Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-09-17

tee in the development OF In
formation needed by the Con-
gress for legislation against sub.
Iversive threats to our country.
am compelled to say that many
of the side effects Of this com
mittee's activities have caused
most churches grave concern
Let me list the reasons for thi.
concern.
| -. The very name Of the
committee raises a question. Fol
there has been q growing ten.
dency on the part Of our repre-
sentatives in government to sup.
pose that 1t is within the CON-
Ipetence of the state to deter
mine what is and what is moi
American. But from the begin.
ming the glory Of the American
way of life has been the encour-
agement of diversity of conscien-
tious opinion and conviction, and
American law is concerned with
overt, illegal actions only.
"2. The committee has used
technioues in hearings which
have in effect turned the wit
ness into one accused, and has
mot afforded many a witness an
opportunity of the means to
protect himself and his reputa-
Ition. means which even a le-
Igally indicted citizen is afforded
in any court.
"3. The committee has failed
to distinguish between allega-
ltions of disloyalty and proved
disloyalty.
-. Unsupported allegations,
which could have been easily
proved false, have on occasions
been disseminated on the COM
mittee's letterhead to the hurt
Iof the reputation Of loyal Amer
leans.
as. The committee has been
itself confused as to the differ
Ience between disloyalty to our
country and the holding of
opinions which happen to be
politically unpopular or publicly
embarrassing.
IS. The committee has on &C.
casion lost all historical per-
spective, implying disloyalty for
past associations of some citi-
zens, which associations at the
time when they occurred were
shared by other citizens whose
loyalty it would not dare to
challenge"
Mr.. Schnitzler of the AFL
said that in addition to Taft
Hartley and other Federal labor
control laws. the past decade
has seen enactment of restrictive
labor laws in a number of States,
which, he said, provide a means
of denying to workers the night
to organize and bargain effec-
lively.
Mr.. Buford, speaking for the
teaching profession, said the
National Education Association
Is opposed to the employment or
retention of Communists as
teachers or as members of the
organized profession. He said
only handful of members of
the Communist party have been
found teaching in the schools
and none was a member of NEA.
"Climate OF Fear"
However" he continued, "a
climate of fear exists in some of
our communities. This is a
natural result of the strong OPP
position of all of us to commu-
nism. Some well-intentioned
citizens from all walks of life,
impelled by the fear that teach
ers may indoctrinate youth with
MARKHAM ideas express suspicious
that are without foundation and
affect many teachers whose 10y
atty to American ideals and in
stitutions is above reproach. AS
q result, a number of teachers
have been dismissed from our
public schools or have not been
re-employed on the basis of in
formation supplied by anony-
nous persons and without any
opportunity on their part either
to be confronted by their accus-
ers or even be made aware Of the
nature of the accusations"