Evening star., 1942-06-02
Foreign-Minded Band
Bent on Ballot Purqe,
Taber Charges
New York Republican
Says Anti-Isolotion
Cry Comoufioees Smear
By GOULD LINCOLN.

n,
of the House Appropriations Com
mittee, today lashed out against the
Union for Democratic Action, whose
members he charged with being "a
little band of foreign-minded re-
dictionaries" seeking to purge" him
and other members of Congress.
Speaking on the floor OF the
House, Mr.. Taber referred to an
article in the New York Times, May
10, which said that drive was on
by the Union for Democratic Action
to oust all isolationist members. He
denounced an advertisement in
serted in the same newspaper on
May IL by the union, singing out
Mr.. Taber and two other New York
Representatives, Fish, Republican,
and Barry, Democrat, for attack.
THE Union for Democratic Ac-
tion," said Mr.. Taber, which signed
the article, has the following officers
Frank Kingdom, president; Reinhold
Neibuhr, chairman. Albert S. Cool
idge, treasurer; Thomas r. Amlie,
Washington director, and James
Loeb, executive secretary.
Recalls Walsh Attack.
Among the members OF that
union are Morris Ernest, counsel
for the New York Post; George
Backer and Dorothy Schif Backer,
the owners and operators of the
New York Post, who have obtained
much notoriety in connection with
the assault upon Senator Walsh"
The attack in the New York Post
on Senator Walsh charged the
Massachusetts Senator with fire.
uuenting a "house of degradation
In Brooklyn and comforting there
with Nazi agents. Attorney General
Biddle and the F. B. l., under his
direction, investigated these charges
and completely exonerated Senator
Walsh.
Whom will this lawless group try
to smear next" demanded Mr..
Taber. Similar articles to those
appearing In the New York Times)
by other leading radicals have ap-
peared IN Time Magazine, in Pm
and the New Republic. The state
ment in the article and the ad-
vertisement is clearly libelous."
Mr.. Taber denied fatty he was an
isolationist or had ever been one,
or had been so considered in the
House. Discussing the members OF
this smear brigade the New York
member declared that Frank King
don was "a notorious radical, a
member of the Executive Committee
of the American Committee for
Democracy and Intellectual Free
dom, which was opposed to all war
efforts until Russia entered the
war" Mr.. Taber said that Kingdom
has represented a foreign philos-
ophy always"
Sees Communistic Ideals.
Reinhold Niebuhr, he said, has
been a member of various COM
munistic front organizations, and
has clearly represented foreign
viewpoint" Thomas r. Amlie,
former member of the House from
Wisconsin, Mr.. Taber said, three
years ago was refused confirmation
by the Senate on an appointment by
the President because he was a
Communist" He hooked up Mr.
Coolidge also with various COM
muniStic efforts.
These people" said Mr.. Taber,
"are not interested in preserving
the opportunity of the American
people to maintain their freedom,
but are anxious to do away with the
private employment of our people
and private ownership of farms and
to establish communistic state,
with dictatorship fixing wages and
employment and all prices of farm
products and what can be raised in
this country.
"They brazenly call themselves
liberals. AS a matter of fact, they
are reactionaries with foreign
slant to the nth degree. They are
at present doing their very best
to stir up disunity in the United
States. With a small band of fol-
lowers, estimated by Kingdom to be
10000 in the United States, they
are going to try to secure the adop-
ton of policy which will waste
the substance of the United States
upon all sorts of non-defense ex-
penditures at a time when we need
to devote ourselves entirely to the
war effort"
Mr.. Taber defended his own record
In the House in support of war ap-
preparations, and that of other Re-
publican and Democratic members
as well, referring particularly to a
speech he made on the lease-lend
appropriation bill, in which he said
the die has been cast" and he
would help to supply the funds
needed for aiding the democratic
nations in the war. He quoted a
statement by Chairman Cannon,
Democrat, of the Appropriations
Committee, praising Mr.. Taber's at
titude.
The New York Representative, re-
plying to attacks upon the Repub-
lican membership of the House on
the ground they had not supported
the war effort, said that SO Repub-
licans voted for the lease-lend aid
appropriation and only 46 had op-
posed it.
1.-The Republican members of the
House." he continued, have always
voted for every dollar
that was in any way needed for our
own defense. Since Pearl Harbor
every single member of the House,
regardless of his politics, has voted
freely every dollar that was for the
support of the war.
"There has been no disunity until
this little band of foreign minded
started out with this
attempt to purge those who have
the courage and the character to
vote their convictions and who really
support the war effort. This group
of foreign minded reactionaries are
especially hostile to those of us who
have opposed the WPA, the NYA
and the CCC, all of which have
had damaging effect on the
morale of our people. To my mind
it is natural that we should see this
anti-defense program sponsored by