Evening star., 1948-08-08


porterhouse steak, or the possibiliti
have found a new and absorbing In
The tale of wartime espionage
who rose to policy-making positions
i'm the Roosevelt administrations was
unfolded in q two-ring circus pre-
sented on Capitol Hill, where COM
mittees of the Senate and House
provided a platform and spot
light for such reformed Communists
as Miss Elizabeth Bentley, Loui'
Budenz and Whitaker Chambers.
Something to Remember
There was a third ring, but this
so far as public attention goes, was
an obscure sideshow. 1t was spe'
cial blue ribbon grand jury in New
York which investigated for l.
months the evidence presented
with such obvious relish by th'
congressional committees, ant
found no ground for action agains
any of those accused. This despit'
the circumstance that the grane
jury had the benefit of a three
year investigation by the Fedora
Bureau of Investigation, after the
FBI had heard the evidence last
week unfolded in screaming head.
lines.
The thoughtful citizen, trying te
weave his way through the maze oi
conflicting evidence offered pub
licly for the first time, would do
we'll to keep that FBI grand jury
investigation in the forefront OF his
thinking as he attempts to puzzle
out the truth.
This becomes the more important
in the light of the statement last
week by Representative Karl Mundt
acting chairman of the House Com
mittee on Un-American Affairs,
that there is nothing Congress can
do legally or legislatively to get at
Soviet spying"
Mr.. Mundt said the committee
proposed to let the decision rest
with public opinion as to whether
the committe Is right or Attorney
General Tom Clark is right. I'm
piled here is that the committee has
already made up its mind who is
right, although the evidence IS not
yet all in, and that the Attorney
General blocked action by the New
York grand jury. As is so often the
case in pronouncements which come
from the Un-American Activities
Committee, there is no evidence to
support the latter conclusion, re-
fecting on the integrity of both the
| Attorney General and the grand
Jury 2
Diff From Canadian Probe
I But already Mr.. Mundt and the
committee chairman, Representative
j. Parnell Thomas, have suggested
the calling of a new grand jury to
sit in Washington, where the COM
mittee could keep an eve on it
Representative John Rankin, the
intellectual heir in Congress of the
| late Senator Bilbo OF Mississippi
seconded the motion, but wanted
the proposed new grand jury to
delve into Communist activities in
State, county and city offices, too
The new grand jury, in the un-
likely event it is convened, would
add a fourth ring to the circus
One reason for not calling it is that
the New York grand jury, whose
members bore an unblemished repu.
tation until they failed to return
the sensational indictments forecast
by a segment of the press, is still
standing by.
The reason for this was that the
grand jury had hoped the indict.
ments it did return. charging the l:
top leaders of the Communist Party
in the United States with conspi'
racy to overthrow the Government
by force, might lead to discovery ot
some evidence to substantiate ths
tale told by Miss Bentley. What
hope there had been of such dc.
velopment has now been dissipatet
by the public presentation Of hel
story before the congressional COM
mittees.
/ An effort has been made to linl
the present disclosures with thos'
of the Canadian Royal Commission
which, two years ago, supplied alb
sorbing reading in a report detail
ing the operations of wartime
Soviet espionage ring operating IL
Canada. There are, however, i'm
portant differences.
Field Day With Names
One relates to the method OF pro
cedure and Anglo-Saxon concepts O
Justice which were respected in Can
ada, and ignored here. at least b,
the House Un-American Activitie!
Committee.
/ In Canada, before any names were
made public, the commission wal
set up to study the evidence. It's re.
port denounced by name those
against whom 1t had developed evil
-dence, but took pains to avoid men-
tioning others whose names were
brought up in the course OF the In
quiry, but against whom proof was
lacking. -
The Thomas committee, however,
chose to let Miss Bentley drag In
the names Of more than a score OF
present and former Government Of
ficials she denounced as Soviet es-
pionage agents, some Of them on
the fiimsiest Of evidence. The COM
mittee counsel said It's investigators
had knowledge of about half Of
those she named.
So the record is made In lurid
Hines and now ff1e committee