The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-05-26
kssM PRIVATE PAPERS or A
 GgJm REPORTER

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 Unasr the tltle of we Control Our crief," the Richmond (va) IImes Dispatch editorial page says in part: "The impending retirement nf Representative Martin Dies from flAo House is certainly no cause for grief. Dies Committee on Un- American Activities has done some good in uncovering subversive ele- Inonts in the government, but for every bona fide Communist or fel- low traveller thus unveiled, he has srneared Q dozen, if not Q hundred innocent persons. A typical sample Of ples' technique was his charge in loa2 that li2l persons in the Fed- eral service were guilty of subver- slve activity. The FBI accordingly spent Sl000O0 Investigating half of those on the list .. Two dismiss sals and one disciplinary action were the total results.
 "Another irresponsible perform ance by Dies was to attack Leon Henderson for having belonged to five Communist controlled organ izations,' Pressed to present the evidence, he said Henderson was Washington's president of The Spanish Refugee Relief Campaign, which was no evidence at all. Yet he never apologized to Henderson or withdrew any of the charges. Nu- merous other similar performances could be cited,
 "As recently as March 26th, Mir Dies went on the radio in his con- troversy with Walter Winchell and declared that Winchell is being used by one of the most sinister forces this nation ever faced.' He alleged that 1t is a highly organ fzed and well-fianced enterprise to destroy by vilificatlon the character of any public man who gets in the way
 we stated editorially at the time that he would probably never pre- sent any evidence in support of his allegation. Six weeks have elapsed, and he has not done so."
 Cong. Dies, according to an Ar interview (brushed off by most of the N, Y. dailies), said he will de- liver . bang-up expose to the Amer ican press between June 1 and Is. There was nothing in the statement to the effect that the accused could make reply before the press got 1t Did you expect that, you old silly?
 A few days ago Cong. Hoffman and Rankin called labor leader Sid- ney fiillman 6 Communist because he opposed some members of the Dies Committee Congressman Herman T. Eberharter Ca member of the Dies Committed promptly debunked that by pointing out, "The Dies Committee in its report defin- itely stated that Hillman is not a Communist"
 One of the wars most tragic stories is going the rounds in Wash- 1ngton these days When Pearl Harbor was bombed, all naval per- sonnei was ordered to battle sta- tions, of course, and the command meant the beginning of a terrible drama for four storekeepers aboard the U. s. s. Oklahoma For them battle stations" meant clos- ing Che watertight compartments of their storeroom and remaining at their posts. When the vessel was raised recently, the four were found dthd, clad in winter clothing; A check of their calendar revealed that they had lived. sealed in that waterproof tomb, until Dec. 26, nineteen days after Pearl Harbor was attacked.
 Those trying to suppress the novel, Strange Fruit" insist that it vili- fies the South, but what are the facts? The reviews of the book in the Southern newspapers have been almost 100 per cent favorable. It's been having good sales all over the south. It hasn't been barred in any Southern city The only place where it was censored is in Yankee Boston.
 The trend to the left in recent primaries. which knocked off nine of the busiest reactionaries in the two Houses of Congress. has got the Repubs on an aspirin jag. The only two victories the c. o. P. can claim
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