Burns v. United States

274 U.S. 328, 47 S. Ct. 650, 71 L. Ed. 1077, 1927 U.S. LEXIS 32
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedMay 16, 1927
Docket135
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 274 U.S. 328 (Burns v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burns v. United States, 274 U.S. 328, 47 S. Ct. 650, 71 L. Ed. 1077, 1927 U.S. LEXIS 32 (1927).

Opinions

[330]*330Mr. Justice. Butleb

delivered the opinion of the Court.

An Act of Congress of June 2, 1920, § 1, c. 218, 41 Stat. 731, provides that, if any offense shall be committed in the Yosemite National Park which is not prohibited by a law of the United States, the offender shall be subject to the. same punishment as the) laws of California prescribe for a like offense. Plaintiff in error was indicted for violating within that Park the California Criminal Syndicalism Act, c. 188, California Statutes 1919. The indictment was in two counts. The verdict was guilty on the first count and not guilty on the second. Plaintiff in error, by demurrer and by motion to arrest the judgment, insisted that the statute contravenes the Constitution of the United States. His contention was overruled. The casé is here under § 238 of the Judicial Code, before the Amendment of February 13, 1925.

The applicable provisions follow: “Section 1. The term * criminal syndicalism ’ as used-in this» act is hereby defined as any doctrine or precept advocating, teaching or aiding and abetting the commission of crime, sabotage (which word is hereby defined as meaning wilful and malicious physical damage or injury to physical property)., or unlawful acts of force and violence or unlawful methods of terrorism as a means of accomplishing a change in industrial ownership or control, or effecting any political change. Section 2. Any person who: _. ,. . organizes or assists in organizing, or is or knowingly becomes a member of, any organization, society, group or assemblage of persons organized or assembled to advocate, teach or aid and abet criminal syndicalism. . . . is guilty of a felony ...”

Plaintiff in error here contends that, as applied in the district Court, these provisions are repugnant to the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. The only attack upon the validity of the law was by the demurrer and motion in arrest. In each [331]*331of these, he asserted that,the statute “is in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and is void for uncertainty.” But that point is determined adversely to his contentions in Whitney v. California, post, p. 357.

The substance of. the count on which plaintiff in error was adjudged guilty is that on or about April 10, 1923, at Yosemite National Park, he did “ organize, and assist in organizing, and was, is, and knowingly became, a member of an organization, society, group and assemblage of persons organized and assembled to advocate, teach, aid and abet criminal syndicalism, to wit; The Industrial Workers of the World, commonly known as I. W. W.”

1. Plaintiff in error argues that he is entitled to a new trial because the charge contains the following: “Now, there has been presented to you evidence ... to the effect that this organization, amongst other things, advocated what is known as slowing down on the job, slack or scamped work, such as loading of a ship in such a way that it took a list to port or starboard and therefore had to limp back to port, and things of that kind. I instruct you that under the definition as laid down by the legislature of. California, that any deliberate attempt to reduce the. profits in .the manner that I have described would constitute sabotage.” He calls attention to the language in section 1 and says, that merely loading telephone poles on a ship so as to occasion more work is not physical damage or injury to physical property within the meaning of the statute.

. If that instruction stood alone it might be thought to permit the jury erroneously to expand the meaning of sabotage beyond that defined in the Act. But it does not stand alone; and the mere comparison of the quoted language of the instruction with the words of the statute is not sufficient to disclose whether there was prejudicial error. The instruction must be taken in connection with [332]*332the evidence bearing on the matter referred to and is to be considered in the light of the charge as a whole. New York Cent. R. R. v. United States, 212 U. S. 500, 508; Hatema v. United States, 186 U. S. 413, 416; Spring Drug Co. v. United States, 12 F. (2d) 852, 856; People v. Scott, 6 Mich. 287, 291. There is no contention that plaintiff in error was not connected with the organization substantially as alleged, or that, the evidence failed bo show it to be the kind of organization specified in the indictment. The record shows that for a number of years he had beep a member of the organization; that, at the time alleged and when arrested, he was its authorized delegate and had a quantity of its literature in his possession; that he solicited others to become members and was authorized to initiate new members and to collect initiation fees and dues. It also shows that the organization disseminated large amounts of printed matter declaring its purposes and advocating means to accomplish them. A “preamble ” was contained in practically all its publications and was printed on the membership card of plaintiff in error. It declares that the working class and employing class have nothing in common; that a struggle must go on between them until the workers organize, take possession of the earth and the machinery of production and abolish the wage system; that the trade unions aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that they have interests in common with their employers; that, “ instead of the conservative motto, ‘ A fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work,’ we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, ‘Abolition of the wage system; ’ ” that it is the mission of the ’working class to do away with capitalism; that the army of production must be organized to. carry on when capitalism shall have been overthrown; that “ by organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new society within the .shell of' the, old.” .

[333]*333Sabotage, as the evidence indicates it to have been . advocated and taught by the organization, is not confined, as is the definition contained in the Act, to physical damage and injury to physical property. The organization’s printed matter that was received in evidence contains no precise definition of sabotage, but does give a number of descriptive explanations of what it means. As fairly illustrative, we take the following: “ Three versions are given of the source of the word. The one best known is that a striking French weaver cast his wooden shoe — called a sabot — into the delicate mechanism of the loom upon leaving the mill. The confusion that resulted, acting to the workers’ benefit, brought to the front a line of tactics that took the name of sabotage. Slow work is also said to be at the basis of the word, the idea being that wooden shoes are clumsy and so prevent quick action on the part of the workers. The third idea is that sabotage is coined from the slang term that means ‘ putting the boots’ to the employers by striking directly at their profits without leaving the job. The derivation, however, is unimportant. It is the thing itself that causes commotion among employers and politicians alike.” The evidence shows that the organization advocated, taught and aided various acts of “sabotage” that are plainly within the meaning of that word as defined by the Act.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cardiac Anesthesia Services, PLLC v. Jon Jones
385 S.W.3d 530 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2012)
Estado Libre Asociado v. Rexco Industries, Inc.
137 P.R. Dec. 683 (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, 1994)
Johnson v. United States
387 A.2d 1084 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1978)
Dawe v. Dalley
504 P.2d 982 (Montana Supreme Court, 1972)
John Doe v. John L. McMillan
459 F.2d 1304 (D.C. Circuit, 1972)
United States v. Earnest McClain
440 F.2d 241 (D.C. Circuit, 1971)
Eugene C. Campbell v. United States
307 F.2d 597 (D.C. Circuit, 1962)
Scales v. United States
367 U.S. 203 (Supreme Court, 1961)
Junius Irving Scales v. United States
260 F.2d 21 (Fourth Circuit, 1958)
Dennis v. United States
341 U.S. 494 (Supreme Court, 1951)
United States v. Heine
149 F.2d 485 (Second Circuit, 1945)
Shaw v. State
1943 OK CR 51 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1943)
Taylor v. State
11 So. 2d 663 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1943)
State v. Sentner
298 N.W. 813 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1941)
Minersville School Dist. v. Gobitis
108 F.2d 683 (Third Circuit, 1940)
United States v. Zimmerman
108 F.2d 370 (Seventh Circuit, 1939)
Committee for Industrial Organization v. Hague
25 F. Supp. 127 (D. New Jersey, 1938)
Herndon v. Lowry
301 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1937)
De Jonge v. Oregon
299 U.S. 353 (Supreme Court, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
274 U.S. 328, 47 S. Ct. 650, 71 L. Ed. 1077, 1927 U.S. LEXIS 32, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burns-v-united-states-scotus-1927.