Imperial Valley Press

MUST THE DIES INVESTIGATION STOP?

With one viewpoint, that the Dies committee has uncovered nothing but hearsay or with the other that the committee has made shocking revelations which should be the basis for controlling un-American activities cannot avoid the conclusion that this committee is legitimately entitled to federal funds to continue its work.

We believe the El Centro post of the American Legion is entirely within its rights and is in reality fulfilling its duty as a group of citizens in urging the President to provide the committee with funds to carry on the work that is now threatened with bankruptcy. We believe this because we feel the committee's charges of communism in high places, and of huge Nazi expenditures for propaganda in this country, and other similar charges, should be thoroughly sifted. The people are entitled to know the truth.

We have no patience with those who, in an evident attempt to halt further appropriations for the committee, declare that Chairman Martin Dies is a publicity seeker and nothing else. His record in the house of representatives, where he holds a seat once filled by his father, proves that Dies is consistent, and it has been our experience that few publicity seekers are that.

Dies is not a reactionary, nor even a conservative, as his Silver Purchase Bill of 1934 proved. Yet during the early months of the New Deal, when criticism of the administration meant political death to most solons, he launched out against extravagance in government, and against top-heavy bureaucracy. In 1937 he contended that the President had the power to halt sit-down strikes, which he argued were unconstitutional. Since then the federal courts have taken the same stand.

And, since he first appeared in the public eye, the 36-year-old Texas congressman has declared steadfastly that the American system has no place for a "growing hatred between races, classes, and to some extent, creeds."

We believe that Dies has now uncovered sufficient evidence to cause Americans to view seriously his charge that subversive propaganda is fostering class hatreds in the United States. And, having uncovered this evidence, it seems of primary importance that the government most affected by such growing hatreds should make it possible for Dies and his committee members to continue their work.