Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-06-20


| of Mike Straus. Tn his column Of June IL.
| 1919, Is q new Low In reportortal inaceurAey
and a deliberate distortion Of proven facts.
As General Counsel Of the Subcommittee on
| Publicity and Propaganda Of the House Of
| Representatives s0th Congress. referred 10
| by Mr.. Mellett. cannot permit Ms sa~s
| ments TO 90 unenallensed.
In one OF his opening paragraphs. MI'
| Meilett writes, and ] quote:
But IL you are interested In good govern
| ment In only q general sort Of way. you
| should know how dtffculs Congress some
times makes It for our so-caiied oureaaefas
! to give you good government
Here the reader is accused Of being in
terested In good government. in only
| general sort of way" ! am sure most
| Americans are interested very definitely In
| good government.
Let us examine Mr.. Mellett's piece. He
writes In defense Of Department Of In
terror, Reclamation Commissioner. Michael
Straus and Regional Director. Richard Boke.
Mr.. Mellett said.
There were weeks OF hearings. although
| the accused officials were denied an op-
portunity to testify"
The record shows that on Monday. June ID.
l94S as 1t appears on page oil Of the hear
| ings that Michael w. Straus. Commissioner
of the Bureau Of Reclamation. Department
of Interior. was called 70 testify and was
permitted to make his statement and meet
all charges made against HIM His testimony
continued through page 1883. Q total OF l2s
pages. over q period Of several days. On
Tuesday, June Q. iS4s, page 7s3. Richard
L. Boke. Regional Director. testified and
continued several days and was permitted
to answer all charges and present such testi-
mony as he desired.
The Accused" Did Testify.
It Is apparent from the record that Mr..
Melletts charge that the accused were de-
MED an opportunity TO testify IL just not
true.
Based upon the hearings referred to. the
Committee issued its 18th intermediate Re-
port S0th Congress. End Session. House
Report No. 24ss. This report. in Its con-
clusion states.
Full opportunity was given to Bureau
officials to answer charges made against
them. Some attempts to answer have been
made and appear in the record. however. the
findings in this report are based on tncon-
trovertible facts.
On page of the report Is found the
following language:
Deliberate Justification by high govern
ment Official Michael w. Straus. Commits
sioner of the Bureau Of Reclamation, Is ap-
parent from the records Of oficial hearings
before Committees Of Congress. The testi-
mony had to do with carry overs of the
Central Valley project for the fiscal year
And following on page OF the report
the Committee held:
There can be but one conclusion as to
the purpose and eject Of such conduct. We
believe their objective was to instill In the
minds of employees and supervisors Of the
Bureau Of Reclamation q contemptuous dis
regard Of the Congress They endeavored.
through Bureau propaganda, to place re-
sponsibilities Of failure Of the Bureau Of Re-
clamation, upon the Congress Here truly
Is Federal thought control In operation
with sinister motives"
One Of the most serious charges against
the Bureau Of Reclamation and Commis-
sioneF Straus arose out OF the Central Valley
shutdown. In the State Of California Q
great reclamation project Is being con-
structed. known as the Central Valley.
November 80. 1947. the Bureau Of Reciama-
ton shut down five important contracts In
that project. The Committee report states:
These projects were shut down 90 the
result Of either gross mismanagement or o
deliberate attempt to embarrass the Con-
gress, which Is shown by Commissioner
Straus' own testimony further evidence
that the shutdown was o deliberate and
premeditated attempt on the part Of Bureau
officials to embarrass the Congress rather
than being q matter Of real necessity Ii
shown by the testimony Of the Committees
chief auditor, that ut the time OF the shut
down, there was some million dollars In
unexpended balances available for the con-
tracts, and that the Bureaus books had been
juggled either Intentionally or otherwise 50
that the funds would appear to be exhausted
when In fact they were not. The million
dollars which had been juggled away from
the projects would have been sufncient TO
carry them to February /. ls4S or beyond"
It will be noted from this report OF the
Committee that o deliberate attempt was
made in the Central Valley by the Bureau
of Reclamation to put pressure upon the
Congress and to mislead the public as TO the
real cause of the shutdown.
On page 3 Of the Committee report. to
which have referred. the Committee cites
as follows:
Responsibility for "Debaele."
ION November 20. l947, with apparent
knowledge of the alleged critical condition
of the funds for project construction.
Richard Boke. Regional Director Of REGION
2, with utter disregard for his responsibilities
to the Bureau OF Reclamation. the govern
ment and the people OF the Valley left
Sacramento Tor VACATION. we are naIu-
pressed to comprehend how long . manager
of four hundred million dollar industry
would retain his position. If under similar
alleged precarious situations he would walk
out from the business for the purpose Of
vacationing at Carmel-by-t he-sea However.
that may be, the responsibility Of this debacle
lies largely with Mr.. Boke."
The Committee report refers TO one en-
ployee of the Bureau Of Reclamation In the
Central Valley project who had stated that
he wanted to be q member OF the organiza-
ton, referring to the Bureau Of Reclama-
ton, that would preside over the social
changes in the Central Valley Testimony Of
the witness was that this man. who had
made the statement, had on another occa-
sion expressed his great admiration for the
progress made In Russia.
The Committee further refers. On page
II, to one Of the information specialists Of