The Washington herald., 1917-01-16
Another Sugar Scandal?

ana the sugar scandal Ii is hardly
credible in this day and age that
while the composite Judgment of
Congress seems to be to enact a pro-
hibition bill for the District of Co
lumbia there should be recurring
such a scandal in official life as that
Which made the United States gasp
in amazement at time when open
barrooms hourished at each end OF
the Capitol.
And yet if the developments before
the Rules Committee investigation of
the Lawson charge that an official
leak" fNthe Presidents peace note
was made source of enormous
profit by high officials of the admin
istration and kinsmen of Cabinet of
hcers, contain one scintilla of truth
the Congress should not cease its eff
fort until the dishonest stewards of
the public's affairs are flooded in that
pitiless publicity which was the early
slogan of the Wilson administration.
Just now ii seems to be question
of veracity between Chairman Rob-
ert L. Henry, of the Rules Commit
tee, and Thomas W. Lawson.
Lawson has not been good wit
ness. He has harangued the commit
tee, scolded it, made wild and unsub-
stantiated statements, and not until
he was led to the open door of Jail
for contempt of the House did he
give the name of the Congressman
who mentioned the name of bank
er, Senator and a Cabinet officer"
who had speculated in the bear raid
on Wall Street.
She name of that Congressman he
said was Chairman Henry. Mr..
Henry promptly denied it, but the
food of innuendo and suggestion let
loose became an avalanche in a min
ute and before the session adjourned
dozen names, high in the councils
of the nation were, as Mr.. Lawson
described it, "smooched."
Among them were those of Secre-
tary of State Lansing and Secretary
McAdoo. Mr.. Lawson's information
involved" the Presidents Secretary,
Mr.. Tumulty; trusted newspaper
man stationed at the White House
for twenty years, and Paul Warburg,
we'll known as fnancier and author
ity on economies who is a member of
the Federal Reserve Board which
practically controls the monetary sys-
tenn of the United States.
New York bankers, brokers, Sena-
tors, al have been "smooched"
1 Mr.. Lawsons lrumors are not con-
vincing as yet. But the names have
been mentioned" and the onus of
disproving the stories is on the indi-
viduals mentioned
Secretary McAdoo very properly
announces that he would like to put
somebody in the penitentiary for the
imputation put on himself and Others
Either the author of the scandal
should be shown up as prevaricator
or the men mentioned should be ex-
posed to the public as gamblers on
the stock market with governmental
secrets reposed in them by the con-
fdence of nation.
If Chairman Henry has circulated
the wild charges that Lawson so ably
amPlifed and uttered, Mr.. Henry
should be shown up as rara avis in
the field of malicious mischief. Mr..
Henry has served in Congress and
public life for twenty years. None of
his colleagues doubts his integrity
or probity. His honesty is beyond
question and his partisan zeal has
never been lacking.
There is always the possibility that
men talk and discuss idle rumors
with too great freedom. If such
gossip, such cloakroom chatter and
such demagogic speculation is to be-
smirch the honor and destroy the
usefulness of able, efficient and cour-
ageous public officials, the American
people are not ready to sit quietly
back and permit the responsible per-
sons to escape.
The sugar investigation smelled to
high heaven. The Teak" scandal
reeks with odors unpleasant to the
nostrils of every honest American.