Evening star., 1949-08-23
-AP Photo.

influence of my office; at no time
have sought advantage or gain
for myself or for any other per-
sons ."
He said he welcomed the inquiry
and was prepared to Justify every
action have taken and every de-
cision have made"
He said he would not be so
"presumptious" as to say he had
made no mistakes. but invited the
committee to carefully scrutinize
his entire record. = :,
For every act from which "hasty
decision or bad Judgment might
possibly be inferred" he continued.
'you will find one thousand-fold
the evidence of my sincerity, my
honesty. my loyalty y apd my
achievement" stN
Not a Classified Document. !
Gen. Feldman was not ques-
toned about all the episodes men
toned today because the commit
tee recessed after hearing his pre-
pared statement, with the under
standing that he would be
recalled at 10 am. tomorrow. But
the general did specifically dis
cuss the incident which he said
he understood was the basis for
his suspension. This was the fur
nishing of the clothing and equip
ment to Mr.. Hunt.
The committee was told earlier
that the information he gave Mr..
Hunt contained more details about
the purchase forecasts than the
report which had been published
In congressional hearings.
Gen. Feldman said the copy he
furnished Mr.. Hunt was not a
classified document; that it had
been published in the appropria-
tions hearing and in at least one
newspaper two months earlier.
He said the copy furnished to
Mr.. Hunt was the second revision
of the proposed purchase program
but was still so tentative that what
actually was purchased during the
fiscal year 1948 varied substanti-
ally from both the information
given to Congress and that given
to Mr.. Hunt.
No Advance Commitments.
He emphasized that since these
purchase programs are not firm
and definite they offer no ad-
vance commitment so as to give
the possessor inside information.
"They are out of date shortly
after their issuance, the general
explained, land for that reason
primarily we do not make gen.
eral distribution of them"
He said there was no stated
policy covering the circulation Of
these forecasts in 1947, but it
was generally accepted that they
would not be issued so that re-
cipients would not claim to have
been misled as to our ultimate
procurement program"
Gen. Feldman said frankly it
was his decision to furnish copy
Of the program to Mr.. Hunt.
IT had no objection and there
was none at that time" he said
Ito furnishing this information
to any individual or firm who ir
my Judgment had legitimate use
for it and who understood 1t.
character"
He pointed out that Mr.. Hunt
had been Quartermaster of1cel
during the war, and was awarded
the Legion of Merit, and addet
that Mr.. Hunt "knew of our opera
tions and I knew that he under
stood the tentative character o
this program"
Declaring that the Government
procurement officers at that tint
were trying to interest firms II
doing business with the Govern
ment, when they wanted to g
mack to more profitable civilian
work, Gen. Feldman asserted:
"It has been inferred that
sought to give Mr.. Hunt and tn
Arms he represented an unfai
advantage over their competitor
by giving, him this alleged con
adential information. But