Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1924-04-12
WHAT RECORDS PROVE
ON JOSEPHUS DANIELS.

the country early This month, J0Sepnus
DanleiS, former secretary OIL the Navy
says: My policy was, ana always Wih
be, TO keep the OH III the ground Wnere
II belongs Tor naval emergency. let
it be known l woulu not consider IedS-
ing.
tortunately, in the interest oil truth
the puDlie does not have ~ reiy upon
the statements OF Josephus Daniels. Al
though in nearly every department. oil
the Ieaeral government Dehocrdt-c
officials an demplOyeS destroyed count
less records before they lett onlce,-ih
some cases to hide their crlmlhallty
and thwart prOsecutlon-and although
still other records have since been Sc
questered by Democratic su0ordlnates
protected by civil service, there re-
mains in the files of the Navy depart
ment documentary PROOF that Josepnus
Daniels actually did everything IN con
necLion with leasing naval oil reserves
that he has recently been denying.
In response to a recent inquiry or the
House of Representatives as TO the
facts in connection with the leasing
OF naval oil reserves, Secretary, DENLY
SSUI 10 lnc I1OQSS liS NNSoAAANNA~N~~s
evidence contained in the files Of the
Navy department. These documents
speak for themselves. They are not
the opinion" of Secretary DENLY any
more than they are the statements
of former Secretary Daniels. They are
the record final, indisputable, irrefut-
able.
They give the lie to his signed state
ment that his policy always was TO
keep oil in the ground. The proof is
found in the fact that he, on
March 5, 1920, wrote to the chairmen
of the naval committees in both houses
of Congress asking for practically I'M
limited power to take oil out of the
ground in the naval reserves and to do
it through the process of leasing. AS
Secretary DENLY pointed out in his re-
ply to the House Of Representatives, II
it had been the policy of former Secre
tary Daniels to keep the oil in the
ground he did not need any legislation
to accomplish that purpose.
The language of the amendment to
the leasing act which Daniels proposed
admits of no double meaning. He wrote
it, and he asked power to develop
and operate the naval oil reserves
Both of these words clearly mean tax
ing oil out of the ground, otherwise the
reserves could neither be developed
nor operated.
He asked for power to do this direct
ly, or by contract, lease or otherwise
which gives the lie to his statement
that he let 1t be known that he would
not consider leasing.
He asked for power to store oil
taken from the naval reserves, to Eek
change" it, to "sell" it. He even asked
for power to go into the oil refining
business, and, not satisfied with all
this, he asked for blanket power to
otherwise dispose of the oil and gas
products thereof" Nobody but a fool
would argue that he intended to keep
the oil in the ground when he asked
for such wide powers to take it out,
.Astore it, exchange it, refine 1T ana
otherwise dispose Of it.
1t is not even approaching the truth
for Mr.. Daniels to state he let it be
known he would not consider leasing
To the contrary, as the records submit
ted to the House of Representatives by
Mr.. DENLY showed, Mr.. Daniels no
sooner got power to lease the naval oil
reserves than they began to be LEASED
Nor were these leases confined to wells
already in operation. Leases were
made to drill new wells. At least one
the Consolidated Mutual Oil company
.ease-was without restriction as to
the number of wells it might drill.
Nor is that all the records Of the
Navy department show. Secretary Dan
iels had at that time absolute charge
of the naval oil reserves, just as Secre
tary DENLY had absolute charge OF
them. Secretary DENLY has been de-
nounced on the floor of the S nate oy
Democratic leaders and in the Demo
cratic newspapers and in publicity is
sued by the Democratic nation'l COM
mittee because he transferred his au-
thority to lease naval oil reserves to
Secretary Fall. He did this after hav-
ing received an order from President
Harding to do So
Yet Secretary Daniels did exactly
the same thing. He transferred to Sec
rotary of the Interior John Barton
Payne the right to make leases in
naval oil reserves and he did so with
out even the formality of president
ial order.
If the transfer of his power to Secre
tary Fall stigmatizes Secretary DENLY
as Democratic leaders and press claim
then Secretary Daniels is place. under
actly the same thing druing his admin
actly the same thing druing his admin
istration.
Nor is that the end of the story. In
letting the leases to the naval oil re-
serves in California, neither Secretary
Daniels nor Secretary Payne advertised
for bids or invited any competition.
The leases were made secretly In strik
ing contrast to this was the action 4
the Republican administration in max
ing leases to the oil reserves in Cali
fornia and wyoming. For. as Secretary
DENLY informed the House and accom-
ranied his information with copies OF
the documents ETC.. three companies
were invited to bid for the Teapot
Dome reserves and five were asked &c
bid for leases on the California naval
reserves.
These are the facts concerning tho
record of Josephus Daniels while ne
was Secretary Of the Navy, all proved
by official records of the Navy Depart