Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-08-30 | Page 15 | La Follette Attacks Land Leasing Bill

LA FOLLETTE ATTACKS LAND LEASING BILL WASHINGTON, Aug. 29. Continuing his attack on the land leasing bill In the senate today, Senator La Follette, Republican, Re-publican, Wisconsin, called attention to a letter favoring the bill from Joseph A. Phelan, who signed himself as an oil examiner ex-aminer of the shipping board. The board's offices, Mr. La Follette said, had replied to a telephone inquiry that Phelan was in the senate gallery today. "I don't know where he Is," said the Wisconsin senator, "but I'll warrant that where the Standard Oil lobby is, there you'll find Phelan." Phelan had been with the shipping board only about two months, and previously a man of the same name had been an agent for oil interests seeking leases in the west. Senator La Follette said. The Wisconsin senator made an attack on the newspapers of the country, declaring de-claring they were "controlled." "I made that statement in Philadelphia In 1912, and they damned me for it, and for a time they kept me out of their columns," he said. The sepaker declared there were not more than four or five publications reaching reach-ing not more than 200,000 subscribers, which were not controlled by the "Morgan "Mor-gan Standard Oil or allied interests," and which were free to print criticism of the powers that control the nation's industrial life."