The Washington herald., 1920-03-24
MINE EXPERTS
CONSERVE FUND
War Minerals Board Spends
Less Than Quarter of
Money Granted to 1t.
WORK MAY BE UPSET
Bill Pending to Give An
other Body Authority
To Adjust Claims.
WORK MAY BE UPSET

UuTcdu OF cOuiUllsslOn Actudi1y con-
serving the governments money
and spending less than 25 per cent
of the amount appropriated by Con-
gress. Is seen in the case OF the
War Minerals Board
The work of this board. however.
Is likely to be overthrown by the
body which created 1.-THE one
whose watchword, at the present
time, is economy.
The board was created by Con-
gress to reimburse the net losses
suffered by those who produced rare
minerals to supply urgent needs of
the nation during the war.
Many Offer Assistance.
The minerals were manganese.
chrome. pyrites and tungsten. Many
patriotic citizens went into the pro-
duction of these minerals. Some
were asked to do so by the govern
ment. Others did so voluntarily to
help the government win the war.
The former are being reimbursed
for their losses. The latter are not
The legislation. passed by Con-
gress to recompense those who had
lost money in mining these miner
ais. provided that the losses must be
net; that they must have been in
CURED in compliance with the "re-
quest or demand" of certain gov
ernment departments to supply
the urgent needs of the nation in
the nrn9ncnfinn nf
Moore Head of Board.
The war minerals board. appoint
ed to carry out the provisions OF
the legislation. was originally COM
posed OF Philip N. Moore. of st.
Louis. ex-president OF the American
Institute OF Mining Engineers: for
mer Senator John +. Shafroth, of
Colorado. and former Representative
Foster, of Illinois. Horace G. Pome-
roy, a prominent mining engineer of
the West. was appointed to the
board on the death of DR.. Foster
Immediately after its creation the
board began receiving claims for
compensation. In a short time the
number of claims filed reached a
total OF 1908, and the amount claim
ed amounted to s16.655. 900. Congress
granted an appropriation of $4,000
600 to pay off the claims.
The board has passed on so Der
cent of the claims and has spent
less than 10 per cent of the money
appropriated by Congress in making
awards. OF the 1908 cases. 499 have
been disallowed as having no basis
Technical knowledge Valuable.
While most of this money was
( h.
cal knowledge of the engineer mem
ners OF the board, no small part OF
IT was the result of Congress lean
ing over backwards in the effort to
make the act fraud-proof.
A number of fraud cases were oe-
tected and thrown out. Appeal.
from those decisions have been
taken to Congress and a bill is now
pending in the House giving claim.
ants the right to appeal to the
Court OF Claims, a body having nc
technical knowledge or ensineerinc
ability.
In making the War Mineral,
| Board. through the Secretary of the
Interior. the final court for these
| claims. IL was the original inten.
tion of Congress to get the claims
| settled and out of the way a,
quickly as possible. instead. as I'm.
Gle joe Cannon warned. of having
them haunt future generations.
Want Economy Practiced.
Advocates of the plan to create
a Department of Public Works. tc
take over all construction and en-
gineering work of the government
point to the work of the War Min.
erals Board as vindication of
their argument that his work must
be placed on a technical basis in
order to conserve the government.
money.
They also, however, point to the
handicaps of remedial legislation
an illustration of which can be
seen in the War Minerals Board
As they see 1t. the course of re-
| medal Legislation is about as fol.
lows:
A set of men in an industry in
some locality will have a grievance
against the government which they
! feel should be corrected by RENE.
dlal legislation. They secure the
support of their own Congressional
delegation and enlist. il possible
the aid of delegations from othe,
States which have the same in
| dustry.
Forced to Restrict Law.
These men prepare legislation on
broad lines. but almost ineyita bly
find il antagoLized by men from
districts who are Indifferent and
others who see in sUch legislation
a possible opening for abuse or
graft. In order to pass any relief
act they find il necessary TO accept
limiting clauses and COMPROMISED
which greatly restrict the original
scope of their plans.
The act, carrying the restrictions,
passed and becomes a law. The ad-
ministrative department.. 10 which
1t Is referred, is bound by the pro-
visions of the law. When. the re-
strictions are applied to the cases
of claimants, however. there is a
howl and it Is Immediately charged
that the intent of the act is not
| being carried out. 1T is not the ex-