The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-03-19
SCOTT
Continued from Page Seven)


by Congressional committees tina
meet in secret, plot in secret, ane
then send smearing, dogmatic de-
mands for action not only to the
Executive branch of the govern
ment, but to private agencies out
| side the government. Under nj
circumstances should one branch
of the government fall into the
traps of such devices and submit
to an unconditional surrender
to another branch or division
thereof.
| The practices of certain Con,
gressional committees are moi
only un-Constitutional-they are
un-American. These are nothing
less than a form of despotism
and should be eradicated FROM
the American scene. Congress
owes it to the people to call a
quick halt to any committee &C.
tivity when it gets out of line.
For the growth of govern
mental abuses and the satisfac-
ton of personal grudges, there is
no field more fertile than secret
hearings before legislative bodies.
It always has been my practice
to conduct public business in the
open-and it will continue to be
my practice. I am completely OPP
posed to any legislative body, or
subdivision thereof, barring the
public from its meetings, except
when the national security is in
volved.
More than 40 years ago, one of
our greatent Presidents, Wood
row Wilson, made the following
statement There is not any
legitimate privacy about mat
tiers of government. Government
must, if it is to be pure and cor
rect in its processes, be absolute
ly public in everything" I'm
quote.
When the Founding Fathers
met together in 1887 to frame
the Constitution we prize so
highly, two delegates to the Con-
vention proposed that the ses-
sions be held behind closed doors.
They were reproached by Jeffer-
son, who told the group that
nothing could Justify" the pro-
posal except the Innocence of
the intentions" of the man who
made the proposal and his Gig
norance of the value of public
discussion.
Were jefferson alive today, he
would be dismayed to find that
during the first session of the
83rd Congress, which ended last
fall, A per cent of all committee
and subcommittee m in G S
were held behind closed doors. In
other words, out of 3,105 such
committee meetings, 1857 were
hush-hush, secret affairs. 1 SER
iously doubt that "A per cent of
all these meetings dealt with the
national security.
Secret committee sessions, ex-
cept where the question of ma
tional security is involved, are
not designed to protect the public
interest. Rather, secret legislative
meetings are designed to protect
selfish political interests.
Woodrow Wilson would prob
ably be just as dismayed as jeff
erson at the record of the 83rd
Congress, because he said, II can
not imagine a public man with a
conscience having a secret that
he would keep from the people
about their own affairs
Former Vice-President John
Nance Garner is another great
statesman who clearly saw the
dangers of secret sessions. He
took his stand, saying, There
ought not to be any executive
sessions of any Congressional
committee" Unquote.
There is no reasonable argu-
ment in support of the growing
practice of secret legislative
meetings.
AS for the right of the accused
| to face the accuSer, when this
right is abused, it smacks Cd
communism, the very thing we
are betting every ounce of our
energy and resources to over
come. The people of this great
country are not so ignorant anc
foolish that they have to resort
to the devices of Communism ir
their fight against Communism.
| 1t is my firm belief that the
FBI is capable, with the help o.
the courts, of protecting this ma
ton from the assaults of disloya
citizens and from the scheme,
and plots of those working fol-
foreign governments and foreign
political and economic philoso
phies.
In case the FBI and the Justic,
Department are not capable o
protecting us from those VIII,
would destroy us from within
fha, ~ cho,,ld ho ynodo capoh1e