Evening star., 1950-05-21
Approves the Reopening
Of Amerusiu Cuse
Writer Believes People
Fovor New Inquiry
By Fronk (. Kent

Despite Senator McCsrthys lack Of
proof. the reckleSSneSS of his charges,
the injurious impressions he has created
abroad. the violence of the denialS and
the terrific hammering he has taken
from press and radio commentatorS--
despite all this. public sentiment is Still
IN hiS favor. Last week a newspaper
poll in Minnesota showed 40 per cent
pro Mccarthy. 81 per cent anti A
similar trend in their districts is reported
by members of CongresS.
Cheap a creature as Senator Mccarthy
may be and pure as some Of those upon
whom he has cast asperSions are and
little evidence as he has produced, the
fact remains that neither the unStinted
denunciation Of him nor his clumsy
methods have swept away suspicious
widely held concerning the State De-
partment. AS one observer recently
SAID. An awful lot OF people who take
no stock in Mccarthy still believe he
threw curved ball in the dark and
hit somebody" They do not think MIR.
Mccarthy has the goods. but they think
something is wrong.
Several sound reasons for this belief
are given, One. of course, is the Hiss
case. IL Is Clearly recalled that up 10
the nnal verdict in the second trial,
pracucaliy the same journalistic and
administration forces, now engaged in
tearing senator Mccarthy 10 pieces were
euloelzlng Mr.. Hiss and aSSailing Mr..
Champers as liar and a villain. Two
supreme Court justices appeared as
character witnesses for the former and
many other eminent men testified in hts
pehat. Yet hardly any one now denies
that Mr.. Chambers spoke the truth.
considering these things, it is not sur
prising that there are many who remain
unconVinced by the vociferous denials.
the angry denunciationS and heated
name-calling. In addition, there are
TWO other reasons for the popular feel
ing. one is the revelation by the State
department itself that it had dismissed
VI homoSexuals as bad security risks,
1hls, observers report, has revolted peo-
pie more than anything elSe-more even
than II Mr.. Mccarthy had proven his
charges. They are convinced that the ql
by no means were all-and are shocked,
Ihe second reason for the continued sus-
plcion is the obvious truth that the ad-
mlnistration is resisting disclosure OF the
full facts.
Practically everybody will agree that
this is deplorable state of affairs. The
problem Is how to improve it, Recently
there has been a significant demand
from important newspapers, anything
but favorable to Mr.. Mccarthy, that the
Tydings committee reopen the so-called
Amerasia case and go to the bottom of
It, Senator Tydings has said that Is
exactly what he intends to do The ar
gument is that until this is done, the
suspicious which so many people now
haroor that something rotten is being
hidden Will not abate. A mere state
ment OF the known Amerasia facts is
enough to show the necessity of an i'm
partial and determined probe 1t has
been charged by Prof. Budenz and
others that Amerasia was financed,
dominated and directed by Communists.
Nearly six years ago. when our country
was at war, acting on F'BI evidence, six
persons were arrested hundreds of State
Department documents were seized in
the Amerasia Office. many of them con-
tanning top-secret military evidence.
Soon after the arrest the Justice De-
partment began to act in an exceedingly
strange way. The case was taken from
one grand jury and turned over to an
other. The Government changed its
charge from conspiracy to violate the
espionage act by stealing confidential
Government documents to mere con-
spiracy to remove Government records
illegally. Three of the six men arrested
were dismissed and three indicted on
the new charge. OF the three indicted,
one was permitted to plead guilty and
fined $4,000. Another who did not con-
test the charge was fined $780, And
the charge was dismissed against the
third. That ended official action in this
case. described by the New York World
Telegram as "one of the weirdest In the
whole history OF American criminal
jurisprudence"
Its closing did not end public suspi-
cion. Clearly major crime against the
Nation had been committed and, though
practically caught with the goods, no one
has been really punished. 1t Is natural
that many Americans should be deeply
disturbed.