The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-01-13
Harry Bridges, West Coast CIO Leader, Facing
 Charges For
 Deportation

Washington, Jan. 13.-Harry Bridges, spectacular west coast re- gional director of the c. I. O. will be placed on the spot within the next few weeks at Department of Labor hearing to pass on charges that he is legally deportable. That is, unless Secretary Frances Perkins = who hasn't an-
 nounced her decision exercises
 the feminine prerOgative of chang ing her mind.
 Actual deportation of a major labor leader and conspicuous aide to John l.. Lewis would be cause celebre in labor history. But al- though there has been heavy pres sure on the Labor Department both from west coast employers and enemies of Bridges within the labor movement, Bridges-an Aus tralian citizen who has taken out his first citizenship papers in this country-is long way from be- ing deported.
 Denies He's Communist
 Bridges is charged, in dispositions brought by members of labor or ganizations outside the CIO, with being a member of the Communist party. In some dispositions it is alleged That he was present at major deliberations of the inner circle of that party on the Pacific coast.
 The CIO leader, however, has
 repeatedly denied that he was 8
 member of the Communist party.
 He would not be legally deport-
 able unless it were proved that he
 belonged to an organization which
 sought overthrow of the govern
 ment by force and violence, as
 charged, or that he himself had
 advocated overthrow of govern
 ment by force and violence, which
 is not charged.
 Immigration lawyers say 1t would be necessary, in order to deport Bridges, to prove not only that he was a party member, but also that the Communist party ad- vocated overthrow of the govern ment by force and violence.
 They point out that although the
 party has in the past been held to
 be that kind of an organization,
 the party line" has been shifted
 in recent years and the question
 will have to be decided all over again.
 The hearing probably will be held at Seattle by an inspector designated by the department, who will send his recommendations to a board of review here. The boards findings will be subject to approval by Secretary Perkins.
 MonOpolies All There The $100 a plate Jackson day din- ner in Washington, at which Roose- welt again denounced monopolies, was not as heavily attended as previous similar occasions. But the laWyer-lobbyists turned out in force and it seemed doubtful whether any monopoly or semi-monopoly was not represented in crowd otherwise laregly made up of government of ficialS and members of congress. Fence-Makers Gain
 Among all the things that seem to be the matter with the farm bill now in conference, the administra- tion and many farmers-have picked on the Boileau-M -McNary amendment. The amendment pro- videS that acres taken out of cotton, corn or other production can't be used to feed livestock when the livestock or its products (such as milk, eggs and butter) are to be taken off the farm.
 Secretary of Agriculture Wallace thinks this proposal would be even more unenforceable than the un- popular potato act which the Su- preme Court killed.
 The general program would be
 sufficiently difficult to administer
 without that one, he feels. The
 amendment tends toward setting up a geographic monopoly at
 time when various surveys show
 that American children as group
 are getting far from an adequate
 quantity of milk.
 The amendment fails to suggest a method of AAA to keep track of just which cows graZe in which fields. It leaves unsolved the problem of how to keep millions of chickens from wondering into forbidden acreage. But it does seem to play into the hands of the U. s. Steel Corporations wire fence subsidiaries.
 Copyright, 1888, NEA Service, Incl