The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-19
WASTE MILLIONS ON
 SMELLING BOARDS" CUMMINGS CHARGES
c. O. P. Committee Appoint ed to Find War Graft Found It Was Cleanest
 Ever Fought
By Associated Press

Louisville, Ky, March 1s.-Wasteful expenditure of s2.OO0,OOO for smelling committees" was charged against the
 republican majority in Congress by Homer s. Cummings. chairman of the democratic national commission, in an address here tonight at the dinner at
 tended by democratic leaders of Ken
 lucky.
 The committees, Chairman Cummings said, were appointed to ascertain whether there had been any graft in the conduct of the world war, but in stead, demonstrated that this was the cleanest war ever fought in the his- tory of civilization"
 "The finger of scorn does not point to one single democratic official in all of broad America" added Mir. Cum mings. q want to remind you that it does not lie in the mouths of those who conducted the Spanish-American war
 to indulge in the luxury of criticism. "What is there in this war to com pare with the typhoid infested camps of the war of 1898? What is there in this war to compare to the paper sole
 shoe controversy of 1898? And what
 is there in this war to compare to the embalmed beef scandal of the Spanish 1 American war?
 We have fought a great war for a
 great cause, and we have had q lead
 ership which has carried America to
 greater heights of glory and power and | splendor and honor than she has ever
 known before in her entire history. FALSE PRETENSES ! "The republicans have now been in
 control of the Senate and the House for eight months" the chairman continued. They went in under false pretenses. They outlined an elaborate programme l of conservation that looked very well l in the newspapers. They have not only delayed and indefinitely postponed the peace of the world, interferred with American commerce and brought the rate of exchange tumbling down to a point hitherto unknown; but aside from railroad legislation of doubtful value, ! they have not passed one single con | structiVe act.
 1 Had a democratic Congress been elected, or Congress in sympathy with l the President, the treaty of peace I would long ago have been ratified, in- jnumerable avenues of trade and com merce would have been opened to Amer ican enterprise and halted industry would have taken on new and hopeful | life.
 MT. Cummings characterized the re- publican platform committee as "a most unusual experimentation of political misfits.
 "On that committee of 171," he as serted, they have reactionaries anc progressives; they have Taftites anc Rooseyeltians; they have economist t' and appropriationists they have reser- vationists of all kinds-mild reserva. tionists and wild reservationists; they have bitter enders, they have capital ists and pacifists and militarists, and former chairmen of the republican na- tional committee, and seventeen wom- en, all to go on a voyage of discovery for the purpose of aseertaining wha' republican principles are"
 Referring to the presence of mum Der of women at the dinner, Mr Cum mings said the democratic party pos sessed an appeal to the women o. America because of the social aspect: of the programme, which has been out lined by it's great leader, and which hat
 been carried to such a successful cul mination."