Newspapers / Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, … / Jan. 22, 1921, edition 1 / Page 2
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A " TWO ' :" ' THE MORNING STAR,. WP-inNGTON, C, SATURDAY; JANUARY :22, 1921. MUTT AND JEFF (Ki, look who's trying to get on the vbhcefoi&l : ; I - V : f:; -iH' : ::;r .1 " PCRS YOO TOOK TZ Ve l PASS? PASS' UJtT je , V ' I VOU POft SAP, iH Pouce v (CoyrlSkt. 1020, br H. C Ftektfr, pTTTx TTr . Trade-mark He: U. : PU O&f - OJ-tiVl flSHj 1 I r - . - : ' - 8uT of cowRe LoWfesT MARV5. to oyc 1 r STATEMENT OF PAYNE;( ON BETHLEHEM AUDIT Former Chairman of Shipping Board Gives His Version of Abadie Incident On Fee System "Arguments " By M. fl.- WILLARD L J One can draw a Tery logical conclu sion from any proposition if permitted to state unchallenged his . own prem ises. A favorite method of ars;ains;, when one Is not satisfied with, the strength of his position. Is to stand up a man of straw and then proceed to de molish him. In the consideration of the question whether a salary or fee system "Is best for the county no one has been ac- WASH1NGTOX, Jan. 21. A state ment Riving his version of certain in cidents, in dispute Defore the Walsh nmmittAP nvpti ratine the shlppinz board, -especially in relaTion to tns Reused of graft or any otner lrreeruiar testimony of Colonel Abadje, former l ity but-one of our-county commission-comptroller-greneral of the shipping , era arerues- very eloquently that all of -board .concerning auditinar, was made our county officials are , "able, honest hf-re tonieht by Secretary of the In- land efficient" and should not be accused terior Payne, who was chairman of the board at the time the incidents in dis pute occurred. I .. The statement follows: 'Colonel .Abadie presented to me a written statement (probably in Febru ary, 1920) recommendinK that the books of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding corporation be audited. At that time Colonel Abadie was general comptrol- of graft. I do pot know what his con ception of graft may be but I'do know that no official, could be accused of graft who collected three or four Or even ten times as much as his services were worth if that elaborate and con spicuously posted fee bill permitted him to do o.' - It is not a capital offense to accept graft or to fair to discharge the duties ir in charze of the accounting f Or of an pfflce alter Jt haa been Accepted, the. shlppinjo board and had approxl- at a fixed salary, but either is a rather mattiy 5.TJ00 men on his payroll. I, im-j unbecoming habit and ought to be con mediately issued an order directing 'demned. - Oar .county. conynlslonr in that' the audit be made, assuming that ; diets the officers 'receiving fees -very Celonei Abadie would have the auditr severely nimseir wnen ne maices xne made, by his own accountants ""In a few days I was informed by the 'treasurer that Colonel Abadie had made a contract with Perley Morse and company to do this auditing, and that general charge that they do not per form their duties while working .for a salary. . " " It is a sad condition if the time has arrived when -matters affecting f the f the expense wouia iiaeiy De. in me j"""11- uo,"c'"' w uiwum -neighborhood of $500,000. I im- calmly and without acrimony. It may , mediately telegraphed Perley Morse ."wearisome" to the commissioners . and company not to proceed and directe to naveany act of their criticized but iKoi. tn. oko onjit wifh even i a county commissioner mav be hi own force - . , . . v . -mistaken sometimes, particularly If he "This resulted in an interview be tween Perley Morse and myself and with.Colonel Abadie, and after giving consideration to the matter I decided that notwithstanding the cost it would be wise to permit Morse to proceed with the audit. : Charges meantime were preferred against Morse by the Bethlehem people and a hearing was had. This was par ticipated in by Commissioners Stevens, Donald, Scott and myself. The result was that we declined to interfere with Morse and directed him to proceed with the. audit. JThe Bethlehem people then declined to permit Morse to have ac cess to their books. When ' this came to my. knowledge I notified the Bethle hem company that they must submit the books to Morse for audit and that we would charge the company for all of the expense occasioned by their re fusal. Morse and his men were "mean time idle because of the refusal of the Bethlehem company to permit the audit to proceed. It was thfs expense that I insisted should be charged against the Bethlehem company. "This was the status of , the case when I left the shipping fcoard. . "The voucher to which Colonel , Abadie refers ($260,000 for personal ex- nenses in October' 1918 of an officer d the Bethlehem Shipbuilding corpora! tlon) was not called to myattention, and did not figure in any of the pro ceedings with reference to the audit. "There was a general statement made that large sums had been In cluded in ; the expense ' Items Which were . not properly chargeable against ship construction."' is content to work Out the destiny of our community without being guidel by the experience of others. County government Is not confined to NeW Hanover county or the state of North Carolina and if the editor of The Star has lived In a. community where the same abuses existed as we ha vo here and they have been successfully met and eliminated I am glad to learn of him even though he has not lived-in Wilmington all his life. I