Evening star., 1928-03-29

from all royalty oil for the benefit Of
the United States" said Senator
Robinson.
IN other words. he expressly asked
for an amendment To the leasing act
which would enable him in his dis
cretion and at his pleasure to take the
naval reserve oil out Of the ground and
do with it what he pleased He asked
for power not only to take II out OF the
grouad, but power TO sell IL. To store it,,
to eXchange It, Why. he even asked for
power in this amendment To so into the
refining business and, as II this were
not SUFFICIENT. he then asked for a blan-
ket authorization TO otherwise dispose
of the oil and gas products in the naval
reserves in whatever way II suited him.
Il was proposal To place In the hands
of one man, the Secretary of the Navy
Ill OF the naval oil reserves of the United
States. 10 be used by him In his diScre-
ton without let or hindrance. without
any check by any governmental author
ity. No one can claim that this propo-
sltion was IN the interests Of conserving
the oil that was in The ground
The Senator from Virginia, Air.
Swanson, supported this amendment.
The Senator from Montana. Mir Walsh,
supported IT, The amendment became
a law through the process OF being at
tached as a rider to the naval appro-
priation bill June 4, 1920 The only
thing Secretary Daniels asked that he
was not given was permission TO so into
the oil-refining business. The power to
handle the oil reserves III his discretion,
either by contract or lease or otherwise.
was conferred upon him. AS for his
claim that he fought every proposition
Ill .s, 80
be taken out by anybody the best that
can be said for 1t is that 1t is not in
accordance with the facts. as shown by
the records OF the Navy Department.
No sooner was the amendment which
he wrote, and which the Democratic
Senators IN this body supported. op-
erativc. than he began To permit tho
NaVv'S oil to be taken out Of the re-
serves by private oil corporations He
did this without advertising for or per-
mitting competitive bids He did Il
merely by holding private conferences
with representatives of private corpora
tionS, Just as the thoroughly diSCredited
Secretary Fall did later. and giving
them leases in the oil reserves. The
records Of the Navy Department indis-
putablv back mp his assertion in case
after case
this became effective June T. $40, Just
nine months before the Democratic ad-
miniStration went out Of power The
records of the Navy Department show
that on July l. 1920 less than month
after he had this power after private
conferences with representatives OF the
Boston Pacific Oil Co they we're given
leases to drill FIVE new wells in Naval
Oil Reserve No , Other leases to pri-
vate companies in this reserve followed
Quickly. so that by the end of nine
months instead of using this power for
the purpose Of keeping oil IN the
ground. and instead of having fought
every proposition 10 permit oil In the
naval reserves To be taken out by any
BODY the records in the Navy Depart
ment show Secretary Daniels had au-
thorized the drilling of SIS wells under
leases TO private oil interests, and, AS
last act Just before the expiration OF
the Wilson administration. Secretary
Daniels. on February is, 1921. leased
$50 acres of oil land on Naval Reserve
No. ? to the Consolidated Mutual on
Co. without any restriction as To the
number of wells it could drill.
The action OF Secretary Daniels has
been defended upon the ground that II
was necessary in order to protect the
interests Of the Government and the
Navy: that the oil in the naval re-
serve territory was being drained by
wells Of private corporations located just
outside the reserves. and. therefore. 1t
was essential that wells be drilled at
once within the naval reserves and the
oil thus recovered be stored or ex-
changed or otherwise disposed OF for
the best interests OF the Government
and the protection Of the Navy. II that
we're true. then the action Of Secretary
Daniels In leasing 5S wells on naval re-
serve No. during the last nine months
Of his administration to private oil in
terests would be defensible. II it were
defensible why did he not admit IL and
issue his defense instead OF assuming
the role Of injured honor and righteous
indignation and proclaiming that ne