Is true Freedom but to break Fetters for our own dear sake, And, with leathern heart, forget That we owe mankind a debt? No! true Freedom is to share All the chains our brothers wear, And, with heart and hand, to be Earnest to make others free. 'atari GOPAL SINGH They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak; They are slaves who will not choose Hatred, scoffing, and abuse, Rather than in silence shrink From the truth they needs must think ; They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three! — James Russell Lowell. TO THE FRIENDS OF INDIA Brothers: Shall we be deported? To begin with, we acknowledge that our hearts are bleeding for India, our beloved land. We are firm believers that India be for our people and that the principles of “Self Determination for Small Nations” is our due if it is to be granted to others. But we asked you above: Shall we be deported? At this moment one of our number lies in prison with deportation proceedings already passed on favor- ably by the American authorities, and unless we act quickly he will be sent to India and his execution or imprisonment for life will follow. Gopal Singh, whose particular case we are presenting to you here, landed in San Francisco, Cal., on the 2nd day of February, 1917, and was indicted by a Federal jury in the month of April of the same year. Later he was tried in Federal courts at San Francisco and convicted on merely technical charges of violating the neutrality laws of the United States. He was sentenced for a term of one year and one day. His term expired on the 23rd of February, 1919. However, shortly before he expected to come out from MacNeil’s Island he was notified by the authorities that he would be deported from the United States on the day of his release. On the day of his release, the 23rd of February, 1919, Gopal Singh was arrested for deportation on a warrant of arrest issued by the Acting Secretary of Labor, Washington, D. C. His case is now pending in one of the Federal courts at Seattle, Washington, for the purpose of passing upon a cause showing why he should not be deported. Those last words are not mere assertion, for the following of our countrymen were executed on their return to India for the offense of “Propaganda” to liberate their Mother Land from the bondage of foreign despotism. Their names are : Sardar Gurd.it Singh, who with his 300 comrades and compatriots going to Canada on the steamship Komagatu Maru is not only refused admittance but is returned to Calcutta by the British Government and even executed immediately upon his arrival in Calcutta; Balwant Singh, Kartar Singh, Dhian Singh, Kanshi Ram, Rahmat Ali Kahn, Lai Singh, Ishar Singh, Bakhshish Singh, Jun Singh, Jagat Singh, Sajan Singh, Isar Singh, Mihan Singh, Harnam Singh, Hardit Singh, Dr. Mathara Singh, Kipur Singh, Kala Singh, Atma Singh, Buta Singh, Banta Singh, Chanan Singh, Bishnu Ganesh Pingle, Ranga Singh, Bir Singh, Uttam Singh, Rur Singh and Narain Singh. There are many more in this list whose names are not available at present. Besides this group, the following are now serving sentences for life in prison and in exile camps after their return: Professor Bliai Parma Nand, Ram Saran, Rala Singh, Surain Singh, Wasawa Singh, Parma Nand, Kala Singh, Udham Singh, Inder Singh, Gurdit Singh, Chur Singh, Jeun Singh, Kala Singh, Kharak Singh, Inder Singh, Shib Singh, Kirpal Singh, Chattar Singh, Harnam Singh, Surain Singh, Jagat Singh, Bakhshish Singh, Nidhan Singh, Harnam Singh, Surain Singh, Sher Singh, Kesar Singh, Hirdi Ram, Lai Singh, Jagat Singh, Harnam Singh, Khushhal Singh, Pirthi Singh, Nand Singh, Bhan Singh, Chur Singh, Gurkula Singh, Bishan Singh, Madan Singh, Inder Singh Garanthi, Jawala Singh, Mangal Singh, Piara Singh, Rur Singh, Sher Singh, Basakha Singh, Kishan Das, Baja Singh, Jamna Das, Hari Singh and Jagat Ram. Three more of our comrades will soon finish their terms at MacNeil’s Island, and they, too, are slated for deportation on the similar charges as that of Gopal Singh. These three men were sentenced to MacNeil’s Island at the same time when Gopal Singh was sentenced. Their terms expire as follows: Bhagwan Singh on July 20th next, Santokh Singh on October 2nd and Taraknath Das in November of this year. Only our friends have the power to save these men. The Hindus, unlike the Irish, are without power in America, and power, money power, is the only thing that seems to get recognition in these strenuous times. In the late war the slogan, “Make the World Safe for Democracy,” surely included India, for there has been no “Democracy” there during the past two hundred years. President Wilson has declared many times that the right of any people to self-determination shall not be denied by any of the larger powers of government. Walt Whitman said of America: “I am the friend of every dauntless rebel.” He took America as the typical land for the birth of Democracy and with the other poets he heralded the persecuted of the earth to seek refuge here. Gopal Singh, who is one of the young nationalists of India, took advantage of these high ideals of America and came here for the purpose of nourishing his aspirations for liberty. Has America ceased to live up to the hopes of its poets and orators? Can men be seized by powers not yet removed from monarchy and taken back to be murdered by “Commissions” without trial or semblance of justice? We hope not. Gopal Singh is one of our people, and unless we reach the ear of the Liberty Loving people of America he will soon be on his way back to India to what we feel sure means certain death. It simply means that America is deporting him to Death. If America is convinced that Gopal Singh deserves the treatment he is about to be accorded we ask: Why not murder him here instead of sending him to India to be butchered there in the streets of Calcutta? The Honorable Frank P. Walsh, who was the head of the Industrial Relations Commission of the United States several years ago, and who was recently joint chairman of the War Labor Board, has entered the fight to save Gopal Singh from being deported. Paul U. Kellogg, the editor of the Survey Magazine, has also added his voice and pen to save the life of Gopal Singh. We Hindus have a clean record in America. Our people have been industrious, and there is not one single case of “Public Charge” on record in the police courts in the last hundred years. Brothers of ours and friends of India : awake to the enormity of this crime that is about to be committed against our brothers. We, on behalf of our countrymen in the United States, appeal to your sentiment and sense of plain justice. We know Americans love fair play when their heart can be reached. This is the time for you to help these men. Do not hesitate. The lives of our brothers are in your hands and soon we will follow if the precedent is once set. Your voice has great influence in this Republic of yours. You are the nation. Approach the representative citizens that you know and appeal to them at once on our behalf and on behalf of Gopal Singh. Do this today; tomorrow will be too late. Publicity is urgently needed. Protest in every way possible against this outrageous treatment of men whose only crime is their love of liberty. HINDUSTAN GADAR PARTY, 5 Wood Street, San Francisco, Cal. P. O. Box 895.