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Outside Oregon: Monthly. $1.00: 6 Mos.. $6.00; Year, $12. 4 Salem, Oregon, Tuesday, August 30, 1949 War Contract Frauds The senate five-percenter investigating committee has turned up some interesting facts regarding methods uti lized to secure government contracts through the conniv ance of officials in exalted positions who were silent bene ficiaries in the form of rake-offs for the use of their in fluence with those in the seats of the mighty. At the most the committee can only scratch the surface of what is and has been going on in our spendthrift govern ment. Only petty deals can be publicly exposed, for the big profiteers and grafters are too clever to be caught with out long, secret investigations. Such investigations as those by the intelligence and law enforcement division of the treasury department, such as sent Capone, Pendergast and other super-crooks to prison for income tax violations, are necessary, for great crimi nals are too smart to be caught otherwise. Quizzing of principals while exposing petty vicious prac tices for lining pockets through moral turpitude do not touch the big boys, though they are beneficial in exposures of the system employed. There is a big field that cannot be reached by public hearings. For instance, in a recent report to congress, Lindsey C. Warren, controller general of the United States, charged that more than $11.5 million has been overpaid to govern ment war contractors through fraud and waste. "Improper payments' of more than $6,280,000 were "Induced by fraud," and of this only the insignificant sum of $107,882 had been recovered so far, Mr. Warren also stated. Further, he added, it was "unlikely that any substantially approximate amount will ever be recovered." An additional $2,340,000 was paid out to the contractors through "improper or excessive payments not involving fraud," he reported. In sharp language he told how he had endeavored to recover some of this by voluntary refunds. In most in stances, government agencies that made the overpayments "de voted their efforts to defending the excessive settlements in stead of attempting to recover them. Voluntary refunds had reached $474,717. , The Warren report was based on a study of 9,195 settle- TYipnto pnvprintr Tuivmpnta nf 9. P.1K rnntrnptnrs nf n tntnl nf $1,165,000,000 for the termination of 26,484 contracts. It was in "at least" 472 of these settlements that the $6,280, 000 was overpaid as the result of fraud, the report said. This excluded over-payments through "error or careless ness." Mr. Warren blamed the situation on the contract set tlement act of 1944, which permitted government agencies to settle contracts in full before they had been audited by any outside agencies a law that invited collusion and fraud. It "paved the way for improper payment of many millions of public funds through fraud, collusion, ignor ance, inadvertence or over-liberality in effecting termina tion settlement." The facts have been turned over to the department of justice, which faces "a herculean problem" in prosecuting frauds at this late day, "all but impossible." Warren con cludes: "There were 'numerous instances' where government employes were supposed to have accepted 'entertainment, lunches, dinners, liquors, etc, from contractors who, in return, seem to have been favored with government con tracts and liberal termination settlements.' " Mayor Should Act to Avoid Time Mess Salem will become time-happy next Monday unless Mayor Elfstrom acts in advance to put the city clocks on a unified basis. The trouble lies with the shift back from daylight sav ing time, effective since May 16, to standard time. A coun cil ordinance calls for the ending of daylight time early Sunday morning. However, already pending is an ordi nance, sponsored by Alderman Gille, to extend daylight saving time so as to return to standard time when Port land docs. Alderman Gille's bill to extend daylight saving time to conform to Portland can not be acted on until Monday night. Portland and some other Oregon cities will not go back on standard time until September 25. So, from early Sunday to Monday night, Salem will be in complete confusion over the kind of time the city has. The Capital Journal has not favored daylight time