Nettle

President Coolidge was annoyed, very. Through the medium of the arch-Democratic and exceedingly militant New York World he learned that all was not well with another of the Government's oil leases with ill-famed Oilman Harry Ford Sinclair & colleagues. It was a lease on the Salt Creek field in Wyoming, adjacent to memorable Teapot Dome. It was a lease made by President Harding's Secretary Albert Bacon Fall and renewed by President Coolidge's whilom Secretary Dr. Hubert Work. It was a lease which Senator Walsh of Montana, famed oil inquisitor, had suspected and asked to be investigated. President Coolidge had asked his Attorney-General, rustic John Garibaldi Sargent of Vermont, to investigate, last April. Now, in the pressure of the presidential campaign, it had popped out that the lease and its renewal were beyond doubt illegal and voidable. It was also apparent that Attorney-General Sargent had been withholding an adverse opinion until after Election Day.

President Coolidge ordered the immediate issuance of the opinion. As expected, the opinion was adverse. The lease was voided. It was exceedingly embarrassing (see THE CABINET).

The New York Evening Sun (Republican) reported the incident as follows in its news columns: "His [Attorney General Sargent's] hand was forced . . . when President Coolidge, taking cognizance of the charges of Senator Walsh, bluntly told the Attorney-General that the opinion never should have been delayed in publication. The President is described as having been nettled when he learned that his own departments had been holding out on him in the matter of this aftermath of the oil scandals, and to have issued orders that action be taken instanter without regard to the election of November 6.

P: President Coolidge went into Virginia, dedicated with a speech the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battle Fields Memorial. He recited the history of Virginia's famed sons beginning with Nathaniel Bacon. Patrick Henry, George Washington. He lauded the courage of General Robert E. Lee. And then: "The main reason why we can .all join in the movement to commemorate the deeds of immortal valor which marked these battlefields is because we all realize that out of a common expiation our common country has been greatly blessed. . . . The growth which our country has made since 1860 and the benefits which it has brought all our inhabitants are unsurpassed. Our population which was then about 31,500,000 has risen to about 118,000,000. Our wealth of about $16,000,000,000 is now conservatively estimated at $350,000,000,000 . . . [a solid paragraph of figures]. . . . These figures illustrate our progress. . . . [nine more paragraphs of figures and material items]. . . . These figures, which would be cold and uninteresting in themselves, when we realize that they illustrate the life and development of our country cannot fail to have a deep fascination. . . ."

P: The Virginia speech was delivered a few hours after President Coolidge had examined the original manuscript of Alice in Wonderland, which was shown to him and Mrs. Coolidge at the White House by Phonograph Tycoon Eldridge Johnson, the present owner.

P: John Walter Cross, Manhattan architect, was appointed a member of the Commission of Fine Arts by President Coolidge. It is the duty of this commission to approve plans and locations of public buildings in the District of Columbia.

P: "Noble, kindly servant of the U. S. and benefactor of mankind, may you long be spared to continue your work and to inspire those who will carry forward your torch."--President Coolidge, over the radio, to Thomas Alva Edison, 81, on the presentation of a special gold medal voted by Congress.

P: President and Mrs. Coolidge will go to the Swannanoa Country Club in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Waynesboro, Va., to spend Thanksgiving Day.

P: In 1892, William Kissam Vanderbilt gave his wife a birthday present--a $5,000,000 marble palace at Newport, R. I. The wife, now known as Mrs. Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, placed the palace for auction this autumn, calling for sealed bids. The new owner was to be announced on Oct. 10. Then Mrs. Belmont changed her mind. Last week, she said she would offer the palace to the U. S. Government to be used as a summer White House.