Mr. Weltner v. Mr. Willis

Having attained a nearly unprecedented majority in the House of Representatives, the Democratic Party fell heir in January to several additional seats on the House Un-American Activities Committee. And, before HUAC Chairman Edwin E. Willis could spell Plekhanov, Congressman Charles L. Weltner of Atlanta had, without histrionics or controversy, slipped into one of them.

Mr. Weltner is a promising young liberal. He vigorously supported the Civil Rights Bill, remained neutral on on the Mississippi Freedom Party issue at the convention, and was re-elected last yar by a constituency that has recently become 50 per cent Negro. Mr. Willis is an aged conservative. Less colorful and outspoken than former HUAC Chairman Francis Walter, Willis has nevertheless followed Walter's guidelines faithfully. Though he has never said so, Willis no doubt agrees with Walter's position that HUAC has jurisdiction only over Communist and left-wing political activities, an opinion that has for years drawn fire from liberal Democrats and Republicans alike.

Last week Weltner proposed that the Committee begin investigating the Ku Klux Klan, the Minutemen, and the Black Muslims. Chairman Willis, clearly embarrassed, directed his staff to give the idea a "thorough look-see." The odds are against Weltner. Though HUAC, in the late 1930's, investigated the American Nazi Bund, it is doubtful that Willis and the majority be controls will permit the Committee to divert again its attention from the left.

But the true value of Weltner's idea lies less in its chances of success than in its enunciation. Admittedly, HUAC operates unfairly when it overemphasizes the danger on the left and ignores that on the right. But, in the final analysis, the Committee is undemocratic not because of the victims it chooses but because it has the ability to choose victims in the first place. Since "un-American" has no legal meaning, the Committee enjoys the distressing power to define and redefine the word as it pleases. If Weltner's proposal effectively dramatizes this fact, it will have served what we hope is its true purpose: to discredit and lampoon the Committee in the eyes of Congress and the people.

Like all Congressional committees, HUAC exists to recommend and develop legislation. Yet the Committee has never formulated a major bill. Rather it has used its influence to intimidate citizens it considers undesirable. This is a needless and dangerous activity. If a group is undesirable and also commits crimes, as many Klan units do, then state and Federal prosecutors and courts should handle them. If a group is merely undesirable, the government--both legislative and executive--should leave well enough alone.