Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 290, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 December 1920 — GRAFT THERE ALSO [ARTICLE]

GRAFT THERE ALSO

Investigation in Argentina Discloses Dishonesty. Government Claim* That 5,500,000 Peso* Were “Unduly" Paid for “Palace of Gold." Buenos Aires.—Argentina has been having a graft investigation, as a result of which it has been found that 5,500,000 pesos have been “unduly” disbursed by former government officials who directed payments to contractors for building the capital here. The present government has announced its intention of bringing suits to recover the money Improperly paid. The building, a magnificent structure of classic architecture, marble facings and broad sweeps of marble steps not unlike the capital at Washington, is insistently called in the newspapers “El Palacio de Oro,” Spanish for "The Palace of Gold.” It was

begun ,in 1897, and was originally to have cost 10,000,000 pesos. It is not yet entirely finished and has cost 27,000,000 pesos. Recently a committee of the national accountancy department completed an investigation of the expenditure of the moneys paid for construction of the building, and reported that 5,500,000 pesos had been “unduly” disbursed. Buenos Aires newspapers told, years ago, of wagon loads of building material that went in the front door of the structure, soon after came, out the back door and then disappeared. Charges were made that marble was paid for, but concrete used for part of the construction, and other accusations of graft were aired. It was then that the newspapers began to call it “The Palace of Gold.” The senators at Washington have a private electric subway which takes them from the senate office building to the _ A -