Side Glance
Washington Merry-Go-Round
EDITORIAL PAGE
By DREW PEARSON
La Grande Evening Observer
Frank Schiro, Publisher
SATURDAY EVENING, JULY, 28, 1945
Page Two
Is This Trip Necessary?
i i
EVENING OBSERVER'S
PROGRESS PROGRAM
IRRIGATION Complete the Grande
Ronde Valley irrigation project
LA GRANDE A city of 10,000
Extend the city limits.
TODAY'S TEXT
As one whom his mother comfortcth,
so will I comfort you. Imiiali 66:13.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
All pluces are filled with fools.
Cicero.
Luck Stays With
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill litis always been a
fortunate man.
His "luck" was never more manifest
than it has been in the last four or five
years, during' which a series of events,
coupled with his huge ability, magnified
his already great stature.
Consider Churchill's assumption of
office, with the fall of France and the
loss of most of Hritain's heavy war
equipment. He offered his people noth
ing but "blood and toil, tears and
sweat." Certainly, there was nothing
else to offer and Churchill was big
enough to see it. He knew, unless the
country was appraised of its desperate
situation, and eiiheaitened and encour
aged thereby, paradoxically enough, all
was lost. He, the old bulldog spirit per
sonified, was the best man to lead Urit
ain out of despair and the almost hope
less situation in which she found her
self. During the next two years or so, up
to the time United States entered the
war, Churchill managed to bluff the
(Ioniums sufficiently with a busted
flush to keep them from attempting to
invade the islands, an undertaking
which might have been successful, al
though there is considerable doubt
about that." The Germans would have
themselves fighting not against
Frenchmen worn out and discouraged
by betrayal, but against a stubborn,
headstrong, tenacious people led by a
tenacious, stubborn, and obstinate old
scrapper.
Now the European war is over, and
there may be some who will say Great
Britain, ungrateful like all other
democracies (which is what keeps them
democracies), has been pretty mean to
the erstwhile prime minister.
! Nothing of the sort.
When the post war disillusionment,
inevitable under any circumstances,
either in Britain, America or Russia,
sets in and the Attlee government finds
itself attempting to provide work and
good wages and bettor living condition
and unprecedented prosperity and lower
(axes, and heaven alone knows what
else has been promised including en
larged social security, there will be
times when Attlee will wish himself
dashed well out of it, providing he lasts
that long.
Defeat takes nothing from the sta
ture of Winston Churchill. In fact, like
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who died at
the height of his success as did Lincoln,
instead of lingering on and seeing his
political character torn in shreds, Chur
chill is getting out from under at pre
cisely the psychological moment.
If the whole fantastic structure conies
tumbling down around Attlee's ears as
soon as the war is over and he finds it
is far easier to promise than to deliver,
no one can blame Churchill and it
may he said "if we had just loft Chur
chill in there when things were going
well " And on the other hand if Att
lee s government is successful in putting
into effect the wide sweeping socialism
contemplated, even then no one can take
from Churchill the undisputed fact that
he had the honor to lead a Great Britain
and empire out of a desperate situation
into victory.
Funny Business
boo!!'
A I i
o SO THEY SAY
In a tree country, everyone has
a perfect right lo cheer and boo
as much us lie likes.
Winston Churchill.
Every effort will be made to
gear war manpower to the urgent
military needs.
Robert C. Goodwin, Notional
War Manpower official.
We are public servants and we
have the responsibility of pro
moling the welfare of all of labor.
Lewis B. Schwtlleobach, new
Secretory of Labor.
Today ballet lias become, with
big Companies, a kind of musical
comedy.
Loonide Massinc, ballet director.
10
ItOW IMHTHI.IlWCt IHC T M IIP tfl Hi pi
"My budd Ihoujht h nu a Jap wauhip ajain'i"
. Japan's most vulnerable spot as
an island empire is the exposed
position of so many of its key
urvas.
Canton. Ohio, Repository.
WASHINGTON President Truman, who
has a well-earned reputation as a champion
of clean government, faces another Dawes
loan scandal when he gets back.
While former Vice President Charley
Dawes was president of the reconstruction
finance corporation, the RFC loaned his own
bank in Chicago $90,000,000. There were
howles of protest.
