Evening star., 1951-05-13

/ II
who spied for Russia in Tokyo.
makes the pages Of spy fiction
seem pale.
The Army drew UP q vo-
luminous report on the case
from records captured after
WI day. then hastily with
drew it. Woven through the
records, however, are sobering
hints Of American participa-
ton in Soviet espionage in
the Orient.
Sorge began spying In
Tokyo in 1880. was captured
and hanged by the Japanese
In 1943.
him in that magic atmosphere. 1t
was argued. and he would auto
matically evolve to the next high
er plane-our own! That seems
naive now, but 1t was practical
gospel to thousands just q few
years ago. Under that delusion
we welcomed all kinds of radicals
and even anarchists. We put the
weight Of our influence behind
attempts to force our Allies in
other lands, notably France and
China, to welcome Communists
into their Unbalanced regimes. In
the hope that they would be con-
|verted to reasonableness in being
presented with power. Our own
Army was forced to stand by and
merely watch in France a mas
sacre Of Frenchmen by French
men which In q few weeks cost
four times as many lives as the
famous Reign of Terror" Many
of these men had been collabo-
rators. Thousands of other VIC
Tins had been simply too far west
of anarchy to please the ex-
tremiSts who for a time were
given a free hand. Much Of this
we could not have prevented, but
some Of it we could have.
Similarly in Italy we allowed
Tito and Stain to push thou
sands of Communist organizers
through the unwilling lines of
the British and American armies
in the guise of refugees and even
Ireturnees. In Germany, for q
time, we adopted the most short
sighted of all our policies-at-
tempting to turn the country
over to the most radical elements.
Here again. the military was
overriden. And here, be it said
to his everlasting credit, Presi-
dent Truman threw OF the Nor
genthau policy and began the
long-overdue effort to think OF
the future Of Germany and Europe
and not merely Of their past.
Traitors Highly Placed
During this period our own
country was saturated with trail
tors-civil and military. They
were 50 highly placed and well
camouhaged that only the revolt
ing consciences Of a few Of the
TRAITORS themselves served to some
what lessen our danger, or at
least to make it apparent to all.
We should never forget that all
the great exposures stem directly
or indirectly from the voluntary
action Of a Russian first lieuten-
ant. Igor Gouzenko. who, on Sep
tember 6, l945, fled with proofs of
Russian espionage to the apart
ment Of q Canadian Army SER
geant.
Without that totally gratuitous
action We might have had no
warning that men high up in our
service were the agents of the
enemy. All the resulting exposures
Hiss, Cohen. Rosenberg, Boyer,
Lipschitz. Woikin. Mazerall, May,
Coplon. Fuchs, Sobell. the plots of
a hundred aliases-stem directly
or indirectly from this Russians
act Of conscience. He could not
stomach the way in which his own
country was repaying the demo-
cratic lands which had come to
Russia's rescue.
1t is important to emphasize that
without this initial help, our own
highly competent secret services
could have done nothing. Our FBI
did marvellous work, but the grand
leads came from this one Russian.
There is in our system no agency
which can, without any obstruc-
ton of any kind. comb the whole
field Of public service in search of
treason. Without such a combing,
the now deeply imbedded traitors
can never be brought to light.
That is our greatest weakness to-
day. It eats at the heart of public
confidence. 1t jitters the nerves of
honest planners on every level. It
makes farce of all security meas
ures, since traitors themselves may
still be making and unmaking the
|classifications of secret data.
Congress can do nothing about
this, for all investigations run UP
against the inviolability of the
executive branch and its preroga-
tives. The courts can do nothing
fundamental. Convicting and
hanging a few itinerant traitors
will not give us back exclusive
control Of the A-bomb secret.
There is only one man in the
world who can tear the whole
curtain away from these enemies
of our way Of life. That man is
the President Of the United States.
Beside that opportunity the Mac
Arthur debate Is q mere squabble.
But there are risks involved. II
he were to turn the full heat of
jail the research facilities Of our
Government upon this question.
and insist upon cooperation from
the British in washing the dirty
linen of their own part in this
sordid mess. regulations now held