Evening star., 1950-04-02
By Mortin S. Hayden

peTSlVeS.
He is Seth w. Richardson, whit
has been a professional baseball
player. a United States attorne!
under President Harding. an as
sistant attorney general prosecut
ing corporate misuse of public
lands under President Hoover, ant
a congressional appointee as coun
sci for the Pearl Harbor investi.
eating committee.
More recently, between African
big-game hunts, the lanky North
Dakotan has been making money
as senior partner of Washington
law firm and spending most of his
time as the chairman of the Presi-
dents Loyalty Review Board.
Mr.. Richardson SCOTS at the
turmoil over guilt by aSsocia-
ton. He admits the disadvan-
tage of a worker answering a
Communist charge without know.
ing his accuser but insists. 1T was
worse than that before this pro-
gram started"
Most Devoted Glass;
Pointing out that only one
tenth of l per cent of the Federal
employees showed sufficient SUBJ
versive tendencies to even merit
full-f1edged investigation, he says
Government workers are "as a
group, the most devoted class OF
people in the community"
Noting that 1--WE haven't found
one spy among 3 million Federal
workers, Mr.. Richardson frets
that IAN equal number of Prot
estant deacons couldn't be that
free of taint." He predicts that
whenever we find a spy he'll
probably pop up with a lot OF
high-level recommendation let
ters."
Mr.. Richardson says he took
his present appointment despite
? definite allergy to past efforts
Of powers that-be to force Their
views on people who disagree with
them" But, to the pros and cons
of the wisdom of the loyalty pro-
gram, he now adds his four point
brief in it's favor.
First" he says, "the record
shows that the rate of resigna-
tions rose abnormally when the
FBI. started scientific searching
for subversives. I'm sure the facts
were related.
Second. the program has un-
questionably deferred many ques-
tionable folk who might have
sought Government positions.
Third. instead of hurting work
er morale. as charged, it has
helped it. The employees like the
idea of being able to answe,
charges that payrolls TEEN with
Communists by pointing to our
contrary reports.
Good Worker More Secure.
Finally, this program has made
a good worker more secure in his
job than he was before. Prior to
our activation, his boss had only
to serve a letter of charges and
ask for a written answer before
firing a subordinate. Now, an
employe accused of disloyalty can
appeal to three different boards
and the record shows the higher
boards. after listening to appeals
reverse more than half the un-
favorable decisions sent up to
them"
Mr.. Richardson says the loyalty
program has clarified, for Federal
workers, their obligations and
cleared up the kind of utter
naivete brought out by the Cana
dian spy case!
I'm case after case before the
Royal Commission he said,
Canadian governmental servants
blandly asserted they had seen
no harm in discussing top-secret
work with casual acquaintances
who. like themselves. were scien-
lists. To me, a loose Tipped gov
ernment scientist who thinks his
outside activities and associates
should be governed only by his
own sweet will is as dangerous an
individual as you could have run
ming around in this modern-day
world"
Liberal critics to the contrary
says Mr.. Richardson, "you cant
gauge a mans loyalty without
taking into account who he as
sociates with, what he writes, the
groups he joins and the move
ments he sponsors"
Hits One Mccarthy Tactic.
Noting that membership in 8
Catholic society is a fair indica.
ton OF a mans interest in Ca.
tholicism," MI. Richardson want.
to know: "Why, in the same way
shouldn't membership in a Com.
munist or Communist-front or.
ganization indicate that, maybe
an employe agrees with tha
groups purposes?"
Without mentioning Senate
Mccarthy, Mr.. Richardson take
a roundhouSe swing at one McCar
thy tactic: That of basing a f1na
conclusion on a part of an FB
file or loyalty report.
1T is hard enough" says tn,
chairman, Ito decide many case,
on the basis of whole report"
Mr.. Richardson quotes FB
Chief j. Edgar Hoover to tn,
effect that giving an employe tn,
names Of those reporting allege,