Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 June 1941 — Page 9

what ironical in

Contractors Friendly to Poor: Got. Bulk of. Asphalt And Road Contracts, House Military ‘Committee Learns.

By THOMAS L. STOKES Ay - Times Special Writer WASHINGTON, June 18.—The current investigation by

the House Military Affairs Committee of the now well-known

Eglin Field (Fla.) asphalt deal in which Senator Pepper

(D. Fla.) intruded energetically on behalf of the Pan-Amer-ican Petroleum Corp, offers interesting clues to the operations of a state political machine in national defense. |

A knowledge of the workings of the Pepper machine in Florida readily explains the

surprise, of the politicians when an outsider, in this case Allied Materials, Inc., of Atlanta, turned up with a low bid for the asphalt at an Army air field in Florida. It also. explains why

‘Senator, Pepper did not intend to see this bid accepted if he could possibly avoid it, and so

‘While workers stood idle on the ‘biggest military reservation in the United States, he pulled wires until

Pan-American finally was cut in for o

a slice of the contract. Official on ‘Inside’ ‘Robert L. Bannerman, representative of Pan-American Petroleum at| Tallahassee, where he is “Bob” to legislators and lobbyists, is on the inside with a ring of politicians and contractors who have operated very successfully in the state. He carries . weight likewise with the Senator in Washington. ‘Mr. Bannerman gets the lion's share of asphalt sales in the state, Formerly he was division superintendent of the state highway deRartment, and he has many con-

Be atlr Pepper excused his presSire on behalf of the oil company by saying he always went to bat for a constituent, which is somecase. By “constituent” it is assumed he meant Mr. Bannerman - personally, for. PanAmerican is a subsidiary of Standard Oil of Indiana and is hardly a Florida concern. Await House Hearing This was a big job for Mr. Bana difficult one, when an

firm which is successor to Io ihe old Pepper firm and which has offices opposite the State Capi-

Both Mr Bannerman and Mr. Caldwell are among witnesses still te appear befcre a House subcom-!

aled the"

of the War Department, the Treasury and ‘WPA. - It has revealed, likewise, how forehanded the Senator is in his operations. He started his missionary work for asphalt months ago, seek-|qf ing to induce the War Department to use asphalt jnstead of concrete for the runways, despite the preference of the Army Air Corps for concrete—as revealed to the committee in correspondence subES

~ Smart Styles in . Outstanding

Value

Shoes

mitted. yesioraay by Maj. John e construc

Corps.

ever the Senator may have had to do with it. He. appeared before Army officials. here first with a representative of the state highway

depart{ment and the second time with some ‘|local contractors, according to testimony.

“Lime Rock Trust”

This disclosure $hrew light on Mr. Pepper's subsequent wire-pulling on behalf of the company which is so

_{well-favored with asphalt contracts fin the state.

A clique of Florida, contractors has

Senator Pepper numbers his tical supporters among the favored contractors, principally L. B. McLeod of Orlando, Fla., who made a handsome profit in furnishing lime rock at Camp Blanding in "partnership with -A. G. Wolfe, another Orlando contractor. Mr. McLeod has pouting 3° Senator Pepper's campaign fun though no contribution by him i the hotly contested 1938 Senatorial campaign is listed in the report sub-

mitted by the Senator to the Florida

Secretary of State. An Expensive Venture

The lime-rock phase of the Camp Blanding contract proved expensive to the Government. For, contrary to the agreement with the general contractors, Starrett Bros. & Eken, New York, that there would be no subcontracting, that company did subcontract the lime rock. The Wolfe-McLeod. partnership netted a profit of $437,000 from the lime-rock contract, which the Government

-| paid.

How this subcontract was awarded

to the Orlando contractors still lacks

full explanation. Mr. McLeod, particularly, has been successful in the past in getting profitable highway “extensions” for the state, a system in Florida whereby an extension for a small distance is let at a high figure because of the higher cost ‘lof a small job, and then extended at the same rate. “=. nr This was ‘his first big-scale: venture for the Geévernment.

BLACKOUT GOES BLUE

LONDON. (U.P.),~Girl workers in a ndrthemn factory have a new kind ‘blackout blues. Dressingrooms

with the paint. “When we made up in that light before meeting our

like Red Indians,” sald one of the

'MAROTT SPECIAL SAVINGS

girls.

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+ o Cannot Be $3.45 Duplicated

Asphalt it turned out to be, what-|

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ot the factory are “blacked-out”

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| ERE