Show 0 6 washington overshadowing all else in the national nit ional capital at this writing Is tile the contro need curb versy that Is boiling on inquiries and nd surging around the head of ala babas democratic senator black who la Is the chairman 0 of the senates lobby investigating investigate committee As fin an oft off shoot of thea this controversy tile the federal communications commission la Is in water much too hot for battling bathing and it begins to appear that when the steam blows oft off the communications commission Is likely to be a thoroughly lily discredited federal agency because of tile the part it played in senator clacks blacks unprecedented seizure of private telegrams from the NVeR western tern union and postal telegraph companies speaking generally it has been seldom that a united states senator has ever attempted to assert the authority that senator black tins has use used and it Is equally unprecedented that a federal agency has gone to the extremes Ix that characterized tile the action ot of the communications commission in connection with tile seizure of the messages but some good may come from the police court tactics employed by senator bilick and some bood may come from the accusations leveled at the communications commission because that body helped senator blak carry out his plans the countrywide country wide indignation that has arisen from senator blacks usurpation of power has brou brought glit to the front a question that needs public attention and needs it badly I 1 refer in this connection to the steadily expanding efforts of congressional investigators especially senatorial investigators to take over as their own powers that always have been regarded as reserved exclusively to the courts the consensus among washington observers certainly Is that the legislative inquiries have developed to a point where the most humble requirements of justice have been and are arc being completely ignored whether they are so intended these inquiries and this includes invests In investigations vesti a conducted by committees not only of congress but of state le legislators isla and even city councils are approaching pro aching the point whore where they are almost tyrnn tyrannical it goes without saying then that the time has arrived for citizens to assert themselves these inquiries will not proceed when the elected legislators state or national learn that the people do not approve ot of such highhanded tactics in order to have an understanding of the latest ot of these escapades it Is necessary to review blacks black 8 briefly what lias has liap bap activities bened in the case of the senate lobby investigating vesti gating committee almost a year ago the committee sought the aid of the federal corn communications mu nica eions commission which find tile the color of authority in law for investigating the business of the telegraph companies senator black issued a broad subpoena directing the telegraph companies to mike make available any and all messages ills his committee desired communications commission agents then went into the telegraph company files bles read everything they could find and made copies of all of the messages which those agents under guidance of black investigators vesti gators thought would be helpful to the black committee in exposing operations of private individuals the purpose of this his as outlined by senator black was to locate clues to the machinations of blIS business IDeSS interests who were seeking passage or defeat for legislation pending in congress the alabama senator wanted coshow to show up ile he contended and has maintained consistently that these malefactors of great wealth could not any influence in congress unless it were done secretly and in the dark in other words senator black persuaded members of the communications commission to hep help him in his fishing expedition lie he persuaded that organ nation thit that it should become a party parly to nn an unprecedented effort designed as a dragnet a movement to swear smear anybody and evera ever body who bad used telegraphic service 0 tile the black plan was carried out in secret senders and receivers of messages which those agents copied knew nothing about it the operation was just as much in the dark as any of the lobbying about which senator billack complained even more so it was only by accident that flint the facts became known but when they did become known the lid dd was promptly blown off the end Is not yet nor Is it even in sight one federal judge has issued a restraining order against such euch tactics and a balf dozen other applications for similar orders are pending undoubtedly the questions ions whatever wh ateer the rulings may be will find their way nay eventually to the supreme court of the united states the senate itself Is looking into the situation it has by resolution asked the federal communications commas blon to make a report stating the facts and by what authority it acted so there la Is much hubbub about th whole thing and if one may judge broto tile the une line of conversation generally Rene rall heard around washington senator black Is on the hot spot and the spot thus far has shown no indications off 0 entering a cooling stage senate investigations long have been considered by many people as a modus operands ope randl that creak charge with unfairness un unfairness farness Un biased observers frequently have criticized them because of the methods employed it seems absolutely necessary that the senate should have power to call witnesses to ask legitimate and proper questions and to force answers if it Is going to enact legislation to tn correct enlis ells it must murt be equipped with such po potters lers but the point lq Is that in seeking such information the senate has consistently permitted its committees to net act in a fashion abat th it can be described by no other word than outrageous I 1 have watched thern them over n if period of nearly twenty years and seldom it if ever has there been nil an important that did not degenerate sooner or later into a condition that savored of police court practices respectable citizens have been sub poe iud have rone gone before the commit tees willing to tell their complete story anxious to operate cooperate co and have found themselves treated as outlaws and criminals this situation has become so prevalent in senate investigations that when any citizen Is sub to appear before a senate in these days his neighbors and friends begin to ask each other what crookedness Is involved in other words the psychology of the senate investigation vesti gation as it has de developed eloped through the last fifteen or twenty years hits has become one that rever reverses seq the constitutional right of an individual that lie he Is innocent until lie la Is proved guilty for several years there has been a bill pending in congress designed to prevent or at least reduce lynch ings the theory back of it Is that many times innocent persons have been lynched and that every one has a right to a trial by jury in a properly constituted court over across the atlantic ocean dictators have operated and have emp employed oyed the blood purge the summary death sentence or tile the execution without granting the accused the right of defense undoubtedly some persons guilty of murder or rape have been lynched undoubtedly the blood purge by the nazi rulers destroyed some bad characters and undoubtedly the summary executions by the soviet or the fascists of italy have provided death for individuals who were festering in sores to humanity but there can bo be no doubt that in the case of the th lynch ings or in the case of the blood purge or the summary executions ninny many innocent persons have had thelt theli lives snuffed out so it Is with senate investigations undoubtedly they liae have uncovered soo som dirty crooked dealings undoubtedly they have brought to public attention activities and conditions that ought tc have been exposed yet tile fact re mains that nearly all of our people are decent people law abiding and self respecting and when hen senate invests ti lations go beyond proper ilni limits s t they h ea approach it if they do not wholly be come tryanna tr yanny 0 0 0 in defense of senator blacks action in the lobby investigation I 1 think it 1 call ca fairly be sali said aa WJ 11 not wholly that he fie la is not wholly to blame to blame it if he hm has gone further than any other in the program of 0 inquire and prosecution upon which he lias flat launched little by little bit by bit the senite senate sen ite has arrogated to itself nu all dhority hitherto not used by it I attl by little it has encroached upion what many believe to be the jurisdiction of the courts and in a like it has taken unto itself powers hitherto supposed to have been exclusively reserved to the executive department ol of government it would seem then that if othea senate committees had established ill UK precedent senator black could prop erly use the same methods mellinda mell ioda irlie ble in his case Is that he did not stor at limits previously set discreditable as those limits were but went beyond them to repeat there la Is every that some home good will come coina out of this circumstance important men and bril ilant lawyers anti and great organizations like the chamber of commerce of tb tin united states the national association of manufacturers and the lie americal Amerl cac liberty league have bave taken note of tin fill steadily expanding power claimed ti i tile the senate this means that the ques lions involved will get into the lie courts it Is to be hoped that they will I 1 bi presented to the courts to in such a man ner that the questions may be dinall i and lastingly answered that the pow ers of the legislators way may be dellin itee arid and that a definite expression uia inai come from the judiciary that will d termine whether members of 0 the bousi bous and the senate can fierce at once legislators judges and prosecutors 6 0 newspaper balm uala |