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Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, July 05, 1955, Image 13

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DAVID LAWRENCE
Dilemma in the Lattimore Case
Study Seen on Whether Prosecution
Os Perjury in Future Will Be Feasible
Bo far as the public is
concerned, the case of Owen
Lattimore. Far Eastern expert
who was indicted by two Fed
eral grand juries on perjury
charges, ended when the De
partment of Justice the other*
day asked a Federal Judge to
dismiss the Indictments. This
doesn't mean that, however,
guilt or innocence .has been
established. For, due to the*
legal battle, waged by the de
fendant against the wording
of the charges themselves, the
case was never tried on its
merits. .
The controversy inside
Washington, especially among
lawyers, moreover, hasn’t end
ed. The case will certainly be
studied by one of the congres
sional investigating commit
tees to determine whether in
view of the 4-to-4 decision of
the U. S. Circuit Court of Ap
peal anyone hereafter can be
successfully prosecuted on per
jury charges even when they
involve the alleged deliber
ate dissemination of propa
ganda beneficial to an enemy
country.
If the Federal judges ap
pointed by Messrs. Roosevelt
and Truman, who now have re
versed the entire trend of ju
dicial interpretation of the
scope of perjury charges, are
to remain in command, it could
happen that even in wartime
no such prosecutions as were
effected in the 1940 s against
the promoters of nazism could
ever be successful again.
For the truth is that present
day “liberals” who have in
veighed against the nature of
the indictments in the Latti
more • case were in the fore
front of the agitation to jail
the Nazi followers in America
on almost precisely the same
ground a little more than a
decade ago. But when alleged
promoters of'Communist causes
now are indicted, the cry is
that they would, if prosecuted,
be punished for their beliefs
and hence cannot be brought
to trial on a perjury charge.
For the fundamental issue in
the Lattimore case was wheth
er the Far Eastern specialist
lied when he denied that he
was a “promoter of Commu
nist interests” and “follower
of the Communist line.” The
THOMAS L STOKES
Eisenhower Acts Like Candidate
An Accumulation of Recent Acts, Rather
Than Words, Points to Second-Term Try
It is in acts, rather than
words, that we may find the
clues to President Eisenhow
er’s 1956 intentions.
As far as his words go, he
has been adept at the tactics
of confusion, and obviously by
design and right merrily. In
fact, it has become a sort of
joking game with him as to
whether he will run again
next year. He delights evi
dently in seeming contradic
tions to which he gives cur
rency, such as on his recent
New England trip. What he
said one day was interpreted ’
as meaning for sure that he
would run again: but then, the
next day. he seemed to be try
ing to give just the opposite
impression.
Whatever he says is, of
course, news and a one-day
story and subject of guessing
contests though none of it
thus fai adds up to enlight
enment
But recent acts, when added
up. give us a picture of a man
who appears to be taking hold,
with a sense of excitement, of
his combined job as President
and party leader, as if he rel
ished it, and with a concern
for practical political consid
erations in the conduct of his
office as if thinking in terms
of the next election.
There is no question that he
got a big lift out of the warm
welcome on his New England
foray and that this, in turn,
inspired in him a zest for
meeting with people and talk
ing to them, which is the first
requirement for a candidate
for political office.
Nor does it seem without
political significance that,
promptly on his return from
that experience, he set him
self up more boldly than
hitherto as President and
party leader by demanding
more action from the Demo
cratic leadership in Congress
which thought it was doing
very nicely for the President
of an opposition party. In
truth. Senate Democratic
Leader Lyndon Johnson was
just saying something to that
effect when the President
broke in to interrupt—and to
challenge.
The President's intervention
gave him an opportunity to
identify himself with a po
litical philosophy that he once
labeled as “moderate progres
sive” or “progressive mod
erate." For most of what he
now calls “my program” was
adapted, with some modera-
Danish Royal Ballet
On First U. S. Visit
NEW YORK. July 5 (/P).—The
Danish Royal Ballet troupe, the
second oldest ballet in the world,
arrived ir New York by air yes
terday for its first American
appearance.
The troupe, consisting of six
women and four men dancers,
will make its American debut
tomorrow at Ted Shawn's dance
festival at the Jacob's Pillow
Theater, near Lee, Mas*. It will
remain in the United States until
July Si.
grand jury charged him with
lying and one indictment said
he “wilfully and knowingly”
promoted such causes. The
issue was not whether any
body could promote the Com
’ munist cause in America on
the public platform or in the
press under the protection of
the right of free speech and a
free press. It was whether Mr.
