Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1922-05-31

Nv AxA2A8v44
WITHIN THE SHORTEST POSI-
BILE TIME, CERTAIN " BEFORE
SEPTEMBER It, AT (WHICH TIME
THE GUARANTEE PERIOD Ex.
PRES Please have ,the locomotive
companies understand I hat time is the
essence Of this entire matter, FOR
REASONS ABOVE Inc 'IcATED."
!. c. c. Exposes Who IesaIe Graft
In April, 1921, follow ing the com
plant of wholesale gra fling by Mr..
Johnston, the Interstate. Commerce
Commission directed ,questionnaire
to number Of railroads covering car
and locomotive contracts.
The replies to these qutestiorlnaires
were uniformly to the effect that a
number of railroads had made extra
VACANT contracts with private con-
Germs. !. r..
The Pennsylvania admitted that it
had sent 200 locomotives to- the Bald
win Locomotive Works. .,...s...
The average cost of making class 5
repairs at Baldwin's, it adj nitted, was
$15,079.95 for each locomotive, while
the average cost Of the same class of
repairs at the company's own shops
was $3,66S43. ~
The average cost of class repairs
at Baldwin's was $19,272.63 per loco
motive, while the average cost in the
| r1o re-
The cost of class repairs at Bald
wins was $20,78152 per locomotive.
while the cost at the colnpany's own
plants was $4,2O0.0S.
For Glass H9 locomotives Baldwin's
charge was $24,620.93, while the cost
in the company's own shops was S..
250.21.
For 200 locomotives repaired the
Pennsylvania paid Baldvyin's $3,173,-
900. Of this sum $2,5oo,ooo WAS
GRAFT, according to N. c. List, spe-
cial examiner of the Int rstate Com
merce Commission, who conducted the
investigation into these raids upon the
federal treasury.
J. T. Wallis, chief of motive power
of the Pennsylvania Railroad, testi-
fed under oath that bids. were not
taken for making these repairs, as re-
quired by law. He said that he had
been directed by w. w. Atterbury
vice president in charge Of operations
to give the contracts to Baldwin's on
a cost-plus basis.
Every facility was afforded the Bald
win company to make unreasonably
high charges for this work.
Payments for Work Not Done
Pennsylvania railroad officials had
knowledge that Baldwin was making
charges for work that was not per.
formed and did nothing to check the
practice.
NJ Stonebach, assistant motive pow
er accountant for the Pennsylvania,
stationed at the Baldwin plant, re-
ported to G. M. Ellsworth, motive pow
err accountant at Altoona, Pa, that
''there are hundreds of cases where
work has been done the second time,"
and that there were numerous other
cases where they have paid the con-
tractor for performing work which
was not done, in which case think
we should refuse to pay"
This apparently did not disturb Mr..
Ellsworth, for he replied as follows to
MIR. Stonebach:
"As | see the matter, we will have
to pay BaIdwin's for all the work they
did on these locomotives, EVEN THO
1T MAY HAVE BEEN DONE TWICE,
due to the inefficient method Of hand
ling the work. We, Of course, should
take the necessary steps to satisfy
ourselves THAT THE WORK WAS
ACTUALLY DONE TWICE."
Deliberate Intent to Defraud People
The revelations as they affected the
Pennsylvania railroad apply with
varying degree, but with the same
evidence Of deliberate and criminal in
tent to defraud the government to all
other railroads investigated by the In
terstate Commerce Commission. In
every case private concerns were paid
from three to six times what the work
would cost if performed in company
shops.
Additional information on this phase
of private operation during the six
months guaranty period was furnish
ed by DR.. Frank J. Warne, an econo.
mist Of unquestioned repute, to the
Senate Committee on Interstate Com
MERGE, where he appeared as repre-