Senator WALSH of Montana. That you called? Mr. KELLEY. Yes. Senator WALSH of Montana. And that was due to your illness? Mr. KELLEY. Yes. Senator WALSH of Montana. On the same day he wired Senator GLENN (interposing). What day is that? Senator WALSH of Montana. The 29th. On the same day he wired Hathaway, apparently: HATHAWAY, Chief of Field Service, in Charge of Denver Field Division, Denver, Colo.: Kelley has not arrived here. Ascertain whether he left Denver with forwarding address and deliver if possible telegram sent to him to-day. So, it seems that you did not call at least until after the 29th. Senator WALSH of Montana. Well, but you actually reported for duty then on August 5. Mr. KELLEY. That is my recollection, Senator, but I have no data as to that. I think it was the 5th. Senator GLENN. I have some information, if you care to have it. Senator WALSH of Montana. Let us try to fix the date. Senator GLENN. Here is a memorandum and here is another one. Senator WALSH of Montana. Here is a memorandum found in the files, as follows: JULY 30, 1930. Kelley arrived. Reported he is under doctor's care, but is ready to see Burlew at any time. This is from Commissioner Moore's diary. Who is Burlew? Mr. KELLEY. He is the administrative assistant to the Secretary. Senator WALSH of Montana. So that apparently it was the 30th when you reported. Mr. KELLEY. I would judge so from that. Senator WALSH of Montana. Then August 1, 1930: Between 4.30 and 5 p. m., Commissioner Moore and Mr. Havell called at the Ambassador Hotel where Kelley was registered, but not in. left. Senator GLENN. Here are some others. Cards were Senator WALSH of Montana. We will not follow that any further. Well, August 5 you reported for duty, then, or thereabouts? Mr. KELLEY. Yes, sir. Senator WALSH of Montana. Well, now, what duty was then assigned to you? Mr. KELLEY. I was given a desk with another clerk in the Land Office and advised that I should take up oil shale matters and act upon them, any pending matters in the land office. Senator WALSH of Montana. Well, did you get a letter of instruetions? Mr. KELLEY. I did; yes. Senator WALSH of Montana. And have you a copy of that? Mr. KELLEY. I have the original letter, I believe. Senator GLENN. What is the date of it? Senator WALSH of Montana. July 25, 1930. Well, pursuant to this letter, what did you do when you were assigned a desk? Mr. KELLEY. I performed ordinary, clerical duties, that are performed by a law clerk in the Land Office, examining records and passing upon them, and writing letters to registers and to the chiefs of field division. Senator WALSH of Montana. Well, how did the-just tell us about the operation of things. Tell us just what happened. Mr. KELLEY. I knew, Senator, when I left Denver, and when I received the letter of the Secretary, that I was not called in to look after shale matters because every shale application had come through my hands in the Denver office; every report had come through my hands, and I had received a copy of every action letter taken by the department here in Washington on all of those reports, and all of those matters, and I had the complete status of every pending matter, and I knew they were practically all right up to date, and there was scarcely anything to be performed here in Washington, and I knew that that letter of the Secretary was merely a smoke screen to cover my removal from the Denver field division. Mr. ELY. May I ask what letter of instructions Mr. Kelley is referring to, to make it clear, what he is referring to? Senator WALSH of Montana. That is all in the record. Mr. ELY. It would be helpful if it was put in here. Senator WALSH of Montana. I have the letter before me and it is in the record. Mr. KELLEY. I sent the Secretary a wire immediately following receipt of that letter. I got that letter on July 11. It was written on the seventh. Senator WALSH of Montana. You refer to the letter asking you to come to Washington? Mr. KELLEY. The letter asking me to come to Washington; yes. I got that letter July 11, and on that very day, before I had received the letter, the reporters in Denver, of the daily press, came to me and told me that they had information from the Secretary in Washington that he had written me a letter directing me to come to Washington, which amounted to my removal from office, and that I ought to have received it that day. I had not received the letter at the time. I got it later that day. The letter, as you can see, is rather indefinite as to what the purpose was. Senator GLENN. What is indefinite about it? It says to work on oil shale claims. What is indefinite about it? Mr. KELLEY. It was indefinite as to my status in Denver. Mr. KELLEY. Yes, sir. Senator GLEN N. Well, you would not have any if you were removed to Washington, would you? Mr. KELLEY Not if I was removed; no. That is exactly it. I was. So, I sent the Secretary a wire that very day that I received the letter. Senator WALSH of Montana. Have you a copy of that? Mr. KELLEY. This