The Daily Alaska empire., 1929-07-29
Civil Liberties in 1929.
(New York World.)

(New York World)
 The report of the American Civil Liberties Union for 1928-29 is the whole an encouraging docu- ment The Union finds, to be sure that in the last twelve months the number of cases of police inter ference with labor meetings have substantially 1n- creased especially in Ohio Massachusetts and Wis consin. It finds that the Boston censorship It still in force and as powerful as ever It finds grow ing tendency to make of the injunction in in- dustral disputes and it depores the recent decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Mime. Rosika Schwmmer But against these cases the Civil Liberties Union can note many favorable develop mentS
 To begin with it note fewer lynchngs in the twelve e-month period for which it reports than in any similar period in fifty years Of record keeping. It note only one case of mob violence "as against hundreds in the heyday of the Klan." It can note that deportations of aliens for their political economic views activities have fallen off to few occasional cases. It note that de- spite the adoption by Arkansas of an antievolution law and the dismissal of few teachers here and there for the harboring of some unorthodox opin- ion, the question of academic freedom was seldom raised in the last twelve months and of arbitrary interference are uncommon. It note finally, that in 1928 the last of the political prison CTS in State prisons under criminal syndcaism laws released, and that the only Federal polit ical prisoner remaining in jail received his pardon from the President.
 These facts are encouraging To a certain de- gree it seems possible of course, to account for them simply by taking note of the economic pros perity which large part of the country now en- joys. With wages fairly high and employment dtions in most industries reasonably steady, there are fewer industrial disputes and accordingly fewer direct clashes over contentious issues Meantime prosperity has way of begetting ambitions and distractions which sap the enthusiasm of most left wing movements. As MT Baldwin of the Civil Lib critics Union said some time ago, speech is rela- lively free but mo forward-looking movement is saying much because there too few to listen" In this sense it is possible to attribute the falling off in prosecutions of all kinds not to the fact that public opinion is more enlightened but to the fact that in prosperous times the temper of public opin- ion is less often put to revealing test
 | Nevertheless, though prosperity has been an im- portant factor in the situation, it is difficult to be- lieve that prosperity is the whole explanation and that there has not been healthy growth of the spirit of tolerance in this country in the last few years The sharp decline in 1ynchings in the South is direct evidence of the growth of such a spirit The pardoning of men and women in prison for the expression of political opinions is more evil dence Of the same thing. The sharp protest in New York against MT. Whalens experiment with strong arm tactics and the widespread denuncation of the Boston censorship evidence of more alertness on the pubhcs part in issues involving civil fiber ties. And meantime there is the unquestoned fact that various organizations which have thrved in the past upon intolerance have fallen on hard times Even within the last few days the news despatches have reported that the Ku Klux Klan is aband- oning its headquarters in Washington that the Key Men or America have been compelled to discontinue publication of their famous data sheets" owing to lack of public interest and that the much-bally- hooed attempt of the journal known as the Ma uonal Republic to revive the red menace" of 19le- 20 has been disowned by the gentleman who was re-
 ported to be it's chief sponsor
 Certainly in view of such evidence as this if is possible to believe that tolerance stands on s,,rer footing and that America is continuing to recover from its post-war case of nerves