Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-02-07
NEWS REvIEW0 OF
CURRENT EVENTS
Coolidge Acts in Oil Lease
Scandal, and Clamor in
the Senate Continues.
BY EDWARD w. PIckARD

BY EDWARD w. PlcKARD
MOVING with characteristic DELHI
4vA GRAFTON, sure-footedly and refus-
ing to be stampeded by the clamor of
politicians, President Coolidge has TAX
en- the steps he considers wise and
necessary in the naval oil reserve
lease cases. He has appointed two
eminent lawyers, a Republican and
Democrat, as special counsellors to
conduct the prosecutions, and his only
Instructions to theIs are ITO prosecute
these cases in the courts so that If
there is any guilt 1t will be punished !;
If there is any civil liability it will
be enforced; If there is any fraud it
will be revealed, and if there are any
contracts which are illegal they will
be cancelled" The councillors appoint
ed are Silas FL. Strawn of Chicago and
Thomas W. Gregory of Texas, who
was attorney general in President Will
sons cabinet.
To the unbiased mind 1t would seem
that this action Of the President should
be enough to insure a just determine
ton Of the whole unsavory mess. But
the opponents of the administration
without and within the Republican par
ty, are insistent on obtaining all the
political advantage possible from the
scandal, and this is understandable,
whether or not it is a worthy course.
All through the week the sessions of
the senate were given over to fiery
speeches, most Of them denouncing the
administration and demanding the res
ignations Of Secretary of the Navy
DENLY and Attorney General Daugher-
ty, some of them defending the Presi-
dent and the cabinet officers named,
but not the oil leases The house, too,
had its share of the storm. On Thurs
day the senate adopted joint resolu-
ton providing for the canceling of
both the Teapot Dome lease held by
Harry Sinclair and the naval reserve
No. / lease held by Edward Doheny.
The Democrats, who had the support
of the insurgent Republicans, then
brought UP a resolution by Senator
Robinson Of Arkansas, requesting the
President to call for the designations
Of Secretary DENLY and Mr.. Daugner-
ty,s and it was more than intimated
that there would be move to i'm
peach those two cabinet members il
they refused to step down. Mr. Daugh-
erty is in Florida because of the ill
ness of his wife, and his friends say
he has no intention of resigning. Mr..
DENLY, holly asserting that his slate
and that of the Navy department were
absolutely clean, declared he had not
resigned and would not resign.
The Republican counter attack came
when Doneny was recalled before the
committee Friday and testified that
! his company employed William G..
McAdoo after he left the Wilson cab
| met. to represent it's interests in Mex
! leo. and that it still employs him. 1t
has paid McAdoo a total of about
S250OOO, said .Doheny. He also testi-
1 fed that he employed the late Frank
lin K. Lane, former secretary OF the
! interior, at a salary of $4,000 a year,
/ and that he believed a banking con-
u
Germ in which he is partner had
EMPLOYED former Secretary of War
Lindley M Garrison Once, he said,
he paid George Creel, $4,000 to try
to induce Secretary Daniels to lease
the Teapot Dome field, but he failed.
Doheny said that in his opinion
Daniels was protecting the Standard
Oil company which was drilling along
the border of the naval reserves.
It was said in Washington that these
revelations would greatly injure
McAdoo's chances for the presidential
nomination. He issued a statement
from Los Angeles defending his en-
ployment by the Doheny companies
and demanding hearing by the com
4 mittee.
Albert B. Fall, central figure of the
scandal, was in state OF nervous
/ collapse in Washington and unable te
anpear before the senate committee
according to the statements OF his
three physicians. The committee sent
other doctors to examine Fall and they