Evening star., 1950-05-02
The Political Min
The Political Min
Crime Probe in Senate
Likely to Bog Down
Kefouver to Seek Showdown
After Action on ECA Bill
By 6ouId Lincoln

Unless the Administration and Repub.
lican warriors In the Senate quiet down.
the chances are that Senator Kefauver's
proposed investigation into the so-called
national crime syndicate. or Syndicates.
may be completely hogged down. The
Tennessee Senator. however. who is not
at all happy over the pushing around he
and his resolution for an investigation
have suffered. Is determined to get .
showdown II he can. He is ready. there
fore, to ask unanimous consent to take
I'D his resolution-for which q subSti-
tute win be offered-as soon as the ECA
bill has been disposed Of. and II that
fails, to move its consideration.
Senator Lucas Of Illinois, Democratic
leader Of the Senate. who has been
charged by the Republicans with block
ing the efforts for q crime inquiry on y
national scale (because as the Republi-
cans insist. the Administration does not
want such an inquiry going on all during
the congressional campaign this year,
insists he is willing to have the resolu-
tion come up II 1t can be disposed OF
quickly. He adds. however. that he is
not going to give 1t precedence over
other important" measures If the reSo-
AASAOA A4 CoAC S"O OA bAACC ddSo OC-
bate. He has been informed. he says.
that Senators Donnell Of Missouri and
Ferguson of Michigan. both Republic
cans. are prepared to speak at length"
on the resolution.
Hours. but Not Days"
Senator Donnell, for his part. admits
that he intends to talk for several hours
when the resolution is taken up-but
not days, and Senator Ferguson will
speak fully" but not over long.
The situation has become more and
more mixed. because the Senate Inter-
state Commerce Committee already has
begun an investigation into bookmaking,
horse and dog race gambling and the
like. Two bills to crack down on the
interstate shipment of betting odds and
news and on slot machines were intro
duced and referred to that committee.
Senator Kefauvers resolution was in
troduced last January s. 1t was reported
to the Senate by the Senate Judiciary
Committee. of which Senator Kefauver
is a member. February 81 and referred to
the Senate Committee on Rules and Ad-
observation-disclosures 1t authorized the
expenditure of 100000 to make the in
quiry and that committee must pass on
oONAL 1LlC EbulcS ana AQ-
miniStration Committee cut the amount
back to the original proposal of $50 900
and directed that the inquiry close by
July l, and reported the bill to the Sem
ate March %.
Policy Committee Acts.
Then the Democratic Policy Committee
of the Senate stepped in and took hand.
1t decided that a special committee to be
appointed by the Vice President, of mem
bers of both the Judiciary and the Inter-
state Commerce Committees. was the
proper body to make the inquiry. And
the policy committees substitute will be
offered.
This aroused the ire of Senators Dom
nell and Ferguson. members of the Ju-
dietary Committee. Senator Donnell
takes the position that the inquiry should
be made by the regular. standing COM
mittee on the Judiciary. Also he is
strongly opposed to having a deadline
set for concluding the investigation
sJuly 81.
Between the two-the Administration
lists led by Senator Lucas, and the Repub-
licans, led by Senators Ferguson and
Donnell-the cause Of the proposed crime
investigation has suffered. Senator Ke-
fauver. for his part is just as sincerely
interested in making a full investigation
into charges that criminals are using the
facilities of interstate commerce as he
was. The thing. however, is to get some
thing done about it.
Senator Lucas denies fatty that the
Administration is playing politics or SEEK
ing to prevent full investigation. Let
them investigate anything and every
thing they want" he insists. Il am not,
however. going to permit delay of i'm
portant legislation so that there may be
long. and political debate on the resolu-
ton" He insists there is no attempt to
cover up" anything.