Abrams (Chapter III):

The principal sources are the Transcript of Record, Supreme Court of the United States, October Term, 1919, No. 316, Jacob Abrams et al., Plaintiffs-in-Error, v. The United States; the two briefs; and the opinions of the court in 40 Sup. Ct. Rep. 17 (1919), also reprinted in “The Espionage Act Interpreted,” 20 New Republic 377 (November 26, 1919). Transcript and briefs are in the library of the Law School of Harvard University. It has not been thought necessary to give references to the Record except for significant passages. Some information about the trial not contained in the Record is taken from current issues of the New York Times and the New York Call, or from personal conversation and correspondence; the sources of such unofficial data are indicated in every instance, and have been carefully checked from the Stenographic Minutes of the trial, in the U. S. Attorney’s office, N. Y., where they were very kindly placed at my disposal. See also Palmer Deportations Testimony, 173.

For criticism of the trial, see the pamphlet, Sentenced to Twenty Years Prison, published by the Political Prisoners Defense and Relief Committee, New York, 1919; “Our Ferocious Sentences,” 107 Nation 504 (November 2, 1918).

Comment in support of the majority opinion of the Supreme Court will be found in a note, “The Espionage Act and the Limits of Legal Toleration,” 33 Harv. L. Rev. 442 (January, 1910); and in articles, “Justice Holmes’s Dissent,” 1 Review 636 (December 6, 1919); John H. Wigmore, “Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Thuggery,” 14 Ill. L. Rev. 539. The minority opinion is supported by a note, “Free Speech in Time of Peace,” in 29 Yale L. J. 337 (January, 1920); and 14 Ill. L. Rev. 601; and articles “The Call to Toleration,” 20 New Republic 360 (November 20, 1919), “What Is Left of Free Speech,” Gerard C. Henderson, 21 New Republic 50 (December 10, 1919).

Berger (see under Legislative Exclusion).

Debs:

David Karnsner, Debs, his Authorized Life and Letters from Woodstock Prison to Atlanta, N. Y., 1919. Reviewed by Harry Salpeter, “Martyr or Felon?”, 110 Nation 520 (April 17, 1920). Scott Nearing, “The Debs Decision,” Rand School, N. Y., 1919, contains Debs’ addresses at Canton and in the court-room. “The Law of the Debs Case and Freedom of Speech,” 19 New Republic 13 (May 3, 1919); followed by correspondence, ibid., 151 (May 31). “The Trial of Eugene Debs,” Max Eastman, The Liberator (November, 1918), gives another defendant’s impression.

I.W.W. (see under Radical Activities).

Nearing:

Scott Nearing, “The Great Madness: a Victory for the American Plutocracy,” Rand School, N. Y., 1917.

O’Hare:

“The Conviction of Kate Richards O’Hare and North Dakota Politics,” Natl. Civil Liberties Bureau, N. Y.; “The Kate O’Hare Booklets,” published by Frank P. O’Hare, St. Louis.

Syracuse Socialist Case of 1920 (Steene, Hotze, and Preston): 21 New Republic 302 (February 11, 1920); “Bringing the Constitution into Disrepute,” ibid. 330 (February 18, 1920).

Townley:

C. R. Johnson, “The Conviction of Townley,” 20 New Republic 18 (August 6, 1919); Judson King, “The Prosecution of Mr. Townley,” 109 Nation 143 (August 2, 1919); “The Trial of Townley and Gilbert,” 1 Review (July 26, 1919). An impartial account of the Non-Partisan League is Arthur Ruhl, “The North Dakota Idea,” Atlantic Monthly (May, 1919).

