Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-21
The Political Mill
The Political Min
Code Of Investigations
Still an Unmet Need g
Bur Association Committee
Urges Congress to Act
By Gould Lincoln

By Gould Lincoln
Congress has adjourned without do Z
ing anything specific about Senator
Mccarthy and his investigative meth. q
ods It adjourned. too, without estab. Z
lishing-as proposed by Senator Bush q
Of Connecticut, Republican, and count
less other Senators. both Democrat and
Republicans code Of fair practices. =
for congressional investigating commit !
tees or rules to compel adherence to,
the code. >,
The one hopeful note has been an I,
unequivocal statement by Senate Ma
jority Leader Knowland, that when the
new Congress meets next January. such :.
code and such rules win be adopted .
certainly by the Senate-whether Re-
.publicans continue to control the Upper =
House or whether the control changes
to Democratic hands. ST
A special report on congressional in 4
vestigationS has just been released bysl
the American Bar Association, where 9
1t was discussed at its national conven- i
ton in Chicago. Carefully prepared by1.
a special committee. headed by Whitney
North Seymour. the report and it's
recommendations should make inter- q
esting reading for the Senators and >
Representatives during the recess Of !,
Congress. 4,
Wants Written Code. Il
It makes no attempt to minimize
either the Communist threat to this n
country or to limit the power of Con-
gress to investigate. 1t does come outG
strongly for code of fair procedures
in iv,vya
most emphatically, it recommends that
the code be written into law or into the ;,
rules OF Senate and House, and that
each body accept responsibility to see
that these rules are enforced. "a
The essence of the bar association /.
report is. indeed, congressional re-
sponsibility. II congressional commit
tees need q house cleaning, the Con-,
gress is the body to tackle the Job. IT,,
significantly remarks: 1.-THE whole his
tory OF investigations, confirmed by
current samples" obviously this re-
fers to the Mccarthy hearings. CON-
Quoted by the Wisconsin Senator, al
though no mention of Senator Nc
Carthy is made Directly Shows that IL
is not enough to create committees
and let them proceed as they see fit,
often at the within Of the chairman"
Proposals Not New.
The recommendations of the bar as
ISOLATION committee report for safe
guarding the rights of individuals APP
pearing before congressional commit
tees are not new but they are compre-s
hensive. The committee apparently
recognizes the truth of q statement by
Senator Mccarthy that you can't handle
Communists with kid gloves and get
anywhere.
1t also recognizes that the handling
OF witnesses by Mccarthy. which has
been criticised in many quarters, does
not create q precedent. Similar rough
treatment has been accorded witnesses
before other and earlier congressional
committees. Admitting that the threat
to this country's national security by
the Communist conspiracy on so vast
scale leads inevitably to counter
measures. it contends that a proper
balance in conducting congressional in
quiries is Of paramount Importance
A citizen soldier. it points out, gives
up his freedom of action to protect
the national interest. and 1t may be-
argued that his civilian counterpart
should be required to give up essential
rights, too, for national security. IT.
has been argued, too, on the other side,s
that the sacrifice Of rights by citizens
may lose us basic principles of freedom.
But, says the report. Disregard Of
security out Of an excessive concern
with the rights of individuals may let
the enemy reach the national jugular.''
Would Police Code.
The bar associations committee goes
beyond the mere establishment of
code and rules for congressional inves-
LEGATIONS 1t calls for supervision of
the operation of the congressional COM
mittees to see that they follow these
rules and the code of fair practices.
The supervising agency 1t recom1
mendS for the House would be composed
Of the Speaker and the majority and
minority leaders, and for the Senate,
the Vice President and the majority
and minority leaders. I
AS Of today, there are no general
rules OF procedure. Each committee
sets up its own. In addition, there IL
no supervision Of committee investiga-
tions, although each house can deal
with them if 1t chooses. Both houses
have the power, but they have done
nothing about these committee invest
legations. Even the committees theme
selves-particularly in the case Of thes
Mccarthy Senate Investigations Conn.,
mittee--have let the chairman run
loose The recommendation for SUPER
visory agency by the bar association
committee, therefore, is of superlative
interest. a''
q.