THE WASHINGTON POST ENDORSES AS 'SENSIBLE' PROPOSAL TO MAKE UNLAWFUL RETIRED OFFICERS USING INFLUENCE OR SELLING TO THE PENTAGON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00965R000400280003-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2003
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: April 4, 1960
• Content Type: OPEN

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 1960 Approv" fgMW~23Y1E k f I -FHN ffli5R000400280003-4 A2965
it is to keep it going on an orderly pro-
gramed basis.
I would like to just say a word about urban
renewal which ties in so closely with many
of the highway projects being undertaken.
I believe it is the duty of all highway ad-
ministrators to coordinate their plans with
redevelopment officials.
Oftentimes locations for sections of the
new highway facility can be located in part
of the slum area or sections can be utilized
for parts of interchanges, ramps, etc., de-
signed to serve the area after it is rede-
veloped.
The cost of construction of a new high-
way, contiguous with an urban renewal proj-
ect, often is allowed as a down payment, or
part of the communities contribution to the
redevelopment project. We should not pass
pass up any opportunity to improve our local
streets when an urban renewal project is
contemplated.
Before closing, I would like to touch on.
a subject that has been kicked around like
a football without a receiver. That, of
course; is mass transportation.
I am firmly convinced that we must con-
cern ourselves with mass transportation if
our large urban cities are to survive.
We are all aware of the fact that in urban
areas our traffic surveys, highway designs,
and construction have not been adequate
and we are still encountering traffic conges-
tions.
I recommend that serious consideration be
given to this problem by highway planners
and that recommendations be presented by
highway officials to State legislatures on how
mass transportation can best be coordinated
with a highway system.
In closing, may I say that all of you are
making an outstanding contribution to the
welfare of your fellow citizens. I trust that
you will not be deterred by occasional criti-
cism. Do the best job you know how, and I
am sure that your fellow citizens will thank
you for what you are-dedicated public serv-
ants doing a constructive job for the wel-
fare of the Nation.
The Washington Post Endorses as "Sensi-
ble" Proposal To Make Unlawful Re-
tired Officers Using Influence or Selling
to the Pentagon
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
OF
HON. F. EDWARD HEBERT
OF LOUISIANA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Monday, April 4, 1960
Mr. HEBERT: Mr. Speaker, the
Washington Post on Monday joined with
the Washington Star and the Washing-
ton Daily News in supporting criminal
penalties for retired officers who use
their influence or who sell to the Penta-
gon within 2 years after retirement. The
action of the Washington Post makes
the position of Washington's three great
newspapers unanimous.
The Washington Post called my pro-
posed amendment to the legislation
which is scheduled to come before the
House on Wednesday as "sensible re-
form."
Nota single editorial of any newspaper
in the Nation that has been brought to
my attention disagrees with me on the
issue. From every section of the Nation
has come favorable and encouraging
comment. -
There is no middle road. Either such
practices shall be permitted and given
the blessing of Congress or shall be made
unlawful by the imposition of criminal
penalties.
'There can be no compromise with this
issue. It is either wrong or it is not. I
believe it is wrong.
The Washington Post editorial follows:
WHEN OFFICERS RETIRE
Two questions concerning retirement pro-
visions for military personnel deserve public
attention. The first involves the relatively
modest problem of rectifying a defect in the
military pay bill passed by Congress in 1958.
This bill breached a century-old military
tradition that retirement benefits should be
related to active duty pay; it provided a
benefit. Increase of 6 percent for officers who
had retired before June 1, 1958, and con-
tinued the pay-benefit system only for those
who retired after that date. Plainly this dis-
criminatory policy has a demoralizing effect
on service personnel. When the House
Armed Services Committee begins hearings
tomorrow there will be wide support for the
legislation which would remedy this inequity.
A second matter, however, is far less
simple. When some officers retire, they step
into affluent positions with private concerns
that do most of their business with the
Pentagon. Investigations conducted by Rep-
resentative F. EDWARD HEBERT have disclosed
a widespread disregard for the spirit, if not
the letter, of conflict-of-interest laws.
A civilian official of the Justice Depart-
ment is deterred by criminal penalties from
accepting within a 2-year period of leaving
the Government any private post that in-
volves any matters he handled as a public
official. However, when Mr. HEBERT proposed
a tightening up of similar penalties relating
to retired, admirals and generals, the House
Armed Services Committee rejected this sen-
sible reform. If the military has a just
grievance in discriminatory retirement legis-
lation, the public has an equally valid ob-
jection to practices which tend to tarnish
the reputation of Pentagon brass.
n Support of Family Farm Income Act of
1960
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
OF
HON. JAMES ROOSEVELT
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Monday, April 4, 1960
Mr. ROOSEVELT. Mr. Speaker, un-
der leave to extend my remarks, I insert
In the RECORD my statement, "In Sup-
port Family Farm Income Act of 1960,"
which I submitted on March 30 to the
House Committee on Agriculture.
