Friday, March 29, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven Friday, March 29, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Exxon claims U.S. government encouraged Iran oil transaction WASHINGTON () - A former Exxon Corp. executive testified yesterday that American oil companies went into business in Iran at the request of the U.S. government in the interest of naitonal security. "It was not our idea at all," Howard Page told the Senate subcommittee on multinational corporations. He said then Under Secretary of State Herbert Hoover acted as emissary of President Dwight Eisenhower in presenting the re- quest for American oil company assistance in bolstering the Iran economy through oil production. EXXON, he said, was not inter- ested as a commercial proposi- tion because it had foreign oil concessions elsewhere, sufficient to supply its market demand. He said there was a particular problem with Saudi Arabia, where Exxon as a partner in Aramco had the largest conces- sion in the world. He said he personally t a l King Saud in Saudi Arabia to recognize that the American part- ners in Aramco were entering Iran as "a political matter at the request of the government" and that as a result the com- panies might not be able to in- crease their production and ex- port of Saudi Arabian oil "f o r awhile." PAGE SAID he had no docu- mentation, but the King said "yes, but in no case were we to lift more than we were obligat- ed to lift in Iran to satisfy the requirements of doing the jot)." "We were under heavy pres- sure," Page said. "If we didn't play ball we could have lost the Aramco concession." Page said the State Depart- ment decided that the major oil companies, with interests also in Saudi Arabia, should be th e principal American partners in the Iranian consortium because they were the only ones able to market oil overseas in desired quantities. BUT HE SAID the State De- partment decided also that the American independent companies should participate to the extent, of five per cent. He said every American com- pany that wanted to participate was allowed to do so. Chairman Frank Church (D-. Idaho), said he has asked the State Department to declassify documents dealing with the fo'-- mation of the Iranian Coasort- ium. In this, American com- panies participate in Iranian oil production operations along with British Petroleum, Royal Rutch Shell and CFP, a French 3om- pany. CHURCH SAID earlier a break- up of this monopoly would be healthy for oil consumers of this nation and "inject a goodly mea- sure of competition into a sys- tem that now lacks it." In other energy developments yesterday: The American Petroleum In- stitute said last year's oil price increases a p p a r e n t l y have brought substantial improvement to U.S. petroleum reserves. But the improvements by exper's were not reflected in the official annual estimate issued by the Institute, which reported s de- crease of one billion barrels in "proved recoverable reserves." " Chairman Russell Peters'nt of the Council on Environment al Quality told a Senate subcommit tee the administration will not ask for legislation waiving en- vironmental impact statements for energy projects. 9 The Federal Power Com- mission predicted prices of na- tural gas and electricity w I 11 triple over the next few years unless inflation is brought un- der control. t The House Ways and Means Committee began another rwind in its oil-tax reform fight. Com- mittee staff experts and the Trea- sury clashed over whether a new windfall profits levy and full plowback plan would raise any new revenue. Pentagon plays ganes Hughes discloses war ed aics exercises in Indochina presents starring: WASHINGTON 6P) - The Pentagon has acknowledged it conductsC i large-scale aerial war games over Southeast Asia and continues toM furnish 'hostile fire pay" to U.S. troops stationed there, Sen. Harold Ca ine Friday & Hughes (D-Iowa) said yesterday. and In a letter to Hughes, a Pentagon spokesman said Air Force Sir aurnce ~. Saturday planes do conduct training flights in Southeast Asia but "do not employ large numbers of bomb-loaded planes. CH 29&30 IN ANSWER to a specific question, the spokesman, Rear Adm. Olivier T. Bigley, said such an exercise was conducted in Thailand on Nov. 15, when 92 sorties were flown. ADM ISSION "No aircraft carried bombs, and no ordnance of any kind next week: was delivered during the exercise," the admiral said. April 5 & 6 $1.00 Bigley also told Hughes that U.S. forces in non-combat status in. PUTNEY SWOPE Cambodia, Laos, and North and South Vietnam are entitled by law to "hostile fire pay," because "theirhpresence in these countries makesNlnt them vulnerable to being exposed to hostile fire ..,"N t r lS en e A d o iu "THE DEFENSE Department says that these missions are en- tirely within Thailand," Hughes told the Senate, "but I have received a report, which I have thus far been unable to confirm, that these NEXT WEEK:April5 &a6-PUTNEY SWOPE aircraft have ventured into the nations of Indochina." i E I Pd. Politicol Adv. OPEN 'TIL 5 A.M. FRIDAY MARCH 29, 1974 MRS FZZZA FREE DELIVERY-769-8030 A FREE FRISBEE SKIMMER-RING GIVEN If you rent c o.ntrol, AWAY AFTER 2 A.M. WITH PIZZA ORDER! EVERY are yocuttng off your nose to spite r Republicans cant Paid Political Adv. win n (or "Fibber the 1st Ward "McGee's Folly) Throughout her campaign for C i t y Council, Human Rights Party. candidate, Beth Brunton has addressed the important issues facing Ann Arbor: Rent Control, community control of the police, city spending priorities, and tax reform. Her Democratic opponent has invented a non-issue: that a vote for Beth could conceivably elect the Republican by "splitting the pro- gressive vote." In the First Ward, this argument is absurd. The GOP hasn't won the First Ward in years. Last year, during a Republican sweep, HRP and Democrats polled 70 per cent of the vote. The Republican finished third. The Democratic candidate has .fabricated this myth to scare up support for her lackluster campaign. More and more, she is dodging the controversial issues to campaign on this mythical non-issue. It is hard to understand why the Democrat thinks she is "progres- sive," considering her position on the issues. ! Beth opposes the lay-off of city workers. Both her oppo- nents do not. 0 Beth supports community control of the police. Her oppo- nents do not. 0 Beth supports rent control. The Republican candidate opposes it. The Democrat changes her mind from day to day and audience to audience. * Vote for the only "progressive" candidate in the First Word. Vote B runton . . your face? This rent-control bill "gets" the landlords. And this rent-control bill can "get" you. Why? It's a case of overkill - overkill from a very badly-designed bill: The drafters of the bill forgot one thing. They forgot that you get only what there's money to pay for. Your apartment gets painted... if there's money. Your stove gets repaired ... if there's money. Your carpet gets cleaned... if there's money. They forgot to leave any money. They yvrote a bill that puts your landlord and you "in the hole." (Very tricky.) Why doesn't the apartment owner borrow some money? Bankers lend money to make money. And, they're not readily bamboozled. They know that, behind the 7,950 words in Amendment A and the alleged profit of 14% for apartment owners - there's just one thing What? ... There's a losing proposition that's guaranteed by law! If you think there's a chance the bankers might help, you're dead wrong. There's no chance. This bill is a bad bill. It goes too far. It goes so far that it hurts some of the people it is supposed to help. It hurts you. CITIZENS FOR GOOD HOUSING urge you to Vote NO onA