Evening star., 1939-08-09
American
Dreyfus'
Again Loses
Congress Posses Up
Another Chance for
Conclusive Probe
BY PRESTON GROVER.

ny ThLSlON UhOtEh.
Congress has passed up one Of It's
last opportunities to determine
whether the Army's "Dreyfus case"
will go into history without a con-
elusive investigation.
The "Dreyfus case" is that of
Oberlin M. Carter, one-time captain
OF engineers, top-ranking man in
his class at West Point. In pre-
Spanish War days he was engineer
OF a harbor improvement project
at Savannah, Ga, out of which grew
a scandal and a court-martial that
sent him to imprisonment in Leaven-
worth.
He was tried in 1898. Scarcely a
year has passed since that he has
not pressed case in court, or, more
recently, in Congress to have that
stain removed from his record. It
never has been. The rush of the
final hours of Congress made it i'm
possible to take up the bill which.
year after year, has been introduced
to clear Carters record. 1t will be
investigated another summer and
hearings will be held again, per-
haps next winter. But meantime,
Carter is getting older-he's in his
80S.
The story really begins at West
Point. Carter was No l in his
class and set record for scholar
ship and attainment which his
friends say surpassed that of Robert
+. Lee. Second in the class under
Carter was George .Goethals, who
later rose to fame as the builder
Of the Panama Canal.
Harnessed the Tides.
They were always friends and. to
the last, Gen. Goethals never oues-
toned Carter's integrity. But others
did. Carter and others have testified
that Army associates, jealous of his
pre-eminence as an engineer. set
out TO ruin him.
Although only captain he was
put in charge of the huge works at
Savannah. He devised a plan for
laying artificial dykes through which
the tides would course and wash
the harbor deep enough for heavy
traffic. He was commended at home
and decorated abroad
Ultimately he turned over the
project to other officers and was
given the distinguished honor of ap-
polntment as United States military
attache with the embassy at London.
He returned from there with his
name under cloud, for officers at
Savannah had charged him with
consplring with his wealthy father
in-laW and with contractors to de-
fraud the Government of large sums
of money.
They alleged that. While engineer
at Savannah, he had approved pay
ments to contractors for inferior
rock and brush mattresses when su-
perior material had been specified,
The contractors had already created
a bad atmosphere in Savannah by
assertedly chlseling on contracts for
the immense quantities of bound
brush cut from the countryside for
the harbor work. And Carter him.
self, financed by his father-in-l law 5
money, had cut social swath which
made him the envy of some of his
fellow officers.
Mark Hanna Involved.
The trial, before a tribunal of
Army officers. began just as the
Spanish-American War was break
ing out. 1t lasted six months. Car
ter was found guilty on a small
number of the numerous detailed
charges. The verdict was passed I'D
to President Mckinley for approval.
Weeks of delay followed. An cleo
ton campaign was coming on and
the Carter case had been a sensa-
ton. The President had a special
investigation made before he acted.
1t had been asserted and denied that
final approval of the conviction was
dictated by Mark Hanna, McKinley's
political mentor, as being politically
the most expedient course.
In any event, the conviction was
approved by the President. Carter,
dismissed from the Army, served his
sentence. His standing as an engi-
neer had not been forgotten and he
soon was receiving big fees. All
those, together with wealth received
from his father-in-law, he has spent
in the vain attempt to wipe the blot
off his record.
Army authorities, standing by the
court-martial have opposed him.
Various courts and investigators, as
well as congressional committees,
have asserted or implied his inno-
cence of any conspiracy of fraud, but