Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-25
THE TEAPOT DOME AGAIN.

they want.
THE TEAPO DOME AGAIN.
THE fact that the Standard Oil
l. subsidiary to whom Secretary
Fall leased the Teapot Dome naval
oil reserve has recently brought in
a 10000 barrel a day oil well has
renewed the scandal aroused by the
secretary of the interior turning
this reservoir of oil for our naval
vessels over to private interests.
Our Washington correspondence
says that announcements that the
Mammoth Oil company has
brought in" a gusher of a capacity
estimated at 10000 barrels a day
in the Teapot Dome field of Wyom-
ing will, it is believed, n and
strengthen the demand for a con-
gressional investigation into Sec
rotary of the Interior Falls secret
lease of this valuable naval oil re
serve to a subsidiary Of the Stan
dard Oil company and on terms
which Senator Kendrick (dem.
Wyo.) alleges means a loss of SIS
ooo. 600 to $40, 600, 900 a year to the
government.
An inquiry into Secretary Falls
action in turning the Teapot Dome
field over to private interests and
thus depriving the navy Of its last
publicly owned oil reserve has al
ready been urged in a resolution
! introduced by Senator LaFollette
{rep. Wis., The present repub-
lioan congress has failed to move,
and the resolution, together with
a mass of data supplied by Sena-
tor LaFollette, remains in a pigeon
hole of the senate committee on
public Lands.
In a recent speech, Senator Ken
drick reviewed the whole history
of the Teapot Dome transaction
and presented collateral facts tend
ing to show that the Mammoth
company got its rights on a con-
siderably lower basis than that
upon which other concerns were
able to obtain leases on adjacent
properties.
II want to call the attention OF
the senate to the millions of dol
lars which the government threw
away by the non-competitlve, sec
ret way in which this lease was
awarded" Senator Kendrick said.
Ever since I can remember 1t has
been contrary t. public policy. II
not to law, to sell even a condemn
ed mule on one of our western
military reserves without public
notice and by competitive bidding;
but in this case, with no emergency
existing. and contrary to the long
established policy OF the govern
ment, we find the secretary OF the
interior. with the secretary of the
navy coneurring, and with the APP
Iproval of the president, entering
into q lease in secret. which II
placed on the market at public auc-
ton would have brought millions
of dollars beyond a question OF a
doubt"
Senator Kendrick then showed
that concerns operating wells on
lands adjacent to those in the Tea
pot Dome fields are paying 20 per
cent more than the government re
ceives from the Mammoth COM
pany for a richer deposit. In ad-
dition to royalties these independent
t companies are also paying bonuses
aggregating millions of dollars,
There is every reason to believe
the government threw away from
!: $4,000 600 to 100000 900 in leas-
} ing the Wyoming naval reserve in
the amer it did," Senator Ken
, drick declared.
) What the government threw
away the Mammoth company and
its parent, the Standard Oil com.
!. pany have picked up. The Stan
dard Oil company and the Sinclair
. Oil company, one Of whose Off
l Gals, Harry F. Sinclair, is heav
ily interested in the Mammoth
, company, are building the Teapot
Dome pipe line, 300 miles long, al
a cost Of $15,00o,00o.
rnll,,y;no Senator Kefhdrick's