2. The Hexylresorcinol pills, when compressed, were assayed according to the U. S. P. method.

3. The Hexylresorcinol pills, when gelatin coated, were given the following tests:

(b) To 1 cc. of a saturated solution of hexylresorcinol add 1 cc. of nitric acid: a light red color appears.

(c) To 1 cc. of a saturated solution of hexylresorcinol add 1 cc. of bromine T. S.: the precipitate dissolves, producing a solution with a yellow color.

(d) Assay: Crush in a mortar a counted number of hexylresorcinol pills. equivalent to about 800 mg. of hexylresorcinol; triturate well with 25 cc. of methanol, and decant through a filter into a 100 cc. volumetric flask. Triturate the residue in the mortar with 15 cc. of methanol, decant through the same filter, and completely transfer the residue to the filter. Wash the mortar and the filter with portions of methanol until the total filtrate measures about 95 cc., then add methanol to make exactly 100 cc. and mix well.

Transfer exactly 10 cc. of the methanol solution to a 250 cc. iodine flask, add exactly 30 cc. of 0.1 normal bromine, follow quickly with 5 cc. of hydrochloric acid, and stopper the flask immediately. Cool the flask under running water, and shake vigorously for 5 minutes, then set aside for 30 minutes, shaking occasionally.

Cautiously loosen the stopper, add 6 cc. of potassium iodide T. S. and titrate the liberated iodine with 0.1 normal sodium thiosulfate, using starch T. S. as the indicator toward the end.

Perform a blank test with the same quantities of the same reagents and in the same manner, and make any necessary correction. Each cc. of 0.1 normal bromine is equivalent to 4.857 mg. of C12H18O2.

(e) The finished pill was tested for hardness by squeezing between the thumb and forefinger. Pills were made to withstand breaking, when subjected to the above test.

Mr. BROWNSON. One other question:

It has just been called to my attention that when we were talking about the telephone calls, I think you did testify that there was one phone call that came in to your knowledge, which was a contact between your office and the purchasing authorities here in Washington, or did you testify there were no phone calls?

Mr. MILLER. No phone calls.

Mr. BROWNSON. I understood you to say that there was contact very rarely, and I was just interested in knowing if you knew of any actual cases which would come under the heading of that "very rarely."

Mr. MILLER. No, sir; I do not.

Mr. BROWNSON. Do you have anyone on your payroll or know of anyone in the vicinity of your plant by the name of Joe Freeman? Mr. MILLER. I never heard of the name, sir.

Mr. BROWNSON. You never heard of the name?

Mr. MILLER. No, sir.

Mr. BROWNSON. All right.

Mr. WILLIAMS. I have just one further question: I did ask you, Mr. Miller, about whether any information came to you to the effect that the pills could not be used as intended in the field, and you said that there had been no such information or that you had not received any direct information, but you did say that there was one phone call. Mr. MILLER. I think when I spoke to Washington once it was

brought out to me that some of the pills did not stand up, and were being held at destination.

Mr. WILLIAMS. And that was only once in a phone call which you had made to Washington?

Mr. MILLER. Well, either Washington called me, or I called Washington, because, you see, we have running contracts from time to time, and we have occasion to call up with respect to shipments.

Mr. WILLIAMS. To whom were you talking on that occasion? Was it the chief of the agency?

Mr. MILLER. Generally, the Procurement Agency or the Transportation Division. That word would have come to me from Miss Queen. Mr. WILLIAMS. She was in the General Services Administration. She was not with FOA?

Mr. MILLER. No, sir.

Mr. WILLIAMS. Did you ever have any conversations with FOA? Mr. MILLER. I think I spoke to Mr. Hingher, but that was 3 or 4 years ago.

Mr. WILLIAMS. But this was the only information that then reached you casually in one phone call that they were not meeting the needs over there?

Mr. MILLER. That is right; that some of the tablets did not meet their needs.

Mr. BROWNSON. Who writes the instructions which go on these things?

Mr. MILLER. Dr. Mellon.

Mr. BROWNSON. I just wondered. The instructions seem to be very, very similar and even on the order of the paragraphs listed between your instructions and the instructions on the Sharp & Dohme package. Mr. MILLER. We have a consultant on labels, and he generally writes them on labels and Dr. Mellon, of course, checks them for us.