Lattimore lied whep he denied
carrying out that sort of a
course in his writings and
speeches.
The Senate Internal Secu
rity subcommittee in Septem
ber, 1952, unanimously—that
is. all Democrats and Repub
licans—made s report sub
mitting to the Department of
Justice five instances of al
lege* perjury charges and
characterized Mr. Lattimore as
a “conscious, articulate instru
ment of the Soviet conspiracy
in the United States.”
But the Department of Jus
tice, after being blocked br the
United States Court of Appeals
as to the wording of the in
dictments, finally gave up last
week the effort to prosecute.
Hence, so far as the Senate
Internal Security subcommit
tee 4S concerned, it may find
itself compelled to make an
exhaustive review of the whole
subject. For theoretically, at
least, it could mean that here
after a witness might mislead
the committee and knowingly
carry on a campaign of propa
ganda for an enemy country
and yet not be subject to any
curb whatsoever by the laws of
the land. Plainly, new legisla
tion may be needed and that’s
what the Senate Internal Se
curity subcommittee has a
duty to study, and to make
such inquiries as are neces
sary in pursuit of that legis
lative objective.
Recently there has been a
hue and cry that internal
security could readily be left
to the FBI and the Federal
courts and that there was no
need for congressional inves
tigations. The latest develop
ments, however, show the De
partment of Justice as throw
ing up its hands in helpless
ness when confronted with a
case of a man whose writings
it charged had coincided or
paralleled the Communist
tions, from New Deal-Fair
Deal programs left around by
Messrs. Roosevelt and Tru
man.
Glibly the President talks
of public housing, health edu
cation, minimum wage in
creases as if he Invented these
issues. He has. indeed, taken
them over, leaving Democrats
gaping and somewhat fussed.
But the leaders must try to
get them through, or else they
will be charged with failing
the people. This is not so easy
in the House, where Speaker
Sam Rayburn finds resistance
from many Republicans as
well as some Southern Demo
crats to some of the Presi
dent's “my program.”
One of Mr. Eisenhower's re
peated pledges in his first
campaign for the presidency
was to "preserve the social
gains,” as he put it. His em
phasis again on those issues
—and so possessively—could
almost be read as an an
nouncement that he is run
ning again. For those issues
are still vote-getters and the
best paraphernalia for a can
didate on the stump
Perhaps the best clue of all
that the President will run
again, at least in the view of
some shrewd politicians of
both parties, was his back
down on the controversial
Dixon-Yates contract that
has so provoked so many
voters in Tennessee as well as
other parts of the South. The
President carried Tennessee
in the 1952 elections, though
by less than 3.000 votes. One
of the brightest spots for him
in the 1952 result was his
sweep into the South that
added three other Southern
States besides Tennessee to his
landslide elsewhere.
One of his political aspira
tions is for a two-party South,
and he would like to get credit
for establishing that. He would,
if he as a candidate in 1956
could hold Tennessee and
carry other Southern States
again. Though breaks in the
solid South have occurred
sporadically—in 1928 and 1948
in this century—they have
never carried through two suc
cessive national elections, and
so were in the accidental cat
tical politics which contrib
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causes. He denied being a
promoter ot Communist causes.
One may conclude that ir up
holding the District court, the
Court of Appeals reasoned that
the court’s action can be in
terpreted to mean that the
question of a false oath
in a future ease of this kind
is an issue that cannot be
submitted to a jury because
the subject matter itself now
is ruled to be insusceptible
of proof.
This is a far-reaching ap
plication of a radical concept
and overturns what has been
an established principle of
Anglo-American common law
since the 16th century.
The decision to drop the
Lattimore case was not ar
rived at by the Department of
Justice without considerable
discussion among its lawyers.
The case could have been
taken on appeal to the Su
preme Court of the United
States. But to the top officials
of the department it looked as
if the whole thing might come
to a head during the
1956 political campaign. So
the Eisenhower administra
tion, rather than risk the in
jection into partisan politics
of the controversy—which, by
the way, was begun in the
courts by the Truman admin
istration with the first' in
dictments against Mr. Latti
more—decided to abandon it
and pursue perhaps in some
other case the issue of the
scope of perjury indictments.
