Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1942-04-16
rM63lAaq@a
E!3QlR{ {! 2: j2g!|yI!}
Washington, d. C.
STANDARD OIL LOBBY

Lobbying Will always De pIdCLlCCu
in Washington. Recently, however,
it has reached new heights.
In the pre-New Deal days, lobby
lists lobbied to get land grants, lum-
Der concessions, and Teapot Dome
oil leases. Under the New Deal
they lobbied for Public Works con-
tracts, WPA grants, and steamship
routes.
Today they lobby for war con-
tracts. But perhaps the most avid,
rapacious and lustful lobbying is
for priorities on the purchase of
materials
In this connection, Standard Oil
has just managed to get remark
able priority rating for the shipment
of $14 500, 900 worth of steel to Vene-
zuela. The story illustrates how a
job can be done if you have the
lobbyist to do it.
In this case Standard Oil is ably
represented by Washington attorney
John N. Bohannon, who knows his
way around, even to the White
House
What Standard wanted was steel
for it's oil wells in Venezuela, and
it had the plausible argument that
it must keep up Venezuelan oil pro-
duction for the American and Brit
ish navies. However, other Ameri-
can oil companies also wanted steel
for wells in Texas, Louisiana and
California. Also they had the adj
vantage of producing oil which does
not require long and hazardous
tanker haul. However, they did not
have the advantage of an Al lobby
ist.
For Mr.. Bohannon went to Adj
miral Stark, then chief of naval op-
erations, and practically scared him
to death about the danger of losing
Venezuelan oil. Stark called Donald
Nelson, boss of War Production, and
put the pressure on him. Mean
while Bohannon and friends pres
sured the state department, lend
lase administration, board of eco
nomic warfare and finally the White
House.
If there was anyone Standard Oil
forgot to high-pressure they were
sick in bed. So Standard Oil got
what it wanted, a priority rating of
A-1-C, higher than that of domestic
oil companies, and the materials
have now been shipped.
LEWIS PAYROLL
The Washington Merry-Go-Roun
wishes to correct an earlier state
ment that John l.. Lewis had three
relatives on union payrolls whose
salaries, plus his own, gave the
family an annual take" of $48, 500
from the collections of union dues.
We regret to say that on further
investigation we find we erred griev-
ously. We apologize to Mr.. Lewis
for Understanding his capacities
and print below the full Lewis fam
lily payroll showing that the miner
car has not three but nine rela-
tives in cushy jobs and that the
family take" is not $48,50O but
$70,500:
John L. Lewis, president, United
Mine Workers ............ S25, OOOs
Kathryn Lewis, daughter, secre.
tary treasurer. District so.
UNIV Observation-Disclosures. 1900
Denny Lewis, brother. head of
United Construction Workers
organizing committee ........ 100000
j. r. Bell, brother -in.law, CLIO.
controller Observation-Disclosures. 5000
Grin Miller, brother.inaw SUI
perntendent of the UNIV. Of go
flee building in Indianapolis 80. 5000
.: Dan Collins, brother in law
CLIO. organizer .....-...... 5000
william Thomas, cousin, super
intendent UNIV building in
Washington .............. 5000
Margaret Lindig, sster-in-law of
Denny. UNIV. stenographer =. 24O0
Ann Miller, daughter of brother
in.law Grin Miller, UNIV.
stenographer ................ 2400
Son-in-law of Floyd Bell, another
Lewis brother-in-law. District
50 organizer .................. $500
Total Lewis family payroll .s7O5OO
(#In addition to their big salaries,
Lewis, his daughter and brother also
have fat expense accounts. What
they spend is their secret. No fig
ures have ever been revealed, even
to union members.)
And Still More.
Imposing as is this payroll list, it
still does not tell the whole story.
There is one Lewis relative who
is not on a union payroll but who
gamers high-bracket income from
unions controlled by John L. He
is brother-in-law Floyd Bell, an in
surance agent. representative of
surety company, Bell has what
amounts to monopoly on the bust
ness of bonding all national, district
and local UNIV. officers and all
CLIO. officials.
His commissions are estimated at
$4,000 year.
This sum, plus the payroll listed
above, would bring the total "take"
of the Lewis family up to $11O,5OO
year.
MERRY-GO-ROUND
Wayne Coy, brainy young White
House assistant, is slated for a pro-
motion The ex-Indiana newsman
will be made assistant budget di-