Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-18
Rap From the Chair


I would like to call your
attention to several serious
errors and distortions in the
article on the House Commit
tee on Un-American Activities
by David Koonce which APP
peared in The Sunday Star.
Many of these could have been
avoided, I believe. If Mr..
Koonce had taken the trouble
to examine the work Of the
committee effectively.
The committee recently
made public its annual report
for 1855. This was available
to Mr.. Koonce: from it. he
could have obtained accurate
knowledge of the committees
activities If he could bring
none OF his own to his task.
Mr.. Koonce asks: What
were the accomplishments Of
this committee Of nine q"
And answers this with, "Well.
last year. 1t originated no legis-
iation." Quoting an aide" Mr..
Koonce continues. Last year."
he said. members and staff
aides made several trips out
Of town to hold investigations"
What Mr.. Koonce does not say
is that these several trips"
consisted of public hearings in
Chicago. New York, Milwaukee,
Los Angeles, San Diego, New
ark and Seattle.
At the hearings in these
cities and In Washington, D. c..
the committee heard a total
OF l78 witnesses and uncovered
massive new evidence of Com
munist activity In Govern
ment, labor unions. in the fiel6
of education. in the enter
tainment industry, and among
youth. These results are sum-
married. in the 48-page annual
report, the most extensive one
presented by any committee to
the Congress.
Mr.. Koonce's reference to
legislation is equally mislead-
ing when one considers that
the committee has made q
total Of 10 legislative and ad-
ministrative recommendations
to the Congress to strengthen
the hand Of the Government
In dealing with the Communist
conspiracy. These recommen-
dations are the immediate re-
suit Of the committees hear
ings and investigations. It is
also worth noting that, since
its establishment as a perma-
nent body. the committee has
had nearly so Of its recon-
mendations enacted into law.
When Mr.. Koonce attempts
to make a financial COM
parison of the various COM
mittees Of Congress, his prin-
ciples of arithmetic become
more elusive. He states. for ex-
ample. that the Committee on
Banking and Currency was
appropriated $4,000. but at
the end Of the year had more
than $4,000 remaining unex-
pended from its appropriated
funds" This would indicate
that the total cost Of operating
the committee was $4,000.
Actually. the salaries alone. as
Mr.. Koonce should have no
ticed from the Congressional
Record figures on which app
parently he based his article.
totaled more than SIS. 900.
This is more than double the
$4,000 indicated by lr.
Koonce.
Again. Mr.. Koonce refers to
nine investigators on the staff
of the Un-American Activities
Committee during the period
under consideration. Actually.
there were only eight. The
ninth. as Mr.. Koonce should
have seen, was included in the
committees financial report
only because he had received
$35 in retroactive pay.
The nonsense of such COM
parsons is illustrated best by
Mr.. Koonce's statement that
six of the committee aides
were paid $1,000 teach) for
the last six months of the
year. The reason for using
$4,000 as a basis instead of.
say, $4,000 or $4,000 is not
clear. Nevertheless. If we &C
cede to Mr.. Koonce's choice,
we find that is per cent of the
total number OF employees of
this committee received sal-
aries of $1,000 or more during
the period: Of the Banking
and Currency staff. As per cent
received such salaries; SO per
cent of the Agriculture Com
mittee's staff: and 37.5 per
cent of the Post Office and
Civil Service Committees.
What is this supposed to
prove?
Mr.. Koonce is apparently
susceptible to a fallacy OF
mathematics which probably
would lead him to assert
that if the Washington Monu-
ment Is 500 feet high and the
Brooklyn Bridge $500 feet
long, the bridge is bigger than
the monument. when all that
can be said is that one is a
bridge and the other a monu-
ment and that one contains
more feet than the other.
There Is no way Of evalu-
ating the committees work by
comparing the size and SAL
aries of It's staff with those
OF other committees, or by
reference to the number OF
employees who receive $4,000
or $4,000 or $4,000 during q
particular period.
The Committee on I'm
,..-~ A.fi,,fffar ie tho nyalU