believe I have learned something: about county government from : persons ' who have never had the honor to haTe been in New Hanover county at all. I wonder if it is true that the "aver age person is not interested except for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not it would be a saving to the tax payers." If I really thought this was true I would never again interest my self in a matter of public concern. This argument would fasten upon us again the old system" of regulating matters concerning public . health and abolish our present consolidated health de partment; it would prevent advanced methods of administering: school af fairs; It .would give us sand roads In stead of macadam and hand fire en gines instead of a motorized nre de partment. ' The - county commissioners should not .become "weary" even though they are ''constantly besieged to raise sal aries." but should try to strike at the root of the whole evil. County govern ment lias been considered and disoussed more within the past 10 years than in the whole of the preceding century and more changes have been made in this short period than have been made since the Lord's proprietors planned the cre ation of a, great feudal state of eight counties palatine.' in an article publishsd in the Uni versity of North Carolina Re6ord there appears the following: . "County gov ernment is without ideals. County offi cers serve with no manual of duties, responsibilities and procedures ex cept in a bare half dozen states. It is a headless affair, uninformed, unregu lated, irresponsible and , governed by local custom mostly regardless i of law. - ' - y It will be a calamity if we fall toVd our, part towards bringing order out of - this" Chaos. - It there" ever was a chaotic conditions it is that brought I about by perpetuating a fee system of; paying county officers." i The county commissioners should place their1 Influ ence behind a movement to so amend our county government that they will be given full authority to reaulre effi cient service from county employes j wno enema do paia proper salaries. They should denounce a system which will permit the legislature to create a new office, -appoint the office holder and fix-hie salary, even over the protest' of the commissioners themselves, v This was done a feW years 'ago an can be done again whenever the county's rep resentative in the legislature sees fit. GHONAA MEAT PACKER BILL DRAWS FIRE3 IX THE SENATE WASHINGTON, Jan. 21. Proposed government regulation , of the meat packed and allied ..industries drew fire in the senate today from two senators, Sherman, of Illinois, and Fernald, of Maine, both Republicans. The two senators, opposed the pending Gronna regulatory bill as an unwarranted In terference , with a particular private f industry, a principle, which, they said, might be extended injuriously to other lines of business. ,' Opposition of both senators to the measure, which will be voted' on next Monday, also included attacks upon the Federal Trade commission which has supported the legislation. A bustitute for the Gronna bill was introduced by Senator Sterling, Repub lican, South Dakota,- proposing trans fer " of ' gpvrenment regulation of the ' meat Industry to' the Federal Trade commission - instead of the new live stock commission provided j in the . Gronna bill. . r BITTER- FIGHT LOOMING ON COMPENSATION ACT "" :'...".,. Organized Labor Will Have More Than One Fight This Legislature as ENJOIN WESTERN UNION , NEW YORK, Jan. 21. Judicial action in the form of .a preliminary injunction, rather than - forceitil measures by the Armed forces Of" the United States was the , plea -here today in the federal courtVby the government in its action r to' prevent thei landing of the Western Union Telegrapn company's Brasllan cable at -Miami' Tla-. . . ' ," , The governmentThalted the laying of a connecting link of this cable from ' ' the arbadoes to the - American main . land on the grounds that conceessions . grafted by' the government of Brazil 1' amounted to a virtual monopoly in ., favor of the defendant company. ." 'vv:!- ' iwl V JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, JR HAS ' MILLION FOR ' EUROPEAN FUND : ' NEW TORI Jan. : 21. John D. Rockefeller,1 Jr.,son of the Standard ' ' Oil magnate, has contributed $1,000,000 to the relief Of starving'European chll dren. This 'announcement was made ; tonight by" -Herbert Hoovervat the con elusion of a dinner given to Mr. Rocke fAHerV Bible class- , . Morning star RaresB, - Yarborongh HoteC . By R. E. POWELL ' ' . RALEIGH, Jan. 22 Organised labor is going to have more than one fight in this general assembly. If coming events cast their Shadows before, there are going to be several.' . It is hard, this early, to say which is going to be the warmest but there is every prospect that there will be a bitter fight over the compensation law and an equally bitter fight over the proposed Immigration-Jaws which the Federation of Labor will ask. - ' The Delaney workmen's rtnntiai tlon law, which differs from the law drafted by the Bickett commission in a numoer or - particulars and differs radically r from the so-called Virginia iaw, win do iavorea -Dy-the labor un ions tnroagnout the -stater The com mission draft.! introduced in th fci, by Representative Luke Young "by re- m - D niuio Dtn-iuiiiciory , to vnc manufacturers and opposed -stoutly by the unions although It. comes with the label of a strong labor member -v The fact that there Is a radical