As a freshman Congressman from California, Democrat John Emerson Moss Jr. sought some information from the U.S. Civil Service Commissionand was turned down. A quiet but combative former businessman, Moss complained to fellow Representatives, discovered that they too were being denied routine requests for facts by federal agencies. Appalled at such self-serving censorship by a Government that supposedly serves the people, Moss determined to do something about it.
That was in 1953. Last week, Moss's unremitting campaign to open bureaucratic files finally paid off. By a roll-call vote of 307 to 0, the House passed a bill that goes farther...