Excessive bail shall flot be required, nor excessive /i.es imposed, 1Jorcnul a1ld flflusual pmsJn.e.ts ;"flicted. -From the Bill of Rights. (The VIII Amendment to the Constitution of the .)

ILLIONS OF AMERICANS deeply concerned for the welfare of their country and the spirit emanating from the Bill of Rights which guarantees to all no "cruel and un- Musual punishments" are asking, why the continued imprisonment of Earl Browder, anti- fascist. The spectacle of an American receiving a four year sentence and a $2,000 fine on a charge of a minor infraction of a passport regulation, has caused even such conservatives as Mr. to question, in the name of civil liberties, whether Browder's sentence was imposed because of a passport irregularity or because he was a member of the Communist Party. From its very incep- tion the American Republic was nurtured in the struggle against oppression, injustice and in the de- fense of human rights. It was therefore very appropriate that two million American citizens should appeal to President Roosevelt for the release of Earl Browder. In addition, more than twelve hun- dred officials, whose combined membership totals another two million, personally have appealed to the Chief Executive of the nation for justice and fair play in the Browder case. Con- servatives and radicals, workers and business men, educators, scientists, leading legal authorities, bishops, writers and artists, engineers, chemists, leaders of political parties have requested the Presi- dent to free Browder. The overwhelming majority of these patriotic Americans asked for clemency, not because they agreed with Mr. Browder politically, but because the excessive sentence is not in accord with American justice and should not be permitted to mar our national record.

Partial luting of outdafltlmg America., who have appealed to President Roosevelt for justice in the ~rowder case:

