The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1949-08-27
GEN. vAUCHAN's INDIscRETIoN

The Senate Subcommittee engaged
in an expose of the "five-percentars, has
sent one General to jail and is now. in
the words of Senator Clyde Hoey, of North
Carolina, "acquainting the. public with
the facts and putting the officers on
notice that their activities are under
scrutiny"
The Senator points out that there is
nothing partisan connected with the com
mittee hearings, which he considers
semi-legal procedures. He. has no. desire to-
persecute, to humiiate or embarass, but,
plainly the Investigation is being conduct
ed without regard to so-cailed s'big-names''
who happen to become involved in the.
matters under inquiry.
Without attempting to pass upon the
matters so far taken up by the Commit
tee, we call attention to the public state
ment issued by Major-General Harry H.
Vaughan. the Presidents military aide,
in connection with the gifts. of deep
freeze units to himself and other persons
close to the Chief Executive. The gifts
were brought to light by manufacturer,
who was not permitted by the Commit
tee to name names until there could be
further investigations This was done to
prevent unfair treatment and uniustified
embarrassment to those who might be ION
stheilist H., .,4.. aa1 a.. 80
General Vaughan, however. iii a pub
lie statement, because some inference or
implication is present that there was
some improperly in this connection"
stated that recipients of the refrigeration
apparatus, in 1916, were, in addition to
himself, the Little White House, the
Presidents home. at Independence, Mo-,
the staff members lunchroom at the White
House, Chief Justice Fred Vinson, then
Director of the Office of War Mobiliza-
ton and Reconversion, Secretary of the
Treasury John Snyder, James X. Varda-
man, Governor of the Federal Reserve
System, and then President Truman's
naval aide. and Matthew. j. Connolly,
White House Secretary. -
We are not much concerned with, The
explanation of General Vaughan, of
conversation with two old friends" and
that they came from a mapufacturer
who had some factory rejects" Nor are
we concerned, at this time, with the testi-
mony of the manufacturer that the deep
freeze units were paid for by another
manufacturer, who, in the words of the
General, desired to. extend this courtesy
to me as a friend" In turn, continues the
General, made gifts of these units to
certain friends of mine'
We have no way to delve through the
motives of the "old friends" or what led
them to pay Approximately $4,000 for the
gifts to General Vaughan, and through
him, to his friends. 1t requires no sense
of prophecy, however, to understand
that it is not common practice for manu-
facturers in the United States to present
deep-freee units to their friends" pro-
miscuOsly or to suspect that it is no
coincidence that the freezers went to in
dividuals connected with the Government
of the United States.
A public official who knowingly ac-
cepts substantial benefits, in the way of
gifts, or otherwise, from anybody,sis get
ting something which he has not earned
and to which he is not entitled. Moreover.
IF he has sense enough to hold the public
position, he understands the ways of those
who wish to secure influence He should
be smart enough to reject the temptation
to accept gifts and, regardless of certainty
as to his own motives and ability to with
stand pressure, to avoid anything that lays
him, and other officials, under the suspic-
ion that attaches to such gifts.