The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-06-25

HcII u peuSlOLS VI
otoHSend $500 per month for
Plan FIops everyone over sixty
years of age seems
10 have gone up in smoke, but there
are developments in connection with
the California doctors unavoidable
scheme that merit comment. The good
doctor and his half-baked idea have
been skidding rapidly since the House
investigating committee showed up the
plan as a befuddled idea and as once
predicted, the bubble burst in a big
way
While I am inclined TO believe that
DIR. Townsend was honest and sincere
In proposing the $500 per month pen
sion, il was the sort of thing that
serves as an inducement for racket
GERS to gather. It was the old mo-
1aSSeS barrel for the flies in the world
of racketeers. 1t never had a chance
70 go anywhere and never will, be-
cause il was fundamentally unSOund.
We can dismiss it then except for the
TWO phases which ought TO be vigOr-
ously condemned by right-thinking
people everywhere.
The two circumstances which hear
discussed most frequently are: The
tragedy. the heartaches. that obviously
follow in the wake of movements"
such as the Townsend plan that can
not succeed and that draw to them
selves thousands, if not hundreds of
thousands. of persons who believe they
are going to benefit; and secondly, it
seems TO me that the House commit
tee. headed by Representative Bell,
OF Missouri, 0verplayed its hand with
the result that it has brought upon
House committees the same public dis
gust and distrUst as characterizes 90
per cent of the Senate investigations.
Each of these conditions is to be de-
plOred. Each is definitely destructive.
There can be no more excuse for
some Of the methods employed by the
House committee in crucifying DR..
Townsend than for DR.. Townsend him
self 10 wreck hearts and hopes and
homes by pushing forward such a mis-
erably impossible proposition as his
500 per month oeIsion program
The House committee had within its
power opportunity to do a magnificent
job in exposing the racketeering that
became part and parcel of the Town
send plan. 1t had within its hands the
capacity TO educate millions within the
United States against following such
an illusion, such a mirage, as the
Townsend plan. If it had confined il
self TO that work, Representative Bell
and his committee should receive the
plaudits of the nation. But the sad
story is that the committee under Mr..
Bells guidance allowed itself to be-
come an agency of prosecution, even
persecution, rather than an unbiased
investigating unit, determined only to
obtain the truth.
Since there never was any question
that the Townsend nostrum would fall
of its own weight
committee eventually, it is diff
Errs ficult TO understand
why the committee
resorted TO the tactics it used. l
watched some of those hearings. AS
the committee deIved deeper into the
activities of DR.. Townsend and his as
Sociates, it became Infatuated. That
was where it made its big mistake
and it is going to be quite a long time
before House committees again can
have reputation throughout the coun-
try Of conducting unbiased and rea-
Sonable Investigations.
DR.. Townsend was sufficiently hard
boiled to justify the committee in
making a vigorous investigation. He
was sufficiently Indifferent to their Of
rant a feeling on the committees part
that they had to bear down." Yet,
it must be said the committee went
beyond all reason and l imagine that
in the end it will flare back on the
individuals.
Now, DR.. Townsend surely cannot
blame anyone other than himself for
the fact that he is faced with proceed
ings BY the United States attorney.
1t will be remembered, of course, that
DR.. Townsend deliberately walked out
of the committee and refused to tes-
tify. That has always been held as
contempt and Congress has the right
TO punish for contempt. In this in
stance, the House of Representatives
elected to turn DR. Townsends case
over TO the United States attorney for
punishment in court rather than to
employ a House vote which might
send the elderly dreamer to Jail.
Further, the whole Townsend inves-
tigatiOn has turned out to be some
thing of a mess like the Townsend
plan itself. / am informed that legal
action against DR.. Townsend is I'M
likely until late autumn. Or to say it
another way, there is every probability
that no legal action will be taken
against him until after the election
November 3.
Thus, there is every evidence Of a
second type of politics In this inyesti-
cation. The evil
Second Type dence of politics lay
of Politics in the fact that the
House voted the in
curry largely because many of the
individual House members were
afraid, they were too cowardly, to take
a definite stand in their home dis
tricts against the Townsendites. True,
they did not know how strong the
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