National Affairs: Jersey Justice

When workers in the silk mills of Paterson, N. J., were on strike in 1924, some of them met in a local hall to rehash their grievances. The police forbade them to hold another such meeting. Roger N. Baldwin, an angular idealist from New York, whose mission in life as a director of the American Civil Liberties Union includes attending and abetting important strikes, was in Paterson at the time. When he heard of the police order, he marshalled some young women, gave them a U. S. flag to carry and with several others started marching to Paterson’s City Hall.

In the City Hall Plaza were hundreds of idlers. Baldwin’s marchers halted and one began a speech. “Fellow workers—,” he said, and a policeman arrested him. Baldwin and others protested. They too were arrested.

“Unlawfully, routously, riotously and tumultuously” were the adverbs used in the indictment brought against Baldwin & friends for their assembly. “The defendants … did … make and utter great and loud noises and threatenings

. . etc. etc.” Baldwin was sentenced to six months in jail. The rest were fined. The Supreme Court of New Jersey upheld the verdicts.

But above the Supreme Court in New Jersey is a Court of Errors and Appeals. This court, reviewing the evidence, noted that only two of the 40 policemen at the scene had feared a riot; that the only hint of trouble “which would be entertained by a person of a firm and courageous mind” was when some of Baldwin’s marchers had, perhaps accidentally, brushed against policemen in passing. “Judgment reversed,” said the high court last week, unanimously.