The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-09-09
'Trial by Prejudice"
Is Not Without Prejudice
Hard Facts of Class Struggle Cited IN Book
Refute Flimsy Thesis of Lawyer
By SENDER GARLIN.

h@NANAD -
ttDICH man, poor man, beggar-
N man, thief--al1 are subject to
human prejudice. No matter how
respectable or cushioned q man may
seem to be, he is still in danger
unless there is cool impartiality
to all in the judicial system. This
our Constitution guarantees. $50
did the Constitution, by the bred
Scott decision, guarantee slavery
SGD. But neither constitutions,
laws, nor systems Of procedure can
assure even-handed justice. Only
a recognition Of the frailties Of
human nature, realization that
emotions are compelling and the
will to believe dominant, decent
respect for dissident opinion, and
most of all tolerance, will tend to-
ward situation where trial by law
will supplant trial by prejudice"
This is the credo of Trial by Pre-
judice,* book by Arthur Garfield
Hays, general counsel for the Amer
lean Civil Liberties Union.
The 358-page volume contains a
discussion Of some Is outstanding and
typical cases in which the element
of prejudice, according to the author,
played dominant role. More than
a third of the book is taken up with
the Scottsboro case; other much-pub-
licized cases include Mooney and Bill
lings; Centralia, Gastonia, Angelo
Herndon, Leo Frank, acco-vanzetti,
Mcnamara; Herrin, ILL.,; Haywood
Moyer-Pettibone, Greco and GARLIC,
and finally-Charles Z. MITCHELL
case where the public" according to
the author, seems to have revealed
terrific prejudice against a poor,
harrassed banker, the former chair
man of the National City Bank who
was charged with defrauding the gov
eminent of s850,000 in income taxes.
Up. S.-The banker was acquitted.
This Mysterious Prejudice
Where does this mysterious pre-
judice come from, counselor? Is it
something that is inherent in human
nature?" Is it some malevolent quail
ity that exists in a vacuum, irrespec-
tive of economic and social forces?
There is prejudice against the Ne
gro in the South, Mr.. Hays assures
us. But is that prejudice Just hui
man quirk, mere caprice, or is it a
result Of the economic basis of south
ern economy by which 100000 Ne
groes are viciously exploited on farm
and in factory?
The italian worker in the New Eng
land textile mill is looked down upon
as a "wop"-the result of prejudice,
Mr.. Hays would undoubtedly explain.
But the same swell folks who consider
Italian immigrant workers "wops"
break their backs in genuflexions
when in the society of the Italian
bourgeoisie.
Hays discussion of the Scottsboro
frame-up is competent though I'M
inspired summary of the facts and
the law in the case, the most vivid
portions obviously being quotations
from the testimony of the witnesses
at both the Scottsboro and Decatur
trials. He adds little that is new in
his chapter on the Mooney case, Dor
rowing heavily without acknowledge
menD from Ernest Jerome Hopkins
dramatic book, what Happened in
the Mooney Case"
The same goes for the sections on
Centralia, Sacco- Vanzetti and the
other famous labor frame-ups which
have become the particular contribu-
ton of the American capitalist class
to Anglo-Saxon Jurisprudence.
Implying that the Communists are
not interested in defending individ-
uals framed by the capitalist class,
but are primarily interested in win
ming recruits for the fight against
capitalism, Hays declares that:
ut is a mistake to leave the fight
against injustice to those whose
major interest is to use the mate
rial as propaganda to farnt our
hypocricy and to condemn our in
situations. We who believe in toler-
ance should be the first to battle
for the victims of intolerance, even
though we leather their views"
Mr.. Hays urges a fight for individ-
uals in order to save "our institu-
tions," but charges the Communists
with making propaganda when they
fight for individuals as part Of the
fight against the system which frames
them.
1t is, Of course, quite superfious
for Hays to inform the reader that
he is not radical" He's been &C
cused of "incorrigible opportunism,"
the Civil Liberties lawyer says, with
an attempt at whimsy. But that
charge apparently doesn't faze him in
the least for, says he:
ITO me this means taking the
world as find 1t. am not keen
""Trial by Prejudice" by Arthur