The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-16

The hospital supplies at Perryville
 d., sold by the Veterans Bureau to
 Thompson-Kelly company at pri-
 te and virtually secret sale, were
 late November 1922 moving rapid
 from the storehouse to the freight
 rs. At this period, private tip pm the heart of the affair reached
 resident Harding, gave him the first arning of trouble.
 Then the public health service
 ung into. action. According to an < agreement, this bureau could claim
 per cent of all hospital property pred in the depots. The health Irvice was not interested in the Per 5ville sale as sale. But it did |hnt some of the material for its Fn uses. It had, indeed, a stake in e game even beyond its twenty per Hnt. Every day, it's agents at Per
 vllle saw good, new material, for Mich 1t must soon pay the full whole Ele price, going to the secondhand
 alers at twenty cents on the dollar,
 Sawyer On Scene
 General Cumming and Dr. Smith of bureau acted at last. The Presi- Int alone could stop this proceeding
 time. General Charles D. Sawyer,
 resident physician at the White Iouse, had the presidential ear. more- Ter he was chief co-ordinator for the Pvernment' hospitals; in protesting. E would not go an inch beyond his IEsted authority.
 The three men visited Colonel prbes. The conference, as Sawyer Escribes it, grew .'heated.n One sus- fcts that General Sawyer was always
 iittle immune to the charm of that Ifrsonality which so intrigued Presi- Int Harding. As for Colonel Forbes.
 attributes most of his trouble to fwyer's enmity and interference. fraight from this meeting, the General Hfoceeded to the White House, saw the Fesident. MT. Harding directed him
 visit Perryville and report. General shwyer rounded up General Cumming Ipd pr. Smith, proceeded to the scene
 action. They arrived at an inter- zting moment. A truckload of new wells, in bales, was just moving out
 the building. And fin the drama of He Senate investigation, the following Tar. towels played second gentleman
 sheets. Storekeeper Hendrix of |erryville testified that on November ne shipped Thompson and Kelly |e4,bS0 hand towels, all new. They Isst the government nineteen cents. Fey were sold to Thompson and Kelly Er three and three-eights cents. The |rblic health service needed at the |ne both sheets and towels. | General Sawyer, by virtue of the |fesident's personal order, had the t1ckload of towels unl0aded. and order all shipments stopped. The officer in large promised him that no more |tods would move until further orders he three protestors saw Colonel |Prbes a day or so later. He promised and put into writing,,, Sawyer no more shipments |louid go from Perryville until the Fesidents orders had been obeyed. Shipments Proceed
 Then I dropped the matter from my ftention," says Sawyer. Three weeks ter, thepublic health service sought m again. Their representative at |Frryville reported that shipments had me on just thee same. When Gen aI Sawyer first stopped the proceeding means of an executive order. a rmber of freight cars, fully loaded pod on the sidings. These had moysS I: Other goods had been loaded and tipped. In all, 126 carloads of gov- nment supplies had passed to Thomn- in and Kelly's warehouses or to other aces which they designated.
 The events of the. next two weeks le interesting but confused; the record
 tnem depends upon witnesses who tnnoe always remember exact dates
 can only guess at. chronology: but pst Of the essential facts stand on e records of the Senate investiga t;on mmttee. The President issued sn. ner order stopping the sale of Per lyilIe supplies. By now. offic;a1
 ashington had begun to gossip nd those dealers in secondhand goods Do had no opportunity to bid on The erryville sale besieged the goyernment fices.
 Scandal Seemed Brewing
 It seemed to insiders that a scandal as brewing. The President grew con rned. He broke the routine of his fsy life to visit the Veterans Bureau. fd look at samples of the Perryyille Iods as presented by Forbes and his ppiy department. Having no tech cal knowledge in the matter, he asked an estimate of values. There are
 the government departments notably e bureau of standards, men capabIe
 appraising almost anything. How Ter, two unofficial appraisers were bought on from New England. They Pked over the samples. Judging the fods by what they saw, they pre- Ered an estimate. Something in the timate did not suit, They came Pwn again, made a new appraisal Pt entirely satisfied, the President lked General Sawyer to get samnIes
 his own from the supplies marked shipment at Perryviile. Between hat he had seen at the Veterans' ureau and what Sawyer showed him. ere wasa wide variation which even untechnical eye perceived.
 other government agencies began tthering evidence; if this was going
 be scandal, they wanted to keen n, .I.