THREE CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS
Three Congressional Investigations Inquiries Into Military Affairs, Ship Building and Sugar Have Been Conducted at Washington During the Present Month—Mass of Testimony Gathered Touching on...
...Hoover...
...and so you maintained a price...
...Sloan do to earn that amount'.' A. He gets that for keeping quiet and helping to keep things moving...
...None...
...In pre-war times, the refiners ha/1 a differential of S3 cents per hundred...
...Kaplan testified that the Company was organized "to help the government...
...The death rale of our men from mid-September to the end of December was 7.5 per thousand, "slightly less than would have been the death rate of men of the same a„j at home...
...Fix Price of Sugar "Tp HE Food Administration nad fixed the price of best sugar at 7.25 per pound and Mr...
...Committee had participated xr 4;f>00 transactions...
...Verv well, but I took no part in th contracts...
...Supplies of $800,000,000 URING his testimony, Mr...
...vku do when you found- that out...
...The Chairman...
...Shortage of Supplies PHIOR TO THE APIM'AKAXCE of Secretary linker before the Committee there had been a mass of testimony to show that there had been delay in securing arms and clothing for the army...
...Why, certainly he would...
...Senator McKellar...
...In addition, the Fleet Corporation has rendered financial aid to and is directing the work of extension and development in forty-two yards...
...Mr: Hoover testified that it was the view of the administration that a different price could be maintained for beet sugar, west of the Allegheny Mountains, than was permitted for cane sugar east of the Alleghenies...
...It must be borne in mind that this vast program of construction undertaken in the last nine months wTas superimposed on a navy program which was the equivalent in dollars, and therefore in shipbuilding effort, of the construction of 2,500,000 tons • of merchant shipping...
...The refiners were granted a differential of l.'JO...
...He said that he had personally visited every beet growing section in Utah north of Provo, and said that the farmers "will not raise beets at the prices fixed for next year...
...President Sloan of the Corporation was drawing $25,000 a year salary...
...It is also endeavoring to ascertain what steps are being taken to provide the seamen to man the great merchant fleet now building...
...The International Committee, through which all the Cuban sugar was marketed had fixed the price of that sugar at 0.00...
...Amount of government contracts held by firm...
...Woolwine testified that there was testimony before the Grand Jury to show that the Los Angeles Sugar Refinery on an investment of $500,000 made a profit of about $1,000,000 in 1916-17...
...I would like to place the responsibility for it...
...Change of Specifications DURING Mr...
...A subcommittee of the Committee on Manufactures inquiring into the cause of sugar and coal shortage has developed that the American Sugar Refining Company has practical control of Mr...
...L. Scott__________________________ 5,239,000 United States Rubber Co.---------------------A...
...That examination developed that while the Food Administration had been solicitous to establish a profitable differential for the sugar refiners, no steps had been taken to safeguard the beet growers or to stimulate sugar beet production until the Senate ordered this investigation...
...Mr...
...demanded Senator Nelson...
...Louisiana produces about 225,000 tons...
...They have overcoats, blankets, three suits of winter underclothing and shoes...
...He said further that unless better prices were paid to the farmers in that section 75 per cent of the sugar beet acreage would be lost, lie contrasted the prices which the farmer receives for ,the beets with profits of the beet sugar manufacturers, and said that the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company last year in its twelve factories "made a net profit—and when I say net I mean net—of $9.24 per ton, (on beets) and they paid the farmer $5.50...
...The Cairman...
...Babst had a contract for 100,000 tons of that sugar, that arrangement was calculated to (rat Mr...
...Production in this country is increasing at a satisfac- I tory pace * * *. I wish sincerely it were possible to have all the equipment we need for the men in the camps...
...He declares that 3,000,000 tons is the probable maximum production for the year 1913...
...There is no limit to the amount of ships this countrv can build if it really sets itself to the task...
...At one point Senator Chamberlain said the Commander at Camp Sherman near Chillicothe, Ohio, had informed him that his camp was short several thousand blouses and that that was one of the many instances reported to the committee...
...It was under cross-examination that the real inwardness of the working of the Supplies Committee Council of National Defense was fevealed...
...Babst, did he not—contracted it...
...tangle in getting supplies to the men, but we are* all straightened out now...
