The Washington times., 1924-01-24
Talk of ITnpeaching
Fall for Leases He Gave
Of u. S. Oil Lands
BY JUk1N i. hAM6EkSI ,
CosYnOpolitan News service.


A motion to impeach former Sec.
rotary Of the Interior Albert B. Fall
may result from the disclosures at
tending his lease of Teapot Dome
and the other navy oil reserves to
the Sinclair and Doheny oil inter-
6sts.
Legal experts, now at work on
the case, agree that q man can be
impeached from public office
which he has vacated. There are
no precedents but plenty Of law ON
the subject. they say.
The impeachment process was in
tended to cover the case Of any man
whose grave crimes might be un-
covered after he had left the public
service. 1t was intended, too, to
surround any public servant guilty
Of Injurious practices which might
not be crime-tainted. Its prime in
tent was to leave in the public's
hands q brush with which to smear
the record of Q faithless servant.
Started BY La Toilette.
II impeachment should visit Mr..
Hall, he would be stripped Of citi-
zenship and lose both his right to
vote and hold office again.
Senator La Toilette started the in.
veatisation Of Teapot Dome in 1922.
He was then in communication with
former Secretary Of the Navy
Daniels, who was "astounded" that
even his political enemies would
dare attempt to create the impress
sion that he favored the lease Of
any of the oil reserves.
Secretary Daniels declared that he
and Assistant Secretary OF the Navy
Franklin D. Roosevelt remained at
the Capitol all night watching the
legislation Of the closing hours, fear.
ing that some act might be passed
that would turn over these invalua-
BILE oil reserves to parties who made
claim to them without even decent
shadow Of title"
Daniels Words Recalled.
Daniels said that for ten years
private interests had been seeking to
get hold of the oil lands for private
exploitation.
"You may be interested in know.
Ing" he wrote, that when / first
looked into this matter found the
claims on the navy oil reserves were
asked for in the names Of parties
working in the stockyards in Chi
cago, who, upon inquiry, declared
that they had never made applica-
ton for the oil lands and the appli-
cations bearing their names were in
fact signatures that they made in
Chicago aupposing that they were
Signing a petition for an election.
Many Of these applications were
grossly fraudulent and nearly all Of
them were made after President Taft
set the reserves apart for the uses
Of the navy"
II devoted many hours while I
was IN Office" he wrote, "and some
OF them very strenuous ones. In an
EFFORT to preserve intact the oil re-
serves that had been set aside for
the navy. To the very last days Of
my administration opposed all the
suggestions toward the leasing of
those oil reserves set apart by Presi.
dent Taft and President Wilson.
Many After Property.
The persistent attempt to lease
these lands began in 1918 and were
kept up until my term of office ex-
pired. II was q battle during nv
entire term and was happy upon
retirement to private life that the
Navy Department, aided by Attor.
ney General Gregory and Secretary
OF the Interior Paine, blocked the
insidious propaganda to exploit these
reserves.
TN 1913, the navy, after confer.
ence with the Department of the
Interior, decided upon the policy az
building all naval ships as oil burn.
ers. The experiences of the war
demonstrated the wisdom Of the
course. In my judgment, not one
acre Of the naval reserve should be
leased and Congress should set q,
face OF flint against the present OK.
Dlnita fiona ~