The Washington times., 1918-03-03

The greatest question OF 'civiliza
ton is that Of getting the thing:
that are most needed in the shortes
time to the people who need then
most.
That was the great question of tht
day at the Capitol. 1t began with
oil. Look at a motor-truck. ''mov'
ing produce" with gasoline. Ther
see how near you might come tC
getting enough meat and other com
mon necesSaries OF life" in a restaur-
ant suppOsing yourself down tc
your last dollar" That will be a
suggestion of what oil must mean
to every one, as it becomes more and
more the means of moving what is
needed most to the place where il
is needed, from places where if i;
stays, II will become mere waste
unused surplus, liability instead ot
an asset" to those who have worked
to produce it.
With the future of this generation
in it, oil. as Commander Wright, OF
the navy understands it, has the re-
suit Of the war in 1t. He thinks OF
the submarine, the torpedo boat, the
battle cruiser, and the dreadnaught-
all Of which to be modern fighting
machines must be driven with oil
With this in mind, be has been from
committee to committee in the Cap
itol, week after week, arguing for
the right Of the navy to have Gov
eminent ownership for its own oil
Appearing before the House Com
mittee on Public Lands, he told the
whole story of the struggle for this
right-and the resistance to it which
still goes on.
This is the history Of Naval Re
serves" l and 2, in California, and
of Reserve No. 8, in Wyoming. Nc
one should risk getting tired of such
a story as Commander Wright tells
over and over, until it is under
stood. The total number of acres in
these three tracts (called reserves
because the navy is trying to hold
them and get the oil from them for
its own use) is small-hardly worth
mentioning in comparison with the
acreage of oil lands outside. Yet
Commander Wright testified before
the House committee that they are
"plastered all over" with claims.
And every one of these claims,
which can be supported at all by any
technicality, is made part of the re-
sistance to the attempt of the Navy
Department to get this American
oil, from ground owned by the
American people, to supply the ships
the American people are paying for.
In Naval Reserve No. 3" for ex-
ample, where Commander Wright
deposed to an estimate of 365,O0O,-
900 barrels of oil which may be
used for naval purposes, he said that
to understand the general situation,
the committee might assume that
every acre was contested.
By whom? By experts with the
Know How" The most expert be-
long to great systems, representing
efficiency" They are "co-ordinat-
ed and unified" from coast to coast.
While they were "holding up" the
navy in its attempts to get its own
oil for our battleships, they WRAP
ped the flag around them" as was
said in the Senate by Mr.. Vardaman
the other day, and rallied to put
over contracts, fixing their own
prices for supplying the "Know
How" 1t is a long story. 1t is to
be continued. They "unify and CO.
ordinate" with the "allied inter
ests" at Hog Island, and wherever
else there was a good thing to be
put over by having the efficiency
and expert knowledge. They have
it. But the one thing they have not
put over" yet is complete irrespon-
sibility through the suppression of
all protest"
The Senate opened with protest
which belongs to this immediate
Florida read a telegram from his