucado told how he had attended
the mass meeting at which Bimba
made his speech. The gathering had
been advertised as a protest against
the white terror in Lithuania. The
defense brot out that Bimba's declara-
tons about god had been made in
connection with his description of the
fortunes visited n imprisoned Com
munists in Lithuania He had asked
how there could be a god when a
clerical government (Catholic) in
Lithuania murders and tortures its
workers.
The witness tried to bring in the
usual oratorical trick about the ex-
istence of the soul. He declared that
Bimba had said that he didn't have a
soul, that he had soles on his shoes.
but the witness, Eucado, was forced
to admit that the speech was in Lith-
uanian in which language the word
for soul is "dushe" and that for sole
of shoe is "padas" so that it was i'm
possible to make this play upon words
in Lithuanian as one can in English.
1t was very evident that Eudaco
had been carefully coached in an in
depreciation of Bimba's speech that
the prosecution is seeking to get
across to the court. He conveniently
forgot everything else. He couldn't
remember what Bimba had said in his
speech Immediately prior to or after
the alleged damaging statements,
thus failing to give any general trend
of Bimba's utterances.
Aren't you more interested in fight
ing the people who brot Bimba here
than you are in fighting the princi-
pies for which Bimba stands?" asks
Attorney Hoffman.
Eudaco refused to admit this, how
e'sr' llA
Revolutionary Soma connos.d hv