In Puerto Rico the government owns all the beaches. We are quite concerned with that problem. I would not be surprised if legislation is introduced by myself to try to do something about it.

Senator ALLOTT. Mangans Bay is not readily available to the people of Charlotte Amalie.

Mr. DE LUGO. It is a little distant but we have made improvements now. The road to Mangans Bay has been fixed. There is bus service there and a large number of people own their own cars on the islands.

In fact, our problem is that our roads were not built, they are narrow streets, for the amount of cars we now have. We have built facilities there, the legislature appropriated $30,000 to build facilities there.

Senator ALLOTT. At Mangans Bay?

Mr. DE LUGO. At Mangans Bay and it is getting a lot of use now. This is just something recently.

Senator KUCHEL. Mr. De Lugo, how long have you been Democratic national committeeman?

Mr. DE LUGO. I was seated at the convention.

Senator KUCHEL. Did you make the recommendation of Mr. Paiewonsky for this position to the administration?

Mr. DE LUGO. Yes, sir.

Senator KUCHEL. Whom did you make your recommendation to? Mr. DE LUGO. To the national committee, to the President, to the Secretary of the Interior. I endorsed him all along the line. Senator KUCHEL. Did you do it in writing?

Mr. DE LUGO. Yes, sir.

Senator KUCHEL. You wrote a letter to the President?

Mr. DE LUGO. Yes, sir; either a letter or a cable requesting it.
Senator KUCHEL. When did you do that?

Mr. DE LUGO. I imagine about a month and a half ago.

Senator KUCHEL. Did you receive an answer from the President? Mr. DE LUGO. I received an answer from Mr. O'Brien some days ago. That was in answer to my cable. That is right; I sent a cable supporting Mr. Paiewonsky and the answer from Mr. O'Brien was saying that perhaps I know that Mr. Paiewonsky has been appointed, that he is the President's choice.

That letter I do not have with me. It is in the islands. I received it just a few days ago.

Senator KUCHEL. You say you wrote also the Secretary of the Interior?

Mr. DE LUGO. Yes, sir; endorsing him.

Senator KUCHEL. Sir?

Mr. DE LUGO. Yes; endorsing Mr. Paiewonsky.

Senator KUCHEL. When did you do that?

Mr. DE LUGO. About the same time I imagine. About a month and a half ago.

Senator KUCHEL. Did you receive an answer from the Secretary? Mr. DE LUGO. I did not.

Senator KUCHEL. Have you ever spoken to the Secretary?

Mr. DE LUGO. Yes, I have.

Senator KUCHEL. What was his comment to you?

Mr. DE LUGO. About Mr. Paiewonsky?

Senator KUCHEL. Yes, sir.

Mr. DE LUGO. He made no specific comment on Mr. Paiewonsky or any other candidate. Actually his comments were mainly saying that whoever the President appointed that he hoped that the legislature would work with him in pointing out the responsibility we have, the opportunities we have in the Caribbean and the President's position on moving the islands as quickly as possible towards more political self-government. That is to have a resident commissioner and elected Governor.

Senator KUCHEL. You say you also recommended this gentleman to the Democratic committee?

Mr. DE LUGO. Yes, sir.

Senator KUCHEL. What function do they perform in recommendations? What do they do?

Mr. DE LUGO. I am a new national committeeman but I imagine that they have some function. I don't know at the present time; certain States say it is a bit vague. I hear New York is not too happy. Senator KUCHEL. You nevertheless did recommend to the national committee

Mr. DE LUGO. I thought that that is what I was supposed to do; yes, sir.

Senator KUCHEL. Did they take any action?

Mr. DE LUGO. I had a meeting with Mr. Bailey, a very pleasant

one.

Senator KUCHEL. When was that?

Mr. DE LUGO. I would say about a month ago.
Senator KUCHEL. What did he say?

Mr. DE LUGO. He met not only with me; he met with members of the legislature. We told Mr. Bailey who we were and I might say that included members of the legislature who are not Democrats-and we stated we were very much concerned with the role that we would play in the President's program, that we wanted to be more than just a tourist resort; we wanted to make a contribution to our country; we wanted an opportunity to serve and we thought it was very important that the right man was chosen, and we would like him to know our candidate was Ralph Paiewonsky.

