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Show v WASTE IN M I SURPLUS DEKIED Department's statement or Salvane Answered By Republicans 2foH WASHINGTON, Nov. 1. The war department Sunday answered charges IHfij that the goernmer.t had sustained great orr -hrough the sale of surplus vkr supplies with the claim that it had 3fjgf '"saved over S 4.6 75.5 4 1 1 S to the 'jfigfli taxpayers." through the. naif of such JtiflKSE supplies and ' settlements of claims." HHH The department made public a Statement In which it took up In detail r charges made recently in a number of newspapers Characterizing these charges as "unfounded " the statement ; HI said that to have a i rn undcrstand- MCM ins -'f the situation. '.! mutt be re- tRJl membcred.'' that tire department In ! making Us purchases of war materials was contemplated a field force- of five D million men The statement said that h id the war H "continued another year the supplies; IH 0i hand iit :hc sianinR of the arml6- , kBV tice would have been totally Inade- jE quate." "If no reserve was provided." the HH statement added, "there would have i been a repetition of the conditions Bl which existed in the Spanish Ameri- BBBJ can war." J FRENCH rrncHvrv ,1 The statement asserted thai sales of j EHV war materials oversea' aggregated H ?SC2.923.22C. France, It was said.) BH purchased goods for S532 500.00 and ! BBK waived customs duties estimated at ap- K proximatelv $150,000,000 and furthei i Hb eeeumed the payment of 1 50,000 clmr BH ssalnst the Untied States arising out B i r the American occupation B "As a result of the work of the Cnited States liquidation commission." BBJ the statement said, "the war depart- ment saved to the taxpayers from th BBV fftle of surplus of war materials In i I claims for damages Which would have I f , been entered against the government, fl P" Thus the claim that the proper'. v which had cost this country $1,390.-'i $1,390.-'i ". 089 303. was disposed of to the French I sovernment for four million dollar- I payable in ten years I entirely or-. roneous." SAIES it nonr The department ald equipment val- I I ued at $672,000,000 was returned to I f the United States. I As to salee In this country the de- i 1 JKirtment asserted that the sales dlvi- i had disposed of property which i:u?t the government $ 1.1 32.067.476 92 ; and that "the return to the I'nited i S'.-ti l had been $839, 37$. 1 7.42 " The statement asserted thai "to) rVdUCS the high cost of living" tin, ir department had sold approxim-I Ij 583,000,000 worth of food sup-at sup-at 60 per cent of their cost ' jhj reference to the charge that' ! pold to France for two cents 1 ' h statement declared that: pounds of sugar was sold in try at lH cents a pound 4UU.000 pounds to the Ameri-ll- iief association at the same j v .he settlement of claims, "ln- Itlg both formal and informal con - , . ' i ni Inated by reason of the: oi ssi tlon of hostilities." the statement I the- total amount of such claims or t!ie value of the uncompleted portion por-tion of the contracts amounted to 83,- ' 100.854,411.22 and that the basis on j . which the settlement of these claims! had been made by the claims board had "resulted in a net saving to the j government of $2,863,033,237.91." GUNS AND SHELLS. The department's statement charac- terized as "absolutely unwarranted," charges that the army shipped only 17 000 American made shells to i ranee and that only 72 American' made guns reached the American forces at the front Ie declared that up to armistice day. 6.309.000 Amerl- j I n made shells had been sent to. Prance. ! ' the same time, the statement, Udded, the United Statts had in Franco I '"" places of artillery, of which ... 100 were of American manUfaC-tun manUfaC-tun It was stated that the Amen-! fr-rces used on the firing line 250 pieces of which 180 were made In America. I R PUBLICAN WSWER. :.!:V YORK. Nov. 1. The Repul-ari Repul-ari ni tlonal committee made public statement quoting Governor - ro of Pennsylvania in reply to' . one from the department, denying charges of waste in the sale of surplus sur-plus war supplies, lit iho ieo' last hour." the Republican Re-publican statement reads, "the war department has transmitted to the press an exhaustive manifesto, intend-1 ed to be a sweeping refutation of; i barges of colloeal, inexcusable waste and extravagance during the war, and continued wholesale waste since the armistice. 'The administration has permitted these charge? to go unchallenged for months. They were not idle campaign the aggregate it established the waste f ported by facte and figures. The evl- dence accompanying these charges has been overwhelming. It is official evidence evi-dence evidence taken from the- government gov-ernment records at Washington. In the ending of the war. It did not of billions of public money." FAVORS THE SOrTH. It quoted Governor Sproul as follows: fol-lows: ' War means waste War it waste. Fut war waste should have ended with the ending o fthe war it did not end then. It went on prodigally, riot-louely riot-louely shamefully and the people are today paying the enormous cop, oi "Not until the eleventh hour of the campaign has the war department f dared lo risk an attempt to detenu i'.Sl-lf ' The money expended in the south alone, under war pretexts, much of ii absolute and wanton waste, exceeds j the entire cosrt of our civil war " |