New-York tribune., 1919-08-25
Fifty Millions Expended bv
Man Who Did Not Know
Spruce From Apple He
Tells House COMMITTEES.
Baker Refused Troops
Secretary Is Said to Have
Advised a Surrender to
Demands Of the I. ". w.
Ne1g Yo,l. Trihnn.

Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON, Aug. 24.-Cbargs,
that Secretary Baker refused 70 se,a
troops to the State OF Washinyto,
thereby adding to delay in production
Of airplane spruce caused by 7. W W
difficulties; that Colonel B..ce p,
Disque and Colonel Edward A Deeds
Of the air service, we're "u-hollv ;nco,,
petent' and that Major Fred ". Lead.
better made proposition involv;nc
attempted bribing" in connection with
spruce production. were made befora
the House Subcommittee on aviation
en- route to the Pacific Coast in an IN,
vestigation Of expenses IN the War De.
partment, 1t was learned here TO-DAY
The witness responsible for ths
charges was Major Charles R. sligb.
furniture manufacturer Of Grand Ram
ids, Mich, who was ASSIGNED on Juno
II, 1917, to the duty Of procuring
spruce for the aircraft service.
Appearing before the copnlittee. Ma.
jor Sigh declared that In December
1917, he told Howard E. Coffin, of the
Aircraft Board, that Colonel Deeds was
incompetent and Mr.. Coffin replied.
Sigh, we have already discovered
it and we are looking for d successor.
We asked Mr. Stettinius TO accen. that
position and he agreed to. HIS name
was presented to the Secretary Of War
and the Secretary o. War turned him
down for political reasons"
Baker Advised Surrender
., Regarding the / ". vs. Major
singh testified that they were creating
trouble, intimidating workrnen who do,
sired 10 work, and that. as sprucs ma
ductlon was confined TO small area
1t was estimated that force Of four
companies of United States troops
could handle the situation easily and
protect those who desired 10 work.
This situation, Major Sigh said. hs
iald before Mr.. Coffin, adding: Mr.. COT
fin told me afterward the Secretary of
War had refused 10 send troons for
that purpose, and. instead Of doing that.
the Secretary had himself sent a wir.
out there advising them 10 Weld to the
l: W. W." This, according to Major
Sigh, resulted in a six weeks con-
spruce IN Washington was virtually at
a standstill
Regarding Colonel afterward Gen.
eral, Disoue to whom the aircraft or.
vice instructed the $4,000 600 expended
for spruce production, Major Sligo tes-
tined: He lad never seen a modern
mill. did not not know a iir tree from
spruce; doubt that he even knew
one from an apple tree; he had gone
INTO the army at nineteen wears Of age.
ne had been there ali his lie. and tho
only business experience he ever pos
sessed was the nine months that ne
was warden of the Jack on prison.
Colonel DlsQue's whole operations were
the result Of his Ignorance. lie knew
absolutely nothing about the business,
and he could not ACQUIRE it in few
minutes. He was generally incompe-
tent as an executive and his expendi-
lures were wasteful and extravagant.
think they We're criminally wastefnl.r
Attempted Bribe Charged
Major Sigh declared that Major
Fred ". Lcadcetter came to him in
October, 1917. and made him a propo-
sltlon which Major Sigh characterized
as nothing more u less than at
tempted bribing."
Regarding a sawmill at Vancouver,
Major Sigh testified there never was
any Justltiable reason for building the
plant at Vancouver, for the reason that
they had ten times more mill capacity
than they had spruce Right on that
point would like to state that orig
lnally that Vancouver proposition was
made on the basis Of costing about
S200,OO0; but this report Of Colonel
OOO.'' F"'''
Chairman Frear interpolated the
remark that il cost considerably over
a milion'
Later l was put in charge of lum-
Der purchases" said Major Sigh. Il
made contracts with llmbermen for
aircraft spruce at S105 thousand and
for wing beam stock, the highest quail
lty, at $3.50 a thousand, also for fir,
which could be substituted Tor spruce
IN some parts, at $50 d thousand The
l. w. w. troubles were over and had
put Russell Hawkins, lunmbelman II
twenty years experience. IN charge
IN the spruce country. AS a result
the production of spruce was speeded
up until in October it was 3.545,000
1eet, and III November, 100000 feet
Price Raised by Leadbetter
Oil November the spruce DIVISION
OF the War Department was organized,
with Colonel Disque at the head and
Major Leadbetter as division officer in
W Washington, in-which capacity he dis
placed Sigh.
One of the first things Major Lead
better did, declared Mr.. Sigh, was to
increase the price the government
would pay for fir from S55 to S65
thousand, although the contracts made
by Shgh were not more than one
fourth filed
Under Colonel Disoue's administra-
ton, according to Major Sligh. produc-
ton of spruce fell off rapidly to
100000 feet a month Colonel Disqus
caused to be shipped, at great expense
lot freight and labor. vast quantities
of spruce wholly unfit for aircrafe. he.
declared. In support OF this conten-'
tion, Major Sigh cited the case OF
shipment of 6.000,C00 feet to Grand
Rapids, of which only 100000 feet
was fit for use
The rest was junk" he testified.
one car Of the Chicago, Milwaukee q
st. Paul, No. 2O39S4, one Of Colonel
Disque's own inspectors called rot.
ten"
Major Sigh said Colonel Disque i'm.
medlately revise the prices to be paid
for spruce, from he sos for seconds
and $3.50 for irsts, agreed on by Sligh,
to $50 for some and $40 or $50 for
another grade and $500 for another
rrada ,uIila La told Of conna SDrlce