Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 September 1941 — Page 2

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WORK IN DEFENSE

But No One Seems to Be Able to Get Any Information on ~~ Their Operations; Tommy Corcoran Is Still

~ Capital’s Big

Mystery Man.

By THOMAS L. STOKES Times Special Writer :

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10.—Senator Truman (D. Mo.), =: chairman of the Special Senate Committee on national de- ’ fense, says his investigators are trying to find out something

a @hout lawyer-lobbyists using lefense contracts for clients. - If something turns up, or _on the public record.

“influence” here in getting

is turned up, he may spread it

The city is overrun with former Administration officials,

their “practice.” Their acquaintance with officials and de-

+ officials whom they were in-r-Strumental in appointing, serves them well now, This situation is well-known in . #5 Washington. You can hardly throw hy potato chip in any capital cocktail

..Jar without hitting one or more.

se~ful.of results, at - oholeast . from what &c-his investigators a-sdiave been able to s furn up thus far. “They don’t. _§c~Beem to be able to gofind anything, he “pasaid. “They run “as dnto blank: walls.” “se - It is true that : some of the law- Tru spoyers doing a man =a lucrative business are influential =e-enough to check any inquiry into Jotheir activities. It also may be re- : called that the Truman committee, aa Atself, shied away from investigata»:ing Senator Pepper (D. Fla) and gavthe Eglin Field, Fla., asphalt contract, and that this job had to be %=>=done finally by a House committee which later was critical of the Senator's political activity on behalf of an oil company. The Missouri Senator is keeping his investigators at it, however. He says he is not seeking to “smear” anybody, but that he will disclose any facts uncovered, no ' matter whom they hit.

Curious About Corcoran

The lawyer-lobbyist who excites the most curiosity hereabouts is Thomas G. Corcoran, one-time “Brain-truster” and strong arm man for the Administration. This is because of his former powerful place in Administration councils, his own pest activity as a zealous lobbyist- » and his present profitable “law” practice ,on behalf of some rather big interests. The curiosity is enhanced by the fact that Tommy moves mysteriously, as when he was in the Government. He maintains no office, but has a ‘desk in the office of a couple of young lawyers, William J. Dempsey and William C. Koplovitz, formerly --chief and assistant counsel of the Federal Communications Com - mission, who are doing a nice business for radio clients with the Commission. Recently Mr. Corcoran has taken as a partner Stewart Guthrie, like himself formerly employed in the Reconstruction Finance Corp, which has billions to lend for national defense projects. Repeatedly since he left the Government to take a prominent part in the 1940 Roosevelt re-elec-tion campaign, Mr. Corcoran has

“partments, as well as the obligations to them of many under-

sought to return to Government service. His friends have urged him for various posts — Undersecretary of the Navy and chief counsel of OPM, among others—with direction from behind the. scenes by Mr. Cor.coran himself. 2 : Now he is trying to get the post of Solicitor General, vacated when Francis Biddle was appointed Attorney General. But President Roosevelt is said to have told friends interceding for Tommy that his nomination at this time would cause too much of a fight in Senate over confirmation. Despite the President’s apparent thumbs-down, emissaries of Mr. Corcoran are still active. One of them last week approached Senators to sound out prospects of confirmation and left discouraged. In addition to the enmities he incurred among some Senators when he was demanding support for New Deal legislation. Mr. Corcoran has now created ill feeling in other quarters by his activities in behalf of defense contracts.

Negotiates Big Loan One of his successful projects was

| the $9,250,000 loan granted by the

RFC to Henry J. Kaiser, the West Coast contractor, to build a magnesium plant which Senator Clark (D. Mo.) has asked the Truman committee to investigate. Sen-

ator Truman says his investigators are looking into it. Mr. Kaiser and affiliated West Coast companies which | built Boulder - Dams and Grand

Shipbuilding Co., and also have nearly half a billion of contracts with the Maritime Commission and the Navy for building ships, It is reported that Mr. Corcoran has now left the employ of Mr. Kaiser. While in the Government, Tommy placed scores of men, many in key positions, in various departments and agencies. go

SEEK SHOEMAKERS AT FT. HARRISON

It must not be all truck riding for soldiers at Ft. Harrison, because today the Civil Service Board, Room 522, Federal Building, sent out a call for shoemakers and shoe repairmen to be stationed at the fort. The salary for the former will be $1200 annually and for the latter, $1089. Applications, the Board added, will be accepted until further notice. : Other Civil Service. positions. now open, the board said, include: Radio technicians, technical and scientific aids, engineering aids and inspectors of naval ordnance ma-

terial.

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