The Potters Herald

House Lobby Probe
Hearings Started

Washington (LPA)—The House Lobby Investigating Committee, after months of preliminary investigations behind the scenes, opened hearing March 27. The first three days, announced Chairman Buchanan (D, Pa.) had been set aside for a academic study of lobbying in general and its role in democracy.

Slated as the first witness was Dr. Hadley Cantril, professor of psychology and director of the Office of Public Opinion Research, Princeton University, to discuss the factors that influence public opinion. Second witness was Dr. Stephen Kemp Bailey, author of the recent book "Congress Makes A Law", to tell what he told in that book—the role lobbies played in the enactment of the full employment law of 1946.

For March 28 the committee scheduled a round-table discussion on "The Theory of Identification and, or, Regulation of Lobbyists by Legislative Bodies in the United States". Scheduled to participate were: Dr. Edgar Lane, instructor on politics, Princeton; Dr. Belle Zeller, political science professor at Brooklyn College and author of "Pressure Politics in New York"; Dr. George Galloway, legislative reference service and one of the authors of the Congressional Reorganization Act of 1946 which enacted the present lobby law; and Dr. W. Brooke Graves, also of the legislative reference service, and author of a special study of the administration of the lobby registration law.

For March 29 Buchanan scheduled Frank Pace, Sr., Director of the Budget, to discuss the framing and presentation of Administration programs to Congress; and Lindsay Warren, Comptroller General and a former member of Congress, to discuss improper expenditures by government agencies for lobbying.