Evening star., 1947-11-21

Congress or any one else is disloyal
is an erroneous concept.
MR.. McKELWAY. Yes; the same
principle applies to all the names
that might be in the file.
MR.. HARDY. Some of the in
formation on those cards may be
substantiated. Most of it, as I un-
derstood the testimony yesterday
was not substantiated information,
and the thing that objected to was
the possible publicity of inforfha-
ton contained on those cards, which
information had not been authenti-
Gated in any way.
MR.. McKELWAY. You are speak
ing sir, of congressman only?
| Speaking of ANY Cards.
MR.. HARDY. I am speaking OF
Congressman, and I am speaking Of
any other cards in there that con-
tain information that is not verified
MIR. McKELWAY. But in the
case of Congressman, there would
be no opportunity to verify it be-
cause the commission had no right
to make such an investigation?
THE CHAIRMAN Then the an
swer to that is it has no right to
receive a complaint as long as the
individual name is not an applicant
for a job.
MR.. McKELWAY. Has no right
to receive a complaint against a
member of Congress?
THE CHAIRMAN. Against any
one who is not an applicant for a
job that comes under such civil
service jurisdiction. Do you not see?
MR.. HARDY. May I say this? I
am sure 1t is not the attitude of the
chairman, and know it is not my
attitude, to shield any one who is
disloyal, whether he be a member of
Congress or otherwise; but it is
not the function of the Civil Service
Commission to indicate whether a
Congressman is subversive or not,
and 1t certainly is not function
of the Civil Service Commission, or
any other agency of the Government
to possess unauthenticated informa-
ton which might cast a reflection
upon the loyalty of a member of
Congress,
MR.. McKELWAY. I think that
there are cases where, as you say,
information which has not been
authenticated, relating to other
people than members of Congress,
haS hnep pnada pI1h1in
MR.. HARDY. From the Civil
Service Commission's records?
MR.. McKELWAY. No, sir, from
other records.
MR.. HARDY. That should not
be done regardless of who the indi-
vidual is
MR.. McKELWAY. I agree with
you.
Mentioned Names.
THE CHAIRMAN. You see, my
point goes further than just to Con-
gressmen. I mentioned names here
yesterday. For instance, think that
l named Henry Kaiser and Fairless
and half a dozen men, who are
prominent in our national industrial
life, and my point was that If none
of those gentlemen had applied and
would not be apt to apply for job.
it was not right or fair to have their
names in there on the cards. charges
that they might be this, that or the
other, any more than it would be
fair to you. Suppose that your
name appears down there. Who
says so? Oh, some Congressman
said that I was such-and-such and
so-and-so. 1t doesn't make any
difference that a Congressman said
it, but the fact that they put it in
a Government file lends dignity to
it and authority to it.
MR.. McKELWAY. I think that
every one will be glad to hear you
say that.
THE CHAIRMAN. That is it. The
Congress is the judge of the quail
fications of its members. 1t Is not
the business of the Civil Service
Commission whether I am a crook,
disloyal or anything else. 1t is the
business of the FBI, the Committee
on Un-American Activities, and it
is your business as an editor to eX-
pose me, if you desire, and nobody
complains about that. That goes
with the job and that is not what
we are complaining about. What
I am complaining about here is the
inaccuracy of this editorial and how
it would be understood by the aver
age reader, because when you put
it in the paper some fellow will say,
We'll, it appeared in The Star"
For instance, radio commentator
said after 1912, What are you going
to do with the eight saboteurs in
Congress" He did not have any
thing. That was just a smear.
MR.. McKELWAY. OF course, the
editorial did not say that.
/ THE CHAIRMAN. The editorial
said "Disloyal Congressman"
MR.. CLINE. On the point of how
the average person might react to