At that time, sir, in the press there were many names being mentioned and many that were strangers, people that I never heard about, that I did not even know they had ties with the islands; I did not know how they could know the territory's problems.

Senator KUCHEL. Did Mr. Bailey recommend Mr. Paiewonsky to the President?

Mr. DE LUGO. I do not know, sir.

Senator KUCHEL. Did you ask him to?
Mr. DE LUGO. I did ask him to.

Senator KUCHEL. What did he say?

Mr. DE LUGO. He did not commit himself.

Senator KUCHEL. Did you ask the Secretary of the Interior to recommend him?

Mr. DE LUGO. I didn't ask the Secretary to recommend him. I told the Secretary that this was my candidate and I certainly hoped that he would be appointed.

Senator KUCHEL. What did he say?

Mr. DE LUGO. He was very vague. He would not commit himself as to who the candidate would be. He said he knew of Mr. Paiewonsky's qualifications and they were excellent but he was mainly concerned at that point with talking about the program for the territories and he was concerned with us working out a program to move forward.

Senator KUCHEL. When did this gentleman representing the Secretary of the Interior visit the islands?

Mr. DE LUGO. I believe, sir-these dates are vague-I met with him; I was called in to meet with him when he was there. I would say probably around February 10. I was told that two gentlemen representing the Department of the Interior were down there making an economic survey.

I was called in to meet with them. I went in; I met with Mr. Rosenblatt and Mr. Nouveen. They were supposed to be making an economic survey on tourism.

I gave them my views on various things. I also told them I supported the candidacy of Ralph Paiewonsky but we didn't get very far into that.

Senator KUCHEL. Did they ask you any questions about Mr. Paiewonsky?

Mr. DE LUGO. No; they did not ask me anything about him.

Senator KUCHEL. Do you know whether they were investigating his qualifications for the position of Governor of the islands? Mr. DE LUGO. I didn't think that they were. I thought they were supposed to be doing an economic survey on tourism.

I might say that I thought Mr. Nouveen was also employed and that the full courtesies of the Government were extended to him. I was a little surprised when I got up here to find that Mr. Nouveen was not the representative of the Secretary of the Interior at all. Senator KUCHEL. Whom did he represent?

Mr. DE LUGO. I do not know that, sir. I wish I did. He operates out of Chicago. I understand he is now down in Florida.

I certainly, as a representative of the people, was not going to meet with Mr. Nouveen if he was just a citizen-I wanted to know what right he had to interrogate me.

Senator KUCHEL. Did he ask you to meet with him?

Mr. DE LUGO. I was requested to meet with these two.

Senator KUCHEL. Who made that request?

Mr. DE LUGO. The administrative assistant to the Governor.

Senator KUCHEL. To the incumbent Governor?

Mr. DE LUGO. To the incumbent Governor.

Senator KUCHEL. What did you do? You refused to meet with him?

Mr. DE LUGO. No; I didn't. I met with him. I believed that they were representatives of the administration. I was quite frank with them about everything.

The statement that I made earlier was that if I had known that Mr. Nouveen was not a representative of the Department of the Interior I was not going to meet with him and discuss the islands problems.

The CHAIRMAN. Did Mr. Nouveen, who is a well-known investment banker, represent himself to you as a representative of the Government?

Mr. DE LUGO. No; he did not say that, sir, but I was told, I had been in St. Thomas about 2 days before and I was told that two men from the Department of the Interior were in town making an economic study.

The CHAIRMAN. Did either one of these two men tell you that he was representing the government?

Mr. DE LUGO. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, you just depend on curbstone rumor then? Mr. DE LUGO. No, sir; I was told this by the administrative assistant to the Governor who said I have two gentlemen from the Department of the Interior in here. So I was misled perhaps.

The CHAIRMAN. The secretary of Governor Merwin then?

Mr. DE LUGO. Yes, sir, his administrative assistant on the island of St. Croix, a Mr. McFarland. I think he believed that both of these gentlemen were authorized.

I do not know Mr. Nouveen. I did not know he was a well known investment banker.

