SUNDAY. JUNE 24. 1963
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON
Vastness of Government Makes It Vulnerable to Corruption
(Editor's Not: Tht Mc
CUlUn commit! of th
U. 8. Sanat starts digging
Into tht Billi Sol Elite
cut Wednld. How will
tht Eitai cat affact tha
eongraisional alactiona in
tha fall? Thii diipatch
tracai tha history ol cor
ruption in tha ladaral gov
arnmant, talli why it It io
difficult to ilamp it out and
explains what affact scan
dali hara had on political
partial in tha pail.)
By HARRY FERGUSON
Unitad Praia Intarnational
Washington - HTH - The
United Slates government
spends money at the rate of
about $9 million an hour, Sun
days and holidays included.
That much sugar Is bound
to attract plenty of flics, and
every President - Democratic
or Republican - has to live
with the nightmare thought
that somewhere somebody
may be sticking his hand il
legally Into the federal till.
Corruption in government
Is as old as government it
self. There was monkey busi
ness about grain storage in
Romp 2,000 years before Pe
cos, Tex., became the nation's
best known small town.
There are several reasons
why the federal government
is vulnerable to anybody who
wants to make a fast buck:
Siaggtring Amount
-The staggering amount of
money that is poured out. It
,p i:y v t ' i
hm VN
FEDERAL CORRUPTION Corruption In
government is as old as government itself.
The staggering amount of money used in
government business, the vague and con
tradictory laws under which federal em
ployees work, and the comparatively meager
salaries employees receive are reasons why
the federal government is vulnerable to
anyone who wants to make a fast buck.
Current target of investigation is Billie Sol
F.slos, left, whose wheeling and dealing has
made Pecos, Tex., the nation's best known
small town. In the previous administration
there was Sherman Adams, center, in 1958
photo, who got into trouble over his rela
tion ship with textile magnate Bernard Gold
fine. At right, in 193S photo, is former In
terior Secretary Albert B. Fall, central fig
ure in the Teapot Dome episode, grand
daddy of all Washington scandals. (UPI)
is difficult for the mind to en
compass the figure of one bil
lion. Starting with the date
of Christ's birth, a person
would have to spend about
$1,400 a day to be rid of $1
billion now.
The federal government Is
budgeted to spend more than
80 billion a year. No Prcsi-
dent and no committee ap
pointed by a President can
make an on-the-spot check of
every expenditure. Too much
money is passing through too
many hands too fast.
-The loose, vague and con
tradictory laws under which
federal employees work. One
man's favor to a friend is an
other man's crime.
President K e n n e d y has
pointed out that under pres
ent laws a postal clerk can
be sent to prison for helping
his mother file a routine claim
for a tax refund. E it a cab
inet officer can legally share
the profits after interceding
with the Federal Communica
tions Commission to award
a license for a valuable tele
vision station to a business
associate.
Meager Salarias
-The comparatively meager
salaries paid by the govern
ment. Almost any person in
the top three echeloni of the
government could double or
triple his income tomorrow
by resigning and going into
private business. So many of
them do that it has become
a serious problem.
For those who remain, the
temptation to pick up some
thing on the side is always
present.
Jerry R. Holleman resigned
the other day as assistant sec
retary of labor. His salary
vas $20,000 a year, but be
cause of the expense of offi
cial entertaining, he couldn't
make ends meet. Last Janu
ary a friend offered Holleman
$1,000 to tMe him over a
crisis and it was accepted.
The friend was Billia Sol
Estes.
There is no evidence that
Holleman ever did anything
to help Estes, but hi3 case
points up the fact that unless
a federal official has a pri
vate income, he is likely to
find the financial going rough.
The American public first
became conscious of corrup
tion in government after the
Civil War. A big war almost
always causes wasteful spend
ing and graft and from the end
of the conflict until 1872 con
gress passed legislation de
signed to stop the leaks. It
didn't work, and that i why
Kennedy is urging new and
workable laws today.
The odd fact is that In most
cases a comparatively small
amount of money is involved.
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Grants Pass Man Gets Contract
MiriiMiilnal
A contract for the recon
struction of eight miles of the
Rogue River Trail has been
awarded to Walter Elchler,
711 NE Beacon dr., Grants
Pass, according to Kenneth
W. Jensen, Glendale Unit
forester of the bureau of land
management.
The portion nf the trail to
be reconstructed Is located be
tween Bronco creek and Kel
sey creek, he said. A BLM
crew reworked the trail from
Kelsey creek to Mule creek
last year.
Jensen noted that consider
able interest was shown in
the contract by a dozen pros
pective bidders who Inspected
the trail with a BLM forester
recently.
Lowest of Nina Bids
Eichler's bid of $2,720 was
the lowest of nine bids sub
mitted. He will commence
work at once.
Although the trail can be
used safely now if care Is ex
ercised, the bureau of land
management plans lo com
plete the reconstruction of the
trail from its beginning on
the Ml. Reuben rd. 2V4 miles
northwest of Alameda bridge
to the western edge of the
Medford BLM district at
Marial.
