THE NATION: Hercules in a Hard Hat

THE NATION Hercules in a Hard Hat

King Augeas of Elis had 3,000 cattle, including twelve sacred white bulls. The stable in which he kept them had not been cleaned for 30 years. It may be assumed that some of the neighbors had begun to complain, and there was one cynical school of thought which held that the stables never would be cleaned. When Hercules agreed to clean the stables, Augeas was pleased—although he later gypped the strong man out of his reward.

But that is running ahead of this week’s news that New York’s Federal Judge Thomas F. Murphy accepted President Truman’s offer to take charge of an effort to clean wrongdoers out of the U.S. Government. Herculean (6 ft. 4 in., 245 Ibs.) Murphy, whose derby and oldtime bartender’s mustache give him a look of a man long accustomed to surmounting evil, has been in the Democratic stable-cleaning business for some time.

Before Truman paid any mind to the charges of Communist influence in Government, Murphy, an Assistant U.S. Attorney, began the prosecution of. Alger Hiss. In spite of sneers and catcalls from Truman & Co., he won the Hiss case for the Government. That excellent performance got him no reward from the regular Democratic organization. New York’s Mayor Impellitteri, after beating Tammany, appointed him Police Commissioner at a time when graft scandals were popping as fast as they now are in Washington. Truman, recognizing that Murphy was held in high public esteem, made him a federal judge.

Whether Murphy can clean the Washington stables between now and election is doubtful. Certainly he cannot, unless some of Truman’s sacred white bulls are removed from their present stalls.