The Wrangell sentinel., 1943-12-03

in the allowance of bills. Great l headlines were given to the Comp troller Generals charges and much
 was made of the fact that the War l Department had passed invalid items of accounts including one for false teeth and one for transporta-
 tion of a dog.
 When Under Secretary of War Patterson appeared before the Com mittee, he denied, and in my judg- ment practically disproved virtually everything that had been charged against the Department as involv- ing anything dishonest, or even of questionable judgment As usual in such cases, however. the one mak- ing the charges gets the publicity and the big headlines and the one disproving the charges must be con- tent with a short paragraph on an inside page. MT Patterson was able 1 to establish that the War Depart ment settlements have been approv- ed by the Comptroller Generals of flee in 99.5 per cent of all the vouchers on all the settlements made. and that 90 per cent of the money amount of cases, some 27O
 in number, concerning which the Comptroller General had testified. represented items either substantial ly allowed by him or items brought to light by the War Department it. self in it's regular audit and in the l process of correction before they came to the Comptroller Generals
 attention. The Under Secretary Of
 War further pointed out that the i 27O cases to which the Comptroller ] General referred were a very small l part of the more than 30000,O00 procurment vouchers which have i been passed on by he War Depart
 ment
 With respect to the false teeth and the dog, 1t was finally shown
 that an item of S225 for false teeth l for an employee of a Navy (nOt an Army contractor had been approv-
 ed by the Navy Department because i the claim arose under contract with
 an automobile company for the ser
 vices of expert mechanics to repair
 engines in Russia, the Government ] agreeing to furnish lodging, food,
 hospitalizatiOn medical care and other necessities for the group. Mir. ] Patterson tetsified that tthe Navy
 wrote the company saying that
 items ordinarily in daily use were l entirely unobtainable in the area and suggesting that persons wear i ing glasses should bring more than ! one pair. Also those having dentures should have at least one spare set. :" Following his instruction, the com pany furnished an employee going to Russia under the contract a spare set of false teeth and the charge
 was clearly within the scope of the Navy demands
 As to the dog. Mir. Patterson said
 that an allowance for S1.39 was to cover the cost of shipping a family
 dog owned by a contractors en- ployee, under contract whereby
 the employee was guaranteed the expenses of transporting the family and its household effects. The $1.39 charged for the dog received more in the way of headlines than or dinarily would have been given to the total expenditure for the Canol project, which is now said to be estimated at 38,0OO,00O.
 This whole argument is really one of the evidences of a determined struggle for power. The Comptroller Generals office is really an agency of Congress while the various de- partments, such as the War Depart ment, are agencies of the executive branch of the Government Both Comptroller General Warren and Under Secretary of War Patterson are men of unquestioned probity. Alaskans have at least an indirect interest in the subject because it was an opinion of the Comptroller Generals office, in my judgment, not warranted by anything in the law, which has resulted in the fail ure to promptly pay just compensa- tion for many small boats requisi- tioned in Alaska. Several Alaskans are in way of being ruined by the failure and refusal of the Govern ment to pay just compensation for their boats. Had it not been for the opinion of the Comptroller General I believe compensation for the boats would have been paid long ago in practically all cases.
 Joins Office
 Mrs. Florence Roth Thompson of Fairbanks, Alaska has joined us in the office. Mrs. Thompson is the