“WASHINGTON CONFIDENTIAL’

Book lifts lid on vice,
~ graft in U.S. capital

WASHINGTON is the dizziest
city in America — a cesspool of
erime, drunkenness, corruption
and public apathy. Prim govern-
ment secretaries sign on at week-
ends as $20 an hour “call girls.”
And the State Department main-
tains a sub-division to furnish
women for visiting diplomats and
celebrities,

These are some of the state-
ments in a new book “Washing-
ton Confidential” by Jac® Lait
and Lee Mortimer. They have
caused an uproar in the otherwise
dignified capital.

Some stores are refusing to sell
the book. Nevertheless ~ 100,000
copies were sold in the first week.

Lait and Mortimer call this in-
vestigation “Operation White-
wash” because they say the dicta-
tors of the underworld are too
strong politically to be caught.

In the matter of crime, they
write, Washington has the black-
est record of any city in the coun-
try. “It makes even Chicago look
good.” It is overrun with gambl-
ers, racketeers and gunmen. Yet

. only one out of every three crimes
abe is reported.
; “From the time a policeman
makes an arerst until the findl
| i disposition of the case, the entire
| 1 ae atmosphere of the district en-
id ‘ : forcemen machinery is mined
against him,” they allege. “Ex-
~perienced cops take it easy and
go to ball games and dances.”

The authors accuse members
of Congress of tolerating “nause-
ating conditions” that would get
them thrown out of office if they
existed at home. What has rous-
ed the ire of Congressmen more
than anything else, however, are
charges of bribery. According to
“Washington Confidential” one
group charged a fee of $75,000 to
introduce a “private bill” to get
a wealthy refugee into the coun-
try despite immigration restric-
tions. Other members “not in
the deal,” voted for the bill out
of “Congressional courtesy.”

* * *

HERE ARE some things Lait
and Mortimer write about Wash-
ington; There are more _ street
walkers per head of. population
than in any other city. “Compet-
ing with these are government
employees who either enrol as
‘eall girls’ or flock “into cocktail
bars at five o’clock'to solicit busi-
ness. Most of them are lonely
and crave romance.

“One government official tele-
phoned for three ‘call girls.” When
they arrived he saw, to his ‘hor-
ror, that one was his secretary.

CAPSULE REVIEWS

High rating for

‘Born Yesterday’

BORN YESTERDAY

A hysterically funny comedy
delivering sharp political punches.
While it’s all pretty much on the
light side — thanks almost en-
tirely to the talents of Judy Holi-
day — the pungent dialogue does
a devasting job on the corruption
of ‘U.S. congressmen and big busi-
ness.

HENRY V ,

An exeellent picture, and a
splendid performance by Lawrence
Olivier. Don’t miss it.

HALLS OF MONTEZUMA
Another of Hollywood’s current
crop of films intended to glamor-
ize war and win movie-goers to
an unquestioning acceptance of
its brutalities. A documentary. of
the U.S. Marine’s rout in North
Korea would knock Halls of Mon-
tezuma off its flimsy foundations
and demolish its false front.

BIRD. OF PARADISE

A typical and predictable Hol-
lywood ascapist item. The same
as a thousand insipid predeces-
sors,

THE MATING SEASON

The first starring role of Thel-
ma Ritter, the acid maid of A
Letter to Three Wives and All
About Eve. A lively and occas-
ionally clever comedy, marred by
an inferior plot.

—S-oho—I0r1

SPRING
FASHIONS

Are in Full Swing Now at

IV ERS

LADIES WEAR

Prices are Reasonable

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“Senior diplomats with roving
eyes” are taken care of by the
State Department’s Protocol Di-
vision.
girls glamorous enough to satis-
fy VIP’s that the State Depart-
ment has compiled a list of will-
ing NeW York models. They get
$200 a night plus expenses from
“Contingent Funds.”

Some foreign diplomats use dis-
patch pouches for smuggling in
narcotics, which are ‘sold at a
huge profit. Dope addicts include
teen-age children, who are able
to buy “reefers” from péddlars
outside the schools.

