Below the Belt

The skimpiness of federal salaries makes most able private citizens think hard before accepting a Government job in peacetime. Even if they can make ends meet by digging into their own pockets, they are likely to think again before going to Washington. The reason was well supplied last week by Michigan's flap-jawed Republican Representative Paul Shafer, an amateur magician and a professional scold.

Rising up on the floor of the House, he blandly attacked the character of Under Secretaries of State Dean Acheson and Will Clayton. He thundered that General Marshall should boot them both out of office. His harebrained charge: "making exorbitant profits by reason of their high places."

Will Clayton, he claimed, had cleaned up $5 million through cotton sales abroad by his brokerage firm, at the same time that he was actively urging U.S. loans to foreign buyers. Said he: "Mr. Clayton is a well-known one-worlder in do-gooder circles, and I must admit that he does believe in one world--one world for Will Clayton and family."

Turning to Dean Acheson, Paul Shafer gleefully quoted some gossip from Manhattan's socialistic New Leader, concluded that if the $500 million Polish loan goes through, a million dollar fee would be paid to the Acheson law firm for its help.

Because a Congressman's remarks are privileged, Messrs. Acheson and Clayton could not sue Representative Shafer for libel. All they could do was deny the obviously ridiculous charges. Will Clayton pointed out that the Commodity Credit Corp. had itself made most foreign cotton shipments in the last fiscal year, had supervised the rest "to the substantial benefit of the Government and the American cotton farmer." Dean Acheson announced that he had given up his law practice the day he entered the State. Department, had since had "no connection with or financial interest in the business of the firm."

But they both knew that many U.S. citizens who had read Congressman Shafer's below-the-belt tirade would never see their answers. And there was nothing they could do about it.

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