Ottawa County news. (Port Clinton, Ohio) 1931-1956, 1952-10-31

from Ohio and the organization
has gone underground. There still
remains in this state a hard core
of about 1900 memberS--With
about twice that many sympathiz-
ers or fellow travellers. Roughly
two thirds of these are concen-
trated in Cuyahoga County and
the remaining in Cincinnati, Day
ton and other metropolitan areas.
We have a number of interest
ing witnesses appear before our
commission. Some appeared will
ingly, others did not. Three party
leaders we're cited for contempt
and skipped out of Ohio to avoid
prosecution. Four others have
been indicted and four more cases
are ready to be presented to the
Franklin County grand jury.
Among the more interesting
witnesses have been Charles Bax-
fore our commission. 1t was Sc
Mr.. Baxter was a member of
the Communist Party from 1927
until 1945 when he voluntarily
left and gave valuable data to the
U. S. Government He was very
helpful in giving our commission
detailed account of Communist
activities in the state of Ohio.
Mr.. Baxter incidentally is
graduate of Stalin's sabotage
school in Moscow. He estimated
that there are about 800 persons
at large in the United States who
were trained in the sabotage and
espionage school in the Soviet
Union.
Mr.. Cvetic many of you will re-
call served as an ondercover
agent in the Communist Party and
rose from the ranks to become
one of the top leaders in this
country. Even his wife was not
aware that he was secret agent
| of the F. B. /. until he was ex-
posed as a government, witness.
Many of you may have seen the
movie or radio version of Il Was
Communist for the F. B. l."
which was based on Mr.. Cvetic's
actual experiences.
| should like at this time to
read some excerpts taken from
the testimony of Mr. Svetic be.
| fore our commission. 1t was Sc
lected by me at random and is
typical of information given our
commission.
Now please remember that the
testimony l have just read is from
friendly" witness. We interro-
gated many others who refused to
answer our questions and pre-
ferred to hide behind their CON
stitutional rights" Of the
very things the Communists have
set out to destroy.
Many of us have the mistaken
notion that all Communists spring
from the slums of New York Or
Chicago Nothing could be farther
from the facts. Actually, Com
munists are found everywhere.
| AS many of you probably have
heard, we have at least one in
stance of a native of this county
joining the party and going up
through the ranks to become a
topflight international spy.
| Mrs. Max Granich, wife Of the
editor of "China Today" testified
before the Un-American Activities
Commission that she was born and
reared in Oak Harbor; attended
public schools here, and it was
brought out that she travelled ex-
tensively in Europe and the Far
East as an espionage agent for the
Communist Party.
The case of Mrs. Granich has
been duplicated many times. 1t
serves to emphasize that communi-
ties like ours are not immune to
threats of subversion.
We in this area are particular
ly vulnerable because of our prox-
unity to ordnance depots at La
Carne and Rossford and to indus
trial areas concentrating on de-
fense projects.
Ohio is among the five or six
states in the nation considered
primary targets of the Com
munistS.
The latest security threat tc this
state developed in southeastern
Ohio Immediately after it was an
nounced that an atomic energy
plant would be located iii Pike
County.
Our staff investigated the Sc
curity situation there and found
that Pike County had a sheriff
and one deputy and part-time po-
lice chiefs at Waverly and Pike
ton
Under normal circumstances
that would be adequate. Pike
County in the 1850 census had a
population of 14,6O7 and Waver-
ly, the county seat, 1879.
Now, however, 10000 Workmen
are coming into that area to build
the plant. After it is finished
there will be permanent staff Of