Evening star., 1947-04-28
May '0nIy0nei ioLose'
III Lumber Firm FAILED, /,
| Partner Quotes Him
By Robert K. WoIsh

J. May wrote in October, 1943,
that II am the only one sched-
uled to lose money II the Cum
berland Lumber Co. failed, a
Kentucky witness testified in
District Court today.
Leroy w. Fields, ST., lumber COM
pany partner of May for II months
in 1943 and 1914, identified more
than a dozen letters from May
directing plans for the establish
ment and operation OF the Cum
berland concern.
Government prosecutors con-
tinued their efforts today to prove
that the 71-year-old former chair
man of the House Military Affairs
Committee received payments from
the Carson interests through the
Cumberland Lumber Co. In return
for services he did for them.
The trial of May, Henry M. and
Murray Carson and Joseph F.
Freeman, the Garssons' Washing
ton wartime agent, on charges of
conspiracy to defraud the United
States, entered its second week be-
fore Justice Henry A. Schweinhaut
and jury of seven men and five
women.
Identifies Letter.
After repeating testimony that he
always regarded May as the owner
of the lumber company and that he
had never heard of the Garssons at
that time, Mr.. Fields identified an
october Is, 1943, letter in which
May told him:
II am in a position to lose more
money than anybody. AS a matter
of fact, I am the only one that is
scheduled to lose If the job (the
Cumberland Lumber Coz is not a
success. I have already paid $4,000
on the purchase price and expect to
put up another 10 for operating
capital, including purchase of ma
chinery.
1.-THE War Production Board
granted the priority for the new saw
mill and I am promised prompt de-
livery of it. If you can get it set
up and ready to operate, if any logs
are available, then of course we can
proceed to get some income coming
back to the job to meet the obliga-
ton, but the notes for the balance
of the purchase price of the property
will begin to mature in a short while
and hope you can put the job on
a basis that we can get production
as soon as possible so as to meet
these deferred payments"
On House Stationery.
This letter, shown to the jury by
William A. Paisley, Government
special prosecutor, was typed on sta
tionery of the House Military Affairs
Committee and signed by May.
Most of the other letters identified
by Mr.. Fields as having been NJ
ceived between May, 1e43, and the
spring of of 1914 were handwritten
by May, usually on House commit
tee stationery.
These letters, in general, included
instructions from May to Mr.. Fields
concerning methods of getting the
company started and building log
chute and sawmill. In one letter
dated September 20, 1943, May cited
acute labor shortages and said he
doubted that big production could
be obtained during the war. He nev-
Ierthless gave specific directions fo1
supplying nine prop logs to fill an
order from the United States Steel
Corp. .5.sY FL.
No Mention Of Garssons.
The letters became increasingly
critical late in 1943.
Their tone indicated that May was
dissatisfied with the lack of progress
in turning out timber. In none o1
the letters, Mr.. Fields testified, was
there any mention of the Garssons
or of the Batavia Metal Products
Inc, or of the Erie Metal Products
Inc, Illinois affiliates of the $78, ,O00,-
006 Carson wartime syndicate.
Mr.. Fields also said that while he
was with the lumber company he
never saw any purchase orders from
any Carson company.
Mr.. Paisley had the witness iden-
tlfy a carbon copy of letter he
wrote to May on October 1S, 1943
The Fields letter declared May was
"laboring under the wrong impres-
sion" about progress of the lumber
company and about the relationship
between the two partners, Mr.. Fields
and May. One sentence in the letter
called attention to an earlier agree
ment whereby Mr.. Fields said he had
been authorized to discharge any
lumber company employees found
drinking on the job.
Prosecution Overruled.
Mr.. Paisley attempted to have Mr.
Fields elaborate on that point but
he was overruled on objection by
Mays chief counsel, Warren E
Magee. Defense counsel contended
that no evidence had yet been intro
duced to indicate that Mr.. Fields
had wanted to discharge any en-
ploye for that reason or had been
prevented by May from having
done so.
Early in 1914, according to a let
ter identified by Mr.. Fields, May
served notice that unless Mr. Fields
got lumber going I am going to
have to put somebody on the job. y
May wrote further:
ut is extremely difficult to pro-
vide money to keep this going with
nothing at all coming back :"
Business is business and I can't af-
ford to be broke up at this stage OF
my life and I'm not going to allow
it to get me in debt so badly I can't
get out"
Mr.. Fields testified that he agreed
with May that an experienced full
time manager should be employed
He therefore decided in March, 1914