A similar situation exists in Washington
where Democrat Warren Lee Pierson, when
president of the export-import bank, loaned
the International Telephone and Telegraph
company and its subsidiaries 14 percent of
the export-import bank's capital. Following
this, Pierson stepped out to accept a fat
salary as president of an international tel.
and tel. subsidiary all America cables.
Furthermore, just before he resigned, Pier
son tried to get another $23,000,000 from the
export-Import bank by which I. T. & T.
could buy out a telephone line in Mexico.
All of this has caused one of the hottest
lnter-cabinct fights of the Truman adminis
tration, with Secretary of Commerce Henry
Wallace and Secretary of the Treasury Mor
genthau (until he resigned) raising cain with
some of their cabinet colleagues.
I. T. It T. Gets Gravy
The charter of the export-import bank
provides that not more than 10 percent shall
be loaned to any one company. Despite this
fact, however, 10 percent of all the bank's
loans have gone to the aluminum corpora
tion of America, and 14 percent to I. T. & T.
and its subsidiaries. '
These wore issued under the presidency of
Warren Lee Pierson, who retired this spring
to work for the company his bank had be
friended. Just as he retired, a new loan
to I. T. & T. was proposed to buy out the
Erickson telephone lines in Mexico. Wallace,
Morgcnthau and Biddle all opposed, largely
on the ground that I. T. & T. already owned
35 per cent of Swedish Erickson and dic
tated its financial policy; that it didn't need
U. S. government money to float the deal;
and that the merger meant higher telephone
rates for Mexico.
The final showdown came in a secret ses
sion of the export-import bank directors at
which Henry Wallace proposed that the bank
ask Chairman Paul Porter of the federal
communications commissions to examine the
whole question. The directors knew that
porter growned on the deal. So the vote
went 9 to 2 against Wallace.
Wallace Raises Cain
Then as the bank directors were about to
cast the final vote on the $23,000,000 loan to
I. T. it T., Wallace issued this savage warn
ing. "I want it noted for the record that I
reserve the right to take this up with Pres
ident Truman and alsb with my friend the
president of Mexico as a steal not only
against the American taxpayer, but against
the telephone users of Mexico. I want it
further noted that I consider this a damned
outrage."
Morgcnthau was not present personally,
but was represented by his assistant, V.
Frank Coe, who, knowing his chiefs views,
said:
"I want it also noted that the secretary
of the treasury makes the same reservation
that he will protest to the President of the
United States and the president of Mexico."
Stumped at this flat edict from two cab
inet members with a reputation for meaning
what they say, the other bank directors
decided to skip the vote on the I. T. Si T.
loan. They postponed action. But, in the in
terim, here is what they did.
Leo Crowley, head of the foreign eco
nomic administration and chairman of the
export-import bank, immediately rushed a
bill through congress providing for 250,
000,000 more dollars to be loaned abroad. In
doing so, Leo Adroitly left the names of
both this secretary of commerce (Wallace)
and the secretary of the treasury (Morgen
thau) off the bank's directorship. These were
the only two men who opposed the I. T. &
T. loan.
(Now that Morgcnthau has resigned, Crow
ley has let it be known he would be de
lighted to have Secretary Fred Vinson on
the bank as a director.)
WE, THE WOMEN
By RUTH MILLETT
When a city reporter asked the father of
an Arkansas farm boy whose bravery earn
ed him the congressional medal of honor if
the family, with eight children still at home
wanted to tidy up before posing for a news
paper picture he said: "Naw, We're jest what
we are and that's all. Just farm folks."
So the family of the hero stood up to have
their pictures taken just as they came from
work in their rented farm home and in the
fields.
How right that father was to decide that
he and his wife and kids didn't have to
dress up in their Sunday best to impress
folks with what kind of people they are.
Their soldier son has already proved to
the world what kind of home he comes
from, and what kind of folks his parents are.
No Visible Pattern
It was not an educated home for the medal
of honor winner, himself, has only a fourth
grade education. This was the kind of home
that can send a farm boy into battle with
great courage. As the lone survivor of his
company, he destroyed two 88 mm. gun po
sitions, took the crews as prisoners, wiped
out two German machine gun nests and car
ried three wounded Americans to safety.
