The Cordova daily times., 1920-12-04
WAR PLUNDERERS SHOULD BE
 LOCATED AND PUNISHED

LOCATED AND PUNISHED
 It is not enough to turn the ras- November was a mandate to the Republican party to turn the rascals in, - into the penitentiary where plunderers of the public treasury be- long.
 No one who has weighed the facts brought to light by congressional and other investigations of administra- tion operations, and facts concerning federal maladministration otherwise notorious, can have the least doubt that much of the waste of the war was due not merely to inefficiency sion between government officials and individuals with the deliberate purpose of robbing the public.
 It is not sufficient to use these facts for campaign purposes. The administration has boasted that no one has been indicted or prosecuted for any of the hundreds of crimes indicated by the disclosures con- corning public waste, and worse, which have been made public. With such a defense of this saturnalia of extravaganza and corruption the people are not satisfied. Nor are they satisfied to let the matter drop now.
 Now is the time to settle, once for all, the fact that it is not safe for any man or set of men, to loot the public treasury at a time when the millions who bear the burdens of war, pay the bills and give the lives and make the sacrifices, are contributing so much that their na- tion may be defended Now is the time to destroy the idea, once for all, that in the midst of such crisis cunning and unprincipled men and groups of men may successfully conspire to waste the substance of the government to their own profit, and then get away with it, without an effort being made to ferret out and punish the offenders.
 It is impossible to be lieve that all that has happened in Washing ton and everywhere throughout the country in connection with war waste, could have happened without the collision of "higher ups Every sacrifice of public to private in terest in connection with the pur- chase, use and sale of war materials; every misuse of war power for per sonal or party purpose, should be investigated and exposed; and in every case where there are not laws that can be invoked for adequate punishment. the responsible agents of the government ought to be pub 1icly condemned. Wherever possible recoveries should be made of sums paid by federal agants in excess of value received by the government
 To this end there should be con- stituted single joint committee of congress, charged with the duty not merely of bringing facts to light, but of fastening responsibility for both the blundering and the grating in governmental operations during the past three or four years, and providing the basis for punishing the offenders. This committee should procure the services of skilled at torneys gifted in the art of investi- gators who know how to get at hid den facts. It has taken a legisla- tive Investigating committee in New York assisted by such talent, only two or three weeks to bring to light, from a field far less fruitful, facts which have staggered the peo- pie and have paved the way to a cleaning up of a disgraceful and dan- gerous situation. It would be a crime to permit the conditions which are easily ascertainable at Washing ton to have their echo only in cam- paign thunder.
 All this is written in no spirit of