24 APRIL 1953, Page 2

The Senator's SchnUfflers

That is what a German newspaper called Mr. Cohn and Mr. Schine, Senator McCarthy's travelling investigators. They came to London after all, but they need hardly have bothered. Even for two smart lawyers, full of the zeal of youth, who had processed twelve hundred employees of Radio Free Europe in half-an-hour, a. five hours' visit to London was not quite long enough to cleanse our Augean stables. The chat which they had at the American Embassy with an official of the B.B.C., Mr. Hugh Carleton Greene, Assistant Controller of Overseas Pro- grammes, no doubt served some useful purpose—they said it was about " what should be done in the field of information and peace activities "—but can one be sure that it was enough to set the keen inquisitorial winds blowing down the corridors of Broadcasting House ? It now seems unlikely that Mr. Schine and Mr. Cohn knew when they stepped out of the air- craft on Monday that their visit was to be quite so brief. Even if they had intended to be generous and let, the B.B.C. stew in its own suspect juice, there remained many Americans in the U.S. information services here who might once have met the cousin of a Communist. Besides, Mr. Cohn and Mr. Schine informed Mr. Greene that they .would be glad to meet him again on Tuesday. But by Tuesday they were back in Washington, reporting to their master, Senator McCarthy. It is possible that it occurred to the Senator on Monday that this was a comedy act which could with profit be cut short.