said officer nor had had any difficulty or differences with him before the shooting; that the injury to Sarah Lee Cregg was not the result of any carelessness or negligence on her part; as a result of the shooting of said Sarah Lee Cregg she knows that she has lost one eye and her other eye has been seriously injured. CORINNE MITCHELL.

Sworn to and subscribed before me this September 25, 1944. [SEAL]

C. J. BROWN, Notary Public.

PENSACOLA, FLA., September 23, 1944.

Re Sarah Cregg.

Mr. CLARENCE J. BROWN,

Attorney at Law, Pensacola, Fla.

DEAR MR. BROWN: The following is a sworn statement given to the Army claims officer on February 9, 1944:

"On the second day of November 1943 I was called to the Pensacola Hospital to attend Sara Lee Cregg, who had been admitted to the hospital on that date by reason of her having suffered a gunshot wound. From my examination of her I found a perforating (gunshot) wound left side of head, entering through auricle and emerging through the left orbit with destruction of that eye and part of the left auricle. There was laceration of soft tissues and partial destruction of left lower lid.

"I performed a plastic operation on her left ear and the left eye was enucleated and a plastic repair of the socket was done. This patient was in the Pensacola Hospital from the 2d day of November 1943 until the 9th day of November 1943. She has been under my care continuously since the 2d day of November 1943 and is now under my care.

"By reason of the wound so suffered on the 2d day of November 1943, Sara Lee Cregg sustained the following permanent injury: Total loss of left eye and partial loss of ear; vision in the right eye has been impaired since accident with possibility of total loss of vision."

Since that time she was here on February 22, 1944, when there was an active uveitis present with evidence of retinal detachment and vision was reduced to 20/200 but vigorous treatment was given her and the eye improved.

On September 19, 1944, she was here and the disk margin was fairly well outlined and the nerve color was near normal again with only slight evidence of previous inflammation and her vision had improved up to 20/20 minus 2.

If she hadn't had a flare-up in February and March, I could have given her a good prognosis but because of this, her prognosis should be guarded although the longer she holds this vision the more likely will the eye remain in this condition. Very truly yours,

M. A. LISCHKOFF, M. D.

Nov. 5, 1943. Hospital...

5

Nov. 6, 1943. Hospital, operation and postoperative care to Dec. 10-
Dec. 10, 1943. Office--

200

5

Additional services should be very small-$25 at most.

O

5

252

80TH CONGRESS 2d Session

}

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

{

REPORT No. 1628

W. A. KNOX, W. L. M. KNOX, AND FRANK C. MORRIS, OPERATING AS KNOX LUMBER SALES CO., THOMSON,

GA.

APRIL 1, 1948.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed

Mr. CRAVENS, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the

following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 636]

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 636) for the relief of W. A. Knox, W. L. M. Knox, and Frank C. Morris, operating as Knox Lumber Sales Co., Thomson, Ga., having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill, as amended, do pass.

The amendments are as follows:

Page 1, line 5, after the word "to" insert "W. A. Knox, W. L. M. Knox, and Frank C. Morris, operating as".

Amend the title so as to read:

A bill for the relief of W. A. Knox, W. L. M. Knox, and Frank C. Morris, operating as Knox Lumber Sales Company,. of Thomson, Georgia.

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of the proposed legislation is to pay the sum of $10,543.85 to W. A. Knox, W. L. M. Knox, and Frank C. Morris, a partnership doing business as Knox Lumber Sales Co. The payment of such sum shall be in full settlement of any and all claims of the said W. A. Knox, W. L. M. Knox, and Frank C. Morris against the United States arising out of loss to them by reason of failure of the Central Procurement Agency of the Army Service Forces to properly advise claimants how to ship 12 cars of lumber.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On February 24, 1944, the War Department entered into a "lump sum" contract (No. W. 37-018-(MSP)-187) with the Campagna Construction Corp., Easthampton, Mass., for the manufacture and delivery to the Department of a quantity of portable hospital barracks.

To enable the Campagna Construction Corp. to obtain, without delay, the necessary lumber for the contract the Central Procurement Agency of the Army Service Forces in March 21, 1944, sent a list to Charlotte, N. C., for the purchase and allocation of 4,982,900 feet of lumber, said list carrying the notation: "Sight draft with bill of lading on First National Bank, Hartford, Conn."