. One thing we should by now have learned
from the war is that there is no visible "
pattern for "a good American home." The
heroes of this war have come from all kinds
of homes, large, small, crowded city apart
ments, rented farms.
In many of the homes of heroes there wa
too little money and too many children
for the parents to give them "the chance"
we hear so much about meaning an easy
childhood, a good education, a start in life.
But certainly all those homes from which
our heroes have come have been "good
homes" and all our heroes have had "a
chance." Because you can't do much better
by a kid than to give him the kind of cour
age and resourcefulness that brings him out
of war with honor.
Behind Scenes in Washington
By PETER EDSON. La Grande Evening Obserrer Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, July 28 When your
Uncle Sam's government gets defrauded by
crooked war contractors, he has a tough time
getting his money back.
Recovery of $8,780,000 in war frauds false
claims suits decided in the past year has just
been announced by the Department of Jus
tice. That isn't much, when compared to
the seven billion dollars recovered by di
rect renegotiation of war contracts. It's only
one dollar out of every 300 million dollars
in the 250 billion dollar cost of the war.
But $8,780,000 isn't to be sneezed at either,
and it's just a start. It represents the kick
back on only the first 89 cases, making the
average case recovery a little under $100,
000. Of these 89 cases, 74 were settled with
out U. S. attorneys having to go to court, so
good was the evidence of fraud.
Seventy-five additional cases arc now
ponding in court and 200 more are under in
vestigation, some of which will go to trial
and some won't. Actions of this kind will
be going through the courts for three ycais
or more after the end of hostilities, hwever,
so it's entirely possible that the war frauds
civil section in the department of justice
claims division now operating under Joseph
M. Friedman will eventually get back the
equivalent cost of a battleship with maybe
a couple of destroyers to boot.
How the department of justice has had to
go about recovering this mney makes better
leading than the stories of the frauds them
selves. Basic legislation for this kind of ac
tion was the false claims statute enacted
during the Civil war. In those days patriotic
Yankee contractors didn't hesitate to sell the
northern at my bullets stuffed w ith sawdust,
maggoty beef, weevily flour, shoddy wool
and to charge all the traffic would bear. The
scandals of those days bent anything dux
up by Truman and Mead committees in this
war They ended in prober that put even
General Grant and the original Corneuous
Vanderbilt on the sUnd.
To correct the Civil war frauds, congress
passed a complicated law which provided
for court martial of defraudrrs in the army,
tuw or imprisonment of civilian defraudeis
ami civil action to i"i-nit the government
to ucovtr d.inwt.a. In clditfon, any private
individual might bring suit in the name of
the U. S. government to get half of the
money recovered. The big idea in these in
former suits was that rogues would be set
to catch rogues and the government would
profit because the law said the government
could recover double the amount of the
fraud plus $2,000.
Informer suits were not much used, how
ever, until 1940 when one Marcus, smart
New York businessman filed an informer
suit to collect from a group of contractors
who had defrauded the government through
collusive bidding on a PWA job. This Mar
cus had no direct link to the case. He simply
took information from a criminal indictment
previously filed by' government attorneys
and attempted to cash in on the old Civil
war law.
The case finally went to the supreme
court which in 1943 upheld Marcus's right
to his gravy. To date he has collected $130,
000. or half of the $260,000 recovered from a
$315,000 judgment against 40 contractors.
The Marcus case put the claims division
of the department of justice in hot water
up to its eyebrows. Using newspaper clip
pings, factory rumors or scraps of informa
tion picked up from reports of congressinal
investigations into wasteful practices of war
contractors, sharpers from all over rushed
into court to file claims to collect a piece
of this easy fraud money. For a time U. S.
attorneys spent more effort fighting off these
informer suits than they did in prosecuting
their own war fraud claims. Late in 1S43,
congress had to change the law.
Today, private claims for war fraud money
basod on information collected by the FBI
or other government agencies are outlawed.
And whenever real informer files a suit. Hie
government ha. 60 days in which to take
over prosecutitoti. In a suit begun by an
informer mid taken over by the government,
the maximum which the informer can col
lect is 10 percent of the artiount recovered.
In a suit in which the government doesn't
tJkc action and the informer carri s through
his own prosecution, the most he can collect
is 25 percent of the sum recovered.
It's still a nice piece of business fur any
mloimcr who can crash in on it.
