Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-06-27
ESTES
Freeman Is Due
e As EorIy Witness
Continued From Page Al


! I'VE enter these hearings -.
with no prejudgment of our
own" In another. he said
Senator Mundt had remarked
that I'VE will find glaring
examples of indecision, con-
.flicting decisions and duplica-
ton amongst the various
officials"
Senator Muskie said this was
"sn interesting illustration of
the absence of prejudgment. A."
Senator Mundt quickly de-
Tended his statements and said
he would bet a South Dakota
pheasant against a Maine lob
Ster that his remarks would be
borne out by the inquiry.
Chairman Mcclellan. Demo-
crat of Arkansas, said in an
opening statement that the
hearings will seek to determine
whether there was any favorit-
ism on behalf of Estes and
added:
1T is our intention to pursue
the simple objective of seeking
the truth"
In advance of the hearing
Senator Curtis, Republican of
Nebraska, said he intended to
ask Mr.. Freeman: why make
q scapegoat out of Miller if he
operated under the direction
Of Undersecretary Murphy?
What's charmed about Muir
phy?"
He referred to Thomas E.
Miller, acting Southwest area
director of the agricultural
Sterilization and Conservation
Service. Mr.. Murphy was rep
Arimanded by the Secretary this
week for failing to reveal that
he had written a slanted re-
port in favor of Estes.
Mr.. Miller, who first dis
closed the report to Senate in
vestigators after having been
questioned twice by FBI agents,
said he was told that such
report was in accordance with
Mr.. Murphy's wishes. Mr.. Muir
ply has denied that he ordered
a favorable Estes report.
Obtained After Ruling
Mr.. Kamerick gave a lengthy
summary of the subcommittee
investigations of the Estes case
and the difficulties encountered
by the investigators in obtain
ing records and other material
bearing on the cotton allot-
ments.
Most Of the extra cotton
allotments that went to Estes
were obtained after a 1860 de-
partment ruling that such
transfers of cotton allotmentS
from acreage taken over by
eminent domain were illegal.
1T is very difficult to attrib-
ute this entirely to organiza-
tional breakdown" said Mr..
Kamerick in reviewing the
various Agriculture Depart
ment actions in this matter.
1T is difficult not to suspect
bad faith"
While the subcommittee
staff received cooperation
from Secretary Freeman and |
his department subordinates,
the investigator said the Senate
was handicapped by
the failure of Agriculture De-
partment employees to make
and retain written records of
significant meetings or events.
almost all Of the meetings
and conferences involved in the
Estes allotment case were re-
corded only in the memory of
those who attended" Mr..
Kamerick said.
The Agriculture Department
was criticized for not main
tanning a central repository for
records which, Mr.. Kamerick
said, has complicated and i'm
peded the progress of the SEN
ate investigation.
Material concerning Estes,
he added, was located and fur
nished by 16 different offices
In the Agriculture Department
here.
II must say at this point
that we are not sure yet that
we have all the documents in
the Department of Agriculture
pertinent to Billie Sol Estes"
Mr.. Kamerick told the subcom-
mittee. I'VE have tried for
weeks to assemble them and we
believe the officials of the de-
partment have tried to assem-
BILE them. We feel we have most
of them but under the existing
system, we cannot be certain"
Faulty Communications
The investigator said there
was a breakdown of commu-
relations between the depart
ment and subordinate organi-
cations at the State and county
level and a lack of communica-
tons between agencies within
the department in Washington.
He revealed that the Agri-
culture Department had two
investigations of Billie Sol
Estes going on at the same
time. with neither group being
aware of the inquiry being
conducted by the other until
last February. The parallel in
designations, he said, were not
co-ordinated at any time.
Mr.. Kamerick reviewed in de-
tail the departments action re-
lating to the cotton allotments
received by the Pecos operator.
+ During 1861 throughout the
United States, Mr.. Kamerick
said, there were 8,717.8 acres of
cotton allotments transferred
from one location to another.
OF this number, 5,228.2, or sol
per cent, we're transferred from
various locations in the United
States to Reeves and Pecus
Counties in Texas.
OF the number transferred
to the two counties, Mr.. Kane