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Show GRAFT IN WAR .CONTRACTS IS K 'CHARGE MADE I Fraudulent Deals Which Mulcted Taxpayers of Many Millions Alleged by Two Representatives i INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION URGED Republican House Members Make Sensational ATIega-tions ATIega-tions Involving .Former Federal Officials. ; WASHINGTON. April 11 (By the United Press). The American people j were robbed of hundreda of million! of dollar, through fraudulent contracts made by the government durlnc the " 'ro war, Repreaentativea Johnaon. South Dakota, and Woodruff, Michigan 'S- (Reps.), ehariced In the house today. They demanded a congressional Investigation Inves-tigation and prosecution of the guilty persona by the department of Justice. They Introduced a Joint resolution calling; for the appointment of a committee com-mittee of fifteen member, to probe all contracts made by the government during the . war. Woodruff. In a speech, cited numerous "specific Instances" In-stances" where, he charged, the government gov-ernment had been defrauded of millions mil-lions of dollara In war contracts. "One of the biggest of tho alleged illegal deals was the sale of the stock of the Bosch Magneto company, seised by the alien property custodian during dur-ing the war. Under thta aale. Woodruff Wood-ruff charged, the New York and Boa-ton Boa-ton brokerage firm of Homblower A Weeks "profited to the extent of $1,-000.00s $1,-000.00s or mora "On December II, 111, Woodruff snld, "the capital stock of the Bosch Magneto company was sold by the alien property custodian to Martin E. Kern for $4,160,000. Kern was a close personal friend and client of Mr. Palmer." Palm-er." (A. B. Palmer, alien property custodian cus-todian at the time of the sale.) GERMAN BIRTH. "It appears that Mr. Kern was not an American citizen, but was of German Ger-man birth and cltisenship. It would seem that he alao served three terms in prison In New York atate for fel- ony, and I hold In my hand coplea of hia photograph appearing In the: K roguea' gallery in New York City. "Apart from the fact that Kern was not an American citizen, his conviction of a felony would deprive htm of his civil rights. The trading with the enemy act prohibits the aale of property prop-erty to other than American cltisens. The sale to Kern was In direct violation vio-lation of the act. No prosecutions have yet occurred. "Shortly sfter the property was soTd to Kern a corporation called the American Boach Magneto company was organised. One of the chief actors In these transactions was the firm of Hornsblower A Weeks. It appears, from information obtained from reliable re-liable sources, that the profits realised by the firm of Homblower A Weeks in thla transaction was probably $1,-000,000 $1,-000,000 or more, and that the profits of Kern amounted to many hundreds of thousansd of dollara. Woodruff dlaplayed what he alleged were coplea of letters which he said j Kern had written from Europe recently recent-ly In an effort to "huah up" agitation I for prosecution in the Boach Magneto I company sale. Woodruff quoted one of the letters as saying, "Why don't Murray and all Intereata take John W. Weeks to Isugherty and put a quietus on this thing?" The "Murray" referred to. Woodruff said. Is the former president of the Bosch Mag-netn company. Following Woodruff, Johnaon took the floor and alao attacked alleged fraudulent war contracts and sales. Johnaon charged that there Is "an Invisible In-visible hi-party government In the United States which controls the real government elected by the people. INVISIBLE FORCE. "This Invisible government," Johnson declared, "Is a financial combine extending ex-tending to other nations of the world. The Japaneae financiers have Interlocking Inter-locking agreement and arrangement with corrupt politicians In the L'nlted States which haa enabled them to take i money by the millions from the Amerl-j rsn taxpayers who suffered snd slaved j to buy Liberty bonds." To bear out thla charge, Johnson declared de-clared that the Mitxu company of Japan Ja-pan waa given lis.461,680 of aircraft contracts by ths United States government govern-ment during the war" In spite of tbe fact that this company has been fiscal agent of the German eecret service for many years and that they had been mapping out our coasts and had maintained main-tained a thorough secret service In the L'nlted Statea." "Millions of dollars worth of supplies," sup-plies," Johnson aaid, "were sold sfter the war to favored purchasers without competitive bidding, without adequate! bond or deposit. Indefinite extension of time granted for storage and deliv- I cry. and finally cancellations effected to meet the convenience of theae especially es-pecially favored set of grafters. "Such cases as the harness sale, the lumber contract, the H. Miller contract snd count less ot her corru pt deals transpired under former Secretary Baker. The rough deals which ws sre ' now dealing, were consummated under the present secretsry of war." Johnson then related a score or more of sale of surplus war materials In which he said the government was defrauded of millions of dollara |
