Evening star., 1924-02-09
HONESTY PROBABLE
AS CAMPAIGN ISSUE
Taxation and Bonus Over
shadowed by Question of
Clean Government.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Clean government will be the para

BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Clean government will be the para
| mount issue of the 1924 campaign.
| Taxation has been overshadowed.
! The soldier bonus will be disposed of
| by compromise The democrats will
| take the offensive and ask the coun-
| try to return them to power on the
! ground that their record of admins
| tration was not sullied by any misuse
| of power
| The air is full of rumors and every
| where one goes there are whispers all
| tending to incriminate persons of
prominence with a misconception of
! their personal relationship to the po-
sitions they hold. If half the stories
which are being talked about are ever
| brought out under oath before the
Senate investigating committee, the
! sensations of the past three weeks
will be tame compared with the dis
| closures to be made.
Source Of Tips.
| Boiled down to fundamentals the
a., big question is, who in the govern
ment knew ahead of time about the
| making of the oil leases? Who
tipped off friends so that operations in
the stock market might be profitable?
Who in the government is engaged
in stock market speculation based
| upon the acts of the government
Itself? And where shall the line be
drawn between speculation and in
lyeStment?
| The usual tales of the roundabout
efforts of the oil companies 10 gain
| favor are being told, and while no one
lis talking about outright bribery
there are suspicious being expressed
that favors were extended in order
! to bring about a favorable viewpoint
toward the leasing of the oil reserves
! to private interests.
Value of Leases.
! One Of the most perplexing phases
of the controversy is the difference
| of opinion which seems to exist with
reference to the true value of some
| Of the oil leases now under investi
] cation. Responsible persons are max
1 ing the statement that some of the
! leases in question are really of doubt
full value and that the owners know
| it, but, that the latter had to keep on
| making public statements about the
J amount of money expected to be made
| out OF the leases in order to bolster
| up on the stock market the value of
| the stocks OF particular oil compa-
! MES involved. Ii they admitted that
| the leases were without value the
! stocks would tumble. If they admit
| ted that large sums of money would
| be made. the Senate would get the
| impression that the government had
made d contract un1avorable to it
| self.
! Just how much did the oil com
! panicS know ahead of time concern
| ing the making OF the leases? Did
! they gather all outstanding claims
! and arrange a settlement so that the
government would look with more
| favor on the making of a lease or
! did they settle the claims because
! they knew the land was so valuable
! that they could buy out the claimant
at low figure and ultimately make
| more money themselves?
General Leasing Policy.
; AS for the general leasing policy
| this undoubtedly will figure in the
answer to be made by the republi-
cans to the democratic attack. Ger
| tain leases were made under the dem
! ocratic administration. While no one
/ has proved that any democrat re-
! ceiyed money or loans or any other
! favor to make the leases, it is fact
| that private interests did secure
! leases under certain conditions. Were
| these leases wisely made? If not,
! then the republicans can claim that
J both the democrats and the republI-
! cans followed the practice of making
! leases.
| that they made their leases in the
omen and asked for bids. But should
! the governments reserves be leased
| to private interests? One day Presi-
dent Harding, in a conference with
newspaper men, discussed the subject
to some extent. The criticism of the
Teapot Dome lease had begun to de-
velop and there was talk of an in
vestigation by the Senate. Mr.. Hard
! ing declared with vehemence that 1t
was all right to talk about preserv-
! ing the oil for the Navy, but If no
| body would drill the wells there
wouldn't be any oil, and II the LANDS
| vate companies the governments
supply might be drained.
Stand of Harding.
Mr.. Harding never believed in gov
ernment development of it's own oil
| lands. He didn't want the govern
ment to go into the oil business.
| He believed that If the government
entered into a contract with private
| concerns who would find it to their
advantage to invest their money in
drilling operations, both purposes
would be served-the Navy would get
| its oil and the private companies
would make their expenses and re-
| turn on their investment.
| Granting the principle Of this argu-
| ment as sound, the question then turns
I on whether the private companies got
more than their share of the oil and
made a return entirely out of proper
\ tion to the investment they applied.
! And shouldn't the government have
gotten more out of it all? #
! Experts are at odds on these points.
| but the controversy will really turn on
unprejudiced testimony of experts. If
| 1t is proved that the interests of the
government were neglected it will
make the issue of clean government
even more conspicuous in the cam
paign. There are signs cf cleaning al
ready. The administration is probing
itself, making rules for the conduct
of government business based upof the
disclosures made. Clean government
is trite issue, but it will have, con-
crete significance in the 1924 political
campaign. yr
Copyright, 1924) ~
sional committees, in considering such
81 measure might take tn