The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1941-02-05

that House Bill IS was often called
the Hitler Bill"? Later-on January
6, 1871, to be exact-this subversive
fact became respectable so suddenly
and completely that the Missoula Sen
tinel, which even Mr. Dies would
scarcely suspect of communist ten
denotes, mentioned it repeatedly. Just
the same, it. was doubtless a dirty
Muscovite trick to acknowledge 1t pre-
maturely.
This passage was the only one men,
toned specifically to Director Crane
and | at the time. Mrs Annabel
Edinger who appropriately pro-
nounces the adult" in WPA's adult
education, "addled"-was first to lay
the law Both Ayers and Senator
Wheeler, who, she said, ARE pretty
good friends" would be offended If
such an expression as "Hitler bill'
were permitted to remain in our book;
and Mr. Parker was naturally upset
about it." When we talked to Mr..
Fowler we found him also upset. We
had given the State Guide a bias, he
averred, and to correct it he insisted
that our chapter on history be so re-
written as to suppress any historical
fact which might displease his polit-
ical friends In other words, he
wanted us to do the very thing he
was accusing us of having done, but
with different bias. When l pro-
tested that I couldn't see why recog-
lodi ro1
fact important to ceratin aspect of
the states history should be inter-
preted as propaganda, he snarled:
"It's not necessary that you see it,
joint"
If Byron Crane is or ever was a
communist, l am Roy Ayers. AS for
my own sympathies, l fought Reds
before. it was wise for Michael Ken
nedy's mummy to let Mike go about
without diapers-if indeed it is wise
now To call me a communist is
lie so gross that there can be only
one reason for it: 1t must have been
impossible even for the colossal in
telects of Joe and Mike to hatch a
story farther removed from truth and
sense. Both these gentlemen know
that l am in all things an individual
list, the diametrical opposite of COM
munist, a fascist or any of the in
tellectual bankrupt lists who propose
to extinguish or coerce the individual.
Common honesty compels me to say
(a) that l have known few Reds
even a few half-hearted Hitlerites-
whom | had to respect for their cour-
age and sincerity; and (b) that 1 have
never known a professional Red batter
whose very smell would not raise
gooseflesh on any decent man. But
that is a matter of response to per-
sonal character, not of ideologies.
The point of this whole outburst is
that the sort of congenial witch hunt
ers who can denounce a fellow like
me as a communist should not only
NOT be believed when they affix the
same label to someone else; they
should not even be at large. BY hook
or by crook they must be positively
required to practice some sort Of rudi-
mentary blab control. If they are per-
mitted to go about hurting their ire
sponsible libels at anyone whose hair
cut they happen not to like, they will
end by making anything they approve
seem indecent; everything they dis
approve, fine and heroic.
Sincerely yours,
JOHN STAHLBERG.
Excerpts from letter:
Missoula, Montana
Editors of TIME
Rockefeller Center
New York, N. Y.
The record of hearings shows clear
ly the committees biased handling of
testimony and evidence. The investi-
CATION of the Federal Writers Project
(Nov-Dec. 1889 is a good example.
Conditions on the project were bad
in New York, California, New Jersey,
and Washington, D. G. Dies, however,
showed special interest in the Mon
tana project, which employed one COM
munist in a minor position. The first
called Mrs. Louise Laze1l,
testified (Hearings, V. 4, p. 3114) that
No subsequent witness had anything
damaging to offer Yet so determined
was Dies to discredit Montana that he
ordered proofs of the State Guide
seized then he quoted, as commun-
site, such passages as: "Montanans
nave fairly warlike tradition
which introduced nothing more sub
7ersive than brief account of Mon
ana troops that had fought in their
wars. On the other hand,
lie found equally Reddish the histor-
cal fact that Congressional Jean
lette Rankin voted against war in
917. If TIMES editors, as normal
civilized men, find this too fantastic
or belief, they need only consult the
ecord ". 4, PIP. 2650-55).
This solemn cheating nowise en-
arrassed Montana's communists. The
ingle red stayed on, but the conserva-
i've state director was fired; the chief
ditor was blacklisted, his family
tarved, because he attempted to fight
ack The explanation? Simplicity
self: Other persons, with powerful
riends among Montana politicians,
Tanted those two jobs.
What reduces the affair to absolute
roofing idiocy is the fact that the
ditor in question fought Reds long
efore the pure name of Dies was
card outside Orange, Texas. He
ought them in place where they had
cen in actual power for years-a very
ifferent matter from bounding them