Evening star., 1948-12-17

Shocking Facts Revealed
Despite Clumsy Method
And Political Biekerins
By David Laurence
It isn't particularly important
whether President Truman dislikes
the House Committee on Un-Ameri-
can Activities or whether he thinks
its investigation was . red her
ring" It isn't even important
whether MIR. Truman is or is not
giving the American people q wrong
impression about his own attitude
toward the whole anti Communist
investigation.
What Is important is that, despite
all the political pickering, some
very significant facts have been re-
vealed which are shocking.
Documents containing the secret
correspondence OF the United States
with its diplomatic representatives
abroad were taken from Govern
ment files 10 years ago and found
their way into the hands Of q self
confessed spy for Soviet Russia.
The methods by which this infor-
nation was uncovered may have
been clumsy and open to severe
criticism. Methods of congressional
committees always have been sub
tect to accusations of unfairness
because Of the tendency to call wit
nesses and leave implications con-
corning their alleged guilt.
Ends Accomplished.
Sut the facts have come to light
now and the processes Of Govern
mental prosecution are at work. All
the ends sought by the House COM
mittee-which was primarily trying
to show that looseness existed in
the executive branch of the Gov
ernment-have been in the main ac-
compllshed. The very idea, how
ever, that any committee has
achieved victory" as mentioned
by one Of the press association dis
patches, is repugnant to thoughtful
people, who do not believe these
procedures should be matters of
contest or rivalry between any one.
The Justice Department has been
attacked as unco-operative, the the
ory being that 1t was not willing to
put President Truman on the spot
because during the campaign he
called the inquiry a "red herring"
But the department cannot proceed
In the spotlight Of publicity, and
what happens in grand jury room
must necessarily remain secret any
way. The fact that the statute of
limitations had run on any act of
thievery 10 years ago made it i'm
possible to consider seriously any in
dictments Of persons allegedly en-.
gagged In such rifling of the files.
This means that, no matter how
sensational the disclosures, there
was no way Of indicting anybody
for an offense alleged to have been
committed a decade ago. The Fed
eral law says that, after a certain
number Of years, there can be no
prosecution.
When an indictment was finally
handed down In New York this
week, it was not on the basis of any
accusation Of theft Of files as such
but On the charge that perjury was
committed by a witness before the
grand jury. This now confines the
prosecution to q narrow field, but 1t
illustrates Just the same why the
Justice Department was not able to
arrest a lot Of people heretofore and
accuse them Of spying or stealing
files.
The House committee, on the
other hand, was In position to in
vestigate anything. The very loose
ness of the procedures In congress
sional committees enables a certain
amount of exposure to be done even
after the statute of limitations has
run. II the subject is one with
which the people are deeply con-
cerned, they overlook the extremes
of such procedure and think the
congressional purpose is a bene-
fetal one. II, on the other hand. 1t
never Is proved that any Of the
present persons accused were ac-
tually guilty, the committee will
have done o disservice in publiciz-
ing the names of innocent persons.
Indictment Not Conviction.
A mere indictment Is not tanta-
mount to q conviction. It is simply
an accusation deemed sufficiently
important to bring about trial In
court. Here the accused is inno-
cent until actually proved guilty.
Until then opinions must be suS-
pended and headlines that create
any prejudices must be dismissed
from the minds of those who may be
called to try the case.
There is no doubt that political
motives before the election played
o part in the debate about the value
of the House Committee on Un-
American Activities. Unquestionably
the Republicans were making cap
ital out of the Chambers-Hiss case
during the campaign. But the de-
velopments about hidden micro
Aims came after the election and
should have been treated on non
partisan basis.
MIR. Truman may still condemn
the House committee for its meth
ods-opinions will differ on the
value Of such committees, and Ger.
tainly there Is need for rules to pro-
tect innocent witnesses-but the
case has now gone to the courts.
Hence any. comments from the
President or any one else, giving
the impression that the work Of the
grand jury was motivated by any
considerations other than the public
interest, will not be received as just
or fair by the public.
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