The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1919-07-11

ure which congress subsequently en-
acted. They devised the entire sys-
tenn of purchasing war supplies, plan
ned a press censorship; designed a
system of food control and selected
Herbert C. Hoover as it's director and
even determined on the daylight con-
serving law.
"Conceived within the law but
brought into existence in absolute
violation of law it is not surprising
to find this secret government of the
United States itself persistently
ignored and even violated the law;
that it allowed interested parties to
fix the prices of war material; that
it put the people of the country to
incalculable unnecessary expense and
carried things with a high hand"
Mr.. Graham declared that when
Major-General Goethals was called
eat the eleventh hour to rescue the
War Department from the public
obliquy, which was fast settling upon
it as a result of the methods and
incapacity of the commission, he re-
pudiated and practically denied it."
Soldiers Dying in Camp
''Our soldiers were actually dying
of pneumonia in the camps because
of lack of proper clothing and blank
ets," Mr.. Graham said, 'and General
Goethals assumed the duties OF quar-
termaster-general only on condition
he should have free scope in the
performance of his duties, unhamper-
ed by the Council of National De-
fense. Immediately he took from
the members of the council their
power to order purchases and fix
prices and soon dispensed with the
services of those members of the ad-
visory commission, who had so de-
ploringly bungled the control of sup
plies for the army"
Judge Gary advised the advisory
commission, Mr.. Graham said, that it
was operating in disregard to the
Sherman law, and ''all other statutes
that are supposed to regulate busi-
ness, particularly big business" "
When the Attorney General was call
ed upon by the commission to answer
Judge Gary, Mr.. Graham said, he
answered that the matters referred
to as violations of the law were mat
ters of national policy" rather than
a legal question.
To Remove Embarrassment.
AFTERWARDS" Mr.. Graham de-
clared, "when there was evidently a
discussion in congress as to the le-
gality of members of the committees
on the council buying from them
selves, the council discussed this gen
eral policy and it was suggested that
''this embarrassment might be re-
moved by the plan of the committee
reorganization now under consider
ation."
"The minutes show that on account
of this so-called embarrassment the
war industries board was created and
committees were appointed by the
national chamber of commerce, so
the letter of the law might be COM
piled with, but by which scheme no
part of the method of buying was
changed in the slightest degree, so
far as l can observe
Citing cases in which he said the
council formulated legislation before
war was declared which legislation
later was considered by congress, Mr..
Graham declared that on February
Is, 1917, the council discussed the
draft system and considered a report
from Commissioners Samuel Comp
ers and Howard E. Coffin relative
to the exclusion Of labor from mill
tary service; on the same day recon-
mended that Herbert Hoover be en-
ployed by the government in connec-
tion with food control, and on March
8, endorsed the daylight saving
scheme, and recommended federal
censorship of the press.
Method of Committal.
About the first thing the commits
sion did was to take up the matter
of arranging an easy method of COM
munication between the manufactur-
ers and government, Mr.. Graham
continued. "In several meetings,
long before war was declared, the
commission met with the representa-
tives of the manufacturing industries
and formed an organization of them