...He said that last year this company made in round numbers profits of $6,000,000, and that its capitalization until recently was $10,000,000...
...In the case of the Louisiana growers after he learned what had been done, Mr...
...American Woolen'Co.----------------------F...
...It must do it if it gets ships...
...He was in touch all the time and immediately that the price was fixed was given an option on 100,000 tons of Louisiana sugar...
...View of Ferguson CONCENTRATION of shipyards in the Philadelphia district was criticized by Mr...
...When the sickness was at its height, the mortality rate at Fort Sill was 20 men a day, but disease has been conquered and the mortality does not now average one a day...
...Then vou endorse and approve all he has done...
...As Mr...
...This shortage was not made up until December 15th...
...He said: "The men are supposed to have two suits of olive drab clothing and they only have one suit...
...Chairman Heed made Mr...
...He controverted at every turn the idea that there was a scattering of authority which made for delay...
...Babst'e profit was fixed...
...They cannot afford it...
...He indicated that harmony rules the board, and that the Goethals-Denman quarrel had prevented the commandeering' of fifteen vessels...
...Baker testified in effect that there was but one purchasing authority in the War Department and that that was the Secretary...
...ned of this two days later from George H. Rolph, of the California and Hawaiian Refining Company also an assistant of the Food Administration...
...Hoover...
...Gives Rosy Picture 'T'HE Secretary gave a rosy picture of the accom-plishments to date and was subjected to a severe cross-examination by members of the committee who questioned the accuracy of many of his assertions...
...There are 800 beds in the Base Hospital at this camp, and on December 24th there were 810 patients...
...ieneral (ireble testified that on September 11th, he notified the department of the lack ol clothing, and saiii lie feared there would be an epidemic, and told of the crowding of 12 men into one tent intended to accommodate 8 men...
...BAKER quoted figures to show that the Department had supplied 2,221,000 overcoats up to December 27th, and this more than met the demands of the army...
...Chairman Reed then gave some attention to the Louisiana purchaser, Mr...
...It also developed that about the time the changes in the specifications were made, there was organized in New York, what was known as the Base Sorting Company, to handle the scraps from the government clothing...
...His manner of testifying was characterized as impudent by one Senator...
...This was followed by a series of disclosures made at the inquiry conducted by the Senate Committee on Military Aifairs, which showed that these conditions were due to inefficiency or worse Mn the matter of getting supplies for the army...
...Earl D. Babst, President of the American Sugar Refining Company, was present during some of these negotiations...
...Of this $500,000 thus spent $400,000 was paid to the Clinchiield Navigation Company of New-York as a brokerage fee in landing the contract...
...had let supplies to the amount of over $800,000,000, and tinder cross-examination, it was brought out that of this amount $128,830,000 of contracts were let to concerns whose members or employers were on the Supplies Committee, but that all except $14,830,061 was contracted for prior to the time that these men became connected with the Committee...
...We cut him down to $10,000...
...Hoover...
...Babst would have had to pay him that price, would he not...
...You must know your statements are calculated to lull the country into a false sense of security...
...We wanted to maintain, amongst other things, a righteous price, a proper price for the Louisiana producer...
...The overcoats •came in—2,373, December 3rd...
...Before that time many of the men did r.at have overcoats...
...These specifications were so framed at one time that it would have been possible to use 50 per cent of the shoddy...
...The whole of the sugar stocks had been accumulated at a higher level...
...The testimony taken by these committees when completed will fill several large volumes and will be of value in arriving at a just estimate of the purposes and the efficiency of the men who have been active in directing these new enterprises of the government...
...He gave figures to show the growth of the several branches of the service and said the work of the Council of National Defense had been effective...
...Edington, wool buyer for the American Woolen Company, were members to ascertain why the contract was cancelled, but at the time of testifying had received no information...
...Senator Chamberlain said the Commander was in Washington...
...He said: "The housing problem is one of the most vital facing the Government in the conduct of the war...
...And to guarantee him or iait him beyond the possibility of loss...
...Baker replied "I do not know, I am unable to speak for the President...
...While the government was unable to get overcoats to the men, the Red Cross, General Greble said, supplied 21,000 sweaters and 15,000 blankets...
...Hoover said the President directed that pre-war normal profits be maintained and to do this the refiners' differential was cut to $1.'.!0...
...Charles Eisenman defended before the committee the action of the Supplies Committee...
