Evening star., 1951-10-04

: for an Investigation of all cir
cumStanceS surrounding a Recon-
structlon Finance Corp. loan of
Sl8.5 million to Carthage Hydro
col, Inc, of which I am president.
l want to state the back
ground for these requests. My
. profession is business law. have
) also engaged in politics. first as a
member of the New Jersey AS
sembly, later as a member of the
Republican National Committee.
and since August 4, 1949, as the
-salaried chairman of the Ma
tional Committee.
/ II were not the Republican
chairman. it is hardly conceivable
that this committee would be in
tereSted in me or in the affairs of
Carthage Hydrocol. Since l am
the chairman. my activities are
properly subjected to the spot
light of public scrutiny. Our peo-
pie must have confidence in the
ethics and integrity of their Gov
'ernment and political leaders. and
those unworthy of that confidence
must be exposed and driven from
ONCE If this Republic is to endure.
RFC Inquiry Cited.
Last winter the Nation was
shocked when the Fulbright sub
committee reported evidence of
widespread use of improper in
nuence by members of the other
party IN connection with the af-
fairs of the Reconstruction
finance Corp. In its inquiry, the
Fulbrlght subcommittee examined
the Carthage Hydrocol loan. Sena-
tor Fulbrlght, who is not a men,
Der OF my political party, subse-
quently stated on March IA, 1851,
IN letter to Representative
Wayne l.. Hays, an Ohio Demo-
crat, that the committee did not
nave any information that in
fiuence was brought to bear upon
the RFC in connection with the
granting OF this loan" To bring
out all the facts. on March 27
1851, l sent to the press and Re-
publican leaders a six-page mime
ographed statement detailing fullv
and frankly the facts in this case
My statement and the deter
. mlnatlon by the Fulbright sub.
committee, however, failed tc
silence those partisans who. Just
as schoolboyS reply, you're an
lother' to taunt. try to hide OF
MINIMIZE scandal in their own
: party by trying to create the i'm
preston of scandal in the other
party. l was the Republican chair
man; company of which I was
: president had an RFC loan. Thai
made me the target for counter
S attack.
: L had two choices. It seemed
to me that to resign as Republican
chairman in the hope of saving
: my party embarrassment woulc
nave been construed as an ad.
mission of improper conduct. The
: alternative was to refute slande1
with facts. in full confidence that
the people recognize truth, and
reject false accusations, in keeping
with our traditional American
standards of fair play.
=
Hearing Requested.
On last September 10 my name
was brought into testimony be-
fore your committee. Two days
later, on September 81, the Hon.
John Williams of Delaware, a Re-
publican Senator, took the floor
to discuss what he regarded as
reliable information about my ac-
tivitieS with the RFC since / be-
came Republican chairman. I am
glad that he and other Republican
Senators urged that all the facts
be brought out.
sent a telegram to your chair
man requesting an immediate
hearing, which I had been ad-
vlSed would be forthcoming. When
your schedule of witnesses did not
permit that I addressed a letter
, to your chairman giving briefly
the essential facts. and requesting
that in addition to hearing my
!, testimony there be an investiga-
ton by your committee so that
it could give the public the truth.
! Your counsel. Mr.. Flanagan,
called on me last Saturday eve
ming. I answered his questions
gave him permission to search
1.-THE Carthage files, and produced
voluntarily for his examination
not only my income tax returns
for 1949 and 1850, but at my
suggestion, the work sheets CIV
ing more detailed information
from which the returns were pre-
pared. Mr.. Flanagan can cor
roborate this for your record.
The story of Carthage Hydro
col goes back before the last war.
Just as that war brought the
development OF the atomic bomb
it also brought us the realization
that gasoline - especially high
octane gaSollne-and rubber are
among the most vital sinews of
our national defense.
Firms Activities Detailed.
Without headlines, and without
fanfare, one of the worlds out
standing chemical engineers, Mr.
+. c. Keith, contributed to all
three. He was awarded the Medal
OF Merit for his services. with a
personal citation from President
Truman.
X X X X
CMr. Gabrielson then told the
background of Keith's achieve
ments, including development of
the Hydrocol process for making
h1gh-octane gasoline and by-prod-
ucts from natural gas on a basis
commercially competitive with
crude OIL
Some OF my critics and the
press at times seem to confuse
Carthage Hydrocol with a patent
medicine. Let's get the facts
straight once and for all time on
I