The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-10-19
AMERICAN LEGION
4 Z WEEKLY LETTER !|Ei'I''l||TIlR

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Washington, Sept. 30-The Govern.
n4ent paid 1873 cents d pounds for
roast beef which was later sold ID
4 Phliadelphia brokers for I.6 cents;
nee il private hands, this beef went
- - market All % cents pound
Wholesale; hut for the Short time
that the army was IN the retail store
business, il sold this same beef. direct
10 the consumer for more than 81
eents d pound. Such was only one min
\ 5iiten in one sale.
Ese charge was made public here
tsday Nv American Legion officials
N aanouncing that the American LIE
gisn Weekly next Friday, in an ex-
pes4 u war ard postwar profiteer-
ing In meat, sugar and mosquito bars,
VIII declare that official Washington
ii ssnaidering the replacement of in
senpetent men and the punishment OF
ths dishonest. 49, ess VI III
s. The article in the Legion ptulblicatior
was written by Marquis James fol
lowikg weeks of Investigation and
says II part: -. = I
IN i transaction between the
Quartermaster Corps and Thomas
Roberts g. Co, brokers of Philadell~
phfa, 5,630,466 pounds Of roast beef
which cost 43.S a pound was sold for
1.s cents netting a neat profit of a
sale under 900 per cent, the govern
n.ant standing a loss which amounted
to 1892 48.05. j
'"The foregoing is only a minor item
in ene sale to this fortunate Philade1-
phia firm. - H. ,:
THE War Department, prsaising the
superior sagacity of, it's former Direc-
tor Of Sales, E. c. Morse, two twice
indicted, calls his disposal of surplus
meat "a feat believed impossible
why the Roberts transaction,
which took place shortly after Mr..
Morsefs retirement from government
service, and in which Mr.. &Morse's pri-
vate business associates participated,
was not altogether impossible Is
something that it is hard to under
stand v.
When the Armistice came, men be-
gan 10 sift back to the proper levels
where normal standards obtained. In
the sale of our army surplus property,
a colossal business undertaking in
volvfng billions of dollars, no such re-
action to normal is noted. There was
NO wal. The emergency had passed.
"There is Earnest G. Morse, during
whose tenure as Assistant Director
and Director of Sales the government
disposed of nearly a billion and three
quarter dollars worth of materials,
and we are informed by the War De-
partrnent that the bulk of these sales
wers made under the direct supervi-
sion OF Mr.. Morse. What other mer-
chant is there who in a year has done
a bl1ion-dollar business?
~When the government had a bill
lion dollar business to do did it Sc
lect q commercial figure of adequate
magnitude? Did it offer $4,000 or
$500, 600 as the wage Of that figure,
which any private firm would have
been glad to offer? The government
did not. a fla .~.. .~
~Is offered $4,000 and it got e. C.
Morse. He worked for the Westing-
house Electric and Manufacturing
company for $1,000 before the war,
and his salary with that firm, at the
pinnssle of high wages in 1918, was
s3ysee. Thus. the government sought
to obtain. a normally by walking
backward. +%
"How long could the, Chicago pack
ers stay in business if they were gull
ty, of such meat deals as the n we
glanced at in the opening paragraph?
How long could they tolerate q man
like tine one whose record We shall
now review, beginning with a COM
'munieation dated March 6, 1918 from
j. J.. J~usserand, French Ambassador
to the United States, to the Secretary
of state.' .... 49,.
The letter is then quoted in full, &C
cusisx an American major of unduly
fayoring a company which has been
selling TO a public for a year and more
trukks of three American makes un-
der another brand, in violation OF
Frcnch DEGREES prohibiting imports.
Al investigation was begun, the
records of which would fill a locker
trunk On Sept. IL, 1918, the day Of
the stack at ST. Mihiel, q letter
which is quoted, was written by Major
General James G. Hartford, command
ing The Services Of Supply, to Genar-
al Pershing, recommending that this
officer, who by this time had been
promoted TO a lieutenant colonel, be
relieved from duty and his temporary
comnaision be taken from him. Sum
marked, the Observation-Disclosures stated
ut Is a case at being fool ri 4
knave'.. 81 4#gs Zs,z zs&@
When the war was over this Of
ficer was; still retained as oneAsof the
Arrny's leading business e ITO
note one Of his many transactions
the article. states, I'VE quote from 2
travel order issued December 8, 1920,
IaSfs sss@ n r. M $S*%%@ Ef#
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