Good background on the principles in the beginning,but the chapter on the dam is quite the narrative,and gives clear insight on how the company got on the inside in Washington,even if it meant going against Herman Browns principles to do so...

....George Brown later related Brown & Root’s predicament in his own words. “We had put a million and a half dollars in that dam, and then we found out it wasn’t legal. We found out the appropriation wasn’t legal, but we had already built the cableway. That cost several hundred thousand dollars, which we owed the banks. And we had had to set up a quarry for the stone and build a conveyor belt from the quarry to the dam site. And we had had to buy all sorts of equipment—big, heavy equipment. Heavy cranes. We had put in a million and a half dollars. And the appropriation wasn’t legal!”

Alvin Wirtz knew the law and he planned and devised a way around the whole mess. Buchanan would have to persuade Congress to pass a law so specific that it would approve the building of this particular dam on Texas land. If that were to happen, the original issue of land ownership and the laws that governed both Texas and federal land procurement would be so thoroughly obscured, the dam would have no problem getting approved. In other words, Buchanan’s law would muddy the waters enough that the comptroller general would appropriate the funds. The plan had a chance, a real chance. In fact, with Buchanan’s power in Congress, and the esoteric nature of the laws involved, few congressmen were likely to put up a fight. Understanding Wirtz’s plan, Buchanan told the Browns not to worry, he would handle it in March 1937 when Congress reconvened.

Though the company was teetering on the brink of ruin, Brown & Root had faith in Buchanan. He was a powerful force in Washington, and besides, most congressmen couldn’t be bothered with such a complicated and seemingly insignificant issue, even if it did violate the law. But Buchanan never got that chance. In February 1937, one month before he was to rectify the situation, Buchanan died of a heart attack. The Marshall Ford Dam was the first project in which Brown & Root was doing business directly with the federal government, and thus far, it was a complete disaster.
https://exploringrealhistory.blogspot.com/2019/09/part-1-halliburton-agendaerle-p.html