Evening star., 1921-06-23
BIC SUMS NEEDED
TO TRAP GOUGERS
Justice Department Will Go
to Congress for Means
of Prosecution.

Congress undoubtedly will be asked
for enormous sums to permit the De-
partment of Justice to pursue its
countrywide sweep to run down the
war profiteers, Attorney General
Daugherty indicated today.
He said that estimates were being
prepared to show the probable cost OF
such Investigating work. and these
would be submitted to Congress, on
whom it would then depend as to how
far the government could go in fer
reting out the prohteers and bringing
them before the bar of justice.
However. while the initial outlay
might seem stupendous, nevertheless
be was Of the opinion that the gov
eminent would be reimbursed for a
large part of it by results of the in
vestigations and the subsequent
suits.
Building Trust Cases.
Some idea of the cost of nation
wide investigation work along these
lines can be obtained from the fact
that Samuel Cntermyer and Col. Con,
assistant, to the Attorney General,
have determined that it will cost in
the neighborhood of $250,000 to CO.
ordinate the work between the states
and the federal government in the
building trust cases.
The big work of the Department of
Justice Is just beginning. the Attor-
ney General said, and he pointed out
that there are in the department
81 .00O, 100000 in claims alone to be ad-
jssted. This will take a large corps
of attorneys.
In the work of delving into the
ramificauons of the price-fiXing as
sociations and those organizations
charged with profiteering during the
war. he pointed out, the Department
of Justice agents would be up against
the best lawyers and investigator of
the country, and it would also be an
expensive process to delve into the
network Of operations leading up to
the violations, which would be rather
expensive.
1t is impossible at this time to tell
how many thousands of dollars it
will take to collect the necessary in
formation, coordinate IL with testi-
mony in the possessions of the states,
and push the lawsuits through to a
! final conclusion. o.
Funds Needed for Success.
The success of the departments
operations, he said further, depends
now almost entirely upon how much
money Congress is willing to appro-
pirate, pointing out that the legis-
lative body already had cut by about
i one-half the funds to be available
next year for the employment Of
special. attorneys who are used in
just this kind of work.
At this time, he said. it is not
even possible to say just how eA-
tensive the work will be, and il Is
not known how many lawsuits will
| be justified.
When there comes to the attention
of the department information which
warrants the belief that there has
been violation, te company or or
ganiZation officials are called in and
. given an opportunity to defend them
selves before the department.. Where
the two sides cannot agree, then fol-
lows the expensive work of gathering
the evidence and filing and pushing
the suit.
no suits are brought. he said, with
out giving all a fair chance TO show
their hands and straighten out the
methods complained Of In this con-
nection. he also pointed out. il was
i the purpose of the department to CO.
| operate in every way with the states.
! and he believed that the federal gov
| ernment would get the same sort OF
! cooperation from the states.