for individual areas, because of the constant confusion that results. However, under the circumstances a special two day continuation seems in order. The most logical way to correct the mess that is bound to result for the two days starting this coming Sunday morning is for the Mayor to act. He can issue a proclamation asking city officials to re main on daylight time during the two-day period until the council decides, Although the proclamation would have no legal effect, it would set the schedule for city officials and this in turn would be followed by the city generally. The legislature at this year's session authorized the governor to keep the state on standard time unless the bordering states of Washington and California changed to daylight saving time during the summer. However, a referendum has held up operation of this law. Further more, the law has been interpreted by some as only a dec laration of state policy. This particular law will be voted on at the general election in November, 1950. So there appears no other alternative locally, at the moment, except for the mayor to issue the kind of pro clamation as suggested. Then the council can decide Mon day night on the extension question, and the city generally will be spared additional headaches on juggling of clocks. Gets Stolen Car Back Easy Way Potsdam, N. Y. yP) Gerald Smith got back his stolen auto mobile the easy way. One hour after the car disappeared from a parking lot, a man drove It to a garage where Smith was working and asked him to put some air in the tires. ' The thief beat it when Smith started firing questions. BY BECK A Dog's Life :.""''" wSlMfo THAT'S THE SECOND BOTTLE OF .): ZAi-'stty mmfflm. SCOTCH IT'S COST VOU FOR THAT fiil l&ti'. - T$$m8 FREE A0VICE FROM YOUR EXPERT WM DOS-TRAINING FRIENDS. IT WMk iW$fe?& iaa: VOULD'VE BEEN CHEAPER TO SEND JWa?ft' 1 HIM TO A KENNEL" AND LOOK ,;,,, WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND Marine General's Order Starts Rumpus on School (Ed. Note While Drew Pearson is on vacation, the Wash ington Merry-Go-Round is being written by his old Part ner, Robert S. Allen.) BY GUILD Wizard of Odds By ROBERTS. ALLEN Washington Now the marines seem to have caught the public furor fever. The famed fighting corps has been serenely out of the lime light while army, navy and air force brasshats have starred ner vously before sensational congressional probes. But Marine Maj. Gen. Graves B.i E r s k i n e has changed all that down in San Diego. He has suc ceeded in stir ring up a furi ous tumult in the area. The scrappy San Diego Jour nal is gnashing M 1 '"'I I? -- r? 0KJ Bobert S. Allen SIPS FOR SUPPER The Pioneers Young, who controls Chesa peake & Ohio and the Federa tion for Railway Progress, has had a number of cordial talks with heads of the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads. Peacemaking bond between them is their common opposi tion to the increasingly compet ing trucking systems. Significant indication of the new harmony was the appoint ment of two of young's top lieu tenants to key jobs in the east- By DON UPJOHN There's a nostalgic note in a release Just issued by Ralph Watson, public relations consultant of the state highway depart ment, in which he briefly recounts the history of the "Century club," an organization of cyclists around1 the turn of the cen tury who had to do 100 miles in a day pedalling on their bikes to be eligible its teeth at Er- k i n e in boxcar headlines. -. 4.. 1 4 4 a nffini'ilc If a Slbta'-i highhanded ern railroads .presidents' confer- martinet. Congressman Clinton , D. McKinnon is demanding a public investigation. Alarmed Defense secretary l( rT 9 Suva book this year? odds are 3 to i you b0u6ht it in a store rather than thr0u6h the mail. (60CC RWVUd, H.H.IMUS, 6IRLS AROUND 30, ODDS ARE I IN 5 YOU U MARRY A AUN Y0UN6ER THAN YOU. FOUR MILK BOTTLES ARE USED FOR EVERY BOTTLE W 6ET- ONE DELIVERED, ONE AWAITINo DELIVERY, ONE BEIN6 CLEANED, ONE IN RESERVE. They are C&O President Walter Touhy and Federation President Thomas J. Deegan. Despite the current good will, for membership and he mentions Fred Merrill of P o r tland and Watt Shipp of Salem as two of the foremost of such heroic ped allers. Ralph points out that this club became so strong that in 1901 the legisla Lki Probably