I am proud to be a cosponsor of a pro-
posal which reflects the thinking of Rep-
resentatives from both rural and urban
areas. Its sensible and workable ap-
proach will benefit the farm community,
the consumer, and the taxpayer.
My statement follows:
IN SUPPORT OF FAMILY FARM INCOME ACT OF
1960
(Statement by Congressman JAMES RoosE-
vELT submitted to House Committee on
Agriculture, Mar. 30, 1960)
Mr. Chairman and members of the com-
mittee, I am grateful for the opportunity
to supplement my brief remarks which I
made before you on March 2.
I join with my colleagues in support o
the Family Farm Income Act of 1960. This
legislation would raise family farm income,
which will reach a new low in 1960, and
would, at the same time, drastically reduce
cost of the Federal farm program. I be-
lieve that in the long run the legislation is
not only to the advantage of these engaged
in agricultural pursuit who suffer gross in-
equality in the marketplace, but to the
advantage of consumers.
Family farmers are entitled to sufficient
income to maintain their families at a de-
cent standard of living-a standard of liv-
ing, I might add, which compares with the
standards of people living, off farms.
Other groups, including labor and busi-
ness, are protected by many Federal laws
and in addition, because of the nature of
our industrial organization, have been able
to increase their bargaining power greatly.
As a result, business as a whole-particu-
larly big business-is in a favorable position.
Labor, where it is organized, is able to
maintain a relatively good income.
Farmers, on the other hand, as the largest
segment of our economy which is unorgan-
ized, have comparatively little bargaining
power. Every farmer is competing against
every other. When there is a surplus, prices
may be driven to below cost of production.
Ipdustry, on the other hand, maintains its
prices and merely reduces production when
demand falls off. The record indicates that
farmers, partly because their costs are fixed
and partly because of the competitive sit-
uation, must go on producing more, and
more as prices decline.
That is the reason, Mr. Benson's effort to
reduce surpluses by increasing production
has fallen on its face. Last year the Secre-
tary of Agriculture turned corn loose, low-
ered the support price but told farmers they
could produce all they wanted to. The re-
.suit is that corn is running out of our
ears and the corn situation constitutes an-
other farm scandal. According to the Wall
Street Journal, the inevitable result of re-
duced price is increased acreage. Here is
a quote from the March 16, 1960, issue of
that publication which never, to my knowl-
edge, has been called irresponsible:
"DE KALB, ILL: Husky farmer Joseph
Faivre may be planting something more than
corn on his 640-acre farm this spring. What
comes up next fall could be the biggest crop
of trouble the administration's farm pro-
gram has faced so far.
"In 1958, the Government's price support
for corn was $1.36 a bushel; Mr. Faivre
planted 52 acres. Last year, the support
dropped to $1.12 and the Illinois farmer
planted 186 acres. 'This year,' he says, 'it
will drop to $1.06, so,I'm going to plant 287
acres.'
"'With price supports going down, I have
to increase my volume to end up with the
same income,' Mr. Faivre explains."
This bill-the Family Farm Income Act of
1960-would cost the Government very little
by providing for payment-in-kind to the
farmer who reduced his acreage. It would
authorize a 10 percent deduction in acre-
age for which the farmer would receive noth-
ing and an additional 30 percent reduction
for which the farmer would receive pay-
ment out of the Commodity Credit Corpora-
tion holdings. Thus, the surplus which is
costing so much and which constitutes a
major scandal would be reduced. In addi-
tion, the bill provides that farmers can get
together and plan their production and vote
on such a plan, a two-thirds majority be-
ing required to put it into effect.
I firmly believe that if something is not
done to maintain and stabilize the family
farmer that inevitably agriculture will be
taken over by big business. Investigations
of the House Small Business Subcommittee
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 A2966 Approved For ReI U2J /g1 fR,&lft i-009fZf*99280003-4 April 4
No. 5, of which I am privileged to be chair-
man, indicate that national corporations are
putting out of business small distributors of
.food products. Often the result of price
wars carried on by - large corporations is
higher prices for consumers and lower prices
for farmers. In some areas, where dairy
companies carried on price wars, the con-
sumer benefitted during the price war, but
after the large corporations had accom-
plished their purpose of destroying local
competition, they raised prices to a point
higher than they were before the price war.
