Evening star., 1953-08-26
The Red Conspiracy

It may be said with some accuracy that the
newly released report of Senator Jenner's sub
committee on internal security marks the end
of an era. If this Is correct, 1t may also be
substantially accurate to say that this era be-
gan in November, 1889.
In that month the House Committee on
Un-American Activities, then headed by Repre-
sentative Martin Dies of Texas, was probing
into Communist activity in Washington. It
was not q popular committee and 1t was not
a popular investigation. Diligent effort was
made to deride and discredit the work Of the
committee by denouncing It's chairman as
"red batter"
On the last day of November, 1889, Joseph
LASH secretary of the American Students
Union, was called before the committee Tin
Mr. Dies absence) for questioning. He was &C
companied by a group Of friends and Mrs
Franklin D. Roosevelt was also present. While
the wife of the President according to news
reports, looked on with benign smile" Mr..
Lash sang the following ditty
If you see an Un-Americah
Lurking far or near
Just alkdlise lDith Martin Dies
And he 1piH disappear.
Fourteen years ago that was devastatingly
funny And it contributed it's bit to hooting
down any effort by the Dies committee to make
people believe that there was serious Com
munist infiltration of our Government.
Now comes the report of the Jenner COM
mittee, and it proves three things beyond any
possibility of reasonable doubt.
The first is that the Communist con-
spiracy to infiltrate this Government, con-
spiracy that was well under way in 1889, was
shockingly successful The second is that re-
sponSible officials either could not or would
not bring themselves to face up to the avail
able evidence which, if it had been taken
seriously, would have warned of the danger.
The third is that the American people have
learned the details of this conspiracy and the
names of those who participated in it almost
entirely through the public hearings held by
the Jenner committee and similar congressional
groups Certainly the details would not have
come out had the job of exposure been left to
those administration officials who were unWill-
ing to acknowledge that the conspiracy was
afoot.
To recognize that these are the facts is not
to approve everything that the investigating
committees have done or may do. Unquestion-
ably, there have been fagrant abuses in some
instances, and with an election coming up next
year it is quite probable that Republican con-
trolled committees will try to make political
capital out of the fact that Democratic ad
mlnlStratlOnS were successfully lnHItrateo Dy
Communists.
These considerations, important though
they are, should not be permitted, however, to
obscure the main point And the main point
is that it has taken IA years, or the better
part of it, to establish the fact of Communist
infiltration beyond a reasonable doubt, and
that there is nothing in sight in our relations
with Russia to indicate that attempts at tnfll-
tration will become less serious in the future.
There is something in the American tempera-
ment which rebels against distrust Of ones
fellow-man, and this trait, within reason, is a
good one Experience shows, however, that
there are those among us who cannot be
trusted, and with respect to them continued
vigilance is necessary.