New-York tribune., 1921-01-20
Attorney General Urges
Inquiry After Facing
an All-Day Grill as a
subcommittee Witness
Brutality Charged
In Selling Reds
Radicals Taken i'm Round
Up and Agents Accused
of Violation to Testify
From The Tribune's Washinoton Bvr.,.

FROM INC 1T10une'S Washington Bureuu
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19.-A thoroug gr
investigation will be made by Congress
OF charges that agents of the Depart
ment of Justice were guilty of brutalit,
and disregard of law in their raid,
against alleged radicals last winter anf
IN arrestlng persons accused of wa,
time offenses, it was announced h,
members of the subcommittee of thf
Senate judiciary Committee to-day. The
accused agents and the persons makine
charges against them will be sum.
moned before the committee.
The announcement followed do
mand for this procedure made by At
torney General Palmer, who was sub
9ected to an all-day grilling at the
hands of the subcommittee. Mr.. Palna,
asserted that many of the charges
against the departments agents were
based on hearsay and he declared tha,
ne had reports refuting many of them
He said that the actual facts conle
be determined by the subcommittee
calling in the persons aggrieved ant
the agents who made the arrests. He
insisted that in fairness to his depart
ment this should be done.
Palmer Prodded by Walsh
The subcommittee is headed b,
Senator Sterling, Republican, of South
Dakota. However, Senator Walsh
Democrat, Of Montana, prodded Mr.
Palmer the most insistentlv anc
clashed with him at times. The Sen.
ator made it plain that he believed the
department of Justice had gone
beyond the pounds Of the Constitution
and had violated the rights of in.
divduals.
Mr.. Palmer defended the course OF
the department. but admitted there
nlght nave been cases of over-zealous-
ness. He held the department generally
mad taken position of clemencs
toward persons charged with wartime
cffenses and offenses under wartime
laws and he declared that he had long
favored the repeal of the espionage
act.
To-day's hearing was devoted in part
to consideration Of a resolution by
Senator France for general amnesty to
political prisoners and in part to tn,
charges which have been filed with the
Senate by q committee of lawyers
under auspices OF the National Pop
ular Government League, known as the
Committee of Twelve. This committee
also has made its charges before the
Rules Committee of the House and in
these CHARGES it goes into details as
to many cases Of alleged violations OF
tho rights of political prisoners.
One of tie lawyers who has criticized
the Department of Justice is Professor
Zachariah Chaffee, of Harvard Law
School. He will be heard before the
committee Tuesday.
The wholesale drive against the com.
munists and members of the Com
munist Labor party January 2 of last
year, with view to deportations, was
one of the matters discussed to-day
Much of the criticism of the Committee
of Twelve is directed at the proceed
ings in connection with this raid. How
ever. the hearing to-day covered 8
much wider field.
In the course Of his examination Mr.
Palmer told the committee the ques-
ton of pardoning Eugene V. Debs OF
exercising clemency was not disposed
of, and is before the President.
Has Handled 1890 Cases
The total number of cases handled
by the Department OF Justice under
the wartime statutes, according to Mr.
Palmer, was 1890. Of these, 1924
have been disposed of otherwise than
by conviction, 5,720 have been convict
ed and 9,259 are pending.
The largest number of cases have
been under the draft act. Of these
2.14A have been disposed of other than
by conviction. There were 4,S12 con-
victions and S,s46 cases are pending
These do not include minor cases, such
rs selling liquor and other offenses an
der Sections IL and 13 of the draft law
Under the espionage act 736 cases
have been disposed of other than by
conviction. There have been 581 con-
victions and 315 cases are pending.
The Attorney General also gave the
statistics of cases under the passport
act, the sabotage act, the explosives
act and the trading with the enemy
act, and furnished lists Of the persons
convicted, dates and other data. These
lists, making up a voluminous mass of
were put into the record.
Ii appeared that under the sabotage
act there was one case disposed of
otherwise than by conviction, seven
were convicted and four cases are
Under the trading with the
CONTINUED on page seven)