Investigations of the House Small Business
Subcommittee indicate that chainstores are,
to some extent, now taking over in the area
of agriculture. They are engaging in cattle
feeding and packjxg and they are manipulat-
ing the market, by-passing the Government
regulated stockyards and paying the farmer
the lowest possible price. - At the same time,
they have been raising prices to the con-
sumer. For example, lamb producers a year
or two ago experienced a net loss on their
operations. Safeway stores at the same time
raised the price of lamb chops to the con-
sumers. I have introduced legislation which
will prevent chain stores from engaging in
agricultural activities.
The Family Farm Income Act of 1960 pro-
posal is complementary to my proposed leg-
islation which would prevent, or check, verti-
cal integration in the food industry. It
would give- the farmer bargaining power and
enable him to protect himself from price
manipulation and -discrimination- practices
of giant corporations. -
The urban consumer, although he nat-
urally wants to get his money's worth for
food, has no desire to grind down American
farmers to the status of peasant or peon.
The urban consumer, I believe, is for fair
play and not economic discrimination. -
Critics of this 1960 proposal have not pro-
duce any convincing arguments against it.
They talk wildly of regimentation. The
farmer who is losing his farm, or is reduced
to a state of penury because of low-.prices,
is the one that is regimented-not the
farmer who participates in a farm program
to determine his own destiny. According
to some of the gentlemen on the other side
of the aisle, this regimentation seems to
consist of two-thirds of all the farmers par-
ticipating in a referendum to determine
what kind of a.program they want.
What could be more democratic and more
in the spirit of free enterprise? A referen-
dum by farmers is no more undemocratic
than a congressional election.
Mr. Chairman, I respectfully submit that
this Congress has a pressing obligation to
act to resolve the farm delimma created by
a bungling administration. I likewise sub-
mit, respectfully, that the - Family Farm
Income Act of 1960 merits support and en-
actment as a practidal, workable and - fair
means to resolve this dilemma-a- dilemma
which is costly to the farmer and the Amer-
ican taxpayer.
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
OF
HON. KATHARINE ST. GEORGE
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Monday, April 4,1960
Mrs. ST. GEORGE. Mr. Speaker, the
following report on the Cuban situation
and Latin America has been sent to me
by a constituent who has been making
a study of the many problems confront-
ing our Nation in our own-hemisphere.
As the report is intelligent, clear, brief,
and authoritative,- I commend it to the
House of Representatives for. their
thoughtful c )nsideration:
1. Cuban sr gar: If- it is decided by Con-
gress to cut t lie Cuban sugar quota and to
redistribute it among the nations more
friendly to theUnited States than Cuba, I
think it would be very important to- back
up this actior. by reasoning which is as in-
vulnerable as possible to attack on the
ground of beix-.g just economic retaliation.
One line tt at could well - be _ taken could
be as follows:
(A) Cuba las gotten itself in a position
of -having a kind of monopoly on the Latin
American su;ar trade with the United
States. Cuba attacks the- United States on
monopolies when it is following the same
policy itself. The virtual Cuban monopoly
does positive harm to the legitimate desire
of countries lice Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama,
Nicaragua, Huiti, Peru, Brazil, and others,
to get a fair t hare of the prize U.S. market.
(B) It has been argued that if the Cuban
sugar monopoly were taken away from it
and sugar prc duction was built up in other
countries suc z as Mexico, Costa- Rica, etc., -
that if and when Cuba would be a more
reliable and friendly supplier of sugar to
the United States, it would become desir-
able to again use large quantities of their
sugar and th.s would cause trouble in the
new countries. There are two possible falla-
cies in this point of view:
(1) The countries who are asking foran
increased sug )r quota to the United States
are not doing; so on the basis of building
up their suga' quota but on getting a better
price in the U.S. market for their existing
production. -
(2) Any pri)per reorientation of the Cuban
economy in tie future ought to involve less
emphasis on ,.ugar and a greater diversifica-
tion of their agricultural production. At
the very least Cuba ought to produce its
own food cro;)s, which it falls very short of
doing today. Therefore there is plenty of
room, - after l:uba changes, to see that its
restored economy follows sound lines. -
II. Cuba as a base for subversive activi-
ties in Centr tl America and the Caribbean
in general : Eli the Central American - gov-
ernments and many others in the Caribbean
area and Soith America also, have noted
with alarm the tremendous build-up in ac-
tivities of Cuba's diplomatic missions. For
a little county with as few legitimate diplo-
matic problems abroad, an unconscionable
amount of n.oney is being spent by these
Embassies ani certainly-at least in Central
American-the Cuban diplomatic missions are
crudely inter, ening in the internal affairs of
their host governments. The following ac-
tivities are notable: -
(A) Extracrdinarily large and expensive
propaganda :ampaigns. Masses of litera-
ture. Paid time on radio networks. Motion
picture shows . Support and organization of
"Friends of the Cuban Revolution" organs-
nations are i ollowing an identical pattern
in all the countries. Cuban Ambassadors
are continually seen with and found en-
couraging lei List student and labor move-
ments.
