Evening star., 1948-08-02

followed Saturday by Remington
with a denial of her charges.
Miss Bentley. before the Un-
American Activities Committee Sat-
urday, called the roll of past and
present Government employees whom
she said passed on to her political
and military information during the
war years. The information, she
declared, passed through her hands
to a Soviet go-between for relay to
Russia.
Prominent on her list OF informa-
tion-givers were Lauchlin Currie,
administrative assistant to Presi-
dent Roosevelt, and Harry Dexter
White, assistant secretary of the
Treasury, who wrote the Morgen-
thau plan. Both denied her charges.
Score of Officials Named.
Miss Bentley named more than q
score of Government officials. More
than half of them, according to
Chief Committee Investigator
Robert E. Stripping already were
known to the committee.
: Mr.. Stripping said the subpoenas
to be issued today would include
those on Miss Bentley's list as well
as some whose names cropped up
through prior committee investi-
cation.
Mr.. Thomas, in announcing that
he would ask the convening OF
special grand jury to look into
espionage in Government, said the
request was based on previous COM
mittee findings as we'll as on Miss
Bentley's testimony.
Reports that Miss Bentley and the
committee might have exchanged
names before her public appearance
were promptly denied by the cnle1
investigator.
I'VE never had talked to her,"
Mr.. Stripping declared. I'VE mad
been making our own investigation
and conducting hearings. we nave
the names of some people she olon I
mention and there were some on
her list we had never heard or.
Mr.. Stripping recalled that When
he was asked by committee mem
bers Saturday for background IN
formation on all those mentioned
by Miss Bentley, he explained tnat
he didn't have it on all OF them pc
cause he had not interviewed the
witness before she testified ana
some of the names were not prevl-
ously known to the committee.
An indication of which ones were
known to the committee came Wnen
Mr.. Stripping read into the record
part of the testimony taken at an
executive hearing last May Is at
which Nathan Gregory Silvermaster
was the witness.
Silyermaster was named by Miss
Bentley as the leader of ring OF
Government employees who used his
home as the headquarters for esplo-
mage activities. Silvermaster, whose
lob Miss Bentley said was saved by
Mr.. Currie, has denied the charges.
Those whom Silvermaster was
asked if he knew were:
Victor Perlo, described by Miss
Bentley as head Of second esplon-
age group of Government employees:
Harry Magdoff, Mr.. Remington,
Joseph and Ruth Gregg, John Abt,
Charles Kramer, Edward j. F1tz-
gerald, Louise Bransten, David Ivan
Wheeler, Mr.. White, Maurice Hal
perrin.
Silvermaster, according to this
testimony, refused to say whether
he knew any of them on the ground
that he might incriminate himself.
On July 2, Mr.. STRIPPING told the
committee, Kramer was summoned
to an executive session. His Ques-
tioning brought in some names not
mentioned by Miss Bentley, accord
ing to the record read by Mr.. Strip
ling.
He was asked If he had con-
ferred with Harold Ware, now dead,
regarding the formation of COM
munist cells in Government agen-
cies in the District of Columbia. !"
He refused to answer on the ground
he might incriminate himself.
Wares name was not on Miss
Bentley's list, nor was the name OF
Daniel Melcher, a second person
about whom Kramer was, ques-
toned. Kramer has been identified
as former employe of the Senate
Education and Labor Committee.
Mr.. STRIPPING said there were
other persons whose names ap-
peared in the questioning at the
executive sessions but they were not
made public because Miss Bentley
had not mentioned them.
Some of those on Miss Bentley's
list were summoned before the New
York grand jury which met for
many months on the question OF
espionage and finally indicted II
persons on charges of plotting the
overthrow Of the Government by
force.
As committee members and in
vestigators indicated that further
revelations were imminent, more
denials came in from those men
toned by Miss Bentley.
Mary Watkins Price, chairman of
the Progressive Party of North
Carolina and former secretary to
Columnist Walter Lippmann, des-
cribed as Fantastic" Miss Bentley's
charge that she was a Communist
who turned over secret information
to Miss Bentley for transmission to
Moscow.
Frank Coe, who left the Treasury
Department for job with the In
ternational Monetary Fund, termed
Miss Bentley's testimony "absurb." F."
Coe, who was listed by Miss Bentley
as a member of the Silvermaster
group, said he did not know Miss
Bentley and had previously denied
her story under oath.
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