The daily critic., 1890-07-07
mFsSRs. RALnWINS EXPLANATION.
MI. Gran Not 20 BIane for the Land
once Scandal

MT Gran Not 10 Blame Tor the Land
ONCE Scandal
EdH6r critic I have Just read in
your issue Of to day your article In
reference 70 the issued and undeiverei
patents to public lands, copies Of which
were made by Messrs Combs &c Co,
and our correspondence with the officers
Of the General Land Office and Interior
Department in relation TO the same. ]
am the Junior member Of the firm Of
Baldwin & Baldwin, and, as ] conduct
ed the correspondence and hal an the
interviews, am perfectly familiar with
the whole subject
I regret very much that it was deemed
necessary opublish the correspondence.
and 10 would not have been done ex-
cept that the truth instead Of rUm0rs
should be given by you to the public.
We accomplished our purpose 10
putting a stop 10 the granting Of per
mission to one attorney to do an act
which under the rules Of the Depart
ment, every attorney was not permitted
to do.
We were Of the opinion that the OH
GERS bad been imposed upou by the
parties to whom the permission had
been granted, or else the rules had
been changed II the latter was the
case, we were certainly entitled to the
information, and wanted Il simply be
cause there were millions in 1t, and
so stated TO all the officers
II the secretary had been imposed
upon we desired him to have an oppor-
tunity TO prevent any wrong or injustice
being done, and that bis administration
might not be brought into disrepute.
In Justice 20 Commissioner Graf |
cannot after reading your article, re-
main silent, and this is my only excuse
Tor this communication. You do him
an injustice, inadvertently | believe,
in saying his action in The premises
was with a desire to further the interests
of Messrs. Combs & Co. On the con
trarv, ! believe his first information on
the subject was given by me when |
presented him our request for permis-
sion to make the copies
lie agreed with me that it would not
be right 10 permit the copies to be read
by any one, and doubted the statement
that such permission had been granted
AT his request for the knowledge | had
Informed him that the Recorder Of the
General Land Office had Just Informed
me that the permission had been granted
by the Secretary of the Interior himself
He seemed 10 be astonished, and de.
ClaTed positively and emphatically that
he would not grant the permission un.
less ordered so to do by the Secretary,
and requested me 10 so saw to him,
which I did in our letter Of the same
date February 13. 1890. Mr. Graft
cannot be held responsible for what
others have done, and cheerfully state
that / believe him 10 be as fair, up.
right and honorable an officer as serves
the Government, and that hc never
shows partiality
Assistant Secretary Chandler. to
whom our letter TO the Secretary was
presented for action, was equally sur.
prisod, and, while he also considered Il
improper Information To be given out
to attorneys. stated. as did the COmmis.
siuncr, that u 10 jods gtreH % 0Heu should
he 30 dL
II we did not prevent the obtaining
Of the lists by Messrs Combs Il Co. we
did, by calling the attention Of the OH
GERS Of the Department To such prac.
tices, prevent the accomplishment Of
other schemes Of a similar nature then
being concocted.
No reputable attorney In his practice
before the Departments asks or needs
special favors, and Il was as much for
their protection as our own. We began
the light, and, having accomplished our
object, we dropped the whole matter,
and have not spoken of IL since, and
would not have done 50 II the Senate
and the newspapers had not taken II
up on information not nbtained from
us, and you desired to publish the truth
rather than rumoTs you had heard.
Respectfully, +, r. BALDWIN.
OF Baldwin x Baldwin
Laurel, Md, July 5, 90,