-i' ""r -JO
w. ml v tA miwici. me. t. m. mil u. t. wt. off.
"Look, mother! John and I can go ahead and make plans for our
marriage now as soon as he earns his points I actually was able
to buy an electric iron!"
o McKENNEY ON BRIDGE
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY America's Cud Authority
SIMPLE 'IF' PLAYS
BIG PART IN HAND
Here is an interesting hand that
came in for a lot of discussion in
one of our recent important tour
naments. Dave Clarrcn of St.
Paul, in jumping to six no trump,
said he felt that, as long as South
had opened the bidding and then
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49
Duplicate Neither vul.
South West North East
1 Pass 1 V Pass
3 Pass . . 6 N. T. Pass
Opening 4. 50
jumped to three diamonds, be
ought to have a pretty good play
for it.
West won the opening lead with
the ace of clubs and returned a
club. Now, you can see Clarren's
problem. Should he play for a
heart break or hope to drop the
diamond queen and jack? Well,
he decided there was a better
chance for the heart break so he
let go of a diamond in dummy.
The heart finesse worked and
they broke three-three. As a re
sult, East was squeezed, as he
could not protect the queen of
diamonds and the ten of clubs.
However, von Zedtwitz quick
ly points out that, if West had not
gone up with his ace of clubs,
but simply put on the jack, the
contract would have been de
feated. O IN FORMER
YEARS
30 Years Ago, July 28
Dr. W. D. . McMillan is home
from an extended trip through
the northwest, a visit to the
Shriners' Convention and later
at Portland. His family remain
ed in Portland for a short visit
with relatives.
The volunteer fire department
was called out this afternoon to
quell a fire' inr a- Wtain in the
Home bakery between iourtn
and Third on Adams avenue.
A bucket of water did the work.
BARBS
There's so much talk about
meat, it's a shame we can't eat
our words.
About the time we learn to pick
out a ripe cantaloupe the season
will be over.
The difference between a Pull
man and a day coach has turned
out to be the difference between
a vitally necessary trip and an
unimportant one.
15 Years Ago, July 28
Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Hoyt and
son, Harold, and Henry Conner,
spent Saturday and Sunday
camping on the South Forks.
The huckleberry crop around
Kamela is a complete failur-3 this
year according to residents of
that section. The late heavy
frosts this spring ruined the ber
ries and left their marks on the
leaves as well.
Eugene Becker of Valeria dis
trict, spent several days at the
home of his aunt, Mrs. Harry
Fisher, at Cove. While there he
becam-3 the owner of a shepherd
puppy, his first possession of this
kind.
"Figures Reveal More People
Eat in Restaurants" headline.
Goodness, girls, you want to
watch that!
The cook book tells how, the
bank book tells what, and the
ration book puts the kibosh on
the whole idea.
A wealthy alumnus gave his
college 500 volumes of humor.
And there'll be lots of freshmen
on the campus, too.
10 Years Ago, July 28
Mr. and Mrs. L. D. McCoy and
Miss Blanche Herzinger return
ed Saturday from a vacation
spent on the Washington coast.
They visited in Victoria, Sidney,
Seattle and Seaside before re
turning home.
Kathleen and Wayne William
son, daughter and son of Mr. and
Mrs. Lowell Williamson, left re
cently for Portland where they
will visit their aunt, Mrs. Arthur
Ogilvio.
Roy Skccn returned Saturday
from Portland where he has
spent the past two weeks.
This Curious World
SANDSTONE SLABS
Are to be seen in avjseums today
showing. "fossll"impi?essons of
wow that fell moke.
, r-, niiuv YAS AGO.
HAVE SPREAD FROM ISLAND LdZrXV"" AuTOlSS
TO ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC Br W jhiT "VftV
FLOATING ON OCEAN M LtjV
CLIENTS, PROTECTED FSOw t f
SALTY SZ A WATER BY THEIR ll ' V
HARD SHELLS. M '
com is 8 in stsvtce. ic A 1 Pi V T
"'A batter; runs when he 3
w.Alks td first base,.W VKTv- r
JOHN PLICHTA, J m
Wesr AAs, W,j-a"s. f,.,
ULXT: llie Indun, pioneer of Ainriin hoipitalily.