Evening star., 1940-03-06

his bureau has Charles G. Ross.
anything to fear from an investi-
cation.
. 1t should trouble conservatives
and middle-of -the-roaders not at
all that the current demand for an
inquiry is coming from left-wing
groups. For the preservation of
civil liberties is the proper concern
of all, and If Mr.. Hoover has over
stepped the mark the country has
a right to know about it. We
want no repetition of the Palmer
req raids of the postwar years.
Whether or not Mr. Hoover has gone
out OF bounds up to now, enough
Is known about him to make it
highly desirable that the limits Of
his authority should be strictly de-
fined, for his own information and
the publics. Mr.. Hoover should be
put on notice that the country's
praise of his good work against
kidnapers is no license to him to
engage in official lawlessness.
Though the immediate occasion of
the criticism Of Mr.. Hoover is the
manner in which warrants were
executed against Detroit group &C
cused of recruiting soldiers for the
Spanish Republican Army, the COM
plant against him and the F. B. I.
runs much deeper. 1t is based prin-
cipally on the fact that in Septem-
ber, 1899, the F. B. I. set up gen
eral intelligence division" which
has proceeded, as Mr. Hoover told
congressional committee, to COM
pile extensive indices of individuals.
groups and organizations engaged
in subversive activities in espionage
activities. or any activities that are
possibly detrimental to the internal
security of the United States"
Critics Would Avoid "Ogpu."
Senator Norris and other critics,
alert to prevent even an approach
to an American "Ogpu," want to
know why Mr.. Hoover and his
agents should have the right to
roam at will in a field not covered
by the criminal statutes of the
United States. Activities that are
possibly detrimental to internal Sc
curity' is broad language.
| The minds of those who would
clip Mr.. Hoover's wings run back to
the period l919-1924 when there was
another general intelligence divi-
slon'-the prototype of the present
one-in the F. B. I. The Palmer
red raids fell within this period, at
time when the division was under
the direction of Mr. Hoover as
special assistant to the Attorney
General. Thousands of persons were
rounded up, many Of them on the
flimsiest kind of evidence or no
evidence.
AS the story is told by Cummings
and Mcfarland in their book on
Federal Justice" the plans Of
Palmer and Hoover struck a snag
when the Department of Labor. On
investigation. began to doubt
wholesale participation" in an al
legged conspiracy against the Gov
ernment and ordered the cancella-
tion of hundreds of warrants which
had been issued against aliens. The
raids were scorchingly denounced as
illegal by a committee of prominent
lawyers, including Dean Roscoe
Pound Of Harvard and Dean Tyrrell
Williams of st. Louis.
Abolished by Stone.
Harlan F. Stone, now a Supreme
Court justice, became Attorney Gen.
eral under Coolidge in April of 1924
and in May he abolished the gen
eral intelligence division" HIS
words are recalled in Senator Nor
ris' recent letter to Attorney General
jackson on the Detroit case.
There is always the possibility"
wrote Attorney General Stone in
1924, that a secret police system
may become a menace to free gov
ernment and free institutions be-
cause 1t carries with it the possibil-
ity OF abuses of power which are
not always quickly apprehended or
understood. It is important
that its activities (those of the
F. B. - be strictly limited to the
performance of those functions for
which 1t was created and that it's
agents themselves be not above the
law or beyond its reach.
"The Bureau of Investigation is
not concerned with political or
other opinions of individuals. It is
concerned only with their conduct
and then only with such conduct as
is forbidden by the laws OF the
United States. When a police sys-
tenn passes beyond these limits It is
dangerous to the proper administra-
ton Of justice and to human
liberty"
Critics Distrust Hoover.
Senator Norris and his group are
not content with the reply Of Attor-
ney General Jackson that Mr.. Hoo
yer subscribes fully to the principles
which Attorney General Stone laid
down in 1924. They don't like the
recreation Of the old general in
telligence division" and they don't
trust Mr.. Hoover.
It's an interesting angle, and not
without political implications, that
they can't shoot at Mr.. Hoover with
out hitting the Attorney General,
who Is in charge Of the department
OF which the F. B. I. Is q bureau. The
Attorney General is good liberal
and the first choice Of President
Roosevelt as his successor.
Thus . very pretty situation Is
created. The Attorney General says
he has reviewed the facts Of the
Detroit case so far as they are in my
possession" and found the F. B. I.
blameless. The reply Is made that
there are other and damning facts
which, when laid before the Attorney
General, will cause him to order an
investigation.
II he doesn't, the liberals who are