The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-01-28
steps would be taken unless he is ''in dicted for an extraditable crime"
 Resources Are Exploited

steps would be taken unless he IS ''ln- dicted for an extraditable crime"
 Resources Are Exploited
 Because of technicalities which the Secretary of the Navy could not understand, the public now understands too well that private exploiters have come into possession of at least a quar- ter of billion barrels of government oil," Senator Capper, republican, Kan sas, said in a statement tonight an- nouncing his support of resolutions to cancel naval oil leases.
 President Coolidge's announcement that he would have instituted court proceedings where necessary was in dorsed by Senator Capper, who said the affair should rise 'above concerns of party expediency," and that none guilty of breach of public trust will escape"
 Aside from the scandalous inference of the teapot dome affair, said the Kansas senator; aside from the grave suspicious of criminal turpitude to which it gives rise and the evidence of gross neglect of official duty and indif- ference to the public interest which it vealed the fact that 37,000 acres of California and $500 acres of Wyoming oil lands, reserved to supply our flu ture naval needs, have been turned over to private exploitation.
 Bold Attack On Police Defenders of deliberate alienation of government oil reserves, which is a bold attack on governmental policy of conservation of national resources ex- plain that the leases of the reserves were made necessary becuase oil fields adjacent were being developed and that if the government acreage were not distributed, oil would drain into pri- vate wells.
 This is an explanation that doesn't explain, it doesn't explain the fact that the leases were made without public advertising for bids. It doesn't ex- plain the negligence of the Secretary of the Navy who testified before the committee that he signed the leases without understanding what he signed because they were too technical"
 ''This does not explain the astonish- ing stories of Edward Doheny, the multimillionaire oil magnate, and Col onel Zevely, private attorney for Mir. Sinclair, regarding loans of $125,000 to former Secretary of the Interior Fall. This explanation does not ex- plain the story of Archie Roosevelt. wherein he told the committee that Sinclair's secretary had told him that Falls ranch foreman had been given $6S,000 of Sinclair's money.
 Because of the 'technicalities' the Secretary of the Navy could not un- derstand, the public now understands too well that private exploiters have come into possession of at least a quar- ter of a billion barrels of government oil.
 II shall support a resolution direct ing the proper agency of the govern ment to proceed at once to void these leases and to recover this alienated public domain-this great store of oil upon which our national safety may depend. and that evidence of criminal guilt by relentlessly and unsparingly prospecuted no matter who it may in volve."
 Before taking up his uninterrupted study of the senate disclosure on the i Mayflower, President Coolidge directed the interior department to give him ex. pert advice as to the wisdom of the policy of leasing the naval reserves car. ried out under the administration of Albert B. Fall, as Secretary of the In terior. There were intimations at the White House that upon receipt of this information and report of the result of an investigation the department oi | justice the executive issue statement outlining the administration.
 Made Decision Known Immediately
 The study made by the President aboard the Mayflower was said by White House officers to have convinced l hot ioia C., immediate action an that, having reached this decision, he immediately made it known to the country.
 Much of the decision at the White House, after the Mayflower trip, was said to have evolved around the selec tion of special counsel. Those known tC have been considered included were John w. Davis, former ambassador tC Great Britain; Sherman A. Whipple oi Boston and John Barton Payne, former Secretary of the Interior, democrats and Elihu Root, George Wickersham former Attorney General; C. A. Sev erance. of St. Paul. former president of the American Bar Association ant Charles E. Warren, former ambassador to Japan, republicans, Mir. Payne anC Mir. Warren were elected by President Harding to negotiate the claims con ventions with Mexico.
 To Announce Names Today
 While it was said that no invitations had yet gone out to any of those con sidered, the statement was made that the President expected to announce tho selections tomorrow. The two men SC lected will work independently of the department of justice, but will have the cooperation of that and all other gov ernment agencies necessary for tho prosecution of any suits, evil or crimi nal. .
 White Hous' officials stressed that there has been the closest cooperation