Show washington overshadowing all else in the national capital at this writing Is the con weed need curb troverse tro versy that la Is on inquiries boiling and surging around the head of alabama democratic senator black who Is tile the chairman of the senates lobby investigating committee As an offshoot of 0 this controversy the federal com communications murd commission is in wa water ter much too hot tor for bathing and it begins to appear that when the steam blows oft off the communications commission Is likely 0 to o be a thoroughly discredited federal agency because of the part it played in senator blacks unprecedented seizure of private telegrams from the western union and rostal postal tele graph crap companies speaking generally it has been seldom that a united states senn sena ator has ever attempted to assert the authority that senator black has used and it Is equally unprecedented that a federal agency has gone to tile the extremes that clarae characterized the action of the comment commission in connection with the seizure of the messages put but some good may come from the pollee police court prosecution tactics empl employed oled A by senator black an and d some good may come from the accusations cusat ions leveled at the communications commission because that body helped senator black carry out his plans the countrywide country wide indignation that has arisen from senator blacks usurpation of power has brought to the front a question that needs public attention and needs it badly bail ly I 1 refer in this connection to the alie steadily expanding efforts of congressional investigators especially senatorial investigators to take over as their own powers that always have been regarded as reserved exclusively clu to the courts the consensus among washington observers certainly Is that the legislative inquiries have dec developed loped to a point where the most humble requirements quire ments of justice have been ant anil are bell being completely ignored whether they are so intended these inquiries and this includes investigations conducted by committees not only of congress but of state legislators and evert even city councils are approaching the point where they are almost tyrannical it goes without saying th then enthat that the time has arrived for citizens to bissert them themselves seles these inqui inquiries ties till ill not proceed when the elected legislators state or national learn that the pe do 10 not approve of such highhanded high handed tactics in order to have an understanding of the latest of these abea it Is blacks black s essary to revl review v activities briefly what has happened in tile the case of the senate lobby investigating lit committee almost a year ago the committee sought tile the aid of tile the federal coin communications ill u ill com mission which had the color of authority lit in law for investigating the he business of the lie telegraph companies senator black issued a broad subpoena directing the telegraph comp companies ariles to make available any and all messages his committee de communications commission agents then went vent into the telegraph company files read everything they could rind and made copies of all of the messages which those agents under guidance of black In tors thought would be helpful to the black committee in exposing operations of private individuals the purpose of this as outlined by senator black was to locate clues to tile lie machinations machil lations of business interests who we were re seeking passage or defeat for legislation pending in congress the alabama alabama senator wanted to show up lob ue he contended and has maintained consistently that these malefactors ef actors of great wealth could not accomplish any influence in congress imless it were done secretly and in the dark in other words senator black persuaded ded members of tile communications commission to help him lit in ills his fishing expedition ile he persuaded persuade that or organization aniza tion that it should become a party to an unprecedented effort desi designed gued as a dragnet a to killear anybody and aiho had abed telegraphic service ec the M black ick ill binn w was a s carried out oitt in secret Se senders riders anil and receivers of messages which lallich those igent copied knew nothing about it the operation was as just as much 11 ll ir the dark ns as any of the lobbying about which senator black complained pla plat ined ned even een more so s it was only by accident that dint the facts becal lII anoil but when they did become lie curne known the lid was promptly blown off tile the end Is not yet nor Is it even eren I 1 in n b sight I 1 lit one federal judge lias has issued a restraining order against such tactics and a halt dozen other applications for similar orders are arc pending undoubtedly the ques alons whatever the rulings may amny bp be will find their way eventually to the supreme court of tile the united states the senate itself Is lo looking oldrig into the situation bittins It tins by lion asked the federal communication commission to make a report stating the facts and by what authority it acted so there Is much hubbub about the whole thin thing and if one way judge the line of conversation generally heard beard around washington senator clack black la Is on the hot spot and the spot thus far has shown no indications of 0 entering a cooling stage 0 0 senate investigations long iong have been considered by many people as in modus 0 d u s operandi charge that creak with unfairness unfairness unbiased observers frequently have criticized them because of the methods employed it seems absolutely necessary that the lie 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 correct evils es it must be equipped with such powers cut but the lie point Is that in seeking such information the senate has consistently permitted its committees to act in a fashion that can be described by no other word nord than outrageous I 1 have watched the them to over a of nearly twenty years and seldom it if ever has there been an important investigation that did not degenerate sooner or later into a condition that savored ot 0 police court practices for several years there has been a bill pending lit 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 ie every cry one has it a right to a trial by jury in a properly constituted court over across the atlantic ocean dictators have operated and have employed the blood purge tile the summary death sentence or tile the execution without Nit hout granting tile the accused the right of defense undoubtedly some persons guilty of murder or rape have been lynched undoubtedly the summary executions by the soviet or the fascists of italy have provided death for in diNi duals who vere festering sores to humanity but there can be ro doubt that in the case of the alie lynch ln ings s or in the case of the bloomil purge or tire the summary executions many innocent persons have had their lives snuffed out so it Is with senate investigations undoubtedly they have uncovered some dirty crooked dealings undoubtedly they hat haie e brought to public attention activities and conditions that ought to have been exposed yet the fact remains that nearly all of our people are decent people law abiding arid and self respect respecting irig and when senate investigations go beyond proper limits they approach if they do not wholly become tyranny 0 0 in defense of senator clacks blacks action in the lobby investigation inesti gation I 1 think it can fairnot abot wholly ly be said that lie he 0 o blame Is not wholly to blame if he be has gone further than any other in tile program of inquiry and prosecution upon which he has launched little littie by little bit by bit the senate jias has arrogated to itself authority hitherto not used by it little by little it has encroached upon what many believe to be the jurisdiction of the courts and in a like manner it has taken unto itself powers hitherto supposed to have bee been n exclusively clu reserved to the executive department of government it would seem then that if other senate committees commit lc es lad had established the precedent senator black could prop properly pro pirly orly use ill the same lucail methods the trouble in MI his caso case Is that lie lid did not stop at limits PreN previously lous set discreditable le as those limits noie but went beyond them to repeat there is every indication that some som good will come out or of this ills circum dince important men arid and brilliant lawyers and groat great or like lothe chamber 0 of Commerce of or tile the united Stat states esthe the national association of manufacturers ind and tile the american liberty lea league tie hate haie taken talan note of tile the steadily expanding power claimed by the senate this means ill that at the questions involved will detill get into t 0 the courts it Is to be hoped that they will be presented to tile the courts in such a manner that the ques lions may be finally and lastingly answered that the powers of tin tile legislators may be delimited delli tilted and I 1 thit hat definite it a expression may come from tile tho judiciary that will determine members of the house bouse and the senate con can serve at once as legislators judges judge a and n d prosecutors us j western newspaper un union ion |