Evening star., 1928-10-20


! Washington Army Barracks, except for
the glare of searchlights and incandes-
cent decorations The annual Army
carnival was in progress, and thousands
of interested spectators were milling
around They we're mostly In the
| illumination, put occasionally a prom
enader would pass into darkened ave-
nue., and right there is where young
man slipped q circular into the hands
of stranger. That stranger happened
to be a detective OF the Metropolitan
Police, and as soon as he reached llgnt
he read the following:
Fight against imperialist wars
Fight for your own interests!
Soldiers! Young workers and students.
The Army's biggest show on earth"
the military exposition and carnival. is
to be staged October 4th, 5th and 9Th.
A foretaste of the vast military prepara-
| tions for a new World War is to be given
| the people of Washington, the workers
and farmers of America.
Why the feverish speed in armament
building? Why the huge appropriations
| for military and naval purposes? Why
| the holding of such military expositions
as this one?
The capitalist governments are max
| ing feverish preparations for new and
more destructive war: (a) between the
| big imperialist countries over the spoils
tof world profits UNITED States Great
| Britain: (bl against the growing
movement of the oppressed colonial and
semi-colonial countries (China, Mica
ragua): (c) against the Soviet Union.
the first workers republic. Billions Of
dollars are being spent. Thousands of
young workers and students are being
militarized for the bosses use in the
! coming war. AT the same time such
militarist organizations as the National
| Guard, State Troopers, ETC., are used
against the workers when they fight
for e. better livelihood New Bedford,
Western Pennsylvania John Porter,
militant young worker, formerly in
the Army and active in the New Bed
! ford strike, who exposed the nature OF
capitalist militarism, and who fought
| against 1t, was prosecuted and jailed.
He was sentenced to 212 years at hard
labor for daring to take stand for
workers and against the bosses.
Fight against imperialist war!
| Fight for the release of John Porter!
Fight against the r. o. T. c., C. M.
| T. C and other military organizations.
Use your military knowledge in the
| interests of the workers-for work
ers' militia.
Defend the Soviet Union-fatherland
| of all workers and oppressed peoples!
For workers and farmers govern
ment!
Join the
YOUNG WORKERS COMMUNIST
LEAGUE,
District s-1924, Spring Garden.
Philadelphia, Pa.
The officer Immediately turned back
| to the passer of the subversive appeal
and placed him under arrest, on a
4! charge of 'disorderly conduct" How
many hundreds or thousands of other
copies of that appeal had already been
distributed to the soldiers and the pub
| lie it was impossible to learn. but the
| fact that one had fallen directly into
| the hands of an officer appeared incon-
! trovertible proof of more serious
charge to follow. A judge in a Wash
ington court has defined ''diSorderly
conduct as amy conduct that is not
orderly"
! Out in Kansas, last week, two men
were convicted and sentenced to i'm
priSonment for distributing circulars ad-
| vocating atheism, for the court held that
such circulars were likely to cause dis
turbance of the peace, hence were un-
| lawful, despite the so-called free
| speech" guaranty of the Constitution.
So they went to jail for atheism. In
California, Two men were arrested this
week for advocating communism and
revolution. and tons of Subversive liter
ature were captured They. too, serve
| Jail sentence. We have freedom of
| speech" but not freedom of treason in
these United States of America The
| National Capital is not in either Cali
| fornia or Kansas.
At police headquarters, it has been
| explained that one object in placing
Israel PeltZ under arrest, when he is
| alleged to have appealed to the soldiers
of the Army to ''use your military
knowledge in the interests of the work
| erS" and to defend the Soviet Union
fatherland of all workers and oppressed
| people," was to protect him from being
beaten up as soon as the soldiers had
| read his inSolent appeal. 1t would not
| be fair to let loose several hundred
| patriotic soldiers on one Russian Jew
perhaps not even a naturalized
| American and therefore ignorant of the
American spirit. The soldiers might
not have been reasonably self-reStrained
in throwing him over the wall So he
police court justice.
Then the district attorney adjusted
| his technical glasses and found that
to hand a suSversive appeal in the dark
to detective, under the illusion that
i that officer might be soldier and open
to treason, was different from distrib-
uting copies of them by the hundreds.
broadcast, to be blown about by the
| winds of heaven. The latter act would
be "disorderly,' while the sly act was
technically quite orderly" So the case
was "nolle pressed" and the Russian
presumably retarned to the Young
Workers tCommuniStl League" in the
city whose chief indoor sport today is
arresting its police force instead of its
Communists.
An inquiry in the Office of the dis
trict attorney, where the "nolle" had
been SO quickly evolved. drew atten-
tion to certain laws under which it
might have been interesting 10 have
tested the case. For example. see the
| Federal penal code of 1910, annotated by
George E. Tucker and Charles w.
Blood. There are sections l TO 8,
which cover treason, rebellion and in
surrection. fixing penalties of $4,000
fine and 10 years imprisonment. 'or
both," and the editors explain treason
against the United States may be COM
mitted by any one resident or sojourn-
ing within its territory and under the
protection of its laws, whether a citi-
zen or an alien" That means a Rus
sian alien too.
Section seems to be more specifcal-
ly interesting; IF two or more persons