Evening star., 1949-08-19

= Vinson, Secretary Of the Treasu
ton I had overheard. and he said,
Well, I will be glad to ship one
down there. He authorized me to
have a freezer shipped to the Pres
ident's family at independence.
II telephoned to Milwaukee and
made the arrangements, but I do
not recall If it was in that con-
versation or shortly after that Mr..
Bennett, on his own suggestion,
said, I would also like to ship
some to a number of other ADM e
istration leaders whom ! like ani
admire
Rogers Notes Difference.
Mr.. Rogers broke in to declare
that Mr.. Bennett had given a diff
ferent version. He quoted Mr..
Bennett as saying: MI. Hoffman
then suggested to Mr.. Bennett
that 1t might be a nice courtesy
and a token Of esteem If some
similar units were presented.
Shipment was arranged by and
through Mr.. Hoffman. who at
tended to all the details with Mr..
Gross company"
Mr.. Rogers then said to the
witness, Nov, that is just in con-
tradiction to what you are testi-
flying"
"Well," Mr.. Hoffman replied,
"Mr. Bennett made the decision
to send them. He paid for them"
I When Mr.. Hoffman surmised
later that "it. is possible Gen.
Vaughan may have suggested
some of the names" Senator
Mundt exclaimed: .s-.
Nov you are eonlple letely con-
tradicting the answer to the ques-
ton five minutes ago. You said
positively not, Gen. Vaughan never
mentioned a deep freeze to you in
connection with any individual
except the White House"
"Well," Mfr. HOFFMAN said, "Gen.
Vaughan must have given me
either Mr.. Bennett or Ine-the
names and addresses of the other
people to whom the freezers were
sent" ...
Senator Mccarthy wanted to
know if Gen. Vaughan knew who
was paying for the freezers.
Mr.. Hoffman-Yes.
Senator Mccarthy: He did? Did
he ever offer to make payment?
Mr.. Hoffman: I do not know.
Senator Mccarthy: At least he
never did to you.
Mr.. Hoffman: Not to me.
$500 OPA Price.
At the start of the closed hear
ing, Mr.. Gross testified that
freezers were shipped to Gen.
Vaughan. Mrs. Truman at Inde-
pendence. Mo-; James K. Varda-
man, the Presidents former naval
aide; Presidential Secretary Mat
thew Connolly. Fred M. Vinson,
who later became Chief Justice;
Treasury Secretary Snyder and
another to Gen. Vaughan for the
White House.
He disclosed that the estab-
lished OPA price was $500 for
each. but that they were sold at a
35 per cent discount.
"They were not classified as
factory rejects?" Senator Mundt
asked.
1--WE had no such animal" Mr..
Gross responded.
Mr.. Gross was also positive in
his testimony that the freezers
were not experimental models. He
testified his firm had been making
them at least six months before
the first shipment went out to
Gen. Vaughan and his friends.
The questioning went on this way:
Mr.. Rogers-Was there q big
demand for these freezers?
Mr.. Gross-We could not make
them fast enough.
Mr.. Rogers-You told me in my
office that you had such a tremen-
dous demand for them that you
would rather send them to people
in just your own locality.
Turned Down Business. j.,
Mr.. Cross-We did not want to
bother with shipments; we turned
down lots of business. 49,.
He went on to say the freezers
were double-checked before they
were shipped to be sure they were
in perfect shape.
"Then you had not gotten into
production sufficiently to call
them obsolete" asked Senator
Smith, Republican, of Maine.
mo" replied Mr.. Gross. There
was nothing obsolete in the re-
lfrigeration line at that time, moth
ing at ALL"
The witness verified previously
published reports that he had re-
ceived a thank-you note from
Mrs. Truman. He said he "WaS
sure it was misdirected" and that
he called Mr.. Hoffman. He fol-
lowed Mr.. Hoffman's suggestion,
he said. by writing Mrs. Truman
; and explaining we were the ven
dor of the equipment and that we
lsimply filled an order placed with
us by MIR. Bennett"
i A letter from Mrs. Truman. al
we'll as one from Gen. Vaughan
L