The Wilmington morning star., 1944-03-22
Oil
BY ROSCOE DRUMMOND

| FOR an ADMINISTRATOR WHICH prizes 1LSG1
on the sagacious use OF publicity. the White
House lately seems to be getting its mos
justified projects off on the wrong foot will
unnecessary frequency.
The latest fumbling is the manner in which
Administration leaders have loosely, tirnidly
and mysteriously unfolded the Government.
plan to utilize more effectively American-hele
oil resources in Saudi Arabia.
Through the unhappy process OF delayed de
cisions. overlapping authority, and totally I'm
needed secrecy the project was allowed tt
emerge as a surreptitious scheme of New
Deal forces in the Administration, led BY
Secretary Ickes, to slip the Nation into thu
oil business under the guise OF the war.
! The opposite is more nearly the truth, ane
the Administration is being berated for pur
pose it does not have in mind because it failec
to make its purpose clear, and what military
authorities consider vital security measure
is imperiled at time when decisive. non
partisan action is imperative.
| There is still time to retrieve these mis-
plays and the imminent Senate petroleum in
vestigation will give the Government an op
portunity to give Congress and the country
full and frank picture of what it has in mind
which it failed to do earlier
The central fact is that the Administration
| is being largely criticized for plan it has
rejected and is not yet being effectively de-
Tended for the plan it ultimately adopted.
The Administration rejected the propose.
that it 60 into the oil business in the Middle
East by buying 81 per cent of the stock of the
two private American firms which possess
large holdings in Saudi Arabia. 1t has sponsor
ed, instead, project only to build 1900
mile pipe line from Northern Saudi Arabia
to the Mediterranean, so that the American
private holdings can be made commercially
available where they will do the most good
The projected pipe line, in purpose and in
fundamental effect, is not method of put
ting the Government into private business
The Administration certainly looks upon it as
a method of keeping the Government out oil
private business. The Administration certainly
looks upon it as a method of keeping the
Government out of private business by enabling
private business to pipe oil directly to where
lit is most needed.
The undertaking stems not from New Deal
Observation-Disclosures elements in the Ad
minlstration 1t stems directly from the joint
Army-Navy Petroleum Board. 1t did not origi.
nate with Mr.. Ickes; it originated with a
graduate of the Naval Academy who has no
partisan, no personal, and no political ak to
grind of any kind. And when the full facts are
established it seems unlikely that Congress
will turn its dislike of Secretary Ickes into a
rejection of this project
The construction of the Mediterranean pipe
line simply means that the United States would
establish a common carrier, and this does
not mean the Governments entry into the oil
industry any more than the construction OF
the Panama Canal meant the Government
entry into transportation. Actually. the ulti-
mate disposition Of the pipe line will not be
|prejudiced by the Governments action in con.
c..ructing it.
The demands OF this cd
as never before. that the time has come when
America must both conserve its Western Henri
sphere oil supplies and look to the develop.
ment OF additional resources, or face pros
pective shortage of oil that would endanger
its future security and prosperity.
Today, the United States possesses within
its borders only 40 per cent of the Allied
petroleum resources, but the strategic and
shipping necessities of the war have been such
that the United States has had to furnish 70
per cent OF the oil for the war.
Since short war cannot be assumed, the
more effective tapping of the American sup
plies in Saudi Arabia is only modest fore
sight, and will ultimately permit some con-
serving of the Nations resources at home.
Admittedly, the American Government S
ownership of the Mediterranean pipe line will
heighten Americas great concern with the
peace and security of that part Of the world.
But is that liability on an asset? Both politi-
cal parties are pledged to responsible partici-
patton in the peace. and the Senate has urged
the creation at the earliest possible date of an
international authority to prevent future ag-
gression. Since the United States has a ire
mendous stake in the maintenance OF world
peace, may it not be just as well that part
Of that stake be visible instead OF merely
imponderable? The proposed pipe line would
be such visible stake in the future peace