Show THE washington SCENE Special Committees circumvent intent of reorganization act P Ed editors tors note this is the seventh in a series of articles dealing wilb new congressional committees and their cha chairmen inen by WALTER A SHEAD washington car respondent washington although the merits of the reorganization act designed to improve congressional efficiency are being tested for the first time in the congress various doop i loopholes holes already have been discovered to circumvent the I 1 intent of the measure one of the most obvious of these is in regard to special committees intent of the act was to prohibit all special comi except by a two thirds vote in an emergency the act specifically gives the standing committees appropriations and personnel with which to conduct special investigations investigation S despite this fact resolutions nave have ben been introduced in this congress to create a dozen odd special committees and to retain others which were operative during the preceding congress in addition there have arisen several heated rows regarding jurisdiction over some controversial legislation walthall Wl With however standing committees have assumed greater importance under the terms 0 of the reorganization act the list of standing committees in the house together with their chairmen follows public lands RICHARD J WELCH CALIF heads beads the public lands committee which replaces the former committees on public lands territories irrigation and reclamation mines and mining insular affairs and indian affairs through his continuous ser service in the house since 1926 welch had welch become ranking republican on the committees on labor merchant ma rine ind and fisheries and insular affairs his choice of the public lands chairmanship probably was dictated by western interest in this field since he is the only republican with much seniority west of kansas nominally a republican welch is a political independent who voted with the majority malo rity of his party on only 11 per cent of the controversial roll cans calls in 1946 he has had both republican and democratic nominations for some years many of welchs few floor speeches have been on subjects in the fields of labor and merchant marine but he also has spoken on public land policies welch who is about 70 has haa long been a political figure in california he ahe was a state senator from 1901 to 1913 and a member of legislative bodies of the city and county of san francisco from 1921 until he was elected to fill an term in congress in 1926 he has been returned each succeeding election by large majorities the esth california district which welch represents is entirely within the city of san francisco it is chiefly residential with a sprinkling of light industry both CIO and nd are well represented in the th population and both back welch who was one of the few republicans to have IPAC support in the last two elee elec blons un american activities J PARNELL THOMAS N J who heads beads the un american activities committee has hai been active in its work since the days of its predecessor group headed by martin dies he has assailed a number of organizations zat ions including government agencies for alleged communist domination he has declared that although the corn com thomas cittee under his big leadership will concentrate on communist activities particularly in washington and hollywood it will spare no individual or organization that seeks to destroy the american form of government specifically mentioning the columbiana Columb ians inc of georgia thomas voted with the majority of his party on 98 96 per cent of controversial roll calls in 1946 he was vigorously opposed to the mcmahon atomic energy bill his hi opposition was based in part he said on an the totalitarian nature of the proposed atomic energy commission and partly to the alleged communist tendencies among scientists on the manhattan district project which produced the atomic bomb thomas who is SI 51 was born in jersey city end and is now a resident of nearby allendale AUen dale after attending university of pennsylvania he served with the in france leter later he became a bond salesman and now dow Is a partner in a firm ot of ansur once brokers he was mayor of allendale from 1929 1926 to 1930 and member of the new jersey house of assembly from 1935 until his election to congress in 1937 the ath new jersey district has three counties count les which are primarily agricultural there Is a large foreign born bom population principally irish and polish in hackensack hackenback Hacken sack and other industrialized parts of the district are located large textile mills apparel manufacturing and some iron and steel plants ways and means HAROLD KNUTSON MINN chairman of the powerful ways and means committee which handles tax bills has been in the house longer than any other republican elected from the ath minnesota district in 1916 he has been returned at every subsequent election knutson long has been convinced that the government costs too much and began early in the congress to predict lower taxes if the republicans gained control knutson voted with the majority of his party on 19 out of every 20 controversial roll calls in 1946 he was strongly anti knutson OPA himself a union member he voted for the case bill and for overriding the veto of this measure knutson 66 years old lives in manhattan beach minn he learned the printers trade as a boy and became editor of the wadena minn pioneer journal which he now owns head of the republican party organization in minnesota he Is beginning his term in the house the ath minnesota district consists of 16 rural counties northwest of minneapolis and extending up to the edge of the iron range the the area Is completely rural agricultural with only one city brainerd over population in 1940 there Is a thriving and well organized dairy industry organized labor has no strength because of the tax angle the ways and means committee has jurisdiction jurls dic over tariffs and social security lt it also handles matters relating to the public debt the deposit of public money and revenue measures relating to insular possessions rules LEO E ALLEN ILL new chairman of the rules committee becomes by virtue of that lob job one of the most important men in congress with rare exceptions no legislation can be considered on the floor of the house without prior approval of the rules rule committee which also dictates the conditions under which it Is to be b debated and the type of amendments to be allowed allen alien Is a regular republican who constantly votes with his party he Is 48 years old he was graduated from university of michigan in 1923 taught school for a few years and then served as a court clerk he began the practice of law in 1930 and is now a member of the law firm of allen alien and heer in gale allen na allen alien was elected to congress in 1932 despite the democratic landslide of that year and has been consistently elected reelected elected reelected re ever since the district dittri ct of illinois which ch allen alien represents is made up of six counties in the northwestern corner of the state and had a population of only in 1940 it Is predo predominantly ml rural and agricultural a typical midwestern republican strong hold there Is a small iron and steel industry but organized labor has little strength in the last election allen alien carried every county in the district and had a plurality of out of votes cast appointed a member of the house campaign expenditures investigating committee last year allen alien resigned before the election in protest against what he called the committees committee do nothing attitude |