The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-20
BLUNDERS BY
 THE CABINET Hitchcock and Wilson
 Are Criticised. QUESTIONED BY SENATOR'S They Admit Violating Law in
 Allotment of Lands. Members of Senate Committee Talk Plainly to Chiefs of Departments
 concernlns Their Illegal
 Conduct.

Washington, Dec. 19.--Admitting that I they had no authority of law for the withdrawal from allotment of nearly four million acres of land belonging to the five cililized tribes in the Indian Territory for the purpose of creating 8 forest reservation, two members of the Presidents cabinet, Secretary Hitch cock, of the department of the interior. and Secretary Wilson, of the depart ment of agriculture, endeavored today | to Justify their course by stating they had the best interest of the Indian at heart.
 1 The explanation was made before select Senate committed, which is in- vestIgating affairs in relation to the property rights of the five tribes but the committee declined to accept 1t and Senators Clarke of wyoming, Teller. Long and Brandege declared that the interior department has suspended statute of the United States without authority and that it was the duty of Secretary Hitchcock to immediately cancel his order withdrawing the land
 from allotment
 The order withdrawing the land from allotment was issued carry in the pres ent month. The purpose of the with drawaI was not stated publicly at the | time but it developed during earlier | induiries by the committee that the de- partment of agriculture planned to | create forest reserve within the with
 drawn lands. which would contain about 1,500,0O0 acres. These lands
 would have to be purchased from the
 Indians under some plan yet to be pre- scented and an appropriation by Con- gress would be required. The committee was of the opinion that there was no authority of Con- gress for the suspension of the law | providing for the allotment of the | lands involved and 1t was then deter mined to call for an explanation from
 the heads of the two executive depart
 ments responsible for the withdrawaL Hitchcock WAtnesa. Secretary Hitchcock was first called
 to the stand today Ire said that he had asked fhe forest service, diyis- i ion of inc agricultural department, to
 report on a request of Jack Gordon. of
 Paris, Texas, and associates, that they
 be permitted to buy 100000 acres for | a game reserve and that in making an | advance report on that proposition the | forest service had asked for the with
 drawal of the lands for a forest re- serve Mir Hitchcock said in that in ] granting the request he had only tem- porarily suspended the operation of the i law requiring that the lands in ques- tion be allotted The tentative sus-
 pension, he said, was for the purpose
 of investigation with view to deter
 mining what was the best interest of
 the Indian.
 "You have no right 10 suspend the
 operation of statute one hour. not one minute" declared Senator Teller
 If you had the right to temporarily
 hold up the application of law, you could suspend it's operation for month,
 a year or two years"
 | In reply to questions from Senator Long as to the reasons that actuated | the Secretary. MT. Hitchcock said that | the request of Secretary Wilson had | prompted him. He was asked concern | ing other suspensions of land laws
 mad said that at times actions of that character had been taken at the re- | quest of the President. where it had been necessary to investigate claims 1 of frauds.
 "No one has authority to suspend
 law of the United States under any | circumstances unless there is specific
 provision for it," declared MT. Teller.
 Condemned by Senator's. All of the members of the commit | tee then took part in condemning the
 action of the department in suspend
 ing the law and finally Senator Teller
 said. q challege any one to show any
 statute which permitted the suspension
 of the allotments In question: "If we have violated the law, am ! sorry for It." said Secretary Hitch
 cock. "But my only motive was in the
 interest of the Indians, and because I
 desired to accommodate the Secretary | of Agriculture. The committee, I
 think, does not take into consideration that the suspension was not perma- nent but merely provided foR the sub
 mission of a plan to Congress for the
 creation of a forest reserve"
 Turning to Secretary Wilson. who had been an interested listener to the l examination of his colleague in the
 cabinet, Senator Long asked:
 "We want to know under what au- thority you requested the withdrawal
 of these lands from allotment" T never looked at an authority"
 replied Secretary Wilson. T made up my mind that we had a better propo-
 sition for the Indan than to turn hls | land into a game preserve. The right
 to withdraw the land was matterof | the lawyers of the Interior Depart
 mpnt to pass upon. We made an in- vestlgation and then a recommenda-
 ton. It is up to you. gentlemen. 10 say whether you take 1t or not" Now" responded Senator Clark ''it is up to the Secretary of the Interior to do as the law tells him to do." Chief Forester Pinchot was called 70 the stand, and after he had explained the proposition, members of the com mittee declared empbatically that he could not hope to get his plan through Congress. He was told also that his request had been out of place inas-
 much as it suggested a violation of law.
 Secretary Hitchcock should not take thirty minutes in telegraphing an order to the territory to perrlit the allot-
 ments to proceed" concluded Senator Teller and Senators Long, Brandagee and Clark assented.
 The question of the propriety of the withdrawal of the lands was also rais-
 cd in the Senate. It was brought up by Senator Berry in connection with some protests against the proceeding which he presented. He characterized the withdrawal as "a remarkable pro- cneding" and as ''seerning disregard Of
 the law requiring allotment.