Evening star., 1947-04-11

ed, It came with something Of q
shock to complacent Republicans
who felt they had . "clear mandate"
from the people.
So they had. They were entirely
right about that. Their mistake was
in totally Understanding the hold
which, In IA years Of concentra-
ton, the left-wing elements, which
constituted and attached them
selves to the New Deal, had ac-
quired on the channels OF COM
munication. This is one Of the
phenomena Of the period. It is
made more interesting, so far as
the press Is concerned, because 1t
was obtained almost simultaneous
ly with q campaign of denunciation.
The New Deal CIO allies. for ex-
ample, were enabled regularly to
get extraordinary newspaper space
day after day for their repetitious,
verbose and wholly synthetic state
ments In the very newspapers
which they consistently accused Of
suppressing tho news.
Turned Out All Wrong.
Apparently, the Republican idea
was that when the New Dealers
were repudiated at the polls, auto
matically their propaganda facili-
ties would disappear and their
publicity effectiveness be curtailed.
But that notion turned out all
wrong. There are today more New
Deal left-wingers astride the chan
nels Of communication than before.
The polls were hardly closed before
there was q rush toward the press,
the magazinessand the radio. Some
Of them have become publishers,
some assistants to the publishers:
some are editorial writers; quite
few have become columnists and
several are radio commentators. The
ease with which they have pene-
trated into those fields can be ac-
counted for in several ways but 1t
Is none the less remarkable.
The net Of all this Is that the left
wing spokes1nen today are more
articulate than before the election.
When they lined up and let 60 at
the Republicans soon after Con-
gress convened 1t was something Of
q shock to the latter and they have
been under pretty hot attack ever
since. This is not to say that the
Republicans have not done things
for which they should be criticized.
It would be amazing II they had
not. It is to say that they are moth
ing like as black as they are being
painted and that good deal Of the
criticism is the same old left wing,
labor, New Deal Misrepresentation
and propaganda - largely by the
same people.
At the moment their fire is con-
centrated on the Republican effort
to reduce appropriations. 1t is nor
NAL, of course, to hear the bureau
Gratis squeal when their estimates
are cut. But the present squealing
goes far beyond the ordinary. It
appears not only we'll organized but
to have a professional touch. A
really violent blast has accompanied
the two appropriation bills thus far
acted upon by the House-the
Treasury and labor security bills.
A similar blast is obviously planned
for every such bill as it comes up.
Basis of Current Attack.
The current attack is based on
stories which insist that because OF
Republican "meat-ax surgery" vari-
Gus dreadful things are about to
happen. We are told that the Secret
Service is being undermined so as
to flood the country with counter
feiters: that the Wagner Act is be-
ing scuttled through reduction in
appropriations; that the Republic
cans are going to return the children
to sweatshop conditions by denying
the children'S department. proper
funds; that the Customs Service is
being forced to lay off men, thus
throwing our ports open to SNUG
glers; that Republican stinginess is
going to permit tax evaders to goI
free.
Investigation proves there IS
scarcely a trace Of truth in any of
these stories. Yet they continue to
be circulated. kilograms pour in to
senators protesting the dismissal OF
Customs employees, but the fact. as
brought out by Representative Wig
ellsworth, of Massachusetts,, that
Customs asked for s6,500, 900 more
than it got last year; that it was
given $3,165, 900 more and that its
appropriation provides for 400 ad-
ditional employes-those facts get
little. If any, attention. Neither is
the fact publicized that the 5000
revenue agents costing $50, ,000, 900
q year, whose looping of has been
SO vehemently denounced. were the
not wholly occupied agents thA ex-
Secretary Henry Morgenthau ex-
citedly added a couple Of years ago
in the 1914 agitation about tax
dodgers.
These are the sort Of things that
induce Chairman Taber of the
House Appropriations Committee