Police summoned to disreput-

‘able parties by irate neighbors

have found “administration un-
touchables’”’ or diplomats immune
from arrest. Over 14,000 persons
were arrested for drunkenness
last year — double the number
five years ago.

Burglars have a union to which
they contribute a percentage of
their “earnings” in return for
bail, when arrested, lawyers fees
and “fixes” when possible.

Lait and Mortimer attribute a
lot of this “merry law-breaking”
to conflicting authoulity. The city
is a welter; of police forces —
those for Congress, government
buildings, the railway station, the
parks and the airport, as well
as the Municipal and County Con-
stabularies and Military Police
and Secret Police. ‘

’ But visitors are warned there
is one violation they can’t get
away with. It is an offence “more
serious than murder.” It is cros-
sing the street against the traffic
lights. — John Sampson in %endon
Sunday Pictorial, —

There are so, few local:

Shakespeare Festival

: Courtesy CBC Fimes

This month the CBC is presenting a Shakespea re Festival on its Stage 51 program (Sundays, 8 p.m.).

The first program, given last Sunday as a prologue,
will be followed on this and three consecutive Sunda ys with two parts of Henry VI.

was a shortened version of King Richard II and it

The presentation

brings to life the pageant of England at the openin g of the 15th century as Shakespeare pfocreated it
and played it in the dramatic events of his own tims.

GUIDE TO GOOD READING

\

American guilt in Korean war
_ documented by Labor Monthly

TO ITS documentation of Am-
erican inspiration of, complicity
in and responsibility for the Syng-
man Rhee regime’s aggression
against North Korea which laun-
ched the Korean war, the Labor
Monthly, in its current issue now
adds D. N. Pritt’s “More Light
On Korea.”

“Light On Korea,” the first in-
dictment of U.S. policy in Korea
by the internationally known Bri-
tish barrister, former MP and
political writer, was , published
by the Labor Monthly in its Kor-
ea Handbook last year. In this
article Pritt termed U.S. attempts
to persuade the people of the
Western countries that North
Korea was the aggressor against
South Korea “one of the biggest
confidence tricks of recent times.”
And he proved his point with
a formidable array of facts and
documents,

“More Light On Koréa” is bas-
ed upon secret documents found

in Seoul after the Syngman Rhee
government’s first hasty flight

from that city and on statements
made by Kim I Sek, former minis-
ter of internal affairs in the

Rhee government who was cap-
tured by the Korean People’s
Army. As Pritt points out, these
documents, supported by  phot-
static copies, were submitted to
the United Nations General As-
sembly and the Security Council
by the Korean Democratic
People’s Republic.

“There has been ‘no denial
of their authenticity”, writes’
Pritt, “although the general
press has ignored them, as they
confirm the North Korean case
that the hostilities in Korea
were begun by South Korean
and- American aggression, a
case unpopular with the press
lords.”

Many of these documents, con- :

sisting of correspondence _ be-
tween Syngman Rhee and various
South Korean and American of-
ficials, have already been publish-
ed in the Pacific Tribune. What
is important is the way Pritt co-
related documents, press. state-
ments and speeches and draws
from them damning conclusions.

Outside the immediate scope of
the documents, which cannot be

refuted, is a statement by Kim
I Sek, which nonetheless’ has not
been challenged. At the beginning
of 1950, General Roberts, head of
the American military mission
to South Korea, told the Syngman
Rhee cabinet (and Kim I. Sek
was present):

“The plan of campaign
against the north has been de-
cided upon. There is nbt much
time left now before a begin-
ning must be made with put-
ting it into effect. Even though
we shall begin the attack, we
must nevertheless find a pre-
text providing some justifica-
tion. The report of the UN Com-
mission is of paramount import-
ance in this connection. The
UN QGommission , will naturally
submit a report favorable to the
United States. But you will all
know that you must also win
the sympathy o1 the UN Com-
mission and give your attention
to this matter.”

Both the Korea Handbook (50
cents) and the March issue La-
bor Monthly (20 cents) are well
worth reading. They may be ob-
tained here at the People’s Co-
operative Bookstore, 337 West
Pender Street.

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE — APRIL 6, 1951 — PAGE 10

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