ist professions and principles
brought out in 1920 during the trial of the Assemblymen at Albany.

As the long record of jury convictions of officials and members of the
Socialist Party of America is the real foundation of the case against
the five New York Assemblymen, exposing the character of the
organization they serve, we quote for the reader's information a press
summary of the facts, submitted by a citizens' "Committee on Publicity,"
March 2, 1920, "for the approval of the People of the State of New
York." According to the Albany "Knickerbocker[13] Press" of March 3,
1920, this Committee's statement, after referring to "the procedure of
the New York Assembly in January, 1920," in "temporarily suspending the
five Socialist Assemblymen while instituting a judicial inquiry into
their qualifications to serve as law-makers," continues as follows:

"We believe the Assembly was misjudged in the minds of many who
reasoned: 'Socialists elected to previous Assemblies were seated
without objection, why then suspend the five Socialist Assemblymen
this year and investigate them?'

"We offer what we believe to be a complete answer to the question.
We believe the Assembly had a compelling warrant for its procedure
in serious facts and charges not known to previous Legislatures.
These include:

"First--Court records showing that most of the principal leaders of
the Socialist 'Party' were convicted lawbreakers.

"Second--the revelations of the Lusk Committee.

"Under the first head may be mentioned the conviction and
twenty-year sentence, on January 8, 1919, of Victor L. Berger,
National Executive Committeeman of the so-called Socialist Party;
the conviction of Eugene V. Debs, four times Presidential candidate
of the party, whose ten-year sentence was affirmed by the United
States Supreme Court March 10, 1919; and other convictions in 1919,
including, Adolph Germer, National Executive Secretary; J. Louis
Engdahl, editor of the Socialist Party's official publications;
Irwin St. John Tucker, head of its literature department, and
William F. Kruse, Secretary of the Young People's Socialist
organization. In addition, twenty of the Socialist Party's lesser
leaders and scores of its rank and file had been convicted of
disloyal acts and utterances, while nineteen of the chief Socialist
organs had their secon