Evening star., 1952-03-27
Local Grain Officials
Agreed Not 10 Check
Each 0ther, Probe Told
. By james {. Roper


The testimony came from re,
Artz. former vice chairman o. TIL
Edmunds County Committee. H
told his story to the Senate Agri
culture Committee, which is in
vestigating irregularities in tn
Governments program to stor
grain to keep prices up.
County committeeman ar
elected by local farmers and pait
by the Government for the tim
they work in administering tn.
loans on commodities stored OF
farms.
"Trusted Each Other"
Mr.. Artz, who once had Il
pause in his testimony because h,
became so nervous, said he ant
| two other Edmunds County com
mitteemen-Alfred O'Neill ant
julius Ulmer-had grain under
Government loan, but never hac
each others storage bins inspect
ed because we trusted eacf
other" "
AS result of this practice, Mr.
Artz testified, the local COMMITTEES
failed to detect a $40, 900 shortage
lin grain which Mr.. ONeill wal
supposed to have on his farm
under Government loan. Mr.
|O'Neill. at the time the shortage
was discovered last year, was
chairman of the county COM
|mittee. g,
Mr.. ArtZ testified that the COM
|mitteemen did not check on each
Others grain and skipped inSpec-
ton bins on farms of people they
knew well.
Sign Certificates.
wasn't it a practice to have
inspectors sign inspection certif.
|icates Of the committeemen's bin.
without actually making the
Inspection" asked COMMITTEES
Counsel Paul Cotter.
IT think so," Mr.. Artz replied
"You knew that inspection,
were supposed to be made, bu
|you nevertheless had this agree.
lment?" asked Committee Chair.
man Ellender of Louisiana.
"Yes," Mr.. Artz replied.
Committee members, in q testy
mood, fell into a long wrangl.
when Mr.. Cotter called Mr.. O'Neil
to testify as the session opened
Mr.. O'Neill. ruddy- faced opera.
tor of 1,000-acre farm. said he
doubted that he should testify
because his grain storage case il
now before grand jury in South
Dakota.
Encouraged Not to Testify.
Senator Ellender, who has beer
generally sympathetic to the
Agriculture Department, encour.
aged Mr.. O'Neill not to testify ant
suggested other witnesses on tn.
case not be heard until the grane
jury in South Dakota reports.
Senator KEN, Republican, o.
Missouri, said that "We shouldn'
suppress the facts"
Senator Aiken, Republican. O.
Vermont said he wanted to pro.
ltect MIR. O'Neill, but dropping tn,
case would in effect be protect.
ing the Production and Market.
ing Administration of the Agricul.
ture Department"
Senator Ellender said he die
not know PIMA was on trial. anc
that the whole issue was "just q
question Of fairness, absolute
fairness"
Urges Kick-back Hearing.
Senator KEN shot back thai
I'VE also should be fair to thu
american taxpayers who invested
billions Of dollars in this farm
program, and now there are gros.
irregularities - utter disregard ot
laws and regulations"
Senator Ellender said he fell
himself overruled and went aheac
with testimony; on the Edmund.
County case although Mr.. ONeil
was excused from testifying per.
|Sonally.
Senator KEN also urged tn,
committee to hear testimony "a
the earliest possible time" on 4
|charge that a Government officiaI
now dead, demanded a kick-bacl
from a company storing grain fol
the Agriculture Department. Sen.
ator Ellender promised to 60 intt
the case next week. Two privat,
citizens will be brought to Wash.
lngton to testify.
Quotes From Report.
South Dakota's Republican Sen.
ator Mundt Jared the COMMITTEES
by mentioning the kick-back issue
at an open hearing yesterday.
He read a committee investi.
gators report quoting v. M
Harris, a Missouri grain storage
man, as saying he was asked for s
|kick-back. Otherwise, Mr.. Harri,
SAID, he would not win renewal O,
his lease on Army buildings a,
Camp Crowder, Mo. Mr.. Harris oc.
cupied the buildings under leas,
from WAA and used them to store
Government grain.
Senator Mundt read into tn,
record this much of the investi.
gators account of what Mr.
Harris related about a meeting ir
a Kansas City hotel room:
Mr.. Smith then said the Wal
Assets lease could be renewed but
asked, What is in it for us?'"
Mr.. Yancey and Mr.. Smith
asked for 40 per cent of the profit.
and Mr.. Harris told them h,
couldn't do that. They ther
asked for IS per Genet of tn.
profits, and Mr.. Harris finally tolc
them that he would give then
that amount.
mo other names had been men.
toned up to that point, but aftel
agreeing to give them IS per CEN
OF the profits. Mr.. Harris asked
them IT their part of the profir