The Devany “isms” bill, seeking to bar from the civil service and teaching posts those who advocate overthrow of the Government, passed the Assembly today by a vote of 107-27, after extended debate.
Passage of the bill followed closely upon introduction of a resolution by Assemblyman Charles O. Burney Jr., Erie County Republican, calling for an investigation “of un-American and subversive activities and alien and foreign ideologies in the public service of the State and its various cities and civil divisions.”
An effort by Assemblyman Charles R. McConnell, Brooklyn Democrat, to discharge the committee considering the McNaboe bill and thus bring the measure to the floor was defeated in a one-sided oral vote. The McNaboe bill, already passed in the Senate, has the same purpose as the Devany bill, but its definition of the doctrine of governmental overthrow is limited to Communism and criminal anarchy.
Opposition to the Devany bill, which is supported by the American Legion, was built around the contention that, while fine in purpose, it was bad in method. One opponent charged it would “short-circuit standard American methods as well as free speech and free thought.”
The resolution for the proposed investigation went to the Ways and Means Committee. The investigating committee would have an $8,500 appropriation and would report March 1,1940.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