...Eisenman should have nothing to do with the making of contracts for the government and recommended his dismissal...
...Yes, sir...
...Before sickness developed in these camps, these officers had notified the War Department of the fact that sickness was sure to follow the lack of clothing and blankets...
...He said, this low death rate was evidence of the good sanitary conditions of the cantonments...
...Hoover's sugar committee and that it has so manipulated the market as to give that company a great advantage...
...We do that sort of thing every da...
...Q. have any contracts for government sup plies been let to Jacob H. Brown, Woolen Manufacturer, and member of the Supplies Committee...
...I would always insist on making them come through better than any one else...
...And that is the sugar, now, the price of which you wanted to maintain by shutting of the beet sugar and keeping it from coming east of the Allegheny Mountains...
...He said there was some delay because supplies were bought too late...
...The Chairman...
...Hoover...
...iiaker said that the Secretary of Munitions would have to use much of the machinery already built up...
...Beet Sugar Men Present THERE were representatives of beet growers from California, Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming, who were also heard...
...This forced the American Sugar Refining Company to pay the same price...
...The showing on paper is good enough, but the cold fact is that some camps had plentv of overcoats, and others had none...
...The remaining new yards are being constructed by private capital...
...Shipbuilding in established yards was hampered instead of expedited Mr...
...Part of the $237,000 went to the Capital City Iron Works and the Anaaortes Steel Company, subsidiary companies of the Sloan Company, that is to themselves...
...have been placed...
...We lioDed he would get it...
...Among the witnesses who appeared before the committee were Major Generals William M. Wright, and Edwin St...
...Major General Shnrpe...
...Rave no authority to fix prices...
...Rolph's California company under the regulation would pay 25 cents per hundred less than the New York price, Mr...
...The Commerce Committee investigating the Shipping board has developed that in all probability the expectations with respect to shipbuilding will not be realized because it is not possible to get the men to put it through...
...Babst got a contract for 100,000 tons...
...The food bill specifically exempts formers from its licensing provisions, yet the Food Administration had compelled Louisiana fit liners who convert their sugar cane into sugar upon their farms to operate under licenses...
...The Commit* tee had no information as to the other camps...
...He said, among other things, that this corporation had let a contract to the Sloan Ship Building Corporation of Olympia, Washington, to build sixteen wooden ships at a cost of $7,840,000...
...Under e\aiuinnti»n by Chairman Heed he admitted that by limiting the profits, the Food Administrator virtually Jlxed priees of food...
...This testimony made a profound impression and left a decidedly bad impression which Herbert C. Hoover, the Food Administrator, endeavored to remove first by means of a public statement which he issued through the White Housa, and later when examined by the sub-committee of the Senate Committee on Manufactures...
...When Secretary Baker was under examination, Senator McKellar said that the revelations before the committee were such that he believed Mr...
...Three Congressional Investigations Inquiries Into Military Affairs, Ship Building and Sugar Have Been Conducted at Washington During the Present Month—Mass of Testimony Gathered Touching on ImDortant Subiects THREE important investigations of war activities are being made by Senate Committees...
...The government cancelled the contract, and Mr...
...Spreckles lea...
...In addition the Emergency Fleet Corporation has requisitioned tho vessels which are building in two yards in addition to the above, so that the Fleet Corporation is at present controlling work in 132 yards, of which 58 are old and 74 are new...
...Turning to his assistant Secretary, Baker directed that a telegram be sent to the Commander at Camp Sherman for the facts...
...Hoover stated the reason for permitting a higher price for sugar on the -Atlantic Seaboard than in the interior to be "For the simple reason that the Cuban sugw had been bought at a higher level and was in possession of the refiners and others at a higher level...
...For the Louisiana producer...
...Senator Chamberlain continued: "As against this -ou tell us that the army has bee.i adequately egui] pcd...
...Now, the Louisiana producer had stipulated a price in his contract with Mr...
...Spreckles telegraphed that he would take 40,000 tons at (i.30 at New Orleans and pay the freight to New York...
...I nrefer to get the information from the Commander on dutv at the camp...
...A. Yes, but I did not personally deal with them...
...For months prior the ship builders had been attempting to get an allotment for this purpose, and had been unable to do so...
...Eisenman replied that he assumed responsibility for anything done by the Supplies Committee...