Comfort A. Adams, Consulting Engineer, Budd Manu- J. McKeen Cattell, Scientist and Editor, Science Pre••. facturing Company and former Dean, Graduate School of Engineering, Harvard University. George C. Claassen, Attorney, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Joseph Curran, President, National Maritime Union, Roland H. Bainton, Professor, Yale University Divinity and Vice-President, Congress of Industrial Organi- School and Editor, Journal of Religious Education. zations. Roger Baldwin, Director, American Civil Liberties Hugh LeLacy, President, Washington Commonwealth Union. Federation. Howard Bay, Scenic Designer. Pietro di Donato, Author, Ckrilt in Concrete. Max Bedacht, General Secretary, International Work- Dr. Albert C. Dieffenbach, former Religious Editor, ers Order. Evening Tranacript. The Reverend William Y. Bell, Bishop, C.M.E. Church, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, Atlanta University. Atlanta, Ga. Zara DuPont, Boston, Mass. Mrs. Meta Berger, Milwaukee, Wis. Professor Randolph Edmond, Dillard University. Dr. Henry L. Bibby, Physician, Kingston, N. Y. Leonard Ehrlich, Author, God'. Ang1'fl Man, etc. George Biddle, Artist and former President, National Society of Mural Painters. Dr. Henry Pratt Fairchild, Professor of Sociology, New York University. Alice Stone Blackwell, Honorary Chairman, Massa- chusetts League of Women Voters. Sara Bard Field, Author, Barabba., etc., etc. Professor Franz Boaz, Columbia University. Abram Flaxer, International President, State, County and Municipal Workers of America. Millen Brand, Author, The Outward Room, etc., etc. Joseph G. Fletcher, Dean of Graduate School of Applied The Reverend James A. Bray, Bishop, Sixth Episcopal Religion, Cincinnati, O. District, C.M.E. Church, Chicago, Ill, Abraham Flexner, Director Emeritus, Institute of Ad- Edgar S. Brightman, Professor of Theology, Boston vanced Study, Princeton University. University, and former President, American Theo- Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Labor Defense worker and logical Association. Executive Secretary, Citizens' Committee to Free Dr. A. A. Brill, Psychiatrist and Author. Earl Browder. Osmond K. Fraenkel, Attorney, . Darwin J. Meserole, Attorney, New York Ciq. Professor E. Franklin Frazier, . Rev. George F. Miller, St. Augustine Protestant The Honorable Franklin Delano Roosevelt Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. President, United States of Amerioa Stephen H. Fritchman, National Youth Director, Amer- ican Unitarian Association. Dr. Rudolph Moses, Dean, Dillard University. White House Washington, D. C. William Gilroy, Editor, Congregational Advance. Morris Muster, International President, United Furni- ture Workers of America. Arturo Giovannitti, Author, Arrows in the Gale, and ~ear Mr. Presidentl Educational Director, Italian Section, International Stanley Novak, Michigan State Senator. · I beg to exp~ess my oonourrenoe in the request that Ladies' Garment Workers Union. Grant Oakes, National Chairman, United Farm Equip- •· ment Workers of America. · Earl Browder be immediately released from Atlanta penitentiary Ben Gold, International President, International Fur · by an aot of Executive clemenoy. and Leather Workers Union. Harvey O'Connor, Author, The Astors, etc., etc. · Professor Albert Guerard, Stanford University. Walter Pach, Author and Art Critic, Queer ThingB- · The sentenoe of four years and a 12,000 fine imposed upon Paintings, etc., etc. · him on a charge of a minor infraotion of a passport regUlation, Alice Hamilton, Professor Emeritus, Public Health, · Harvard Medical School, and Former Consultant, Eliot Paul, Author, Life a.nd Death in a Spaniah Town, · I am firmly oonvinoed, is unduly harsh. An examination of all Industrial Hygiene, United States Department of etc., etc. · conviotions for violations of the passport laws in the Southern Labor. George Wharton Pepper, former United States Senator, · Distriot of New York, where he was tried, reveals that suspended Pennsylvania, and President, American Law In- · Dashiell Hammett, Author, The Thin Man, The Maltea. · stitute. · sentenoes, or sentenoes of from thirty to ninety days are the Falcon, etc. etc. · usual penalty. Mr. "Browder has already served more than the John P. Peters, Professor of Internal Medicine, Yale · Professor Harrison E. Harley, Simmons College. Medical School,and Secretary, Committee of Physi- •· eqUivalent of a one year sentence and has paid the fine of 2,000. cians for the Improvement of Medical Care. · Lucius Harper, Managing Editor, Chicago Defende-r. · I believe that Mr. Browder's political philosophy should Arthur Upham Pope, Chairman, Committee for Na- · Arthur Garfield Hays, Attorney, New York City. tional Morale. · not be an issue in this case , but the unjust sentence of four · years lends itself to that oharge. Deteots in justice are para- Dr. George Hedger, Professor of History, University Rev. A. Clayton Powell, Jr., Abyssinian Baptist Church, · of Cincinnati. and New York City Councilman. · lyzing to the oommon will. The denial of justioe is depressing · and demoralizing. In the present hour ot our oountry's orisis, Donald Henderson, General President, United Cannery, , Singer. · Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers c.f Reid Robinson, International President, International · it is of the greatest importano. that justiee should reoeive and America. Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, and · deserve the oonfidenoe of all. And more than two million Amerioan Dr. John Haynes Holmes, Community Church, New Vice-President, Congress of Industrial Organiza- · oitizens have already appealed to you tor the freedom of the York City. tions. · imprisoned man. Professor Malcolm Sharp, University of Chicago School · B. W. Huebsch, Editor, Viking Press. · of Law. · Without identitying myselt with the politioal views of Professor Ellsworth Huntington, Yale University, for- Harlow Shapley, Director, Harvard Observatory, and · Earl Browder, I join. Mr. President. with my tellow-Amerioans mer President, Association of American Geog- President, American Academy of Arts and Sciences. · in raphers. · appealing to you to oorreot this injustioe by an aot of The Rev. B. G. Shaw, Bishop, Fourth Episcopal Dis- · Exeoutive olemenoy, granting Earl Browder his freedom. Joseph F. Jurich, President, International Union of trict, A.M.E. Zion Church, Birmingham, Ala. · Name _ Fishermen and Allied Workers of America. James T. Shotwell, Professor of History, Columbia · University. · Francis Fisher Kane, former United States Attorney, · Profession, _ Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and recipient of Clarence R. Skinner, Dean, Tufts College School of · 1936 Bok Award. Religion. · Address _ Rockwell Kent, Artist and Author. Rev. William B. Spofford, Editor, The Witn68B. · City and State ~ __ Alfred Kreymborg, Author, The Four Apes and Othe,' Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Explorer and Author. · Fables of Our Day, etc. · Dr. Clinton J. Taft, Director, Los Angeles American ~·• Ernest W. Kuebler, Director, Division of Education, Civil Liberties Union. · .•...... ••...•.•..•••.•.•••.•••••..••.•..••••....••.••...•..•••...... •.••••.•.••.••.••...... ••••...•.. American Unitarian Association. Abel Cary Thomas, Attorney, New York City. •· (detach here) Professor Max Lerner, Williams College. Judge Edward Totten, Minneapolis, Minn. · mail this blank to Kenneth Leslie, Editor, Protestant Digest. Professor Eda Lou Walton, New York University. · Arthur Le Sueur, Attorney, Minneapolis, Minn. · Dr. Harry F. Ward, Professor Emeritus, Union Theo- · Tom Mooney, Chairman Rabbi Leo J. Levinger, Ohio State University, Colum- logical Seminary. · Citizens' Committee to Free Earl "Browder bus, Ohio. Dr. Goodwin A. Watson, Teachers College, Columbia · University. · Room 1525, 1133 Broadway Professor Norman Levinson, Institute · New York, New York of Technology. Max Weber, Artist. · William Draper Lewis, former Dean, University of Dr. William Carlos Williams, Author, CoUecttxl Poems. · Pennsylvania Law School. · Dear Mr. Mooneyl James Waterman Wise, Author and Editor, The Narli · Dr. Donald G. Lothrop, Director, Boston Community Terror, ete., etc. · Church. · This is to advise you that I have today written to President Charles H. Wesley, Dean, Graduate School, Howard · power and Judge Jeremiah T. Lynch, Butte, Mont. University. Roosevelt requesting him to exeroise his Ex~outive Albert Maltz, Author, The Underground Stream, etc., , Author, Native Son, etc. grant Earl "Browder his freedom. etc. Dr. Max Yergan, Educator, and President, National Honorable Vito Marcantonio, Congressman, New York Negro Congress. City. Name -----protession,------Art Young, Artist. Lewis Merrill, International President, United Office Schools, churches, OTBlln;t,d/;ons, etc., mrnl;01Ud bn~ tlU for ;tlt1ttificuiCtlf City and State _ and Professional Workers of America. " ..,poSts on17. Address, -- 101