Spring Flowers

On the political grave of the Ohio gang, the little flowers of indictment still grow every spring, scenting the air with the perfume of scandal and the breath of alleged corruption. Only last week another blossom opened. In Manhattan a grand jury indicted one time Attorney General Harry Daugherty, his good friend, the late Jesse Smith, John T. King, onetime Republican National Committeeman from Connecticut, and Thomas W. Miller, former Alien Property Custodian, for conspiracy to defraud the Government. The charge was that certain stock of the American Metal Co. was seized by the Alien Property Custodian as German property during the War, that the stock was sold for some $7,000,000, and that in 1921 a Swiss corporation, really a blind for the German owners, recovered the money from the U. S. Government with the connivance of the indicted men. It is further charged that the German owners gave $391,000 in Liberty bonds, which were to be divided among the accused men, and a check for $50,000, which was divided between Smith and King. Miller and the Germans were named in an indictment brought last year in regard to the same case. The new indictment omits the Germans but brings in Mr. Daugherty, who it is alleged certified payment of the claim of the Germans, so that once more the finger of accusation points at the Ohioan. It was alleged some time ago that $40,000 of the supposed $391,000 bribe in Liberty bonds were traced to Mr. Daugherty's bank account in his brother's bank at Washington Court House, Ohio.

Last week Mr. Daugherty exclaimed :

"The case upon which this charge is based was decided nearly five years ago by a division in the Department of Justice regularly authorized to pass on claims of this character. As in many other matters of a like nature, I was not even called upon to review their decision; in fact, I never heard about the case until long after it had been disposed of.

"In a professional life covering 45 years I have never discussed or tried cases in the public press. I will continue to adhere to that policy. Meantime, I know the fair-minded public will withhold its opinion until the case is decided."

Senator Wheeler, who led the attack on Mr. Daugherty when the latter was Attorney General, merely said:

"If he is guilty, I hope he is punished; if he is innocent, I hope he is acquitted. I don't want to kick a man when he's down."

Nearly two months ago, Charles R. Forbes, onetime Director of the Veterans' Bureau, entered Leavenworth Prison for conspiracy to defraud the Government in the Veterans' hospital scandal (TIME, March 29), which like the oil scandal spread its shadow over the Harding Administration. His fellow conspirator, John W. Thompson, likewise convicted, did not enter the prison because his lawyers represented that his health was poor. The Court ordered the lawyers to make a final argument in Chicago this week. Last week, however, Mr. Thompson, 64 and worried, died of a heart attack.