"PINHEAD" OFFICIALS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17109, 2 April 1921, Page 5

"PINHEAD" OFFICIALS.

FLAYED BY AMERICAN ARMY GENERAL.

(prom our ow\ correspondent.)

SAX FKANCISCO. March 4

One of the pet aversions of a certain clique of members o£ the American Congress has been the questionable occupation of holding post-mortem examinations over Ihe administration, of the United States in its participation in the World War, and, as is already known in tho Antipodes, some startling sensations have been sprung on the world. After the deliberations longwinded reports haw. been • presented monotonously to Congress, and they have been promptly pigeon-holed, obviously never again to be gazed upon. These muckracking performances of these various Congressional committees have long ago wearied tho American public; but thoy proceed with clock-like regularity, their only service being to find sonio class of pastime for thes* legislators who have an abundance of leisure in official Washington. They have at last struck a veritable Tartar in Charles ('«-. Dawes, the noted Chicago banker, . who has been prominently mentioned as a possible secretary of the treasury in the Harding Cabinet. When this courageous financier faced the Congressional •sub-coni-mitteo investigating •American Expeditionary Forces' expenditures abroad, Dawes, who was a. brigadier-general and General Pershing's chief purchasing agent, dripped inan-.size' cuss words and forceful advice to the astonished legislators.

"If you men," he said forcibly to members of the Congressional committee, "would spend just one-quarter of the time trying to sec the waste that .goes by hundreds of millions right under your noses instead of trying to put fly-specks oh our war records, you- would be doing a much Digger public service, and wo. would have a h 1 of a lot better government. ■"Everything considered, I don't think a single solitary dollar 'was wasted in France. The business of ail aimy is to win a war, not to quibble around with fc lot of cheap buying." '.-._.. Members of the § committee let General Dawes do most of the talking. It wa/« not often that a Congressional committeo heard such a forceful witness. ' . \ .

"With all duo respect to your committee," continued Genera! Dawes, "I want to tell yotfcyou can't-put any fly-, specks on the American army." - This was emphasised: by vigorous thumps on tho table which set tho inkstand jump-' ing"For every mistake made, m the American Expeditionary- you have been mdcing tho same mistakes here in Washington for 100 years. We weren't trying to keep a t.et of hooks. We we're trying to win a"war.'.' Representative Henry Flood, Democrat, of Virginia, interrupted General Dawes. . . * , "I agree with you in many respects, General," ho said, "but there was graft and grafters. Don't you think it is Our duty to root them out and see that the guilty are punished and the wrongs rectified?" * . "Let me criticise your committee a while," replied Dawes. "This is_ an attempt to bring partisan politics into a purely American enterprise. Criticism is easy. What the h Ido you suppose we went to war for? We went to France to win a war and we did it. ' "We couldn't spend pur time trying to find, a thousand barrels of vinegar and disregard'what might be happening at-the front. If '■'& call came back from the front for ether for wounded men,. we"' got it, ahd we didn't bother about any double-entry book-keeping system./ Dawea profanely attacked "pin-headefl 'i politicians" for their with the regular army. "It's a - shame," he said,."that a lot of pin- j beaded politicians can'intrigue and say that this man shall be.proraotod or that j man shall not."

One of the biggest things-President Hording is going to face, Dawes said, is the' co-ordination of' governmental business, ia order that hundreds, of millions of waste may be'eliminated. ' . *'The way the Government is being conducted here in Washington is a disgrace. There is, for instance, a total lack of co-ordination between the army and the navy. -'Put uniforms on a lot of pin-heads, and it seepis to run away with, their judgment. '.;■•- "Can't better co-ordination between Government departments be effected by agreement?" Dawes was asked.' "Agreement, ," he replied, throwing up ;his.hands. "There is only oh» man who can do it. That is the President of the United States, and he can do it only .by wielding -the meat-axe on their —-*- —-f - - heads, and if Harding is going to do it lie will have to do it in tho iirst six months of '.his administration, else it will be a failure.) V.: •.-.■•! _••■ , "Let*''the' new President'* conie out with a 'definite plan for a business Government, that' will crystallise public sentiment behind it, and it will- choko off ' tlie;se selfish interests that have been wasting- public funds.. "And that,, is why I say-'to .this committee, that this committee should turn its'attention to eliminating these millions -if waste riant, under their noses right here in Washington, instead of trying A t>> put fly-specks, on the. American Army." He defended the sale of surplus Army stocks in' France to the .French Government-as a good'niece of business. The French paid *400J000,000 dollars for them, and it ha£ been alleged before . previous investigating committees that the supplies were worth 1,000,000,000 dollars. Dawes said, and ho thought "tfe" got more out of them than the French did." . I "We.goi rid. of a'lot, of junk," he I said, dismissing the subject.. t Dawes was' asked about the "grafters" in. France.

"As ji matter of fact," said Chairman Johnson, himself an A.E.F. veteran, "there were "a lot of vultures over there?"

"Absolutely," replied the General, ' 'some of 'the most 'despicable characters I ever met. ■•One man effected a <;omhinntion o'f' French manufacturers against, us ih'the"]jurehaso of. supplies. '■' "Who -was he ? ' . "\Yhat. was his name?" asked Flood."IVsje forgotten. And,,that's a lie, of, course, hut- what's .-the" use. I'm' not, going to- muckrake anybody. It's over now." •

Representative Flood asked Dawos if he knew anything about the award of medals in France.

"Medals," repeated the General. "Yes, T wish you had not authorised any medals." He explained, at length, that the Distinguished Service Crosses, given only for personal heroism in action with the army, were all right, hut the Distinguished Service Medals, which

were awarded to persons "in places of high responsibility" even though they never came near the firing lino, were utterly and profanely useless.' __ ' Dawes both commended and criticised the "War Department for its war record. He gayo liigb praise- for the free hand which it gave General Pershing m running the A.E.F.. but lie was harsh, in his criticism of some of its after-the-arniistice. Activities.- . . .Women in tho crowded ' committee room failed to prevent General Dawes from swearing like a "buck" private. He strode about swearing madly when he construed the questioning as a reflection on any section of the fighting outfit, of which lie was a part. Chairman Johnson, a former service man. told Mr Dawes he wished there had been other witnesses as-truthful and as unafraid to talk. r 'There were hounds in this country," ho declared; "who tried to stjread the false, news that Pershing was at a: theatre the night of the Armistice. He was there, like U 1. He was at his office, starting ihe work of cancelling'vast\war contracts to save money. It will take -*> to 50 years for Pershing to get-liß place in history. ■'Yon can give me all the h 1 you want—-I like it..' You kick because I sold a lot of second-hand junk to tho French Government for -100.000.000d01. instead of keeping -10,000 soldiers there to euard, it while we tried to peddle if- "Mv conscience hurts me sometimes when I think we charged them too much. '•Liquidation!' Why, h— —I, meu, we liquidated 'everything. There wasn't anv wilful destruction of propert v-in France. The juuk we couldn't sell was given away—it was cheaper than burning or burying it. They pinned one of those medals on me. bus it had a damned sight better pone to some, poor devil in the ranks who better deserved it."