The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-03-29
WALCOTT POST
MAKES CHARGES
Veterans Bureau Raped
For "Maladminis-
tratiOn."
MEMBERS TESTIFY
Evidence to Go Before De-
partment Comdr. Miller
And Col. Forbes.

Ineficiency. maladminist- -atioP.
discrimination against former serv-
ice men. reduction Of salaries Of
former service men. and dismissal
Of former service men without just
cause were some OF the chlrges
hurled against the present admlnIs-
t-ation OF the Veterans Bureau last
night by stuart WalCOtt Post OF the
American Legion.
over 35 per cent OF the members
of this post claim to be employees
Of the bureau. At a meeting last
night in the board room Of the Dis
trict Building member after mem
her told OF alleged personal expert
ences with bureau officials TO sub
stantiate his claims
At the close OF the meetrn- more
than twenty-fou- pages Of type
written evidence was submitted a.
backing up the charges The bU-
reau was not without lis defenders
at last nights meeting. but most OF
the bureau employees were bitter in
their attacks.
To Compile Evidence.
The arraIgnment Of the bureau
continued fo- more than two hours
At the end a resolution was adopted
which sent the whole mass Of evil
dence into the hands Of the post
executive committee with instruc-
tions to reCheCk the same carefully
and turn il over to Department
Comdr. Watson L. Miller
Comdr. Miller already has stated
that he will take the whole matter
up with Col. c. R. Fo-bes. dir ector
of the. Veterans Bureau, as soon as
all the charges have been placed
before him.
The action Of Stuart Walcott Post
follows closely 'he action taken
last week by Sergt Jasper Pos.
which fell like a b6mbshelI among
bureau employees and started legion
officials OF the District in their
determination TO probe the matt er
to the bottom.
Act in Secret Session.
The post was in executive sessio 8,
while the charges were under con-
sideration. 1t was stated that -
many members who presented evi .
denCe against the bureau were bu-
reau employees that they would b.
put in an embarrassing position if
their names were revealed. Al
Legged threats made against mem
hers of Sergt. Jasper post after
last weeks meeting were recalled
in taking this ground.
Commander Alexander NJ Rromer
presided at the meeting. He in
sisted that all the facts would he
laid before Commander Miller N a
" -
colt Post will gather still more evil
dence to substantiate their charges
in the next few days and will an
corporate the whole in one report
before finally submitting the mat
ter, il was said.
Charge Carlessness.
Among the charges made last
night were that il was almost i'm
possible for disabled veterans to
get proper attention to their cases
that men were kept waiting OUT
side offices while clerks and off,
cials inside were doing absolutely :
nothing, and that men who protest
ed against these conditions ran the
danger of losing their jobs.
The efficiency of the bureau today
is far worse. according to the state
ment issued by the post, than at
the time it was organized as a sep
arate branch of the government six
months ago. and this is the prin-
cipal reason why disabled veterans
have such difficulty in obtaining JUS
tice
Comdr. Bremen himself resigned
from the bureau several months ago,
he claims, because IL was the only
manly thing to do under the
circumstances" Post officials last
night stated that the evidence
against the bureau in thei-
hands had been accommodating
steadily for several months and that
they had kept silent before rather
than present an unsubstantiated case
to the department commander
The post had as guests for the
evening Edward c. Finney. assist
ant Secretary OF the Interior: Rep
resentative Walter F. LineberSer. OF
California; David B. Lane. OF the
Springfield Post. No. 81. American
Legion. Springfield. Mass: and Frank
H. H. Molte. of the SerC. Jasper
Post. Both Assistant Secretary Fin
ney and Representative Lineberger
addressed the post and explained
some OF the ways in which the gov
eminent hopes to take care Of its