The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-04-07
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
A. F. of L. Leaders Betray
Tom Mooney


other leaders of public opinion bitterly assailed
the Supreme Court of California when Warren
Billings was again denied pardon December
I, 1890
John Haynes Holmes, eminent New York c1er-
syrnan and author, Indignantly stated:
This is a monstrous offense which should
make American citizens bow their heads in
shame and then lift them again in angry pro-
test.
But William Green president of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor did not utter word
of protest
George Gordon Battle nationally known law
yer attacked the California Supreme Court rul-
ing, and said
1t is fearful thought that men may be put
in prison for years because of their opinions.
The fight for the pardon of these men must go
on.
But Matthew Woll e-president of the
American Federation of Labor, member of the
American Bar Association. acting president of
the National Civic Federation, did not utter
word of protest
The American Civil Liberties Union telegraph
ed thus
All of us pledge to redouble our efforts to
get the facts of the frame up before the cour-
try and to bring all possible pressure to bear
on the new California administration to see
that you men are pardoned."
But the Executive Council of the American
Federation of Labor did not utter word Of
protest.
The twenty-five scripps- Howard newspapers
stated that Prejudice still rules the California
Supreme Court" and asked:
What is Governor Young going to do about
it? What is the National Commission of Law
observance and Law Enforcement going to do
about it? What is President Hoover going to
do about it? So long as Mooney and
Billings are kept in prison by prejudice. even
though that prejudice sways six justices of the
Supreme Court, they must not be forgotten.
The fight to pardon them, of course, must go
on.
But the chief journal of the American Fedora
ton of Labor, "the American Federationis1" did
not print one word of protest about this mon
strous offense."
Harry Elmer Barnes, world famous historian
and sociologist, called the California Supreme
Court decision plainly a defiance in the rest
of the country and world" He continued:
The message of the Supreme Court is "to
hell with the rest of the United States; we
will administer justice in the good old Cali
fornia way
But Paul Scharrenberg, secretary treasurer of
the California Federation of Labor, did not ut
ter a word of protest. He did not wish even
to be quoted"
United States Senator Thomas Schall from
Minnesota stated:
That six judges have allowed prejudice to
blind their eyes does not exculpate the Gov
ernor of California from blame if these two
innocent men longer remain in prison Be
cause some refuse to see the glazing ir-
regularities of that trail can fail to see the
chief witnesses were perjurers can close their
minds to an almost perfect alibi for each of
the men, these things only make the duty
more imperative upon clear-headed honest
men to keep up the fight.
But Frank Mcdonald, president of the Cali
fornia Building Trades Council, did not utter
word Of protest.
The two evening San Francisco newspapers
the DAILY News and the "Call-Bulletin" have
contemporary referred to the decision of the
Supreme Court as "a burning disgrace" and as
a terrible miscarriage of justice" Both papers
have printed front page editorials that have
come close to being contempt of court" The
Daily News stated:
1t is the failure in CALIFORNIA; legal pro-
cedure. deprvlng the Appellate Courts OF the
power to correct injustices, that entities both
Billings and Mooney to the status of men who
have been both grievousy wronged by the
state And for the justices who we'll know
this limitation to assert that the judicial ma
chinery had already functioned adequately in
Billings case is unfair to the point of misrep-
resentaton.
But the Labor Clarion official organ of the
San Francisco Labor Council, and its editor,
James w. Mullen, did not print single word
OF protest. In the city of the frame-up, in the
city where every worker and sympathizer Of Ia
Dor knows Mooney and Billings are innocent,
no representative of labor wanted to be quoted.
ITO BE CONTINUED