CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE

Secretary of the Interior to construct,

operate, and maintain the Colorado

River storage project and participating

projects, and for other purposes.

Mr. KNOWLAND. Mr. President,

what is the unfinished business before

the Senate?

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The unfinished business is Senate bill 1555, Calendar No. 2000.

TRIBUTE TO JUDGE EDWARD

WEINFELD

Mr. LEHMAN. Mr. President, 4 years

ago the President of the United States

appointed, and the Senate confirmed,

Edward Weinfeld to the district court

bench in New York. I was very interested in this appointment and indeed

strongly urged it upon the President,

and I was very gratified when the appointment was confirmed.

In the years since, Judge Weinfeld has

made an exemplary record on the bench

and has justified the confidence which

many of us had in his legal abilities and

judicial temperament.

Very recently Judge Weinfeld figured

in the news as the presiding judge in the

publicized libel suit of Mr. Quentin

Reynolds against Mr. Westbrook Pegler.

In the August 7 issue of the highly reputable weekly publication, the Saturday

Review, there was a report on the

Reynolds-Pegler trial, written by Mr.

Cleveland Amory, a well-known American novelist. In the course of this report

there was a tribute to Judge Weinfeld

which I should like to have inserted in

the RECORD. I ask unanimous consent

that this excerpt from Mr. Amory's report

be printed at this point in my remarks.

There being no objection, the excerpt

was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,

as follows:

REPORT BY CLEVELAND AMORY ON REYNOLDSPEGLER TRIAL

By all odds the outstanding figure in court

was Judge Edward Weinfeld, a magnetic man with a face like a prophet and a mind which

anticipated everything several seconds before it happened. He went directly from

high school to law school, was New York

State's first housing commissioner, and, on becoming a judge, his first act was to find

out what prison life was actually like. At one time or another, and through at least one meal, he has visited every Federal prison in this country except two. "I'll get to

those," he says quietly. "I want to see every place I may be responsible for someone going." In such a man's court there were no points of disorder.

Mr. LEHMAN. From many legal

quarters, Mr. President, it has come to

my attention that Judge Weinfeld presides in the district court of New York

in the highest tradition of the Federal

judiciary. I am proud and happy to pay

this tribute to my long-time friend,

Judge Edward Weinfeld.

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

A message in writing from the President of the United States was communicated to the Senate by Mr. Miller, one

of his secretaries.

ELECTION OF DELEGATES OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TO NATIONAL POLITICAL CONVENTIONSVETO MESSAGE (S. DOC. NO. 155)

The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message

from the President of the United States,

which was read, and, with the accompanying bill, referred to the Committee

on the District of Columbia, and ordered

to be printed:

To the Senate:

I return herewith without my approval

S. 1611, an enactment entitled "An act

to regulate the election of delegates representing the District of Columbia to

national political conventions, and for

other purposes."

This enactment regulates the election

of national committeemen and committeewomen and delegates and alternates

from the District of Columbia to all conventions of political parties nominating

candidates for the Presidency and Vice

Presidency of the United States.

The enactment further provides for a

Board of Elections, composed of three

members appointed by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. The

Board would maintain a permanent

registry of electors, conduct the elections, certify nominees and the results

of elections, and perform other functions incident to the conduct of such

elections.

Section 9 of the enrolled bill exempts

the qualified electors of the District of

Columbia from the Hatch Act.

I cannot approve the provisions of the

enrolled bill which would enable a very

limited number of Federal employees to

engage in partisan political activities, a privilege denied to all other Federal employees by the Hatch Act. The bill would

amend this act by permitting Federal

employees living in the District of Columbia to actively participate in the

nomination and election of delegates and

alternates representing the District at

national political conventions and in

the selection of members of the national

committees of political parties. It is estimated that of the approximately 2,180,-

000 Federal employees in the United

States, only 160,200, or 7 percent, work

in the District of Columbia. It is impossible to determine how many of the

160,200 live in the District of Columbia

and would be privileged to actively participate in elections of party national

committeemen, but the number would

be extremely small compared to the total number of Federal employees. Thus

a tiny percentage of Federal employees

would be permitted to be candidates for,

and to serve in, the political party offices

of national committeemen. They also

would be allowed to engage in such partisan political activities as serving on campaign committees, making public addresses in behalf of candidates, soliciting funds, and a variety of other duties

incident to political campaigns. If additional political privileges are to be extended to Federal employees, it should

be on a nationwide basis. No apparent

reason exists for singling out a limited

number of Federal employees living in

the District of Columbia and permitting

them to participate in partisan political

activities while all other Federal employees throughout the country are denied this privilege under the Hatch Act.

I take this action with considerable

regret. Were it not for this wholly unacceptable exemption from the Hatch

Act, this legislation would represent a

constructive step toward obtaining suffrage in the District of Columbia. Fortunately, the first election under procedures authorized by this bill would not

take place until April 1956. Therefore,

there is still ample time for the 84th Congress to consider this matter again. I

recommend such action, and I shall be

glad to approve a bill from which the

defects of the present measure are re- moved.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER.

THE WHITE HOUSE, August 20, 1954.

MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. Bartlett, one of its

clerks, announced that the House had

passed, without amendment, the following bill and joint resolution of the

Senate:

S. 3868. An act authorizing the payment of

salary to any Individual given a recess appointment as Comptroller General of the

United States before the beginning of the

84th Congress; and

S. J. Res. 173. Joint resolution to authorize

the President to proclaim the week of November 28, 1954, through December 4, 1954, as National Salvation Army Week.

The message also announced that the

House had agreed to the amendments of

the Senate to the bill (H. R. 7774) to

establish a uniform system for the granting of incentive awards to officers and

employees of the United States, and for

other purposes.

The message further announced that

the House had agreed to the report of

the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the

amendments of the Senate to the bill

(H. R. 9366) to amend the Social Security Act and the Internal Revenue

Code so as to extend coverage under the

old-age and survivors insurance program, increase the benefits payable

thereunder, preserve the insurance rights

of disabled individuals, and increase the

amount of earnings permitted without

loss of benefits, and for other purposes.

The message also announced that the

House had agreed to the following concurrent resolution (H, Con. Res. 272), in

which it requested the concurrence of the

Senate:

Resolved by the House of Representatives

(the Senate concurring), That there be

printed for the use of the Select Committee

to Investigate the Incorporation of the Baltic

States into the U. S. S. .R., 1,000 additional

copies of part I of the hearings on the Baltic

States investigation, held by the said select

committee during the 83d Congress, 1st

session.

PROPOSED DIXON-YATES

CONTRACT

During the executive session,

Mr. ANDERSON. Mr. President,

much as I dislike to interrupt this discussion, I must do so as I am not sure

1954 15389