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Show M'KEE WAS IN SAN DIEGO TURMOIL Harry M. McfCee of San Diego, Cal., who speaks tonight at Union Labor hall, wa one 'of the principal actors in the famouJ) free-speech fight which disgraced that- city early this year. Ho was ono or the first to be thrown into Jail for attempting t0 lest an ordinance passed, as he sas. In bad faith and in deliance of the constltu tlonal guarantee of tho right of free speech and public assembly. He. with a score ot others was charged with "conspiracy to break a law," and finally tried and convicted, convict-ed, receiving n Jail sentenco of three months and a fine of $300. Mr. McKee had been nominated prior to his conviction, for judge of the superior court, and sentence was passed upon him by--tho Mime Judge against whom he n'aa running "It would roqulre a volume, said Mr McKee to a Standard reporter "to tell tho story of tho struggle from the passage of the unnecessary and unconstitutional un-constitutional ordinance to the final fiasco of trial culminating in conviction convic-tion and soutencto " He takes an uptiuilRtlc view of the situation, however, and points out that just such struggles as San Diego. , Lawrence and tho timber workers of Louisiana is making Socialists by tho ' tens of thousands. One point Mr McKee emphasizes regarding the San Diego officers is tho revival of the conspiracy law In relation to labor struggles, making a serious crime out of any attempt on the part of tho workers to protest against or test any law, however absurd ab-surd or obnoxious, subjecting those who even discuss such a law, or who desiro to test Its legality, to a year's Imprisonment and $1,000 fine, thus wiping out all minor penalties for the Infraction of a local ordinance, however how-ever petty or unjust. This conspiracy law, he states, is an old and outworn theory of law first Invoked against the workers when they attempted to organize in England more than 500 years ago, and subsequently subse-quently In this country early In the last century, when organized labor was struggling for recognition. Rising to his feet and throwing out his long arms, he exclaimed: "Any man with red blood In his veins would most earnestly protest against any such undemocratic definition defini-tion of conspiracy Tho industrial evolution ev-olution of the past century has rendered ren-dered tho legal customs of the barbarous bar-barous past incompatible with present day conditions. Tho Injustices of today to-day cannot bo remedied by inflicting rigorous personal punishment for psychological and social offenses." Mr. McKee Is a talented lawyer, an artist and an orator of national reputation. He Is here In the interests inter-ests of the Socialist Lyceum bureau and is one of the speakers who will cover tho entire country early next year. oo |