Imperial Valley press., 1941-12-29
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

WASHINGTON. Dee. % II
there is anyone in the United States
who has a right to get up and va!
va! I told you sol" it is the Hon.
Martin Dies of Orange, Texas.
Since 1899, he has been yelling
about un- American activities and
nobody would listen. For reasons
which il would be difficult 10 ana
I'VE. every time Martin sat down
at the organ and pulled all the
stops. everybody just laughed. He
played the tune so often and so loud
and so long that it got to be three
times as tiresome as Who's Afraid
Of the Biz Bad Wolt?' after the
first broadcast.
Then came Pearl Harbor that you
are admoniShed to remember, and
Secretary of the Navy Knox's adj
mission that the fifth column work
there was the most effective since
Norway. That's what entities Mr..
Dies to his va va today
CONGRESSMAN Dies is famed prln-
cipallv for his digs at the Com
munists, and more recently for his
exposes Of Nazi activities. Most peo-
ple won't recall that Dies ever rails
ed much cain about the JapS and
in that respect they'll be correct.
for the simple reason that the lid
vas put OH the Dies Committee in
yestigationS of the Jap fifth column
in America before they had
chance to get started. The reasons
for the putting on OF the lid make
interesting background IN the hght
of recent developments.
FBI TROUBLE
The case goes back to some of the
earlier Dies investigations. Some
agencies of the government COM
planned that the committees open
hearings were upSetting admlnlStra-
tive applicants. Nearly all OF the
executive agencies bellyached at the
accusations on Communistlc lean
ings of some of their employees, bur
the Department Of Justice in par
ticular. it seems, didn't like the way
the Dies disclosures interfered With
the work of the FBI. What the JUS
tice bows claimed was that the open
nature of the Dies activities inter
fered with the undercover work OF
the G-men.
According to Dies investigators,
this complaint was carried to thf
White House and a deal vas worked
out. It was agreed that Dies would
keep the White House Informed OF
what he was up to- If for any rea-
son it should seem advisable to put
the shush on the committees do
ings, for fear of spelling something
that the executive departments OF
the government knew about and
were watching. then Dies would call
eff his dogs and wait till the moon
was right before taking up the hunt.
Four months or so ago, the Dies
investigators got interested IN the
activities of the japanese consulS
and the Central japanese Associa-
ton which seemed to be the prlncl-
nal organization OF Japanese
Americans in the United States, Al
ter getting a couple OF Tile caol-
nets full Of evidence and lining up
some so witnesses to testify, Dies
notified the executive end oi the
government he would like to hole
some hearings and show the coun-
trv what was going on.
Back came word from Matthew +.
Mcclure, then acting attorney gen
eral. that approval could not be
given to these hearings. The as
sumption was that it would interfere
with the activities Of other depart
ments of the government.
Dies locked up his evidence ano
his investigators told the witnesses
to hold it for while.
Time passed and nothing happen
ed. A month or so ago, Dies called
un the Department of State and
asked how about going ahead with
the jap investigation. The Nomura-
Kurusu-Hull talks were in the ofting
then. Dies had to call off his hear
ings again.
II is of course impossible TO guess
what might have happened Ii Dies
had held his hearings on japanese
activities in America. Everyone
might have yawned that Martin was
al it again, and gone on dreaming
On the other hand, the hearing
might have had the good fortune 10
wake everybody up. Some o. the
Dies investigators evidence Is ra-
ther sensational japanese battle
maps of the Pacific. U. S. fleet
formations supposed to be secret
directories OF every jap in the
United States. with his address ano
telephone number, handbooks OF
diagrams and photographs OF every
ship in the U. S. Navy All OF tins
was material obtained from Japs
resident on the west coast.
In fairness. it should be made
dear that the Dies Committee had
nothing at all on japanese activities
in Hawaii. Their investigators were
Mt permitted TO Investigate there
But now that appeaslng the Jap
anese no longer does any good, per
haps a more realistic attitude OF the
situation is permissible. If some OF
the Navy gold StriperS had their
uay the whole bunch of Japanese