Evening star., 1947-11-21

IL ullS1lG FClS Ncll US IIldt d
signer of the petition might be a
Congressman, or some one who is
subsequently elected to Congress.
In that event his name would be
In the lead file. And why not?
Congress has not hesitated to
dates back to 1943, Mr.. Cline, SC
that answer is not any good, is 1t?
Direction of President.
MR.. CLINE. The commission has
been directed by the President
throughout the war to make an
investigation, series of investiga-
tons.
THE CHAIRMAN. You mean the
Civil Service Commission?
! MR.. CLINE. That is right.
/ THE CHAIRMAN. If you know of
any such order that applies to any
body in Congress we will be glad to
have it.
MR.. CLINE. I did not say that it
applied to anybody in Congress.
THE CHAIRMAN. Yes, you do.
You say, Actually it is not certain
that the names of any Congressman
are in the files"
MR.. CLINE. Why do you not
read the whole editorial?
THE CHAIRMAN. I will get to
it in a minute, but I am getting to
it sentence by sentence and para
graph by paragraph. You say, But
if there are any, they got there in
the course of Investigations which
] the Commission has been directed
to make"
Now. you heard Mr. Tlemming tes-
tify that the Commission has no
authority to make any such inves-
tigation. Where do you get your
authority that the Commission had?
| MR.. CLINE. The editorial says
that the names, if they are there,
got there in the course of investi-
cations that the Commission should
make.
THE CHAIRMAN. In spite of the
statement that Mr.. Flemming said
that they had no authority.
Sees No Conflict.
! MR.. CLINE. I see no conflict be-
tween the two statements at all.
The Commission was certainly di-
rected to make Investigations and
! in the course of those investigations
these names may have gotten into
+ the files.
THE CHAIRMAN. 1t is a good
thing that your reporters do not pro-
ceed by the same mental processes
MR.. CLINE. That may be.
THE CHAIRMAN. I will say 1t is
Then you say, "The Commission
of course, does not investigate the
Congressman as such, but for ex-
ample it does investigate Federal
job applicants"
And now this is the important
part: "In the course of such investi-
cation it might discover that the
applicant had signed some Commun-
ist or Fascist petition"
/ Of course, the members of the
committee and the Congressman
/ generally conceive that it is their
duty; that is, if the applicant had
signed a Communist petition, the
fact would be recorded in the files
ana the other names on the petit
tioli wouldSgo into what is called a
lead file. l think that no one will
disagree that the procedure is not
correct, but assume that John Doe
applies for Federal job, over which
the Civil Service Commission has
Jurisdiction and in support of his
application he presents ten letters
of endorsement and that one of the
! letters is from Communist. Is 1t
your opinion that the name Of the
other nine letters should be placed
in the files of the Commission with
a notation to the effect that they
had endorsed an applicant for job
who is also endorsed by Com
munist?
Do You Ask My Opinion?
j.. MR.. CLINE. Do you ask is it
my opinion that they should be put
| in?
THE CHAIRMAN. Yes.
Mr.. CLINE. I should not think
so.
THE CHAIRMAN. Here is an
other paragraph:
why should immunity from ar
investigation, especially from what
is purely an incidental investigation
extend to Congressman and to nc
one else? What is there so sacred
! and untouchable about the position
these gentlemen happen to hold?"
Yesterday it was stated here. anc
I have never heard it questioned by
any member of either the Senate OF
the House, that the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, the Committee or
j Un-American Activities. and the
Police Department of the City o1
Washington, the State police anc
any law-enforcing agency, has the
right to investigate Congressman OF
Senators, or even the President, il
they want to- Where did you gel
the idea that this committee, or any
member of it, was objecting to any
investigation other than the one
under discussion, the one conducted
by the Civil Service Commission
which admits that it had no au-
thority to do?
MIR. CLINE. This is the investi-
CATION that I am talking about.
THE CHAIRMAN. Where did you
get the idea that any Congressman
or Senator claims immunity from
investigation by any agency othei
than the Civil Service Commission
j MIR. CLINE. did not say they
; did.
THE CHAIRMAN. You do no
think that editorial leaves that i'm
preston?
+ Doubts Such Impression.
; MR.. CLINE. I do not think SO
: This editorial is directed exclusivel!
/. to this particular investigation.
THE CHAIRMAN. If that is so, tt
what congressman were you REFER
ing in the caption "Disloyal Con
gressmen"?
; MR.. CLINE. ! was not referring
to any particular Congressman.
t THE CHAIRMAN. Senator Clag
horn?
Y MR.. CLINE. I was not referring
to Senator Claghorn.
Al MD CTnNT (Renorter for news