The New York herald., 1921-01-21
UNTERMYER HITS
BACK AT PALMER
Attacks Attorney-General as
Having Used Patronage to
Bolster Political Ambition.
DENIES PERSONAL ANIMUS
Federal Officials Assertions
Declared to Be Fiction and
CamOuflage.

The attack which Samuel Untermyer
made upon the official record OF Attor-
ney- General Palmer was followed yes
terday by another statement in which
Mr. Untermyer sought to shoot holes in
the Attorney-GeneraPs answer to his
charges and denounced him as falsi-
fer. In 1t he repeated his demand for
a Congressional investigation both of
the Department of Justice and of Mr..
Palmer's administration of the office of
Alien Property Custodian.
1T is notorious" Mr.. Untermyer
said, that at the Democratic conven-
tion San Francisco swarmed with men
who were paying their debts by political
support and that among them were men
who controlled delegations or parts Of
delegations from different States. A
large part of Mr. Palmer's support at
San Francisco is said to have been made
up Of patronage benefciaries.
II am satisfied that fearless. ca
pable investigation will disclose the
fact that literally millions OF dollars
were distributed to favorites as patron
age, to lawyers. directors and the like,
appointed by him and extracted from
the properties of the unfortunates that
came into his hands. When he says
that the office of the Alien Property
Custodian was administered FOR less
than $1.O00.oo0, perhaps he forgets
about the millions that werA directly
taken from the owners of these proper
ties and distributed among his ap-
pointees."
Makes n Comparison.
NJ. u. -
General Palmer's personal attack upon
him as an attempt to draw red herring
across the trail. ain four weeks time.
at a cost Of less than $4,000, the Lock-
wood committee did hundredfold more
to uncover illegal combinations than
the Department of Justice did In eight
years with its millions of approprla-
tions." he said, land this although the
committee was confined to New York
State and to the building trades. while
the Department of Justice had the entire
country and every line OF endeavor
under its jurisdiction and an army of
district attorneys, Investigators and
secret service men at its disposal 1t
is generous to characterize its record on
this subject by no harsher name than
Incompetence"
Mr.. Untermyer stated that on accept
ing the counselship to the Lockwood
committee he made desperate and re-
peated'' efforts to obtain cooperation
from the Department of Justice, but
found Its staff so incompetent, not
withstanding the vast sums that had
been put at its disposal, that while he
did not offer his own services, as stated
by Mr.. Palmer, he did suggest that some
other member of the Lockwood COM
mittee's legal staff be named to act for
the Federal Government.
'I also suggested Mr.. Rand's name
to the United States attorney at New
York after they had for two months
sidestepped their plain duty" he said,
but there has not been any cooperation
by the Federal authorities" He said
that the enforced appointment of Will
lam Rand and Isidore J. Kresel to begin
Federal proceedings at this late hour is
''in itself confession"
Denies Personal Aniposity.
In answer to Mr.. Palmers charges
that personal animosity prompted his
attack upon him, Mr.. Unterinyer said:
81 have never had a personal con-
troversy with Mr.. Palmer nor has a
harsh or unfriendly word ever PASSED
between us. His assertions on that Sub
ject are pure fiction made out of The
whole cloth. They are just so much
10 e<-apo Soh!fG Gny such 'smolio screen
as that.
'T cannot find a single assertion in
his long statement that has any founda-
tion in fact.