The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1919-06-05
DEMOCRATS
CONFIDENT AS
c. DIP. BEGIN
WAR PROBE

Democrats today are clubbing the
proposed investigation of the ex-
penditure. of 5000, O0O,O 900 by the
War Department a victory probe"
and challenging the Republican ma
jority to ego as far as you like and
seeihow a real and the greatest war
in all history was successfully con-
Quoted by a Democratic Administra-
ton"
In a partisan sldrmish yesterday
afternoon, the House unanimously
passed the resolution of Congress
man Graham of Illinois, providing
for committee of fifteen to investi-
gate the expenditures in the War
, Department during the recent world
war.
Purpose Ambiguous.
Congressman Campbell Of Kansas
, declared that ain all probability the
investigation will disclose that there
has been q mingling of political and
governmental activities"
Congressman Cantrill Of Kentucky
declared that no one. in the House
misunderstood the real purpose of the
, Investigation.
of course" he said, "our ~Repub-
lfcan friends will not publicly make
the admission that they are going
into this investigation for the pur-
pose Of digging up campaign ma
esriaI for the. Presidential election
4 next Year. But, Of course, we have
5all know that is teir purpose"
Five subcommittee.
!. There will be ten Republicans and
I'VE Democrats on the special COM
,gmittee There will be five subcom-
.nittees, each to have two Republicans
land one Democrat.
Asked for an approximate scope Of
the work Of the so-callea Victory In
vestigating Committee" Mr.. Campbell
said u would be Colossal"
In the opinion of Democratic Lead
er Claude Kitchin. tie investigation
will extend over a period of four or
I'VE years and will necessitate the
'eSta blishment in Washington of what
twill virtually mean a new govern
ment bureau or department.
100000 Contracts Involved.
IF I am correctly informed, there
will be more than 100, 900 war con.
.9rzcts to be looked into" Mr.. KitOhin
said Thousands OF these were made
IN foreign countries. Hundreds OF
them are in such shape that their real
: status is not known.
=; ITO make such an investigation as
is contemplated would mean the en-
sploymeEt OF fully 100 experts and
many clerks.
aAa Sc ap1aarg Nom tbara MIL
hardly be an end to the great mass
of work that such an investigation
win entail.
Wide Investigation Authorized.
The resolution would give mem
bers Of the special committee au-
thority to carry their investigation to
Europe or any other part Of the world.
1t is certain that both the minority
and the majority will be represented
ION this committee by some of their
strongest representatives. This would
mean that fifteen House leaders virtu-
ally would be out Of action in so far
as House routine is concerned for the
duration Of the investigation.
The resolution providing for the
select committee" gives the COM
mittee. authority to conduct its inves-
LEGATION during sessions Of the House
and during recesses Of that body.
To Call Allied wftneSses.
witnesses to appear before the va
irious subcommittees would represent
nearly every one of the twenty-odd
allies They would number in the
hundreds OF thousands.
The investigation will meg ght-
ing the war over again on Pc
Under the proposed plan to 6ye
subcommittee would make sep
Inquiries into aviation, camps
cantonments, ordnance, quartermass
ter corps and operations in foreign
countries -
That the House may not be de-
rrived Of the facts gained until the
very last subcommittee has reported,
the resolution ordering the investiga-I
ton provides that the select commit
tee shall report to the House, in one
OF more reports, as il may deem ad-
viSable, the result of its investiga-
tions, with such recommendations as
Il may care to make"
Speaker Gillett will probably not
name the select committee until to-
morrow.
Democrats sought to have the rep