The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1924-04-18
GRAFT S64 PER HEAD
BURYING WAR
WORKER


graft of S64 per corpse, on the bodies
OF common wOrkingmen who died in
! government war work in the flu epi-
demic, In 1918, if you get the right
sort of contract with the Dupont En-
! gineering Co. This was shown in the
! testimony of George w. StOrck. char
! tered accountant i'm the department
/ OF justice, before the Wheeler COM
mittee eff the senate, discussing the
/ theft of some S18,00,000 bv the Dr.
/ points which Harry Daughertv svs-
/ temaucally failed to seek to recover.
I The Duponts were building the Old
Hickory powder plant for the govern
ments war orders, at Nashville.
Tenn. Ninty percent of the total
! purchases for this plant-they were
from Sl38, 100000 to S140,OO0.0OO-
came from Dupont companies at war
protiteering prices. Storck found
that government representatives had
given instructions that none but Du-
pont concerns should be considered
IN the buying of materials and equip
ment. 1t was a tremendous melon,
| and there was the usual 5 per cent
! rakeotf on the cost, paid by the gov
eminent to the contractor And
! among the costs was disposal of
dead human material-the poor dew
lis who died in the construction
camps and were thrown into Under
takers wagons, six to ten at a load,
and carted off to the morturary.
A firm named We'll Bros. was Civ
en- contract by Dupont Engineering
Co., Storck tcld the senators, where
by the Undertal1ers were to embalm,
enshroud and ship the bodies to their
respective families, at SIS each. For
the use of the undertakers' wagon
between camp and city they got $50
additional But the Wells did not
embalm all Of the bodies; many were
left without care; many We're simply
wrapped in muslin, and sent to- the
potters' field, the firm paying the
superintendent of the city cemetarv
81 each to dispose of them there.
The difference was S64 graft, plus
the $50 fee for carrying the body of
the worker to town. One wagonload
might mean 5000 carrying fee to the
undertakers who then would collect
the $75 for disposing of the bodies.
The point seemed to be that in a
deal as big as this, in a southern
community where manual labor was
not much regarded anyhow, the Civ
ing of decent burial to a wage work
er was not to be considered serious
ly-eXcept as the basis for a neat
steal.
Storck mentioned this ghoulish
phase of Dupont operations in the
Old Hickory case only incidentally.
This case was assigned to him for
survey by Asst. Attorney General
Grim in August. 1923, and he went
Immediately to Nashville and found
that a big investigation and quick
prosecution were required Numer-
GUS appeals to Grim, and equally
numerous appeals by Grim to DaUgh-
erty, ending in Crim's resignation
failed to induce Daugherty to per-
nit action. When finally Storck
came to Washington for a conference
on the case, he walked into the room
TO find his own confidential memoir
randum on the case, with his own
signature, in the hands of VIM. S.
Gregg, counsel for the Duponts.
This was in January, 1924. The Sc
cret report which Storck had made
had been entrusted by Grim to
Colonel Anderson. special assistant
tc Daugherty on these war fraud
cases, and Anderson had given it to
the enemy. Anderson was a Republi
can candidate for governor of Vir-
ginia.
At a still later conference, District
Attorney Mclean of Nashville, who
has made 10 trips to Washington
since 1919 in the attempt to get per-
mission to prosecute criminal and
civil actions against the Duponts,
took credit for an article published in
a Nashville paper exposing the whole
rotten record of the department in
the case. Stcrck told the conferees
that the government could surely re-
cover $5,000,000, despite the long de-
lay. Others estimated the collectible
sum as high as $2O,OOO,OOO. This
meeting-whioh failed to get action
from Daugherty at the time-took
place in the room of Rush Holland,
assistant to Daugherty, who has been
active in defense of his chief for
many months.
In Nashville, Storck learned that
Captain Foulke, son-in-law of one of
the Duponts, was the government
accounting officer who made the steal
easy. Fculke gave orders to DESTROY
material receipts, to fabricate re-
ceipts from waybills, etc. Afidavits
were secured from employees who
manufactured these false documents.