The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1921-07-19
DENOUNCED
EX-NAVAL HEAD
For Methods Used in In
vestigating Wartime
Scandal
AT NEWPORT, R. l.,
Nav STATION
F. d. Roosevelt, in Addi-
ton to Daniels, Held
Responsible

Washington, D. c., July l9.--Formel
Secretary Daniels and Former Assist
and Secretary Roosevelt of the navy
are denounced for the pethods used in
investigating the wa time scandal
among enlisted men a. the Newport
training station, in the ma jority report
of Senate's subcommittee made pub.
lie to-day.
The charges made by clergymen OF
Newport, R. l., and the Providence
Jcurnal, the report says, "haye been
proved to the satisfaction e the com
mittee and both the clerg and the
journal" says the report, "aeserve the
thanks of the people at large
At the same time to-day. Mr. Roose.
welt issued a statement declaring that
Senators Ball of Delaware and Keyes
of New Hampshire, the two Republi
cans who constitute tho majority of the
| investigating committee had issued
their findings without giving him a
hearing after promising to do so, which
Mr.. Roosevelt in his statement con
tended shows a premeditated and un-
fair purpose of seeking what they mis-
takenly believe to be a partisan polit-
ical advantage.
Senator King of Utah, the Demo
cratic member of the investigating com
mittee, will file a, minority report later.
Most of the detail of the Newport
scandal, as ii is disclosed in the in
vestigation, is of an nprintahle ma
ture. The criix of the majority report
charges is that, with the knowledge of
Mr.. Daniels and Mr.. Roosevelt, enlisted
men of the navy were improperly used
as participants in immoral practices for
the purposes of securing evidence on
which 10 dismiss Offenders from the
navy,
Mr.. Roosevelt, under whose office
the investigation was conducted, is
held by the majority to be morally
responsible for the orders issued" The
findings of a naval court martial which
revealed the scandal are in the record
for the first time. II held the action
of Mr. Roos&elt unfortunate and ILL
advised" Secretary Daniels dis.
the portion of the findings
which condemned the methods OF in
vestigation, and'on that point the com
mittee report to-day says;
"The committee agrees that Franklin |
d. Roosevelt's action was not only 'un |
fortunate and illadvised' but most |
and Mr.. Daniels dsap- |
proval of this opinion of the court is |
TO be severely condemned"
L. psa-~.-.It - \
that at no time was the work of in
vestigating supervised by him, per
sonally, and that when in September,
1919, he and the acting chief of the
bureau of navigation were informed |
that members of the investigating
squad had used highly improper and
revolving methods in getting levidence"
immediate orders were sent out that
iay to stop it,"
"The insinuations that ! must have
known, that ! supervised the opera
tions, that | was morally responsible
said Mr.. Roosevelt's statement. "are
nowhere supported by the evidence
iirectly or indirectly"
On that point however, the ma
ority findings Of the Investigating
'ommittee hold that Mr.. Roosevelt was
present at conferences which deter
mined the methods of the investigation
Ind that "it is beyond the comprehenN
ion Of the committee how the methods
o be used could have been entirely
eliminated and forgotten at the con
erences." If Mr. Roosevelt did not in
orm himself Of the methods to be
lsed, the mnjority report says, he was
most derelict in his duty"
1T is probably true saws the ma
ority report, "as contended by both .
secretary Daniels and Assistant Secre-
ary Roosevelt, that they were not of
cially' informed regarding acts of op-
rators or detectives until later. adding {
hat "all through the records before {
his committee strenuous and strained {
forts were made by naval officials TO /
ifferentiate between official knowledge q
nd knowledge as the ordinary lsyman :
as il" y
Lieutenant Erastus Y. Hudson of the d
,edical corps. who was in direct charge ,
the investigation, the report saws, c
showed utter lack of moral respon-
ibility" and should have been court j
iartialed. The naval personel would c
e benefited the report SAYS If the d
anne Of Chief Machinist's Mate Erwin u
rnold Hudson's assistant in the in 4
were stricken from the c
,ster Of the navy" The report notes a
rat no commissioned officer Of the
,gular naval establishment was in {
olved v
Mr.. Roosevelt in his statement on +
le majority report summed up his re- q
" this wsy:
Throughout their report ! accuse
ZEN of deliberate fslsifcation Of evi-
snce, Of perzersion Of facts. of mis- n
atements Of the record. and Of De