Evening star., 1949-06-05

Continued From First Page.
legal powers into an attempt to
make Mr.. Chambers reveal HIM
self 70 the jurors as a moral lep-
Ier" - traitor, thief. blasphemer
and-above all-liar.
In effect, ne was asking Mr..
Chambers about his former sell.
for the witness turned from Com
munism and its beliefs in 1888.
espousing the Quaker church a
few years later. But Mr.. Stryker
was out to show two things-first
that MIR. Chambers had strayed
far from the paths Of righteous
ness; second, that after allegedly
entering those paths. he had per
jured himself six times by not
telling the full truth. as he sees
lit now, about his relationship TO
Mr.. Hiss.
In both efforts, Mr.. Stryker
was technically successful. Quiet
ly, detachedly, without once los
ing his composure. Mr.. Chambers
made his admissions. How the
jury would. react TO this strange,
running duel between the lawyer
and the witness-in which man
was made to lay bare his faults,
big and small. before a world he
had set himself to convince-none
could tell.
Big Question Remains.
The great question remained:
Was Whitaker Chambers telling
the truth now? In 1t lay the pro-
foundest and most personal sort
of drama.
The cold words of the trial rec
FORD give only a partial feeling Of
that drama. as 1t unfolded in the
exchanges of Mr.. Stryker and Mr..
Chambers-the biting sarcasm
and scorn in the voice Of the gray
haired, fatherly. histrionic little
lawyer-the way Mr.. Chambers,
tired and lonely-looking, seemed
always to speak Of himself i'm
personally as though it were an
other man-all this Is lost in the
transcript.
But much Of the drama remains.
Here are highlighs Of the cross
examination Of Mr.. Chambers last
week:
@. All right. Now when you
said here several times when was
asking about cheating and de-
frauding the Government. you
said, why certainly" Did you
mean to indicate that you have
no shame and your conscience
didn't trouble you for this GRIM
inal act? !,
A. meant to indicate by that !
was q Communist.
@. Will you answer my question.
Did your conscience bother you
at all? Yes or no. A. No.
G. Not at all? A. Not at all.
@. And all that period that you
were in the Communist Party your
conscience was dead? A. My con-
science was hot dead.
@. Dormant? A. I had an en-
tirely different point Of view.
@. The question Of right or
wrong as we ordinary Americans
would see it was entirely out Of
your ken then? You solved IT
along 4communist lines? A. That
lis right.
@. Is 1t not the fact that a per-
son who joins the Communist
Party has to obey the party In
all things the party may tell him.
such as change his home. his job.
his husband or wife as the case
may be, may order him to lie. to
steal, to rob, or to 60 out into the
streets and tight? A. That is
right.
@. And that was so during your
membership in the party, is that
right? A. That is right.
@. And it was also true that
every Communist during your
time was a potential spy and
saboteur and was actually an
enemy to our system of Govern
'ment? A. That is right.
Q. And during that time dis
loyalty to the Government Of the
United States was q matter Of
principle with every member Of
the Communist Party? A. That is
right.
@. And you subscribed to that.
Of course? A. 7 did.
G. Now. one Of the tenets was
that marriage was q bourgeois
convention, wasn't it? A. That is
right.
@. And that the living together
| Of man and wife in what we re-
gard as holy wedlock was just not
the Communist view but so much