Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-09-24
Charged With Being in
League With Opposition,
But Charge Falls.
MRS. E. M. PARKS HOLDS
CONTROL OF THE STOCK
Publication Is Opposed by Ameri-
can Legion, Senators
Are Told.

! The controlling interest in the
| Stars and Stripes. soldier newspaper
published in Washington, is held by
Mrs. T. NJ. Parks. the secretary to the
| director of finance of the democratic
/ national committee. it was testified
| today by Joseph L. Heffernan, pub
! nisher of the paper. before the Senate
committee investigating campaign ex-
penditures.
MIR. Heffernan told the committee
| that SO far Mrs. Parks had nut s4S 600
into the Stars and Stripes He said he
! old not know whether k was her money
or whether 1t was contributed by the
| democratic national committee. He
said that Mrs. Parks owned S51. 900
worth of stock, while he had $4,000.
Mr.. Hefernan's Charges.
Prior to giving this testimony Mr..
Heffernan charged that an attempt
was being made by some persons or
interests in New York to put his
publication out of business. He also
charged that Senator Edge of New
Jersey. a member of the investigating
committee. was in league with these
Senator Edge to participate in the in
quiry into the political activities of
/. the Stars and Stripes.
Senator Kenyon, chairman of the
committee. Immediately demanded that
Mr.. Heffernan produce the evidence
| he has to support the charge he made
against Senator Edge.
The witness replied that the infor-
nation had come to him in a con-
fidential way. Senator Edge demand
ed to know the names of the persons
who had given him this information.
The witness admitted that he could
not give them, but said that Richard
/ S Jones. an employe in his office.
had told him. He did not know from
whom Jones had the information.
Hurry Call for Jones'.
Immediately hurry call was sent
to the office of the Stars and Stripes
/ for Mr.. Jones.
In making his charge against Sem
ator Edge Mr.. Heffernan declared
that he did not think it fair for SEN
ator Edge to sit both as a judge and
as a prosecutor.
i Under examination by Senator Ken
/ yon it was developed that Mr.. Hef-
!. fernan. who had served overseas. saw
an opportunity. when the publication
! of the Stars and Stripes was discon-
! tinued by the soldiers of the Amer
i lean -expedit:onary force, to take the
name of that paper and to begin pub
f; lication of soldiers organ in this
country. He said that he formed. with
/ others. the Stars and Stripes Publish
ing Company, incorporated.
American Legion Opposes.
Mr.. Heffernan told the committee
that efforts had been made. and are
being made by the American Legion
to put his publication out of business.
He said that Secretary of War Baker
had been prevailed upon to object to
the use of the name Stars and
Stripes and that he understood that
Col. Roosevelt, jr.. had appealed to
Secretary Baker in the matter. He
sa I'd that the American Legion de-
sired the name for its own purposes.
Mr.. Heffernan said that he realized
that he would need some influence
back of him. He feared. he said. that
a bill might be passed through Con-
gress preventing him from using the
name stars and Stripes. particu-
larly as Secretary of War Baker. from
sentimental reasons. believed that the
use of the name should stop with the
end of the war.
Democrats Asked to Aid.
The witness said that he visited the
democratic national committee head
quarters.
Did you think that it could in
f1uence Congress-" asked Senator
Kenyon.
Il did at that time" replied the
witness.
He said that Mrs. Parks was the
only one in the office when he called
and that he explained his business
to her. He said that she asked him
to take her in a business way and that
finally she had agreed TO finance the
paper for a certain block of stock.
Does that come from Mrs. PARKS
personally. or the national commit
tee?" Chairman Kenyon asked.
Il have no way of knowing" Heff"r-
nan replied. Later Chairman Kenyon
demanded: so we have situation
by which this paper is controlled by
the democratic national committee?
To this Reffernan replied: Yes
And Mr. du Pont of the republican
national committee is endeavoring to
get that control?" Senator Reed
asked
Du Pont .SeeEs to Get Control"
"Yes." Heffernan replied. He de-
clared that the american Legion
Weekly is controlled by the repub-
lican national committee"
How can you make that state
ment?" Senator Edge demanded,
Heffernan replied. mentioning the
name of Theodore Roosevelt. jr., and
other organizers of the legion and
declaring that Scott C. Bone. director
of publicity for the republican ma
tional committee. had so stated.
The witness said that he had been
approached some time ago by Rich-
1.
in the employ of the du Points. the
powder interests. he thought. He said
that without making any direct oHer.
Capt. Waldo had advised him to sell
the publication to the interests he
and had warned him that
if he did not sell the publishing COM
pany would be bankrupt in six
months In this connection Mr.. Hef-
fernan said that ii was strange
thing that, although the Stars and
Stripes has circulation OF looooo'
it is unable to procure advertisements
Senator Reed asked whether the du
Points referred to included Col. du
Pont, who is the republican national
committeeman from New Jersey. but
the witness was unable to say.
Jones Says "Overstated."
Richard S Jones of the Stars and
Stripes, when he took the stand, testi-
fled that Mr.. Heffernan had overstated
the ease in making his charges
against Senator Edge. Mr.. Jones told
he committee that he had urged Hef-
fernan ~ try and find out what WAS
backx> the summoning of the Stars
and stripes representative before the
committee. He said that he had heard
that Senator Edge was in New York
at the time the summons was issued
and that he thought there might be
some connection.
Mr. Jones testified he did not know
that the Stars and Stripes was influ-
enced in partisan politics. If it was.
he said he did not care to be connected
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