The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-15

the forbes administration. Intimately more affairs. After the expose of
 suicide.
 at the depots belonged to the veterans bureau and 20 per cent to the publi, health service. The public health peo pie must receive their share. Further all transactions of this kind must have the approval of the chief co-ordinator bureau of the budget. On the four teenth, Commander O'Leary took his list to the chief co-ordinatOr. After telephoning to all departments, which might have an interest in the Perry vile sale, the chief co-ordinator cleared the transaction. As the chief clerk il that bureau glanced down the list he remarked that they seemed to be sell ing too much soap. So OLeary cut out the item "soap."
 | On the tenth, the planning commit. tee met The matter of the Perryville sale came up. Dr. Scott moved that material sufficient to last the bureau q year be deducted from the transaction This was carried.
 Never Formally Advertised
 This sale was never formally adver- tised to the trade. But two other firms offered bids informally" says Com mander O'Leary in his affidavit-the American Manufacturers Export com and Goldberry & Sons. Their rough bids, as submitted later to the Senate committee, were slightly less favorable | to the government than that of the sue cessful company. Thompson-Kelly of fered a flat price on certain articles 1; as for example, unused paper, cents a pound; muslin of all kinds, 15 cents per pound; soap, 6h cents per pound i; safety pins, b cents per gross. For other articles, not isted-this embraced the great majority-they hid "20A cents of the net invoiced cost of the said articles to the bureau'-in other words, one-fifth of what the goods cost the government. On the thirteenth, Commander O'Leary visited Perryville with MT. Thompson and looked over the supply depot. And on November 15, five days after the matter came up, one day after the chief co-ordinator signed the clearance, the veterans bureau ac- cepted the Thompson-K Kelly bid.
 Promptly the Perry*ille supplies be- gan to move. Reports of the trans action reached "the trade' in Washing ton. Certain agents for dealers in army supplies, indignant over the secrecy of the transaction, troubled high heaven with their bootless cries. Two at least reached even the director.
 Of Finest Quality
 The main point is the character and quality of the material which now flow ed out of the Perryville depot. Was it, as matter of fact, only secondhand material or new material which the gov ernment could use only at time so remote that storage charges would eat up it's value? That was the excuse for it's sale. One thing seems certain: the list of surplus property submitted to the planning committee and the chief co-ordinator varies greatly from the inventory of supplies paid for by the Thompson-Kelly company. Concerning this and other point of issue, Store keeper Hendrix at the Perryville depot sharp on figures and a stickler fol detail, gave strong and direct testimony
 On December II, he delivered 5,387 pounds of oiled paper to the Thompson Kelly company. They paid 5 cents a pound. 1t was Lew and in Al condi tion. It cost the government 60 cents pound. Ninety-eight thousand pairs of winter pajamas, homemade and pre- scented to the Red Cross by American women during the war, brought 3( cents a pair. Eleven months later tht government storehouses were nearly out of .pajamas. On November 29, MT Hendrix by order, delivered to Thomp son. Kelly, 47,175 rolls of gauge in thu original packages. It cost $1.33; il went for one-fifth of that price. Other items, as duck, thread, canvass, all new all in original packages, all going al 20A cents on the dollar, figure in Hen drix's testimony. The duck, he said was of use to the bureau. It would serve for roofing, for material in voca tional training. The thread could bt employed in vocational training.
 Those S4,OOO Sheets
 However, to the affair of the S4,O0( sheets. It will be remembered that thu list which the chief co-ordinator cleared enumerated less than 5000 sheets Persons on the edge of this transaction gained the impression that they were old, stained, reconstructed stock. As [ matter of fact, the Thompson-K Kelly company did take away 12,O00 second hand sheets, dunnage of abandoned mill tary hospitals, at cents apiece. How ever, they bought S4,000 sheets in all and the rest, according to the balance of testimony, were brand-new, ill tht original packages. Mostly, they haC not even been unboxed; q memorandum on the cases indicated their origin an( their price to the government. Fol them, Thompson-Kel paid the blanket price of 20H cents on the dollar. There is one item of 29,000 sheets, unbleached Now these were new sheets, but they were not bleached. They were per fectly all right, though" testified Mir Hendrix. For them, the army paid $l.27; the price to Thompson-K Kelly was 26 or p cents. In all, Thompson' Kelly paid the government nearly $G00,000 for the surplus Perryville stores.
 Buying New Sheets
 That. however. does not complete the story of the S4,000 sheets. The sale proceeded on the theory that this was to be surplus property, not needed by the veterans bureau or an.' other de partment of the government. But al the same period the veterans bureau was buying was buying 25,0O0 brand new sheets at $1.03 piece. The firm supplying these sheets sold them at cur rent and reasonable prices and in entire good faith. They were sold to the gov ernment in five lots of 5000 each tho bills are dated between August 15 anC December ii, 1922. And the Thomp son-Kelly sale was cOnsummated or November 15. As these sheets were de Iivered in carload lots at one door oi the depot, equally good sheets were go ing out of the other door, sold tc lThompson-Kelly. At one stage of thu