Evening star., 1942-08-07
THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON D. FRIDAY
Parish Calls Charges
OF Starnes a Smear
On Standard Oil
Hits Airing Of Reckless
Accusations at Hearing
In Telegram to Bone
By the Associated Press.

Declaring his company was being
made the object of vicious smear
campaign" William S. Parish. presi-
dent of the Standard Oil Co. Of New
Jersey, today contradicted what he
called reckless assertions made
before the Senate Patents Commit
tee by c. r. Starnes, Texas oil
operator.
Mr.. Starnes testified Wednesday
that he had been blocked at every
turn in his efforts to produce syn
thetic rubber. blocked by Standard
of New Jersey and men who are
afnliated with and Influenced by
the Standard Oil"
Mr.. Parish, in a telegram to
Chairman Bone, said he was at loss
to understand why the committee
head permitted his group to be used
as a sounding board for reckless,
unsupported accusations.
The charges involving Standard
Oil Co. OF New Jersey also cast doubt
on the loyalty, the patriotism and
the motives of many persons in key
positions in the Government and in
many private companies not con-
nected with Standard" Mr.. Parish
said.
Rebuts Texas Co. Charge.
"An example OF the glaring false
hoods and Misrepresentation in
yesterdays testimony. which your
counsel must have failed to explore
or to verify. includes the charge
that Standard Oil Co. of New Jer-
sey now owns enough stock IN the
Texas Co. to control it. There is
no corporate relationship whatever
between our company and the Texas
Co.
II also wish to contradict hatly
Mr.. C. r. Starnes' reckless asser-
tions that my company is in any
way denying him license or with
holding information on the manu.
facture Of butyl rubber or fiexon."
"Mr. Starnes formally applied to
my company for information on the
manufacture Of butyl rubber on
July g." said Mr.. Parish. I'VE sent
him on July 8 all Of the informa-
ton which we could supply with
out violation of Government secrecy
orders. At the same time we offered
him an emergency form Of license,
as this was exactly what he asked
for. Although We sent him = free
license, In accordance with our pub
lie offer Of March 10, 1912, Mr.
Starnes has been objecting for the
last three weeks to the form and
scope Of this license. Typical Of his
attitude was his complaint that the
license offered was limited to the
United States, its territories and 1t.
possessions.
Called Abuse Of Privilege.
Like all Americans We want to
get on with this war. We have
hesitated to contribute in any way
to prolong public controversy anc
name calling. But the abuses ol
democratic privilege and procedures
which occurred at yesterdays hear
ing, must be promptly and openly
branded for what they are or We
shall be In danger of losing the
very things this Nstion Is fighting
for"
Mr.. Parish said "the most Sian.
derous statements" given the COM
mittee by Mr.. Starnes were tori
from the press release, and thesa
mutilated copies were actually dis
tributed to the press In your COM
mittee room by your own commit
tee counsel. Your counsel car
hardly plead that he was unaware
of the wild and scurrilous nature
Of the statements the witness wa
going to make.
THE circumstances Of the wit
ness appearance are peculiar. Ever
though you personally stated that
he had appeared on his own initia-
tive it is a singular coincidence that
the testimony OF this man wa.
presented on the identical mimeo-
graphed setup As had been the tes-
timony of previous witnesses, pre-
sented under the committees spon-
sorship."