To Advance Democracy by Enabling the People to Know and Apply the Truth June 30, 1922 H Washington, D. C. F 20c a Copy THE BOSSES BURY WAR GRAFT INVESTIGATION Woodruff Now Seeking Light on Alien Property Cus- Volume VII The Peace-Time Heroism of Major Watts Sidelights on Alien Property Meditations of The President's Pup Number 1 What Subscribers Think of The Searchlight H. S. Ross, Montreal-While I have a lengthy list of period- J. W. Chambers, Forest Hill, Md.—If all the voters would R. C. Rettig, Fon du Lac, Wisc.-I think it is high time that Wm. G. Simpson, Ferndale, Mich.-Every patriotic Amer- Ray Stannard Baker, Amherst, Mass.-I am strong for what Maude P. Jamison, Cheyenne, Wyo.-There is a demand here Bennett L. Williams, Boise, Idaho I am not one of those Marshall Stimson, Los Angeles, Calif.-I am heartily in Scandals of Subscription rate: $2.00 a year. Single Entered as second-class matter May 26, 65 faxon A The Peace-Time Heroism of Major Watts By LYNN HAINES STUPENDOUS, unbelievable amount of the money that the tax-payers of America put into the world war, perhaps more than half, was wasted or stolen. Do you want to help get this amazing story to the people, with details and identifications, to the end that wrongs may be righted and public morality restored? Whether or not this can be done depends primarily upon Major W. O. Watts. No one else, nor any combination of individuals, has a tenth part of his information about big graft. Let me tell you about Watts. Never in all my experience have I known heroism and self-sacrifice comparable to his. He served with distinction in the world war; also in the Spanish war; but it is not war service that distinguishes him as a super patriot. It is what he has done since and is doing now-against obstacles which only the lionhearted could withstand. On the following page is a brief, personal memorandum of his public work up to January 12, 1922. Read it, and you will begin to comprehend why Watts possesses such a vast store of original information. That is the big point. That is why he is indispensable to the public now. Two significant later facts are not in that memorandum: (1) that during his employment by the Department of Justice Watts was paid only $7.00 a day; and (2) that when he persisted in exposing graft, Attorney General Daugherty "fired" him. Here is the big point: Already Watts has saved the tax-payers many millions of dollars. He has faced starvation for himself and his family to do it. Realizing that if he does not stick to this selfappointed task of organizing and disseminating this graft data, which no one else possesses, all opportunity to use it for the public welfare will be irreparably lost, he has persisted through privations that beggar description. When Woodruff and Johnson were making their fight for an investigation, it was Watts who backed them up with proof of their charges. He did it day after day. Watts is competent to hold the best positions. He has been offered lucrative positions. Although dead broke, with sources of even small loans exhausted, he declined every offer because of that determination to continue the unequal struggle. For months he has lived a daily hell rather than give up the fight to let the people know how they had been deceived and defrauded by exploiters and their political allies. One day Watts was offered a job at $1,000 a month. That same day he had to borrow carfare to get to the Capitol for his patriotic work with Woodruff and Johnson. Yet he hesitated not a second in rejecting that offer, because it would have meant the end and the failure of his war on billion-dollar graft. I investigated Watts carefully. He has ability of a high order, courage unsurpassed, and absolute honesty. Nothing can alter or deter his patriotic purpose. I have canvassed his war-graft data. Nothing like it has ever come into the hands of a single individual in all the world's history. Never before was any nation robbed of so much public money. Watts has the whole shameful story. The bosses of Congress have prevented an investigation. There is no other way to get the truth about big war graft to the people except through Watts. But Watts has reached a point beyond which human endurance cannot go. He has to have money with which to work and an instrument through which to make his work count. Therefore I said to him: "Will you do this great patriotic public service through The Searchlight? We are completely free to publish the truth, whoever it hits. We have no money, but will try to get funds to back you up." He said "yes." Hence this appeal for a Watts' fund. Beginning next month we will start a series of graft stories by Watts, with dates, names and figures, if you will give your support. Later a book, the most amazing book ever published, will be given to the American people, because Watts is a super, bribe-proof patriot, and because Congress is politically afraid to do its duty through an investigation. Five thousand dollars will be required for this program. Watts needs a part of it immediately to pay debts. Then he must have a regular income. I have divided with him what little I have. I want you to help, at once, to provide this Watts' fund. Let us know by return mail. Each month you will receive a report of the fund and its uses. Here is a chance to show your patriotism: |