The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1942-03-14

e12ssszfno6esltA~ E1e1N
Thomas L. Eliot espe tally to
very suspicious
sounding japanese secret service
work in this country for a long
time past. The point is, however,
that the reports say it's informa-
ton obtained by the committees
agents with great difficulty
Representative Thomas +. Eliot
of Massachusetts, though, produces
stacks OF newspaper clippings,
many Of them dating back ten or
a dozen years. telling the same
story in the fullest detail, perfect
H. available to any reader Of the
daily press in installments, as 1t
appeared The report also men,
tons a supposedly secret document,
chockful Of highly confidential
United States naval dope and said
to have been IN Jap militarists'
possession for a long time. 1t was.
indeed, published in book form.
The Dies agents obtained copy
of one Of these volumes, too-"with
great difficulty" the report states.
Representative Eliot got a copy
by asking for It at the Congress
sional Library, which readily
forked It out at his request, and
no questions asked.
The Massachusetts legislator
tried to discuss the matter on Cap
itol Hill, but it happened that a
quorum Of his fellow lawmakers
wasn't present just then, so he
was corked up on the point Of or
der. He circulated his nlimeo-
graphed speech nevertheless.
A Rehash:
~ quoting from past publica-
tions in his possession and paral-
Icing his quotations with Identical
ones in the Dies report he makes
out a pretty good case in sup
port Of his contention that the
reports a mere rehash Of old and
already well-known stuff, which he
thinks Director J. Edgar Hoovers
Federal Bureau Of Investigation
was familiar with long before the
Dies committees creation. He
doesn't for a minute object to a
genuine investigation but his the
sis is that Dies kind is fake,
mainly for the purpose Of adver-
Using Dies himself.
Another complaint Is that Dies
concentrated too much on Commu-
nists until the war actually start
ed, not bothering about Nazis,
Fascists and Japs. This was al
right in pre-war days, but now
Communistic Russias on the Unit
ed Nations side, and the Dies folk
are accused Of having gummed the
cards by an advance misjudgment
though ! admit can't see how
they could have predicted how the
Allies and the ANS eventually
would line up.
The truth is that the average
congressional investigating COM
mittee starts out to prove some
thing. whether or not it's a some
thing that really exists.
The Dies committees mission
was to prove that the prevalence
Of Communistic subversives was
busy in our midst and to pin II on
'em, rather than 10 ascertain
whether or not there were any.
And it had to find EN-, or what
was its rsison detre' Unfortu-
nately. It didn't forsee hat Com
munists were due shortly to be
the wrong game, and turned TO
Nazis, Fascists and Japs pretty
belatedly
It's inquiry recalls one by a sim
liar affair under Representative
Hamilton Fish's craftsmanship ap-
proxmately a decade ago.
Nazis. Fascists and Japs weren't
serious problems in that era.
Communism was our sole men
ace and Ham Fish went after II
with a sharp stick
"Maroon All Reds
II was a nutty sort Of quiz
much ike Martin Dies Presently
Ham announced that all our
Communists ought to be ma
rooned on an island
But why not kill EN-"
queried.
Mercy" replied Ham. THAT
would be barbarous. II a man ha;
smallpox. it's imperative to quar-
antine him. You don't kill him
though"
To this day. after that, l dom
recognize Ham Fish as subversive
for all the Hill and Vierick trials
and all that. He's a kindly soul
apd loyal. I'm convinced Of Il
only rabid on the subject Of Reds
Dies evidently classics SINH
larry
L.. ,,..rtoa III. r.r-ftto. 0,