"Throughout its seven years, the Committee has not spent one dollar on lobbying." This is the Committee for Constitutional Government's answer to Congressional charges that it has the nation's second largest lobbying expenditure. Congressional investigation revealed that the C.C.G. has sent out over eighty-two million pieces of political literature and three hundred thousand telegrams designed to influence legislation. Yet the C.C.G. refuses to comply with Lobby Registration Act by divulging its source of financial support.

Frank Gannett, up-state New York publisher, founded the C.C.G. to arouse public opinion against the New Deal. Gannett chose Dr. Edward Rumely as Executive Secretary of the group. (Rumely was convicted of failing to report German money he received to carry on propaganda activities in this country.) Third man on the team is John T. Flynn, Chairman of New York's America First Committee in 1941, and author of a book called "The Road Ahead." Subtitled "America's Creeping Revolution," this book is a vitriolic attack on "America's Fabians"--i.e. F.D.R., the Democratic Party, organized labor, and the "holdes of Socialist doctrinaires" who run the country. Flynn praises the Un-American Activities Committee as "a monument to vision and patriotism." The book is a thorough presentation of the C.C.G. opinion, and the organization plans to put it in every fifth American home. To date, over seven hundred thousand copies have been distributed to legislators, public libraries, schools, and "top-level opinion-molding individuals."

To finance the distribution, C.C.G. has developed a series of legal dodges for the convenience of its supporters. Gifts over $500 are marked as "book sales" (which don't have to be reported under the Lobby Act). The contributor then gives the C.C.G. back its own books for distribution. Large contributors can also finance the mailing of C.C.G. literature to churches, schools, and libraries. These gifts are then claimed tax deductable as "charitable contributions" to these institutions, although the donor remains anonymous. This system has met with considerable success; C.C.G.'s total income from August 1946 to June 1950 was over two million. The sources of this generous support are still kept secret by Mr. Rumely, but his mailing list for appeals includes an admitted "20,000 corporation presidents, 10,000 millionaires, and 8000 people worth between five hundred thousand and one million dollars."

By sending its literature out under the free-mailing privileges of sympathetic Congressmen, C.C.G. often cuts down the cost of distribution. A Congressman will insert a C.C.G. article in the Congressional Record; thousands of copies are reproduced by the Government Printing Office at low rates paid by the Congressman who is then remibursed by the C.C.G. The material is forwarded to C.C.G. headquarters in New York where it is addressed and sent postage free through the mails under the Congressman's franking privileges. To date over eight million pieces of C.C.G. political literature have been mailed in this manner. Two million of these have been 'handled' by a single Representative from New York. This arrangement amounts to a subsidy of C.C.G. propaganda by the government, and ultimately by the taxpayer.

Aside, from its activity in boosting "The Road Ahead," C.C.G. distributes a flood of letters, telegrams and pamphlets to defeat special legislation like public housing, health insurance, and federal aid to education. Much of this literature is of the shock variety--"Everything You Believe in is Threatened!" for example. It urges the reader to contribute money, distribute pamphlets, and write indignant letters to Congress. In addition, the C.C.G. often puts direct pressure on Congress. In urging defeat of a minimum wage hike, it sent 500-word telegrams of Congressional Committee Leaders and Special Delivery letters to every member of both Houses.

The House Select Committee on Lobbying felt that the C.C.G.'s activities are a clear case of attempting to influence legislation and demanded that Rumely reveal his financial backers in accordance with the law. Rumely refused, claiming that the C.C.G. was merely "educating the public to uphold Constitutional principles." Subsequently he was indicted for contempt of Congress; but the supporters of the Committee for Constitutional Government remain in hiding.