The sun., 1919-06-21

In these company directorships and 9TH
erwise favored them. challenge any
man to prove that I allowed any friend
of mine to buy these properties, as
charged, at bargain counter prices or at
any other price. This organization of
ours Is as clean as a hounds tooth and
1 defy any man to prove the contrary.
When I took hold of the Alien Prop
erty Custodian's Office, the Governmen mt
was operating In state of war. Mis-
tskes. no doubt, were made. But no
harm was done to anybody except the
enemy. No American citizen has been
Injured by the operation of the Allen
Property Custodian. because he could
have made the Allen Property Custodian
act as trustee by the courts at Govern
ment expense. He could not lose"
Mr.. Lewis sketched the story Of the
Bosch Company since the Government
seized IL as an enemy property. II was
sold last December and reorganized as
the American Bosch Company. He
stated that the evidence would show
that on an issue Of the new stock in
siders got II for ss5 and that within
few days they were able to get sS5
and more for It on the market Mr..
Palmer insisted II was unfair to cite
such figures without showing that sim
ilar industrial stocks went up In a like
manner. The new stock was fioated by
Hornblower & Weeks Of which former
Senator Weeks (Mass.) is a member.
The sale price of the Bosch Company
was S4,16o,000, whereas its real value
was at least s1e,ooo.oo Mr.. Lewis con-
tended.
so FAR as ] am concerned I will he
giad TO have the fullest and most COM
piete investigation Of the Allen Prom
erty Custodian's office from top TO bot
TOM" said Mr.. Palmer. "Mr. I,ewis's
complaint is not that 1 did not get
enough for this properly but that /
sold It."
The Attorney General told the COM
mittee how the German ownership of
ehe Bosch Company came to light.
complete evidence was obtained by a
confession OF one of the dummy stock
holders named Gunther jain, who adj
mitted that he was dummy for Robert
Bosch OF Stuttgart. Germany. He then
went on to say that before the United
states entered the war the Bosch COM
pany had large orders for munitions
from the Allies and INSTRUCTED theNie-
liveries OF magnetos for airplanes needed
by the British for defence of London
against Zeppelin raids.
This obstruction, Mr.. Palmer ex-
planned. was In conformity with orders
from DR.. Heinrich Albert, the German
Governments agent In New York.
The sale OF the Bosch plant at Chico
pee Falls. Mass. was advertised at q
cost Of $4,000, and every facility was
given the public to know the plant
would be sold, Mr.. Palmer said. in reply
to charges that favoritism was shown
to certain bidders.
There was no secrecy" Mr.. Palmer
said. The advertisement began before
the armistice was signed and ran for
a month. There were four bidders
They started at s150.oo0. and by sue
cessive steps the price went to 34,15o, 900,
at which we sold it."
At the conclusion OF Mr. Palmer's
statement the subcommittee went into
executive session for about ten minutes,
considering the demand OF Mr.. Lewis
Tor the various subpoenas, after which
an adjournment WAS taken for the day.
with the announcement that It would
resume tomorrow morning with the pur-
suit of the Lewis charges.