Mr. BONFILS. Of course, we were selling what we had. The CHAIRMAN. And you were selling him what, Mr. Bonfils? Mr. BONFILS. We were selling him that contract right there. The CHAIRMAN. And you never claimed any title to that naval reserve No. 3? Mr. BONFILS. We had a contract with the Midwest people. You are getting back. The CHAIRMAN. What? Mr. BONFILS. We had a contract with the Midwest and the Belge people. The CHAIRMAN. You could not have asserted any title here, could you? Mr. BONFILS. Well, I don't know. I think not. The CHAIRMAN. I do not think so either. to have the papers, Mr. Bonfils. Mr. BONFILS. You shall have them. We will be very glad The CHAIRMAN. And the other article in the Great Divide, published on February 5? Mr. BONFILS. You shall have that. The CHAIRMAN. That is all. Senator WALSH of Montana. Mr. Bonfils, could you send us also the telegrams received from Mr. Sinclair asking you to come to New York, and to come to Kansas City? Mr. BONFILS. I can, Senator, if I have them. I don't know that I have them. Senator WALSH of Montana. Will you cause a search to be made and send them if you have them? Mr. BONFILS. Yes. And anything else that comes up, if you will indicate to me, I will be glad to send it if I have it, and try to find it if it is there. Senator WALSH of Montana. Now, you expressed the view, Mr. Bonfils, that the Midwest Co., or some of the allied Standard companies paid a portion of the money that was paid to you of this $250,000. Upon what information do you venture that statement? Mr. BONFILS. Well, it is more a suspicion than anything else, and I know they were wrangling between them as to who should pay, and what they should pay. And I know they always met together, when Mr. Zevely got there, and I suspect-which I couldn't prove, because I didn't care to prove it especially-that the Sinclair people paid so much, and the Midwest so much. I always thought that. I don't believe I could prove it. Senator WALSH of Montana. Now, Mr. Chairman, I want to submit some chronology: On August 24, 1920, the Pioneer Oil & Gas Co. filed in the Douglas, Wyo., Land Office four applications, under section 18 of the general leasing act of February 25, 1920: 026455. Northeast quarter section 3, Township 38 north, range 78 west, claiming oil well in Shannon sand 355 feet deep; begun December 22, 1917; cost $962.50. 026456. Northwest quarter section 3, township 38 north, range 78 west, claiming oil well in Shannon sand at 350 feet deep; begun December 4, 1917; cost $960. Also expenditure of $13,661.92 in December, 1917, and January, 1918, for erection of standard rig and supplies. 026457. Northwest quarter section 10, township 38 north, range 78 west. Claiming oil well in Shannon sand at 456 feet deep; begun September, 1914; cost $1,252.45. 68161-24-PT 7-10 026458. Southeast quarter section 3, township 38 north, range 78 west. Claiming oil well in Shannon sand at 312 feet; begun June, 1918; cost $1,176. Also expenditure of $1,498.08 for machinery and supplies while operations were being carried on. The only production attempted from these wells were tests which indicated that they would produce from 3 to 6 barrels each per day. These applications were rejected by the Secretary of the Interior on March 1, 1921, upon the ground that they were not producing commercial wells within the meaning of the statute. An application was made for a rehearing, which was denied by Assistant Secretary Finney on April 28, 1921. The contract between Stack and Doheny was made January 7, 1921. The contract between Stack and the Pioneer Oil & Gas Co. was made December 31, 1921, nine months after the claim to be entitled to producing wells had been rejected finally by the Interior Department and nearly nine months after the application for a rehearing upon the application had been denied by the Interior Department. Senator ADAMS. Senator Walsh, may I ask, as a matter of law, there is no appeal of any kind from a matter of that kind? Senator WALSH of Montana. No; but the parties claimed the right under the statute to apply to the President, notwithstanding, for a lease on this because of equitable considerations; the equities of the case are that these lands were withdrawn from entry entirely as early as 1909, and no well had been begun prior to 1914, and two of them were not begun until 1917. So that the equitable considerations under which the President of the United States could be moved to give them anything more than the statute gave them, are not very apparent, and the prospect of the President of the United States ever granting them any privilege which the express letter of the statute did not give them could never be considered as having any real substance to it at all. But they did, notwithstanding, file in the office an application for presidential interposition, which was the only thread upon which their claim still hung. On October 13, 1920, the Pioneer Oil & Gas Co. filed its application (F. S. 66507) in the General Land Office for a lease under the