Show N aws U THEM ME by PAUL MAL MALLON LON released by newspaper union WAR CONTRACTS INQUIRY COULD GET OUT OF HAND washington the politicians are chuckling at the political implication behind the may scandal case the inside story Is that mr may chairman of the house bouse military affairs committee walked into the difficulties with the mead investigating committee and that the investigation instigation v vesti sti gation was not inspired otherwise As may Is a conservative democrat and senator mead ot of new york has aspirations tor for tb the e governorship certain political authorities thorit ties les had circulated the report that the case against may was worked up for purposes of widening the split within democratic ranks by the liberal side for the purposes of punishing a conservative southerner it if it did not originate in such purposes it certainly had that political effect however logical this report may sound to some the inside story Is that the mead committee membership was making a routine check into the complicated financial setup in the garsson companies some suspicions about the may transaction tran 5 were uncovered but no not made public then may brought dr henry garsson to see mead to complain about the companies bein being 9 persecuted by a meddling investigation ti which they contended was holding up to peacetime activities MEAD HAD TO ACT the committeemen claim other efforts were made to get them to desist but they will not identify these efforts beyond the point of saying these came from within the democratic party despite the imminence of the coming congressional election the republicans operated cooperated co with the democratic members in all ways the republican sen homer ferguson of michigan who does not run again until 1919 1949 has been termed the bird dog of the committee ferguson and his republican colleagues were in a position to force mead to act if he tried to cover up perhaps they may have been gleeful at the prospect of roasting a democrat on the eve of departure for home and election another inner political sidelight Is that the Garsson Gars sons hired shired as their counsel for the inquiry wayne johnson a well known new york ork city democrat the ile evidence carried odors reaching to high heaven but did not prove conclusively that may ever received any money directly although it produced test testimony emony indicating money was sent the committeemen have been authorized iz d to look over the income tax returns ot of may to supply the missing links and while these cannot be used as evidence or made public in any way the committee may get some leads to the links the law permits president truman to authorize such looks at the returns all in all the newsmen who sat at the press table throughout the inquiry thought the whole case could be put down as a scandal so plainly marked with evidence that no one could cover it on any side democratic republican PAC or any other REP COFFEE INVOLVED but lo 10 and behold the case produced a political tail larger than I 1 the do dog the coffee case following immediately i thereafter concerned a left leaning democrat rep john LT coffee who received 2500 from a war contractor tor for services he votes mostly on the side thus the scandals came out even in n democratic ranks between the two conflicting factions and the republicans gained the most ground from the entire transaction i at least no one showed they claimed to have or were selling any influence it was senator brewster republican of maine who told the committee of the coffee matter which first was mentioned in a mayoralty campaign in tacoma wash by republicans I 1 think the sum total of the scandal matter is this if anyone started turning over every war contract at this particular tima tim of world crisis and d difficult peace even to gain ground in an election the ultimate outcome would be difficult to foretell at any rate the mead committee went to work on some presumably minor cases on the pacific coast CANT GUARANTEE FREEDOMS the paris gathering of 21 nations to consider the big four peace deal started off under unique circumstances cum curn stances the mimeographed pages comprising the proposed texts are considered by experts to have been very poorly y drafted from a technical standpoint of expression this was charged to the he difficulties of translation As to the meanings of the agreements agree mei and guarantees few thought them thein any stronger than the governments which would operate them |