(B) In thSs connection the Communists
in Cuba are clearly following orders from
Moscow. In the past Moscow has been al-
most overtly using its tremendous diplomat-
ic establishxr eats in Mexico and Uruguay,
for instance, as the focal points for dissemi-
nation of subversive literature and the carry-
ing out of si abversive activities. This con-
duct is becoring increasingly unpopular in
the host governments. Mexico has declared
certain Russi ui diplomats persona non grata
and there ar') press stories that Uruguay is
about to den and that the 80-man Embassy
in that tiny country be cut down to 6 or
7. comparab:e to the Uruguayan repre-
sentation in Moscow. It seems clear that
Russia, foreseeing a -future limitation in
Latin America on the illicit activites of
their own embassies, is building up, under
the cover of Cuba, a strong mechanism to
keep the same work going for the future. -
III. Cuban inspired third force labor move-
ments: Russia, for a, generation or more, has
had a very strong Latin American interna-
tional labor mechanism which has very ef-
fectively placed Communists in key positions
and even control in a very large percentage
of the Latin American labor movements. In
the past this has been operated from Mexico
by the known Mexican Communist Lombardo
Toledano. The overtness of the Communist
connection, just as. in the case of the Em-
bassies, is becoming -embarrassing to Russia
and the new tactic is, again, working through
Cuba to set up a so-called third force labor
movement through Latin America. It is un-
derstood that the Communists, for cover rea-
sons, are prepared to sacrifice their current
mechanism if they can get the other one go-
ing. -
IV. The Cuban counterpart of UPI and
AP press news services: Cuba has recently -
created Prensa Latina, a wire service available
throughout Latin America and subsidized by
the Cuban Government, no doubt with help
in that connection from the international
Communist propaganda apparatus. This
service is furnished free where papers, as all
too frequently in Latin America, have diffi-
culty in paying for legitimate wire service.
The- legitimate news articles are heavily in-
terlarded with Communist propaganda and
all stories play up the Communist point of
view. - - -
V. Cuban supported revolutionary expedi-
tions in Central America: - Since the rise of
Castro a dozen or more expeditions, sup-
ported with Cuban Communist experts on
guerrilla warfare and with Cuban arms, have
been keeping the countries in the Carib-
bean in a state of upset conditions and in-
stability. All of these expeditions are op-
erating under the guise of antidictatorship
forces, which of course is a tremendously
popular thing in Latin America today. In
fact, the last thing in the world that the
Communist conspiracy wants to do is to over-
throw dictators.. They fatten on the ability
to use the dictatorship theme as a slogan and
an entering wedge into libisral movements.
It is only when the Communist conspiracy
feels that it can substitute its own dictator-
ship in a country, through control of revolu-
tionary movements, that it is really anxious
to win a revolution. Thus, this multitude of
small, 50 and 100 man, expeditionary forces,
is currently being used for 2 purposes
which give real fundamental aid to the Com-
munist conspiracy. These are:
(A) By creating a climate in the press of
the world that Central America, for instance,
is in -a very unstable political'situation be-
cause of constant revolutionary action, they
are accomplishing their major objective of
trying to bring about economic depression in
the area, which will set the theme for popu-
lar discontent and uprisings. The existence
of this apparent political instability freezes
up the desire of nationals of the countries
in the area toward investing their own funds
in development of their own country and
has virtually killed all possibility of addi-
tional foreign investment.
(B) A more subtle purpose of the manner
in which these 50- and 100-man expeditions
is used appears to be a deliberate attempt
to liquidate the manpower available to sin-
cere democratically inclined revolutionaries
who are merely discontent with their home
governments. It is obvious that so long as
there are strong non-Communist revolu-
tionary groups, that communism operating
through Cuba cannot hope to control any
revolution that succeeds. However, once the
more or less legitimate revolutionary forces
are weakened then they will have- to, if they
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