The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1924-02-15

Wllu long contract Tor eUJlIe DlOUuC-
ton of Midwest Oil Co. and its sub
salaries and many others operating
in all Wyoming districts. Passage
means Standard Oil control of west
en oil production. Honest investiga-
ton under Phipps resolutions will
tell story. Time permitting could
furnish petition against passage with
thousands of signers Standard Oil
legislation as popular in Colorado and
West as smallpox.
erred w. Parks"
La Toilette Trails Lobby.
Mr.. I.aFollette in answer to Mr..
Walsh's question as to why the bill
was considered a Standard Oil meas
ure. said, on page 4741 of the Con-
gressional Record:
''Mr. President, | should be glad to
have any senator here stand up on the
floor Of the senate and say whether
any of the numerous representatives
of Standard Oil who are about the
senate chamber and in the galleries
have solicited the opposition Of any
senator to the passage of this bill.
think that might shed a little light
on it. They are here. There is not
any doubt about that"
To this Senator Smoot of Utah re-
piled:
"Mr President, as chairman of the
public lands committee | will say that
as far as l know no person interested
in the Standard Oil company in any
way has either asked for the legisla-
ton or protested against it. l will
say that they have never done it so
far as | am personally concerned"
Senator LaFollette's argument was
that the bill was Sc framed that the
Standard Oil company was satisfied
with it, and expected to secure large
benefits through it.
Senator Walsh, on page 4770 of the
/ Congressional Record, speaking to the
amendment offered by Senator LaFOl-
! lette to cut cut the naval oil reserves
/ from the leasing bill, said:
"Mr. President. the section of the
bill to which the motion now pending
/ is directed contains a provision with
relation to naval reserve"
Discussing the testimony Of experts
and the opinions of others upon the
question of whether or not the naval
oil reserves would be drained by wells
inside and outside their boundaries,
Senator Walsh lines up with Mr.
| DOheny in the view that there was
danger of such drainage. Senator
Phelan had been quoted by Senator
Walsh as favcring the view that the
wells would be so drained. An engi-
neer named Latham opposed that
view, Senator LaFOllette had attacked
Phelan as an agent Of Standard Oil,
| The Congressional Record, page 407O,
quotes Senator Walsh as follows, and
it will me observed that the Montana
senator agrees. in this matter, not
only with DOheny, but with Fall and
Secretary of the Navy DENLY:
DOheny Uninterested, Says Walsh.
81 attach very great Importance to
the testimony of Mr.. A. l.. Dohenv to
the same affect. It is well known that
Mr.. DOheny is one of the most extern
sive and one of the most successful
OIL prOspectOrs and operators in the
world. 1t appears that he has no
interest whatever in any Of the prop
cry within thenaval reserve or in
any of the withdrawal areas, and that
he has no interest in any of the lands
that would be patented. He does,
however, own profitable and produc-
ing oil wells throughout the state Of
California. If he has any interest in
the bill at all of an individual or per-
sonal character it would be to see the
bill killed, because thus the volume
of oil would be restricted and limited,
If not reduced. and the value of his
product would be proportionately in
creased. l can net believe, however.
that he is influenced either one wav
or the other by that consideration; but
he tells us, after his long experience
as an oil prospector and an opera
tor IN oil, the fact is that the wells
which now exist upon the reserves
are continually draining the supply OF
oil and reducing the oil pressure, and
he ventured the opinion that in 10
years the gas pressure would be so
lar reduced as to make it next to i'm
4 possible to extract any further oil
from the reserves.
In that situation of affairs. Mr..
President, it occurs to me that the
committee has acted wisely in prcvid-
ing that the wells already upon the
naval reserves should be leased and
that the president should have the an
thonty to direct other wells whenever
IN his judgment it became necessary
I i
not believe, therefore. that those. pro
visions of the bill are open to any SER
ious objection"
DOheny Sidesteps Walsh.
1t will be observed that in this
statement Senator Walsh is eff the
opinion that Mr.. Doheny had no in
terest in the naval oil reserves. tits
apparent his judgment of Mr.. Do
heny's future activities did not en-
brace the probability that Mr.. Dohenv
would get lease of the naval ell re-
serves from which he would confident
ly expect to make S100,O00,OO0. as Mr..
Doheny lately testified was the case.
Manifestly Mr.. Doheny kept his plans
relative to the Teapot Dome and The
Elk Hills naval oil reserves from his
friend, Senator Walsh. Still. he
went so far as to express the opinion
that the reserves would be drained
II allowed to stand, by non-govern-
ment wells. which position favored
their inclusion in the leasing bill, ev-