More Bark, Less Bite

Republican speechwriters came to a point like so many Weimaraners last November when the Eisenhower Administration announced that its new strict security program had brought 1,456 dismissals and resignations from federal service. By January the number rose to 2,200. Soon such orators as New York's Tom Dewey, Attorney General Herbert Brownell and Postmaster Arthur Summerfield were baying about these evidences of Trumanite subversion without explaining that the figures included all categories of undesirable employees--drunks, debtors, perverts and blabbermouths--as well as loyalty suspects.

Enraged Democrats seized on the figure "2,200," determined to shake out of the Administration an admission that only a small percentage were actually subversive suspects. President Eisenhower promised last fortnight that he would get a breakdown into categories. And last week White House Counsel Bernard Shanley announced that he, for one, had made a mistake when he spoke about 1,456 "subversives" at a speech in Newark last fall; he should have said "security risks."

Neither Ike's promise nor Shanley's confession called off the Democrats. Their campaign was based not only on righteous indignation but on sound tactics as well. By drawing attention to G.O.P. barking about the 2,200, they could take a lot of the bite out of the smaller--but still important--figures on actual subversives when the real figures were released.

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