Evening star., 1946-09-26
Surplus

memorandum to her.
| Surplus
Continued From First Page.)
you to the hole where the other
rats are"
Action Follows Testimony.
Mr.. Moriarty, who followed his
superior to the stand, told the COM
mittee that the suspension of Mr.
Bostwick had not been ordered until
after he had testified yesterday be-
cause until that time important facts
about memo had not been estab-
lished.
Testimony was taken earlier from
top officials of the WAA compliance
and enforcement division who told
the committee the sale of 200 or
more radio trucks through the Chi
cago firm of Hallicrafters Co., a
WAA industry agent, was only one
of number of cases of unauthorized
allocations of surplus materials.
Joseph F. Carroll, director Of
the compliance division, said he had
submitted a report to the WAA
administrator August II in which
he had made numerous recon-
mendations, many of which had
been carried out.
Mr.. Carroll resisted committee
efforts to be pinned down on
| vxyI1n nf11Ar IaA Nod la
discharge Of Mr.. Bostwick. He said
it was exceedingly difficult to Ak
responsibility in case OF pre-
sumed unauthorized disposals be-
cause of the question of the motive.
Faulty Administration.
Under questioning by Chairman
Slaughter he agreed he had gotten
the impression that Mr.. Bostwick
was "very small fry" He added,
however, he had been unable to and
where any WAA employees had
profited from the deals under in
vestigation.
Thus far we have been unable
to establish more than faulty ad-
ministration," he continued, saying
his division had not yet established
any fraudulent operations. He and
Chairman Slaughter debated briefly
whether in q criminal case it was
necessary to discover or establish
the motive.
Mr.. Carroll told the committee
that discovery of the motive in such
cases might have traced the dealings
to higher levels ksm Z
Representative Rizley, Republican,
of Oklahoma, asked him II 1t was
his idea in leaving Mr.. Bostwick
on the job that he might put the
finger on some higher oficial. The
witness said that was thought but
that he considered that his main
objective was to find out what was
wrong in the whole picture of the
electronicx division.
Inquiry Followed Ad.
Chairman Slaughter brought out
that where an employe is permitted
to resign voluntarily he Is permitted
to take accumulated leave at the
expense of the Government, which
is not the case where there Is q
discharge for cause.
The case of the back-dated memo
on the Hallicrafters radio truck
transaction was investigated for
WAA by Carmine Bellino, assistant
director of the Compliance Division.
He told the committee q search for
the authorization for this transac-
ton was ordered by 1t. Gen. E. B.
Gregory, former surplus property
administrator, when a newspaper
advertisement stated that Gimbel
Bros. OF New York had radio trucks
for sale at $500 EACH Mr.. Bellino
said Gen. Gregory wanted to know
how this firm had obtained the
trucks.
Earlier testimony had indi-
Gated that Hallicrafters Co. had
sold some Of the trucks to Gimbel
Bros.
While on the stand yesterday Mr..
Bostwick admitted he had dictated
and inserted in WAA's files last
April an unsigned memorandum
backdated to December 10, which
purported to be an authorization"
Of the reduction of the radio truck
price from 81 500 to $500 each.
Mr.. Bostwick, whose memory
failed him on many details. said he
had obtained his information on the
deal from j. Gerald Mayer, WASH
ington attorney for the Hallicrafters
Co., which was an industry agent
for WAA. Mr.. Bostwick said he
could not recall that he had asked
three Government officials about
the purported price agreement" al
though he listed them in the memo
IS having agreed to the lower price
In a conference with q representa-
tive of the Hallicrafters firm, sup
posedly held December l8.
According to Mr.. Bostwick's testi-
mony, his sole purpose in inserting
the memo into the WAA files was to
"hll up a gap" in the agency's
records that he found when he was
asked by another official to ascer-
tain why the price, cut was made.
Mr.. Bostwick, a former Signal
Corps captain, did not join the WAA
staf until last February. He served
as consultant and later was moved
into other posts.
He admitted that yesterday morn
ing, shortly before the hearing, he
had called Mrs. Ruth Campbell,
former WAA stenographer, to ask
her II she had been subpoenaed by
the House Committee as . witness.
He said he had expressed to her
curiosity rs to why $50 much in
terest" was being attached to the
memo he had put into the files. To
him 1t was only routine affair"
he said.
Mrs. Campbell told the committee
Mr.. Bostwick had dictated the memo
to her and that, although she had
raised a question about backdating
the statement to December 18, he