The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-10-24
Money Went to Pay
Soldiers, AsSasSins
in Fight on Workers
Senate Committee Not
Interested in Details
of Cuban Loans
BY MARGUERITE YOUNG
washington Bureau, Daily Worker)

washington DulCd 6dliy VOIkClI
WASHINGTON, Oct. GA Sen
ate Committee was informed today
that the State Department and Cen
eral Enoch H. Crowder, former Amer
lean Ambassador to Cuba, approved
Of the Chase National Banks huge
loans to finance the deposed dictator,
Gerardo Machado, after Crowder had
personally declared that similar
loan previously proposed would be
so questionable that he would have
to make immediate protest to the
State Department"
This, and other testimony before
the Senate Investigating Committee
demonstrated that the Platt Amend
ment, sacrosanct legal basis on which
the American government rests its
duty" to ring Cuba with battleships
to stem the tide Of workers and
farmers revolt, was only the tradi-
tional scrap Of paper" to officials
who declared themselves aware that
the same Platt Amendment would
be violated.
This testimony came from Shepard
Morgan, bland and wolfish vice-pres-
ident of the Chase National Bank.
He gave 1t willingly enough, basing
himself on the following remark:
"The credit arrangement was re-
ported in full to Ambassador Crow
der and to the State Department.
They gave the Chase National
Bank letter stating that they took
no exception"
Both the proposed (and disap-
proved loan, and the loans of ap-
proximately $80000,o 900, which were
later approved and actually advanced,
were to finance Machado's public
works" program. The Senate Investi-
eating Committee did not go into the
well-known fact that the public works
funds were actually the source of
Machado's private enrichments and
one of the sources from which he
financed his army and his private
assassins. The Committee is inter-
ested mainly in superficial financial
Irregularities.
In bringing out these Irregularities,
Ferdinand Pecora, Counsel for the
Committee, put into the record a
memorandum from one Chase official
to another, reporting that General
Crowder in 1925 declared that the
public works" program was to be
financed by extraordinary revenue"
or special taxes. General Crowder
pointed out that the Platt amend
nent expressly required that loans
for public works must be financed by
ordinary revenue"
Pecora declared that Crowder had
grave concern" lest the whole public
works project involve some Illegal
ity.
Again Morgan had an embarrassing
answer.
Pecora produced a letter from an
ether Chase official reporting that
Cuba was already in a whirlwind Of
economic depression when Chase was
financing the public works" on the
basis of special taxation.
THAT was substantially similar to
the present Roosevelt public works
program" Morgan returned. DE
plorable economic conditions were
the very reason for the loan and the
public works program. The govern
ment embarked on its program to
improve conditions"
Scores Of bankers smiled. Sitting in
varying attitudes of arrogance, petu-
lance, and (rarely) discomfort, they
and their retinue of lawyers and
other flunkeys filled one whole side
of the vast hearing room. Among
them were Martin Conboy, Tammany
lawyer and Roosevelt's personal law
yer in the investigation" of former
Mayor James ]. Walker.