Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-08-13

and the Washington Committee to
Aid China because she thought it
was Communist-sponsored Mr..
Currie said he had no recollection
of that
Mr.. Currie was asked If he knew
Earl Browder. deposed head of the
Communist Party in this country.
The witness replied that he met
Browder once at the request of then
Undersecretary Of State Sumner
Welles. He explained that Mr..
Welles thought a statement made in
the Daily Worker about China
should be retracted and asked that
a conference with Browder be ar
ranged. The upshot Of the confer
ence, said Mr.. Currie, was the with
drawal OF the Daily Worker state
ment.
| Like the witnesses who have pre-
coded him, Mr.. Currie was asked
about nearly 80, persons whose
names have been mentioned in the
testimony. Some he knew and some
he did not know, he testified.
he would be willing to have made
public the testimony he gave before
the New York grand jury and dur
ing an interview with FBI agents.
The witness replied that if that was
customary, he had no objection,
and asked for no privilege.
| Would Not Hire Communist.
Mr.. Currie under questioning by
Representative Mundt said he never
had nor ever would hire or recon-
mend for Federal employment any
one he believed or suspected was a
Communist.
| While Mr.. Mundt praised Mr.. Cur
rie for being the first person to ad-
NIT you've been in the basement OF
Nathan Silvermaster's home" he
went on to say that Mr.. Currie's
testimony did much to corroborate
statements made by Miss Bentley
against various other persons.
Mr.. Currie drew laugh from the
audience after Representative He
bert, Democrat, of Louisiana, re-
called that several witnesses had re-
fused on constitutional grounds to
say whether they knew Mr.. Currie.
Il know Of no reason why I'd
incriminate anyone" Mr.. Currie
chuckled.
Would Have Aided Others.
Under repeated questioning about
his communication with Mr.. Pat
terson on the Silvermaster case, Mr..
Currie insisted he had done for
Silvermaster simply what 1 would
have done for anyone else"
Did you do it for anyone else?"
Mr.. Hebert asked.
OF hand, no." Mr.. Currie re-
piled. II can't tax my memory. But
even that incident left no lasting
impression on me-"
| When Mr.. White took the stand
committee questioning developed
that he, too, had become involved in
Silvermaster's difficulties with in
telligence authorities and that he,
too, had been in the basement of
Silvermaster's home
| He told the committee that Silver
master had told him in 1912 or '43
that he was being asked to resign
from the Board Of Economic War
fare on grounds of being a Com
munist. Silvermaster, he said, asked
aid in getting his name cleared.
He never impressed me as a
Communist" Mr.. White said. Il
was little taken back. Iasked him
if he was Communist. He said
no." -'t' ST. - -
Convinced of Integrity.
Mr.. White went on to explain
that he had asked Silvermaster to
give him some proof and received
from Silyermaster lengthy state
ment listing the charges that had
been made against him and his re-
plies.
After reading the statement, Mr..
White went on. he was convinced of
Silvermasters integrity and went to
see Herbert CASTOR, Assistant Sec
rotary of the Treasury and men,
Der of the Loyalty Board.
He said he told Mr.. CASTOR that
he was in thorough sympathy with
the view that mere suspicion was
enough to keep a man from occupy
ing a Government post where he
had access to confidential informa-
ton. He added he told Mr.. CASTOR
that he did not believe Silver
master should remain in the BEW
but that unless the evidence was
clear, he thought it was "a darn
shame for man to lose his live
lihood.
For that reason, he explained, he
asked Mr.. CASTOR to look into the
charges with a view to letting Sill
vermaster return to his old job in
the Agriculture Department. He
said he assumed that Silvermaster
was cleared because he got his old
job back.
Played Ping Pong in Basement.
Asked whether he had ever visited
Silvermasters basement, he said
that he had played ping pong there
at party.
In answer to questions he said he
didn't recall seeing any photo
graphic equipment but he would
not have paid any attention to it
because he wasn't interested in
photography.
He then proceeded to volunteer
the information that he knew Ull-
man was interested in photography
and had some splendid photo
graphs" He said he asked Ullmann
to take some pictures of the White
children and the photographs were
so good that they now hang in his
bedroom.
Ullmann was described by Miss
Bentley as the person who did most
of the photographing of secret doc
uments in the Silvermaster base
ment
When Mr.. White mentioned
playing ping pong, Chairman
Thomas referred to note from
Mr. White in which Mr.. White
asked for recess after each hours
/