C. Radical Activities in the United States and Peace-time Restrictions upon Freedom of Speech (Chapters IV and V)

Backgrounds:

All consideration of governmental activity against radicalism should be preceded by an inquiry into the nature and purposes of the various radical movements, which must be carefully kept distinct. Bertrand Russell, Proposed Roads to Freedom: Socialism, Anarchism and Syndicalism, N. Y., 1919, is a fair-minded survey though opposed to the present system. Among books on Russia are E. H. Wilcox, Russia’s Ruin; Russian-American Relations, ed. Cumming and Pettit. See, also, under I.W.W., infra.

On anarchy legislation of the past and similar problems, Ernst Freund, The Police Power, §§ 471–484. F. T. Hill, Famous Battles of the Law, narrates the Chicago affair of 1886. Concrete data on the handling of radical meetings before the war are furnished by Arthur Woods, Policeman and Public, New Haven, 1919; and J. F. Rhodes, History of the United States, Vol. VIII, N. Y., 1919. The work of the New York Bomb Squad is told by Tunney and Hollister in Throttled, Boston, 1919.

Blasphemy:

Austin W. Scott, “The Legality of Atheism,” 31 Harv. L. Rev. 289 (1917).

Sex topics:

Theodore Schroeder, Obscene Literature and Constitutional Law, N. Y., 1911, and other writings by him; J. C. Ruppenthal “Criminal Statutes on Birth Control,” 10 J. Cr. L. & Crim. 48 (1919); and see P. v. Byrne, 163 N. Y. Supp. 680, 682.

Moving-picture Censorship:

Amy Woods, “Boston and the ‘Movie’ Censorship,” 44 Survey 108 (April 17, 1920).

Strikes and Labor Troubles:

The ability of freedom of speech to withstand such strains has not been sufficiently studied. William Hard has written a series of articles on Passaic: “America in Passaic,” 22 New Republic 182 (April 7, 1920); “Learn from Passaic,” 22 ibid. 213 (April 14); “They Must Have Espionage,” 22 ibid. 248 (April 21). On the Steel Strike, see S. Adele Shaw, “The Makings for Revolution,” 20 ibid. 52 (August 13, 1919); W. Z. Foster, The Great Steel Strike; The Interchurch Report on the Steel Strike of 1919.

Proposed Federal Sedition Bills and National Conditions:

Four official reports have been published, which are valuable not only in relation to this topic, but also for information about deportations, state legislation, radical activities, and the work of the Department of Justice. These are: (1) Bolshevik Propaganda, Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Sixty-fifth Congress, Third Session and thereafter, pursuant to Senate Resolutions 439 and 469 Washington, 1919. This is the report of the Overman Committee, and contains the testimony of Raymond Robins and others on Russian internal affairs. Cited as Bolshevik Propaganda in this book.

(2) Investigation Activities of the Department of Justice, Letter from the Attorney General transmitting in Response to a Senate Resolution of October 17, 1919, a Report on the Activities of the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice against Persons advising Anarchy, Sedition, and the Forcible Overthrow of the Government, Sen. Doc. No. 153, 66th Cong., 1st Sess., Wash., 1919. Cited as Investigation Activities in this book.

(3) Rule Making in Order the Consideration of S. 3317, Hearings before the Committee on Rules, House of Representatives, 66th Cong., 2d Sess., on H. Res. 438, Wash., 1920. Cited as House Rules Hearings in this book.

(4) Sedition, Hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, 66th Cong., 2d Sess., on S. 3317, H. R. 10650 and 12041, Serial 16, February 4 and 6, 1920. Wash., 1920. This contains official publications of the Communist parties, etc. Cited as House Judiciary Hearings in this book.

See also copies of the various bills and the proposed amendments; also House Judiciary Report submitting Graham Bill, H. R. Report No. 542, 66th Cong., 2d Sess.; also Reports listed under Deportations.

