The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-04-27
CHARGES MILLIONS DUPLICATE BONDS
 IN CIRCULATION
Treasury Denies Johnson Charge of Circulation on Large Scale of Spuri-
 ous Securities
Ry Associated Press

son, republican, South Dakota that it i will later be shown by official docu ments that there are probably hum 1 dreds of millions of dollars of dupli- 1 cate bonds in the United States Prompt denial of the statement was made by high treasury officials, l who declared investigation by Secre- tary Mellon of the bureau of en- 1 graving had disclosed there was no truth in reports of the circulation on a large scale of counterfeit govern | ment securities.
 Challenging the Johnson statement, Representative Wingo, Arkansas, democratic member of the House banking committee, declared it was I calculated to cause uneasiness in the l country and that ne did not believe l MT. Johnson ought to make it unless he can back it up as the truth" Mir. 1 Wingo expressed belief that an inves- tigation would show that Secretary l Mellon in denying reckless charges about the existence of duplicate bonds did not lie to the people of the country"
 As basis of his charge as to al- | legged circulation of spurious securi- 1 ties, Mir. Johnson said that J. W. Me- l Carter, assistant registrar of the treasury during the Wilson admins tration. secured information in the
 
 him that there had been enormous duplication of government bonds i which had been printed by the bu- reau of engraving and printing and had gone through the office of the registrar of the treasury"
 T think Mir. McCarter took the right attitude when he presented the matter first to distinguished demo- cratic senator from my state and very properly presented the matter to the assistant secretary of the treasury" Mir. Johnson continued. He was very 1 quickly informed at that time by the former administration that nothing was wrong; that there should be no l investigation and that he shou1d Keep < i1is mourn shut or lose his position 1 and Mir. AfcCarter. who had developed l the fact that will later be shown by I official documents that there are are probably hundreds of millions of dollars of duplicate bonds in the United States, was discharged from service by his administration for pre- senting those facts to a member of Congress I think a man who took such an attitude in the former admin istration was illadvised in what he had done"
 Mir. Wlngo added; Does the gentle man say that a democrat from his state called the matter to the atten- tion of senator from his state?" | Mir. Johnson. q will say that is all a matter of public record. I took per sonally all of this data down to the | department of justice myself early in l 1921 after he had tried in every way to secure action from the former ad- ministration. These letters that were 1 written to MT. Leffingwell. at that time an assistant secretary of the treasury are easily procurable. I have i them in my files and I will be glad to insert them at this point"
 There was objection, however.
 When He Got Dnta
 MT. wingo then said his question was the date on which this gentle man brought this information to you?"
 Mir. Johnson: "The gentleman sent | the information to me in the fall of | 1920"
 Mr winso: You did not bring 1t to the attention of Secretary Mel 1 lon?'
 Mr Johnson: q did not. I brought 1t to the attention Of the department of justice where I think 1t ought to have gone"
 Does the gentleman have informa- tion on which he bases his con 1 clusion that there are millions of duplicate bonds prnted?"
 MT. Johnson: T will say to the gentleman that I took down seven l typewritten sheets, single space, of i numbers of duplicate bonds and some bonds running 100000 higher than the bonds issued. There is no man who can tell how many were is- sued.'
 Mir. wingo; The gentleman was furnished a list of them. Has not the gentleman conducted an investi- gation to see whether there was any truth in the allegation?'
 Mir. Johnson: T will say to the I gentleman I am satisfied there is truth in it because at one time that a taxicab driver in Washington was discovered down in front of the New ] Willard with 31 $1,000 duplicate l bonds. and he was discharged from custody in four days. I will say to the gentleman that I submitted seven pages of duplicate bonds"
 Mir. wingo; What did MT. Mellon say to the gentlemang' | Never Discussed It
 MT Johnson: T have never dis 1 cussed it with him. The first notice l was given to the administration when Mir. Wilson was in power and Mir. McCarter was compelled to leave | the service because he was bringing | this to the attention of the admin l istration With which he was affili- | ated."
 MT. Johnson was asked If he had 1 any information as to what the check-up at the bureau of engraving with view to those things. divulged.
 T have no information as to that | he replied That has not been a part of my duties. I will say that my investigation, which was of an independent character and which not I only produced some of the facts which no one denied, came to an- other branch of the government. and the exact part in detail which indi- viduals have had in this I am not I able to tell"
 MT. Wingo declared that he took II that no member of Congress would | be so reckless of the public as to stifle business with any matter tha, involves the public credit or instru- | ments of the government. I Thinks Mellon Truthful
 While the present Secretary of the Treasu belongs to different po- litical party from that to which I belong" said MT. Wingo. T do not believe he is going to tell the coun- try a falsehood and when he sad a few days ago that there was noth-