Oilmen, already harried by a shortage of tankers, had another blow last week. Their favorite enemy, Harold L. Ickes, already Federal Oil Administrator, became Petroleum Coordinator for National Defense. The man they had damned as "imbued with an inordinate ambition ... to dictate the course of the industry" got the power to do just that. Cried a Tulsa pessimist: "Ickes is captain of our souls. My day is absolutely ruined!"
But oilmen were glad at least that they had a boss with authority. Reason: the growing transportation problem. Ickes himself, in a characteristic grab at the headlines, had forecast "Gasless...
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