The Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1931-1952, 1931-08-13
colored Americans
Denied Civil Rights

Continued from Page y
prosecutions and for meetings brok-
en- up or prohibited, the Union finds.
Free speech prosecutions totaled
1880, against 22S in 1929. Negroes,
strikers, Communists, and aliens
have been the principal victims of
repression in recent months.
Sections where intolerance looms
strongest are: the South. particular
ly aroused since the 1929 textile
strikes and the invasion by Commn-
nists with their doctrine of social
equality for all races; the Los An
ge!es district, where the Better Amer
lea Federation "does its patriotic
duty; Pennsylvania, where the in
trenched coal and steel interests rule
by use of police, sheriffs, gunner,
injunctions, and sedition proseeu-
tons: New England textile towns,
and New Jersey and Connecticut In
dustrial towns.
More important gains were scored
by the champions of civil liberty III
in the year ending June l than III
any recent year, the Union finds.
Three notable decisions were hand
ed down by the U. S. Supreme Court;
it avoided the Minnesota press gag
law, reversed conviction under the
California anti-red flag statute, and
required recognition of bona fide
trade union and dissolution of a
company union. In New York the
Court of Appeals reversed the Post
Office ban on Mooney Billings en-
velopes, and reversed the convietioi.
Of Mary War bennett for sending
her pamphlets, 1.-THE Sex Side OF
Life" through the mails.
Five convictions under the Ohio
criminal svndicalism laws were re-
versed by the state court of appeals,
and an Ohio judge held that law I'M
constitutional Elmer Smith was re-
instated to law practice in Washing
ton State; he had been disbarred in
1925 for his defense of the Centralia
|. w. W.-Armistice Day prisoners;
one of those prisoners, was released
as sane by new Jury. In New Jer-
sey an anti-Fascist. railroaded to an
insane asylum for his views, was
freed.
Barring of alien pacifists from cit
izenship by the L. S. Supreme Court
tops the list of set-baeks recorded by
the Civil Liberties Union. In the
Philippines the Communist party has
been outlawed. North Caroline
stands out in the record for the fail
ure of every action against mob lead
ers and officials charged with muir
der and assault on strikers. In Cal
ifornia nine workers in the Imperial
Valley were convicted, solely for
strike propaganda. some receiving
sentences Of three to ~ years. the
longest ever imposed for such aetiv-
tiles.
New repressive laws REQUIRE alien
registration in Michigan, with depor-
tation of foreigners illegally there /;
compel Bible-reading in Arkansas
public schools and force school
teachers to utter special oaths of
loyalty in Washington, Michigan,
Montana, and Delaware.
Other notable setbacks listed are
Gov Young's refusal TO pardon Tom
Mooney and Gov. Hartlev's failure
to liberate the Centralia (Wash.) l.
w w. prisoners: the unpublished
killing by the New York police Of
two Communist workers, one a
strike picket and one parade lead
Pr: the Post Office ban on Revolu-
tionary Age and six other radical
papers. sustained by a federal court
prosecution in Atlantis of six Com
munists for ineitng to rebellion"
because they held meetings Of Negro
and white workers dismissal of Prof
derhcrt A. Miller FROM Ohio State