The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-10-24

communists on every pOlIlI.
The only witnesses for the sec
retary of state, against whom
the appeal was being filed,
were American Legion stool
pigeons who claimed that they were
present at the Party's nominating
conventions.
Secretary of state Frank Marsh
presented a fake letter which he
claimed to have mailed to Roy Ste
phens, candidate for congress from
the End District of Nebraska, notify
ing the Party's candidates as the
law required. The Party's lawyers,
l. E. Ferguson and J. A. Brown,
caught Marsh in a maze of lies, and
made him admit that he had acted
under orders from the American Le-
gion to prevent the Communists
from going on the ballot at all
costs. This decision attempts to
outlaw the Communist Party as a
political party in the state of Me-
braska.
Illegally Ruled Off Ballot.
The case was held on mandamus
proceedings Oct. 10, the Party's
lawyers calling as first witness the
secretary of state Attorney Fer
guson made him admit that the nee
essary papers had been filed, that
no objections had been made to the
sufficiency of the nominating con-
vention of the Party on Aug. 10, or
to the petitions of the qualified
electors which were filed with Marsh
within ten days allowed by the
statutes.
Despite his evasive replies, it was
clearly established that no legal no
tice of objection had been mailed to
any of the candidates. Marsh adj
mitted that his opinion of Sept. 29,
holding the convention and the nonn-
mating petitions of 1900 signatures
insufficient, was based on his per-
sonal investigation only. Legally,
objection should have been filed, the
candidates notified, and the hearing
held at which they should have been
given an opportunity to be heard as
to- the truth of the matters con-
tanned in Marsh's personal investi-
cation. 1t was his duty to accept
the nominating papers, unless some
one else filed objections in writing.
Legion Men State Witnesses.
1t was established by witnesses
Stephens and Edward L. Schlekau,
the latter Communist candidate for
governor of Nebraska, who were re-
spectively chairman and secretary Of
the Communist Nominating Conven-
tion, that both the first convention
of August 10 and the second one
of September % were attended by
more than 500 qualified voters and
that all legal requirements were
complied with.
R. A. kirkpatrick, state chairman
of the American Legion, and wit
ness for the state, showed his hos
tility to the Communist Party and
his intentions of preventing any way
possible the Communist ticket from
appearing on the ballot. R. w.
Pierce, also member of the Legion
and friend of Kirkpatrick, was the
second state witness, and was equal
ly prejudiced and jingoistic.
This frame-up was obvious to all.
The state law says nothing about
registration being a test of the
qualification of electors. On this
point the state constitution specifi-
cally states that citizenship, age
and residence are the only qualifi-
cations necessary.
All signers were legally qualified.
The frame-up character of this is
shown by the fact that the check-up
of the registration list was made
on September %, after the hearing
of Sept. "a, and with no opportunity
for the candidates to meet this OBJ
lection.
A basic point raised by the state,
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