National Affairs: Mr. Berle’s Misfortune

Public officials whose jobs require them to become trustees for public moneys did well to mark last week the misfortune which befell brilliant young Adolf A. Berle Jr. When the Fusion ticket under Mayor LaGuardia rousted Tammany from New York’s City Hall in 1934, into the office of City Chamberlain went Adolf Berle, then 39.

In 1936 Chamberlain Berle chose a $40-a-week CWA supervisor named Hiram C. Connor to be his assistant. Later he appointed Connor head of the real-estate division of his office at a higher salary. It was not high enough for Hiram Connor’s tastes in horses and women, and last summer he admitted having stolen $50,000 of the city’s money with forged checks, said he was broke. Held accountable, Mr. Berle promptly paid $18,000 and started looking for more. Last week, as Mr. Berle (now assistant U. S. Secretary of State) journeyed with the U. S. delegation to the august Pan-American Conference at Lima, Appointee Connor was sentenced to three and one-half years in prison, and the total of his pilferings was shown to be nearer $80,000 than $50,000. Of this sum, about $70,000 was money for which Mr. Berle had been trustee, leaving him another $52,000 to find.