...Of this amount $540,000 had been spent directly on ship work...
...In reply to a question of Chairman Reed, Mr...
...Spreckles said the fixing of the low price to the Louisiana growers would have benefited him directly...
...I understand that conditions elsewhere are equally as bad...
...A. We took over complete control of the Sloan company, shut oft' the Clinchiield Company from collecting any more money, took a $750,000 mortgage on the Sloan plant, and took over bonds of the two subsidiary concerns...
...that there were several working under him, but that he was the real authority...
...He said he thought the price paid the farmers for beets was absolutely unjustifiable...
...The Chairman...
...Spreckles asserted that the fixing of the price vf Louisiana raw at 6.15 in New York placed the growers at a disadvantage...
...Kaplan and Mr...
...Eisenman's testimony, he assumed responsibility for changing the specification for army clothing and blankets so as to permit of the use of a greater quantity of "reworked" wool—in other words, of shoddy, in the manufacturing of clothing and blanke's...
...He also told of the lack of riiles, bayonets and other equipment...
...The shipyards alread" built and those building can turn out 5,000,000 tons of ships annually under proper oonditions^arid the country could, if put to it, add stJl other yards and produce 10,000,000 tons a year, lint it cannot be done without man power, and man power cannot be obtained unless housing is provided...
...Meet the Demand MR...
...Hoover's sugar committee and a committee of the growers...
...Of course you may say "righteous price" and "proper price" but the Louisiana producer sold his sugar to Mr...
...Q. Did you know -hat there are laws prohibiting any agent of the government dealing with himself or any company of which he is member...
...Hurley said: "When Admiral Capps and I joined the Emergency Fleet Corporation on July 27, 1917, there were under contract 840,900...
...General Sharpe said he recommended that only 100,000 of the National Army be called in September as l.is department could not furnish clothing and equipment for more...
...Ferguson said, when the Fleet Corporation commandeered construction...
...Babst have taken that con-ract and paid the full amount to the Louisiana producers...
...The Chairman...
...was it not...
...What ilk...
...All right...
...The Chairman...
...There has been a great amount of testimony fron officers including General Crozier, the head of the Ordnance Department as to the delays and shortage of rifles, machine guns, and artillery...
...Hoover...
...In explaining his opposition to the creation of a Department of Munitions, Mr...
...Hoover...
...Hoover made the statement that...
...He sold actually, I believe, 29,-000 tons...
...This included some of the California and all the Wisconsin factories and one in Utah...
...In his testimony, the Secretary defended the methods of purchasing used by the War Department and declared against the creation of a Department of Munitions...
...Me had...
...Babst, had he not...
...Bailey ________________________ 5,675,000 William Iselin & Co.--------------------------Lincoln Cromwell________________ 1,029,000 J. Spencer Turner------------------------------A...
...The Chairman...
...The next day ;.l'ter this testimony, $1,200,000 was set aside by the Shipping Board to be expended for housing...
...In the effort to fix responsibility, the militarists without respect to party are acting in concert to put the blame upon Secretary of War Baker...
...Custer, Beauregard and the Camp at Fort Worth, Texas...
...Eiscnman's work very closely and I think his zeal and earnestness in serving the government have been exceedingly patriotic...
...Yes—oh, yes...
...Hoover...
...Hoover...
...A portion of the contracts placed since Julv 27 were prepared and practically closed by our predecessors...
...The Chairman...
...1, 1917, and 74 have been created since...
...In contrast with the tender care given to the American Refining Company contract, is the testimony of C. G. Patterson, of Salt Lake City, representing the Intermountain Association of Sugar Beet Growers...
...Hurley was that of Homer L. Ferguson, President and General Manager of the Newport News Ship Building Company, a naval constructor of 17 years' experience and acknowledged to be one of the best informed authorities upon ship building in this country...
...He said th..t at present the camp is pretty wc:i supplied with clothing, but on December 8th there were 17,000 overcoats short...
...Senator Chamberlain called attention to the newspaper reports that the President was opposed to the creation of a Munitions Department, and asked if tho President had been correctly reported...
...How many ships have they built...
...Spreckles said he was not able to get any of this Louisiana sagar, because ol" the option of the American Sugar Refining Co...
...The Cairman...
