Evening star., 1945-12-19

SAID ne wanted 10 correct any I'M
preston that the services had
withheld information, from him.
The two Senators raised the ques-
ton again yesterday, and today the
Army produced a series of messages
that passed between Tokyo, WASH
ington and Berlin in the spring of
194l, all indicating the japanese
had suspicious their coded messages
were being read.
One of the messages, from the
Japanese embassy here to Tokyo,
dated May 20, 194l, advised the home
government that the United States
is reading some of our codes" The
embassy promised to let Tokyo
know later by courier or some other
safe method how it was being done.
Information Facilities.
A message from Tokyo to Wash
ington, also sent in May, 1941, in
structed the Embassy to use l941
| regulations for A and B code ma
chimes until further notice"
Senator Ferguson asked Admiral
Wilkinson if he knew Admiral
Thomas Hart, former command
er of the Asiatic Fleet, had facil-
tiles for DECIDING japanese mes
sages at Corregidor, while Rear
Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, their
Pacific Fleet commander, with head
quarters at Pearl Harbor, had no
such equipment.
Admiral 1Ui1Lipcoo ro;l y, l,,a,
both commanders had facilities for
obtaining some information of what
the japanese were doing, but he did
not know the extent of it.
Did you know" Senator Ferguson
pressed, that Admiral Kimmel had
no means of cracking the japanese
purple code, but Admiral Hart had?"
L do not recall that I knew"
said the witness.
Sought Record of Testimony.
Senator Ferguson sought to bring
out whether the Roberts Commits
sion, which investigated Pearl Har-
Dor soon after the disaster, had
a stenographic record of its hear
ings
Admiral Wilkinson said his recol-
lecticn was that stenographer took
down his testimony.
Il looked for a record of the testi-
mony since coming here" he added,
but I found there was nothing but
summary available. 1t may be
that only an abstract of the testi-
mony was made-I don't know"
In response to further questions,
the admiral said he and other high
officers of the Navy Department dis
cussed number of times between
December l and whether it was
necessary to send further warnings
to the Pacific commanders. In view
of the war warning" which had
been sent them November 81. 1t was
felt they had sufficient warnings, he
said.
Further Warning Discussed.
Was there any specific discus
sion of sending Admiral Kimmel
further information?" Senator Fer
guson asked.
"Yes, 1 remember discussing
whether any further warning should
go out, in view of further informa- =
ton we had received after Novem-
Der 27," Admiral Wilkinson replied.
All this information, he added,
showed japanese movement in the
South China Sea.
My memory is very hazy about
those conversations, he told the
committee. "but I know there was
no intimation from anything we
had learned of an attack on Hawaii. "
"At least you had no thought of
such an attack at the time?"
That was true, said the admiral.
Most of the messages which the
Navy decoded in Washington were
yeing picked up in Hawaii or at
Corregidor, he recalled.
Thought War Was Imminent.
"You were familiar with the mes
sage to Tokyo instructing the EN-
bassy to destroy our codes?" the
Michigan Senator prompted.
Admiral Wilkinson said he was,
particularly the instructions to the
naval attache.
Did you believe war was immi-
nent?"
Imminent but not inevitable -
said the admiral.
Senator Ferguson told reporters
this morning that if the Demo-
cratic majority on the COM
mittee goes through with the plan
to propose 30-day extension of the
inquiry. he will offer a substitute
resolution for a straight continu-
ance without time limit.
Lucas Wants KimmeI, Short.
At the sam& time, Senator Lucas,
Democrat, of illinois added his voice
to the move to call Admiral Kimmel
and Maj Gen. Walter c. Short, the
Hawaiian commanders on the day
of the attack, Immediately after
Christmas.
The original plan was to bring
them on the stand last, so that they
would have the benefit of all the
other testimony before presenting
their side of the story-a story they
have never had an opportunity to
tell at public hearing. The early
calling of Admiral Kimmel and
Gen. Short would be essential, if
Congress decides to limit the extern
sion of the inquiry to 80 days.
Senator Ferguson said he does not
see how all of the scheduled wit
nesses-approximately 50-could be
heard in 30 days, and predicted "the
people will not be satisfied" with an
incomplete investigation.
ut would be q waste of time, I"
the Michigan Senator went on.
Gases are not decided by hearing
only important witnesses. And the
value of testimony is not measured
by days or pages"
Senator Ferguson said he thought
the committee should stop trying to
meet every day, in order to give
members time to study the evidence.
His view is that q more thorough
/ job could be done II the committee
goes along at slower pace after
the holidays. recessing for q few
days at time when other impor-