GOVERNMENT: Close to Bribery

Said RFC Boss W. Stuart Symington: "It comes about as close to bribery as you can get." He was talking about the latest mess he has uncovered in RFC in connection with the $15,100,000 loan to Texmass Petroleum Co. (TIME, April 24, 1950), now Texas Consolidated Oils. Symington charged that Allen E. Freeze, former RFC official, had taken a $22,500-a-year job with the oil company while on RFC's payroll and while the agency was considering the loan, damned by the Senate Banking Subcommittee as a "bailout" for big banks and Massachusetts insurance companies. Freeze's duties did not involve the loan directly, said Symington, but he had made at least 50 long-distance calls to Texmass about it.

Freeze denied Symington's charges, said that he joined Texmass on June 15, 1950, and that the only money he took from RFC after that date was for accrued annual leave. But Symington said that Freeze's leave didn't begin until Sept. 28; moreover, Texmass had submitted documents to RFC, dated as early as the previous April, and signed by Freeze as Texmass vice president. Symington asked the Department of Justice to prosecute Freeze. Last week, Texas Consolidated decided that Freeze was an expensive liability; he was permitted to resign.