Evening star., 1926-06-08
TO REACH DECISION
ON FENNINC EARLY NEXT WEEK

retiring board. This Congressman,
in effect, threatened that If Mr.. Fen
ming did not do as the Congressman
demanded, the latter would move I'M
peachment. Had Fenning been a
craven and a coward he would have
yielded to the influence and the threat.
Because he took the only action in
the circumstances which a brave and
honest man could take, he has been
subjected to unprecedented misrepre
sentation and vilification.
Every charge made against him
has been fearlessly met and to any
fair mind has been completely dis
proved.
Most of the charges made against
him have been shown, without contra
diction, to have been without the
slightest foundation in fact and so
salse that no possible excuse can be
put forth for their making.
''The privileges of the floor of the
House of Representatives have been
grossly abused and the Grass disre-
gard of the solemn obligations of mem
bership in the House has been barred
TO a demonstration.
More regretable than the irremed-
table harm done Commissioner Fen
ming is the harm done to the City of
Washington and to the District gov
ernment.
mo cleaner municipal government
than ours exists anywhere. 1t is i'm
possible in these United States to find
q city so free from corruption as this.
Despite this, wanton and reckless
charges have had a distinct tendency
to bring our city government into
disrepute and the effect upon the
morale OF it's employees cannot be
overestimated. Subordinate employees
with the slightest grievance have
been made to believe that they can
defy regulation, disobey superiors
and find aid and refuge by appealing
to committees or members of Con-
gress., No city government can etii-
ciently function il such conditions are
to continue.
Effect Upon Patients.
More important even than the fore
going is the terrible effect which the
recent agitation must necessarily have
upon the mentally i'll patients of St.
ElizabethS.
In many instances the criminally
insane have been encouraged to seek
liberation by belief that congress
sional influence is at hand to aid in
the obtainment of that liberation.
"Ex-convicts, transferred from Fed
eral penitentiaries to the Government
Hospital for the Insane, have become
the sources of charges and informa-
ton laid before congressional commit
tees.
Years ago Washington was cursed
with a movement which had for its
purpose the bringing about of the
liberation on technical grounds of dan
gerouSly insane persons. We are now
faced with Il recurrence of that move
ment, and only recently a man dis
charged from St. EliZabeth'S within
"a hours shot a citizen on our streets
and shortly thereafter was taken into
custody, armed, and there was found
in his pocket a list Of persons whom
he intended to kill, on which were the
names of two justices of our court.
TOO little attention seems to be
paid to the demoralizing and tragic
consequences which the wanton hurl.
ing Of unfounded charges from behind
congressional immunity is almost Ger.
tain to result in.
'AS deplorable as anything else con
nected with these recent events about
which | am speaking Is the patent eX
ploitation of unfortunate World War
veterans by political demagogues.
THE names of mentally i'll veterans
who are receiving enlightened and
scientific treatment. have, to the great
distress of their families, been dragged
into public hearings and repeatedly
published in newspaper reports OF
those hearings.
| AN endeavor has been made tc
spread an entirely false idea that the
money and property of these unfortu
nate boys has been squandered, if not
| indeed, stolen. Indisputable testimony
based on Interchangeable court records
| shows that the greatest care has been
taken to conserve, to increase and
properly and economically to use the
assets of these boys to the end that
they, should they recover, may have a
competence to aid them to carry on ir
life, or that their dependent parents
or other relatives should have that
competence should they not recover.
Hospital Called Unfit.
"St. Elizabeth's Hospital, than which
there is no better managed institution
for the enlightened treatment of the
mentally ill, has been pictured as an
unfit place for the veterans of the
World War. although that institution
was established by the Congress of the
United States primarily for the treat
ment of the officers and men of our
Army and Navy, and although, as is
we'll known in this community, re
fined and cultured men and women
stricken with mental illness, have
been and are now patients there.
1T is time that notice should be
taken Of the things of which 1 speak
THE people of Washington who
know me well, I am sure believe me
when / say that they have not, except
through the columns of The Star, been
informed Of even half the truth re
garding the so-called Fenning case
Never has there been so much de
liberate misrepresentation. Never has
there been such willful distortion OF
facts. Never has there been so patent
an attempt to prejudice a community
and to arouse not only all Of it's peo
pie, but particularly those whom
every right-thinking man will agree
should not be misled"
TWO MEN HELD IN KILLING