The CHAIRMAN. I have known him for about 30 years, probably longer than that. He has an entirely good position among the people in Chicago as an investment banker. I did not want the impression left that he was some street sweeper.

Mr. DE LUGO. I did not know the gentleman. He was a very pleasant person. Now I have seen this report

The CHAIRMAN. You have seen the the so-called report by Rosenblatt?

Mr. DE LUGO. I am impressed that it is a confidential report. The CHAIRMAN. Are you saying what you do because of the comments about you in the report?

Mr. DE LUGO. No, sir; I did not know about those comments until just a few minutes ago I saw those. The comments are quite purple. The CHAIRMAN. You can understand a sort of hesitancy on the part of the chairman of this committee to put it in the record.

Mr. De LUGO. I would hope that you would not because then of course it would be privileged. I hardly see what that has to do with an economic survey on tourism.

The CHAIRMAN. You understand I am not consulted about who goes to the islands, necessarily. I tried to stop Mr. Hodge a moment ago about saying Mr. Rosenblatt got money from another source. I will give you the reason why I said that.

Section 202, Title 18, United States Code states:

Whoever, being an officer or employee of, or person acting for or on behalf of the United States

and I pause there to say Mr. Rosenblatt went down at the request of the Secretary of the Interior

in any official capacity, under or by virtue of the authority of any department or agency thereof, or an officer or person acting for or on behalf of either House of Congress, or of any committee of either House, or of both the Houses thereof, asks, accepts, or receives any money, or any check, order, contract, promise, undertaking, obligation, gratuity, or security for the payment of money, or for the delivery or conveyance of anything of value, with intent to have his decision or action on any question, matter, cause, or proceeding, which may at any time

be pending or which may by law be brought before him in his official capacity, or in his place of trust or profit, influenced thereby, shall be fined not more than three times the amount of such money or value of such thing or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office or place and be disqualified from holding any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.

The accusation of Mr. Hodge is a serious one. Of course, he should promptly take it down to the Attorney General's Office because they are the people responsible for enforcement of the penal statutes of the United States. This committee has no such authority.

That is why I am a little slow about putting the Rosenblatt report into the open record. There are things in this report that are not too complimentary to persons not involved in Mr. Paiewonsky's nomination and confirmation.

I imagine it was intended to be a private report. I understand that copies have been picked up at the press table and elsewhere so maybe it is not quite as confidential as it otherwise might be. That is not the fault of this committee, I want to assure you.

Mr. DE LUGO. I am aware of that.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there additional questions?

Senator KUCHEL. Yes.

Mr. De Lugo, before you wrote the letters to the President and the Secretary of the Interior, did you discuss with Mr. Paiewonsky your desire to recommend him for the position of Governor?

Mr. DE LUGO. I did, sir.

Senator KUCHEL. When did you do that for the first time?

Mr. DE LUGO. I did that, I would say about 22 to 3 months ago. Senator KUCHEL. Did he solicit your support or did you tell him that you were going to recommend him?

Mr. DE LUGO. I would say that I had heard that Mr. Paiewonsky was going to be a candidate and the state chairman asked me if I would support him.

Senator KUCHEL. Who is the state chairman.

Mr. DE LUGO. Mr. Joseph Alexander. He is the state chairman. He asked me if I would support Ralph. I said I thought he was a very good man, I would like to meet with him, talk with him, and that there would be that possibility.

Senator KUCHEL. So it was the state chairman who originally had the idea that this gentleman should be recommended?

Mr. DE LUGO. No, sir. It was not an original idea of the state chairman, I do not believe. I first heard through the grapevine that Mr. Paiewonsky was considering making an effort to become Governor of the Virgin Islands. I say then it was first brought to my attention by the state chairman. He asked what my position would

be on it.

Senator KUCHEL. Then you talked with Mr. Paiewonsky?

Mr. DE LUGO. Yes, sir.

Senator KUCHEL. He confirmed what you had heard that he did aspire to become Governor of the Islands?

Mr. DE LUGO. Yes. He said that he felt that he would have an opportunity, that he had many friends in Washington that would want to see a person who was cognizant of the problems of the islands and that he was mainly concerned with the possibility that somebody would be named who was not familiar with the islands.