wasting their efforts. From the looks of things it's apt to be washed off by state fair time. Louis Johnson has rushed an as- however, insiders still expect sistant to the city to check on Young to make another try to the matter. sain control of New York cen- tral. He is the largest single Cause of the uproar was Er- stockholder, but was barred skineis order to use navy funds from taking over by the inter to set up a private grade school slate commerce commission last in Camp Pendleton, which he year. commands. Local and state edu- Oon Uplohn Nobody's Complaining Beverly Hills, Calif., - VP) "The bared bosom is here to stay says Designer Merideth Peterson, whose fall and winter collection of plunging necklines is evidence of her belief. cational authorities hotly con tend this is contrary to Califor nia law. They also charge Er skine with being rude and auto cratic. POWER FIGHT There was some dizzy voting when the senate restored the president's public power pro gram that the appropriations We note it's planned to try to ture enacted a dui providing iur eep this fantastic nonsense bicycle paths along the high- about daylight savings in effect ways to be financed by an an- on another prolonged spree of it nual tax of a dollar on each after it is supposed to die Sep- bike. Each cyclist was given a tember 12. Why not forget that tag to be securely fastened to and go in for something sensi- his bicycle and anyone riding ble, like an ordinance providing his bike after April 1 of that for dollar saving time, such as year without such a tag on it between now and Christmas was subject to having his wheel making a dollar worth a dollar seized and sold for the amount and a half, or some such thing, of the tax and costs. So, it This no doubt would meet with was these old boys who were universal approval. responsible for the numerous imposts and taxes, operator's Hold Your Breath license, motor vehicle license, Los Angeles P) Longshore gasoline tax, et cetera, which men Jose Venegas, 48, was only we all have to dig up these days, smoking a cigaret, but the judge The simple idea of a buck a gave him 180 days in jail. The bike to build narrow paths along reason: He was smoking aboard the roadsides has grown into a ship, the Grace Line freighter quite a fat baby. We don't know Santa Juana, loaded with 7660 how many contributed a dollar cases of dynamite, 2000 kegs of each for bicycle tags but last blasting powder and 14 cases of year motorists dug up well over dynamite caps. nnin V?Mi1X ot in The lmme"rS5T"wealthy ma nance the bicycle paths of to- haaja of JodhpuJ has taken on ay- another wife, a Scottish blond, he has advised the world. May Notice some workmen today be he got this one so he'd save brushing the dust off the streets, some of his dough. He argues he has acted within committee ripped out of the in- his rights. terior department's budget bill. To this, Dr. John S. Carroll, One instance was Sen. Harry county superi ntendent of Cain (R-Wash) who went firm schools, retorted, "General Er- iy down the line against the skine is nicking the public purse projects. He is the first senator to set up an independent school from j,is state in 21 years to op system in a state whose consti- pose public power develop tution already provides a public ments. The last was Sen. Miles school system. His action is ba- Poindexter, defeated in 1928. sically un-American. The gen- . , , j: eral apparently carries too much zy VQtes Qf Sens ZaUs Ecton (R Uiana hj wuaic mo unit un iii civilians. POOR MAN'S PHILOSOPHER Dog Lovers Attack Ed For Piece on Pooches By ED CREAGH (Substituting tor coiumnlit Hal Boyla) New York, Aug. 30 W) Some day, I do not guarantee when, this reporter is going to learn to keep his big yap shut. About dogs, anyway. A few days ago I committed' a piece for the papers to the effect that dogs are not what they used to be. I said they were somewhat ty decides Mrs. Ingram hasn't heard it and starts barking like crazy. Mrs. Ingram can hear Jetty barking and she can hear on the A phone. What she can't hear is J5 4U (.l.knn. T..44.. 