Micromorality

INVESTIGATIONS Micromorality Sam Butler's Hudibras, who divided "a hair twixt south and southwest side," was no more delicate a micromoralist than some Americans in last week's news. Before a Senate subcommittee appeared Frank Prince, onetime RFC official who was bounced last May for his part in a paper-company loan (TIME, June 4), and the man who appointed the man who approved RFC's $645,000 loans to the American Lithofold Corp. Prince said that Lithofold had given him a $100 camera, perfume, crates of oranges, a turkey and a "small ham." But Prince knew just where to draw the line. "I don't think there is anything wrong in a box of oranges or a small ham," he said. What about a big ham? Answered Prince: "I would stop at twelve pounds."

A Well-Met Man. Lithofold officials testified that they gave away $4,000 worth of $100 cameras, some of them to Government officials, including Matthew Connelly, secretary to President Truman. However, Lithofold President Robert J. Blauner warmly denied that these gifts were supposed to "influence" anyone; they were made merely for "good will."

Blauner told of hiring James P. Finnegan, a Democratic work horse whose activities as Federal Collector of Internal Revenue in St. Louis are now being probed by a grand jury. Finnegan got $23,000 in commissions from Lithofold and $21,000 for expenses. Asked how he managed to run up $21,000 in expenses, Finnegan replied: "I'd say 'Let's have a little dinner,' and if I went over to the Shoreham, I can spend $800 faster than you think I could spend it."

How did Finnegan earn his money? Blauner testified that Finnegan was "a well-met fellow and I thought he could do us some good . . ." Finnegan's services included introducing Blauner to other Democratic politicians who then went on the Lithofold payroll. One of these was Cecil A. Green, onetime garbage collector, onetime saloonkeeper and a Missourian who had done some work for Democratic Chairman Bill Boyle. Green forthwith became Lithofold's Washington representative, at $10,000 a year.

Explained Finnegan: "I thought he knew the folks ... I would say to you that he did know Mr. Boyle, and he knew a lot of other folks around here because Missouri was starting to come into its own ... I will say to you that Green has been around here about eleven years and he knew a lot of folks, and so I ... recommended him. Anybody who has been in Washington for eleven years who doesn't know folks, why then, he should not be in Washington that long."

The Two Chairmen. Green's daughter knew some folks, too. She worked in Matt Connelly's White House office, where she was friendly with Mrs. Merl (mink coat) Young. Called to the stand, Green had to be excused for incoherence. "Have you been drinking anything today?" asked Senator Joe McCarthy. Green replied with the partial admission and justification that has been standard in all phases of the recent hearings: "I had one Martini at lunchtime . . . only one. Is there anything wrong with that?"

Democratic Chairman Boyle has admitted that, as a lawyer, he accepted a retainer of $500 a month from Lithofold, but denied that he took any money after he became a paid official of the Democratic Party. He has also denied that he used his influence to help Lithofold get $645,000 worth of RFC loans, although a Lithofold official testified that the company's first loan was approved three days after Boyle called an RFC official on Lithofold's behalf.

Boyle's good friend Harry Truman last week again defended Boyle; but the President's view of the moral question involved seemed to be based on a different set of facts from Boyle's own defense. Asked at his press conference whether he thought it proper for a party worker to introduce clients to the RFC, Truman said that was O.K.; but it was wrong to take a fee for such a service, whether the party man was a paid or a voluntary party worker. In reply to another question, the President said he was under the impression that Boyle had not taken any fees from Lithofold.

At week's end, Boyle's opposite number, Republican National Chairman Guy Gabrielson, was faced with a charge similar to that made against Boyle. Delaware's Republican Senator John Williams said that Gabrielson had been trying to talk the RFC into extending a $18.5 million loan to Carthage Hydrocol Inc., an outfit which makes aviation gasoline from natural gas. Unpaid by the Republicans, Gabrielson was getting $25,000 a year as Hydrocol's president and counsel. Democrats had been tipped off to this juicy item by RFC's Stuart Symington, but the Republicans, stung by the turn of events, had beaten them to the punch. Gabrielson hotly defended himself, saying that as a Republican he had no influence with the RFC. Senator Williams replied that Government officials, knowing that there might be a change of Administration next year, were not necessarily immune to the influence of the minority party chairman. Senator Taft, however, said that he saw "nothing immoral" in Gabrielson's actions.

Nevertheless, a G.O.P. ground swell to oust Gabrielson was growing. Many Republicans felt that if the Democrats were to be attacked for corruption, the attacking had better be done by men who did not have to split hairs to clear their own records.

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