Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-12-02
j. 5. NEARLY.
THROUGH IN.
TRIAL

WASHINGTON, Dec. q
(AP)-A new guide post
in the legal wilderness cen
tered on the oil reserve
leasing policies Of tn e
H ard in G administration
administration was reared
in the supreme court of the
District Of Columbia today,
when government counsel
virtually completed their
case in the Fall-Doheny
conspiracy trial.
The defense will pegin presenSa-
tion Of evidence tomorrow after
ten- minute re-examination of Senator
walsh of Montana, the senate oil
committee's prosecutor three years
ago, on technical points for the record.
HALF a dozen witnesses We're call
ed by the prosecution today IN an
effort to establish personal respon-
sibility of former Secretary FAN OF
the interior department for the major
developments in the oil leasing pro-
gram. In every case, the defense, Oh
cross examination, sought the estab-
lish that the intimate contact main
tanned by the navy department with
negotiations involving naval reserves
were such as to render impossible
any collusion between Fall and Ed
ward L. Doheny in the interest of
Doheny's Pan-American Petroleum
company, leasee of the Elk Hills,
Calf, reserve.
A letter from President Harding,
June Z, 1922, to the senate in re-
sponse to a resolution requesting in
formation on the administration leas-
ing policy, was offered by the de-
fense.
Il think it is only fair to say in
this connection" the letter read, that
the policy which has been adopted by
the secretary of the navy and the
secretary of the interior in dealing
with these matters was submitted to
me prior to the adoption thereof,
and the policy decided upon and the
subsequent acts, have at all times
had my entire approval"
Previous evidence by the prosecu-
tion had fixed the date of the Pan
American company's contract for the
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, naval storage
base as April 25, 1922. This contract
gave the Doheny interests 'preferen-
tial rights on such portions of the
California naval reserve as might be-
thereafter opened to leasing.
Theodore Roosevelt, assistant secre-
tary of the navy when Fall was a
member of the cabinet, told the jury
his recommendation that secrecy be
preserved in negotiations for the
Fearl Harbor project was dictated by
national interest, since the plans had
come originally from the navy's war
plans division. He said the recon-
mendation to congress, that the pro-
posals of the war plans division be.
considered in secret committee ses-
sions, was not unusual when prof.
ect of that nature was before either
house.
Roosevelt testified he never had
discussed the leasing policy with
Secretary Denby or Fall prior to-
the conclusion of the Pan-Ameriean
lease. Senator Harreld, of Oklahoma
testified Fall told him on December
Il, 1922, the date of the Elk Hills
lease, that the interior department
''acted only as business agent" fol
the navy in the administration of oil
lands. In response to Harreld's re-
quest for light on the leasing policy,
Fall advised the senator to commu-
nicate with the president.
Edwin Booth solicitor of the In
terror department, under Fall, testl
fled he never had been asked for an
opinion on the legality of the pro-
posed Elk Hills lease.
Representatives of four oil COM
ran;es and of one construction con-
Germ presented correspondence with
the interior department protesting
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