Mr. Tavenner. By the Attorney General of the United States, both Attorney General Clark and Attorney General Biddle and by this committee.
Mr. O’Connell. As far as I was concerned, I am pretty sure I had knowledge they were cited by Attorney General Clark and by Attorney General Biddle or by any other attorney general, but that didn’t determine in my mind——
Mr. Tavenner. That did not serve to put you on inquiry?
Mr. O’Connell. That did not serve as far as I was concerned to make it conclusive by any means, and if I in my personal opinion thought they were doing a good job and doing a job within the provisions of this will and so on, I voted for it.
Mr. Tavenner. Would you have made a grant to the Communist Party in the State of Washington which as shown by the testimony I read to you was interested in enacting into law the same principle under which this trust was being operated?
Mr. O’Connell. I told you that at the very beginning, at the very first meeting that the trustees held, that we voted not to make any grants that were asked for on the basis of being used for the promotion of an economy based on production for use rather than for profit.
Mr. Tavenner. That would have been in violation of the provisions of the will, wouldn’t it?
Mr. O’Connell. No, sir; we made our grants within the first provisions, within the provision that provided for the development and the organization of workers and unemployed persons and so on. We made it a strictly trade-union trust.
Mr. Tavenner. In other words, you entirely disregarded this provision?
Mr. O’Connell. And if the Communist Party or the Democratic Party or Republican Party or any partisan organization came and asked for funds they wouldn’t have gotten it.