The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1909-11-09
REPEATS Land
OFFICE CHARGES
CLAWS Writes Of Alaska Coal
Field Monopoly.
ARRAIGNS mr.. BALLINGER

cave iE1WenSe Deus OF fueI from
Fraudulent Entry-Deposed Gov
eminent EmpIoye Says He Was Re-
moved Unjustly by MIR. Taft.
New York, Nov. 9.-In an article
prepared for Golfers Weekly of Nov.
IS aud copyrighted by that publica-
ton L. R. CLAWS, removed in Septem-
her from the office of chief of field
division of the general land office,
rays:
tCopyrigEt, 1909, by P. F. Collier 4
Sons.1
From 1902 to 1909 I was in the
,held service of the general land Office,
Tor, the last two and a half years as
chief of field division. In September,
1909, was supmarily removed from
my position without formal hearing
by Richard A. Ballinger, secretary of
the interior, by authorization of the
president of the United States. That
removal was accompanied by the
publication of a letter of the presi-
dent to Mr.. Ballinger. I believe that
my removal was unfair. I believe the
Presidents letter was grievo3sly IN
fair, because in it, the president gives
weight to charge against me which
/ never had the opportunity to see or
answer. The president states in his
letter that I withheld frc,n him in
formation favorable to my superiors.
I do not know of any such informa-
ton withheld by l1e, nor am l con-
scious of doing my superiors injus-
tice. Nevertheless, I should not now
make any public statement of the
matter were it not still possible to
save for the government many thou
sands of acres of coal lands which
I believe the land Office may in the
near future grant to fraudulent claim
ants.
Coal Lands of Inestmable Value.
go "The coal lands of Alaska owned
100000 acres. They are the future
coal supply of the nation. of almost
inestjmable value. Possession of
them by private individuals means
great wealth. A monopoly Of them
would be national menace
"On Nov. II, 1906, President Roose-
welt withdrew all coal lands in Alaska
from public entry, but previous to
that time there were about 900 claims
filed, covering about 100000 acres,
nearly the whole of the coal fields
The law attempts to prevent monop-
oily of such claims by limiting the
amount of each claim and providing
that each claimant must take up the
land in his own interest and for his
own use. This law has been inter-
preted by the supreme court of the
United States to forbid specializing in
coal lands before entry, either by
dummy entrymen or by previous
agreements to consolidate claims
after entry. Of these 5000 claims to
Alaska coal lands, among them the
SO called Cunningham group, the ma
jority are fraudulent. lit is asserted
that the Guggenheims are seeking
monopoly of the Alaska coal fields.l
las to the action of the land office
on these claims assert that the land
Office ordered the Cunningham claims
to patent without due investigation
when Commissioner Ballinger knew
they were under suspicion; that
while in Office Commissioner Balm
ger urged congress to pass a law
which would validate fraudulent Alas
ka claims; that shortly after resign
Ing from Office he became attorney
for the Cunningham group and other
Alaska claims; that soon after he
became secretary of the interior his
office rendered a decision which would
have validated all fraudulent Alaska
claims. A reversal OF that decision
ON every point was obtained from At
torney General Wickersham.
How CLAWS Was Dismissed.
II assert that in the spring of 1909
the land Office urged me to all early
trial of these cases before the inyes-
t1gatton was finished and when Sec
retary Ballinger, as the president has
stated, knew that the Cunningham
0A"ALdo "CiI Ill WuGu dp-
pealed to Secretary Ballinger for post
ponement he referred me to his sub
ordinates. The department of agri-
culture interviewed. | was superseded
In the charge of the cases and the
man who superseded me endorsed my
recommendations and the postpone-
ment was granted. Immediately there
after l made my report on the Gun
ninghan. cases to President Taft and
was dismissed from the service for
INSTRUMENTATION.
1.-THE president mas chosen to treat
my report as a charge of criminality
/ made no such charge, nor do make
1T now. The presidents letter is a
defense Of M. Ballinger aud Mr.. Den
nett commissioner of the general
land oftlce1 from charges not made in
my report to him. I was not investi-
eating either Mr.. Ballinger or . Mr..
bennett, but the Alaska coal cases."
THE forthcoming article in Golfers
Weekly is expected to reopen the en-.
tire Pinchot-Ballinger dispute over the
disposition of public lands. One of
the most bitter official controversies
ever known in Washington may fol-
low.]
A Game of Chance,
II suppose" said the stranger with.
In the gates. "the lid is on all games
Of chance in this town.
Don't you believe it, stranger" re-
Joined the native. '"The marriage IL