Evening star., 1952-03-16
Grain Shortage Probe
To Start Wednesday;
Senator'S Tread Softly
Bv james E. Roper

Congress plungeS into IreSn
scandal-hunt Wednesday, but even
the most rambunctious investi-
gator will have to tread carefully.
The reason is that the inquiry
involves the farm program. and
possibly the farm vote.
The Senate Agriculture Com
mittee will be looking specifically |
into the way the Agriculture De-
partment is storing farm products.
The department now has nearly
50 billion worth of commodities |
in storage to help keep prices up,
But some warehousemen who
stored products for the Govern
ment sold the commodities-par-
ticularly grain-and pocketed the
money. The Agriculture Depart |
ment has gone to court in Is cases.
trying to collect ST. million for
products that are missing. More |
shortages are expected to come
to light.
Mismanagement Charged.
The General Accounting Office |
says the Agriculture Department
has mismanaged the storage pro-
gram and then tried to cover upl
the mistakes. A House Appropri- |
ations subcommittee concluded
the department still is wasting |
millions of dollars.
At first glance. all Of this seems |
like an easy club for the Repub-
licans to use in socking the ad-
ministration in an election year.
But the main target. Secretary OF
Agriculture Brannan, won't stand
still. He denies all wrong doing. |
He counter attacks by saying the
Republicans are trying to wreck
the farm program.
Williams Singled Out.
He even singles out Senator
williams, Republican, Of Della
ware, a loud critic Of the Agricul-
ture Department. Secretary Bran
nan describes Senator Williams
as the No. / enemy Of the Ameri-
can farmer.
This is a serious charge at elec-
tion time. No politician Of either
party is ready to make an open,
frontal attack on the farm pro-
gram as such. So the Democratic
cry of, you're against the farm
er" is likely to be the most ef-
fective defense against the in
vestigators.
Republicans turning up irregu-
laritieS in the administration Of
the farm program must be care
full to show that they aren't
shooting at the farm law. but
only at the way the Agriculture
Department is administering it.
Democrats, on the defense, also
are using some good eyasive tao
tics. Committee Chairman Ellen
der of Louisiana has announced
he wants to call before the COM
mittee all dishonest warehouse
men. hound them for trying toI
cheat the Government.
Aiken Aims at Employees.
Senator Aiken of Vermont, the
ranking Republican on the COM
mittee, isn't interested in testi-
mony from warehousemen. He
wants to fire at any incompetent
or dishonest Agriculture Depart
ment employe who allowed the
WarehouSemen to steal.
He says calling In the ware
housemen would be just q way
of getting the spotlight OF the
Agriculture Department. So the
political hufing and pufflng1
started well before the hearings.
The first witnesses will be
Latham White and Harry Solo
mon. already fired by the Agri-
culture Department for misman-
aging the Dallas, Tex, Office of
the Commodity Credit Corp. They
claim they got a raw deal, could
have prevented the shortages if
the Agriculture Department had
followed their advice on procedure.
This was what the Republicans
wanted to hear At the same time,
the Democrats wanted to show
of Mr.. White and Mr.. Solomon
as prime exhibits Of how the
Agriculture Department gets rid
Of lax employees.
So everybody was willing to let
the hearings begin with their tes-
timony. What political or inves-
tigative path the hearings will
take after that y,ohoflv Gould tall