Evening star., 1939-10-25
Peace League
LIST Revealed
By Dies Group
Two Make Protest;
563 U. S. and D. G.
Employees Included
Membership and Mailing List
on Page A-6.)
BY JAMES E. CHINN.

A membership and mailing list"
of the Washington branch of the
American League for Peace and
Democracy, containing the names of
563 Federal and District employees,
was placed in the official record of
the House Committee on Un-Ameri-
can Activities today over the protest
OF two committee members.
The list, taken from the files Of
the headquarters of the WASH
ington branch of the league under
subpoena several weeks ago, contains
the names of % District public
school teachers and six employees Of
the Health Department. The vast
majority of those listed, however,
are in the Federal service.
The list includes the names of
several high Government officials
and runs the gamut through other
positions down to the lowly Job of
charwoman.
Two $4,000 Officials on List.
Names of only two Government
officials in the exclusive $4,000 sal.
ary bracket appear in the list. They
are Louis Bloch of the Maritime La
Dor Board, and Edwin S. Smith.
member of the National Labor Rela-
uons Board. Assistant Secretary of
the Interior Oscar Chapman olso is
listed.
Many times witnesses before the
committee have charged the League
is Communist front" organiza-
ton. These charges were vigorously
denied several days ago by Harrv
F. Ward, national chairman of the
League in his appearance before
the committee.
Chairman Dies said "it has been
established conclusively that the
american League for Peace and
democracy was organized and is
controlled by the Communist PARTY"
There was no evidence. he said.
to the effect that the Government
employees in the League were Com
muniSts.
Exception Held Unjustified.
But, he declared, the fact that
these Government employees are
members of Communist front or.
ganlzatlon and apparently con-
tlnued their membership long after
this organization was exposed as
oelng communistic justihes' in the
opinion OF the committee the publ.
cation of this list. -
THE committee has not hesitated
to make public the names of private
citizens who have been charged with
Communist or Fascist activities and
we can see no justification for
making an exception in the case of
the Government employees.
In fact, there is more reason for
making public the names of Gov
eminent employees than in the case
OF private citizens"
Although the names went into
the official record as membership
and mailing list" Representative
Mason insisted it was a member
ship list only"
Mr.. Mason made the statement
just before the committee adjourned,
"A question has arisen whether
the list is combined membership
and mailing list" he said. "I have
had this list carefully checked and
1t is a membership of the American
League for Peace and Democracy,
local chapter. 1t is membership
list only"
Mason Stands Firm.
Representative Dempsey, Demo-
crat, Of New Mexico, asked whether
the list contained names of persons
who only filled out" application
blanks or whether it was a record
of persons who had contributed to
the league for certain causes.
Mr. Mason insisted it was
membership list only.
Representative Dempsey declared
that according to his information
some of those named are not men,
bers of the league but only CON
tributors."
Release of the list for publication
was marked by bitter exchange
between committee members Rep
resentative Dempsey, committee
member, who was not present at the
time, interrupted the committee
hearing later to protest the pro-
cedure as most damnable" and
most un-American."
Publication of Names Hit.
The Washington branch of the
league issued a statement asserting
that the obvious purpose of publish
ing the names lis to intimidate Gov.
ernment employees by giving mis-.
leading publicity to their member
ship in a progressive organization
whose aims and purposes have been
misrepresented by the Dies commit
tee."
The Dies committee obtained from
Government records the salaries of
(See UN-AMERICAN, Page A-5)