...Hoover put in the record a list of beet sugar factories which could barely exist at that price...
...A. Yes, but I never advised letting a contract with that mill...
...It has been customary here I know, when certain Senators favored certain measures and other Senators opposed them, to claim that the Senators in opposition were trying1 to injure the prosecution of the war...
...Ill Sugar /"•LAUS H. SPRECKLES, President of tho Fed-^ eral Sugar Refining Company, started the sugar ball rolling by charging that the American Sugar Refining Company had secured an undue advantage by having its officers and employees on the inside of the Food Administration and as a result an extra profit of $1,500,000 had accrued to the American Sugar Refining Company...
...ine country is entitled to feei secure," replied Mr...
...John Greble, commanding officers at Camp Doniphan, located at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Camp Bowie, located at Fort Worth, Texas...
...You maintained a price over on the Atlantic seaboard for the benefit of that Louisiana sugar...
...Finally, they were made so that at present the uniforms are but 65 per cent wool...
...He gave detailed figures with respect to the conditions in the sugar beet industry, especially among the beet growers...
...The contracts of the Emergency Fleet Corporation nave been let to 110 shipyards, of which 36 existed Jan...
...tons of wooden ships, 207,000 tons oi complete ships, and 587,-000 tons of steel ships...
...He said that in the testimony before the grand Jury, the Secretary and Manager of the Santa Ana °>v gar Refinery (beet factory) said "this plant represented an investment of $1,250,000, and that it made a net profit for the 1916-17 campaign of between $800,000 and $900,000...
...The substance of their testimony was that a great loss of life would have been prevented if the soldiers had been properly equipped and amule hosm'*al facilities had been provided...
...Since then additional contracts amounting to 3,378,200 tons of steel ships and 504,000 tons of wooden ship...
...The most progress on any of thei.i is but S per cent," answered Admiral Bowles...
...To the producer...
...He said its object was to get the men of the army warmly clad and that the delay was due to the failure of the Quartermaster General's Department to properly forward the clothing...
...Every man in France has full equipment and every man who goes will be well supplied...
...Eisenman said that the clothing and blankets furnished under these specifications was as good or better than those formerly made...
...Eisenman, and a member of the committee, is a brother of Ira I. Kaplan, one of the organizers of the Ease Sorting Company, Under a contract which was let through the Supplies Committee to this company for handling the rags, General Sharpe testified that there would have been a profit of $400,000 annually...
...Until December, he declared, the corporation was unwilling to pay additional costs for speeding up building operations although the private owners of ships under construction always were ready to pay for speed...
...A. Oh, yes...
...Xo Shortage in 1017 |V /I R. SPRECKLES also produced figures to show that there was no shortage of sugar in 1917...
...He will know the facts as they are today," said Secretary Baker...
...L. Scott______________________ 8,437,000 Turner Hulsey Co.--------------------------A...
...Spreckles asserted that the price of the Louisiana cane sugar was fixed by Mr...
...Q. You have contracts with that mill...
...The Chairman...
...2,285, December 8th...
...It developed also while great care has been taken to protect the refiners' profits nothing effective has been done to stimulate beet sugar production...
...Hoover., I assume that he would...
...R. Edington____________________$92,755,000 Welling, Sears Co...
...So overwhelming was the testimony as to the shortage of clothing and blankets that the Senate Committee adopted a resolution asking the Secretary of War to go into the open niai-ket and purchase these articles...
...A. I endorse everything I know of that he has done, similarl" I endorse the work of the Council of National Defense...
...Questioning by Senator Jones developed that Constructor T. E. Ferris of the Fieet Corpoi-ation had given Charles Barnet, Vice President of the Clinch-field Company, a letter of introduction to General Goethals before the Sloan contract was let...
...Eisenman was worried and sent a committee, of which Mr...
...Other crops will pay better...
...And if he delivered that sugar to Mr...
...Yes, but those figures do not show the overcoats actually distributed," said Senator Chamberlain...
...His recommendations were not followed and 300,000 were called...
...Wo had no right to impose a loss on the total sugar ^industry just to level it down with beets...
...The navy program absorbed practically 70 per cent of the eighteen prominent yards in existence at the beginning of the war with Germany, the remaining 30 per cent of these yards being taken up with construction of merchant shipping for both foreign and American account, which was requisitioned under the order of August 3. This tonnage is now being completed under the supervision and control of the Emergency Fleet Corporation...
