Evening star., 1944-05-15
Resignation Of Dies
Seen Forced by CIO
Committee He Originated Will
Not Pass, Writer Believes
Bv David Laurence

Decision of Representative Martin
Dies not to be candidate for reelection
from his Texas district has more in it
than meets the eye. Mr.. Dies probably
didn't quit because of Ill health as
stated. He quit because the CIO made
it too hot for him and might have
defeated him for denomination.
The significance Of the episode, how
ever, is not that the CIO can reach into
Texas and exercise threat at the polls
by concentrating its political weapons
In single district, but that amid great
jubilation the CIO is announcing also
that the Dies Committee is to end
1t would be grave mistake for any,
body to assume that the Dies Commit
tee was ever just the creature OF Martin
Dies. Back of the Dies Committee in
quiry which six times got vote of
confidence from the House of Represen-
tatives and almost all the funds 1t
asked for were such powerful organiza-
tions as the American Legion and the
American Federation of Labor as we'll
as the Daughters of the American Rev.
olution and many other patriotic So
cieties to say nothing of certain church
groups which have deep-seated convic-
tions about the introduction of Com
munism Or Communist ideas in America.
Committee VIII Not Pass.
Martin Dies may pass off the stage
but it is a safe bet that the committee
which he originated will not pass The
effort of certain groups in America to
use Communist technique to transform
American institutions may seem incon-
sequential to many, many citizens. 1t
may seem even to be seeing things
under the bed" but the Dies Committee
wasn't organized to wait till Commun-
ism got foothold and real strength. 1t
was organized to use the power Of
publicity to nip Communism in the bud.
The principal opponents Of the Dies
Committee have not been Communists
in America, but left wingers" who re-
sent the Communist label when tagged
on to them. The most frequently heard
charge from the "left wingers" is that
the Dies Committee isn't hard enough
on the FaScistS. One reason is, of
course, that the Roosevelt administra-
tion has been doing very effective job
in getting at the Fascists and the pro-
moters of religious hatreds. The present
sedition trials show that the admins
tration has used the prosecuting arm
energetically in the direction of the So
called "rightists." Martin Dies, of
course, can show by counting the pages
of testimony and the volumes of words
that his committee has spent a good
deal of its time exposing Fascist groups
and those with sympathy for Nazism.
The Dies Committee has, to be sure,
been clumsy at times in its methods
and has engaged in rough and tumble
fighting which is bit uncomfortable
for the leftists because since 1898 they
have been SO seldom on the receiving
end of congressional smearing. But
if they go back during the last II years
and look at the behavior of congress
sional committees sponsored by the ad-
ministration and the cleft wing" they
will be reminded of how irresponsible
and extreme a congressional investigat-
ing committee engaged In q witch
hunt" can be. o. -
Part of Democratic System.
Investigating committees are an un-
pleasant but necessary part of the DEM
ocratic system. So are extremists. The
left wingers' perform a function
whether or not they admit that the
ideas of Karl Marx or Stain or any
one else on the subject of private cap
ltallsm are basic in their philosophy.
The right wingers" perform a function
IN resisting encroachment on private
property and in their attempt to pre-
vent conmunizing of America enter
prise. These tidal waves of social up-
heaval will be helped toward the day
OF equilibrium and relative content
ment by exposure to the healthy air
of free discussion.
The danger in America is not commit
tees like that headed by Martin Dies, not
altogether the Communist or Fascist
minded groups that organize societies,
but the persons with political and official
power who have totalitarian instinct.
This is the instinct which first calls
names and then persecutes people for
their religious, racial or economic views
and then seeks to win the debate by ex-
terminating the protagonists of the
other point of view The extremists do
not really favor discussion. They do
not rely on the correctives that an in
formed public opinion can bring even
to smears by congressional committees.
They want their opponents squelched or
abolished. If those who have started out
to abolish the Dies Committee think
that the withdrawal of the chairman
means an end of the committee they
will have another guess coming There
will be another committee to keep the
spotlight on un-American activities and
it should avoid the blunders and injus-
tices of its predecessor.
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