The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1920-07-09
War UnscrambIing Almost Fin
ished, Technical Committee
Will Be Dissolved.
FROM POWER TO CASTOR OIL
incidentally the Committee Adjusted
the Great Kansas Rabbit Meat
Claim Along With Some 2oo,-
600 Others.

Observation-Disclosures assisting In saw
ing the country several millions of dol
lars through adjusting more than "a
900 war contracts which were abrupt
ly terminated by the armistice, the
technical advisory committee Of the
war claims board of the war depart
ment Is about to be dissolved, accord
ing to Campbell Scott, who organized
the committee under the direction OF
Benedict Crowell, assistant secretary
of war and director of munitions. The
committee, which was composed of ex-
perts In practically every branch of
engineering and manufacturing, was
organized to meet the critical sltua-
ton which developed as soon as the
war claims board attempted to settle
the 10000 contracts in existence at the
close Of the war.
The greater number of thesc con-
tracts involved questions OF highly
technical nature, and it was to settle
these that the technical committee was
organized. Many of the contracts in
volved had been let on n basis Of the
war lasting four or five years more;
the great majority had been placed
Turing the last six months Of the con-
flict. An idea of their scope Is OBJ
tplped when II Is understood that there
were more than 10000 contractors
who, In turn, had let sub-contracts to
more than 100000 others. In fact, to
have finished the war contracts for
munitions and supplies of every con-
celvable nature which were In exist
ence on Armistice day would have
meant the tying up Of practically 6o
per cent of the manufacturing re-
sources Of this country.
An outstanding feature Of the great
work Of the Investigations which were
completed by the technical committee
Is the fact, contrary to general belief.
more than 90 per cent of the contrac-
tors were found to be scrupulously
honest in their dealings with Uncle
Sam.
1--WE found that the great majority
Of the contractors" said Chairman
Scott yesterday, "had undertaken their
work with the prime idea Of assisting
their country In time Of peril. While
they did not forget that business Is
business, many Of them might have
made much more money than they did.
"Of course, It Is true that the small
minority took the viewpoint that the
government had made the war and
therefore should be made to pay for IL,
hut when It came to adjusting their
claims even these were found to be
fair and reasonable, indicative of the
good spirit which prevailed. Only 20
out of $4,000 contractors have APP
pealed to the court of claims from
the awards made to them. This
shows the painstaking work done by
the technical committee Of the war
claims board"
Claims Big and Little.
Some of the claims adjusted were
distinctly Of an extraordinary nature.
They ranged from the adjustment Of
the great power contracts In the Pitts
burgh district. which involved 1,9O0.-
100000 horse power, to the re-arrange-
ment Of the rabbit meat industry
which had sprung up In Kansas. In
cidentally, the castor oil contracts
the oil to be used for Liberty motors
have come up before the technical
committee. The fact that the entire
amount of more than $500. 0O0.O00
worth Of war contracts was settled nj
IL per cent Of their total face value
shows that real Americanism pervades
the Industries Of this country.
"It Is the biggest Job Of arbitration
the world has ever known" Is the
way in which prominent member o.
the administration characterized TIL,
work Of "unscrambllng the war"
One Of the most highly technical
contracts, and one which required
deep investigation, was that affecting
the power supply of the Pittsburgh
district. This district, the chief prod.
ucts Of which were munitions and
steel Of every kind, was practically
tied up in government work during the
last year of the war. Additions were
built to plants, thousands Of new en-
ployees were added. and as soon -