Evening star., 1943-05-28
Ginsburg's 0PA Files
To Be Assembled for
Committee Inquiry
Associate Counsel Says
Personal Papers Also
To Be Shipped Back

The Smith committee of the House
investigating Federal agencies was
to subpoena Office of Price Admin
istration officials today in an en-
deavor to reassemble the files Of
David Ginsburg, former general
counsel of the agency, now in the
Army.
The files were distributed before
Mr.. Ginsburg left his Office, Thomas
I. Emerson, associate general coun-
sci of the agency, told the committee
yesterday in answering a subpoena
demanding the file of the former
general counsel's correspondence.
Mr.. Emerson said he had talked
to Mr. Ginsburg by long distance
telephone and that the latter had
said he was ordering boxes contain
ing his personal papers which had
been shipped to his home at Hunt
ington, w. Va, returned to Wash
ington so there would be no ques-
ton of his keeping anything from
the committee.
Says Papers Distributed.
The witness said Mr.. Ginsburg had
four or five filing cabinets in his Of
flee which contained personal effects
he had brought from the Securities
and Exchanges Commission, where
he was formerly employed, and
copies of reports and drafts of legis-
lation accumulated at the OPA. His
correspondence as general counsel
was normally sent to the files of the
assistant general counsels interested
in the subject matter or to the gen.
eral files, Mr.. Emerson said.
Mr.. Ginsburg told him on the tele-
phone the witness said, that he had
spent the evenings of his last four
days in Office distributing the ma
terial in his files among his asso-
ciates or sending it to the general
files.
After Mr.. Emerson's testimony,
the committee went into executive
session.
Before the matter of the Ginsburg
file came up, Harold L. Allen, coun-
sci for the committee, questioned
Frank Edward Manuel, head of the
branch in the OPA rent division,
which designates communities in
which rent control is to be inaug-
urated. He asked him about the
spelling of his name, his income tax
payments, his doctorate thesis at
Harvard and his travels paid by
fellowships of that institution.
Parents From Latvia.
He was born in Boston, the wit
ness said, his parents in Latvia, then
Russia. A variation of the spelling
on his birth certificate probably was
due to his fathers pronunciation; he
had not changed his name. He was
educated at Boston Latin School
and Harvard, where he was success
lively awarded degrees as bachelor
and master of arts and doctor of
philosophy.
After travelling on his fellowships
IN France and Spain, the witness
said in response to questions. he had
worked as educational director of
Sidney Hillmans committee organ
izing the textile industry. He then
worked for the WPA as head of the
writer's project in Massachusetts,
and also did a study of defense
housing needs in Quincy, Mass, for
the same agency. He returned to
Spain as correspondent for the
Nation and wrote a book on the
country's problems.
The counsel asked him what sta
tistical experience he had had when
he undertook his present work.
None said the witness.
Mr.. Allen then read from a civil
service report on Mr.. Manuel that
''the applicant was not suitable and
his employment should be term
mated" Mr.. Allen told the COM
mittee that Leon Henderson, then
OPA head, had refused to carry out
the civil service recommendation in
Mr.. ManuelS case.
The committee hearings will con-
tinue Tuesday.