The Lamar register., 1920-12-01
Only 81 Days More

vestigation, assures his ''fellow-coun
trymen" that they may depend upon
it that no wrong-doer connected witt
the Board will escape punishment il
mis- wrong-doing is called to my tthc
Admiral's) attention"
That Fisher Richardson report alon'
would seem to supply sufficient ma
terial to engage the attention not onl!
of the Admiral, but of the crimina
courts for many q long day to come
And it was this report, it will be re.
menbcred, which Admiral Benson.
own assistant, Commander Abncr b
Clements, characterized on the witness
stand as true in all essential particu-
lars.
But the matters for the Admiral.
attention do not stop there. With
every days session of the Walsh Com
mittee the Shipping Board has go'
deeper and deeper in the miro. II
there were any lingering doubts of thu
widespread co9uption which appear.
" TIT
able Shipping Board mess, those
doubts must have been dispelled by
the evidence of witness after witness
who has since testified.
Two acres of material, and machin
cry of $2.OOO,0O0 value. left rustinp
and rotting on the ground at Savannah
Hundreds of thousands of dollars OF
Shipping Board (that is. of American
taxpayersD money lent to an insolvent
firm of sub-contractors.
A "present" to a Shipping Board in
spector of five shares of stock in
corporation with which the Shipping
Board was making contracts.
A bill of over $500, 900 paid twice.
A concern drawing pay for the worl
of fifty-eight men when its entire per.
sonnel. including bookkeepers. clerks
typewriters and office boys, was only
fifty-two all told.
An inspector discharged for sendin
to the White House sample specimen
OF defective rivets, his complaints to
quarters having been ig
nored.
Fresh water brought from Norfolk
ct n cost to the contractor of 80 cents
a ton, sold to the Shipping Board at
price of s25 a ton.
Forces of men sent to do Il one-day
job overlooked for more than a week
and left to while away the time for
which they were drawing full pay by
shooting craps" and other similarly
productive occupations.
A Division Shipping Board agent
accommodating bank account of over
$4,000 during an interval in which
he was paid salary of $4,000.
When an inspector discovered that
a United States official was interest
ed to the extent of $4,000 in con-
cern that was getting an inordinate
amount of Shipping Board business,
he was warned that he had better keep
silent, as the official in question was
the closest man" in the State to the
4 DNiNNNAft utNlCGb
were installed on vessels, with a re-
sultant loss for repairs of $4,000 on
one vessel alone.
Through column after column of the
daily newspapers has been spread this
appalling exhibit of imbecile incom-
petence, criminal indifference, and un-
believable corruption. The Fisher
Richardson revelations alone were
enough to make the people of the coun-
try heartsick. Convicts involved in
million dollar contracts, hotel detect
ives drawing salaries as Sailors" ship
supplies thrown overheard to make
room for fresh supplies, with rake
off" for the steward, vessels in tran
Sit limping into ports, after rafting
off their defective propeller blades;
s1.50 each for grapefruit knives, and
Strawberries at 60 cents a quart sup
piled to forecastle crews: these things
were the mere fringe, the ornate bor-
dering, of wholesale robberies by col
lusive contracts, double prices, padded
pay-rolls, skilled mechanics wages
charged for day labor-the whole
gamut of swindling, in word. 1t was
all this, and an intricate maze Of other