As the investigation of the Merriam Commission progresses, the mystery of the City Hall proves, more and more, to be one of graft and corruption. During the past few days, the investigation has revealed that several large contracts have been awarded to the George W. Jackson Construction Company, although the bid of this firm was $200,000 higher than the lowest bid. The names of the officials responsible for this transaction, which involves unneccessary public expense, have also been disclosed. These facts were established one day last week during an effort to show that Engineer Ericson had participated in one of McGovern's ventures in the West. A letter from the concern bore John Ericson's name on it as being one of its employees. Ericson immediately explained that a scandalous attempt to blackmail him was being made, that he had never in any way been connected with that company, and that he had never given it permission to use his name, not even as a consulting engineer. Therefore, he immediately started proceedings to sue the director of the firm, J. B. Davidson, of Oklahoma City. In the meantime, Davidson wrote a lengthy letter to Mr. Ericson in which he explained that 2Mr. Ericson's name had appeared on the company's stationery by mistake. Davidson further explained that he was willing to reimburse Ericson for any inconvenience the incident had caused him. At one time, it seems that Mr. Ericson had merely offered to act as consultant for this firm at times when his knowledge would be of value, but this offer had been misconstrued to mean that they had permission to use Ericson's name.