Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-08-06
More Thun q Red Herrinq'

It is unfortunate that President Tru-
man should have seen fit to add his voice
to the swelling, incorporate chorus Of
generalized denunciation of the so-called
spy scare" in Washington. He dismisses
the whole business as red herring" to
divert attention from congressional in
action on his legislative program. The
Communist Party Convention in Philadel-
phia has made substantially the same
charge, in different words. So have several
of those accused.
But the average citizen is not likely to
be satisfied with Mr.. Truman's evaluation
OF the current hearings at the Capitol
Nor will his anxiety over the disclosures
regarding an apparent breakdown in the
loyalty safeguards implicit in the Rem
ington case, for example-be relieved by
the Presidents peculiar reaction.
Mr.. Truman told reporters he could see
no useful purpose whatsoever in the in
quiries being conducted by the Senate and
House committees-that the same in
formation had been known for a long
time to the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
ton and a Federal grand jury in New
work. Is it not serving a useful purpose,
however, to let the public know that, de-
spite the availability of such information
as that given by a self-confessed Com
munist spy against William Remington,
this civil servant was able to obtain trans
fers to positions of high security at top
pay? Mr.. Remington himself told the
committee he could not understand how
this was possible.
no hou hna&1 i,,cf Fal
in criticizing the publicity-surrounded
merevealing procedure of the House
Un-American Activities Committee-a pro-
cedure fraught with dangers of injustice
to innocent persons. A distinction should
be drawn, however between the methods
of that committee and the more judicial
processes of the Ferguson committee The
Senate group, while foregoing an indis-
eliminate publication of names of those
accused by former Communists, is doing
a thorough and necessary job of finding
out why the loyalty program did not work
for so long in the Remington and perhaps
other cases.
Few persons, after reading the testimony
received by the committees to date, will
share Mr.. Humans opinion that the only
Communist spy ring in Washington EXISTS
in the imagination of the congressional
probers. 1t is apparently true that testi-
mony similar to that at the hearings was
given to the grand jury in New York and
that no "spy" indictments have been re-
turned. But it should be remembered that
the insufficiency of legal evidence to con-
Wet under the narrowly drawn Espionage
Act does not necessarily mean that with
all the smoke there is no fire. 1t is hard to
believe that Mr.. Truman is so naive as to
think that Communist agents have over
looked Washington, of all places
MIR. Truman is within his rights, how
guson committee the confidential loyalty
file in the Remington case. The FBI would
be seriously hampered in its work if its
private sources of information were to be
exposed. The President has authorized his
subordinates to give the committee nom
classified data in the Remington personnel
file. He should not stop there. He should
make it plain to Congress and to the
public generally that he is willing to CO.
operate without stint in all reasonable
efforts by Congress to rid the Government
of subversive influences For the Presi-
dent bruSquely to brand such efforts with
red herring" label is wholly unfair and
suggestive Of the same sort of apathy as
marked the handling of the Remington
case by departmental executives.