Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-05

THE question Of free choice
mo longer remains when you are
presented with a list Of names"
He replied softly "yes. sir" six
times as j. G. Sourwine. sub
committee counsel. asked him
whether he knew various in
dividuals to have been Reds. He
named the following. the first
four of whom had previously
been identified by Winston Bur-
dett Of the Columbia Broad
casting System in his testimony
last June:
| Gladys Bentley: Nat Einhorn.
Milton Kaufman. Gladys Kopf,
Simon Gerson and Fred Meyer.
An had been associated with
the New York Chapter of the
American Newspaper Guild. The
battle for control of the guild
reached its climax in 1913 with
the defeat Of the Communist
element.
In addition, Mr.. Knowles
supplied the subcommittee in
Executive session with the names
of members of the Communist
cell on the Daily Press In 1887
80. Mr.. Sourwine said that
identification Of these individuals
would not be made public at
this time because this cell still
is under investigation"
Causes Not Pushed
| Mr.. Knowles testified that he
decided to quit the Communist
Party when he found that 1t was
doing nothing useful to further
the causes it responsiveness
which ! also espoused." He
added: e.
II can't plead extreme youth
but / can plead extreme naivete
l.. would certainly advise any
one not to get tied up with such
a silly business"
Mr.. Knowles pointed out that
he voluntarily went to the FBI
and to the subcommittee and made
"a full disclosure Of his past
Communist affiliation.
Under questioning by Senator
Hennings, Democrat of Missouri,
the witness said he knew Of no
Communist influence on the
Times and had never been asked
to slant, stories.
1 He said, too, that the publisher
of the Times did not know of
his Communist past when he was
hired nor did the owners of the
Daily Press know of it. The same,
he said, went for International
News Service officials when he
worked for the wire service
briefly In the l930s.
At the conclusion Of his testi-
mony, Senator Hennings lauded
Mr.. Knowles as an exceedingly
accurate and competent news
paperman." Senator Eastland
later said Knowles made us a
very fair, very fine and helpful
witness-he is a credit to his
country"
Another New York Times man
Samuel Weissman - got no
such accoladeS. He took the
Fifth Amendment in refusing to
say whether he had ever been a
member of the Communist Party.
/ .Ar. WeisSman, who has
worked on the New York Times
Index for the last 20 years. said
he was not now Red and has
not been one since January /,
1919. He refused to say whether
/ he had been affiliated with the
party prior to that time.
! The witness also refused to say
whether he had told his employ
ers his past activities with re-
spect to the Communist Party"
when asked by Mr.. Sourwine.
Jerry zalph. a proof reader for
the New York Times for 20 years,
also invoked the Fifth Amend
ment. and the First. Ninth and
Tenth. in refusing to answer a
long list of questions including
whether he is now a Communist.
! McManus Takes Stand
/ John T. McManus. former
regional vice president of the
fANG and for five years presi-
dent Of a Guild local in New
York. followed Zalph to the
stand.
He invoked the Fifth Amend
ment when asked whether he
was editor of the National
Guardian. a left-wing paper. al
though the name John T. Nc
Manus is carried on the mast
head:
Mr.. McManus, who worked for
the New York Times from 1921
to 1887 and also for Time maya
zine and the newspaper PM. de-
clined to say whether he was a
Communist.
Allan James Aronson Of New
York City was the final witness.
He declined to say whether he
was executive editor Of the Ma
tional Guardian or whether he
; had been a Red.
He said he once worked for
the Government as a press con-
troll officer in Germany and for
the following newspapers: Bos-