The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-11-19

ttonal attention 4t
 RNaGm deserves, D rhapG because the case is rather Involved and lost sight of In Q number Of side issues, or perhaps because there has been some reluctance to ofgeFld the isolationist congresSiieia whose names have been involved. Ss'f
 The trail of the master mailing list, however, can be traced through all the side issues. It was noticed at first by ordinary people out h the country who, admlRing and wlSh. ing to support the sentiments ex- pressed by an isolationist spokeS- man in Congress, would write in tc endorse. the views. Shortly there- after, this weli-wisher would receive isolatlonist mali from other sources All of it would be unsolicited.
 Tn many instances, this mail would take the form of an excerpt from the Congressional Record. It would be aa anti-irterventiohist speech oF Q pro.axts argument. It would be marked Not Printed ct Govern ment Expense" meaning that while the original had appeared as part of the Congressional Record, the reprints had been printed at cost on the order of some congressman though not necessarily paid for by the congressman.
 The mailing out of these reprints, however, was most decidedly at goy- ernnient expense, since they were mailed out under the congressional franking privilege which permits e congressman to have his signature printed on an envelope in place Of Q postage stamp.
 DUMMIES ON THE LIST
 Thought of these envelopes fell Into the hands of private, interested investigators to make quite Q col. lection. Then Q number Of siynilari. ties began to appear. Documents from different congreSslnen would be received with the names and ad. dresses printed from similar stencils or in similar handwriting. Then dummy names were planted on some of the lists.
 At this stage of the game the matter came to the attention Of the criminal division of the Department of Justice and William Power Ma loney, who handled the re-tapping investigation, was assigned to present the case to a federal grand jury. This jury went to work with Q will. On Oct. 24 1t indicted George Hill, second assistant to Congress man Ham Fish.
 When Hill was indicted, Prose- cutor Maloney declared in open court that Hill was the Washington key man for a German propaganda machine, and that Hill has admitted spending ct least 4I2,OO0 in this work in the last, five months. Tracking down that propaganda machine is the job with which the grand jury is concerned at present, and the record of what 1t finds will be shown by the indictments 1t returns from here on in.
 Where Hill got the money or how he spent t he has refused to dis. close, but Hills activities have been linked to Prescott Dennett, Wash tngton organized of the anti- British Make Europe Pay" and Islands for War Debts" movements. Thou sands of copies of Congressional Record reprints were furnished by Hill to Dennett. In turn, Dennett has been linked with George Sylves- ter Viereck, who goes on trial Jan 12 as registered Nad agent. One Of the counts on which Viereck was indicted was that he had supplied congressman with material for speeches which were printed in tn Congressional Record. Some of these speeches were among those mailed out under Hill's direction.
 MAGAZINE OF NAMES
 The linking of all this tangled skein with the existence of the mas ter mailing list came in open court when Maloney charged that some of the names sent to Fish appeared later on nlommoth list prepared by Scrtbners Commentator. This national magazine has been strongly apu. .interventionist in policy and its publisher, editor and promotion manager are now under investiga- ton by the grand jury.
 Examination of the Commentators list shows It can be played like a pipe organ, merely by pulling out one or more stops. If a particular piec ot propaganda had an appeal to educators, the professors got 1t. For instance, 8 speech by Herbert Hoover, urging the feeding of subject peoples in the invaded democracles, was mailed under the frank of a Colorado congressman from a New York address to 8 professor in Texas. A Maine congressmans frark was used to send anti-lease lend litera- ture to Texas.
 COngressmen whose names have been involved have shown an in- clinatton to view the. grand iliry investigation as a smear Campaign. Prosecutor Maloney's contention is that the quickest way to give the He to the smear charge would be for tne congressman concerned to ap. pear voluntarily and tell what they know. CongTcssnien, however. are riding their high horse of privilege. m spite of the fact that every pertinent court decision since leOsl mas held that congressman can l,s