ARMY & NAVY: End of Canol

The U.S. Army was about ready to give in and acknowledge one of the big bonehead plays of World War II. There was no longer any blinking the fact; the Canol oil project in the northern wastes of Canada was a resounding flop.

Designed to furnish oil to U.S. troops in Alaska, it had never achieved much stature except in Lieut. General Brehon Somervell's Army Service Forces. The Truman Committee had called the $134,000,000 collection of oil wells, refinery and pipeline "inexcusable": long before it was completed, Petroleum Boss Harold Ickes had said it should be junked.

Now, at the height of its production, Canol expensively puts out no more oil and gasoline in a year (1,000,000 bbls.) than ten tankers could lug to Alaska. This week Congressional leaders learned that General Somervell was going to abandon the field, charge the whole business off to the "waste of war." Next step: Canada will have a chance to bid in the plant at a knockdown price. If Canada refuses it, Canol will be put on the block.