Capital Comment

Washington.

Capitol Hill is beginning to buzz with new ideas, new demands, and old cranks. On January 3 the new Congress comes into session. The boys on the Hill are in the process of sounding off and calling the people’s attention to what is needed to “save” the nation.”

Congressional investigations which have been dormant for a number of months are taking on new life. The investigating committees are now making headlines with revelations resulting from their probings. All this is taking place to set the stage for legislative action.

Somehow or other, a Congressional investigation hearing held in Washington gets more national publicity than one held in any other part of the country. The boys know this to be true and so they save their best witnesses to make a first appearance in Washington.

The House committee investigating un-American activities, headed by Representative John W. McCormack, stirred up a hornet’s nest during the two days in which it held public hearings at the Capitol. William Green, president, and Matthew Woll, vice-president of the American Federation of Labor, testified on Communist activities in the United States. These men charged that much of the Communist propaganda in this country was being sponsored by Russia in violation of the pledge that country gave the United States at the time it was recognized.

Woll had made similar charges some time ago and the press paid but little attention to them at the time. But when he repeated the charges before the committee and demanded withdrawal of recognition of Russia, more than one newspaperman got excited. And so did some Congressmen.

Sam D. McReynolds, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, intends to look into these charges. He expects to take the matter up with the State Department to determine whether the Soviet pledge has been broken. Maybe there will be another investigation.

In the meantime the members of the McCormack committee are beginning to turn their heads to new legislation. The investigation into Nazi activities in the United States is about complete. Soon a report on all the committee’s findings will be made to Congress. This report will have to contain some recommendations.

From the way the hearing on Communism went and the questions asked by committee members, the committee has in mind legislation which will tighten up on radical agitators without arousing protests over freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It is expected steps will be taken by the committee to name a subcommittee which will secretly work out the necessary bills.

The report which the McCormack committee will make to Congress should prove to be very interesting reading. There are numerous details, however, which may or may not be printed in the report.

There is the interesting story of how Dr. Otto H. F. Vollbehr, at a hearing in New York, confessed his part in spreading Nazi propaganda in this country. Vollbehr is a German collector of rare books who sold the Gutenberg Bible and other precious volumes to Congress for $1,500,000 Other angles include reported direct instructions received from the German government by Dr. Hans Luther, German Ambassador to the United States, concerning Nazi propaganda activities in this country.

Although the cotton barter agreement with Germany has received a serious set-back from President Roosevelt, there are many indications that it will be revived in the near future. Those interested in exporting more cotton were greatly surprised when President Roosevelt sent the proposed agreement back to George Peek, head of the Export Import Bank, who had been negotiating the deal. They had expected the barter pact to go through in spite of the State Department’s objections.

Secretary of State Hull maintains that the barter proposal is not in harmony with already adopted policies on foreign trade. He told President Roosevelt as much and evidently the President agreed with him. There is a loophole left, however. President Roosevelt sent the plan back to Peek with the suggestion that it be revised to meet Hull’s objections. This Peek may be expected to do if at all possible.

Representative Samuel Dickstein, chairman of the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, wants to humanize laws dealing with aliens. He has in mind a legislative program which will include measures to prevent deportation of meritorious aliens for technical or accidental breach of regulations; facilitate deportation of alien gunmen, drug peddlers, racketeers and other criminals, and provide for voluntary deportation of aliens who wish to go home.

During the closing days of the last session of Congress, similar legislation was defeated. Hundreds of law-abiding aliens were threatened with immediate deportation and separation from their families. They were, however, granted a reprieve until January, 1935. At the present time Representative Dickstein is seeking a further stay pending action on his legislative program.

Dickstein intends to seek legislation which will permit aged parents and young children to join immigrants already in this country. “The trouble with existing immigration laws,” he says, “is too much red tape and too little humanity.”