Evening star., 1947-11-14


-AP Wirephoto.
the copy of the anonymous letter
until few days later. although the
subcommittee last May asked the
Air Force for information about Gen
Meyers, Senator Ferguson said.
Hearings on this procurement
phase" will continue next week
despite the return of Congress in
special session beginning Monday
Tomorrow it expects to wind ur
the public inquiry into the $40, 900, ,00l
in Government contracts given
Mr.. Hughes for a huge flying
boat project and photo reconnais-
sance planes. Neil S. Mccarthy
former Hughes attorney who sale
in a closed session last month that
Gen. Meyers tried to borrow money
from MI. Hughes for a Government
bond buying plan, is the only an
nounced witness for tomorrow
The hearings yesterday and today
were related to the Hughes contracts
inquiry in that the subcommittee is
trying also to determine how Gen
Meyers, while key figure in Air
Force negotiations for a Hughes
contract, financed a $4,00O,O00 bond
purchase. Gen. Meyers said Wednes-
day, he and his wife made 800, 900
paper profit on that transaction but
denied he asked Mr.. Hughes for
100000 to acquire the bonds on
margin. He declared, on the con-
trary, he rejected an offer of a $780,
600 loan through a Hughes attor-
ney.
Evidence on Stock Presented.
The following evidence concern
ing Gen. Meyers and the Air Force
exploded yesterday at the subcom-
'mittee session:
Gen. Meyers replied on February
S, 1943, to secret" Air Force query
on aviation or aviation accessory
company stock holdings that he held
only 200 shares of General Electric
Co. stock. He said he disposed of
several thousand shares of such
stock before he became a procure
ment officer in December, 1910.
Carmine S. Bellino, a committee
auditor and former chief of the
FBI auditing section, then took the
stand to disclose Gen. Meyers actu-
ally held 2,7O0 shares of stock valued
at $35, 5,074 in a brokerage account in
Dayton, Ohio, on February S, 1943.
These were shares in the Bell, Boe-
ing, Lockheed, Glenn Martin, North
American, Republic and United Air
craft companies, Mr.. Bellino testi-
fled.
Gen. Meyers, according to the
witness, transferred some of the
stocks to an account he opened for
his wife in her maiden name, na
Curnutt. A gift tax statement in
,Mcated he made the transfer on
February IA, 1943, the day they were
married. Further testimony brought
out that the actual transfer date
for tax purposes was June "a, 1914,
and that the stock transferred to
Mrs. Meyers was a wedding gift.
Mr.. Beilino explained an investi-
gator would have had considerable
trouble tracing any relationship be-
tween those stocks and Gen. Meyers.
The investigator, he said, would have
to know they were in the account of
Greene & Brock, Dayton brokers,
and that liza Curnu,t was the maiden
name of Mrs. Meyers.
Rumors of Deals Heard.
Mr.. Bellino's testimony followed
a disclosure by Col. william
Nuckols. an Air Force public. rela-
tions officer, that the Air Force, in
1943, heard "rumors" that high
ranking procurement officers held
large blocks of stock in aircraft
concerns with which they had off,
cial dealings. The Air Force, Col.
Nuckols said, sought "a satisfactory
solution to squelch the rumors."
After hearing Mr.. Bellino,s testi-
mony that Gen. Meyers had many
more stocks and had not reported
them to superior officers, the sub
committee called Gen. Jones and
Col. Price for questioning about ap-
parent failure or unwillingness of Air
Force headquarters to investigate
dealings of Gen. Meyers.
That is where the anonymous
letter came in. The subcommittee
declined to release the letter, but
Mr.. Rodgers read parts of it into the
record. It was received by the FBI
in May, 1945, and sent to Army In
telligence. After being referred
later to the Air Force front Office"
it was filed away and not brought
to light until finally obtained by
the Senate subcommittee two weeks
ago, he said.
Identified as Air Officer.
The letter, dated June %, 1945,
from Kansas City, was written by a
person who identified himself only
as an Air Force officer, because II
do not care to suffer the vindictive-
ness I would If my name were
known"
He wrote that Gen. Meyers had
been "in a position to capitalize" on
knowledge of pending Air Force
contracts by buying stock in COM
panies prior to release of bids. He
Gen. Meyers "is now worth
between 100000 and $2,0O0,000."
This brought loud guffaw from
Gen. Meyers who was seated near
the committee table.
When Senator Ferguson and Mr..
Rodgers were unable to get what
they considered satisfactory expla-
nations from Gen. Jones and Col
Price for the lack of Air Force
action on the letter. Mr.. Rogers read