presidential compromise section 18a of the general leasing act for the following lands: Township 39 north, range 78 west, section 27. southwest quarter; section 28, south half; section 29, southeast quarter; section 33, north half, southeast quarter, section 34. west half. Township 38 north, range 78 west, section 3, all; section 4, northeast quarter; section 10, all; section 11, west half. On February 15, 1921, the General Land Office advised the applicants that they had not yet supplied a requested supplemental showing, and that their application would expire on February 25, 1921, if not acted upon by the President up to that date this ruling has since been held to be erroneous. On February 21, 1921, the applicant company withdrew its application. So that on February 15, 1921, even that thread was parted by the withdrawal of the applications. The contract between Stack and the Pioneer Co. was not made until 10 months thereafter, on December 31, 1921. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Bonfils, in these telegrams you have handed to the committee, in one of your telegrams there is a date October 30, 1922, which is: First completion by Mammoth resulted in well in Wall Creek sand, 3,000 barrels initial production. And the next one is February 3: Income tax fraud charged to Sinclair. Republicans thwart effort to order Sinclair home from Europe. Sinclair's secretary sails for Europe. That February should be February, 1924? Mr. BONFILS. I had all those telegrams sent in the most hurried way The CHAIRMAN (interposing). I just want the date here. Mr. BONFILS. You will have to arrange those chronologically to get the thing right. The CHAIRMAN. But should not the date 1924 be put in there? The CHAIRMAN. October, 1922. And the next is February 3. Should it be 1924? Senator DILL. That is the supplemental telegram. The CHAIRMAN. The supplemental telegram. Mr. BONFILS. That is right. Whatever you want. The CHAIRMAN. Then these telegrams may go in the record. (The telegrams have already been copied into the record of this date.) The CHAIRMAN. Are there any other questions? Senator DILL. I want to ask one or two questions. In this talk about the money, the $250,000, you remarked that you thought the Midwest Oil Co. had paid part of it, and we have considerable. evidence here about how the money was paid. I wondered if it was delivered to you in a satchel? Mr. BONFILS. No; not in a satchel. Senator DILL. Was it partly in cash? Mr. BONFILS. Now, I can tell you about that. That money was deposited to the joint credit of Mr. Stack and myself in the Chase National Bank of New York. In the Chase National Bank. Senator DILL. You do not know how it was put there; whether by check, or how? Mr. BONFILS. No; I don't know. They simply notified us that the money had been deposited there to the credit of Leo Stack and my credit, for $250,000. Senator DILL. You testified yesterday that you sent Mr. Sidelback Mr. BONFILS (interposing). Mr. Stackelback. Senator DILL. Mr. Stackelback-to work on this case, and he worked on it for some time; how long did he work there? Mr. BONFILS. He went back after this whole thing was over; he went back twice. I can't give you the dates. Senator DILL. I am not particular about the particular dates. Mr. BONFILS. He went back after this lease was made, a long while after. Senator WALSH of Montana. Senator Dill and Mr. Bonfils, Mr. Stackelback tells us he went once in the month of June, he thought, and once in August. Senator DILL. Is he still on the paper? Mr. BONFILS. Oh, yes; he is still on the paper. Senator DILL. He has not been on this recently? Mr. BONFILS. No; he has been on the paper for certainly 15 or 20 years; I don't know the exact time. He has been with us a long time, and he is one of our very valuable men. Senator DILL. There has been some evidence here about trouble in Colorado. Have you been attacked out there on this situation about this trouble? Mr. BONFILS. No; not at all. Senator DILL. The newspapers have not attacked you? Mr. BONFILS. Oh, of course, our friend Mr. Shafer, whose name I have not mentioned, he has always said bitter things about us, which is all right. In fact, many of those people, like our friends Mr. O'Donnell and Shafer, have abused us into great renown and glory, if you call it that. Senator DILL. Have they made any charges of blackmail or anything like that against you? Mr. BONFILS. No; if they have I have not seen it. I have been away from there for some days. Senator DILL. Just what was the moving cause of your bringing all these contracts and things down here? Mr. BONFILS. I told you I was going down to sail from Charleston, S. C., to-morrow-and I hope to yet, and I will go yet if this committee will let me go. I was willing to bring all this other stuff with me. I thought it courtesy to come here, because Mr. Stackelback had come and seen Senator Walsh here, and say that if you wanted me to come I will be very glad to come here at my own expense. I had anticipated going to Cincinnati and