Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1950-06-23
How Soon Will
Lobby ProberS
Start Digging!
Nv Alyaine Hamilton G. Cushmen Reynolds
For Labor Press Association

For Labor Press Association
WASHINGTON GPA)-H the House Select
w Committee on Lobbying intends to ac-
complish anything its member ought to get
doun IN business. And we mean the Demo
cr.+c members for the Republicans daily
demonstrate reluctance to dig into the affairs
of the Capitals big lobbying organizations
So far the committee has made few
minor headlines with talk about the fees PAID
members of Congress for making speeches
and the confession by spokesman TOR the
National Association of Real Estate Boards
that he thinks democracy "stinks." But Chair-
man Frank Buchanan Cd, Pa) has been TOO
nolite to witnesses. He and his colleagues Will
have to take off the gloves, or the inquiry
will fall flat.
What has emerged from the probe to date
are few facts about the mechanics OF lobby
ing which any Congressman, Senator or news
paper reporter could have described In ad-
vance. Yet the committee has been dealing
with one of the most vicious OF all lobbles,
the real estate combine which fights rent con-
troll and public housing and is willing to join
with other lobbies to fight almost anything
family progressive
The committee has had two wonderful
opportunities to get beneath the surface, and
has muffed them both. Buchanan and his col
leagues could have seized upon the admission
by Herbert Nelson, executive vice-president
of the National Association of Real Estate
Boards. that in his view democracy is an of
fense to the nostrils, and endeavored to dis
cover how a man with such opinions came to
occupy a key spot in a powerful lobby. In
stead they said, In effect, "Myl my!'- and
made pious remarks In support of democracy
for home consumption.
Again, the committee ducked when Leo
Goodman, director of the CIO Housing Com
mittee and legitimate registered lobbyist In
his own right, charged that the coordinating
agency for the 20 or 80 organizations COM
prising the real estate lobby Is none other
than the Committee for Constitutional Gov
ernment. The CCG, spawned by reactonary
publisher Frank Gannett, has been described
az Fascist in character and has been shown
time and again to be one Of the central organi-
cations in a coordinated propaganda drive to
besmirch and defeat labor unions and the Fair
Deal But Goodman never completed his test-
mony because the Republicans used up his
time with idle questions. You'd think the COM
mittee would want to know where the CCG
fitted into the lobbying picture.
One reason the committee is foundering
may be that 1t never has made up It's mind
what It's looking for Lobbying is legitimate
practice within limits. Moreover, there are
certain techniques which are employed by all
lobby groups, such getting their members
- in JaIu .,it latta
and kilograms or sending delegations to visit
Congressman In their offices in an effort to
influence Congressional thinking on public
housing, natural gas or Taft-Hartleyism. But
behind the mechanics is where the committee
should be looking. On the present committee,
such adroit Republican veterans as Charlie
Halleck of Indiana, Clarence Brown of Ohio,
and Joseph OHara of Minnesota just haven't
let their Democratic colleagues prob e the
motives or character of the real estate lobby.
Moreover, Halleck & Co. can't be expected to
act any differently when other lobbies come
before them. Meanwhile the commercial press
prints superficial accounts of superficial hear
ings. owever, the Democrats, Buchanan,
Clyde Doyle of California, Carl Albert Of
Oklahoma. and Henderson Lanham of Georgia
can do better the day they decide to risk hurt
ing Halleck's feelings Doyle has indicated
he'll try, but SO far he has barked without
biting
Here's what the committee could do:
C) Get complete picture of who's try
ing to influence legislation, why they're try
ing to do 1t, how they work, what they spend.
and what they try to ride. This would be
an enormous and tedious job, but 1t would
lay bare some fundamental processes of gov
ernment for the public to see.
Or the committee could limit its activities
ss follows:
CD Dig out the special interest lobbies
the average voter never hears about. Find out
who Is trying to influence Congress by un-
democratic, indirect or improper means for
selfish ends. This would mean exhaustive
probing of selected lobbes, but successful
inquiry would allow the average citizen to
understand his government and assess his
representatives in Congress more completely
than he does now. The citizen might then
know who wants to boost his rent, why Sen.
Joe Mccarthy is fighting for Chang Kai-
shek, or why Sen. Robert Kerr pushed the
natural gas bill
In either case, the average voter would
90 to the polls next November q better
Inf aaA