Evening star., 1936-05-09

u o q m II -
other people D.v;s Yr.n..
hereabouts, he is
beginning to see the seeds of dictator
ship sown. 1t is not easy to make
such charges without encountering
the usual counterattack about exagger-
alton and over-Sensitiveness which has
been flung at critics ever since DR..
,Wirt's unhappy experience.
But when Democrat rises in the
United States Senate to cry out
against a secret police system on the
part of the New Deal and a spying
practice, the incident fits in with the
apprehension that has been rather
widespread lately about New Deal
wire-tapping and other invaSions OF
privacy including seizure of private
kilograms.
Brief and Pointed.
Bones speech was brief and to the
point and is worth reproducing in full
text because it is so extraordinary
and could not have been made except
on provocation of serious nature.
my attention has been directed to
an article recently appearing in one
of the local papers which condemns
certain alleged practices of so-called
undercover men employed by some
Government departments and who
are charged with low form of spying
and general all-around espionage.
IT have been advised of at least one
such instance which seemed an utterly
indefensible case of this very thing.
] am concerned over the fact that
such practices may exist. If they are
not checked by the salutary force of
public opinion they might readily lend
themselves to the most odious form Of
oppression and coercion and easily be-
come the basis of what might amount
to political blackmail
What is to prevent such practices
from being used to coerce members OF
Congress into attitudes favorable to
the ends sought by the people who
control these undercover operators?
If the activities of these men are not
brought to light what is to prevent
them from becoming instruments of
tyranny in the hands of ambitious
men?
Probe Action Hinted.
'In the near future I shall have
something to say about this matter,
and probably offer resolution looking
to an investigation by the Senate to
determine the extent to which its own
members may have been the object of
attention at the hans of this nascent
and budding 0. G.. P. U. (RusSian
secret police.
"If there be nothing to this now
80 frequently repeated charge, it might
be well to lay this ghost of gossip by
the heels and have an end to the un-
dercurrent of charges and cross
charges now so freely INDUCED in when
members of Congress meet for frank,
private discussion of what is going on.
"T think that an official investi-
cation would be healthy thing, and
1t would give an opportunity to the
supersleuths to come before the COM
mittee where the bright light of pub
aicity could and would be turned on
their work"
The importance of this revelation
Is that on the authority of member
of the United States Senate it is dis
closed that members of Congress, when
they meet for frank discussion in pri-
Vate," discuss the existence of Federal
espionage. For several months the
runlors have been current. A certain
amount of spying on the excuse that
Government officials are trying to de-
tect fraud in handling Governments
contracts has been conceded.
General Roundup.
There are various groups of detec-
tives assigned to various Government
agencies and they all report to diff
ferent chiefs so that it is possible for
high officials to tell those detectives
to get what they can about certain
individuals, irrespective of whether it
fits any too closely with the functions
OF given agency Of the Government.
1t is generally taken for granted
that J. Edgar Hoover, head of the Bu-
reau of Investigation, is much too
high-minded an official to permit his
operatives to be drawn into any po-
litical Investigations, so the finger of
suspicion is being pointed toward other
agencies Of the Government, where
detectives and investigators are on
the pay roll who do not report to the
Department of Justice.
There really ought to be only one
Government investigation agency and
it ought to be freed from political con-
troll altogether and run on merit
basis. AS matters stand today, it is
quite customary conversation among
business men to claim their telephone
wires are being tapped by the New
Deal. Certainly it would seem that
o huge force of stenographers would
have to be employed somewhere in
some impossibly secret place, tram
scribing the notes of all the alleged
eavesdropping. But, as Senator
Bone says, some of it appears to be
going on and an inquiry would help
to get at the truth about the use of
Federal funds for private espionage.