Red Bills Proliferate In Mass. Legislature

The usual ritual in the legislature of Massachusetts was reversed this year as a Republican instead of a Democrat introduced a "red bill." After the House of representatives had made the annual disposition of the Dorgan-McCarthy bill requiring college presidents to fire Communists from their faculties, Senator John Adams of Andover introduced one that would take tax exemptions away from any university that refused to remove "known Communists" from its faculty and student body.

The bill, introduced at the height of fury over the Jenner sub-committee hearings in Boston, also applied to any person the attorney-general has "reasonable cause" to think is a member of the Communist party.

Adams said his bill was a "mandate" to Massachusetts colleges to "clean house. This bill is freedom from serfdom for our children."

To date, the Senate Rules Committee has not touched it.