The Washington times., 1939-01-12

and to appear tomorrow for ques- !
tioning on these charges in an
open hearing.
PROTESTS DELAY
Hopkins protested the delay.
and sought to stand on his record
of testimony at the hearing yes
terday. but the committee would
not be moved. and ordered him
to appear for further questioning.
The former WPA chief readily
told the committee under initial
questioning that he felt he had
erred in making some political
speeches while he was head OF
the WPA. and that some of the
WPA field officials charged with
use of relief money for political
purposes should have been dis
missed"
After this Hopkins said he was
"ready to 60 ahead today, but the
committee chairman, Senator
Bailey (DD. North Carolina, and
Senator johnson tRD, California.
insisted that he take time to study
the report and be prepared for de-
tailed questioning tomorrow.
Earlier. Hopkins had said II ne
was to be questioned at length
about the campaign expenditures
report he would need time to
familiarize himself with its con
tents.
Ready to Rest Case
I'm quite prepared to rest
by case. as to whether any mem
bers of the committee Com
merce) feel that that report re-
fleets on my ability to be Sec
retar yof Commerce, Hopkins
said.
Hopkins, admitting that he had
never thoroughly studied the re-
port of the Senate campaign eX-
penditures investigating commit
tee. added he believed he had
replied sufficiently to charges OF
politics in relief at yesterday
hearing. when he emphatically de-
MED that the WPA was political
machine, but admitted that he
had been wrong in making
political speeches before the re- '
cent elections.
Two States Specified
Senator johnson, however, said
that as long as the committee had
touched on charges of WPA politi-
cal activity in the Kentucky cleo
ton, he believed Hopkins should
be given opportunity to discuss
other States named in the report,
particularly Pennsylvania and
Tennessee.
Again, Hopkins said he was not !
familiar with the details of the
report concerning those States but i
declared he was ready to proceed.
Then, johnson began reading
from the report a long list OF
charges of misappropriation of re-
lief funds in Kentucky made by
Thomas Stokes, a newspaper re-
porter, who surveyed the State
shortly before elections were held.
Credibility InUolUed
IJool>;,oc iptorr,,pta5 +o COW tbot !
he only saw the Stokes charges in
the newspaper and that "a lot of
them were so inaccurate that it
raises the question of his (StokeS)
credibility."
But" Hopkins said, Stokes
is a good newspaper man and
suppose lot of people wouldn't
agree with me-"
At this point, Senator White
(R), Maine, also member of the
campaign expenditures committee,
suggested that it might be we'll
to recess until tomorrow, and
johnson agreed.
Pepper Offers Plan
CeIldIOI HeppeT W. VI FlOIlud,
interjected, at this point for Hop
kinS, with the proposal that the
committee hasten its consideration
OF the appointment by indefinitely
postponing further reference to
the report. He suggested that
members of the committee have
made up their minds as to how
they will vote" and that Hopkins,
in yesterdays testimony, had fully
explained his attitude toward re
lief policies.
That may be true" Bailey
snapped, but some of us still
have the ability to change our
minds"
Bailey then suggested that the
committee recess until next week,
but the suggestion to convene
again tomorrow carried.
/ How HOu