1 that. How? The man from Tampa doesn't say. Adding fuel to the noisy clash is the fact that this is not the first time Erskine has rowed with local authorities. Mont) and Richard Russell (D- Ga). Their balloting cleared up a long-standing mystery. Last winter, during the civil- rights fight, Ecton bolted his fel- ln... ..V.linnv. iAA ...ilk , . . , . iww icuuuntnua aim aiucu wim They crossed swords last year the Dlxvlecrat- Hls action eaud over a bus franchise lot f eyebrow-raising. Rus- Oceanside, which adjoins ... ,,,',. 4Vl Camp Pendleton, established a Horse power project in Montana bus line to serve families of the revealed it was in payment ior post living in the town. Under ,. arrangements imposed by Er- o n the sissy side nowadays, that they weren't getting in the headlines much, that the cats seemed to be taking over. It seems some dog-doters-on in Jackman Sta tion, Mr., Chula Vista, Calif., and points between disagree. Also, they write letters. Nice F,d Creain Then there is Pat, a collie. Pat came to live with Mr. and Mrs. Richard Douthitt of Dar lington, Pa., as a pup. Fine pup, too. His favorite job was wak- Jetters Suggesting a friendly ing Douthitt each morning, and u. w, u. w he ,ulked ,f hia master got up my piece I was probably drunk under ether, or in the pay of the international association of dog-catchers. Some newspapers also reacted. The Utica, N.Y., Observer-Dis- unassisted. Well, one day Pat was miss ing. No one knew why. No domestic trouble. Accounts all in order. Just another case for the bureau of missing dogs. Seven years later a dog turn- skine, the bus line operated in the red for months. Then, abruptly, he barred the munici pal buses entirely and granted an exclusive franchise to an out side private company. Erskine's legal officer at the time was Marine Capt. William H. Daubney. Two weeks later, Daubney appeared before the Oceanside city council as the ci- MacKENZIE'S COLUMN vilian attorney company. In this capacity, he offered to Ecton's earlier support. A strong private utility adher ent, Ecton opposed the Hungry Horse public power program. Russell voted for all the other disputed projects. But on Hun gry Horse, he lined up with the Montana Power & Light com pany as his part of the deal with Ecton. NOTE Chief credit for the administration's smashing v i c - tory on the power issue belongs oi we private . c T -j,,, r ai ucui ujoici urn j-mat wiiu masterminded the smart parlia mentary strategy, and Sens. Ro- on English Channel Presents Challenge of Conquest By DeWITT MacKENZIE 'i.P! Forfflsn Aflilr. nslTRti The annual parade of aspiring English channel swimmers is under way, demonstraling again that mankind's spirit of conquest especially ngninst the forces of nature never dies. The difficulties of this channel feat are staggering. One can understand Leander's desire to swim the Hellespont. I've sailed those buy out the municipal system on . . v ,f, "j t Z'a . i,,i ;i,i Johnson (D-Tex) who led the year exclusive franchise. RENOVATED CAPITOL Despite a protracted building workers' strike. local floor battle. "POINT FOUR" AID One important segment of vation of the senate and house American industry is putting relatively plac id Hello s p o n t waters on a star light night, and they were en trancing. They would have been doubly ro mantic to Lean der, with a lovely girl awaiting him on the far shore.. But deliver us from the Eng lish channel! &2i chambers will be completed by December 15, the deadline date. Under spurring of capitol archi tects, the lost time has already been made up. Also, Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge (R-Mass) who was critical of President Truman's "point four' foreign-aid program into effect without government financing. The innovators are the United Hybrid Growers of Iowa. Consisting of 31 concerns op erating plant-breeding farms and UftVItt MarkemU turies has made great explorers. And this spirit isn't charac teristic of the "tough guy" alone. As often as not you will find it hidden beneath the mildest of surfaces. Such a one was my friend and late C. E. Montague, distin guished British writer. He was a mild mannered, gentle indi vidual and yet he was one of the few men I ever have known who appeared to be utterly fear less in the face of physical dan- proposed changes in the senate seed-processing plants in the chamber, has become convinced everything will be all right. Capitol architects explained the chamber has been remodeled four times since it was com- corn-belt