Evening star., 1947-05-18

given top layer OF twenty $4,000
a-year senior specialists, jobs to be
filed by experts in different lines
of research.
Supporters of this service, whose
budget was planned to go up to
$3.50 900 In the year beginning July
/, and to $750, 900 the following fiscal
year, praise both the work and the
staff.
Taber's Viewpoint.
For some reason, however. the re-
searchers have fallen from grace
with some important members.
A direct attack on the agency was
made by Representative Taber, Re-
publican. of New York, chairman of
the House Appropriations Commit
tee. Totally incompetent and Inn
possible are his words. You can't
get results there. They haven't the
right staff nor the right setup to
give you what you want.
The staff, he said, is loaded with
people with the New Deal slant on
everything" The staff. he added,
consists of "half-baked experts and
"WPA derelicts." !"
Mr.. Taber declared the LRS will
find it, hard to justify the proposed
extra 100000 for the service for the.
next fiscal year, in fact, he con-
tended the present $550,00C budget
ought to be cut"
Other Charges.
A high-ranking member of the
Senate said he was sure Congress
was going to look into the situation.
He, too, mentioned complaints about
"slanted" reports. On this point, it
is reported one member who asked
for an economic report received,
among other data, speech by Earl
Browder, of the Communist Party.
The explanation was that the speech
was included merely to show what
line Browder was following.
Nor is the LRS the only BRAIN
trust segment of the revamped Con-
gress now subject to complaints.
Among other provisions of the Re-
organization Act, there was one pro-
viding for 96 assistant Senator'S
one for each Senator at $1,000 a
year. Critics of this-not members
of the Senate-charge that the
assistant Senators" mostly turned
cut to be former senatorial secre-
taries or Senators relatives, with
new titles and higher pay.
And some of the new experts
added to standing congressional
committees, under the Reorganiza-
tion Act, are said to be either friends
of members or purely political ap-
Some Reports Good.
Backers of the LRS point with
pride to the lengthy analysis it
made, at the request of Chairman
Taft of the Senate Labor Commit
tee, of economic data submitted by
CIO President Philip Murray. This
report, Data on Wages and Profits,
was printed as a Senate document
at Chairman Taft's request.
The work was done by Gustav
Peck, labor economist ofsthe LRS,
in consultation with Meyer jacob
stein, Theodore j. Kreps, Raymond
E. Manning and Howard S. Piquet,
economists on the staff of Ernest S.
Grifhth, LRS director.
Then there is the booklet on Com
munism in Action" a carefully pre-
pared and documented study. It
was done by LRS specialists last
year at the request of Representa-
tive Dirksen, Republican, of Illinois,
and turned out to be a best seller.
1t quickly ran through its large first
edition and this year Congress
ordered the printing of half-mil-
lion additional copies.
Much Study Involved.
Also there have been LRS re-
ports on post-bellum foreign loans
of the United States, studies of the
war powers acts, and many lesser
subjects. Some requests are rela-
lively minor and are handled over
the phone. Others call for weeks of
study by the LRS staff.
Rather recent reports show that
the chairmen of 13 of the Is stand
ing committees of the Senate and
II of 10 in the House have made
use of the senior LRS specialists.
Part of this consisted of aid to COM
mittee staffs in analyzing and pre-
pairing reports on bills.
just lately. DR.. George S. Gallo
way, one of the senior specialists,
was assigned to work with the
Auchinclo.s subcommittee in the
House District Committee on its
comprehensive study of District
reorganization.
Previously Director Griffith had
assigned three research specialists
to serve as staff directors of major
Congressional Committees: These
are DR.. Francis Wilcox, loaned to
House Foreign Affairs; DR.. John f.
Mahoney, to Public Lands and
Frank Horne. to the Senate Judic-
iary Committee.
Dirksen Fav0rs Agency.
Mr.. Dirksen contends the service
of LRS is good and well worth the
1t costs. He asked that it
be given break in the transit
tional period after its stafI so
quickly was expanded. Another
stanch booster, Representative Mon
roney, Democrat, of Oklahoma,
like Mr.. Dirksen a member Of the
Joint Committee which drafted the
congressional modernization plan,
said: We may need to gear the
Reference Service more to the needs