Work soon will he com
pleted on the Tucker Flat
Recreation site where the
Rogue River Trail crosses
Mule creek near Marial, Jen
sen said. However, it can be
used now by trail travelers
and persons who drive to the
site via the Kelsey and Marial
roads from Grants Pass or
Glendale. Motor vehicles are
not allowed on the Rngue
River Trail.
tr J&hr ton -JK '4'
Sherman Adams, assistant to
President Eisenhower, resign
ed when the facta came out
about his relationship with
Bernard Goldfine, a New Eng
land textile magnate.
They were long-time friends
and Goldfine presented
Adams with a vicuna over
coat, paid some hotel bills for
him and loaned him an orien
tal rug for his Washington
living room. The whole thing
came to less than $5,000, and
it is doubtful whether Gold
fine got anything for his
money.
No Preferential Treatment
Adams did make a few
telephone inquires at various
departments here, but insisted
he never asked or received
preferential treatment for his
friend. The man who got
really hurt was Goldfine be
cause the publicity focused
the attention of the authori
ties on him and he finally
went to prison for other rea
sons. All the facts are not in yet,
but most of the talk in the
Billie Sol Estes case has been
about his offers to buy cloth
ing and shoes for persons in
the department of agriculture
who were in position to help
him. But that was enough to
cause a flurry of resignations
and firings in the department
because a congressional elec
tion is coming up this fall
and the Democrats are going
to do everything possible to
deprive the Republicans of a
political issue.
Adams, incidentally, might
have survived in the White
House but for an election in
Maine in the fall of 1958.
Stood Behind Adams
Eisenhower stood staunchly
behind Adams, but a Demo
cratic victory in Maine was
interpreted by some Republi
cans as being caused by the
vicuna coat and the hotel
bills. The pressure on Adams
to get out was irresislabie.
Like the gentle rain, charges
of corruption fall on Demo
crats and Republicans impar
tially. John Maragon, a White
House hanger-on without any
specific job, got the Truman
administration into trouble.
He wangled permission in
1945 to make a trip to the
restricted areas of Europe in
behalf of a perfume manufac
turer. The owner of the com
pany gratefully sent seven
deep freezers to prominent
residents of Washington, in
cluding Mrs. Truman, Ma).
Gen. Harry Vaughn, Truman's
military aide, spent many
hours before congressional
committees denying that he
used his White House influ
ence to further the interests
of private industry.
' t
Whenever corruption
charges are brought there is
an immediate cry of "another
Teapot Dome." This was the
granddaddy of them all, and
involved some real big mon
ey. The damage actually was
done when Warren G. Hard
ing was president and too pre
occupied with poker games
with his cronies to keep a
sharp eye on what was hap
pening in the executive de
partments of the government.
The facts came out after
Harding's death when Calvin
Coolidge was in the White
House. The Navy had oil re
serves in the Teapot Dome
area cf Wyoming and Elk
Hills '.n California, worth a
total of $200 million.
Secretary of the Interior
Albert Fall pursuaded Hard
ing to transfer jurisdiction of
the reserves from the Navy
Department to Interior. Then,
without competitive bidding,
he leased the reserves to pri
vate oil organizations. Ed
ward L. Doheny got Elk Hills
and Harry F. Sinclair got Tea
pot Dome.
All Three Acquitted
All three were acquitted on
conspiracy charges in which
it was alleged that Fall re
ceived $100,000 from Doheny.
It also was charged out of
court that Fall received $300,
000 from Sinclair. Fall then
was brought to court on a
separate charge of accepting
bribes, was convicted and sen
tenced to a $100,000 fine and
one year in prison.
It is difficult to say whe
ther the voters remember
federal corruption when the
time comes to go to the polls.
Teapot Dome did not hurl
Coolidge or the Republicans.
They won an easy election in
1924. Truman survived sev
eral Investigations and the
Alger Hiss case to score the
political upset of the century
by defeating Thorras E. Dew
ey In 1948.
Tightening The Laws
Kennedy has urged a tight
ening of the laws to prevent
corruption and conflict of in
terest in the federal govern
ment, Rep. John Lindsay, R
N.Y., has introduced a bill
that would make it fairly
clear what and what not a
federal employee should do.
But it still will be diffi
cut for a man to determine
whether he was being bribed.
If you buy a friendly drink
for a senator or a cabinet
officer, are you bribing him?
The only man in Washington
who has attacked the problem
head-on is Sen. Paul Doug
las, D.-Ill.
"If a man sends me a pres
ent worth more than $2 50,"
he said, "I send it back to
him."
ON TRAIL A group of prospective bidders inspected the
Rogue River Trail recently In preparation for submitting
bids on widening and making other improvements. Here,
prospective bidders are shown hiking along the trail to be
improved.
for . . .
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The boys and girls in Medford and the Rogue River Valley are out
of school now to enjoy a summer of fun. PLEASE help them to
keep enjoying it! Youngsters will still be going to school play
grounds and playing at home . . . they are apt to dash into the
street anytime . . . into the path of YOUR car. The Medford Traffic
Safety Council urges YOU to make SAFE DRIVING a very person
al responsibility. Have your car thoroughly checked for safety . . .
be doubly careful to observe traffic signs and regulations . . .
watch out for children everywhere and give them the right of
way!
a juan tjjiui.. 1 1 1 !
Published in cooperation
with (he Mealfer! Traffic
Safety Ceuecil y The
Mail Tribune
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