Evening star., 1942-12-01
Mr.. Ickes Defends
Administrative Policy
Petroleum Co-ordinutor
Answers 'Corpine' Criticism
Of Management Of Fuel Oil
To the Editor of The Star:

There have been such frequent mis-
| understandings with respect to the petro-
| leum situation so many bizarre facts"
| in circulation, to say nothing of in
| stances Of what can only be described
as gross misrepresentation, that one
| would think that any reputable news
| paper-and certainly yours is such
! would think twice before printing such
an article as that of Owen L. Scott
| in your Sunday, November %, issue. 1
| will 60 further and suggest that, in view
| of all of the circumstances, Mr.. Scott
| might even have made an attempt to
| check certain of his facts" with those
| in a position to know how accurate they
were. If he did this, the responsible
officials in the petroleum co-ordinators
| office are not aware of it.
1t isn't right needlessly to keep stirring
| peoples apprehensions, especially in the
| matter of fuel Oil for home heating. 1t
| simply isn't true that industry has been
| permitted to horde large amounts of fuel
| OIL 1t simply isn't true that the Army
| and the Navy have been permitted to
| accumulate stocks that may or may not
| be larger than absolutely necessary"
| Neither is it true that the flow of gaso-
| line into the East has been permitted to
| continue at level that may be larger
than absolutely necessary; for that flow
| has been vigilantly watched and reduc-
| tlons recommended as they appeared
| possible. These three items add up in
| Mr.. SCOTS horoscope, to mean that mil
! lions of families are going to be cold
| this winter"
These are reckless and mischievous
| statements. From the very beginning l
! have believed in telling the people the
truth, however unpalatabe it might be,
and l have done SO.
Not only has industry not been per-
mitted Ito horde large amounts of fuel
| Oil, the fact is that the policy of this Of
| flee has been to require industries, under
compulslon If need be, to convert from
| the use OF oil to the use Of coal Our ef-
forts have resulted to date in the saving
from this source alone of fuel oil at the
rate of 32,300,000 barrels per year.
The amount of fuel oil that has gone
| to the Army and the Navy cannot be dis
closed, but I can say that, with the big
naval and military operations on now in
North Africa and Guadalcanal, 1 wish
that 1t were true, as Mr.. Scott so airily
| suggests, that We have permitted the
armed forces to accumulate large stocks,
They certainly have not been too large
| Surely your columnist does not suggest
| that the Army and Navy should have to
! be run on dangerous hand-to- mouth
basis. Unless the Army and Navy had
enough stocks on hand or in prospect
| the North African undertaking would
| not have been justified and We would not
| now be helping the British there to
| chase Hitler back across the Mediter-
ranean. I assure the American people
| that the Army and Navy are not over
| stocked. I could rid myself of some of
my anxieties if they were.
The position of this Office. for many
months, has been that, unless we ran
| into unforeseeable difficulties, we were
safe in predicting that it would be pos
! Sible to deliver for house heating pur-
poses IS per cent of the fuel oil nor
mally required. We still think that this
| Is possible, although the necessary drain
| upon East Coast supplies, due to the
| North African operation, will cause
| tight squeeze. And unfortunately, thou
sands of householders who will TN
| doubtedly criticize the Government if
| they are cold, have not converted to
coal burning when they could do so.
| To the degree that they have not done
|
| sponsible If we cannot deliver up to
the rs per cent that we still keep as
our goal.
| Mr.. SCOTS statement that "this situ-
alton need not have been permitted to
develop in its present critical form" is
true; but why doesn't he put the blame
where it belongs? Frankly, to a con-
siderable extent, 1t falls upon the news
papers of the country-not particularly
| The Star, which, on the whole has been
| careful and conservative in its state
ments-than upon any other institution
I would remind Mr.. Scott that about
| II months ago I began to insist upon
the building of a 24inch pipeline from
East Texas to the New York -Philadel-
phia area. I didn't ask this merely to
make a nuisance of myself. I wanted it
because I foresaw even then that, SOON
er or later, we would have difficulty in
| getting in enough fuel oil to keep our
homes warm. If that pipeline had been
started when I asked for it, beginning
with last April l, it would have been
| bringing 100000 barrels of crude oil
day into the East Coast States and
| there would not be any heating oil
crisis this winter. If the newspapers
had not been SO busy bawling me out
but had supported me in my efforts to
get this pipeline, Mr.. Scott would not
have been in a position to make the
criticism, which, although valid enough
as general statement, does not apply
to the Office of Petroleum Co-ordinator.
In this column we find the usual cliche
about internal struggles for personal
| power between high officials" 1, as
petroleum Gar it would appear. am
engaged in an internecine life-and-death
struggle for power, and have evinced no
interest in the civilian consumer. I Won
der what Mr.. Scott thinks that I have
been doing since May of 1941 if I haven't
been working for the consumer-both
the armed forces and the civilian? I
didn't want this pipeline as a personal
| plaything. We did succeed, with the
ready help of the railroads and oil COM
| panes, in bringing in petroleum products
IN the amount of aDDroyim telv Q0o mn