Evening star., 1940-01-10

sentative SABBATH left the White
House he was interviewed by the
press and stated that further in
vestigation by the Dies committee
would be waste of money" Asked
when the matter would be decided,
Mr.. SABBATH is quoted as having
said: Il think President Roosevelt
is not anxious for quick action"
Subsequently. when the newspa-
permen met the President at his
regular Tuesday conference, he de-
clined to comment, saying this was
a matter for the House to decide.
In view of the active interest
taken by Mrs. Roosevelt in the pro-
ceedings of the Dies Committee and
the condemnation which the Presi-
dent visited on the committee for ex-
ploring during Frank Murphy's last
gubernatorial campaign the present
Attorney Generals connection with
sit-doWn strikes, it is no secret that
the White House frowns on the Dies
Committee. But it is unusual for the
Executive to be reported as using
his influence to stop a continuance
of congressional investigation, and
1t may we'll be that Chairman Sab
ath inadvertently disclosed the
Presidents desires and that the con-
versation was not to have been made
public.
A Rare Incident.
The fact remains, however, that
members of the House now know
thot the chairman of the Rules
Committee discussed with the Presi-
dent how the House of Representa-
tives "a supposedly independent
body-was to exercise its preroga-
tives of inquiry. The Executive is
always consulted with respect to
legislation, but on the matter of the
conduct of the House under its own
rules, it is rare that Executive advice
is sought.
The principal crime of the Dies
Committee is that it has stepped on
the toes of the 'left-wingers' and
the 'left-wing" organizations in
Washington. Some of the commit
tees accusations and inferences and
innuendoes have resulted in bitter
protests, and there is no doubt that
at times following the customary
abandon of congressional commit
tee, the regulations of innocent per-
sons have been injured. But the
objections coming from the left
wingers here would be far more ten
able If they had manifested any in
terest or uttered any protest when
their own investigating committees,
such as the Senate Civil Liberties
Committee, the Senate Lobby Com
mittee and the House committee in
vestigating income taxes, adopted
virtually the same tactics of infer
ence and innuendo.
In the case of the Senate Lobby
Committee, headed by the then Sem
ator Black, private kilograms were
commandeered by the committee
through the Federal Communica-
tions Commission and, although the
Court of Appeals of the District of
Columbia denounced such seizure Of
kilograms as violation of law, Mr..
Black made them public anyhow and
later was elevated to the Supreme
Court of the United States.
Restraint Might Be Just.
Nothing that the Dies Committee
has done compares in unfairness
with what the Black lobby commit
tee did. The point can well be made,
on the other hand, that two wrongs
do not make a right ard it would
be constructive thing some day if
congressional investigating commit
tees were to put themselves under
some sort of self-denying ordinance
SO that regulations of innocent per-
sons would not be injured.
The administration itself was di-
rectly concerned with an incident of
this kind when it submitted to a
House committee several cases of
alleged avoidance of income taxes
and the impression was given to the
public that evasion had occurred, no
effort being made to distinguish
between legitimate deductions per-
mitted by poorly worded laws, and
efforts to evade taxes.
without Name" Plea Rejected.
The administration was impor-
tuned at the time to use the various
cases without names so as to bring
out the information desired, but no
such consideration was given inno-
cent taxpayers.
The Dies Committee has done
most of its work, but there are
many people in the United States