The American Legion Weekly [Volume 4, No38 (September 22, 1922)] . d just to testimony, it simplypushed the Army and the army engi-neers off the map. After a series ofhearings and controversies at whichdisagreements were frank and some-times bitter, the famous cost-plus con-tract was determined upon, which formof contract, notwithstanding the fixingof a contractors maximum fee at$250,000 per job, the Graham committee declares removed every hazard fromthe contractor and placed the inter-ests of the United States secondaryand made the interests of the contrac-tors primary. The War
The American Legion Weekly [Volume 4, No38 (September 22, 1922)] . d just to testimony, it simplypushed the Army and the army engi-neers off the map. After a series ofhearings and controversies at whichdisagreements were frank and some-times bitter, the famous cost-plus con-tract was determined upon, which formof contract, notwithstanding the fixingof a contractors maximum fee at$250,000 per job, the Graham committee declares removed every hazard fromthe contractor and placed the inter-ests of the United States secondaryand made the interests of the contrac-tors primary. The Wars Greatest Mistake THE cost-plus contract system wasprobably the wars greatest eco-nomic mistake. In this instance it gavethe builder a fee—up to $250,000—offrom seven to ten percent of the costof the work embraced by his more it cost to build anything themore the contractor got for building it,and to contend that the transparencyof this situation escaped the lowliestlaborer on the job is a challenge to ournative intelligence. If a thousand feet. (c) Earns and Ewing Brig. Gen. Kenzie M. Walker, headof the contract audit section of thefinance department of the War De-partment, which on an investmentof some $230,000 has so far broughtthe Government a return of $15,-138,000 by unearthing discrepanciesin accounts of lumber were consumed where fivehundred feet would have sufficed, andif two men worked four days nailingthis lumber in place when one manshould have nailed it in one day, thecontractor, the lumber dealer and theworkmen all profited the more. Theupshot was that destructive methods,extravagance and recklessness in thehandling of materials was countenancedwith a callousness which impels theconclusion that they were this condition should dull the edgeof husbandry, placing a premium ingold on idleness and work-shirking, wasinevitable. The sum of the whole wasthat organization, morale and discip-line flew out of the window and graft,peculation
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Keywords: ., bookauthoramerican, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookyear1922
