Evening star., 1924-05-22
FAITH IN DAUGHERTY
AFFIRMED BY GRIM
Declares Much Evidence Necessary
Before He'll Believe in
Corruption.
TELLS OF MANY PROBLEMS
Says Politics Cause of Much Inef-
ficiency in Department.

An account of some of the Difficult
ties faced by Harry NJ. Daugherty
as Attorney General and a plain
spoken affirmation Of faith in his
honesty and loyalty, were given the
Senate Daugherty committee today
by John W. II. Grim, who served with
him throughout the troubled days of
his. tenure as head of the Depart
nent of Justice.
In his long and close association
with the former Attorney General,
Mt. Grim said, he never found ground
to suspect him of corruption
1T will take a lot of evidence" he
told the committee, before ! will
believe that Harry Daugherty ever
took cent of crooked money through
Jess Smith. He had his faults. but
I'll have to judge the evidence myself
before I'll believe he prostituted his
office. To me, he never faltered."
Would Reduce Force.
In the present organization and
management of the Justice Depart
ment, however, Mr.. Grim said he had
found much to criticize in the time
he had acted as assistant attorney
general The large list of men and
women now holding the title of as
sistant, he said, should be cut to two,
and they should be held personally
responsible for results. He declared
the force of secret agents also should
be reduced by nine-tenths, and the
district attorneys Offices throughout
the country taken out of politics and
placed on an efficient basis.
The reason he finally resigned his
high post in the department, he told
the committee, was because the De-
partment Of Justice was not function
ing as we'll as it might.
Politics and inefficIency, he said,
were encountered at many points in
the vast legal framework over which
Mr.. Daugherty presided. He used the
war frauds cases as an example.
Il told the Attorney General one
day: You're going to lose every one
of those cases, because you haven't
got the men that can handle them
he said. He told me to go get a cou-
pie of lawyers who could handle
them"
But the search developed that out
standing, competent lawyers had
business before the government. the
witness said. Disqualifying them for
taking the governments side of the
cases
you'll find that the trouble every
time" he continued.
Found "Some Black Sheep"
There were also some black sheep
district attorneys, he sald. whose
discharge he had recommended.
Did you find the ATTORNEY zen, Zen,
eraI irresponsive to your appea1s?'
asked Senator Jones, Republican,
"Oh, he was all right" Grim said
"T never acted on anything with his
consent and approval that It WASH
rx,xy
would get in there and he'd listen
to them and send me note to push 1T
along"
man Rrookhart asked.
81 thought the Department of Jus
tice was not functioning as well as
it might"
Hits Detective Force.
He explained he had objected most
to the departmentS detective SerV-
ice," when every other department.
and bureau Of the government mad
it's own detective service.
"The Attorney General didn't dis
agree with me so much, he said.
"but he considered the time had not
come, with Congress seeking to pro-
department of the government should
police it's own territory. That's the
secret of the efficiency Of the post
office inspectors and the Treasury Sc
Cret SerNlCe-Smdu DouleS VI HIcu
with a fellow in charge who can
watch them all all the time.
Radical changes only come slowly.
There is a great deal of legislation
necessary"
Grim was questioned regarding
many references to him in the testi-
mony of previous witnesses.
Too Much Done Here.
In general discussion of the
Organization of the Department of
justice, in which he was supervis-
ing official before he took over the
detail of prosecuting the Veterans
Bureau frauds, he declared there was
"too much work being done in Wash
ington by the department., due to the
neglect of the Offices of the United
States district attorneys out in the
country"
For instance, if there was a proper
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