Evening star., 1946-07-26
War Profits
Continued From First Page. }

Today's committee session opened
as though the investigator though,
Mr.. May might be present despite
reports last night that he had had
a heart attack.
rs Representative Andrew J. MAY
in The audience?" began Chairman
Mead.
Warren E. Magee then stepped
forward as Mr.. Mays counsel to an
nounce his client was not present
Says Doctor Is Willing to Appear.
After refusing to be sworn. con.
tending he was counsel and not {
witness, Mr.. Magee said Mr.. May:
doctor would be willing to appear
before the committee in executive
session.
Would you be in a position tC
state that Mr.. May had given his
consent to the doctors appearance
before us?" the counsel was asked
Mr. Magee responded that he hao
not talked to- MI. May since he
had his stroke"
YOu say IL was a stroke? Ser
ator Ferguson promptly asked:
Mr.. Magee said he had been tolC
it was heart attack but he thought
heart attacks were commonly re-
ferred to as strokes.
You would recommend that the
doctor teStify?" he was asked.
L have no heSitancy in sayine
that" Mr.. Magee replied promptly.
Hopes for Rapid Recovery.
After hearing Mr Magee's expla
nation that he had not brought e
statement from the doctor because
he had been unable to reach hin
until this morning, Senator Meac
announced:
The committee. of course. is
sorry to hear of the illness of Con.
gresham May and hopes his recov-
cry will be rapid and that he car
be with us in the very near future.
The committee then proceeded
with other business.
Soon afterward it was revealed
that the General Accounting Office
has challenged the travel expense
vouchers of ranking Army of.
lcers who attended the wedding oi
Murray Garsson's daughter in New
York
When Charles A. Levine. assistant
to the chief of the audit division oi
GAO. took the stand to reveal thai
his office had taken reception tc
these travel vouchers as of yester
day. Senator Mitchell. Democrat
of Washington asked why it was
just being done.
The witness said 1t resulted from
the General Accounting Office TAX
ing note of newspaper stories that
these officials attended the wedding
Amounts of Allowances.
Among the travel vouchers tc
which Mr.. Levine said exception
has been taken and the amounts
were: Albert Jacobson. civilian
consultant in the legal division OF
the War Department, S36 %; Col
Lester w Hurd. s36; Brig Gen. Pau
x. English, s36: Col Lowell A
Elliott, s36, and Brig Gen. Alder
H. Watt, chief of the Chemica,
Warfare Service, s36.
Senator Ferguson brought out by
questioning William L. Ellis. as
sistant to the Controller General
that taking an exception" is not a
final disallowance Mr. Ellis agreed
with the Interpretation of Senator
Ferguson that if the disbursing of
ficers who made the payments can
come back with a satisfactory ex-
planation. the travel items could
still be allowed.
Senator Ferguson, who said the
vouchers is s21628, wanted tc
know how the Government would gel
the money back if payment finally
is disallowed
Mr.. Levine said the disbursing of
flcer who made the payments woulc
be liable unless they can get il
back from the officials who did the
travelling
This prompted Senator Ferguson
to observe that if any Government
official misrepresents the purpose
of trip to disbursing officer, thai
official makes the payment at his
peril" Mr.. Ellis said that is cor
rect, except in occasional cases
where Congress has relieved dis
bursting officers from reimburse
ment upon showing they actec
in good faith
Brewster Nicked on Expenses.
Senator Brewster commended the
GAO representative for taking ex.
ception to the expense accounts anc
added that when President Truman
was chairman of the Investigating
committee he used to "scrutinize oul
expense accounts and I've beer
nicked several times on what
thought were legitimate expenses
I'm sure the President is 100 pei
cent back of this
When Mr. Ellis was questioned
about the extent to which GAO rep
resentatives had gone into advance
payments and termination settle
ments involving the Carson in.
terests. he pointed out that under
the Contract Temina ton Act the
GAO could not make a complete
investigation unless there was evil
dance of fraud.
Senator Ferguson said the fact
that the file was missing in five
cases of contract termination gave
enough evidence to indicate there
was s500,000 overpayment."
After commenting that the com.
mittee had found an apparent loop.
hole in the effort of the Govern.
ment to prevent war profits, Senator
Mead requested that the GAG
representatives examine all thu
Carson contract examinations ane
he offered the committees file.
Calling Capt. Wood to the stand
the committee wanted to know VIII,
the Navy had left the million dollar
rocket contract off the list of II
ia ronfrao&. tSaA