Evening star., 1941-08-29

arrangement whereby the pipe line
could obtain sufficient steel without
harming the shipbuilding program.
Before Admiral Lands testimony,
Chairman Maloney of the Senate
Commerce Committee investigating
the East Coast Oil shortage declared
he did not believe the gasoline sit
uation to be serious, but that an i'm
n1inent scarcity of bunker oil, used
by utility and manufacturing plants,
was serious Senator Maloney made
the statement in commenting on
testimony yesterday of Ralph K.
Davies, acting petroleum co-ordina-
tor, who was the first witness heard
by the committee.
Shortage Called Magnified.
The so-called oil shortage, Chair
man Maloney said, had been mag
nified in the minds of the people.
He voiced the belief that some Gov
eminent agencies may have unwit-
tngly contributed to that fear"
Admiral Land, in beginning his
testimony, attributed to Adolf Hitler
and legislation enacted by Congress,
particularly the lease-lend measure.
the current scarcity Of fuel oil and
gasoline in the Atlantic seaboard
area.
Admiral Land pointed out that
under the Lease-Lend Act oil tankers
had been diverted from their normal
service. and predicted that continued
diversion of such ships for emer-
gency use might lead to a shortage
of petroleum products on the West
Coast similar to that on the East
earn Seaboard.
139 New Tankers Coming.
He explained, however, that 139
new and modern tankers are either
under construction or have been
contracted for, and that Is of them
enough to bring to the East Coast
all the oil formerly transported by
the so old tankers diverted for other
use-are scheduled for delivery in
April.
IF we can deliver these Is modern
tankers by April" said Admiral
Land, that is the answer to the oil
shortage. Because of their speed
and increased capacity, they will be
equal to the so old ones. But I do
not know whether they will be used
in the East Coast service"
Of the 139 new tankers he said 81
have been ordered by the Maritime
Commission and 50 by private firms.
Lease-lend Laws Cited.
When Admiral Land took the wit
ness stand, Chairman Maloney
greeted him with this statement: {:
Tell us all you can, Admiral, and
what you feel we ought to know,
about the oil shortage and trans
portation. I appreciate, that be-
cause of the defense situation. you
cannot tell us for the record all the
the things We need to know. If so
we will have an executive session
afterward."
Without hesitation, the Admiral
responded:
II am under the impression that
the shortage is caused by a pseudo
gentleman by the name of Hitler
and further by laws enacted by
Congress which has resulted in the
diversion of tankers to defense
work"
Pressed by Chairman Maloney for
specific laws enacted by Congress,
the admiral declared:
The lease-lend bill and other
acts which indicate we should 20
along and carry out the laws and
administration policies"
BIames Nobody.
You don't think that Congress
IN passing the lease-lend bill had
any intention to place an unneces-
sary penalty on anybody" asked
Chairman Maloney. You wouldn't
blame Congress for the shortage of
oil in the East?"
Il am not blaming anybody" he
answered.
Several times during his testimony,
Admiral Land appeared reluctant to
answer some of the pertinent ques-
tions fired at him by Chairman Ma
loney and Senator Burton, Repub-
lican, of Ohio.
Senator Malonev agreed to Skip"
those questions, after Admiral Land
declared:
Il understand my job is to serve
my Government or get the hell out.
I obey orders and don't make
policies"
World Figures on Tankers.
Admiral Land revealed that no
American-owne tankers had been
used to carry oil to Germany, Italy
or Japan since 1910.
He also disclosed that there are
.535 tankers in the world, having
a deadweight tonnage of 5000 900,
of which the democracies have 49,
100000 tons and the Axis powers
:, 400 900.
The shipping and oil industries,
the admiral said, have been very
cooperative" throughout the emer-
sency, but, he added, there are al
ways some recalcitrant people" So
far, however, he explained, the COM
mission had been forced in only one
instance to requisition a ship.
II am wondering if the oil COM
panies didn't respond too quickly to
the situation, maybe to the point
of endangering the defense pro-
gram" remarked Chairman Ma
loney. Il am wondering if it would
not have been wiser and better
served our defense program and aid
to Britain if they had delayed for
several more days and not put our
defense program in jeopardy"
My answer to that" said Ad-
miral Land, is that the companies