Yes, But . . .

To hear Donald S. Dawson tell it, his record was as clean as the fur of a royal pastel mink. But Arkansas' Democratic Senator J. William Fulbright thought he detected some spots on the pelt.

Dawson, 42, President Truman's patronage assistant, last week finally showed up before the Fulbright subcommittee to explain his connections with influence peddlers and RFC loans. The subcommittee, which had waited for eleven weeks while Dawson considered its invitation to testify, had its questions all ready. Dawson had his answers ready, too, and most of them began, "Yes, but . . ."

The Saxony Case. Had Dawson on three different occasions (his family, once) stayed without charge in expensive rooms at the Saxony Hotel in Miami Beach? Yes, but getting it free "was a complete surprise to me. When I went to check out, I was told there was no bill. I think it was for the publicity." He understood that this was a common practice, he said, and that even some Senators were on the Saxony's free list (no Senator pressed the point). He didn't even know that the Saxony had obtained a $1,500,000 RFC loan.

"I did nothing improper," Dawson insisted, "but I would not do it again." Cracked Ohio's John Bricker: "You think the limit, then, is three." Even Dawson grinned. Said Chairman Fulbright: "He sees nothing wrong with the Saxony case. I do."

Good Friends. Was Dawson a good friend of Merl Young, the astonishingly successful former RFC employee who simultaneously held a $10,000-a-year job and an $18,000-a-year job with two RFC borrowers? Yes, but "it was a natural and good friendship ... I never had any business dealings with Mr. Young at all."

Did he know Rex C. Jacobs, the Detroit auto-parts character, whose firm got an RFC loan and who was selected to survey the colossally unprofitable RFC client, the Lustron Corp.? Yes, he had visited at Jacobs' Florida ranch three times, but "I never discussed business."

Had he lunched often with Walter L. Dunham, the former RFC director, whom he was said to have influenced? Yes, but "there was nothing at all unusual in it. I was genuinely fond of him. He thought he could learn something from me . . ."

At one point exasperated Bill Fulbright asked: "Whom did you discuss business with?" Asked Dawson coolly: "What business did you have in mind, Senator? If you will ask me a specific question, I will do my best to answer it."

"Do you want the committee to think that there is nothing unusual about the amount of association you had with the RFC?" asked Fulbright.

DAWSON: "I certainly do . . ."

FULBRIGHT: "Whether you sought to, or attempted to ... you did influence, whether you're conscious of it or not. . ."

DAWSON: "Senator, I'm glad you've said what you have because it indicates to me that I have done nothing wrong."

He left the hearing asserting cockily that it proved "there has been no impropriety on my part." Said Fulbright: "That's his opinion."

Despite the bland ending, Illinois' Paul Douglas was convinced that the committee's work had done some good. "The umbilical cord which connects Mr. Dawson with the RFC has been severed," he said. "We've thrown the fear of God into a lot of fixers. No, not the fear of God, the fear of committees."

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