Evening star., 1947-11-19
$1,000 Kicked Back
To Meyers, Witness
Tells Committee
Continued From First Page.)

Curnutt as a railroad man" who
had borrowed money from him, and
wanted to be in position to repay
the loan, Mr.. Readnower said.
II learned later he had driven a
bus for a railroad" the witness went
on. II first gave him a bookkeeping
job but he couldn't do it. He con-
fessed he wasn't qualified.
Letter Crops Up Again.
A 1945 anonymous letter accusing
Gen. Meyers of fraudulent activities
cropped up again at the outset of
today's session.
Declaring I'VE are trying to de-
termine if we can function as a
committee of Congress-" Chairman
Ferguson asked Maj. Gen. Junius w.
Jones, the air inspector, why the
. Air Force did not send the letter
to the subcommittee earlier this
year.
At that time the subcommittee
had requested the Air Force to pro-
vide information about Gen. Meyers.
1t learned later that the letter, re-
ceived by the FBI and forwarded to
the War Department, was sent to
the Air Force front Office" and filed
for two years without an investiga-
ton, Senator Ferguson recalled.
.. Gen. Jones admitted he issued
. directive in June, 1945, telling Air
Force investigators to give careful
:: attention to anonymous complaints.
:. Never Reached Office.
!. Yet the anonymous letter. dated
June %, 1945, and referring to Gen.
Meyers, not only was never investi-
gated by his Office but never reached
. it, he said.
Gen. Jones admitted his Office has
made no investigation of Gen. Mey-
ers since the anonymous letter came
to the attention of the Air inspect
or's Department last May. He said
he has made no written or verbal
report on the matter.
The air inspector, added, however,
2 that he considered the 1945 letter,
when he finally saw it in 1947, as
"self-discrediting letter" He said
the writer, who claimed to be an air
officer, had left the IS" off Of Air
Corps. No air force officer would do
that, he continued.
Gen. Jones also described the let
ter as failing to present specific eW-
= dence that Gen. Meyers profited
from Air Force contracts. The
author of the letter seemed to be
"sanctimonious" and a "reformer
type" in urging an investigation to
promote "decency and honesty in
the Air Force, he added.
Obstruction Effort Charged.
Committee Counsel William P.
Rogers interrupted to assert that
there seemed to have been IAN OBJ
vious attempt to obstruct justice"
when Air Force officials apparently
decided not to send the letter to the
Senate subcommittee last May.
Col. John w. Price, executive Of
ficer to Gen. Jones, testified last
week he sent a memorandum to
high Air Force officers, asking
whether the letter should be given
the subcommittee. That memoran-
dunn, as read by Mr.. Rogers, stated
that the letter probably need not be
disclosed to the subcommittee be-
cause there had been no specific
request for it,
Protesting that II didn't come into
this picture until this year." Gen.
Jones was questioned closely about
what his Office has done in recent
months about investigating Gen
Meyers.
According to testimony from wit
nesses and records yesterday, Gen.
Meyers received $26,777 from the
company in cash in 1912 and a total
of $67,303 in checks in 1941. OF the
1941 total, s34,810 represented repay
ments for loans" made by Gen.
Meyers to the concern In 1910, Mr..
Lamarre testified.
Tells Of Expenditures.
Gen. Meyers, whom the company
president described as real owner OF
the Aviation Electric Corp, used
large amounts of the 1941 payments
to decorate his Washington apart
ment, buy an automobile and obtain
other luxuries, several witnesses
declared.
Mr.. Lamarre went into painstak-
ing detail to describe how Gen.
Meyers made him company presi-
= dent in 1910 at an actual salary Of
s2,957 year but had the company
books list the presidents salary at
" .$31, 900.
: Most of the recorded executive
salary" therefore was kicked back"
to Gen. Meyers, the witness as
serted. Much of the "kickback,"
as well as other payments carried
on the books as company Expenses"
was used by Gen. Meyers for a
i. $4,000 decorating job at his Hotel