dif ference in the two laws is leading many leaders as weir as manuacturers to predict that ' neither bill will be passed and that the mi session of the general assembly just where it was on thisi principle of advanced relations between employer ; and r employe be fore the: legislature met. Bach side Is confident: that it' can muster enough votes to defeat the othr bill but there is little talk 'of "changine enoueh votes to bring, about the passage of either LlttleVls'khown bt' the ; lmmlarri- tion proposals ' the laoOr ; unions will ask ; other 'than that some' kind of an immigration ' law Is favored also byi the legislative council of the league of women -voters. . . . ( ' - , The recent' importation of a hundred Italians at Canton, In the western Part of the state, , and the Influx lately of other foreign help on public works has moved the iegrislauve? committee 4 of he state' federation; to propose some drastic and far-reaching immigration laws. One 'regards purely th.e public works of the state "While another, draft of whlOh has "not 'been completed, might be. classified as a health-measure ' and protides or the physical ej animation- of every alien admitted into the confines of; North, Carolina. ':-Thls ' correspondent has s been f per mitted' to see' the draft of' the bill af- ft will be Introduced bv Senator Mark Efwfn, of Asheville. It follows. "That In the construction of all, pub lic works by the state or any county, Sub-division or municipality In the I state, or by persons contracting -with 4 the state or ,any county, municipality or sub-division only citizens, of the! united states shall be employed ami in all cases where laborers are: employed on any such public works, preference shall be given citizens of the state of North Carolina. In every contract for the construction of public works : a provision shall be Inserted to the effect that-if the provisions of this section are not complied .with, the f contract shall . be -void.-? v' -.inu - S ... . rf'Each contractor having contract with the state or . any county, sub-, division or municipality -for the con struction of public works shall keep a list of his employes which shall set forth whether they- are naturalized or native -born citizens of the . United States or aliens and upon demand of 4 a proper omeer or tn state or of the county,, sub-division - municipality' for which the work is v being , done uaI luiuim nuu urn vs, isuiyiojraB. . - Contracts made not In keeping- with, Mhe ' provisions of this law ; would be void, under the terms oz the bill, and violations .would beJ penalized either by fine or .Imprisonmentor both. - ; 4- xThe boast ox Carountans has for a long time been their pure Anglo-Saxon citizenship and fhls . will : carry much weight with :-the proposal - to-- restrict measurably Immigration "into the state. objections vnow , are -not so jnucn to that .which has filtered in during the past few. months as it is to the poten tial; Influx.; .-.TVomen. -are Interested In the measure, but .it is -understood they, favor an ' amendment permitting Ger man and : French servants to. come into the-state. ': i .-. ',', DR. DOBYNS AND DR. VANCE' Dr. William R. Dobyns," ot Birming ham, Ala., and Dr. James I. .Vance, of Nashville. Tenn- were ugests ot honor at -.delightful - luncheon and; ysteH roast' given Ty Mr. and Mrs. waiter SPfunt. on Thursday, at their Home on Greenville sound. ' Other invited guests besides Dr, Dobyns and Dr. Vance were Rev , and MrsA J. ' oscarf Mahn-L Miss MlUti'.Dtr and Mrs.; j; Mr Wells,- Rev. and Mrs. Edwin PuroelU Mr. and: Mrs. W. H. Sprunt, Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Worjh, Mr. B. F. Hall, v Dr. aamea Sprunt, Dr. and Mrs. y James; s. Hall, Rev. iW W, ' Morton and . Rev. ; Mr. Murray. .., mi ; . ; i-; FORTY-THREE INDICTMENTS I- -v AGAINST BULDINO TRADES CHICAGO? " Janf 2t.-The federal grand jury late this afternoon returned 48 indictments under the Sherman anti trust" 'act, -charging ; violation "by - the; buiidin.traaes, contractors afd union labor bosses. It was atleeed that -they nonsolted to keen uo 'the orice'of butld- fectlng the pub lio works, of the staWing materials in the Chicago district, r- OF. NEW SYS' v:. :eir 7. oiiiipaiiiy WEAR AS YOU PAY PAY AS YOU WEAR Greatest Gredit Qotlmig in the World Operating Over Eighty Stores -Throughout tKe United States ; Oif Account of Temporary Depression In Business, tlje Following Plan Will Com mence Immediately: ; " r MEN'S DEPARTMENT Overcoats, $270 to $37.50, foiBiejly.$50.00 to $70.00 ' $5.00 DOWN, $f-00 WEEKLY t ..- Meni Suits, $20.00 to $40.00, Tormerly $40 to $80 r $5,00 DOWN, $1.00 WEEKLY v "Boys' Suits, $6 to $12, formerly $p;to $30 $3.00 lXJWN; $1.00 WEEBXY LADIES' DpPARTENT Ladies' Coats, $15 to $50, formerly $32 to $100 $5.00 DOWN, $ 1.00 WEEKLY Ladies' Coat Suits, $12.50 to $50, formerly $30 to$100 c $5:00 DOWN, $1.00 WEEKLY , - - . . f . . - Ladies' Shoes, Hats, Men's Shoes, Hats, etc., sold 1 ; .- : on the same plan z ' : :v. All .Goods Must he Sold Name Your Own TermsThese Terms of Payment Are the f Easiest Ehown In "-'the History.of the Country COME QUICKLY- AND GET THE BARGAINS I, This Arrangement to i be In i Effect Until Further Notice iob DOWN : :".ff;i :F;SpBraERL 109 isortn irontstreet '-. :r ): - it .wummgton, i. Vs. .. -
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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Jan. 22, 1921, edition 1
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