Evening star., 1951-02-26
Conqress Members Conduct Own Probes

bers Conduct (
l"I would hire one or more investi-
gators"
Senator Bridges, Republican of
New Hampshire, is one Of several
legislators with former Federal
Bureau of Investigation agents on
their Office stats. The former FBI
man, Senator Bridges said. culls
out and checks on complaints in
addition to his other duties. Sena-
tor Bridges recalled that among
his own past solo Investigations,
he developed the facts so the
committee had to make an inves-
tigation" in the case of Edward j.
Flynn, former chairman of the
Democratic National Committee
nominated to be Minister to Aus
tralia. Senator Bridges filed
charges against Mr.. Flynn with
the Foreign Relations Committee.
which had the nomination and ap-
proved it by a close vote. Presi-
dent Roosevelt. at Mr.. Flynn's
request, withdrew the nomination
on the eve of a floor fight which
opponents had predicted would
have resulted In vote against Mr..
Flynn's confirmation. Currently,
Senator Bridges is holding up a
generals nomination for defense
post because his Investigations re-
vealed the general once described
the North Koreans as a peace
loving people.
Jenner Checked on Russians.
Senator Jenner, Republican of
Indiana. said he had research
man." recently deceased. who
spent all his time digging up facts.
One assignment, Senator Jenner
said he gave this investigator. was
to find out how many Russians
were working at the United Ma
tions and how much they were
paid. A Senator. he said. has to
have somebody who works at in
vestigations all the. time because
mo committee can do 1t, it would
never get any place"
Senator LANCER, Republican of
North Dakota. said as far as he is
concerned Investigations are what
Senators have administrative as
sistants for. He said he keeps
changing his administrative as
sistant all the time. He explained
he hires an expert to look into
something and puts him on the
payroll as his administrative as
sistant. When that job is done,
the expert no longer works for
him. Recently. when a Senate
Civil Service subcommittee opened
hearings on prices charged by
Federal cafeterias, Senator Lam
ger asked an official of Govern
ment Services, Inc. whether he
had bought any food directly or
indirectly from any member OF
Congress and whether any men,
ber had tried to influence GSI
buying. The official said as far
as he knew, that hadn't happened
Later, Senator LANCER parried re-
porters' questions as to what
prompted his inquiry. But, in dis
cussing his administrative assist
ant shuttle with The Star, he dis
closed that he had hired a Chicago
food expert to look into GSI.
Dondero Has Pipelines.
Representative Dondero. Repub.
lican of Michigan. said he. some.
times hires an investigator to ds
q job for him and pays the bill
himself. Besides that, ne added
II get information from some very
reliable pipelines" AS one of hi,
Investigating accomplishments, HI
cited the charges he made agains1
Max Lowenthal, former Govern.
ment official, whom Mr.. Dondert
accused of loyalty to Russia
Called before the House Commit.
tee on Un-American Activities, Mr.
Lowenthal insisted he had servee
the Government with honor. MIR
Lowenthafs book criticizing tn,
FBI subsequently was sharply at.
!. tackled by several legislators.
Representative Gwinn, Repub-
lican of New York, said he has
two "part-time researchers" who
do nothing but work on investiga-
tions for himself and other mem
bers of Congress. Sometimes. he
said. he pays them out of his own
pocket. II spend most of my salary
on this kind of work." he con-
fided. One of his investigations,
he said. was a probe of public
housing, aimed to show that peo-
pie who lived in public housing
voted for the political party that
built them. Political organizations
helped on that one. he said.
"If we want to resist New Deal
legislation" he explained, I'VE
have to do it on our own"
Mundt Uses Ex-Reds.
Senator Mundt, Republican OF
South Dakota, said he works with
a variety of sources to direct his