The Daily Alaska Empire

Kansas City Scandals
(Washington Post)
The unwisdom of Presidential intervention in local political contests is emphasized by the unsavory aftermath of the barren primary victory won by Enos Axtell, the President's candidate in the Fifth Missouri Congressional District. The defeat of Representative Slaughter for the Democratic nomination was widely hailed at the time as a tribute to the President's influence, calculated to raise his then waning political prestige. As a matter of fact, it was the Pendergast Kansas City machine that provided the needed support for the Truman candidate. To say the least it showed poor political judgment for the President to advertise his former connections with a corrupt local organization by teaming up with it to compass the downfall of a Congressman who had consistently opposed Administration policies. Having done so, it was inevitable that the President's reputation would suffer if the local machine resorted to fraud to insure the success of his candidate.
When evidence of such frauds was brought to light last year the Administration should have pursued the inquiry vigorously as the best possible defense against partisan attacks. Instead, the testimony of the FBI head, J. Edgar Hoover, before Senator Ferguson's Judiciary Subcommittee shows that the Department of Justice was content with a limited inquiry that resulted in a decision that no Federal statutes had been violated. The belated promise of Attorney General Clark to undertake a new and full investigation of fraud charges follows wholesale indictments of Kansas City election officials and workers by a county grand jury, needling by Senator Ferguson and charges of "whitewashing."
Those charges are strongly supported by evidence accumulated without the aid of the Department of Justice and by the recent stealing of impounded primary ballot boxes from the Kansas City Election Board.
The Administration's only reasonable course is a searching investigation and courageous prosecution of the wrongdoers. President Truman has apparently decided to follow that course, since he declares that the investigation should be carried through to its logical conclusion, although he does not know whether the case calls for a Federal grand jury investigation.
This declaration and the President's general denunciation of fraudulent voting as "one of the worst things that can happen in a democracy" would be much more impressive, however, if they had been uttered months ago before the heat was turned on his lieutenants.