The Lincoln times., 1955-03-28

/ strange to himself. Since 1 did
not recognize my own voice when
I referred to myself as good
Southerner.' l do not fall in this
particular instance under the
condemnation of the adage that
self praise is half scandal.
MISTAKES
l returned to Washington from
Morganton on Tuesday of last
week and found the remainder of
the week an extremely busy one.
The Permanent Subcommittee
on Investigations of the Senate
Committee on Government Oper-
ations spent Tuesday, Wednesday
and Thursday taking evidence in
the investigation of the circum-
stances surrounding the promo
ton and honorable discharge of
Major PereSS, the Dental Officer,
who took the Fifth Amendment
when he was called upon to sub
scribe to his loyalty oath as an
Army Officer and when he was
subsequently interrogated by SEN
ator Mccarthy.
1t has been asserted that the
promotion and honorable dis
charge of Major Peress resulted
from the presence of some mast
er-mind in the Department of
Defense working in the interest
of Communism. While the Per-
manent Subcommittee on Investi-
cations has not made any find
in9s of fact up to this time in
respect to this matter. I deem it
not amiSS to state that in my
opinion the evidence taken by us
shows that there is no basis
whatever for this charge.
According to the evidence. the
promotion and honorable dis
charge of Major Peress resulted
from miSinterpretation which
the legal staff of the Department
Of Defense put upon an Act of
Congress. the absence of any ade-
quate regulation in the Depart
ment of Defense or the Depart
ment of the Army dealing with
security risks and subverSives.
and an incredible amount of bung-
Ing and poor administrative work
in the Department of the Army
In other words. the promotion
and honorable DISCHARGE of Major
FereSS resulted from mistakes
made by men whose loyalty to
America cannot be questioned.
IMPORTANT BILLS
In addition to my work on the
Permanent Subcommittee on In
veStisatiOnS. I attended all the
sessions of the Senate, which
witnessed some lively fights on
the cotton acreage bill. the postal
pay bill, and the Civil Service pay
bill. The fight on the cotton acre
age bill was between those Sena-
tors who believed that any in
crease in allotmentS should be
utilized to give small cottongrow-
erS a minimum allotment Of 4
acres each. and those Senators
who believed that any increase
III allotmentS should be apportion-
, ed among cotton growers on a
percentage basis regardless of the
sizes Of their present allotments.
Under the plan advocated by the
second group. North Carolina
would have received an additional
allotment of only 1876 acres out
of a total proposed allotment OF
271,6l2 acres. whereas under the
plan supported by the first group
North Carolina would have re-
ceived 36.580.2 acres out of q
total proposed additional allot-
Dent OF l69,679.3 acres. AS a re-
suit of the fight between these
two groups, both plans were de-
feated. Senator Scott and I sup
ported the plan advocated by the
group Of Senators because the ad-
5itional proposed allotment OF
26,580.2 acres to North Carolina
would have brought the allot-
nent OF each of our 47,470 small
cotton growers up to a minimum
allotment of 4 acres. In my judg-
ment, each cotton grower should
De granted legal right to an al
lotment OF at least 4 acres.
]