Republican farmer., 1919-09-26
CONGRESS WAR PROBE PROVING
 TO BE FIZzLE
Graham Select Committee Has Little Standing With
 Republican Leaders.

Washington. D. C.. Sept. 24-After
 an existence of nearly three and one
 half months 1t now appears as if the | much heralded Graham select com
 mittee to investigate war expendi-
 lures has little or no standing in the
 estimation of the Republican leaders 1 or the House of Representatives. 1 Within the next few weeks a part ! Of their work will be either dupli- i cated or taken away from them.
 i The committee-popularI known ! as the "smalIers," who are seeking | Republican campaign material for 1 1920 in the methods used by the 1 Democratic national administration in i winning the World War-has divided 1 itself into five smelling sub-com- i mlttees in order to more easily run l down the elusive scandal" These ! latter committees have had varying | careers, one is recuperating in Paris 1 after the battle of the Seine, won bv | Gen. John J. Pershing. Y. S. A. an i other is juuketing on the Pacific coast ] in search of spruce scandals" and | the others appear to have fallen in i to the slough of despond. This lat | ter class includes the subcommittee | on camps and cantonments.
 1 At any rate. eight or nine mem ! bers of the House standing commit [ tee on military affairs are leaving | this week for a little trip of inspec- ! ton of four Cantonments in the [ South There appears to be no uues- | uon but that the information they are seeking falls directly under the Jurisdiction of the Graham sub-com- . nm Which means that the treasury may be compelled 10 pay for duplicated
 work, as this expedition is likely to
 Ealvanize into action the Graham , sub-"smcIIersr
 The detachment from the military affairs committee plans to visit . Camps Humphrey, Virginia; Bragg. . North Carolina; Benning, Georgia. and Knox, Kentucky. Early in the special session the House RepubIi- cans passed resolution forbidding the War Department utilizing unex- pended funds appropriated for the construction of cantonments and
 this subcommittee will tour the
 South to see whether this resolution should be abrogated. Incidentally,
 this trip is being taken at a time when the Graham subcommittee on camps and cantonments was prepar- ing to do the same thing
 The Republican mountain has la bored for three and one-half months and has not so much as d mouse to show the American public, Democrat ic leaders assert despite confident predictions of enormous extrava- gance,'' ''wflful waste" ''gross mis-
 mana Eement.' and everything else the specially engaged press agent of the Republican National Committee had prcDhesied- The Graham committee is spending the peoples money at the moderate estimate'' of SIO.OOO a month so far, and has nothing 10 show for it. And now comes along another committee, also of Republi- can inception, to do the work the Graham subs have failed to do.
 The Graham committee was creat- ed June II and spent but s16330 hat month "It was some time af- forwards when they got momentum" 7" as it was described before the House appropriations subcommittee by Will liam Tyler Page, clerk of the House and its disbursinE officer. From July 1 to Sept. 3, the Graham com mittee's expenditures, and estimates for the European and Pacific coast trips, total S1S,546-92- For the same | period the select committee to in vesugate the shipping board expen- ditures spent s1,2OO- With a defici- 1 ency appropriation of S6O,OOO Mr 1 Page thought the Graham and ship ping committees could be financed up l to Jan l, his estimates being based i on the July and August figures quot 1 ed.
 Representative Joseph W. Byrnes | of Tennessee, Democrat, doubted l whether the estimates would actually cover the expenses of the "smeuers'' i in France and on the Pacific coast 1 not a voucher for either of these ex- Cursions having been turned in.
 Questions by MT. Byrnes extracted i some interesting information from l the clerk of the House The Graham ] committee so far has this permanent ! staff: ]
 1 clerk at s3,OOO per annum.
 1 clerk at S2.50O per annum-
 2 clerks at s2, 900 per annum.
 l clerk at $50 per week
 stenographer at S1, 800 a year.
 stenographer at s1.6OO a year. l
 1 stenographer at s1.40O a year |
 messenger S1,2OO a year.
 This does not mean that all the | sub-committees have engaged clerks | and stenographers as yet. Neither i does it include a lengthy list of in vestigators who received from S1O to | more than S1OO a day. This salary l list totals at the rate of S15,1OO a | year, or S1,25S plus a month, leav- | ing a balance of some S8,75O a month, | according to the estimate, to carry on the travels of the European. Pa | cific and other tourists of both war and shipping committees up to Jan. | 10.
 Three Representatives are in Eu- ! rope accompanied by six others an | attorney, a clerk a stenographer, a | deputy sergeant-at-arms and two | others whose identity seems yelled. The select committee on shipping | board expenditures had not rendered [ any vouchers up to Sept but MT. | Page was advised they had designat- | ed a clerk at S2OO a mopth and i public accountant, or investigator | at $750 a month. This committee is | also on the Pacific coast for an ex- tensive trip.
 Judging by progress to date, the | Democratic leaders can see no indf- | cation that the Graham or shipuine |