Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1940-12-05
i Might Be
|Wrong--BUT|
by p. G. Stronberg:

mittee investigating un-American
activities and officials of other
branches of the Government,
the important fact is that we
have fifth columnists at work in
our very midst. Almost daily
there are fresh incidents which
are the result of sabotage.
That our authorities are on
the job we must accept as a
fact. We must assume that
every reasonable precaution is
taken to avoid fresh incidents
against our defense efforts. We
must recognize that some of
these incidents might be acciden-
tai and therefore not traceable
to saboteurs. We must be patti
ent and hopeful and have faith
in our F. B. l. and related serv-
ices. We must be good soldiers
and good citizens absorbing
daily new announcements of an
other fire, another explosion or
another accident or another
strike in some plant working on
our defense orders. And, all the
while, view the spectacle of high
Government officials staging a
dog fight over who might be
stealing somebody's marbles.
Must we?
On the contrary, the thing we
really MUST do is register our
indignation over tactics which
might be amusing and entertain
ing in normal times but which,
under present conditions, are
tantamount to malfeasance in
Office. Officials should be made
to realize that the public is not
interested in who gets the credit
for uncovering fifth column
activities. The public is inter-
ested in experimenting saboteurs
and in clearing them out of all
factories carrying on defense
work.
Chairman Dies has done a
good job. His committee has
been handicapped in many re-
spects. It has been ridiculed
and some of its published reports
have been referred to as almost
preposterous. Still we find later
that many of the facts are as
published. If, in the normal
course of the work of any i'm
portant Congressional Commit
tee, the chairman of that COM
mittee receives favorable publ
city throughout the country, he
is entitled to whatever glory
might attach. But his commit
tees publicity should not be
designed and released solely for
the purpose of placing the work
favorably before the public. If,
as Attorney General Jackson
states, Representative Dies
committee has hampered the
work of the F. B. 1. by prema-
turely publishing the facts in
given cases, then there should
be some agency clothed with
authority to prevent the recur-
renee of such ill-timed publicity.
Any man who seeks to gain
popular favor by tampering with
our present effort to speedy de-
Tense is, in fact, nothing short
Of saboteur himself and merits
a saboteur's reward.
Let's do away with petty Off
cial pickering about who did this
and who didn't do that. Instead,
let results be such that the glory
will be for all who had a part.
Let members of Congress and
administrative officials find a
way of co-ordinating their efforts
toward a common end.
This is serious business and
we might some day, like the
noble French, regret that we
failed to recognize the need for
vigorous action against all
elements tending to weaken or
slacken our defense program.
On the basis Of its record the
Congressional Committee inves-
tigating un-American activities
is entitled to be continued and
its scope could well be broad
ened. 1t is due almost entirely
to this committee that we have
learned much of fifth column
activities within our borders. 1t
is likely that the public will