The New York herald., 1922-05-07
willing to state Facts.

| 'In the course of the discussion the
question was raised of my willingness TO
state facts. AS | have on many occa-
sions indicated to the Department. / am
only too glad to give all possible in
! formation relating 10 my activities
which the Department might ask for.
have nothing to conceal. Moreover, in
so far as the use of funds is concerned
a most detailed and fully accounting is
on file with the Treasury Department"
| When the letter had been read Sena-
| tor Borah took the floor
"It does appear now undoubtedly that
Bakhmetieff received $1S7 200. 900" he
said. "That is plain and quite under
! standable. l have examined and re-
examined the report which purports to
account for this s1S7. 100000. l have ex-
| amined the report in connection with
| people who understand figures in such
matters better than l. I am, however.
wholly unable to understand what has
become of about $7S,00000O of that
money. The letter which has just been
read at the secretarys desk makes no
| explanation of the matter at all.
| 1T would appear that through some
modus operandi and the establishment
of what they call a liquidation account
a part of this money at least was used
in settling claims against the Russian
which has disappeared-and it is diff
cult to understand how Bakhmetieff
could adjust these claims acting as H.
! nance minister and claim adjuster and
| paying out the money which belonged
| as a matter of fact, IL Il belonged to
! anybody at that time, i'm my opinion
to the Government of the United States
Calls 1t Inconsistent.
"If Bakhmetieff could adjust the
claims of individuals he could adjust
the claims of the Government OF the
United States, and the Government
which he represented owes the United
States s1s7,000.000. There would have
been no difficulty at the time that the
| Government of this country was pur-
chasing back the property which he had
| purchased with the money loaned In ad-
| justing this matter. If he had the power
| to adjust claims against this pseudo
| government, which he had assumed Ia
| represent
II take II that this matter could he
made much clearer, cleaner, more spe-
cific and more satisfactory to everybody
If Mr.. BaShmeteff, instead of communi-
eating to the State Department, were to
appear before committee of the Senate
and permit himself to be cross-examined
| Mr.. Bakhmeteff also says that he
knows nothing about Semenoff, did not
know that he was even going to visit
this country, knows nothing about his
plans, and so forth. 1t does appear,
however, that Semenoff visited him and
| that BalShmeteff acquired some very
valuable information about conditions in
the Far East; of the activities of Sem
enoff in the Far East; OF his attack upon
American soldiers; OF his murder of help
less citizens; of his establishing a
slaughter pen. 1t would be more in
teresting and more satisfactory and
more conclusive If Mr.. Bakhmeteff
would appear before a committee and
inform it just what the conversation was
between this pseudo ambassador and
this murderer from Siberia.
1T is not satisfactory, in my judg-
ment. to any one outside of one who is
willing to surrender his convictions to
the dictation of a bureau, to have man
write letter under such circumstances
and say that his association with the
Mongolian monster was incidental and
had no significance whatever"