...Quartermaster General of the Army, testified that tho delays were due to department red tape...
...Virtually Fixes Price WllILK THK FOOD ( DXTltOfv HIIX uas pending in the Senate last year, Mr...
...But if the Ordnance Department had been working at capacity last April, it would have been impossible to produce enough for our needs by this time * *. I am sure all the camps have at least the essential vital things, ana as soon as it is possible they will have everything * * *. 1 am confident we shall fuily supply all the men we send to the front...
...In his testimony, Mr...
...Baker said: "The distribution trouble was due to a mass of priority orders on the railroads, the shifting of troops from one camp to another caused a ((t DO NOT BELIEVE, Mr...
...237,000 indirectly on this work, and $500,000 for private purposes...
...Samuel M. Kaplan, Wool Substitute Adviser to Mr...
...General Wright said that at Camp Doniphan there was not only a shortage of automatic rifles, machine guns, harness, ammunition wagons, range finders and all other equipment, but that there had also until very recently been a very great shortage of clothing...
...A. If you tall it "fixing/' yes...
...In contrast with the statements of Mr...
...As to the equipment of the army, Mr...
...He said nis department by an order of the Secretary of War since the entry of this country into the war had merely approved of awards, the contracts were let by the Supplies Committee of the Council of National Defense of which Charles Eisen-man of Cleveland is the dominant figure...
...The Military Affairs Committee is examining into the conduct of the army and has developed a mass of testimony to show that inadequate provision was made for the proper care of the men who have been sent to the cantonments, that a great number of deaths and a large amount of sickness are due to the lack of proper clothing, that while the men sent to France have been equipped, there is a great shortage of equipment of all kinds in the camps in this country...
...Q. What does Mr...
...I Military C URGEON General Gcrgas of the army made a ^ military report with respect to the health conditions in the army cantonments which startled the counry...
...Baker held his ground and said: "Our initial rush needs have been met...
...Vv'e want to add 5,000 men to our force, and there is nowhere in Newport News for them to five...
...And under no other circum-tances would Mr...
...Hoover...
...There was much sickness because of the lack of warm clothing...
...W. Lawrence _______________ 3,762,000 W. H. McElwain Co.------------------------J...
...Q. And when that happened he stepped aside and let the rest of you fix it for him...
...he would have to fill in the gaps with other men, that he did not see that any advantage is to be „aincd by establishing a department that has to be organized from the bottom up, just tfs the present system has been evolved...
...In reply to an assertion of Senator Wadsworth that the British Ministry of Munitions embodied a superior system than was shown to exist in the War Department, the Secretary replied that he "didn't admit its superiority...
...He said that the methods employed by the War Department were the same as those employed in the Navy...
...II Ships pHAIRMAN Edward X. Hurley, of the Shipping ^ Board in his testimony assumed full responsibility for the future ship building program...
...That is a pretty old and threadbare argument...
...Wool-wine testified on December 22nd...
...A. Yes...
...Profiteering and the probability of the inabilrtj to realize the shipbuilding program are the outstanding features of the investigation of the Shipping Board, being made by the Committee on Commerce of the United States Senate...
...The Chairman...
...Testifying before the committee, the Secretary said in substance that without serious dislocation of industry, the government had enlisted and equipped the largest army that had ever been enlisted and equipped in a like period of time in the world's history...
...That was the difference between the cost of the raw and the refiners' selling price...
...Babst the full price for his sugar, the full Louisiana price plus his $1.,"0...
...Representative on the Supplies Committee of the Council of National Defense...
...5 05' December 13...
...There has also been evidence of profiteering...
...General Sharpe was of the opinion that if the department dealt directly and not through the Supplies Committee the government would have secured quicker deliveries...
...He was also asked if they could pay $10 per ton and whether that would be a reasonable price to the grower for 15 per cent beets, and he said in substance that would depend on how much the factory wanted to make...
...The firms named by Mr...
...Eisenman said th* xJ the Supplies...
...At the time the Food Administration was established this had risen to $1.$5...
...General Crozier said much of the delay was due to the red tape and placed the responsibility for it directly upor Secretary Baker...
...Besides, the letting of army contracts disclose profiteering by members of the Supplies Committee of the Council of National Defense which committee lets the contract...
