Evening star., 1951-03-01

have likewise grown and changed
Research in Realm of Books.
Today with the accent on loyal
ty both in and out of Government
it is nothing unusual for a Con-
gresham to call On LRS for 9
dossier on a particular person
LRS does the sort of research in
the realm of books that the FBl
does in mundane circles.
1t was LRS, according to the
Office of Representative Lyle
Democrat, of Texas that dug III
information in l949 which led tt
Mr.. Lyle's denouncing Leland S
Olds as a left-Winger. Mr.. Old!
had been nominated to the Fed
eral Power Commission. and Mr.
Lyle asserted that in his writing!
the nominee had at one time
sneered at the Fourth of July
praised the Soviet system and at
tackled American patriotism.
LRSs also did the digging that
in other cases, enabled LEGISLATOR
to denounce other public figures
It is not surprising, therefore
that LRS occasionally shows con.
Germ over the possibility that il
may become tagged as character
assassination outfit.
That no one has labeled LRS 6
smear-bund is excellent testi.
mony to the objective quality o.
its work DR.. Griffith points ouI
that LRS makes no effort tx
evaluate information except a;
scholars would-on the basis o1
reliability. Though LRS fre.
quently knows, or can imagine
the motive behind a request, il
never attempts to slant its infor-
nation in line with those mo-
tives. That is us to the legislator
whose query is being answered.
Get What Is Asked For.
AS a staff member in the office
or Representative CelIer, Demo-
crat. of New York puts it:
"The strength and value of LRs
lies in the fact that you get from
it exactly what you ask for"
To illustrate: There are three
ways to ask for information or
the writings of John Doe, sociol-
ogist. You can ask for every.
thing written by Doe In favor OF
socialistic planning; everything
opposed to socialistic planning, OF
simply everything he ever wrote
The reply your query would gel
from LRS would vary in each
case.
''LRS is used fairly often to dig
UP a mans past" DR.. Griffith says
What we do is get UP whatever
we can find in print about his
writings, organizational ties and
business affiliations.
Quite frequently we are called
on to make studies on persons
nominated for Office. These queries
come not only from oponents oi
the nominees, but from pro-
ponents as we'll"
Occasionally IRIS is asked for a
suitability report" on a prospec.
tive office holder. This sort oi
report would boil down the mans
qualifications for a job-or lack
thereof.
Silent on Requests.
LRS keeps a sphinx-like silence
on the subject of who is doing
what to whom.
"Of course" DR.. Griffith adds
"the congressman themselves art
free to talk about the work we
do"
One legislator who speaks freely
and with high praise about LRS
work is Senator O'Mahoney, Dem
ocrat. of Wyoming.
IAN immediate example of the
things LRS does for me all the
time" Senator O'Mahoney says
is a forthcoming report entitled
The Seaward Boundaries of the
Coastal States This memo is
needed for work in the tidelands
oil matter and contains every
writing and holding of courts with
respect to boundaries.
THAT office is thoroughly vel
stated by intelligent. able anC
informed specialists. Their studies
are accurate, exhaustive and i'm.
partial, and having that service
in the Library of Congress is O
great money saver"
Less enthusiastic is the staff
chief of one Congressional COM
mittee who says his group uses
LRS only on occasion.
Their work is slow, incomplete
and not always accurate" he ex.
plains. "One time they got up q
study on which I wanted to base
a report, but 1t was so shoddy q
job couldn't use it."
Admits Some Bad Reports.
DR.. Griffith acknowledged that
sometimes LRS doesn't live up to
all expectations. Sometimes the
queries we get are garbled," he
explains. And sometimes we
turn out rotten reports
Unsatisfactory jobs, he points
out, are bound to be done by an
outfit that last year handled 40
900 queries, and during peak peri