LAWS AGAINST THE FIFTH COLUMN
Laws Against The Fifth Column [By EDITORIAL RESEARCH REPORTS] WITH Attorney General Jackson calling for registration of all aliens in the United States and for finger-printing of any abroad to...
...So are misuse of passports, forging of passports, false statements to get passports...
...IN 1918 a bill by Sen...
...Pres...
...Any person mailing such nonmailable matter may be fined up to $5,000 and imprisoned up to 10 years...
...6 last President Roosevelt vetoed a bill for automatic deportation of aliens guilty of sabotage ("superfluous"), of violating the narcoticj laws ("No criticism"), of ever having been committed to an institution as drug addicts ("too harsh...
...carrying penalties up to 30 years' imprisonment and designed to protect war material, premises and facilities used for war production...
...So is matter urging treason, insurrection, or forcible resistance to the laws of the United States...
...If the information is actually given to such nation, the maximum penalty rises to 20 years, to death during war...
...Also covered are setting fire to vessels, placing bombs on them, interfering with their navigating apparatus...
...THE basic law against spying and other activities hostile to the national defence is the Espionage act of 1917...
...IN 1918 an amendment was added to the Espionage act which punished by imprisonment up to 20 years any false statements intended to interfere with military operations, or to aid the enemies of the, United States, or to discourage enlistments, or to'- cause refusal of duty in the naval or military forVcs...
...of North Carolina would have removed all sedition and espionage cases to military' courts...
...Overman (D...
...The Espionage act punishes by imprisonment up to 20 years and fine up to $10,000 attempts to get information about the national defence for the advantage of any foreign nation...
...Any written matter in violation of the Espionage act is non-mailable...
...Martin Dies calling for $100,000 more for his committee's investigation into un-American activities, tightening of the laws against so-called fifth columnists is evidently to be part of the program to strengthen the national defence...
...Wilson declared that the Overman bill was not only unconstitutional, un-American, and unnecessary, but also "in character would put us upon the level of the very people we are fighting and affecting to despise...
...This 1918 amendment applied only in time ot war, so is' not now operative...
...No attempt was made to pass the bill over th* veto...
...On Apr...
...Sensational statements as to the 'fifth column' should be received yvith suspicion...
...That is true also of the anti-sabotage act of 1918...
...In...
...Some of this and other legislation operative only in case of yvar was repealed outright, some of it would automatically become effective again in cast of war...
...about the American form of government, constitution, flag, or uniform...
...In urging the registration of aliens, Attorney General Jackson warned that "the greatest help to the government that citizens can render is to keep cool and not become frightened...
...Also under the ban came any "rii:-!nval me, scurrilous, or abusive" language oral or ten...
...Laws Against The Fifth Column [By EDITORIAL RESEARCH REPORTS] WITH Attorney General Jackson calling for registration of all aliens in the United States and for finger-printing of any abroad to whom visas are granted, and with Rep...
...And if the postmaster general found that any person was using the postal system in violation of the Espionage act as amended, ajl mail to any such violator could be declared non-deliverable...
...the 1918 Espionage act amendment used almost the identical phraseology of the Sedition act of 1798...
...Wilson had written that the Alien and Sedition acts of 1798 were indefensible In peace-time, and even in yvar cut perilously close to the guaranty of freedom of speech...
...Any attempt to curtail the production of wax essentials was also punishable by imprisonment up to 20 years...
...Enacted during war, it carried over into peace-time, and its maximum penalties were increased by the Barbour act of March 28, 1940...
...Also punishable is making a false statement under oath in reference to any dispute between the United States and a foreign government, yvith intent to injure the United States...
...his "History- of the American People," Mr...
Vol. 10 • June 1940 • No. 24
