Evening star., 1934-04-17
Writ COMMITTEE
SHOUTS CHARGES
Members at Odds During
Hearing of Other Din
ner Guests.
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.


A Special House Committee con
tinued today its inquiry into perhap.
the most publicized social gathering
in the United States since the Bostor
tea party-the dinner last Setpem
ber at which DR.. William A. Writ ha'
said President Roosevelt was charac
terized as the "Kerensky of this revo
luton"
Not only is the dinner party which
was given by Miss Alice Barrows a
her home in Mclean, Va, likely to q
down in history because of the in
quiry and DR.. Wirt's statement, bu
also the inquiry itself is not withou
its peculiarities.
Conducted by a committee com
posed of three Democrats and tw,
Republicans, the hearing has de-
veloped the utmost antagonism be-
tween the majority and the minorit!
members. Members at the hearing
today, including Representative Nc
Gugin of Kansas, Republican; Chair
man BulWinkle Of North Carolina
Democrat, and Representative O'Con
nor of New York, Democrat, shouted
charges about the committee tabl'
involving common honesty com
mon decency" and its lie
Deny DIR. Wirt's Testimony.
Miss Barrows and her guests or
the occasion of the famous dinner
except Dr.. Writ, categoricaly and EN-.
phatically denied that any one at the
dinner had mentioned the Soviet gov
ernment Kerensky Stain or DR.. Rex
ford Tugwell, Assistant Secretary oi
testimony given by DR.. Writ before
the committee last Tuesday.
There was only one point in DR.
Wirt's testimony with which the other
guests were willing to agree, and that
was that when the Indiana educator
expressed the hope this country would
return to the conditions of 1926, Miss
Hildegarde Kneeland of the Agricul-
ture Department, expressed the hope
that such would not be the case. Miss
Kneeland told the committee her
objection to Dr. Wirts statement Law
IN the fact that he proposed the 1926
conditions as a goal.
Miss Kneeland said she believed
the United States should 60 forward
TO a much greater goal than the con-
dltlonS OF 1926. with a greater dis
trlbution of benefits and a higher
standard of living for the masses
According to the witnesses, the din
nor u-IoinI, IL
hourS, was featured by a monologue
by DR.. Writ first dealing with his
views on education and. second. with
the deValuation of the American dol
lar.
Miss Kneeland's remark about 1926
condltlons was the sole interruption
ana conversational shoehorn was
necessary to insert this, it was i'm
piled.
Miss Barrows, the first witness. left
no doubt in the minds OF the COM
mittee that she was outraged by the
testimony OF DR.. Writ about her din
ner party. She told of having been
questioned at her hairdresser's by DR..
Wirt'S wife, who came to her early
last week in a mysterious manner and
asked her to give the names of all
her guests at the dinner on the
ground that DR.. Writ could not re-
member them. Miss Barrows said she
supplied the names.
Crowd Has Good Laugh.
The committee room today was
Jammed with spectators, who laughed
and applauded one side or the other
as though at a new comedy. At the
outset of the hearing former Senator
James A. Reed of Missouri, counsel
Tor DR.. Writ, asked leave to put into
the Record a lot of kilograms lauda-
tory Of the Indiana educator and de-
nylng that he had ever been in prison
Tor pro-German activities during the
war as charged by Chairman BulWin-
Kle on the floor of the House several
days ago.
BulWlnkle, who apologized to DR..
Writ on the floor of the House YES
terday for having made this statement.
declared that that issue was closed.
He and the other Democratic members
OF the committee voted not to allow
tnese telegrams to be inserted in the
RECORD, while Senator Reed stood and
smiled sardonically at them.
In front row at the hearing sat
DR.. Writ, Mrs. Writ and former SEN
ator Reed, while the fellow guests of
Or. Writ at Miss Barrows' dinner
party proceeded to tear to shreds the
testimony given by DR.. Writ when
the hearing began. DR.. Writ listened
1ntently. His face neither expressed
approval or disapproval as he heard
himself charged with making false
statements in his testimony.
Unshaken Under Questioning.
No questions or cross examination
by Republican members of the COM
mittee were able to upset or shake
in any way the definite statements
made by the witnesses that DR.. Writ
had given an absolutely wrong de-
scription of the dinner conversation.
According to Miss Barrows and
other witnesses, DR.. Writ wore them
all out during the course of the eve
ming with his conversation and Miss
Barrows used the phrase Il was so
exhausted" Miss BarroWs in the past
has been warm friend of DR.. and
Mrs. Writ, and from 1914 to 1917 was
DR.. Wirt's secretary when he was
working in New York on the educa-
tional system of that city.
The members of the committee
broke into open pickering when Rep
reSentative O'Connor said DR.. Writ
and Senator Reed had gone to Repre-
sentative McGugin's Office to talk over
testimony with the Republican mem
Der Of the committee. McGuin shout
ed that DR.. Writ had never been to
his office and that it was lie. Chair
man Bulwinkle pleaded for common
decency in the conduct of the hearing
and McGugin retorted that If there
was to be common decency there must
be cnnnnann hnnaetu