states, the group has been asked by European govern ments to advise them on how to develop hybrid corn and disease- resistant grains in order to in- Inlo,1 in anrf oonh time CreaSB gOOd CrOpS. head, has been active for sev- there were far-reaching changes. Lodge visits the chamber fre quently to check on the progress of the work. RAILROAD PEACE Robert R. Young, perennial gadfly of his fellow railroad mo- It is Isn't merely a question ger. of swimming the approximate- At the outbreak of World War Iy 18 bee-line miles between j thc famous Montague was over France s Cap Gns Nez and Brit- the Brilish eniistment age but aln s Dover. Thc cold and in- he dved his hair black pil( on a hospitable waters of the chan- sportv suit and told the allthori. ncl are filled with wicked cross- ties he was 35whicn was true, currents and tides which tear only hc forgot ,0 sav how much at the unhappy swimmer until more ,nan 35 vears ne was. Any he or she is compelled to cover way thev blinked and passed him, and he went into the front line trenches as a private. , Later he was given a com mission and was attached to eral years in spreading the gos pel abroad of American techni que in scientific seed culture. In 1946, his group sent 66 va rieties of hybrid sorn to Italy. As a result, Italian corn pro duction on the experimental .Irrlf"! l has"soad to 120 bushels auiiuuc. lie ia uu iicimijr itrniia again with his one-time rivals, the Association of American Railroads. per acre, as against a previous high of 30 bushels and a Euro pean average of 12 bushels. (Copyrlfht lt4 OPEN FORUM not 18 but some 40 miles. But that isn't all. Frequently seasickness set tles over the wretched contest- weary" but chlued o the" 'none fish K-era. headquarter, as despite thc heavy coating of T u' . j -A. i." grease used to keep out the cold. 1 ecame w"h him. Civil War Boys' Last Camp That seasickness is nature's last Montague used to seek out the trick to defeat the swim, and most dangerous places he could often It works. flnd along thc fighting front, not because of necessity but because All of Its hazards are known he lovcd the thriH. by aspiring swimmers, but still He was impelled by the same they keep coming, though few urge which In peace times sent win through. him out to scale precipitous It Isn't so much a test of skill mountain faces, or work his way in swimming as a trial of up and down rocky clefts with strength and ability to with- his back against one wall and stand cold and seasickness. A his feet against the other. He person who is well padded with would have been a channel healthy fat has a better chance swimmer if he hadn't got a than does a skinny contestant greater kick out of something who Is likely to succumb to cold. else. Of course, it's because the channel presents such a dial- That's the spirit of private inl lenge that swimmers of both tiative and free enterprise which sexes keep on picking up the keeps the world turning, gauntlet. They arc impelled by It's the. spirit on which great the same urge that sends advon- nations have been built, turers out to scale dangerous When sturdy souls stop trying mountain heights, or to hunt to conquer the English channel fierce beasts in the junRle. this will be a dull old world to It's what through the cen- live in. To the Editor: I am enclosing a poem I wrote several years ago In anticipation of the day when the Civil War boys would hold their last camp. This was written In memory of my grandfather, who was a cap tain In that war . . , . LAST CAMP They sat before the open fire together. Two life-long comrades, utterly at peace While fragrant smoke from logs of oak and maple Was wafted up the chimney without cease. Once upon a time these friends had parted When one had chosen the blue and one the gray, But difference of opinions was forgotten As they sat before the open fire this day. It didn't matter now that In the 'sixties One had fought for Sherman, one for Lee, For faded eyes no longer saw the visions Of falling men and charging cavalry. They sat there, side by side, their dreams forgotten, For, as a gust of wind blows out a lamp, An angel came and stood between them, And bade them pitch that last and final camp. It must have been just my imagination As they sat there, old hands folded in their laps I thought I heard