Evening star., 1920-11-27
Galley Door Hinge Replaced
for $48; Men Allowed
80 Hours a Day.
TELLS OF INVESTIGATING
GIFTS TO U. S. EMPLOYEES
Reveals Discovery of Silverware in
Yokohama Hotel and Linen
Vended on French Streets.

\ NEW YORK, November 21-Testi-
mony tending to show alleged abuse
Of the cost-plus form of contract in
repairs to shipping board vessels was
given here today before the con-
shipping board affairs by Harold +.
Hanes. an examiner of the boards
auditing department
The witness said that at Norfolk,
Va, he saw bill for $4S. which had
been paid for putting a 5o-cent hinge
on galley door. A machinist, he a.
serted, was employed to cut the hinge
from a heavy piece of steel, instead
OF going out and buying it.
Twelve Work I'm AKA Reon.
He testified that rs men had been
sent aboard a ship in the same port
and remained there from 7:30 Am.
Monday, to the same hour the follow
ing Monday. and were allowed pay
for thirty-nine hours day. On an
other occasion. he said. twelve car
penters were put to work at one time
in wireless room of ship which
measured 4x4 feet.
Hanes also testified to investigating
gifts of watches and stock to Ship
ping Board employees. An auditor, he
added. was paid IS to assist in pre-
passed upon in the ordinary discharge
of his duties. Investigation resulted
in the auditor being removed, he said.
Short deliveries and overcharges
for beef furnished to the emergency
feet ships also was alleged by Haneo.
He said "a cents a pound was paid
for eleven-cent. beef.
Tells OF Commission.
Payment Of commission Of $1,000
on an order of $4,000 to a ship captain
at Portland, Ore, also was testined
to by Hanes. The name of the ship
was not given. The commission. he
said, was paid by the Portland branch
of a Boston ship supply firm.
Discovery of silverware marked
''U. S. Shipping Board" in a hotel At
Yokohama and street venders selling
Shipping Board linen at La Paliice
said he did not know whether these
matters had been investigated.
sailors Left statenent.
The witness said that on January Is
last he had heard a report that sailors
on board a ship undergoing repairs At
the Cramp & Co. yards had signed and
sealed Statement alleging that the
repair work was not being properly
done. The sailors had made it a con-
dition, he said, that their statement
was not to be opened unless some-
thing happened to the ship after it
had Sailed.
.Hanes said he afterward read that
the ship had become disabled when.
400 miles at sea. He said ''he did not
remember the name of the ship nor
did he know if the alleged statement
Of the sailors had been investigated.
Investigator Takes Stand.
John T. Meehan. deputy chief of the
Shipping Board bureau of investiga-
tion. testified yesterday that charges
~ o11 fcSn nf hxy
Boiling, Lester Sisler and Tucker K.
Sands, obtained from the Downey-
Shipbuilding Corporation of New
York for favorable contract" were
not Thoroughly Investigated" by the
board.
He explained the departments fail
TIRE to go deeper into the charges rs
due to his opinion that Mr.. Boiling.
now treasurer of the Shipping Board.
was the victim of attempted black
mail" Meehan testified, however. he
had received no instructions to halt
the Investigation and that it was still
open.
The extent of his bureaus inquiries,
Meehan testified. was to talk to Boil
ing, Admiral Benson, Martin Gillen.
special assistant to former Chairman
Payne, and to ascertain if the De-
partment. of Justice had investigated
the subject.
Believes Charges Unfounded.
The investigation. in SO far as the
Shipping Boards men went into it, he
said, took place about June i this
year.
Meehan added that his opinion that
the charges were without foundas
tion was. to certain extent, induced
by the reputation of the men from
whom he believed the charges ema-
mated" He admitted he did not exS
anime Sands books. and that he did
not go to the Downey Shipbuildink
Corporation to ascertain why 1t would
be necessary for them to pay $4,000
to secure q contract when they had
previously been awarded one by the
board for much larger sum. Il
Chairman Walsh asked him If he
the Shipping Board made prior to
1920, and Meehan replied that he did
not.
Meehan said his first knowledge of
the charge came to him in January.
1920, when he was at Philadelphia.
Tweedale. controller of the board. and
told him Of the reflection on Mr. Boil
fng's character and standing. 4
Books Were Examined.
ct was informed by Mr.. Tweedale,"
the witness said. that it had been
Investigated. and that he Tweedale.
was satisfied there was nothing to it."
Boiling readily agreed that his pri-
vate books should be examined, which
Meehan did. He said he saw an
anonymous letter addressed to Secre-
tary McAdoo, touching on the matter.
and he also ascertained that the De-
partment of Justice investigation OF
the matter had disproved the sllega-
tions.
The summing up of the matter was
as he stated, that Boiling to his mind
was an attempted victim of blackmaf1
on the part of Sands. He said he did
not wish to spread the reports fur
ther, which he was satisfied were
groundless, by carrying it along as a
"government investigation" He ex-
plained Investigations worked great
damage to person who was in
nocent.
81 felt" he said. .that, in view OF
the character of the men under in
vestigation, we had gone far enough"
He also said he had talked with
Gillen and that he also gathered
from GiIleh that the investigation had
gone far enough-that Boiling was
straight"
Sands Reiternfes Charge.
Meehan agreed with Chairman
Walsh that. in view Of the seriousness
of the charges, it was right" that
they should be publicly investigated
and either proved or the men against