Evening star., 1949-10-23
BY Mortin S. Hayden
North American kewspopsr Alliance

oy Mortin ,. Hoyoeh
North American Newspaper Alliance
A string of names will emerge
from the past and a chapter in
American legal history will be
completed when the Supreme
Court says the last word on the
sentencing of II Communist lead
ers to jail and a $4,000 fine each.
They were sentenced in New York
Friday.
Before the Nations top radicals
have run through the appeal
gamut, lawyers will have brought
back into the news the names of
Eugene Debs, Charles T. Schenck
and Benjamin Gitlow, revolu-
tionists of another American era
They will have hashed and re-
hashed what was meant by a
judge named Oliver Wendell
Holmes, who spoke of shouting
fire" in a crowded theater and
described "a clear and present
danger"
The appeal path will be marked
by reference to plot to seize
Minneapolis and to the queer
Moscow theory that what is sauce
for a Trotsky Communist should
not likewise suit a follower OF
Stain.
Ultimately, the justices will
write what should be the final
word on a big question: Can duly
constituted government Jail those
who talk" and advocate" its
overthrow?
Story Began in 1917.
The current legal story had its
beginning in 1917 when Federal
officers swooped down on the So
cialist Party bookstore and head
quarters on Arch street in Phila-
delphia. They found a series OF
documents, some of which already
had been sent through the mails.
all of which bitterly attacked the
American war effort and the draft.
The Socialist literature said
military conscription violated the
18th (antislavery) amendment to
the Constitution. They said "a
conscript is little better than a
convict" and went on to allege
that transcription is a monstrous
wrong against humanity and in
the interests of Wall Street, S
chosen few"
These papers, decided Federal
prosecutors, proved a conspiracy
to obstruct wartime recruiting.
Schenck, the Socialists Party's
general secretary. and four other
men and women were tried. Later
Debs, the Nations leading social
ist, went to trial and jail.
In the Supreme Court, Justice
Holmes. the New England liberal,
voted against the defendants, but
voiced the doctrine Of which an
other Supreme Court, three de-
cades later, must write the final
Interpretation.
Holmes Finding Quoted.
The point at whicr. Govern
ment can protect itself by
abridging freedom of speech and
press, Justice Holmes held, comes
when that Government is in real
and actual danger.
He put it this way:
"The character of every act de-
pends upon the circumstances in
which it is done. The most strin-
gent protection Of free speech
would not protect a man in falsely
shouting fire in a theatre and
causing panic
"The question in every case i!
whether the words are used ir
such circumstances and are Of
such nature as to create a cleal
and present danger that they viii
bring about the substantive evil.
that Congress has q right te
prevent.
1T is a question Of proximit,
and degree"
Justice Holmes ruled that mail.
ing out the inflammatory docu.
ments attacking wartime re.
cruiting constituted an act which
was clearly and presently danger.
GUS to Government stability
Schenck went to jail and Debs
followed him and became the first
man to seek the American presi-
dency from a prison cell. Gle got
915,000 votes in the 1920 election
and President Harding pardoned
him in 1929
Anarchy Laws Passed.
Legislators seeking to safe
guard Government began to pass
laws declaring that certain
specific acts, to use Justice