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Show UVI ; Congress Asked to j Punish the Grafters CHARLESTON, Wr. Va., Jan. 2S I Congress will be asked to take crimi-! crimi-! nal . action against those responsible for -waste of. materials and money in connection with the construction o' j the government powder plant at NItro, ' i - - - W. Va., near here, declared W. J. Graham, chairman of the congressional congression-al subcommittee which closed its investigation in-vestigation of the question late today. A conspiracy to defraud the government govern-ment existed and "somebody ought to be indicted," said the chairman. ' "While our boys were fighting and the , people were giving their money to sup-' port them in it," he added, "twice as much money as -was needed was be-1 ing wasted at NItro. "We havo found similar conditions at other places the committee has visited vis-ited but nowhere have they shown up so bad as they have here. One reason ; for this, I might say, is that the witnesses wit-nesses we have examined are more straightforward in giving their testimony testi-mony and do not attempt to withhold the facts." "There is no doubt about it," he concluded, con-cluded, "there was a purpose on foot , to waste the government's money at Nitro, and it whs wasted." |