Kill or Cure?

The criticism aimed at the Thomas committee did not come only from the Communists and their confused comrades. The nation's press was almost unanimous in its condemnation. A spot survey by the New York Times showed that many plain citizens were seriously concerned about the committee's conduct. Some wanted to scrap the Thomas committee outright; others wanted to do away with the whole system of congressional investigations.

The critics had their critics. Times Columnist Arthur Krock pointed out that many now loudest in their protests had kept mighty quiet when earlier committees were giving the third degree to the Morgans, Wall Street and the utilities lobby. Daily News Columnist John O'Donnell, sneering at Hollywood's yells of injured innocence, recalled that the brokers and bankers had taken their mauling in stoic silence. Both pundits needed their memories overhauled. They also seemed to be saying that what was bad enough for J. P. Morgan was bad enough for movie characters.

But those who wanted to abolish congressional power to investigate were trying to bore a hole in the boat to let the water out. Since they were first borrowed from the British Parliament, congressional investigations had proved to be a useful weapon. A Senate committee headed by Tom Walsh had uncovered the scandal brewed in Teapot Dome. Out of the Pecora investigation of Wall Street had come the Securities and Exchange Commission; out of the Senate War Investigating Committee had come the exposure of war-profiteering Representative Andy May.

Congress's power to investigate was not explicit in the Constitution. But it has become implicit: the Supreme Court has held that the right to legislate carries with it the right to inquire into all business pertinent to the nation's welfare. Because such inquiries are not a judicial process, Congress also has the right to make its own rules.

The real trouble with the Thomas committee seemed to be the committee itself. Instead of buckling down to the problem of Communism where it hurt, as in the labor unions, it had gleefully pounced on Hollywood, where the publicity was brighter. It had failed to establish that any crime had been committed--i.e., that any subversive propaganda had ever reached the screen.

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