Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-02-16
MARION STAR SOLD
|. At VERY LOW PRICE,
|. LAWRENCE ASSERTS
Charges of Oil Money in
Transaction Made by
Harding, Called Absurd
Spikes Other Rumors
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
(Leased Wire Service to The Journal.)
LCopyrjcht 1924


Copyright, 1924
WASHINGTON. Feb. 16.-Rumor,
unverified and unsponsored, has
broken through the restraints Of eau
ton and the name Of the late Pres
ident Harding has been dragged into
| the implications of tie Teapot Dome
oil controversy.
For weeks there has been gossip
which knew no bounds. But WASH
.ngton is accustomed to gossip. The
amazing thing is that anyone telt
prompted to make a public speech
rep eating the gossip. Even senator's
and members Of the house who had
! heard The gossip did not think
enough OF 1t to make a public state
ment and the reason was simple
| they had no proof.
The writer happens to be in po-
sition to state some OF the clrcum-
stances surrounding the appraisal in
President Harding's mind of the
worth of his newspaper property, the
Marion Star. 1t was during the lat
ter part of January of last year that
the writer spent an evening In the
White House talking with Mr.. Hard
| ing on the prohibition question, OBJ
tanning material for a series Of ar
ticles on that subject. When the
discussion was concluded, the con-
versation fell naturally to newspa-
pers and their development. Mr..
Harding was feeling quite happy
over the progress the Marion Star
had made. He said he had received
| inquiries as to whether he would sell
it and he remarked that he might
accept lone of these days"
"Why, the Marion Star made
! 900 last year." said Mr.. Harding,
with pride. Pretty good, isn't it for
a little newspaper
Was Worth S6G0,0O0
The writer agreed with Mr.. Hard
ing, that the Marion Star was pro-
4 crossing and then the president
asked what the witer thought the
property was worth. On the basis
Of earnings of $4,000 year the re-
ply given was that the property was
certainly worth in the neighborhood
OF 100000, inasmuch as 10 per cent
| was considered an average earning.
When six months later the Marion
/ Star was sold and rumor had it that
/, the price was 100000 the writer was
not surprised. But it turns out that
| the purchase price was $3SO,O00.
| Any business man can figure OUT
| for himself whether an exaggerated
| price was paid for the property on
| the basis of it's previous earnings.
The differences that have been
drawn from the rumors about the
supposedly high price paid for the
newspaper are unwarrantcd. The
| charges that somehow oil money
| found it's way into the transactions
are absurd. Mr.. Harding knew the
prospective purchasers-they were
not in the oil business but in the
| newspaper business. That was theif
chief preoccupation. He wanted to
| make sure the paper. would remain
| in Republican hands and the sale
to his friends made that a cer-
| tainty.
Frank Vanderlip's speech repeat
ing gossip he had heard in Wash
| ington naturally has stirred the ma.
| tional capital but what few people
| can understand is why Mr.. Wander
lip, who admits he had no proof,
went ahead ard, made a speech
about gossip.
Spikes Other RumOrs
The incident will have this effect
it will make everyone who has Il
| nearsay accusation in his system
keep it there. Other high officials
besides Mr.. Harding have been men
toned in the gossip. The main line
| Of rumor is that these officials knew
about the Gil leases in advance and
Speculated in oil stocks. Another
line of rumor is that some of the
men who made the leases purposely
made the conditions so beneficial to
the government and disadVan-
taSeous to themselves that no other
concerns would bid and then wnen
the leases were made they are al
legged to have represented to the
prospective purchasers of stock that
the leases were worth more than
they really were. If that is true, the
leases may turn out to nave been
advantage to the government
after all and the irregularity NAV
lie in the manipulation of the leases
after the contracts were made.
This is but an example of the
tangle in which the whole thing is
enveloped and indicates more than
ever the necessity for a suspension
of judgment till facts--not gossip
arc disclosed.