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Show - .TIB"4 Sees fit- tig Westbrooh Pegler Releiscd by WNU Features TTOWARD HUGHES, the moving picture magnate who produced no airplanes for 40 million dollars of public money, has made public a letter to Sen. Ralph O. Brewster, of Maine, offering him $300 a week to start as an actor. "You are no amateur," ama-teur," Hughes wrote. "Your ability as an actor has been well demonstrated. demon-strated. Also, you are the perfect type for some parts I have in mind." ' " j.'m , We here have a 4f f senator publicly mocked in his of- 'ice oJ mvcstigator ' ' outrageous cor- , ' J ruplion in the war $4j1zJ': Prouclion program i could not deny that l n he had conspired with a professional barfly to compromise com-promise agenU of the government and seduce them from propriety. Hughes finds himself singularly free of the restraints which affect af-fect the course of men of fastidious fastidi-ous morals and ethics. He is not embarrassed by disclosures which would Intimidate a more sensitive citizen. In the early part of 1947, Hughes saw an investigation coming. He had spent money to hire women to act as social companions of procurement procure-ment agents and for booze and luxurious lux-urious meals and had charged this expense to the ultimate taxpayer as part of the cost of the planes which he did not produce for the 40 million dollars. J He had spent about $4,000 on the wedding expenses and on extravagant extrava-gant personal entertainment of Elliott El-liott Roosevelt then ranked as a colonel, in expensive hotels and night clubs of Hollywood and New York. There was testimony among the disclosures that Hughes' social-traffic social-traffic manager, Johnny Meyer, gave a 20 bill and a batch of nylon stockings to Faye Emerson, who was to become the third Mrs. Elliott El-liott Roosevelt Anticipating d 1 s-Jlires s-Jlires closure, Hughes hired a Carl Byoir and As- Publicist sociates, the New York and Washington public'' relations and propaganda firm, to see him through. They did well by him. Hughes was enabled to appear to turn the tables on Senator Brewster and to make Brewster seem to be a guilty fellow," fel-low," although the record does not justify' this impression. Actually, here was a defendant who admitted admit-ted that he was what he was, staking stak-ing his unsupported word in a charge that Brewster offered to abandon the investigation if Hughes would abandon his own plans for an overseas passenger airline. Brewster and others believed that the United States would best serve American interests by recognizing rec-ognizing and supporting only one American overseas line. Tan-American Tan-American was our big overseas pioneer and Brewster thought Pan-American should carry on as a favored agent He may have been imposed upon by officials of Pan-American with whom he had become friendly. It appeared that he did accept personal hospitality from one of them, although at no cost which could be dignified by the taint of bribe. There was shocking testimony and documentary evidence against Hughes, Meyer and Elliott Roosevelt Roose-velt in the hearings in Washington. Nevertheless, by artful manipulation manipula-tion of the publicity and the timing tim-ing of dramatic incidents, Hughes walked off triumphant although not with honors. Elliott Roosevelt had been so heavily mired in the wallow of the notorious John Hartford Hart-ford loan and other gyps, done with the guilty knowledge of his father, that nothing could embarrass him. Maj. Gen. Bennett Meyers E. Meyers was sen-Ccts sen-Ccts tenced by the United Sentence states court- not by the army, to serve from 20 months to five years for perjury in concealing the fact that he owned a company from which he bought material for the army. THIS WAS ENTIRELY ASIDE FROM THE HUGHES DEALS INVOLVING ELLIOTT. The army had abundant evidence that Elliott's father had verbally ordered that favors be shown to the man who was wining and dining din-ing his son. Many a headstrong or wayward buck private meanwhile has spent years in prison for rude violations of unaccustomed restraints. re-straints. There was mutually accusing testimony by Hughes and General Meyers concerning discussions of favors to be done Meyers by Hughes, including a job at a high salary after the war. The committee could not decide who was the liar but it did say formally to congress that these individuals in-dividuals did have a number of conversations con-versations concerning loans, gratuities gratui-ties and Job offers. Nevertheless, Hughes said nothing until it served his case at a public hearing three years later to charge Meyers with tendering corrupt proposals. |
