The Wilmington morning star., 1945-11-16
Fair Enough
By WESTBROOK PEGLER
Copvrieht, 1s45 BY King Features Synuica1

downright, 1915 BY King Features Synoicate)
NEW YORK, Nov. 15-In the course of his
travels for recreation, and for other purposes,
the late President Roosevelt made fishing
trip to the Gulf coast of Texas in May 1897.
There were three ships, the presidential yacht
Potomac and the destroyers "Moffett'' and
Decatur"
The Houston Post, on May l, reported that
the "Moffett' carried the President, his son,
Elliott then living in Fort Worth, and the
Presidents aides from New Orleans down to
the Gulf for meeting with the "Potomac'
which had left Corpus Christi on April 20. On
May 2, Marvin Mcintyre, one of the secre-
taries, set up road-show White House in the
Hotel Galvez in Galveston.
Mr.. Roosevelt fished off and on for several
days.
On May 8, under Galveston date-line, the
Associated Press reported that the Galvez
press headquarters had no information of the
Presidents activities that day. There was
however, the A. P. said, a report from Corpus
Christi that Mr. Roosevelt his son, and Ell
liott's wife, Ruth, had left the Potomac in
small boat evidently to visit some friends of
Elliott and Ruth on Matagorda Island near
Port Arkansas. From another source a report
came that an important regional official of
the Department of Justice was there.
'"They were reported to be headed for the
lodge of Clint w. Murchison and Dudley S.
Golding, of the American Liberty Oil Com
pany, on the island" the story read.
On Sunday, May 9, the Houston Post said
Mr.. Roosevelt revealed that he had landed on
St. Joseph Island, Friday, for lunch with
friends of Elliott and Ruth and said he had
seen many shore birds that he had never
laid eyes on before" Among those present
was Sid Richardson of Fort Worth, Elliott
friend who loaned Elliott $40, 900 in the course
of their acquaintance and who was hidden re-
peatedly to the White House by Elliott's sug
gestion, to express the viewpoint of the indie
pendent oil operator. Elliott recently testified
that Richardson repeatedly asked him to in
tervene with Henry Morgenthau the Secretary
Of the Treasury, in the financial interest Of
the oil Independents, of whom Richardson was
one, and that he refused to intervene.
ELLIOTT did not discuss the gross improperly
Of such intervention by the son Of Presi-
dent for the financial benefit of a creditor
But, as a practical man, he thought it would
be '1ike waving a red flag at bull' in
Morgenthau's case.
When the reporters OF the White House de-
TAIL who had come down overland from Wash
ington to Galveston, complained that che had
fallen down on making reports to the Calves
ton White House headquarters OF his daily &C
Invites. the President replied that he would
have been prolific in his reporting if he had
been on space rates.
Whether he enlarged on his referenc to
shore birds Of varieties that he had never
seen before, the Houston Post story does not
tell u.s. And we can't be sure whether he was
facetious or serious in this. There are, in
deed, some queer shore birds on that Gulf,
most OF them predators.
In its issue of May 10, 1887, the National
Petroleum News, trade journal of tn oil
industry, carried a story from Corpus Christi,
dated May Is under the head 'tRoosevelt's
hosts company in Texas fined for hot oil
violation"
"The Channel Transport and Marketing
Company (Golding Murchison INTEREST,",
indicted April Is by a federal grand jury,
changed its pleas of not guilty in federal court
here May 10 to one of nolo contendere; the
story said, land was fined $780,.
'This company was named in an indictment
which charge conspiracy to violate the Con-
nally law. The fine imposed was recommend
ed by Douglas McGregor U. S. district attor-
ney who said the Channel company now has
only technical existence. The company oper-
ated line from Conroe to a terminal on the
Houston ship channel. It is now a part of the
large pipeline system of the American Liberty
Co., headed by Dudley Golding and c. w. Muir
Gibson, at whose island ranch off Port hransas
President Roosevelt was entertained while on
his fishing trip in Gulf waters, according to
the newspapers. His visit was made three days
before termination of the federal case against
the channel company"
This sequence of events gave rise to rumors
or gossip in the oil industry. The Treasury
DID question Elliott in rather close detail as
to whether Richardson or Charles Roeser,
another independent oil aan, like Richardson
an investor in his radio company, had ever
asked him to "intercede in their behalf, in
any matter, civil or criminal His answers
were uniformly in the negative except the con-
tradlctlon wherein he did say Richardson ask
ed him whether there wasn't something l
could do to stop Mr.. Morgenthau from trying
to ruin every individual oil operator in the
country" He was not asked fatty whether he
ever lnterceded in any matter for others. The
Ireasury's questioning touched upon several
social occasions but no visit to Matagorda
island was mentioned and there was no at
tempt to elicit information as to any party
given by stockholders in any defendant COM
pany.
Reports on the disposition of several other
cases do not suggest that the Channel Trans
port and Marketing Company got off more
easily than other defendants. Some oil men
have said however that the $17,50O fine was
a great bargain as compared to the profit of
the oil alleged to have been sold in violation
of the law.
The Ways n Means Committee of the
House of Representatives did not examine FL
liotts income tax returns but one of the demo-
cratic members said the majority felt that
the public interest would require a thorough