Montana labor news., 1945-06-28
HIGHCOURT RULING
ENDSL0NG WITCH
HUNT OF BRIDGES

SAN FRANCISCO (FP) THE perse-
cution of CIO Leader Harry Bridges,
which was ended by the U S. Supreme
Court June 10 in decision cancelling
deportation proceedings against him,
dates as far back as 1884.
That was the year when Bridges
earned the hatred of west coast indus
tralists and shipping interests for his
militant leadership Of the San Francisco
longshoremen's strike. The low wages
unemployment and vicious kickback
system that dominated the lives of the
loneshoremen were started on the way
out by that strike. After this first vic
tory, Bridges and the longshoremen
went on to build a strong. democratic
union which is outstanding for the gains
it has won for the workers and for its
contributions to the war effort.
But while Bridges was organizing the
longshoremen, the open shop interests
we're organizing to get Bridges. Born in
Australia, Bridges had not beeen able
to afford the $40 needed for naturaiza-
ton papers when he applied for citizen
ship here in 1881 That became the
starting point for the witch-hunt against
the union leader
Cooperation of the Melbourne police
was sought in an effort to get some dirt
on the early life of Bridges but when
the report came in Police Chief William
J. Quinn of San Francisco exclaimed:
The confounded thing reads like a rec
ommendation for a high-class job"
The Bridges crowd didn't give up
Speeches were made in Congress de-
manding that he be deported, stooges
for private interests shadowed him day
and night, FlBI agents tapped his tele-
phone wires, desperately trying to build
case against him. Finally, the blow
struck.
On March ?, 1888 a warrant was issued
for Bridges arrest and deportation on
the grounds that he had belonged to
the Communist party, the Industrial
workers of the World and had worked
with the Marine Workers Industrial
Union during the 1894 strike
All the evidence against Bridges, pre-
sented by an assortment Of finks per-
iurers and labor spies, was aired at a
lengthy hearing before Dean James M.
Lands of Harvard law school. Lands
report dismissed most of the testimony
as worthless and concluded that "the
evidence establishes neither that Harry
R. Bridges is a member of nor affili-
ated with the Communist Party Of
America"
Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins
ordered the cancellation of the warrant
of arrest against Bridges but the get
Bridges" crowd got busy again and in
941 new hearings were started before
Judge Charles B. Sears. The same pa
rade of unsavory witnesses appeared
with the same fantastic evidence to pre-
sent The govenmnt produced six wit
nesses to prove that Bridges had once
eaten in a restaurant frequently tby
Communists. Another witness testified
that he had heard Bridges sing a sub
versive song-Casey Jones only this
time, the decision against Bridges was
unfavorable. Sears said he was con-
vinced Bridges was an undesirable alien
who should be deported.
This finding was overruled early IN
942 by a four-man board of immigra-
ton appeals of the Justice department
which said: 1T is our unanimous opin-
| ion that the warrant must be cancelled
| That seemed to end the Bridges case
but a new twist developd when Attorney
General Francis Biddle took the un-
precedented step of repudiating the de-
3is.on of his own board of appeals and
ordered Bridges deported
The case went to the courts. The
federal district court Of appeals upheld
Biddle although they agreed that the
evidence against Bridges was unsa ,isfae-
3ory. A minority opinion by two Of The
we Judges pointed out: If it is per-
missible to compare small things with
great one may remark that the bonds
which today unite our people with the
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