The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-03-16

Hugh Wilson ana Bill Bulll
 These two men are close friends, agree on most things and to considerable extent have been steering U. s. policy toward Eu- rope. The advice they have been cabling back is that Europe was headed for a Four Power Agree ment-France, Great Britain, Germany and Italy.
 Bullitt, ambassador to France, has developed near-phobia of hatred against Russia since he was ambassador to that country and has been urging his French friends to desert Russia for Four Power agreement. Hugh Wilson feels similarly.
 A Four Power Pact, they have
 told the State Department, is
 the early solution of and safe
 guard for European peace.
 One important fact they over looked, however, which was borne out by last weeks events in Aus tria, is that Four Power Pact will be written only at the dic- tation of Italy and Germany. These two are writing their own terms.
 And an all-essentia1 part of those terms is the return of Ger man colonies. According to dip lomats who are certainly in a position to know, Mussolini and Hitler have hard and fast agree ment that there will be no Four Power Pact until Britain has re- turned her colonies to Germany.
 That is going to be tough nut for the British to crack. In fact, it is so tough that prob ably there will be no Four Power Pact.
 IVA Fight
 The news leak from the Con- troller Generals office that the Tennessee Valley Authority had spent about $5,00O,0OO illegally, was generally interpreted as a reflection against Majority Con- misSionerS David Lilienthal and Harcourt Morgan and as sup porting Chairman Arthur Nor gan's charges against them.
 Actually, however. Chairman Arthur Morgan was the dominat- ing figure in the so-called il- legal expenditure, though most common sense business men would have agreed with him.
 Fact was that in winning it's earlier reputation for complet- ing dam projects while PWA work Jagged, the IVA cut miles of red tape and that is what the Controller Generals office is squawking about.
 Take for instance the case of steel cables. Under government contracts these are supposed to be purchased from the lowest bidder. But IVA Engineer White knew that one of the bidding companies could supply cables sure to stand the strain of tons of concrete in cable cars suspend ed across the gorges of the River Clinch; and after consulting with Chairman Morgan, he ordered these cables, ignoring the lowest bidder.
 The low bidder portested, and Controller General McCarl ar- gued the case back and forth for weeks.
 In the case of sand-Washers, however, IVA officials deferred to government procedure and against their own judgment took the lowest bid with a saving of $2,500. The machines proved only 50 per cent adequate; another type had to be ordered, and there ensued months delay on a $34,OO0,OO0 job.
 Congress o. K.
 These matters came before the House Military Affairs Committee in 1885, at which time the Con- troller General claimed that IVA had spent $2,0Oo,000 illegally dur ing its first year of operation. But the committee. after examining the facts, exonerated IVA completely.
 One of the battles between IVA and the Controller Gen eral results from the fact that
 Congress later authorized the Tennessee Valley Authority to use it's discretion regarding pur- chases from the lowest bidder.
 The Controller General, how ever rules this out, and stands by the law which governs his bureau. Until these two laws are reconciled the controversy will continue.
 NOTE-If government en- ploye hands in an expense ac- count of $100, and happens to lose a $3 Pullman receipt, his whole account of $100 is thrown