Evening Post. THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1924. OIL ON THE FLAMES

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 26, 31 January 1924, Page 4

Evening Post. THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1924. OIL ON THE FLAMES

Britain has had her troubles since the war, and her appalling load of taxation and unemployment has often given her cause to envy the relative immunity of America and even France. But those who value the honour of the British name iave reason to be thankful that the postwar troubles of Britain include non'e of the kind which have been reported from both Paris and Washington during the past fortnight and figure again in our cable news to-day. In France the sufferings of the devastated regions have been the subject of-colossal frauds which have resulted in the multiplying of claims by 10, 20, 50, and even 100-fold, and in one cfee have created a claim for 4,700,000 francs out of nothing. In America what threatens to become " the gravest scandal in the history of America" involves Republican Ministers in charges of gross corruption, and implicates a name which in the previous generation was associated with a resolute antagonism to "graft" of any description—the honoured name of Roosevelt. When the indifference of the American people to President Wilson's idealism about the League of Nations was followed by a keen interest in the mandate which threatened" to give Britain a monopoly of Mesopotamian oil, the position was admirably hit off, by Sir F. C. Gould in a cartoon which depicted the dozing American eagle halfopening one eye and asking: "Who said oil?" Somebody else has been saying oil now, and has said it loud enough to make the American democracy and its President sit up and think .very hard.

, A message which we published on Monday reported ,that the revelations of the Senate's Committee which has been investigating the leasing of Government oil lands to private interests had filled the Democrats with glee, and that it was widely1 assumed that the scandal " spells death to Eepublican aspirations at the coming Presidential election." President Coolidge showed himself determined to grasp the matter firmly by the announcement that he would " form a Bi-partisan Legal Committee to take over the Senate Committee's evidence and begin the prosecution of all persons found guilty of misfeasance." The decision was of the kind which the President's character and record had led one to expect, but with the Secretary ,and AssistantSecretary of the Navy and the At-torney-General implicated in the matter the position was obviously one;of gr%at delicacy. Were these Ministers to hold on until the new Cjommittee marked them for prosecution, or even until a Court had found them guilty?- It was natural to expect that the incriminated Ministers would resign, or at least would place Hheir resignations in the President's hands, but they are holding dn.

'It also seems that they are likely to hold on. Resolutions are being submitted to Congress demanding the resignations of Mr. Denby, the Secretary of the Navy, and Mr. Daugherty, the Attorney-General, Mr. Denby's answer is: " I did .the right thing in granting the lease. I'd do the same thing again tomorrow, and I have no intention of resigning." As the Navy Department under Mr., Denby's guidance parted with 22,000,000 barrels of oil and only received payment for 1,600,000 barrels, the performance, even if ■ not corrupt, does not teem to be a legitimate subject for pride. But -Mr.- Denby professes complete impenitence, and Mr. Daugherty, whose indiscretions have repeatedly made trouble for the Administration in minor matters, presumably takes the same stand. The President, whose power over his Ministers is that not of a constitutional monarch but of a despot, has the matter in his own hands, and he would probably be thankful if he- could decline the responsibility. For the present it seems that he will stick to his Ministers. "It has been indicated," we are told, " that President Coolidge is inclined to support the acts of his Cabinet, but Senators plainly hint that this may necessitate several impeachments." If this painful necessity is forced upon the ' Democratic Party, they will probably face it ns cheerfully as anything : that has fallen to their lot since Mr. Wilson went put of office.

The pace at Washington is already fast and furious. " The oil scandal," says our last message, 'is rapidly becoming so partisan and acrimonious as to stop all other legislative business." Senator Caraway is bold enough to attempt to draw President Coolidge into the affair, on the ground that l-.e was a member of the Harding Cabinet which approved the leases. In one sense the unhappy President is in the affair up to the neck already, since three of the principal culprits are now his Ministers, but Senator Caraway's amiable intentiou is to fix him with a personal complicity in the original grant. The fierce attacks upon the Administration are reported to be keeping the Senate in "a continual uproar." The House is at the same time' firing broadsides .into the Navy Department, and threatening to aumuaoo 'the. Secretary—who,

unlike a British official, has no seat in the-Legislature— to explain what he did about the oil royalties. It is a wild and tumultuous business, in which it must for the present be impossible for the accused men to get a fair hearing, and its ugly aspect becomes still uglier when we remember that, should an impeachment follow, the House would be the prosecutors and the Senate the judges. An impeachment is, of course, a remote' possibility, but the atmosphere which has been worked up at Washington is equally unsuitable for a calm consideration of the issues of policy which will be before the people in November. President Coolidge's first Message made so deep an impression on friend and foe as to render his claim to the Republican nomination almost irresistible and £is chances of election very bright but a formidable obstacle is now presented by the sins or the blunders of other men.