Mr. BROWNSON. Does Counsel have any questions to ask of the witness before he is excused?

Mr. KENNELLY. Mr. Miller, do you to your knowledge know whether any member of your firm, either employee or officer, has been in touch with Miss Queen, or anyone else in the General Services Administration, concerning this matter since, say, July 1 of this year? Mr. MILLER, July 1? I think Miss Queen called me about 2 or 3 weeks ago and asked about these last 2 contracts.

Mr. KENNELLY. Is that the way they were canceled?

Mr. MILLER. And also I think Miss Folvey called me about a week ago.

Mr. KENNELLY. Would you please spell her name?

Mr. MILLER. I think it is spelled F-o-l-v-e-y.

Mr. KENNELLY. But you have not seen Miss Queen personally in the last 2 weeks, or in the last month or so?

Mr. MILLER. No, sir; except when I walked in here today.

Mr. KENNELLY. And to your knowledge, no one else in your firm has seen her personally?

Mr. MILLER. No, sir; not to my knowledge.

Mr. KENNELLY. When was the last time that you did see Miss Queen?

Mr. MILLER. Oh, I do not know; maybe a year or two ago, when I was in Washington here.

Mr. KENNELLY. That is all I have, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. BROWNSON. That is all we have, and you can be excused from further action, and we appreciate your coming and testifying very much.

Mr. MILLER. Thank you, sir.

Mr. BROWNSON. Now, we will ask Miss Queen if she will please step to the stand.

Miss Queen, will you raise your right hand, please?

Miss Queen, do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give in this hearing will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Miss QUEEN. I do.

TESTIMONY OF DOROTHY QUEEN, PURCHASING AGENT, FEDERAL SUPPLY SERVICE, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Mr. BROWNSON. Will you please state your name and official title to the reporter ?

Miss QUEEN. My name is Dorothy Queen, and I am purchasing agent for the Federal Supply Service, region 3.

Mr. BROWNSON. Miss Queen, would you give the subcommittee a brief synopsis of your background in Government service, bringing you up to the position which you now enjoy?

Miss QUEEN. I started in 1934-I believe toward the end of the month of September 1934-with the Veterans' Administration. I was there about a year and a half.

Mr. BROWNSON. What were you doing at that time?

Miss QUEEN. I was a stenographer-a typist-stenographer-and I had taken some other civil-service examinations and was reached by the Procurement Division under Treasury, on a certification and accepted the position, by transfer, with the Treasury-Federal Supply, Treasury, Procurement, about 1936-July 1936 is when I think it was that I transferred.

Mr. BROWNSON. When you were working in the Treasury Department in your procurement job, what type of commodities were you procuring?

Miss QUEEN. I did not start purchasing until I think I had been in Federal Supply 7 years, or in Treasury Procurement for 7 years; I started in 1936 and I think my first appointment as purchasing officer was in 1944.

Mr. BROWNSON. What were you purchasing at that time?
Miss QUEEN. The same supplies which I am purchasing now.

Mr. BROWNSON. They were purchased by Treasury Department at that time; were they?

Miss QUEEN. Yes; I think so.

Mr. BROWNSON. At the present time your supervisor is Mr. Peed; is that correct?

Miss QUEEN. Yes, sir.

Mr. BROWNSON. And, you are assigned to Mr. Peed and in your assignment you have the full responsibility in matters of these negotiated purchases?

Miss QUEEN. There seems to be a misunderstanding about negotiation which I would like to explain:

Every one of my purchases and all of my purchases are advertised and all my purchases are open under competitive bidding, and the awards are always made on the lowest quoted price basis.

The only understanding I have of negotiation, insofar as I have put into practice, is we sometimes do not have open bidding, and at the time when I was with the Emergency Procurement, of course, I was an employee of Federal Supply, but I purchased under the program of the Emergency Procurement Service, and it was sort of a detail, you might call it.

At that time we did not have open bidding, and in that sense it was a negotiated purchase, but it was not open.

However, actually, the procedure is always exactly the same.
Mr. BROWNSON. What do you mean by open bidding?

Miss QUEEN. Open bidding means public bids. I mean the bids go into the bid room as they do now, and as they have for the last 2 years, and I do not remember when we took over the new procedure, exactly what date that occurred

Mr. BROWNSON. In other words, by open bidding you mean that the bids were all opened in public?

