National Affairs: $68,000 for Caesar's Wife

Ever since Indiana's Frank McKinney became Democratic National Chairman, newsmen have been deeply interested in his connections with Frank McHale, Democratic National Committeeman from Indiana. Reason: McHale recommended McKinney to Harry Truman. Later, in a press conference, McHale described his man as "like Caesar's wife—above reproach." Last week, an interesting Mc-Kinney-McHale nugget was turned up by the New York Herald Tribune's Jack Steele. It concerned a business deal the two had with Promoter Frank Cohen, who headed Empire Ordnance Corp., a World War II munitions combine.

Empire, of which McHale was a director, stockholder and counsel, had been roundly denounced for its efforts to buy political influence in Washington. In 1946, Cohen set up the Empire Tractor Corp. out of the remnants of Empire Ordnance. McKinney and McHale each bought 1,000 shares of Empire Tractor stock for $1 a share. Ten months later, they sold their stock back to Cohen. Their profit: $68,000 each. Cohen paid for the stock with money he borrowed from the Empire Tractor Corp. itself. Just a year after McKinney and McHale took out their 6,800% profit, the company went bankrupt. Its debts still haven't been paid.