...This he said because of increased costs, at the time it was fixed, would protect the pre-war profits of the refiners...
...F. McElwain____________________ 6,530,000 United States Bunting Co.-------------------George Stevens___________________ 1,546,000 Cleveland Worsted Co...
...It is very much like the advice of the old counselor who said, 'When in court, and you have no case, abuse the attorney on the other side.' "—Senator W. S. Kenyon...
...Ferguson as likely to increase housing difficulties and to add to railroad congestion...
...He said that the sixteen army cantonments were built at a cost of $154,000,000 and with an average profit of 2.98 per cent to the contractors...
...He says that Lloyd's special report estimated the steel output at only 2,500,000 tons...
...Charles Eisenman_________________ 4,057,000 It was under cross-examination by Senator McKel-lar that Eisenman admitted that he was stockholder and director in the Cleveland Worsted Mills Company...
...Eisenman that he thought that he had no right to make such contracts, and that the committee had been violating the law in making them, and Mr...
...All through the hearings of this committee, we have found faulty distribution...
...So that when you shut out the beet si rar from west of the Allegheny Mountains in order to maintain a higher price for cane sugar cast of the Allegheny Mountains, and Mr...
...Hoover...
...I admit that it looks like a good hit of money, but we did the liest we could under the circumstances...
...Senator McKellar said to Mr...
...Yes, sir...
...Baker...
...You expected him to get it, did you not...
...His testimony covers not only the statement, but is interesting because of the facts developed and not covered by the statement...
...It is just as necessary for the Government to build houses for shipyard workers as it is for soldiers...
...He said a sufficient quantity of clothing had been turned over to the department and in time if properly distributed to take care of the men in all the camps...
...The committee developed information which has an important bearing upon the success of this year's war activities...
...Babst, Mr...
...The Chairman...
...President, I that any set of men in this country or in this body have any monopoly of patriotism...
...Babst, president of the American Sugar Refining Company and member of the Sugar committee of the Food Administration...
...Q. Yet your committee placed contracts with the company...
...Well now, we have spent nearly $2,000,000 with this company...
...The industry, he said, should have been scattered more along the coasts...
...The country is entitled to know the facts," retorted Senator Chamberlain...
...The Committee found that the shortage amounted to 20,000 overcoats and 47,000 blouses nt Camps Wheeler, Shelby, Kearney, Dix, Jackson, Grant...
...There has already been paid upon the contract $1,724,000...
...Hoover...
...Among the witnesses who testified was Admiral Bowles, head of the construction department of the Emergency Fleet Corporation...
...You cannot get the ships unless houses are provided for workmen...
...Secretary Baker replied giving assurance that the recommendation would be weighed and said—"But I have observed Mr...
...Among the witnesses were Thomas L. Woolwine, district attorney of Los Angeles County, California, who presented a resolution from the grand jury of that county reciting that it had under way an investigation of the beet sugar factories of southern California accused of being in unlawful combination to fix the price of sugar beets and that it has already adduced evidence to indicate that the sugar beet production of that section is threatened due to the fact that the sugar beet farmers refuse to plant beets under the contracts offered by the sugar factories...
...Furthermore, in order to give the Louisiana purchaser as good a position as could be gotten, we gave him the seaboard price that was necessary in order to protect his production...
...He expected to get the 100,000 tons, did he not...
...Copies of a number of these telegrams were placed in the record, anil he said that nothing effective had been done at Tie time of giving this testimony to relieve the situation...
...He said that he Ho said that in the testimony before the grand jury, called attention of the federal food administration and sent a telegram to the President directing attention to the serious curtailment of sugar production that would ensue unless some action was taken to protect the farmers...
...that basing their investment upon the rule that obtains in the businecs of approximately $1,000 per daily ton cutting capacity, "I figure that they made practically 100 per cent upon their investment last year...
...The contract was negotiated by Major General Goethals and his counsel J. P. Cotton...
...Hoover reluctantly admit that in the administration of the Food La«, he was exercising powers not specifically conferred by the Act, and did so under the advice of the legal advisors of his bureau...
...Eisenman and their representatives on the Committee and the amount of the contracts received by each follow: Name of firm...
...Quite so...
Vol. 10 • January 1918 • No. 1
