GRAFT IN AMERICA.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 114, 15 May 1924, Page 5

GRAFT IN AMERICA.

I GET-RICH-QTTICK SCHEME.

LAX ADMINISTRATION.

WASHINGTON, May 14.

The various Congressional investigations which are steadily grinding on have revealed several interesting incidents of corruption. The Shipping Board Committee of the Senate has learned that vessels which cost millions of dollars were secretly disposed of for a twentieth part of their value. The steamer City of Los Angeles, upon which 2,392,000 dollars were spent to convert her into an oil-burner, was sold for 100,000 dollars. This vessel is being appraised for the committee by a member of the firm which purchased it.

The Daugherty Committee has learned from a former agent of the Prohibition Enforcement Service that efforts to bring influential violators of the Volstead Law to justice have been frustrated. He cited various cases in which the guilty parties were permitted to gain their freedom upon the payment of fines. The witness asserted that more liquor is being consumed in Ohio than before prohibition. He alleged that the Department of Justice took no action in the matter.

A witness in the war fraud cases stated that he had passed bribes aggregating many thousand dollars to agents who disposed of surplus War Department timber, which had been used in the construction of cantonments.

At Hartford graphic testimony as to the character of the Kansas City Medical College was offered durjng the hearing of an appeal by 20 physicians whose licenses to practice were withdrawn as the result of the false diplomas scandals'. An expert medical investigator stated that the janitor of the college kept the attendance roll, while only i three of the 30 members of the faculty went near the college to draw their salaries.

Another witness said the college was one harbour in the country for derelicts from everywhere. Some veterinarians arrived at Kansas City by one train and actually left by the next with medical degrees for which they bad paid 200 dollars. I

A witness who examined the college building found it in a filthy condition, completely lacking in equipment and facilities.

The'appellants, who were present in the court, became incensed at these revelations and attacked the witnesses. A fight ensued and the police were compelled to beat several of the appellants into submission.—(A. and N.Z. Cable.)