Evening star., 1944-02-20

points on the Mediterranean. The
purpose was to relieve the critical
shortage of such oils in Europe.
Bedaux admitted that in its early
stages the pipeline could be en-
ployed in reverse to supply water
for the construction of the trans
Sahara railway connecting Dakar
with the north, a vital considera-
ton.
"Bedaux was appointed an expert
on economic projects to the German
military administration in Frafice
and gained authority from Chief of
State Pierre Laval for the pipeline
project. He also obtained from the
German authorities permission to
have manufactured and shipped to
North Africa $4,000 tons of steel pipe
and pumping equipment and $4,000
literS of gasoline. In July, 1912,
Laval provided Bedaux with docu-
ments ordering the French military
and political leaders in North Africa
to give their cooperation.
"Bedaux flew to Algiers in October
His headquarters were in the
Aletti Hotel, which also housed the
German Armistice Commission. He
began to assemble men, trucks and
other equipment. His expedition was
to set out on November Is. On No.
vember 8 British and American
forces invaded North Africa. Bedaux
recalled at his hearing in Miami
that no ord a carv,,or 24oor VIII,
shared an adjoining room watched
the pattern Of the tracer shells over
the Algiers harbor from a balcony
of the Aletti.
After Bedaux' arrest the Attorney
General dispatched Assistant Di-
rector Percy E. Foxworth and Spe-
cial Agent Harold D. Haberfeld of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation
to North Africa to make an investi-
CATION of the case. They were killed
in plane crash in South America
In January. 1943. Other agents were
Immediately assigned to Algiers to
carry out the assignment"
Served in Foreign Legion.
Although he was known in the
capitals of two continents after his
rise to fame, little is on record
about Bedaux's early life. It is
known that he came to New York
from France about 40 years ago and
first found work as a sandhog when
the East River tunnel was under
construction. Subsequently he held
better paid jobs in a silk plant at
Paterson, N. j., and as an instructor
in French in the Berlitz School in
st. Louis.
Returning to France about the
time the World War broke out, he
joined the Foreign Legion, but was
wounded and, after convalescing
again set out for America.
United States industry was then
in a period of tremendous expan-
sion, due to the demand for war
goods. Somewhere Bedaux had
worked out a system of speeding
production by fixing an index of
workers normal output in any
given process and offering a bonus
If he surpassed this figure. He
found a ready market for his sys-
tenn in a country straining every
nerve to spur its output and, at
the end Of the war, had accumu-
lated his first million.
Son Is in U. S. Army.
After the war, he expanded his
business tremendously. establishing
European Offices and, eventually
controlling the whole system from
Amsterdam.
The late industrialist is survived
by his widow, Nine. Rose Bedaux,
who is believed to be somewhere in
France. An only son, Charles, jr.,
is on foreign duty with the United
States Army.
Edmund L. Jones of Washington,
Bedaux's attorney, told the Associ-
ated Press in Miami yesterday that
the body would be sent to New York
today. No funeral plans have been
announced.