Evening star., 1951-04-03
By Mortin S. Hayden
North American Newspaper Aliiones

Self-satisfled bureaucrats driv-
ing around in Government-ownedI
Cadillacs are worrying Senator
Fulbright, Democrat, of Arkansas
The chairman of the recent Re-
construction Finance Corp. inves-
tigation said so today as he gave
new details of his plan for topl
citizen commission to check and
see if. as Rome's were, Americas
democratic foundations are being
|chewed by ''the termites of graft.
corruption and greedy pride"
At the same time the Arkansas
Democrat took new swipe atl
President Truman for failing toI
give moral leadership" and sug-l
|gested that political pressure byI
Senate and House members, theI
knotty problem of televised con-
|gressional hearings and the reason
why SO many citizens regard Con-
|gressmenss as either "knaves or
fools" might be other items for
commission attention.
Senator Fulbright admits that,
as he first voiced it last week, his
call for a citizen commission on
Government morals and ethicsI
was probably too highfaluten toI
be understood.
i think" he said. "that recent
revelations of the RFC and Ke-l
fauver crime committees have
given real cause for Americans
to wonder whether the same
decadent influences which del
stroyed every other great democ-
racy in history are now working
on ours. Few doubt that Marked
moral deterioration followed the
last war. Normally we would ex-l
pect the President to lead us outf
of such a condition, but we don't
seem to have that kind of al
President, SO something else must
be DONE"
Cadillacs Are Symtom.
The matter of official CadillacsI
Senator Fulbright regards as "just
a symptom of the problem. as al
mink coat was a symptom of RFCl
trouble"
Il noticed it as was driving
to the Capitol this morning." theI
Senator said. Every half a block 1
I'd pass another Government lin
CUISINE with one man in the back
seat looking impressive. Half Of
them were so relatively unimpor-l
tant that 7. as Senator who getsI
around, didn't even recognize
them. Even Joe Duke, the Senate
sergeant at arms, rates one-with |
chauffeur"
Senator Fulbright said the lin
CUISINE has become "Washington's
bloated symbol of political pros
perity."
Senator Fulbright would have
the commission check Congress as
well as. the Executive Department
and advise the country publicly
whether its legislators are doing a |
good job and what should be done
to help the democratic system of
George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson accommodate itself to
an atomic age. |
I'VE now have this new problem
OF televising congressional hear
ings." he said. THE startlingI
public effect of the Kefauver hear
ings demonstrates, that TV can dol
a good job. It can be generally
justified on the ground that crime |
and corruption breed in the dark
and anything throwing light on
them is good.
Is Job for Outsiders.
"On the other side is the fact
that televising hearings incite
demagoguery and that. for the
sake of entertaining the public,
it brings into a committee room
q lot of mechanical trappings
which may disturb witnesses and
upset the main hearing purpose:
The development of truth" H
The commission, Senator Full
bright said, could go into the basic |
question of how far Congress
man may go in representing his |
Individual constituents before Gov
bureaus, question raised |
BY 700 still undisclosed congress
sional letters asking RFC loan 1