Servants of America
There comes a point, in these days of growing American partici- pation in world affairs, when the way in which the United States treats its public servants becomes of interest and concern to foreigners as well as to the more thoughtful Americans. The case of Mr. Alger Hiss is only the latest of a series of most disturbing incidents. Mr. Hiss was once a high official of the State Department. He‘ was the secretary-general of the conference at San Francisco at which the United Nations was founded. Today he is on trial for perjury in a Federal Court. He is accused of having denied that he had talks with and conveyed secret Government papers to Whittaker Chambers, a former member of the Communist Party. Public attention, and the fantastic performance put up by Mr. Lloyd Paul Stryker, counsel for the defence, have been such that the real issues have been all but swamped in a wave of semi-hysterical excitement. Whatever the final verdict may be, Hiss, who has not even been heard yet, can hardly come out of this ordeal with much hope of making a new position for himself as a public servant. This is no doubt one of the many cases in which foreigners are required to refrain from comment on American affairs. But a fortnight ago Mr. James Forrestal, a former Secretary of Defences committed suicide, following a prolonged period of overwork during which he had been subjected to many attacks in the Press and elsewhere. The attacks have still not ceased now-that he is dead, Mr. David Lilienthal, once the head of the historic and controversial Tennessee Valley Authority, and now the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, has been constantly attacked by certain sections of Congress ever since he was appointed. Even Mr. Acheson, the Secretary of State, is continually being harried at a time when he needs to give all his time to the Paris conference. All this can no doubt be traced to the dernand for checks and balances embodied. In the American Constitution. And the American Constinition is; no doubt, a very great document. But is there no limit to this process, even when it affects world affairs, as well as American. domestic affairs ?
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