Evening star., 1947-11-14

is housed in the needle poifit
ment Improperly in connection with
contracts"
Subcommittee Recesses.
The subcommittee recessed early
this afternoon until 10 am. tomor-
row when it expects to conclude the
Howard Hughes war contracts phase
of the inquiry.
Gen. Echols is expected to return
to the stand Monday.
Today's first witness was Maj.
Gen. Junius w. Jones, Air Force air
inspector, who testified that IAN
Air Force general" declared Gen.
Meyers in 1943 wanted to "get con-
troll of surplus property"
The air inspector said he did not
investigate this charge although the
general he referred to urged that
steps be taken to prevent such con-
troll by Gen. Meyers.
Poker at High Stakes.
While Gen. Jones was on the
stand this morning, Senator Fergu-
son suddenly asked:
Did you ever hear that Gen.
Meyers played poker for high stakes,
sometimes as high as $4,000, during
the WARP"
Il heard 1t only about a month
ago." the witness replied, Il never
heard about any specific stakes ex-
cept that they were large"
Subcommittee members pressed
Gen. Jones for information about
the officer who in 1943 said he dis
trusted" Gen. Meyers and hoped he
never would be able to get control
of surplus property.
Name Whispered to Ferguson.
Finally, Gen. Jones, at the request
of Senator Ferguson, walked to the
other side of the table and whis-
pered the name to the chairman.
Very well, we will look into it,"
Senator Ferguson said.
Gen. Jones revealed publicly only
that the officer was a major gen.
eral in the Air Force. He. said that
officer never was in the procure
ment division as far as he knew.
Earlier, when asked about the
anonymous letter urging an inves-
tigation of Gen. Meyers, the air
inspector said the letter never went
through his Office He did not see
it until recently, he explained.
Gen. Jones said he could not eX-
plain why this letter, forwarded
from the FBI to Army intelligence
and then routed" to the air in
spector's Office, bypassed his Office
and apparently went direct to the
Office of the then Air Force COM
mander, Gen. Arnold.
Probed Lot of Generals.
did it go to the top Office because
Meyers was major general?" Sen
ator Ferguson asked.
, Absolutely not" the witness re-
torted. I'VE have investigated a
lot of generals q!
Under further questioning, how
ever, Gen. Jones said he could not
recall any recent case of a general
brought before a court martial or
given public reprimand as a result
of such an investigation by his Office.
Senator Ferguson then turned the
questioning to the possibility of an
officer taking records from the Air
Force files on his retirement. When
Gen. Jones said officers did not have
such access to files, the chairman
demanded
Then how do you account for
the fact that certain records of that
kind, now held by this committee,
could be obtained only from Gen.
Meyers after we were unable to OBJ
tain them from the Air Force?"
Gen. Jones said he could not ac-
count for it.
Arnold Expected to Testify.
1t is expected that the Air Force
officers will be questioned on whether
they "whitewashed" reports that
Gen. Meyers owned stock in aircraft
companies while he was a procure
ment officer. Gen. Arnold is ex-
pected to be one of the witnesses.
In one of the stormiest sessions
since the public hearings re-opened
on November S on Air Force pro-
curement practices in general and
the Hughes war plane contracts
in particular. the subcommittee late
yesterday heard evidence that Gen.
Meyers in February, 1943, had 2,70O
shares of stock valued at $35,074 In
seven big aircraft corporations.
Witnesses testified he not only
failed to report these holdings to his
superiors but also transferred the
stock later to a brokerage account
in the name of his wife.
Gen. Meyers, however, had an
easy afternoon compared with the
hammering Gen. Jones and his ex-
ecutive officer, COL John H. Price,
received from subcommittee mem
bers. Chairman Ferguson and Chief
Counsel William Rodgers demanded
to know why the Air Force con-
cealed" for more than two years the
anonymous letter.
Probe Suggested in Letter.
This letter. on stationery of the
Hotel President. Kansas City, Mo-,
suggested an investigation of Gen.
Meyers In 1945. 1t asserted he made
immense profits" from buying stock
In companies getting Air Force con-
tracts.
The anonymous letter asserted that
for 10 years Gen. Meyers had access
to contracts for Air Force equipment
and 'it has been his practice to buy
stock in companies prior to release
of bids" The letter added that only
during the four or five years prior
to 1945 he had been "able to capital
ize on the procedure" Gen. Meyers
did not go to the procurement divi-
sion until 1910.
The subcommittee stated it had
to go to Air Secretary Symington
two weeks ago to pry the Meyers
file" out of the Air Force head
quarters. Even then. 1t did not get