Imperial Valley press., 1941-07-18

read the newspapers OF the city
of Washington, you might get the
iGea that the most important func-
ion of Congress was to govern the
District of Columbia. More SPACE is
devoted to the goings-on before the
District committees of Congress
than almost every other subject.
This is perhaps excusable, for Wash
ington is after all home to the
cliff dwellerS", the people who were
born here or who don't work for
the government.
Why Congress should have 10
bother will all these purely local
affairs is something you'll have to
refer back to the founding fathers
and the Congress of 1873, who fig
ured out this complex system of
non-local government. So large do
these problems of local government
loom in the congressional scheme
of things that every Monday in the
House is designated as District Day.
That day the representatives cor
rugate their broWs over problems
that would be settled by body no
more august than a town council
in any city of equal size. For sheer
cumbersomeness, this gives Wash
ington not only the most unWieldy,
but also the most expensive top
government in the countryside SEN
ators and representatives at $4,000
a year worrying at times
about such things as traffic regu-
lation and local tax rates.
NO SHORTAGE OF COPS
Currently, the big worry is over
the police problem. There are only
six police forces in Washington now.
There is the Secret Service, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation cf
super-snooper G-men under j. Ed
ger Hoover, which has its head
quarters in Washington but doesn't
bother with local crimes.
There is the National Park police
force under Secretary of the Interior
Harold Ickes, which polices the great
open spaces, and the Capitol police
force of congressional patronage ap-
pointees, which stays around the
halls of Congress to keep the tour
lists from taking the Capitol apart
for souvenirs. There is the Public
Buildings Admins ration force
which guards the buildings the Cap
itol police don't, and finally, the
District police force of more than
140O men.
This list leaves out the postal in
spectors, the internal revenue ag-
ents, the border patrol, the customs
inspectors, the T-men of the Treas
ury's narcotics and secret service
counterfeiting divisions, the Marine
Corps, the military police and the
Army and Navy intelligence Sec
tions, but even without these you
would think that Washington should
be the best policed city in the world
On the contrary, it is said to relate
that your country's capital has a
police scandal as juicy as anything
ever turned up.
It's the District police force that
all the shouting is about, particu-
larly the detective force and the
homicide squad which have had 10
violent death cases to deal with
since June l, including six murders
eliminating in the horrible attack
on government worker Jessie Eliza
beth Streiff few weeks ago.
A subcommittee of the House
District Committee is now conduct
ing an investigation in true con-
gressional hearing fashion with the
net result that the superintendent
Of District police, Maj. Ernest w.
Brown, will probably be retired and
the detective bureau will be up
heaved.
Testimony before the investigat-
ing committee, including admissions
by the police officers themselves.
revealed a police organization as
faulty as ever existed. The seven
men on the homicide squad, one
lieutenant and six sergeants, have
regularly been called off their dut-
les to do patrol duty in squad car.
help guard the President, and do
traffic duty on parades. All the good
men got out of the detective bu-
reau because it offered no chance
for advancement and was spied
upon by an internal gestapo that
wrecked morale.
HUEY LONG GANG BUSTER
The man really responsible for
lifting the lid off the Washington
police scandals is one of the men
largely responsible for lifting the
lid on the Huey Long scandals in
Louisiana. He is F.. Edward Hebert
pronounced age-bear), freshman
in the House, and a member of the
District committee.
Two years ago Hebert was CITY
GATOR OF the New Orleans States
under its fighting editor, Mai.
James K. Crown, who turned I'm tho