Evening star., 1925-03-03

spired by Brewer. who had given his
charges wide publicity in suit
brought by him in the Supreme Court
OF the District of Columbia against
his own department head.
AssaiIs Brewers Part.
1.-THE committee promptly desig-
mated Mr.. Brewer TO assist IL in con-
Quoting the investigation Thus Mr.
Brewer, having made the charges
which resulted in the passage of the
resolution, has occupied the triple
role of fnvestigato tor of his own ac-
cusatfons, prosecuting attorney and
advisor to the jury. Naturally, he
presented only such information and
only such witnesses as in his opinion
would tend to establish his charges
He certainly had no interest in the
truth If 1t was inconsistent with the
charges upon which his employment t
depended
AT the beginning Of the commit
tees investigation, nearly a year ago,
the Treasury requested permission to
review the testimony of all the wit
nesseS, including Mr.. Brewer, and to
cross-examine them, and that request
was frequently repeated. Notwith-
standing this, nearly all the witnesses
were interviewed in secret executive
session, and. although there has been
ample time, the Treasury was denied
the privilege of hearing or even see
ing a transcript of their testimony or
of cross examining them. The Treas
ury was not given an opportunity to
cross examine Mr.. Brewer, which
would have enabled il to show con-
clusively wherein he had evaded or
distorted the facts.
Under date of January 2S, 1925, the
committee submitted to the Treasury
list of five so-called outstanding
facts with respect to which it de-
sired information. This information
was conveyed to the committee in my
letters of February 4 and February
Il, 1925. In these letters the COM
mittee was fully advised concerning:
I'D The authority of the Secretary
of the Treasury to destroy Govern
ment securities;
"(2) The method employed by the
Treasury in giving tentative alloca-
tions of serial numbers where securi-
ties appear to bear duplicated serial
numbers;
"(3) The facts concerning alleged
paper and bond shortages;
90 The method of certifcation
employed with respect to securities
delivered for destruction, and
"(5) The Liberty Bond transactions
conducted by the War Finance Cor
poration during the period 1918 to
1920.
Treasury Willing to Aid.
I'm this connection 1 may say that
the Treasury has at all times held
itself in readiness to cooperate with
the committee in every possible way
and has repeatedly assured the COM
mittee of its willingness to furnish
the facts concerning any matter
under consideration. At the same
time it has pointed out the injustice
of accepting the testimony of wit
nesses, many ef whom were employees
with fancied grievances who could
not in the nature of things have had
full knowledge of the operations,
without permitting the Treasury to
cross-examiRe them or answer their
testimony.
mot only was the investigation of
this character, but the committee,
though often invited by the Treasury
to make a personal inspection of the
activities about which it's investiga-
tion has centered, and thus gain first
hand information regarding the meth
DDS under which the public debt has
been handled and the safeguard de-
signed to protect its integrity, has not
seen fit to do so. The Importance of
such an inspection in connection with
any effort to determine the facts is
readily apparent. Representative
Strong, who, as 1 have said, did not
sign the report of the committee, Is
the only member who recognized the
necessity of personally viewing the
Treasury's operations in relation to
public debt matters, and who availed
himself of the Treasury's invitation.
"The committees inquiry has been
under way for nearly a year, and its
report has been made public. The re-
port is substantially a reiteration of
the McCarter- charges, with
the exception that there are added
certain charges relating to the trans