The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1958-01-17
The Farmvillc Herald
Farmyillc. Virginia

Dear Sit.
MY attention has been called to
two letters which recently appeared
IN the Herald bearing the signature
OF A. ". Lewis, President Of the
Prince Edwards County Farmers
Union.
Both imply that a lecture, titled
Communist mfiltration Of Agricul-
tllrc gwen by me al Jarman Hall
IN Farmylllc, July ~. 1857 was a
misrepresentation Of the truth
and based on erroneous information
IN support Of his contention he
quotes q letter solicited from Con
v gresham Harold d Cooley. Chair
man OF the House Agriculture Com
mit'cc. N which the North Carolina
representative expresses his ire
erft that anyone would try in
his words to reflect discredlt to
an organization Of farmers Of Amer
lea who have been patriotic and
loyal citizens Of the United States"
For the information Of Mr. Lewis
and those who may have read his
letter. wish 10 state thar all docu-
mentarN evidence shown on the
II screen at Farmvllc that night was
taken from the flies 81 two govern
Y mcnt agencies created BY Congress
for the express purpose of keeping
\ tho American people Informed AS ID
tho activities Of tho Communist
Party.
4 These two agencies arc the Senate
Internal Se cnritv Subcommittee
headed bN Senator F,astland ID
Miss and the House Committee on
\ un-Amcrican Activities headed By
\ Representative Walters d PENN.
\ The function Of these committees
is to ferret out facts concerning the
Communist menace and turn them
over 10 thu press for public cnlight-
enmcnt.
Congress has for years appropri-
atcd ample funds for both commit
tees m recognition of the work they
have accomplished
The record shows that Mr.. Cooley
voted for the appropriation which
\ enabled these committees To discov-
or the very things / showed on tho
screen at Farmvillc last july ~.
HIS letter indicates hc now rejects
their findings or that he ignorant Of
them.
Both Nh Cooley and Mr. Lewis.
II they believe these things to hc TN
true. should register their complaint
With the Congressional committees
responsible for digging them Up.
VI Ms ncwSpapcrman | don't make
I The news. | lust report it.
h Most Of the evidence shown at
Farnvlllc was sworn testimony Of
Witnesses who have from time 10
time appeared before Congressional
\ Committees with regard to Com
nunlst activity II was largely made
up OF actual photostatS Of Commit
Ice reports. As such they were au-
thcntlc government documents made
available TO nCWsmen for the OK
press purpose Of making people
aware Of the Communist conspiracy
\ and nus tactics
X respectfully suggest that If Mr..
Lewis wants t. get an authoritative
evalliation Of tho evidence I present
I "a nc should write to either Or both
OF the cu4mittces above mentioned
for The facts.
| make this recommendation be-
cause Mr.. Coolcy's background and
| his close political tics with Walter
Renther's Go and Jim Patton'S Ma
! tlonal Farmers Union, hardly quail
/ flcS him as an authority on Com
mtniSm i'll agriculture. II amazeS
me that Mr. Lewis should have writ
ten Mr.. Cooley instead Of the pro
per source for the facts he tried to
| develop.
| For Mr. Lewis. Information, it was
Mr.. Cooley who recently threw in
with Farmers Union and Mr.. Reu-
thor IN an attempt TO further farm
cr-labor coalition which would give
more political power to the CLIO
boss. You'll recall. that Mr.. Cooley
authorized the distribution Of Mr..
Reuthers testimony before t h {
House Agriculture Committee to
several thousand American farmers
throughout the nation az taxpayers
expense.
A similar brochure. dealing with
the same issue. was all set to 20
into tho mails but vas abandoned
after an expose BY Washington News
Syndicate.
So II is not surprising that Mr..
Cooley should 'dcplorc" anything
which casts reflection on either
Farmers Union or Mr. Rcuther. He
has political chips in the game.
! also wish to reitcrate state
ment made in all my lectures-that
generally speaking Farmers Union
members tand most OF their county
OfilclalSl arc not aware Of happen
,,,<r to-