Evening star., 1945-02-08

no. knowledge of llllll9|lIIIlII|ll
their own. is Lowell Mslistt.
likely to be: Well, now, maybe that
fellow Williams is q Communist; II
he isn't, why is he so busy denying
it7
Which. perhaps, is precisely the
effect sought by those who raised
the question In the Senate commit
tee considering the Presidents NOM
ination Of Aubrey williams to be
Administrator Of REA. They were
not only digging their questions out
Of the files of the old Dies Com
mittee, but they were using the old
Dies Committee smear technique.
Effective Denial.
Williams was able to make COM
plete and effective denial of all in
sinuatiops likely to leave the i'm
preston that he entertained even a
sneaking private sympathy with
Communism. If we had q Com
munist revolution in America, he
asserted, he'd be the second man
shot. AS head of the National
Youth Administration, the record
revealed that his bitterest critics
were the Communists in the Amer
lean Youth Congress. There was
evidence that he had fired Com
munists, no evidence that he had
ever knowingly hired one.
True, Senator Bushfield Of South
Dakota, who seems determined to
take up In the Senate where Martin
Dies left of In the House, did OBJ
tain from Williams the startling adj
mission that he was against in
dustrial and financial monopoly, but
a man could hardly be called
Communist for believing in the
Sherman Antitrust Act. Hardly, ex-
cept by a Bushfeld. The Senator
having pulled out of the Dies files
a quotation from a speech in which
Williams attacked monopolization of
opportunity in America, inquired
whether Williams believed that any
man should not be allowed to ac-
quire all the property he could! It
was the same Bushfield who re-
marked, "The people seem to be
happy" when Williams pointed out
that at the time he made this speech
43 per cent of the families in Amer
lea were endeavoring to live on less
than $700 a year.
So, Williams denied he is a Com
munist and made his denial con-
vincing.
But had he ever met a PAYROLL
out of his own pocket?-another
Senator wanted to know. Williams,
If confirmed, will handle a half
billion-dollar enterprise-but not
out of his own pocket. He pre-
sented to the committee his record
of handling 1862 300, 900 in the NYA
operation, record that was not
challenged, record okayed by the
General Accounting Office and en-
dorsed by several of the Senators
who had had extensive experience
with the NYA during the eight years
OF its operation.
Not Interested in NYA.
Curiously enough, the Senators
Who were obviously preparing them
selves for open opposition to Will
liams had little to say or ask about
his administration of the National
Youth Administration, the one mat
ter really pertinent in the consider
alton of his ability to handle the
REA job. They did not challenge
the fact that NYA in the years dur
ing which the country was being
pulled out Of great depression had
enabled 100000 young men and
women to continue their education
at an average cost of $13S apiece.
Nor did they challenge the fact that
educators Of the country had paid
high tribute to the NYA, as had the
leading industrialists of the country
and the Army and the Navy and the
Maritime Commission.
They didn't challenge the vast
mount Of useful work done by the
boys and girls in return for their
education: the thousands of build
ngs erected-hospitals, schools, IL
'raries, etc.-the many more thou
'ands repaired or improved; the
anding fields, aircraft hangers and
>ther airport buildings; the thou
ands OF miles Of roads. They didn't
hallenge the endorsement Of the
Carnegie Steel Corp, the California
'hipbuilding Corp. or any of the
'00 war industries which had bene-