Evening star., 1947-11-28
Contracts
Continued From First Page J

rest, ana we nave some fraud cases
on plane contracts ready to CO."
\ Mr.. Bender refused to comment or
fny specific case. But he said in.
Nestigators have been looking int
She relations of several wartim,
furchasing officers with manufac
Xurers later listed as having beer
highly overpaid by the Government
The committee. he added, plans t,
retTace these transactions to de
termine whether any of the officer
were being cut in on the contracts
Information on which the Bende
groups investigation is being baset
primarily was turned over to Con
gress early this year by the Genera
Accounting Office.
In this report, the GAO charged
that many Army and Navy officers
who handled wartime contracts have
since gone to work for manufactur-
ers whose contracts they renegoti-
ated when the war was over.
The committees first session Mon
day will be held behind closed doors
Tuesday it will open hearings on a
GAO audit Of the Reconstruction
Finance Corp. This was made at
the committees request by T. Cole
man Andrews of Richmond, Va.
From the audit, Mr.. Bender said
the committee will go into the RIGS
purchasing activities, and some of
the airplane contracts in question
may be brought to light at that
time.
The comittee has full schedule
of hearings planned for December
and into January, Mr.. Bender added,
covering all fields of Government
buying.
Purchasing Officers to Testify.
Military purchasing officers as well
as plane builders are due for testi-
mony, he said.
Meanwhile, the possibility of a
drive in the Senate to extend the
life of War Investigating Commit
tee developed with members citing
the Meyers case as Justification for
keeping the unit going.
The committee, first headed by
President Truman when he was a
Senator, is scheduled to close up
shop February /, and Chairman
Brewster has stated he had no plans
to ask for an extension.
That. however, was before the
committee struck pay dirt digging
into Gen. Meyers wartime dealings.
Senator Brewster is in Europe and
has pot said WI cther he has changed
his mind a. ~ceking additional
life for the eating body.
Cain F. -ontinuation.
But Senator Iain, Republican, of
Washington, a member of the COM
mittee. told a reporter he believes
its continuation would be a very
healthy thing for this country" He
added:
The Meyers case alone merits it.
My opinion is that if the committee
is allowed to expire, the work it has
done never would be carried on by
any of the Senates regular COM
mittees."
The committee was granted a
years extension last January, only
after bitter argument in the Sem
ate. Opponents contended that its
work should be taken over by the
standing committees.
Senator Hatch, Democrat, of New
Mexico, a member of the group, op-
posed extension then and he said
today he has not changed his mind.
But Senator Pepper, Democrat, of
Florida said he is mot particularly
averse" to voting for an extension.
1T would be all right with me so
long as the committee stays out of
politics and operates strictly on the
merits of matters before it," Sen
ator Pepper told a reporter.
Senator Pepper has contended
that in some of it's investigations
the GOP-dominated committee was
out to smear the Roosevelt admin
istration.
Senator Wherry of Nebraska, the
Republican whip, said he would sup
port an extension bid "on showing
OF justification"
Newfoundland was discovered in
i497 by John Cabot, Venetian ex-