The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-04-13
MAJORITY REPORT
CHARGES WASTE
In Construction of 80 Army Camps and
Cantonments and Says the Gov
eminent Lost $78,531,52t ON
16 Cantonments.

| Washington, d. G., April l3Twt
fopposing reports on the long congress
| sional investigation of the construction
! Of 80 army camps and cantonments
were submitted yesterday to the House
| by war expenditures committee and
were debated several hours. The ma
| majority report, presented by Repub-
lican committeeman, criticised govern
ment agencies and officials in charge of
the war building program while the mi
nority report of the Democrats defend
| ed the administration.
The government lost S7S,53l ,52l on
the sixteen national army canton
ments, ii was estimated by the major
ity report. which asserted this was due
to waste, inefficiency and graft" re-
| suIting from cost plus contracts, which
were said to be wide open No esti-
mate of loss on the National Guard
camps was made by the majority.
Dissenting from the majority find
ings, the minority declared that the
construction work was equivalent to
. building 80 cities, each with from 81
600 to $4,000 population and added.
This tremendous task was pract-
cally completed in three months and
stands out as one of the great achieve
ments of the war"
Representatives Mckenzie, Illinois,
and Mccullough, Ohio, Republicans,
and Doremus, Michigan, Democrat,
were the committeeman who conduct
ed the investigation and their diver
~ by the ten Republicans and five
Democrats composing the full commit
tee on war expenditures.
The majority submitted six recon-
mendations for legislative action, in
GLIDING the submission to the states Of
a constitutional amendment making
'profiteering in wartime treason" 1t
also urged that the department Of jus
tice be asked to investigate work at
every camp ito the end of bringing TO
book those responsible for losses to the
government and frauds through which
they occurred, both by recoveries and
merited penalties"
No recommendations were made IN
the minority report and it contained
that two conclusions, one condemning
the Majority report and the other de- I
Tending Secretary Baker, who, the ma
iority declared, must bear the final /
responsibility" The majority conclu
sion as to the secretary's responsibility /
was but one of ITS more than four l
score conclusions. Along with these,
the majority cited several items,
to many thousands OF dol 4
lars. which it was argued could legal
ly be recovered by the government +
from contractors.
The majority declared Secretary
Baker should not have permitted de-
parture from the old method of com
petitiye bids. declaring that with him
must rest the final responsibility for
the entire situa tfon,' including vio-
lations of law. defrauding, waste,
losses and delays
In turn the minority said the secre.
tary was amply justified in abandon
ing the usual peace time method of
awarding contracts upon competitive
bidding and substituting for it the So
allied cost plus plan.
"The minority is Of the opinion
added its report, that If the views OF
he majority had been adopted at the
beginning OF the war the whole build
ny program would have been in a
tate of chaos. many of our troops
would have persisted with cold or died
# disease in the winter of 1917, and
he German army would have been in
Paris before our soldiers could have
inferred the battle lines"