Among articles in periodicals on these bills and the “red hysteria,” are: Frank I. Cobb, “The Press and Public Opinion,” 21 New Republic 144 (December 31, 1919); Z. Chafee, Jr., “Legislation Against Anarchy” (Overman Bill), 19 ibid. 379 (July 23, 1919); “A New Alien and Sedition Law,” 20 ibid. 366 (November 26, 1919); Swinburne Hale, “The ‘Force and Violence’ Joker,” 21 ibid. 231 (January 21, 1920); “The Red Hysteria” (Harvard Liberal Club Dinner), 21 ibid. 249 (January 28); William Hard, “Perhaps the Turn of the Tide” (House Rules hearings on Graham Bill), 21 ibid. 313 (February 11); “What Is Attorney General Palmer Doing?” (circular letter by him), 110 Nation 190 (February 14); “The Issue of Free Speech,” 1 Review 634 (December 6, 1919); “Mock-Hysteria,” 2 Review 43 (January 17, 1920); “What Shall We Do with the Direct Actionist?”, 89 Cent. L. J. 313 (1919); Walter Lippman and Z. Chafee, Jr., “Free Speech and Free Press as Factors in International Affairs,” League of Free Nations Bulletin, March, 1920.

State Sedition and Syndicalism Laws:

“Criminal Syndicalism,” 20 Colum. L. Rev. 232 (1920); letter in 110 Nation 202 (February 14, 1920). California, Perry L. Edwards, “Criminal Syndicalism—Back-firing Against Industrial Unrest by the Legislature of California,” 89 Cent. L. J. 336 (1919); “The Conviction of Anita Whitney,” Clare Shipman, 110 Nation 365 (March 20, 1920). Connecticut, “‘The Most Brainiest Man,’” 110 ibid. 510 (April 17). Massachusetts, Z. Chafee, Jr., “Warns of Anti-Anarchy Bill,” Boston Sunday Advertiser, April 13, 1919. New Jersey, H. E. Cory, “The Intellectuals and the Wage Workers,” N. Y., 1919 (p. 208 on Boyd case). New York, Swinburne Hale, “Criminal Anarchy,” 21 New Republic 270 (January 28, 1920); [McAdoo decision against Gitlow and Larkin], House Judiciary Hearings, p. 155; A. Giovannitti, “Commercialism on Trial,” Liberator, March, 1920 (Gitlow trial). Oregon, “American by Decree” (foreign language press), 22 New Republic 262 (April 28, 1920).

See U. S. official reports, supra, and Appendix V, infra.

Industrial Workers of the World:

There are two studies by scholars. Paul Frederick Brissenden: The I.W.W.: A Study of American Syndicalism. Colum. Univ. Studies in History, etc., vol. 83, 2d ed., N. Y., 1920. Carleton H. Parker: “The I.W.W.,” Atlantic Monthly, 651 (November, 1917), reprinted in his The Casual Laborer and Other Essays, N. Y., 1920.

For the Chicago trial, see U. S. v. W. D. Haywood et al. Bull. Dept. Just., No. 175; Evidence and Cross-Examination of W. D. Haywood [in same]; Evidence and Cross-Examination of J. T. (Red) Doran [in same]; Indictment [in same], I.W.W. Pub. Bureau, Chicago.; “The Truth about the I.W.W.”, Natl. Civil Liberties Bureau, N. Y.; “The Persecution of the Radical Labor Movement in the United States.” N. Y. Defense Committee of the I.W.W., N. Y.

The Sacramento trial is discussed in “Ol’ Rags and Bottles,” 108 Nation 114 (January 25, 1919); American Labor Year-Book, 1919–20, 100 and 107, has accounts of Chicago and Sacramento trials.

For the Washington situation, see [Washington Injunction Against Membership in the I.W.W.], 109 Nation 843 (January 3, 1920); Jerrold Owen: “Centralia,” American Legion Weekly, December 12, 1919; Anna Louise Strong, “Centralia: An Unfinished Story,” 110 Nation 508 (April 17, 1920); E. M., “Centralia,” 22 New Republic 217 (April 14, 1920). Ole Hanson, Americanism vs. Bolshevism.