The Home Journal

EDITORIAL

The report issued by the Committee on Government Operations of the House of Representatives is the most thorough and comprehensive analysis of government operations in the Virgin Islands within recent years.

This is no whitewash, no fishing expedition, persecution. It is a fair, objective and candid report. Everyone but the most rabid partisan politician will agree with the findings of the Chudoff committee, based solely on the facts disclosed at the extensive hearings.

Naturally we applaud the report, for it highlights and criticizes many of the abuses to which we called attention, without result. The item veto employed by Governors Alexander and Gordon, their attempt to deny to the legislature the exercise of its traditional prerogatives; the fumbling of the administration on the water and myriad other governmental problems here, are fully surveyed and analyzed by the report.

Most of the recommendations of the committee will receive the warm support of the majority of the islands' people. The report renders a distinct service to the people of the islands. Throughout the hearings Interior Dept. and local administration officials attempted to besmirch the islands' people, blaming us for every governmental sin of omission and commission, every incident that showed up the government's inefficiency. The House committee properly laid responsibility for these problems right where it belonged—the Governor and Dept. of Interior.

The report makes good reading, and we intend to carry it in installments for the benefit of our readers.