Evening star., 1922-06-02
WAR FRAUD ACTION
RELIEF TO c. 0. P.
Dropping of Investigation of
Daugherty Record PIeases
Leaders.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Republicans at both ends of Penn
today as a result of the vote in the
rules committee of the House of Rep
resentatives whereby the resolution
to investigate Attorney General
Daugherty's record in prosecuting
war frauds was dropped.
The truth is the republicans en-
barrassed themselves. 1t was by a
narrow margin that the resolution
to investigate member Of the Hard
ing cabinet was reported fayorably
and IL was by the vote Of Chairman
Ehf1 Campbell Of Kansas. republican,
that the measure carried in commit
tee. This was tantamount to a
vote Of lack Of confidence in a mem
Der Of the Presidents Official family.
for it is most unusual for the party In
power to investigate the record Of one
of its own number in the executive
branch Of the government.
Some Hectic Discussions.
For three weeks there have been
some hectic discussions in the inner
circle of the administration and Mr..
Campbelrs vote has been a constant
subject of criticism. Even the demo-
Gratis, who are not particularly con-
cerned with the proper conduct of
republican politics. have called Mr..
Campbells action a political blum
however, to see Mr.. Campbell sud-
denly reverse himself and vote to
squelch the resolution. The reasons
he gave for his change provoked the
general debate and not the actual
vote, for the democrats are not a bit
anxious to see the investigation Of
war matters resumed. as they feel
that the Graham investigating COM
mittee did all 1T could to find flaws
in the war record and, relatively
speaking. accomplished little
When Mr. Campbell claimed that he
was dropping the resolution to in
vestigate the Attorney Generals rec
were inspired by the democrats, Rep
resentative Garrett of Tennessee,
democratic leader, couldn't help point
ing out that two republicans, Rep
resentatives Woodruff and johnson.
started the whole hulabaloo about
prosecute war cases and that they
were still the ones who were loudly
clamoring for the investigation.
CAAVCA"asI vA~"RVhnts
The democrats say they do not
want to be in the position Of opposing
an investigation Of a republican At
torney General, nor do they want to
egg On any movement. which means,
of course. investigation of democratic
officials who were invested with re-
sponsibility for the grant Of con-
tracts during the war. The demand
for investigation comes from within
the republican party and there is
every reason to believe that Messrs
woodruff and Johnson will not be
satisfied to let the matter rest in its
present. status. They will keep after
the Department of Justice and keep
cases.
Unfortunately for all concerned ex-
cent those guilty Of wrongdoing, the
prosecutions will take q long time.
Some Of the cases will take 4 year or
more to prepare. They require the
ants who are familiar with corpora
tion books Of every complexity. In
dictments will be quickly secured, but
that will not be significant, for the
convictions alone tell the story of
elective prosecution.
Have Already Stirred Action.
Whatever object Nessrs. Wood
ruff and johnson hoped to achieve
by investigating Mr.. Daughertys con-
duct of war cases thus far, the prob
ability is that they have affected the
situation already by stimulating Of
licers of the Department of Justice
to carry on q vigorous prosecution OF
for the last three years.
Copyright. 1922