[St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 21, 1941]
FEDERAL PROBE OF FEES
PAID TNT LAND AGENT
Justice Department To
Question R. Newton McDowell of Kansas City
STOP PAYMENTS
Five Per Cent
Commission Was Paid In Purchase Of 14,000-Acre Tract At Weldon Spring
WASHINGTON,
Feb. 21.—Fees received by R. Newton McDowell, Kansas City contractor, in connection
with acquisition of land for the TNT plant being constructed near St. Charles,
Mo., have been under investigation by the Department of Justice, the
Post-Dispatch learned today.
McDowell
was advised Feb. 7, it was said at the Department of Justice, that an agent of
the department would be in Kansas City to question him about the land purchases
on which, under contract with the War Department, he received a fee of 5 per
cent. Because had made previous arrangements to go to Newfoundland to bid on
work there in connection with construction of one of the newly acquired defense
bases, McDowell was unable to meet with Justice Department agents.
He is
expected to return to this country shortly, however, and will come at once to
Washington to report on the purchase of the site in Charles County. Besides
McDowell’s fee of 5 per cent on the total purchase price, a Kansas City title
company was paid 1 1-2 per cent for proving title to the acreage acquired.
Meanwhile,
payments for land purchases at the St. Charles site have been held up,
according to John J. O’Brien, a Justice Department official who has been put in
charge of the real estate branch of the Quartermaster’s construction division.
New appraisals are being made at the site, O’Brien said.
Col. R. D.
Valiant, until recently in charge of land acquisition for the War Department,
said on Feb. 3 that all but 200 acres of the site had been taken over. He
indicated that the matter was closed and there would be no investigation. This
was before the Justice Department stepped in.
Senator
Bennett Champ Clark made vigorous protests against the prices paid for land at
St. Charles and the fees paid to McDowell. He was later given assurances that
in the future land would not be brought through private dealers on a commission
basis. Clark was told by the War Department that either experts would be used
or, where they were not available, an outright fee would be paid.
John Nadler
of Matson, George Dierker of St. Charles, and William Wehmeyer of Orchard Farm,
are appraising some of the property in the TNT area for the Federal Government.
Payment on
123 of the 268 pieces of optioned property has already been made, the last on
February 7. It is estimated between $2,000,000 and $3,000,000 will be paid the
land owners of the 16,000 acres in the area.
==========
[St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 22, 1941]
INQUIRY IN PRICES TO
U. S. FOR ARMY TRACTS DISCLOSED
Weldon Springs
Ordnance Plant Site Among 9 Investigated—Some Fees Reduced.
WASHINGTON,
Feb. 22 (AP).—A searching undercover investigation of land prices charged the
Government for defense projects was disclosed today in an announcement that for
the second time fees of War Department land agents had been reduced.
The Justice
Department indicated the investigation centered on nine scattered tracts bought
under pressure for speed for such purposes as sites for arms plants and army
ordnance proving grounds.
Commercial
agents were employed by the Quartermaster General to obtain these tracts by
direct purchase. It was the fees paid some of these agents that were reduced,
with Norman M. Littell, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice
Department’s lands division, contending that they were “exhorbitant.”
Some of Reduced Fees.
Paul M.
McCord, Indianapolis, land agent in the acquisition of some 60,000 acres in
Southern Indiana for an artillery proving ground, agreed at a conference with
officials to reduce his fees from 6½ to 3½ per cent.
At the same
time Willis N. Coval, president of the Union Title Co., Indianapolis, agreed to
a flat fee of $50 as an abstract charge for each of some 600 tracts purchased,
irrespective of size. Previous charges ranged upward to $820, it was stated.
Earlier the
fees and charges of agents buying land for an arms plant at Burlington, Ia.,
were reduced from 6½ to 3½ per cent for all expenses.
The fees as
well as prices paid for sites for the nine projects for which agents were
employed have been under investigation for several weeks, Littell said,
indicating that other downward revisions were in prospect.
Included in
the nine were an ordnance plant site at Weldon Springs, Mo., and a shell
loading plant at Laporte, Ind., but Littell declined to disclose the full list.
3,980,000 Acres Being Bought.
In the 12
months ending next June 30, the War Department is undertaking the purchase of
3,980,000 acres estimated to cost $47,260,000.
The bulk of
the land was obtained through condemnation or from the Interior or other
Government departments, but the Quartermaster General’s office decided [?]
purchase through agents [?] nine tracts. Undersecretary [?] P. Patterson has
ordered a [?] ment of this arrangement [?] obtained in the future.
Littell
told reporters [?] War Department estimated [?] of the Indiana proving ground
[?] at $3,000,000, of which [?] to have received about $195 [?] the contract
revision, the [?] be at least halved, Littell [?] ed, aside from other saving
[?] he estimated would run [?] up to $120,000 or more.
