Evening star., 1924-08-27
REPUBLICAN BOOK
SCORED BY SHAVER
Declares Campaign Docu.
ment Is Interesting for
What 1t 0mitS.

Criticism of the Republican cam
paign book of 1924 as interesting for
what it omitS rather than for what
it contains. and especially with re-
gard to the oil scandal is made by
Clem l. Shaver. chairman of the
Democratic national committee, in a
statement given out today.
Besides describing how the cam
paign document soft pedals" the
administration of Secretary Fall, the
Shaver statement bristles with cauS-
tic comment on the Republican state
ment regarding the Civil Service, the
Veterans Bureau, it's silence on the
Mellon plan, and how the admins
tration was ready to wash its
hands" of Gen. Dawes and his scheme
for economic rehabilitation of Eu-
rope if it had broken down.
The Shaver statement follows in
part: That portion treating the ad-
ministration of the Department of
the Interior during the last three
and half wears tells Interestingly
of the activities of the Bureau of In
dian Affairs, and of the fact that the
Patent Office has increased its output
by so per cent during the last few
years. But it soft pedals so ehec-
= lively upon the activities of Secre-
tary Fall and his scandalous leasing
of the naval oil reserves that if one
depended on the campaign book for
his information he would never SuS-
pect MIR. Fall was ever a cabinet Off
Ger. And from the brief mention that
is made of Teapot Dome one would
surmise that former Secretaries Lane
and Daniels and Senator Thomas J.
Walsh weres the real culprits, and
that Fall, DENLY, Doheny and Sim
clair were the guardian angels OF the
Navy's oil reserve
Recalls SIemp's Case.
I'm the chapter on Civil Service, the
campaign book, Mortified by the fact,
finds that certain employees of the
New York post office once committed
d theft of money and securities, and
that they entered the service under
the Democratic administration. But
it fails to mention the Bureau of En-
craving scandal, or the many other
raids on the Civil Service which have
taken place during the present ad-
ministration, among them Secretary
Slemp's connection with the collec-
ton of money for the sale of Virginia
post offices, as disclosed by the
famous series of Dear Ben letters,
including the one on the Meadows
of Dan.
There is also an interesting
chapter on the Veterans Bureau. 1t
records how many millions of dollars
have been appropriated for the care
of sick and wounded service men,
and how many millions of dollars of
insurance the latter have taken out
for which they paid so much per
thousand-but it neglected to even
record the fact that Col. Charles r.
Forbes was at one time Director of
the Bureau, or that he is now under
Indictment and that under his ad-
miniStration there was an orgy of
graft and corruption that sickened the
country, and that accounted for the
wa aStings or stealing of more than
s200,0O0,000 of money intended for the
care of the disabled service men.
Claims Declared Humorous.
"The book tells how the Treasury
Department bears after-war bur-
dens, but is as silent on the Mellon
tax plan as is the Cleveland conven-
tion platform. And it attempts to
show a reduction of taxes by the Re
publican administration by offering
as an exhibit table comparing the
income taxes that will be payable
under the 1924 revenue act with those
imposed by the war revenue act of
1918. Passing over the unfairneSs of
any comparison between peace and
war taxes, it is highly humorous even
in Republican campaign book to
for tax reduction in the 1924 tax bill,
passed by Democratic and Independ-
ent Republican votes over the deter
mined opposition of President Cool
idge. Secretary Mellon and admins
tration Republican leaders in both
branches of Congress.
The chapter on foreign relations is
as indefinite as has been the admins
tration's foreign policy. There is a
boast that Gen. Dawes and the other
unofficial Observers tee, who went
over, opened the way TO the econom-
ic rehabilitation of Europe but no
mention of the fact that their status
was wholly unofficial as was explicit
1y announced by the administration at
the time of their going. SO that had
the negotiations broken down, the
administration could have washed it's
hands of Gen. Dawes, as we'll as his
associates"