is the wire. Pardon me, I haven't quite as many people to wait on me, Senator, and it takes me a little while to find these things. Senator WALSH of Montana. [Reading:] DENVER, COLO., July 10, 1930. RAY LYMAN WILBUR, Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D. C.: Please advise whether you intend by your letter of July 7 merely to temporarily relieve me of my duties as chief of field division in Denver since I desire to complete my important work here. Would not care to accept more than a very brief assignment at Washington. This is dated July 10, so you must have received his letter on July 10. Mr. KELLEY. I beg your pardon. I wish to correct my statement; it was the 10th. Senator WALSH of Montana. Did you get a reply to that? Mr. KELLEY. Here is the Secretary's reply dated July 11. Senator WALSH of Montana. The reply is under date of July 11: Unable to state at present just what will be done finally, but new assignment only temporary. Mr. KELLEY. I informed the assistant commissioner, who was then in Denver, and the chief of field service, Mr. Hathaway, who was my immediate superior, that I had no intention to come to Washington to fill a clerical place, and I wanted to know why I was being called in. They professed to know nothing about the reason. After that, I sent this telegram. When I reached Washington, the first thing I did was to go to my superiors in the Land Office. I went to Commissioner Moore, and the assistant commissioner then had returned from Denver, and was in Washington. I went to him, and I went to Mr. Burlew. I wanted to know why I was called in to Washington. I informed all of them that I would not accept a position in the land office more than for a short time, as I had informed the Secretary to that effect, and I wanted to know what I was there for. I said that that was merely an excuse, the letter of the Secretary in calling me in; that could not be the reason at all why I was brought in because the shale work was up to date. They all professed to be totally in the dark as to why I was brought in. The Secretary, on receipt of my telegram, jumped the train and went to California. Senator GLENN. Are you sure he jumped it? Mr. KELLEY. He did not return to Washington to report to the department, so I am advised, until September 26. Mr. ELY. You are mistaken as to the date. Mr. KELLEY. May I not be interrupted? Senator WALSH of Montana. Yes. You better proceed. Mr. KELLEY. I had no opportunity naturally to talk to the Secretary, although the Secretary has stated here that I didn't go to see him while he was here, and the Assistant Attorney General has referred to that same matter in his report, and criticized me for not calling upon the Secretary while he was in Washington, when. as a matter of fact, he was in California away from his post of duty during all of that time. Senator GLENN. Pardon me, when do you say he left? Mr. KELLEY. He left-I can tell you when he left. The CHAIRMAN. Was it before you reached Washington? Mr. KELLEY. Oh, yes. I said he left either the day, or the day after he sent me that wire. I think it was the very day that he sent me the wire. Senator GLENN. Well, that is immaterial. It was before you arrived. I don't care for the exact date. It was before you arrived. Senator WALSH of Montana. You can get it later, Mr. Kelley. Mr. KELLEY. All right. The President in his prepared statement, which he broadcasted to the people of the United States, said that I had been called in here to consult with my superiors about reorganization. I never heard of the word "reorganization," for that matter, until I had seen the President's statement, and that was about the 1st of October. Senator WALSH of Montana. Have you got the President's statement there, Mr. Ely? Mr. ELY. I believe it is among the papers that you have there, Senator Glenn. Senator GLENN. The papers that I have? Mr. ELY. Yes, I think we sent a copy of it to you. Senator GLENN. Yes, here it is. Senator WALSH of Montana. The President's statement may be put in the record here. (The statement referred to is as follows:) NEW YORK WORLD, OCTOBER 29, 1930.-TEXT OF HOOVER STATEMENT FROM THE WORLD'S BUREAU Washingon, October 28.-The text of President Hoover's statement on the Colorado Shale Oil Expose by Ralph S. Kelley in the World follows: The Department of Justice has now published the result of its examination into the sensational charges made by Ralph S. Kelley, employee of the land office, that Secretary Wilbur and other officials of the Department of the Interior had been guilty of dishonesty and misfeasance in adjudication of title claims to oil shale lands running into hundreds of thousands of acres and into losses to the government of scores of billions of dollars. It is an attempt to charge odious oil scandals to this administration. The facts are that out of 8,000,000 acres of Government holdings of such lands the whole matter boils down to the item that this administration had approved oil title claims for some 