Of this quantity 889,000 feet was allocated to the Atlanta, Ga., office, of which 655,000 feet was let through the Macon, Ga., office to Knox Lumber Sales Co., a partnership consisting of W. A. Knox, W. L. M. Knox, and Frank C. Morris. An investigation on the part of Central Procurement Agency revealed that the Campagna Construction Corp. was not in a strong financial condition, which caused the notation to ship so as to retain title in vendors until draft covering invoice had been paid. For some unexplained reason, this notation as to shipping sight draft with bill of lading attached was left off the allocation to Atlanta, which fact was admitted by Central Procurement Agency in letter to vendors from Lt. W. F. Walker, dated February 7, 1945.

The Knox Lumber Sales Co. had previously furnished to the United States Government directly and to Government contractors, through the Central Procurement Agency, large quantities of lumber. Shipments had been made open with title passing immediately to consignees, which method of shipment was advantageous to both parties. Previous to the Campagna shipments there had been no loss whatever to Knox Lumber Sales Co., for the reason that only vendees sound financially had been submitted to the vendors. Had Knox Lumber Sales Co. received the information that went to other shippers of lumber on this Campagna contract, which would have been received were it not for the oversight on the part of Central Procurement Agency. shipments would have been made order notify, with sight_draft_attached to bill of lading, which would have fully protected vendors against the loss in question.

Pursuant to this allocation 12 cars of lumber were shipped by vendors to vendee under Central Procurement Inquiry No. AE-39320— CA; Campagna Purchase Order No. 1317, the aggregate net amount of said invoices being $14,058.49. All shipments were made open, and none of invoices were paid by vendee, for the reason that before payment the Campagna Construction Corp. filed a voluntary petition in bankruptcy and arranged for a settlement with unsecured creditors, including Knox Lumber Sales Co. Upon the basis of this settlement of 25 percent of $14,058.49-$3,514.64-there was a net loss to vendors of $10,543.85, the amount of this bill.

In due course the Knox Lumber Sales Co. presented a claim for this loss in the amount of $10,543.85, which was denied by the Comptroller General as follows:

Accordingly there appears to be no legal basis for the allowance of your claim; and since this Office has no authority to approve payments from public funds solely upon moral or equitable grounds, the settlement of October 23, 1945, must be, and is, sustained.

The settlement of October 23, 1945, was the disallowance by the General Accounting Office of claim for $10,543.85.

The Secretary of the Army, in his report to the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, takes the same general position as that taken by the Comptroller General, but his

report does set forth the facts substantially as stated by Knox Lumber Sales Co.

The record shows that when financial distress overtook the prime contractor, it became necessary for the Army to make available a large sum of money so that lumber standing in the yards, and which could not be unloaded until drafts were paid, were made available for the completion of these contracts. The Knox Lumber Sales Co.'s 12 cars would have been paid for in this manner if same had been shipped order notify, with bill of lading attached to draft; but because of open shipments and title having passed when received by common carrier, these 12 cars of lumber were immediately available with only payment of freight. This was of additional advantage to the Government, as set forth in letter to vendors from Col. W. J. Truss, of district engineers, March 14, 1945.

A full investigation of the facts and circumstances of this claim and the evidence adduced at a hearing before a subcommittee of this committee shows that—

1. That it was the intent of the War Department through the Central Procurement Agency to give to all shippers the benefit of its investigation of financial standing of prime contractor.

2. That this information with instructions to make shipments so as to protect the shippers against loss through failure of prime contractor to pay invoices for open shipments was given to other shippers but, through inadvertence, was not given to Knox Lumber Sales Co.

3. That the United States Government, through the War Department, had to put up the money to pay for large quantities of lumber shipped according to instructions and which drafts were not paid by Campagna Construction Corp.

4. That the Government did not pay anything for the 655,000 feet of lumber shipped by Knox Lumber Sales Co., but that shipper suffered a loss of entire amount, less 25 percent received in compromise settlement with the bankrupt, his net loss being the amount of this bill-$10,543.85, the proximate cause of which loss was the failure of the Central Procurement Agency to give proper instructions as to how to ship.

5. That the 12 cars of lumber shipped by Knox Lumber Sales Co. were made available for use on this Government contract after financial failure of prime contractor without the Government having to furnish the money to pay drafts, and this was of additional advantage to the War Department in saving time ordinarily required in locating and shipping lumber to complete the new contract.

Therefore your committee feel that W. A. Knox, W. L. M. Knox, and Frank C. Morris are entitled to the net loss to them caused by the oversight on the part of a Government agency and recommend the passage of H. R. 636.

Hon. EARL C. MICHENER,

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, Washington, D. C., January 26, 1948.

Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary,

House of Representatives.

DEAR MR. MICHENER: The Department of the Army is opposed to the enactment of H. R. 636, Eightieth Congress, a bill for the relief of Knox Lumber

Sales Co., Thomson, Ga.

H. Repts., 80-2, vol. 2-89