Under Oath

Big Ed Pauley, former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, numbers among his many interests a substantial holding in California's tidelands oil.* Last week, at the Senate Naval Affairs Committee hearings on Pauley's much-criticized appointment as Under Secretary of the Navy, tidelands oil was the subject of some revealing testimony.

Senator Tobey: Did you ever tell Mr. Ickes that the filing of the Government test suit would be a political mistake-get this carefully, please--and that if you could assure California oilmen that the suit would not be filed, you could raise several hundred thousand dollars from them in campaign contributions?

Pauley: I did not, I did not!

Next day Interior Secretary Harold Ickes was in the witness chair.

Tobey: Mr. Pauley has stated under oath that he had done nothing to stop the filing of that suit. Did Mr. Pauley . . . ever tell you that the filing of that Government suit would be bad politically, that several hundred thousand dollars could be raised from California oilmen if they could be promised that the suit would not be filed?

Ickes: This inquiry is highly embarrassing to me but you have the right to ask the question. . . . My answer is yes.

Tobey: Was Mr. Pauley telling the truth when he stated that he never sought to stop the test suit?

Ickes: I will have to say that I don't

think that was an accurate statement.

Dates & Places. Appointee Pauley was asked: Had he ever spoken to Franklin Roosevelt or ex-Attorney General Francis Biddle about the suit? Had he ever tried to influence anyone at any time regarding the suit? His reply: No, he had not.

Next day Senator Tobey produced Norman Littell, a former assistant to Biddle. Littell came armed with notes, going back to 1940 and 1941, which he had kept because he "knew there was going to be trouble." He read from them the places, dates and hours of conferences between Pauley, Biddle and himself.

At one conference, said Littell, "he [Pauley] wanted either a bill passed or the suit called off definitely, or both." Once Littell had accepted an invitation to have a drink at Pauley's suite in a Manhattan hotel. There, he said, Pauley told him: "Norm, you know I have raised money for the campaign. A lot of that money came from people interested in the tidelands. In my room waiting to see you is Harry March, vice president of Signal Oil & Gas Co. ... These people have contributed to the campaign and they expect something for their money."

Senator Tobey asked: Did Littell know that Pauley had testified that he had never talked to Franklin Roosevelt or Francis Biddle on the subject? Replied Littell: "If he said that, I am afraid it is not true."

At week's end Senator Tobey looked over the transcript, said that it would how six instances in which Oilman Pauley's testimony had been disputed by other witnesses. Said the Senator: "I hope that all those testifying . . . realize they are doing it under oath."

* Petroleum deposits lying between the ocean's low-tide mark and the three-mile limit. For several years control of tidelands oil has been a hot federal-state controversy. A federal suit to obtain title is pending in the Supreme Court; a bill to give title to the states is pending in the Senate.

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