Babe In the Woods

Square-faced Brigadier General Wallace Graham wore his uniform--with four rows of service ribbons and gold-braided aiguillettes--when he appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee last week. He also wore the sheepish smile of a babe in the woods who had been found by the wrong search party.

The young (37) White House physician was there to assert that he was an utter ignoramus about his speculation in the commodity markets. He almost succeeded in proving it. Although he was a trader on margin, he said he did not know the meaning of the term "margin" (a woman sitting behind him snickered: "That's what you spread on bread").

But the General had to change his story in several important details. He had repeatedly said that he had "lost his socks" in the market. The fact was, as he now admitted, that in about five months of commodity trading he had garnered a profit of $6,165, more than doubled his investment (he had previously lost more than $11,000 in stocks). He also had to admit that he had put out an inaccurate statement from the White House. He had said last month that he quit the market right after President Truman's angry denunciation of speculators in October. The fact was that he had not got out until about seven weeks later. He had not known, the General explained, that cotton and cottonseed oil were called commodities.

After a red-faced 80 minutes, the General was excused from the witness stand. Next day a White House announcement said that he would "continue as White House physician."*

* There was no White House comment when Speculator Ed Pauley announced that he would soon quit as special assistant to the Secretary of the Army and as a State Department adviser in reparations.

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