Evening star., 1950-07-22
Harrison F|ays
McGrath Stand
On Red Question
Cites CommittuI
Reply to Inquiry
About Lawyers Guild
BY the Asseeiafed Press

1OO24NO1AG, Nd.s July AG.-
Representative Harrison, Demo.
crat, of Virginia complained today
that he had received a non-com.
initial reply after asking Attorney
General McGrath why he has moi
cited the National Lawyers Guile
as "a Communist 'front.'"
Mr.. Harrison said he also asked
Mr.. McGrath whether members
OF the Lawyers Guild are working
for the Government, particularly
in the Justice Department.
So far. the Winchester law.
maker said in a speech prepared
for the annual convention of the
Virginia Press Association, he has
had only this reply from Mr.
Me- Grath:
II shall be glad to give the
points you raise careful considera-
tion and communicate further
with you at the earliest practica-
BILE date"
Mr.. Harrison said he wrote Mr.
McGrath June 12 and received
the brief reply June 16.
Files Support Hoover.
He added that files of the
H ouse Un-American Activities
Committee support statement by
FBI Director j. Edgar Hoover be-
fore a Senate committee that the
Lawyers Guild has followed the
Communist party line since 1910.
Mr.. McGrath's prolonged con-
sideration of a very simple set of
questions about Communist front
organizations is just one more
example of the defense-in-depth
which officials of the executive
branch have raised up against
efforts to eXpose-not only known
Communists - but the unknown
Communists who may be working
for Uncle SAM" Mr.. Harrison said.
When the very existence OF
the United States is under assault,
it is senseless and tragic that sucn
cases as these must be brought to
light in spite of-rather than with
the whole-hearted cooperation of
the law enforcement agency OF
the government"
Mr.. Harrison, member of tha
Un-American Activities Commit
tee, said "only high officials of
the executive branch of the Fed
eral Government seem uncon-
cerned" about the extent of the
Communist menace.
Charges Propaganda Drive.
"The Communists have set up
their internal propaganda cam
paign since the start of the Ko-
rean shooting" he said.
Mr.. Harrison said that while the
Un-American Activities Commit
tee was opening its inquiry in
Honolulu on the progress of Com
munists in Hawaii at the request
of Mr.. McGrath's department, the
Attorney General was not CO.
operating.
The Virginia Representative
said that Mr.. McGrath was max
ing an address in Maryland in
which he asked that Congress
stick to legislating and stop wor-
rying about subversives in the
Government"
Mr.. McGrath declared that the
executive branch was responsible
for ferreting out subversives on
the Federal payroll. Mr.. Harri-
son continued, and had added
that ''up to this time I do not
feel that we in the administration
have failed"
Mr.. Harrison said the Attorney
General made that statement in
the face of such revelations as
the case of Alger Hiss" Calling
such an attitude increasingly
frightening to me-" Mr.. Harrison
pointed out that Mr.. McGrath's
predecessor, Tom Clark, declared
there was no reason to VERY
about Communists in Government
"at the very time Judith Coplon
was stealing confidential informa-
tion in his own department."
Referring to Presidents Tru-
mans two talks, one to Congress.
the other to the Nation as a whole.
last Wednesday, Mr.. Harrison
said Gin general, they were states
manlike appraisals of the needs of
the hour. But-even in these re-
marks by the Chief Executive
there was evidence of the bewilder-
ing, incomprehensible lack of the
total realism our peril demands"
Mr.. Harrison said the President
did not take notice of the internal
threat of the Communists.
The Virginia Representative
concluded his address with the
warning A'if we continue to trust
the assurances of adequate pre-
paredness measures and the re-
fusal to recognize the threats of
sabotage and espionage, we will be