Salt Lake Telegram | 1941-08-20 | Page 6 | Dollars down the Ratholes

Dollars Down the VASTE VASTE of oi several h hundred dred million dollars V V j In the construction of army camps was charged in the senate the other day by Senator Truman CD D. D Mo who is chairman o of ot a senate senate sen sen- ate committee investigating the defense pro pro- gram In making his charge the senator declared the fault for this waste lay largely with the war department for its lack of foresight and its inefficiency He cited the fact that all the copies of a study made of camp construction after alter the last war had been lost by the war department so that they were unable to profit by the experience of the last war and avoid making the same mistakes which cost the country many millions of dollars in 1917 and 1918 He also assailed the department for knowingly submitting to congress inaccurate estimates on cost of construction for failure to centralize purchasing and for handing out huge fixed fees to contractors in uin much the same way that Santa Claus Glaus passes out g gifts ts tsat at a church Christmas party Certainly the nation has every reason to believe Senator Truman's charges are well founded We have heard of too many cases of waste and inefficiency in army camp construction Construction construction con con- such as the building of camps on sites which many months of the year are little better than swamps If it is true as the senator charges that several hundred million dollars has been wasted wasted wasted wast wast- ed in army camp construction how much greater must be that toll of waste if all defense defense de de- projects were included It might well exceed a billion dollars dollars dollars-dollars dollars we can ill afford to po pour r down th the of inefficiency inefficiency graft and politic political Defense is and will be costly enough to America without the needless spending of a single dollar And furthermore if in the end we are going ta to save America and nd American democracy wae we must save it financially as well as politic politically and militarily