Velde Committee Carries Approval Of Congress On Contempt Charges

Professors throughout the country realized last month that government investigating committees meant threats of contempt citations seriously. On May 11, the House voted unanimously to cite for contempt nine witnesses who refused to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

These cases are now pending action in the Justice Department.

Not all of those threatened with contempt by committees have been cited.

Among professors cited is Marcus Singer, professor of zoology at Cornell University and a former instructor at Harvard. Singer had admitted before the Velde Committee to former membership in a Communist discussion group at Cornell, but refused to name any of his associates on the grounds of "honor and conscience," and of the Fifth Amendment. Among the questions which he refused to answer were "Did you know Wendell H. Furry as a member of the Communist Party?" "Did you know Helen Deane Markham to be a member of the Communist Party?" and "Was Wendell H. Furry engaged in those Communist activities with you?"

Also cited for contempt was Lawrence Baker Arguimbau, former M.I.T. professor. Arguimbau admitted membership in the Communist party itself, thus waiving privileges of the Fifty Amendment, but also refused to name associates or answer questions that might lead to identification of them. After giving his testimony to the Velde Committee, Arguimbau resigned his associate professorship at the Institute.

Cite Grad Student

Bernard Deutch,. a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania and a former student at Cornell, admitted membership in the Communist Party, agreed to tell the committee of his own actions in the party, but refused because of "moral scruples," to reveal the names of any of his associates or the place of meeting of the Cornell "cell."

Also cited by the House were Barrows Dunham, Temple University philosophy professor, whose case appears in detail elsewhere in the paper; two public school teachers, Wilbur Leo Mahaney, Jr., Trappe, Pa., and Mrs. Goldic E. Watson, of Philadelphia; Ole Fagerhaugh, Oak-land, California, warehouseman, John T. Watkins, Rock Island, Illinois, official of the Farm Equipment Workers Union, CIO, and Francis X.T. Crowley of New York City.