Evening star., 1945-01-09

what it believes "'h ''e"'''
and it is duty bound to act on it.
belief indeed, failing to do so NIGH
almost be called n-American in.
activity. And there is little point
in questioning the processes whereby
the 207 have come to their belief
The greater part of them are Re.
publicans, and their party having
just lost an election, they may very
naturally feel that un-American ac-
tivities were rampant in November
But 1t must be assumed that the
members are genuinely concerned
over possible threats to our consti-
tutional form of Government anC
are determined that such threats
shall be dealt with in a proper man.
ner.
II this Is correct assumption
those who voted the new commit
tee into existence and those who
voted against it should now join in
one common purpose. They should
endeavor to make it good commit
tee. That will depend principally
on its membership. The very best
men and women available should be
willing to accept this assignment
1t is not thing to be left to men
and'or women of inferior minds
ana morals. The committees man.
date touches the very heart and soul
Of American liberties and this man.
date should not be placed in care
less or unclean hands.
How much positive good such a
committee may accomplish it is not
possible to predict. 1t is easy to pre-
dict, however, how much harm a
bad committee may accomplish,
since the group now to be formed
Is successor to the Dies Committee
OF malodorous memory. The harm
done by the Dies Committee is a
matter of record-not meaning
those mysterious secret records left
behind by the group. but the record
written in the newspapers and the
PUBLIC memory during the half doz-
en- years of its life.
1t is record of indictment bv in
nuendo, refusal of defense testi-
mony, prosecution and sometimes
persecution in place of impartial
investigation" That quotation is
not from Sidney Hillman or anv
other bogeyman created by the Dies
Committee. 1t is from the safe and
conservative New York Times. What
the Times has said. in effect, is that
the Dies Committee itself engaged
in un-American activities. Indict-
ment by innuendo, refusal of defense
testimony, etc, is surely -Ameri-
can.
If rose bv any other name smells
Just as sweet, Dies Committee by
any other name is certain to smell
very much sWeeter. There is no rea-
son why the House should not make
this new committee smell perfectly
sweet.
There is talk of packing the COM
mittee with members who are op-
posed to its very existence. That
would be bad. There is talk of pack
Ing it with men from the same
witch-burning, lunatic fringe that
produced the most active members
OF the Dies Committee. That would
be bad. There is talk of a compro-
mise whereby the membership would
be divided equally between these two
groups. That would be bad. The
committee should be packed with
the best the House can offer, men,
bers with a reasonable, rational at
t1tude toward their fellow Ameri-
cans, members who reflect the gen.
eroslty of spirit native to America
Such members can be found, If no.
where else, among the freshmen,
newly come to Congress from the
outside world, which happily has
been relatively free from imaginary
alarms and suspicious.
Given membership with some
sense of responsibility and some un-
derstanding of the meaning of
Americanism, the committee should
then be given the funds to carry on
its work; not the blank checks that
were given Martin Dies, but enough
money for its demonstrated needs.
The fact that some of us may
think there is no necessity for the