Show Round Merry nd B By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. S ALLEN WASHINGTON For For more than a a year jittery jittery jit jit- jit- jit tery commerce department moguls have been sitting on th the lid of a volcano in the bureau of of foreign n and domestic commerce Not a word of t the e matter has appeared in the press Yet it is one of the most amazing stories in the capital involving several United States representatives abroad charges of moral and official laxity a secret investigation including trips to Europe that has already cost and produced several large volumes of testimony mony and mony-and and a woman The woman woman was the cause of it all t Affaire McCann In the fall of 1935 Miss Beryl McCann was dismissed from her job as assistant disbursing officer of the Paris Paris' office of the bureau of f foreign foreign foreign for for- eign and domestic commerce A stickler for moral as well as official rectitude rectitude rectitude tude th the young lady from Alabama had got inthe inthe in inthe the hair of some of f the more ebullient members of the Paris staff She had bluntly challenged the veracity of their expense accounts and in other ways made herself irksome To get rid of this embarrassing gadfly the attaches ganged up on Miss McCann Claudius Murchison now the a year director of the Cotton Textile institute institute- was then head of the bureau How the Paris boys worked it is not known but Miss McCann was fired That That- was an evil day for them They soon found they had traded the frying pan for the fire Alabama to the Rescue Miss McCann did not take the ousting meekly She fought back with the same crusading crusading crusading cru cru- spirit she had displayed in disapproving the playboys playboys' bohemian antics and expense ac ac- ac- ac counts V Miss Miss' McCann caught the the first h homebound steamer and rushed with her story to Representative Representative Representative William B. B Oliver Now Mr Oliver is not only a staunch Alabaman but but- buthe he was also chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that handles the commerce department appropriation appropriation appropriation bill In other words Mr Oliver was a avery avery avery very p potent tent guy Also as he promptly demonstrated he could get just as hot under the collar over bureaucratic bureaucratic bureaucratic bureau bureau- cratic high handedness as Miss McCann When he heard her story he went directly to Secretary Dan Roper and demanded a sweeping sweeping sweep sweep- ing investigation No one has eyer ever accused Uncle Uncle Un Un- cle dc Dan of being a crusader but Oliver was nota not a a aman man to be trifled with Secret Probe So H. H Colt McLean head of the Paris Paris' office was ordered to to- return instanter to Washington and explain When he arrived the probe got under way surrounded by the most extraordinary secrecy Guards were posted outside the door of the hearing hearing hear hear- ing room and the blinds were drawn Conducting Conducting Conducting Conduct Conduct- ing the proceedings were three top rung commerce commerce com corn merce officials Assistant Secretary Draper Solicitor Solicitor Solicitor So So- Trimble and Malcolm Kerlin aid to Rooer Roper The matter might have gone no further than some reprimands and a shakeup of the Paris office offic had not the entire personnel of the bureau leaped into into- the fray As one man the staff rose in outrage at Miss McCanns McCann's charges They bombarded Washington with bitter attacks against against- her and other critics One of their targets was Thomas Butts another an- an other dismissed subordinate in the Paris office who had returned to Washington and hurled a blast of charges Charges and countercharges filled the air The affair soon developed a battle royal What had begun as a probe of a row over a minor job grew within a few weeks weeks' into a general general general gen gen- eral investigation of the bureau both at t home and abroad Scores of infractions of rules and other instances of official laxity were uncovered by Oliver acting as prosecutor Oil on Flames f Constantly pouring oil ail on the flames and aggravating the situation with peculiar obtuseness obtuseness obtuseness obtuse- obtuse ness were the bureau officials One for example solemnly charged Butts with engaging in political activity because he he had contributed to the Democratic national com com- Since Roper and other department executives are contributors this accusation promptly boomeranged Oliver took a further slap at the blundering official by producing letters from American business men in Paris lauding Butts as an able and reliable man Another incident that backfired against the bureau was wa a letter from one of its attaches attacheS' hotly denouncing Miss McCann as a trouble troublemaker troublemaker troublemaker maker and wire puller Later this letter was expunged from the record when it was shown that the official did not know Miss McCann had never worked with her and had written his communication at the behest of a colleague Suppressed Report Now Washington is wondering whether the thousands of words of spicy taken in inthe inthe inthe the secret investigation including that obtained by Oliver and Kerlin in trips to Paris and London London Lon Lon- don will ever see the light of day Oliver is voluntarily retiring from congress after the first of the year With him out of the way the chances of the record being published or of the bureau being bing drastically housecleaned are are not promising A few officials may be shifted there may even be some di missals But there will be no real shakeup That is not unless someone else on Capitol hilt hill takes up the cudgels In his four years as head of the commerce department Uncle Dan Roper has repeatedly demonstrated that h he does not Bot act unless forced to do so Copyright 1936 by bl United Feature Syndicate Inc |