The Washington times., 1918-03-02

tained Government contracts. with the
obtainment Of which l had not the
slightest connection, directly or in
directly, requested me to accept EN-
ployment as adviser to himself and
the mills be represented.
While ] know of no reason why
such employment should not be ac-
cepted by a retired officer. desiring
to be absolutely certain that there
existed nothing in the law or regula-
tions against such employment, be-
fore accepting il, / applied to the Of
fee OF the judge advocate general OF
the army for advice and. at my re-
quest, Col. Herbert A. White, eX-
the middle OF January last, advised
me that there was no objection. so
far as his examination OF the law,
regulations, and decisions disclosed.
to my accepting the employment men
toned. Having thus carefully sought
to be properly Informed and advised
on the subject, / undertook the prof
fered employment.
There was nothing secretive about
It. ! went to st. Louis. and there at
the uepot quartermasters office
openly and frankly acted on Mr.. Lip
pert's behalf in connection with
tract. which. mad been awarded long
prior to any connection between Lip
pert and myself For. the services
thus rendered, was compe nsated
81 900 An agreement was then en-
tered into. under which. as adviser TO
Mr.. Lippert and the mills represented
by him, | was TO receive q salary OF
$500 per month. made known at
the War Department the fact OF my
connection with Mr.. Lippert. I had
not the slightest doubt regarding
the legality and entire propriety Of
this employment. That retired army
officers were free to enter into busi-
ness connections after their retire
ment from active Service has always
been recognized.
"On February "a, learned from the
Inspector general OF the army and
Capt Melvin B. Erickson, OF the army
intelligence office at Chicago. that in
formation was desired regarding my
employment by Lippsrt. I informed
these officers OF the facts substan-
TALLY as set forth in this statement.
l voluntarily turned over to them all
OF the correspondence. consisting OF
letters and kilograms. which had
passed between Mr.. Lippert and my
self. an examination OF which would
disclose that on neither side was
there any pretense OF secrecy or the
need thereof.
"On the next day / called on the
Secretary OF War. the inspector gen
eral. and the acting judge advocate
general. and frankly stated all of the
facts to them. ! did not know, and
had not the slightest idea, that there
was any statute which could be con
struec as prohibiting the open en-
ployment. in good faith, by a con-
tractor Of an officer after his retire.
ment from active service, and IL |
had not been assured that there was
no law or regulation containing such
prohibition, would never have CON
sidered the employment.
My lifetime record Of honorable Serv-
ices in the army ought 10 be sufficient
answer to the suggestion in the pub
lished reports that had any connec-
tion with graft in the awarding OF army
contracts. The statement IN today's
newspa pers that until the first OF the
year / was connected with the ac-
department OF the quartermas- I
ter's division. which IL concerned with
awarding the contracts" is erroneous. As
above stated, 1 was no: in the slightest .
degree concerned with the awarding Of
'''N' ~ MY aAAiN ~ OAll AllE gin
ming Of the war until after my retire /
mcnt
promptly upon learning that my /
action In receiving pay from Mr.. Lip
pert for my services might be con
strued as in contraventIon of any
statute, ] wrote to the inspector gem
ersl, offering to make a return OF the
amount received either to Mr.. Lip
pert or to the United States, as may
be deemed proper by the Secretary Of
War. stating that it was never my
intention to accept any money for il.
legal action"