43,000 acres arising under the mineral law prior to 1920. Under my orders no leases or titles have been passed under the new law. Of these old claims Kelley himself approved about 20,000 acres. The courts ordered about 16,000 acres, and about 7,000 acres came up on appeal to the heads of the department for decision, only part of which Kelley opposed on technical grounds. Furthermore, these oil shale lands have little present value, and instead of being worth millions can be bought from private owners for a few dollars per acre. CLAIMS OVERSTRAIN OF ZEAL Attorney General Mitchell and Assistant General Seth Richardson, after painstaking investigation of the records upon every statement and innuendo made by Kelley, pronounce that every one of his charges has been proved baseless, without merit or substance. They conclude that the Government's interest in these lands has been vigorously protected and it is indicated that there has even been overstrain in the zeal of protection from oil claims, as witness orders of the courts in favor of individuals overruling the decisions of the department. There are some phases of this incident on which it is desirable in public interest that I should comment. I may say at once that proper inquiry or proper criticism by the press is a safeguard of good Government. But this investigation shows more than this. Kelley had been called to Washington last summer to discuss with his immediate superiors questions of organization in the office of which he had charge. He made no suggestion of these charges to his superior officers during a period of over six weeks in Washington, but during this time was in negotiation for the sale of his fabrications to a journal identified with the opposition political party, and they were launched in the midst of a political campaign. CITES WILBUR'S DENIAL No single inquiry had been or was made by the agencies behind Kelley at the Department of the Interior or any other Government department as to the facts before their publication. The charges, when first published, were in general and demagogic terms, but were instantly denied by Secretary Wilbur and proof offered which would indicate their falsity. Kelley was asked and refused to place any particulars before his superior officers and refused even to cooperate with the Department of Justice for an independent investigation. Furthermore, Kelley himself could, by the merest inquiry in his own department, have determined the falsity of his own statements, as witness his assertions of titles granted which were never granted, of hundreds of thousands of acres of land alienated which never were alienated, of papers destroyed, of billions of dollars which never existed; and scores of other reckless statements. Yet despite all these opportunities to test the truth, these agencies have persisted in broadcasting them for the past six weeks by every device of publicity, and Kelley has received payment for them. Such inquiry by him or by the broadcasters of these statements would no doubt have destroyed the political or the sale value of these stories. As a piece of journalism it may well be that the newspaper involved was misled. It certainly does not represent the practice of better American journalism. As a piece of politics it is certainly far below the ideals of political partisanship held by substantial men in that party. SEES PUBLIC SERVICE DAMAGED There is, however, another phase. I am interested and have a duty in the preserving and upbuilding, of honest public service. I hope that the American people realize that when reckless, baseless, and infamous charges in the face of responsible denial, with no attempt at verification are supported by political agencies and are broadcast, reflecting upon the probity of public men such as Secretary Wilbur, the ultimate result can only be damaging to public service as a whole. Such things damage the whole faith of our people in men. There is hardly an administrative official of importance in the Federal Government who is not serving the Government to the sacrifice of the satisfaction and remuneration he or she could command from private life. Aside from service to their countrymen the only thing they can hope for is the enhancement of their reputations with their countrymen. The only hope of high service and integrity and ability is that such men should be willing to undertake it, and when men of a lifetime of distinction and probity do undertake it they should not be subject to infamous transactions of this character. Senator WALSH of Montana. Kindly refer to the particular feature of that statement to which you have adverted. Mr. KELLEY. Pardon me a minute, it is a long statement, Senator. I don't catch that particular place. Kelley had been called to Washington last summer to discuss with his immediate superiors questions of organization in the office of which he had charge. He made no suggestion of the charges to his superior officers during a period of over six weeks in Washington. |