LIBERTIES with CIVIL RIGHTS

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

I should like to correct the one vital error in your otherwise basically accurate account of last weekend's convention of the Young Democratic Clubs of Massachusetts. A platform which was strong in every respect save one was carried with virtual unanimity. The one exception was civil liberties, not civil rights, as stated in your lead.

The Democratic Party in Massachusetts has had an excellent record in civil rights. The late Maurice J. Tobin, former Governor and later Secretary of Labor under President Truman, was a prime mover in the creation of the state Fair Employment Practices Commission, while the Hon. James L. O'Dea, Jr., House Majority Whip, led the fight to abolish segregation in the state National Guard. The civil rights stand adopted at our convention called upon the Massachusetts delegates to the Democratic National Convention "to fight for a strong Civil Rights plank in the party's National Platform."

It is only in the civil liberties field that the Democratic Party in this state has fallen down. Our defeat at the weekend convention was symptomatic of this. The closeness of the vote was encouraging, however, and we may well hope that it will not be long before the state party parallels the national leadership in this respect also. Gordon A. Martin, Jr.,   President,   Harvard Young Democratic Club