The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1924-03-21

EDWARD B. MCLEAN, the Wash
~ ington newspaper publisher, ap-
peared before the Teapot Dome COM
mittee and admitted that at Falls re-
quest he had previously misrepresent-
ed the circumstances of the famous
100000 loan His testimony may be
thus summarized:
i Fall, in November, 1921. asked him
for a loan OF 100000 to buy ranch.
,He gave Fall two checks for this
amount, but Fall returned them un-
cashed. Two years later. in Decem-
Der, 1928, Fall, a sick man under in
yestigation, called Mclean to Atlantic
City and asked him to make public
statement to the effect that he had
furnished the 100000, making it APP
pear that the checks had actually been
cashed. He agreed on Falls assur-
ance that he had not obtained the
money from Sinclair or from any con-
nection with the Teapot Dome. Later.
when disclosures before the senate
committee began to arouse his suspi-
cions he told Fall he was going to
tell the truth and did SO to Senator,
Walsh when Walsh went to Miami In
January. He agreed 1t would have
been better for all concerned II the
truth had been told in the beginning.
McLean's story minimized the i'm
portance Of the mass of kilograms that
passed between Washington and his
place In Palm Beach. and he scoffed
ut the rumor of o million dollar slush
fund.
Senator Lenroot Of Wisconsin re-
signed as chairman and member Of
the oil lease investigating committee
because Of i'll health. He was sue
ceeded by Senator Ladd Of North Da-
kota, one of the LaFollette group.
NUT in Cheyenne, Wyo., the gov
~ ernment's fight for the annulment
of the Teapot Dome lease to Sinclair
and the Mammoth Oil company was
started before Federal District Judge
T. Blake Kennedy. Atlee Pomerene
and Owen G. Roberts were there for
the government, and Sinclair was on
hand with his attorneys, ready, he de-
clared, to fight the governments suit
from hell to breakfast" 1t may be
added that Edward Doheny also says
he is prepared to defend his rights
in any action the government may
bring to cancel oil leases held by him.
ONCE the attorney general declined
- to give the house of representatives
any Information concerning the Grim
inal charges said to have been made
against two congressman before Chi
cago grand jury, the house decided to
investigate the matter and a commit
tee Of Eve, headed by Theodore e..
Burton Of Ohio was named. .Reprei
sentatives Langley Of Kentucky and
Zihlman Of Maryland, who admit they
have been told they are the two men
involved, have vehemently denied any
wrongdoing and have demanded an in
quiry.
MYTH all the investigations under
w taken and contemplated by con-
gress and all the time 1t is wasting in
acrid partisan debate. one wonders
why 1t does not order an inquiry into
its own neglect of pressing public bust
ness There are those, too, who think
there might well be an investigation
of the Influences that induced the
house to pass, last week, the bill au-
thorizing acceptance Of Henry Ford's
offer for Muscle Shoals. Mckenzie of
Illinois introduced the measure and 1t
was adopted by vote Of 227 to ZAP,
party lines being disregarded. Under
the terms Of the bill Ford will obtain
for $5.000,O00 properties that cost near
ly $64.0O0.OOO; he has the right to
lease dams 2 and at Muscle Shoals
and adjacent power stations for 100
years for total rental of nearly $780,
100000; the government is to replace
the Gorgas steam power plant for not
more than the $3.427, 487, for which 1t
sold It to the Alabama Power COM
pany, and sell 1t to Ford along with
nitrate plants and 2 and the Waco
quarry. 1t is not necessary to give
other features of the bill. but 1t may
be stated that the offer Of group of
southern power companies, submitted
in the Hull bill, was in the opinion of
competent authorities much more gen.
erous. Also there is before congress
measure for the starting Of great
superpower project In which Muscle
Shoals would be vital link, and many
eminent engineers and industrial econ
omists are convinced that superpower
| deI a6pment is to be the greatest thing
in country's near future.
: Is no intimation Of undue
| nnd influence used to secure the