Montana labor news., 1938-12-22
Is Il True What They
Say Down in Washing
ton) About Our Shirley!
Symposium of Editorials Shows
That Dies Committee Is Grade
Y Circus.

It's washington run is otherwise
known as the House committee in
vestigating un-American activities.
The hearings, conducted by Chair
man Martin Dies of Texas, produced
some first-rate laughs and a mass
of totally unsubstantiated testimony
by Arthur Sullivan, known labor
spy and professional stool pigeon
according to the records of the La
Toilette committee, and by ]. B.
Matthews, former head, for four
months, of the American League for
Peace and Democracy, and known
strikebreaker who was forced to re-
sign from the American League
when he could offer no defense of
his strikebreaking activity.
Future bookings of the Dies show,
if the show plans to continue in the
face of its discouraging press notices,
will be in New York, San Francisco
and possibly n or two other cities
where the committee feels there
may be an audience for its brand of
red-baiting.
Here's what the New York press
and prominent persons had to say
about Mr.. Dies as director of the
show "Red-baiting to end all red
batting in goodness knows how
many acts:
POST-"He Congressman Dies)
is running a Washington sideshow
with the purpose of smearing the
New Deal to convince the people
that President Roosevelt wears a
full Russian beard which somehow
doesn't show up in the photographs.
In show business they would call
it a hot-weather performance, rough
around the edges, with a feeble
script"
DAILY NEWS - From editorial
headed $50 Shirley Temple is a
Communist" - "the Dies committee
has hung a Red label on poor
little Shirley Temple, among other
movie stars, and now wants the help
of the G-Men in digging up more
smear stuff. 1t is ridiculous and it
helps the Reds. Let's not be
hornswoggled by the Communists
among us-but let's not be talked
out of our sense of perspective by
the Red-baiters, either"
WORLD-TELEGRAM -" a
subsequent new story written from
the committee room reports that
Chairman Dies indicated the COM
mittee may go to Hollywood to dig
into the charges What could be
sweeter than an expedition to that
place of glamour and lovely individ-
ualism-at government expense"
HAYWOOD BROUN-"Mr. j. B.
Matthews, whom l had the privilege
of telling off in a corridor, has sold
the Dies committee a dubious bill
of goods. The implications of the
testimony of Mr.. Matthews are that
anything the Communists are for
should be the prize hate of every
body else. And SO Mooney should
continue to rot in Jail and Hitler
should live long and prosper"
TIMES-"One gathers from some
of the testimony given before the
House committee on un-American
activities that it is now possible to
be a Communist without knowing
it,"
RODNEY BUTCHER, NEA re-
porter. to date committee poll
cy has been to listen bug-eyed to all
volunteer witnesses who want to
put the Communist tag on persons
and organizations they don't like,
with or without evidence. No
such loosely handled investigation
has been covered previously by this
generation of Washington cores
pondents."
JOURNAL-AMERICAN - "In its
public hearings at Washington, the
Dies committee performed a mem
orable service by dragging into the
fullest light of day the secret and
sinister Vaccinations of Russian
Communism in the United States.
And, in so doing, the committee has
presented to America complete con-
firmation of what the Hearst news
papers have been saying continually
ever since these newspapers under
took, a few years ago, to awaken the
people to the increasing menace of
this Moscow-directed conspiracy
against our free institutions. No
body can any longer seriously deny
that the screen is tainted with Com
munism."
FORMER GOVERNOR HOFF-
MAN OF NEW JERSEY &C can
imagine him G.. B. Matthew'S ner-
vously looking under his bed each
night expecting to find a bomb or
Haywood Broun. l don't know
and don't care-if l am a member
of the advisory council of the
American Youth Congress-"