New-York tribune., 1909-11-08
BALLINGER'S ORDER
FOR CONSTIPATION.
Secretary Explains His Policy
on Watcr Po7cer Sites.
[rrom I'M. Trihnr. rnreau. /

g NltNHfdNal orIaf Wt'nHOldinE lloIl terNl
nsent. location or entry three hundred thou-
sand acres. was wholly promotive--net
suhversive-of the conservation policy. u
was the next logical step Tn the prosecution
cf the policy OF conserving the water power
on the federal domain. snd one which Sec
retary Garneld must have taken had he re-
riained in Office. The first order was
blanket withdrawal. issued 10 meet an
emergency. and without taking time 10 as
certain just where the power sites were To-
Gated. Intelligent prosecution OF the policy
demanded that as soon as possible there
after these sites be located and the lands
rot needed TO protect them be restored to
entry"
This statement was made to-day by Judge
Ballinger. Secretary Of the Interior. when
asked for an explanation of his widely dis
oussed revocation Of "the Garfield order"
That the Garfield withdrawal was a ten
tative and emergency order is obvious from
some OF the facts connected with it," con-
tinusd the Secretary. For example. there
We're a number of instances where laud
thirty and thirty-six miles from the streams
was Withdrawn from settlement under that
order. Again. portions of the streams were
not withdrawn at all. Take the case OF
the Owyhee River. In Oregon; forty mics
of il was skipped entirely. while another
thirty miles whore the stream is almost
level and no water power could be devel-
oped was included Then again, many
thousands Of acres which had been patent
ed-that is, had passed completely from
the possession of the government-were in
cluded. You must see, therefore. that II
would be an unwarranted reflection on Sec
rotary Garfield to assume that he would
not have done precisely what did, ascer-
tain as soon as practicable where the DOW
e. sites were actually located and issue
new order Withdrawing them from settle
ment and restoring to entry all lsnds not
needed for that purpose"
Mr.. Secretary it is asserted that you
first revoked the Garfield order about April
and did not issue your new order until
May Z, and that opportunity was thus sf-
fcrded to those who would secure posses
sion of the water sites 10 do SO In the In
tertm Is that correct?"
NO WATER POWER SITES LOST.
That is only partly correct The with
6rawal of more than a million acres not
Eeeded TO conserve the power sites raised a
storm of protest. ON investigation I found
that these protests were warranted
found further that by utilizing the Geologi-
cal Survey instead of the Reclamation Ser
vice. which had been employed by my
predecessor. L could secure accurate infor-
nation as to the location Of the power
sites. ON consultation with the legal
officers OF my department I found that I
could make withdrawal orders retroactive
that is, that I could issue withdrawal or
Gers later which would efTectually protect
any power sites within any entries which
might have been made I'm the interim. The
Reclamation Service, when called on for
Information TO the actual location of
power sites. reported that they did not pos
sess any. and recommended that the lands
Withdrawn be opened to entry without the
usual notice. as the lands had been with
drawn only a short time. Omission of the
notice is optional with the Secretary and is
not legal requirement. The retroactive
provision Of the subsequent Withdrawals
operated completely to conserve the sites,
even during the interim. AS ] have said be
fore. not single power site has passed out
Of the possession Of the government during
this administration.
AS matter of fact, the Withdrawals or
dered by me protected 20 per cent more
power sites than were conserved by the
Garfield order. This implies, understand. no
criticism of the Garfield order II merely
shows conclusively that the Garfield order
was tentative, and one which any friend Of
the conservation policy must have replaced
with more intelligent Withdrawals as soon
as he could acquire the data on which 10
base them.
Il speak Of Withdrawals because there
were a number OF them. Nv first With
Grawal order was dated May 4, 1900 and the
last. which included anv of the lands for
merly withdrawn. June ~ 1909 but each Of
these orders contained the language all ex
istins claims, filings and entries are tenn
poraTily suspended As a matter of fact
there was not a single filing made on a
power site during the interim on the other
hand, the restoration to entry of more than
a million acres OF land net needed to pro-
tect the power sites allayed videsprasd
eiseontent, and thus avoided unnecessarily
making enemies for the conservation
policy. In view of the fact that We are de-
pendent on Congress for tho legislation
needed permanently 10 protect the power
sites. II must be obvious that il is highly
important for this department 10 handle the
matter with tact and make as fen enemies
as possible. Since june 10 I have msda
twenty-five additional Withdrawals in en-
tirely new territory"
V
secretary, " seems extraordinary that YOUR
course should have been SO widely misrn-
derstood and So extensively misreprAsanta1
To what do you ascribe the misuDdar-
standing
tAIsEs OF MlSREPREsENTATIO
There were number of factors ub,.,,
contributed to that end some of which
am not ~ liberty to discuss 7 cannot hou. t
ever, hold some representatives of the pras-
entirely blamelsss and eandor cemraIs ,,a
70 admit that neither can SO hold myself.
" Is probably inevitable that AZ the bas,n-
ming Of an administration the new member
Of the Cabinet viii fan to appreciate the
adNisability-I might even sav the innor-
tanes-ef making perfectly clear to the rsn
resentatives Of the press their purposA IA
tie various steps they may deem II necss-
sary 10 take To employ The vernacuIa-.
they are ne" on the job and unless ,or
gentlemen Of the press take that fact into
consideration and deal Ieniertlv with them
Misunderstanding are bound 10 occur ~,
the other hand. I cannot escape the hsIiaf
that certain correspondents. possibly at the
instance of the papers they represent. rstb-
er welcomed an opportunity 10 write sen
sational dispatches, many OF which involved
grave Injustice Ia this administration. The
executive departments are highly comploy
institutions involving an immense variety
OF interests over q vast area Of territory.
and it seems 20 ire that the new Cabinet