Evening star., 1928-10-20
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

III dIIN oIdJS OI IeTIlJOTy, OF III NIlN
place subject to the jurisdiction Of the
United States conspire to overthrow,
put down, or TO destroy by force. the
Government of the United States, or to
levy war against them, or to oppose by
force the authority thereof, or by force
to prevent. hinder or delay the execu-
ton of any law of the United States,
or by force to seize. take or possess any
property of the United States. contrary
to the authority thereof. they shall each
be fined not more than $4,000 or i'm
prisoned not more than six years. or
both
Yet the prisoner was not tried-sH
charges we're ''nolle pressed"
* X X
Section Z appears even more directly
to cover cases OF reasonable or sub
versive attempts to influence soldiers.
The civil law is quite mild as compared
with military law. but unless the &C
cused is actually a soldier he cannot
be court-martialed. even though his
offense be committed upon military ter
ritory. like the attempt to influence the
soldiers of the washington Barracks
under command of Mai. Gen. w. %.
Connor
There was the case. for example ot
Paul Crouch in Hawaii. 1t is outlined
in the Daily Worker. a Communist
organ. which said in 1927:
Paul Crouch, q newspaper man. Is
a former sergeant in the intelligence
service of the United States Army in
Hawaii. He was court-marttaled and
sentenced to 40 years at hard labor. in
1925. for organizing a League OF Com
munistic Youth (within the Army.
After serving three years in the mill
tary Rock o. He'll OF Frisco Bay. his
sentence was commuted. and he was
released. Crouch is now on tour for
the All-American Anti-Imperislist
League"
1t is conceded that 40 years is long
sentence "at hard labor" but there were
eXtenuating circumstances modifying
criticism of the court-martial. viz, the
prisoner was an alleged journalist
x x X
Here is section of the Federal psnsl
code:
Whoever recruits soldiers or sailors
within the United States or In any
place subject to the jurisdiction there
Of. to engage in armed hostility against
the same, or opens within the United
States, or in any place subject to the
jurisdiction thereof. a recruiting station
for the enlistment OF such soldiers or
sailors to serve in any manner In armed
hostility against the United States shall
be fined not more than one thousand
dollars and imprisoned not more than
five years"
Section 8-Every person enlisted or
engaged within the United States, or in
any place subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, with intent to serve in armed
hostility against the United States shall
be fined one hundred dollars and I'M
prisoned not more than three years"
THAT is what the soldiers of Washing
ton Barracks missed)
The Daily Worker of September 80,
1927. reports speech made in WASH
ington by Crouch, the eX-pr1soner,
originally under sentence OF 40 years:
Crouch described vividly the brutality
in Army prisons and related the story
of his own imprisonment with Walter
, Trumbull for having attempted TO form
a labor organization In the Army. He
read letters from soldiers telling him
how thoroughly they agreed with him
and stating that he had underStated,
rather than exaggerated, his descrip-
ton of Army conditions. The next
night Crouch addressed the New Work
erS' School at 817 Thirteenth street
northwest and then left for New York.
The -Militarist Conference Is plan
ming an aggressive campaign against
militarism and the r. o. 7. c., C. M. T.
C. and similar schemes Of the capitalist
class"
Worker that during his three years in
the prison he made over a score of
prisoners converts to Communism, so
that vote of prisoners showed 81 for
Communism and % against it. How
many converts has the boring from
within" made in the Soldiery of the
Washington Barracks by the Russian
Communist whose case was "nolle
pressed? The story that the police
have no authority of arrest within the
barracks is contradicted by the District
attorneys Office.
At meeting of the executive COM
mittee OF the American Legion of the
District of Columbia, held last Tuesday,
it was proposed that the Legion should
appoint committee. made up OF vet
erans who are lawyers, who would make
a special study of the law applicable
to Communistic offenses and who would
assist the prosecuting attorneys and ad- I.
wise Congress in case new laws were I
found necessary to cover modern con-
ditions. Some of the anti-subversion 4
laws applied only to times of war; some
revision may be desirable.
Action was postponed until more could
be learned as to how Israel Peltz es-
capped prosecution. Or why his whole
Young Workers (Communist) League,
district 3, Spring Garden, PHILADELPHIA.
should not now be held accomplices of .
Peltz. and indicted under the law above .
quoted. How many of the members are
aliens?
There is no pretense that the reyolu-
ton proposed by the Communists is
merely flguratiVe. In the Daily Worker
September 1. 1927. Louis Engdahl a
Communist writer and leader, is quoted: 4
The experience of the Russian revo-
luton must convince every honest reVo-
lutionary that transfer to Communism
from capitalist state is possible only
oy means OF force. Only the dictator
ship of the proleCariat can overcome the
duplicity. cunning and organized resist
ance OF the bourgeoisie and their hench-
men,
In speech last Sunday in Washing
Ton Dy Bishop william Montgomery
Brown, D. D., an outspoken Communist,
VINO Is no longer recognized by the
Episcopal Church with which he was
formerly bishop, this language was
used:
Communism by a revolution will
again remake all social institutions
rengious, political, domestic and educa-
tional."
To illustrate the brutality OF soldiers,
the bishop described the Philippine
War: You remember the water cure.
I shrink from speaking of it. but 1t Is
just one of the terrible devices en-
ployed by our capitalist and Christian
Nation to torture and kill human life"