This, however, leaves sev
eral unresolved questions up
to Congress and its security
committees: Is new legisla
tion needed to curb propa
gandists who, it may be al
leged, willfully and knowingly
promote Communist interests
inside the United States? Are
propagandists for Communist
causes in America to have a
free hand hereafter in the
{‘cold war”? Is there to be a
reversal of the “clear and
present danger” doctrine of
the late Justice Oliver Wendell
Holmes, famous liberal? For it
was he who declared that the
right of free speech does not
include the right to cry “fire”
in a crowded theater. The
safety of the Republic used to
be paramount even with judges
of “liberal" persuasion at
least they didn't refuse to
listen to the evidence of an
alleged infraction.
(Rtproductlan Right* Reserved.)
uted to the belief he is look
ing toward a 1956 candidacy,
egory.
In the congressional elec
tions fast year, Dixon-Yates
was found to be effective as an
issue for the Democrats beyond
the South; though more so in
the South naturally where the
TVA, into which the Dixon-
Yates deal would have injected
a private power wedge, is such
a cherished landmark. Demo
crats claimed good effects for
them from the issue not only
in the Pacific Northwest, which
has great public power proj
ects of its own in Grand Cou
lee and Bonneville, but also
with voters in the Middle
West.
Politically this deal was get
ting too hot to handle, though
the President had stood firm
until last week. Here he ex
hibited an interest for prac-
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Moscow treats the American chess team to a 19-course
dinner. You. can’t win. If the Reds aren't spoiling your
appetite, they’re giving you indigestion.
* * * •
Now about that garden hose that's sinking into the
ground in California. The big mystery is why anybody who
could pull a hose underground would forget to pull California
in after it.
* * * *
Secretary of Commerce Weeks says 1955 will be a record
year for business. The standard of living is so high that a
fellow can climb on top of it—and see everybody he owes.
* * * *
Republicans say President Eisenhower can’t be whipped.
He’s the Davy Crockett of politics.
* * * *
An Australian claims he ate 480 oysters in an hour. Don’t
believe it. Anybody who would eat that many oysters at one
time couldn't count that high.
* * * *
The Commerce Department says the average wife has been
married 13 years. As for the average husband, there’s no such
thing. They’re all mediocre.
** * •
Surveys show the Germans are drinking less beer. Watch
out, men. The last time that country sobered up, it took six
years to stop the fight.
Austria Shows Coolness
Toward Setting Up Army
VIENNA, July 5 (JP). Aus
trians are showing little enthu
siasm for setting up an army
under this country’s restored
independence.
Government leaders are trying
to popularize the idea of univer
sal military training. The ques
tion of the length of military
service is still to be decided. The
conservative People Party de
mands a 12-month term, while
the Socialite consider four to
six months sufficient.
The coalition parties likely
wtll agree on universal military
training and the building up of
a mobile force of 25,000 to 30,000
men. A compromise probably
will be reached on a nine-month
term of service.
The uniform of light gray is
to be worn open at the neck,
with a grayish shirt and tie. The
trouser legs are to be tucked
into American-type light boots.
Both political parties have an-
nounced that satisfactory ar
rangement will be found for re
cruits refusing military service
I on religious and other grounds.
Austria is to be neutral under
: its treaty of independence.
. Chancellor Julius Raab says the
army “will not be invincible, but
! should be strong enough to force
even a major enemy to think
twice before attacking.”
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CONSTANTINS BROWN
No Real Reason to Hope for Peace
Smiles From the Kremlin Have Not
Changed Ruthless Bolshevik Hearts
There la much talk among
our peace planners that there
must be a good reason when
the Kremlin sends its top men
traipsing all over the world
with instructions to smile,
shake hands, drink toasts
and open a small crack in
the Iron Curtain for American
newspapermen.
The planners seem to believe
an impending major economic
crisis is behind the new atti
tude of the Soviet hierarchy.
This theory is shared by many
Americans who by necessity
judge the totalitarian peoples
by their own standards. We
just change administrations
when things go badly And the
American electorate knows
that administrations do not
want to lose elections.
The initiated who have in
tensively studied old Russian
and present Soviet affairs are
inclined to disagree with this
optimistic thesis. They believe
that Russia’s present feints
are the work of skilled Soviet
diplomacy intended to isolate
America from her European
allies on whose association
Washington predicates the
conduct of its foreign policies.
