Arizona republican., 1920-02-17

said. was more wasteful of human life than "equippiug shock troops with wooden guns"
 on this point the minority report said the government turned out more than 1l,000 planes during the war, and these were practically the same ss the ma chimes used by the allies.
 Touching on responsibility, the ma jority report said Secretary Baker was properly chargeable with any success or failure of Americas aircraft pro- gram"
 The greater part of the majority re- port was taken up with an indictment of conditions in the spruce forest. where 30,000 soldiers were assigned for civilian duty under Colonel Disque, former warden of the Michigan peni- tentiary. It was charged that Disque illegally spent s4.500,000 of government funds in 1918 when he ''farmed out 10000 soldiers at cost-plus prices, the government paying contractors who charged a seven per cent cost plus profit on the soldiers pay. Secretary Baker was charged with direct respon- sibility flor this unprecedented prac- tice." Thirteen logging railways were said to have been started. none of which was completed before the war ended and five cost ss,325.194, the ma jority asserting that some roads took d -3DouI toAiS III UT itNA " touch summer resorts
 There were not enough skilled log gers in the country to carry out the governments spruce production pro- gram, said the minority report, de- lending the use Of soldiers.
 Estimates Loss at $30,00O,OOo
 Government spruce properties, ac- cording to the majority report, were estimated by Disque tG have salvage value of 10 per cent of cost, on which basis settlements were made with Great Britain for her share of spruce losses. An expert accountant employed by the committee testified that s3o.- 000, ,000 was wasted by Disque, based on the contract price in 1918
 The minority report held that at the end of the war the spruce production corporation had on hand salvageable properties costing originally s1s,000,0o0 and that settlement was made with Great Britain. which paid s14,000, 900 a lump sum for her part of the ob ligation. On this settlement a 10 per cent salvage value was accepted Prop erty costing more than four million dollars, Mir. Lea declared. was sold at "A per cent of it's cost price.
 The majority report alleged that more than S30.000000 was wasted through mismanagement in producing airplane lumber in the northwest. The cost plus contracts were described as
 
 waste and extravagance. The coct of five of the logging roads was 'prac tically double the assessed full cash value of three great transcontinental roads the report charged.
 With all of his force and prepara- tion, the majority report asserted Disque turned out only seven per cent of the lumber in 1918. The minority report set forth that Oregon lumber men adopted resolutions congragulat- ing the country that a man of Disques foresight had been detailed by the gov- ernment to produce lumber. while Gen. eral Carmack of the British army was quoted as saying the increased supply of spruce from the northwest had resulted ''in growing predominance of plane power for the allies. Mr. Lea de- clared lumbermen and loggers CO., operated magnificently in support of governments efforts
 Cost of investigations by five house committees. the majority report de- clared, would not equal much more than the cost to the government of one mile of the Lake Crescent railroad and not equal five per cent of the cost to the government of the Stems Carey sawmill folly or two per cent of the money wasted on the worthless Bris- tol plane.
 Ryan Issues Statement
 The majority recommended q sepa- rate aircraft service, but the minority declared this was impractical and would lead to extravagance.
 John D. Ryan tonight issued the fol- lowing statement:
 T have not seen the report, nor have I been appraised of it's contents. l am. however, familiar and so is the public with the character of the investigation conducted and the bias and partisan ship that marked the endeavor of the two majority members of the sub com mittee to capitalize, for petty political