Evening star., 1933-09-28
SENATORS WILL AIR
SNIP PROPAGANDA.
Committee Recesses After
! Hearing Of Large Ocean
- Mail Subsidies.
~ the Associated Press.

ey the Associated Press.
After learning that ocean mail sub
tidies paid to the Export Steamship Co,
annually totaled more than the amount
the organization paid the Shipping
Board for 10 vessels, the Senate Com
mittee investigating ocean mail con-
tracts recessed. late yesterday until to-
morrow.
When the. hearing is resumed, R. j.
Baker of New York, secretary treasurer
bf the American Steamship Owners As
sociation, will be questioned about the
propaganda. activities OF his organiza-
fion.
Chairman Black said hearings on the
Export company will be completed to-
morrow with the testimony OF E. V.
Neven, treasurer, and that officials OF
the Black Diamond Line will be heard
next Tuesday.
~ r. Leaders May Be Called.
Kermit Roosevelt of the Roosevelt
Lines, r v. OConnor. former chairman
ofsthe Shipping Board. and Admiral
CnN, now head of the Shipping Bureau
tn.fhe Commerce Department, may be
Ia1fed later.
Before the recess. Senator Black
placed in the record reports showing the
line received more than 100000 for
carrying four pounds of mail, and that
ine1929 it was paid. under contract
warded in the Hoover administration
af the rate of 100000 pound on ocean
hAil
In 1929 the line received sl,29l,187;
In 1892, sl,498 ,430, and in the fiscal
year 1888, the same amount. The
rod NJ
prnment vessels in August, 1925. on
which the Shipping Board expended
Sr8257l8 for repairs.
A formal statement that G. Bascom
Slemp Of Virginia, who once was sec
retary to President Coolidge, had helped
engineer the ship purchasing deal at
h price lower than originally asked by
The Shipping Board was placed before
the committee by Henry Herberman,
president of the export company.
Billed Him for $4,000.
In letter to Senator Black. Herber,
man wrote that Slemp had billed him
Tor $50 900 for legal fees in connection
with the sale of the ships at $3.50
ton. instead of $3.50, as asked by Ad-
miral Palmer of the Shipping Board.
Slemp resigned as secretary to Cool
ldge in January OF 1925.
Two women occupied the witness
stand most of the day. Mrs. Nina G.
Irvine, who was secretary to OConnor
for many years at the Shipping Board,
testified she negotiated several Flofloa
deals for Herberman.
She said that after Justice De-
partment agent had sought to inspect
files at her Shipping Board office with
regard to the transaction, she had de-
ktroyed the records. Senator Black
read the agents report, which SAID
Mrs. Irvine had refused to let him in
spect them until she had week IN
which to look them over.
Asked to identify note she sent 10
.Herberman addressed, Dear Mr.. H.,
pdrs. Irvine admitted sne mao WILLS. Mri..en :,
lit but denied the signature, irvine.
BLACK asked her If she was accustomed
Ito sending letters to people without
signing them, and she replied In the
negative.
Can't Remember Payment.
The note requested $4,000 as a pay
ment on Florida land deal and sug-
gested the way the other was sent, IN
my opinion, is the best way to handle
it, Black sought to develop whether
the money was paid in currency. but
Mrs. Irvine said she could not re-
member.
Mrs. Irvine said O'Connor knew
nothing about the deals until after
the Justice Department agent visited
o'Connor, she said, had property "in
and about Miami" which he and E.
A. Kelly, formerly of the Clyde-Mallory
Line and later with the Emergency
Fleet Corporation, were interested;
Mrs. Irvine said she was unable 10
remember whether she lost or made
money on the Herberman deals, but
that she was willing to make profit.
She testified that subsequently land she
bought for Herberman was placed In
the name of Joseph Schultz, Herber-
mans chauffeur.
Miss Clara McQuown of Washington
told Of her work as a lecturer en-
ployed at 5000 a month by the Ameri-
can Steamship Owners Association to
put Merchants Marine propaganda be-
fore women's clubs.
Through Ruth BRYAN Owen. Minister
to Denmark, she said she had obtained
from Rear Admiral Cone. Shipping
Board member, permission to address
@the meeting here of the Daughters of
the American Revolution in April.
Did you tell the D. A. R. and other
clubs that you were in the pay OF
special interests distributing propa-
ganda?" Senator Black asked.
Why should ~" retorted the witness
rThe officers OF the D. A. r. knew it."
Why didn't you tell the natives
when you spoke to them?" Senator King
0f Utah asked.
1T was none of their business Miss
McQuown replied.
Says Admiral Knew.
Did you tell Admiral Cone you were
in the pay of the ship owners associa-
tion?" Black pursued
He knew it, otherwise he would not
have let me speak under the auspices
of the Shipping Board"
Miss McQuown. who stood up during
most Of her hour as witness. said the
only way a woman "can get on a D.
"a. r. program is through some official
connection, except me and Amelia
Earhart"
rs Miss Earhart in the pay of spe-
cial interests?" Black asked
Il understand she is interested in
m aviation outfit" she said, adding:
Il figure I've got as much right to
address the D. A. R. as Amelia Earhart
and Ruth Bryan Owen"
rs Mrs. Owen in any body's pay?"
asked King.
Well. she was being paid by the
Government as minister to Denmark"