Marxists’ Internet Archive: ETOL Home Page: Trotskyist Writers Section: Farrel Dobbs
Source: The Militant, Vol. 13 No. 5, 31 January 1949, p. 1.
Transcription & Mark-up: Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
FROM THE FEDERAL COURTROOM, NEW YORK, Jan. 27 – Proof that federal juries are packed with representatives of the rich is coming to light here in the thought-control trial of 11 Stalinists. So far 16 of the 23 grand jurors who indicted the Stalinists have been called to the witness stand by the defense.
Here is what their testimony has revealed, despite desperate efforts of the government to block evidence showing the true Wealth of the jurors, and despite the rigid limitations imposed on defense questions by the judge.
Grand juror Thomas Hill Clyde is a director and stockholder in n real estate corporation. His name is in the Social Register, meaning he travels in the “best” circles.
James Chester Johnson is a dealer in stocks and bonds; his address – 14 Wall Street. The whole courtroom laughed when that came out. Johnson’s neighbor at 44 Wall Street, an investment banker named Mil ton Watkins, was on the same grand jury.
Once the prosecutor has objected to a defense question, these Wall Street sharks wait for him to object to every question. Sometimes they object for themselves, and the judge often sustains them.
Juror Henry J. Hauck is secretary-treasurer and a stockholder in a jewelry corporation located in the swank Fifth Avenue shopping district.
Arthur S. Heiman is principal stockholder in three textile corporations. He is also a member of the Federal Grand Jury Association, a private organization that supplies the government with lists of “good” jurors and gets out an “educational” publication called The Federal Juror.
Donald C. Webster sells cement to building contractors for the Universal Atlas cement monopoly. He, too, is in the Social Register.
Waited A. Colman has a New York sales agency for several New England textile mills. He is now going into the air cargo business.
If the selection of jurors is “entirely a matter of chance,” as the government claims, then Colman could make a fortune matching pennies. He has been on 15 federal and New York grand juries and “several” trial juries. We are asked to believe he was picked that many times by “chance” in a city of eight million people. He talked about “when I entered the grand jury service” as if he had been elected to permanent office.
The Jury Clerk wanted to put Colman on a trial jury. But he put in a beef that he was entitled to go on the federal grand jury in “recognition of long service arid in the nature of a promotion.” He got the promotion.
Andrew J. Coakley pitched for the Philadelphia Athletics years ago. He is now baseball coach at Columbia University and sells life insurance on the side. Like once-famous athletes who open night clubs to cash in on their name, Coakley’s background enables him to do right well in the insurance racket.
C. Benjamin Brush, a self-styled “freelance” engineer, claimed he wasn’t legally summoned because he didn’t get the subpena fee. He said he’s just picking up a job now and then as best he can. He doesn’t even own his home – it’s in his wife’s name. It wag finally disclosed that Brush owns stock in several companies.
Mrs. Adelaide G. Lowe is special editions editor for a publishing house and a former manager of a brokerage firm. No evidence was obtained about the financial status of Mrs. Pauline G. Charal, who has served on two federal grand juries.
Both Eustice G. Sincerbaux of Western Union and George T. Hodell of the Mutual Life Insurance Co. have supervision over a number of company employees.
Carl M. Spero is president and stockholder of a general insurance firm. Russell W. Todd is a corporation director and stockholder. Jerome S. Blumaur is sales representative for a plastics factory.
The testimony of these 16 of the 23 grand jurors who indicted the Stalinists under the Smith Act shows that federal jury panels are packed with the rich and’ their agents. A similar jury panel indicted and convicted 18 Trotskyists under the same Smith Act in 1941.
The Stalinist betrayers cheered the railroading of the Trotskyists to prison, and they applauded the Supreme Court for refusing to grant the Trotskyists a hearing. Today the Stalinists treacherously claiip to be the first victims of the Smith Act, thereby weakening the fight against the Act by concealing its true history.
Despite their lies and betrayals, the Stalinists must be defended against this attack under an unconstitutional law that would establish thought-control in this country.
F. Dobbs Archive | Trotskyist Writers Index | ETOL Main Page
Last updated: 8 March 2024