from far off in the heavens The angel Gabriel softly blowing, taps. ROBERT L. GREER 47J Ratcliff Dr., Salem. patch squandered half a page of d up in the Douthitt neighbor- jjciietuy kuou newsprint, witn ftood, all pooped out. Dog tired, pictures, to demonstrate that in fact Well, horrible as the thought Douthltts said, maybe, I could be wrong. Experimentally, they took ... him home. He ran all around A couple of the more con- the Place- sniffing, as if he structive letters lead toward that weren't sure, either, but: conclusion. "Tne next morning," Mrs. D. There is, for instance, the case wrie?' "l id J01' 'P,at' of Jetty, reported by Dick John- up,lrg and, Di?k UP- tu son of Tampa, Fla. 4 "He 1we"t charging up the T , - ,,. stairs, barking his head off. JZ Fin,M T";'ihl " T,8" "He lumped right Into the mid- from Florida should be boosting dle o the bed , hl exclt.ment. a dog from Texas .puzzles me, ..We have never doubted for TO0-' a minute after that that he it Anyway, Jetty, a black mon- our pup, Pat." grel, is one leap beyond a see- AU right. I'm convinced. Dogs ing eye dog. She's a hearing-ear are still wonderful, dog. She telephone-listens for Nice doggie. Have a lamb Mrs. J. D. Ingram of Dallas, chop. Have a piece of thigh, who is hard of hearing. But If you have a dog which When Mrs. Ingram's phone plays Rachmaninoff s prelude in rings, Jetty cocks her head to C sharp minor, while conducting the right. When it rings a sec- the band with his tall, do me a ond time, Jetty ocks her head favor, will you? to the left. The third time, Jet- Don't let me hear about him. Student Crashes Teacher's Door San Jose, Calif. (Pi Ernest Galindo, a student pilot, missed school by a city block and went calling, instead, on a teacher. He knocked her front door In wtih his airplane. Galindo, 23, was soloing over San Jose when his motor went dead. He picked the Roosevelt junior high school yard for a forced landing but overshot. His light monoplane went through Miss Thel Boyd's front door. The teacher was In the rear of the house and escaped Injury. O'Connor has head wounds. . SPANISH BROUGHT ANIMALS TO INDIES The Coming of the Horse By OSWALD WEST A' definite link in the equine family tree that earliest true horse with his North American ancestors, which lived just before the last ice ages, has been reconstructed by Dr. C. Lewis Gazin, a Smithsonian Institution paleontologist. His findings (1936) were based upon his examination of a great many fossilized skulls ob- tained by a number of Smith- ride, such animals while in use sonlan expeditions to the Snake on exploring expeditions, and ?iVr SI near H,afrman. many no doubt rode to freedom . wV "C Cf "IT"8' W" atP naBs that captured their scientifically at Plesippus sho- fancy. And many animals be snonensis. came so foot sor6 due tQ lucn As Dr. Gazin points out, long journeys, that they had to Plesippus was not actually a be abandoned, horse, but represented a dis- , tinct genus of the equine family, ... . no member of which is still ex- . As " was no Spanish cus- tant. His bones are almost in- om to, ,geld MUons in those distinguishable from those of d.ays' was ?9 lon loT' the large African zebra of today. Pra'rl j southwest tk. m..i - 4- 4i. fed 8reat herds of the descend- iJ. iJiT 6c ""I b' ants of these Spanish importa- fore the coming of the Spaniards, tions. The Indians drew freely " on such bands, also upon those The early Spanish conquisa- owned by the missions, to sup- dores and explorers brought Ply their needs. horses to the West Indies, where In the southwest such horses, they thrived and multiplied. in time, were to be called mus This island stock was drawn tangs, and in the northwest, upon freely for the exploring cayuses. expeditions later carried on on Inbreeding and a constant the mainland. Cortez, Cordova, battle against the elements did Narvaez, DeVaca, DeSoto and not make for an increase in size, Coronado all looked to the is- but they were a hardy lot and land for horse flesh. supplied needed transportation These Spanish horses, while for the Indians, explorers and small in size, carried the blood trappers the BarbA"bia, The earIy kmen "d tne earn. am Qf h(, weJt found them Indians impressed Into serv- useful for saddle and light har Ice soon learned to care for, and ness purposes.