Evening star., 1936-03-08

that was all concerning his clients
and that he could take trip to
Florida. He left Monday night.
On Tuesday an appraiser Of utilities
testified in q comparatively dull hear
ing that their physical value today
would only pay off their bonded in
debtedness, but an item which didn't
attract general attention was an ac-
count Of the appearance in New York
Of Strawn and his conference with
other opponents of the New Deal
seeking joint action against the COM
mittees action in the mass seizure Of
telegrams.
Outbreak Of Indignation"
On Wednesday the significance of
what the committee had done in this
respect became widely apparent and
there was the so-called outbreak of
indignation" The Black committee
called of public hearings and gave the
day over to studying ways In which to
meet the attack.
On Thursday there was a parade of
Doherty employees, Mullen's clients,
from Washington and nearby cities,
designed to justify the committees
procedure. The witnesses were
Charles E. Foster and A. r. Thomson,
officials Of Doherty subsidiary in
Philadelphia; N. @. Williams. division
sales manager. Of Washington: John
Beard. salesman, of Hagerstown, and
A. j. Arris, salesman of Frederick, all,
1t is pointed out. quickly accessible.
In general, they testified, they had
sent kilograms and got their friends
! and relatives to send kilograms, pro-
testing the passage Of the holding
company bill Then they testified
| about the burning" Of copies Of mes
sages. The associates Of Mullen who
were here on the scene say the ref
erence to destruction of messages
was to Inter office" memoranda. Ma
turally. these witnesses didn't have
! copies Of kilograms which they ad-
mitted they got their relatives and
friends to send opposing the holding
company bill, these associates explain.
And they contend that If the COM
mittee wants to see copies of these
messages it has only to ask the Con-
gressmen to whom they were sent.
Ways to Get Messages.
But Black asked at least one of
these witnesses If 1t was not a fact
that the "only way" the committee
had of getting copies of these mes
sages was to take them from the files
of the telegraph companies. and the
witness replied that was; the only way
he knew Of.
At the conclusion Of this hearing
Black went on the Senate floor and
charged the committee was being sub
Jected to a newspaper campaign de-
signed to destroy it. but the commit
tee would proceed courageously. never
theless incidentally, he disclosed in
this speech that he considers the
Liberty League, the Sentinels of the
Republic and what he called the
Guardians Of the Constitution" fair
prey for the committee, on the ground
that they are engaged in lobbying.
Two of these organizations are openly
fighting the New Deal. The Guard
ians Of the Constitution" is not known
by this writer.
Black described these organizations
"as screen" behind which certain
groups could intervene In national
affairs and run within the law"
The predicament Of the committee
recalls that in which the Nye NUM-
tions Committee found itself several
weeks ago. When 1t got into matters
relating to the Wilson administration,
its two Democratic members threat
ened to resign, and on the floor of
the Senate it was subjected to a most
severe attack. Nye, seeking to defend
the committees action, said that when
the word was passed around about its
being in trouble the members Of the
Morgan banking house. sitting at the
committee table, exchanged notes
and smiled"