Ickes Gets a Pipeline

Harold Le Claire Ickes last week got an end that justified his means. The means: 16 months of figuring, warning, prodding. The end: WPB (the Joint Chiefs of Staff concurring) decided the persistent Petroleum Coordinator could have 219,000 tons of steel to build an 857-mile pipeline from Norris City, Ill. to Camden, NJ.

The 24-inch, $60,000,000 tube will connect with an almost-finished pipeline from Longview, Tex. to Norris City. By next June it will carry 300,000 bbl. of crude oil a day, do the work of 8,000 tank cars. The oil, said Harold Ickes, will go to: 1) the armed forces and "undoubtedly will hasten a second front"; 2) war production; 3) "basic" (not general) civilian transportation and health needs. Steel for the new line will be taken away from some other war projects, as recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

One job well done, Harold Ickes saw another one ahead. The oil situation is still desperate. So, said he, a second pipeline paralleling the first may be needed.

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