Miss QUEEN. That is right; and they were at one time read in public but now I understand they do not read them. They just open them and the bidders have access to them.

Mr. BROWNSON. Just what is your responsibility to Mr. Peed? What is your relationship with Mr. Peed?

Miss QUEEN. Well, the requisitions come from the liaison officer to him. I am not sure if they go directly to the Chief of the Purchase Division; I think they do, and then they are distributed again, to the chief of the branch that is involved, and then they come to the purchasing officer from Mr. Peed, to the control clerk, and to the purchasing officer.

Then, my job is to pick them up from there, and send out the invitations to bid, and to determine whether it should be handled by massive advertisement. By that, I mean where you have 125 to 150 to 200 people on a list, or whether in the case of terramycin or aureomycin, we know that terramycin is only made by Lederle, and aureomycin is made by Pfizer. As a rule my requisitions do not contain just one item. They contain 5 or 6 items. So I am able to send out telegraphic bids in the case where we know there is only one supplier for those total items. So, in every case, no matter what the item is, there is an advertised bid, whether it is by telegraphic method, or by formal mimeographed invitation.

Mr. BROWNSON. And actually in dealing with these so-called negotiated bids, you have to have

Miss QUEEN. I have never negotiated a contract.

Mr. BROWNSON. You have never negotiated a contract, as we understand the term, in calling for and trying to get a bidder to lower his price?

Miss QUEEN. No, sir; I have never done that.

The bids have always been made either to the lowest bidder, or if there is only one bidder, the bids are let to the only bidder.

Mr. BROWNSON. In other words, Mr. Peed has delegated to you final and full responsibility in the matters of these contracts?

Miss QUEEN. He depends on my integrity to handle the case, but he does approve the award that I make. He reviews every award that I make.

Mr. BROWNSON. Has he ever refused any of those awards which you have made?

Miss QUEEN. I do not recall any.

Mr. BROWNSON. In other words, he usually takes your recommendation and actually what he does is look it over and sign the actual paper?

Miss QUEEN. Well, he looks at the justifications for the award. He looks at the tabulation to see if the low bidder was overlooked, and if there is any doubt in my mind as to the decision to be made, I always go to Mr. Peed with that, and we go into it very thoroughly. Mr. BROWNSON. Did you discuss any of these contracts with the Retort Pharmaceutical Co. in detail with Mr. Peed?

Miss QUEEN. No, sir; there was nothing to talk about. He was the low bidder.

Mr. BROWNSON. Mrs. St. George, do you have any questions?
Mrs. ST. GEORGE. Mr. Chairman, I have one question:

You said that there were different qualifications. It seems to me there is only one qualification, and that is the low bid.

Miss QUEEN. What did you mean by different qualifications?

Mrs. ST. GEORGE. You said you discussed the various qualifications with Mr. Peed.

Miss QUEEN. There are no qualifications.

Mrs. ST. GEORGE. In other words, all you have to do is to look to the lowest bidder?

Miss QUEEN. We cannot always make the award to the lowest bidder.

Mrs. ST. GEORGE. That is what I wanted to get at. When you do not make it to the lowest bidder, what procedure do you follow?

Miss QUEEN. For instance, if we were ordering a 2-gram pill, and if the low bid is on a 10-gram pill, or vice versa, and the low bid on the 2-gram pill is in, naturally, I will accept it.

Mrs. ST. GEORGE. That is not the same thing. I mean, granting that it is the same product, all you have to worry about is the low bid; is that correct?

Miss QUEEN. That is correct, if the product is correct.

We make the award then to the low bidder-the low responsible bidder. I will qualify it that way.

Mr. WILLIAMS. I have a question on that, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. BROWNSON. I think Mr. Judd has a question.

Mr. WILLIAMS. It seems to have changed now. It is not always the lowest bidder.

Mr. WILLIAMS. It is not always the lowest bidder, then. You say the lowest responsible bidder?

Miss QUEEN. Occasionally, since quite recently, we asked for a performance bond, and let us say we asked for 6 million pounds of DDT and a man offers 2,000 pounds and then we are asking for 6 million pounds, and he offers delivery at certain times and we are asking for delivery in 2 weeks, that is not considered a responsible bid.

Mr. WILLIAMS. Did you ever make a determination of responsibility, or a determination of the qualifications of the bidder?