The initiated believe that
the main /purpose of Messrs.
Bulganin. Molotov and Co. in
putting velvet mittens over
their iron hands is to seek a
Soviet-type solution for West
ern Europe. And once they
have achieved this at Geneva
and the other conferences
which may succeed that gath
ering at the summjt they
would want to force this coun
try to abandon its stand on
Far East defenses. They ex
pect their deceptive smiles will
stir in Americans that will
for “peace at any price” which
has existed in Western Europe
for at least four years.
The skeptics in Washington
maintain, that bad economic
situations do not affect the
present Bolshevik tyranny any
more than during the hun
dreds of years of Czarist re
gime. They say the present
Communist lords disregard the
rights of man and the well
being of the masses as much
as or more than the autocratic
Czars did.
The masses in Russia have
been inured to privations un
der the empire or under the
Bolsheviks. There has been
mass starvation and frequent
hunger under the emperors as
well as under the dictators.
Millions have died of starva
THE EVENING STAR, Washington, D. C.
tctimt. row a. lfc
tion because of bad crops,
faulty transportation and ad
ministrative corruption and
inefficiency under both sys
tems of totalitarian govern
ment.
Only free men or men once
accustomed to freedom rebel
when the cup overflows. The
1949 Russian food crisis pro
duced no revolution—only
local uprisings which were
suppressed by the MVD forces
with the customary Russian
ruthlessness.
What our policy makers
overlook is the fact that
throughout Russian history
there has been no revolution
wherein the whole people rose
against the rulers. There have
been occasional uprisings in
small sections: there have been
numerous plots against the
Czars by young men in the in
telligentsia. But unlike the
British. American and French,
the Russian people have never
risen in mass against their op
pressors regardless of what
hardships they have suffered.
Possibly this is because they
lacked unity of race and lan
guage.
The 1917 revolution, wit
nessed by this reporter, was
brought about by a handful of
men at a time when the Czarist
Norblad Hits Use
Os Foreign Butter
Representative Norblad, Re- [
publican, of Oregon, said yester
day the Army and Navy are
using Danish and Australian
butter. He urged that it be
stopped and surplus American i
butter be used instead.
Mr. Norblad said that since ;
:he reported last month that j
I Danish butter was being sold in |
Army commissaries in Okinawa, :
servicemen had written telling
him the same was happening in
Japan. He said servicemen also
had reported seeing Australian I
butter in Army and Navy com
missaries and aboard Navy ships 1
in the Far East. ' 1
The Congressman's protest
was made in a.letter to Wilber
M. Brucker. who has been nom
inated by President Eisenhower
to become Secretary of the Army
this month. He referred to his
original protest on the Okinawa 1
sales to Secretary of the Army
Stevens last month.
A-13
armies were punch-drunk from
the many defeats they had
suffered from the Germans. A
similar situation might have
come about in 1942 had Amer
ica not rushed vast supplies to
bolster the Boviet morale and
fighting power and had the
Western allies remained as
impassive militarily toward-
Germany as they were in 1917.
Since the end of the war the
skilled men in the Kremlin
have won one diplomatic vic
tory after another against the
once great powers of the West.
These victories Ivave frequently
been served in lieu of food and
consumers’ goods to the Rus
sian people through unrelent
ing propaganda which did not
exist in the past. The slogan ot
guns (in the present case,
planes and bombs) instead of
butter is as appealing today to
the Russians as it was to the
Germans under Nazi domina
tion.
Economic difficulties, even
hunger through major crop
failure, say the skeptics in
Washington, ar- not likely to
affect the men in the Krem
lin whether they be Lenin.
Stalin or the Czars of the past.
What influences the Russian
bear, say these students of
Russian affairs, is the desire
to deceive the West into a
feeling of security and thus
make the final "kill” easier
and less risky.
Baptist Union Hears
Belmont College Head
MASSANETTA SPRINGS. Va„
j July 5 UP). —The president of Bel
mont Baptist College in Nash
i ville, Tenn., called on church
men here last night to pour
themselves "out selflessly for
Christ and other people."
Dr. R. Kelly White spoke be
fore some 900 delegates attend
ing the 45th annual Virginia
Baptist Training Union assem
bly here.
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