down that way; it is a shorter and more direct route. But I called him up and told him what I was going to do, and I said I would hate to be out of the country if you want me. And I said, "If you want me to come, I will come around by Washington to see you." He said he would like to have me, and so I came that way, and came voluntarily. Senator DILL. But what I am trying to get at, why did you bring all the contracts; what was there made you feel you should come here with all the contracts? Mr. BONFILS. I was trying to show this committee that so far as I was concerned there wasn't any secret, and I brought every paper. And they are here now. Senator DILL. And these articles-I think you said you sent the articles to Senator La Follette and Senator Kendrick, and he took up this discussion in the Senate. Mr. BONFILS. I think many of them get the Post now. If they don't, they ought to. But we sent these because we realized any articles printed in the Post about Mr. Fall and what Mr. Stackelback found down there would be libelous per se unless we could prove it. We couldn't make the witnesses come from New Mexico. They are all intimidated down there now. They do not want to testify. So I used this analysis here to show the rottenness of the lease, where nobody could object; that is, where the geologists and the oil men all over the country could figure at once Senator DILL (interposing). You, as a publisher, have taken a great deal of pride in starting all this, have you not? Mr. BONFILS. I have long since ceased to take pride in anything. I have been gratified that it has caused the country to stop and think. So far as credit and glory is concerned, I don't care for that. Senator DILL. I did not mean to put you on record as to your pride. What I was getting at is, that having started this, have you pursued the matter in developing evidence as you started to? Mr. BONFILS. Well, we have got certain evidence, and everything we have this committee is welcome to. Senator DILL. In regard to the Mexican matters, have you developed any particular facts on that? Mr. BONFILS. That has been so recent we have hardly gotten into that. You see, things are happening so fast here. There is one thing I think I ought to say. I have some large and important interests, and I have never used or permitted the paper to be used in any way that would help any of my interests. For example, people in Colorado know this and think it is a very strange conduct for a man to assume. I owned a tenth of the Denver Union Water Co. for a good many years, and when they were trying to sell it to the city I opposed that very much, because the price was too high. I owned some valuable property adjoining the courthouse square in Denver that they are now trying to abandon and sell. That would make my property very much more valuable, because instead of a courthouse there in the center of the city they would have a business block. I opposed that. I had a large interest in the tramway company there, and I opposed their policy of aggression and greed in the way of charging, asking franchises-I have always opposed that. Senator DILL. Have you any interest in Mexican oil? Mr. BONFILS. Not a bit. I have no oil stock, no metal, or anything of that kind. Senator DILL. That is all. Senator WALSH of Montana. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Bonfils is very desirous of going on the trip which he mentioned. He has been good enough to say that he will advise me immediately upon his return, and that he will be subject to the call of the committee. The CHAIRMAN. Are you going to return this way, Mr. Bonfils? Mr. BONFILS. I will come back this way, Senator, if you want me. The CHAIRMAN. If we can have these articles at that timeMr. BONFILS. I will try. You see, I expected to get away from here yesterday or the day before. Senator WALSH of Montana. If any member of the committee will apprise me of his desire to have Mr. Bonfils return for further examination I will be glad to acquaint you of his purpose. The CHAIRMAN. This trip that you are making is a joint editorial trip that is being made by how many editors? Mr. BONFILS. I imagine there are 200 or 300 newspaper men going on the trip. I imagine it is a plan to let the people from the West, who are remote from the ocean, see what the Navy is, which is important, and I think it is educational more than anything else. Every man pays his way; it is not any free thing at all. Senator KENDRICK. I was just going to call attention to the fact that, as I understand it, the guests on the trip are allowed to pay the legitimate expense. Mr. BONFILS. They pay, Senator-all the documents will show that they pay their per capita of the expense. It is not much; they could take 100 men down there as cheap as they could 1. I think it is a wise policy for the Government to let the people from out West, who do not see many of these things, see what the Navy is. The CHAIRMAN. Are there any further questions from the committee? You are excused, Mr. Bonfils. |