Evening star., 1951-05-08

Alu lVI ~. LVulSIHIII
Delay Finnegan Quiz
Reconstruction Finance Corp.
loans to st. Louis concerns, re-
portedly with the help of the
former Internal Revenue COL
lector there. may be examined by
the Senate subcommittee investi-
eating the agency, members said
today.
But scheduled questioning of
Donald S. Dawson, beginning
Thursday. and two other matters
will prevent immediate study of
complaints made in the Senate
yesterday by Senator Williams,
Republican. of Delaware against
James P. Finnegan of st. Louis.
The subcommittee headed by
Senator Fulbright, Democrat, of
Arkansas. has set aside Thursday,
Friday and Saturday to hear Mr..
Dawson, President Truman's ad-
ministrative assistant in charge
Iof personnel matters. He is to
reply to subcommittee charges
that he exerted influence on some
RFC directors and operations.
Public hearings probably will be
held later this month on protests
by the former owner of a Mobile,
Ala. paper manufacturing COM
pany that RFC forced him to turn
over control of the concern to
relatives of Representative Boykin,
Democrat, of Alabama.
Letters Being Screened.
A third item awaiting subcom-
mittee consideration as soon as
the Dawson hearings end relates
to several hundred letters written
by members of Congress to RFC
in recent years. The subcommit-
tee staff is screening the letters.
Z Any that give evidence of undue
influence on loans will be taken
up by the subcommittee.
The name of Mr.. Finnegan is
familiar to subcommittee mem
bers. Senator Fulbright last
March sent Commissioner of
Internal Revenue George j.
Schoeneman the transcript of
testimony that Mr.. Finnegan
figured in plan to lease a Cuban
nickel company.
Rex Jacobs, a Detroit manufac-
turer often mentioned in the sub
committees inquiry into influence
and favoritism in RFC. testified
that he and Mr.. Finnegan were
! to have been partners in the ven-
ture but that it fell through. He
explained the United States Gov
ernment held title to the COM
pany but that no tax matters
were involved.
He added that Mr.. Finnegan
was introduced to him by E. Merl
Young, former RFC examiner
and later an employe of Mr..
Jacobs. Mr.. Young's wife re-
Gently resigned from a White
House secretarial job.
Evidence Withholding Charged.
The attack on Mr.. Finnegan
by Senator Williams centered
mainly on the Senator's charge
that the Justice and Treasury De-
partments withheld evidence from
a Federal grand jury that recently
investigated and cleared Mr..
Finnegan. The former Internal
Revenue collector resigned last
month.
| Senator Williams said Federal
Judge George w. Moore who Or
dered the original investigation
has directed the grand jury to
re-eXamine the case.
RFC loans in which Senator
Williams asserted Mr.. Finnegan
was involved were for concerns
that own the St. Louis Browns,
American League baseball team.
and for the American Lithofold
Co., of st. Louis.
The Senator declared Mr.. Fin
negan received Substantial at
torney's fees for acting in behalf
of corporations which got finan-
cial assistance from the RFC and
other Government agencies, in
cluding $6,875 he received from
the st. Louis Browns in 1948 as
an influence peddler for arrang-
ing an RFC guaranteed loan"
Bricker Wants Loans PrObed.
i The two RFC guaranteed loans
to concerns owning the baseball
team and its park totaled $700,-
900, and the loan to the other
company in 1949 was $565 900,
Senator Williams reported.
Senator Bricker, Republican, Of
Ohio, member of the Fulbright
subcommittee, said he believes the
subcommittee should look into
those loans. Another subcommit-
tee official said this probably will
be done. He added that it was
too early to say whether any hear
ings will be ordered, particularly
If the Federal grand jury in st.
: Louis reopens an investigation of
: those matters and others raised
by Senator Williams.