New-York tribune., 1909-09-16

duties
Secretary Of the Interior until the present day
you have studiously declined to have any con
nectiUn whatever with the Cunningham clalns
20 exercise any control over the coarse oi the
6epartment in respect 10 those claims: that You
have eaid so in written and verbal comnlpnicd-
tions to Your subordinates and 10 the claimants
themselves Moreover. in May last you came 10
me and made similar statement 10 me OF your
course and intention in respect 20 those claims.
The statement made by Mr.. CLAWS that Whlie
YOU did thus formally withdraw from any ON
cial connection with the Cunningham claims
you nevertheless continued 10 exercise your IN
fuence in regard 10 them is not sustained by any
evidence in the records produced
The truth is that had YOU. or Commissioner
n)ennett or chief of Field Service Schwartz.
during the years OF the pendency of these claims:
been desirous, through dishonest motlNeS ara
without regard 10 law and the interests OF the
public. Of bringing them 10 patent, the oppor-
tunities for you to have done so were many
and the Circumstance that speaks. MOI more
conclusiVely than many others. but still most
emphatically. against the accusatory statements
~ Mr. Claws Is the fact that though his con-
viction that the claims fraudulent or 1lleSal
was well known in the department. he WAS al
lowed during all the years of the pendency ol
these claims, to remain i'm charge of them as an
agent of the department. when il would nave
been entirely easy for either you. or Dennetl or
Schwartz to remove him TO Portland or else
where, and thus take the claims out OF ms Juris
diction. Instead Of this, with the consent Aho
acquiesence of every officer whose corrupt mo mo
tives in respect 10 these claims he now asserts.
CLAWS has remained continuously IN conIrol OF
the taking of evidence with respect TO the claims
and only when the claims were ahout 10 pe sun
nitted TO hearing before "A tribunal was II
thought necessary (AIr CLAWS not having had
any professional experience) to give them i'm
charge Of AIR sheridan a lawyer, whose good
faith and earnestness in opposing the patentlng
Of the claims Mr.. CLAWS has not had the
temerity TO question
DISMISSAL OF CLAWS DIRECTED.
In your answer. You request authority to dis
charge Mr.. CLAWS from the service Of the Unlteo
States for disloyalty his superior officers IN
making false charge against them. When a
subordinate IN a government bureau or Depart
ment has trustworthy evidence upon which TO
believe that his chief Is dishonest and Is de-
-trauoing the government j Is OF course ms
duty 10 submit that evidence 10 higher author
fly than his chief. But when he makes a charge
against his chief founded upon mere suspicious,
and in his statement he fails TO give his chief
the benefit of circumstances within his knOwl-
edge that would explain his chiefs action as on
proper grounds, he makes it impossible for him
20 continue in the service Of the government,
and his immediate separation therefrom becomes
3 necessity. You are therefore authorized to
dismiss L. r. CLAWS from the service of the
government for fling disingenuous statement.
unjustly impeaching the official integrity Of his
superior officers.
BALLINGER AND CONSERVATION.
cannot close this letter without referring 10
certain other matters connected with your con-
duct of the Interior Department. which have
been unfairly used in the public press to sup
port general charge that you are out of SYM
pathy with the declared policy of this admins
tratiOn, following that of President Roosevelt,
in favor Of the conservation OF national
sources, especially I'm connection with coal lands.
with .WaterpoN-er sites and with the system of
the jurisdiction of the Interior Department.
In the first place, il was charged on the floor
OF the irrigation Convention az SPOKANE py
former Governor Fardee of California that you
had restored TO the public domain for settlement
certain lands which had been withdrawn by the
last administration for the purpose of conserY-
ing water power sites and that after complaint
made thereof you had subsequently withdrawn
some Of the lands again from settlement: but that
meantime. between the one act and the other.
an opportunity had been given TO the so-caled
Water Power Trust" 10 file entries and obtain
ig6f IN val lflob
the State of Montana.
Al the same time that this charge was made
by Governor Pardee, there appeared in the public
> press, in a telegram which seems 20 have had
the widest circulation, a statement quoted from
with capiial Of ten millions Of dollars had in
the interval between the order OF restoration and
the order of withdrawal located and obtained
vested rights in fifteen thousand acres Of land
in Montana, which absorbed for the company all
the valuable water power sites in that state; and
the statement was accompanied by detailed ref
erence to the particular land Office and the par
ticular agent through whom this result Was
uompshed.
The inference which il was sought TO have
drawn and which was drawn by newspapers
hostile 10 you was that you had brought about
the restoration 10 settlement of the land upon
"a hich were the water power sites for the pur-
pose OF enabling private water power companies
10 acquire vested interests; that after doing so
you had then withdrawn what remained from
public settlement. and that YOU took this course
because you out Of sympathy with the
policy Of conservation Of national resources ard
we're in favor Of the corporate control OF such
water power sites.
CRUEL INJUSTICE" DONE.
When the facts are examined in this regard it
viii found that the persons responsible for the
circulation Of these charges have done you
cruel injustice. The fact was that in January
1909, in the last administration, executive
orders were made withdra wing from public set
nement a million five hundred thousand acres
at the instance Of the Reclamation Service, for
conservation Of water power sites.
Soon after YOU became Secretary Of the In
terror you brought this order 10 nv attention
and said that il included a great deal of land
that had no water power sites on n running
Dack many miles from the rivers and that il
included much land which ought 10 be opened to
public settlement; that you had applied 10 the
Reclamation Bureau TO know whether il was de-
slIed lor reclamation purposes, and what their
recommendation was in the premises and that
they recommended that il be returned to the
public domain.
You also advised me that il was possible TO
procure from the Geological Survey an accurate
statement of the water power sites which U-ere
available. ana which might be subjected TO pri-
Eate ownership and that you would direct the
t5eologlcsl Survey TO make such statements and
mat then there could be made temporary with
draWals Of the land needed to preserve these
water power sites until Congress could act
The order reVoking the withdrawal OF the mill
lon ana q half acres was made in April Suf-
hcient Information was prOchrad from the Geo
logical Survey 10 permit order withdrawing
the land upon which we're water power sites III
May. and this Withdrawal covered about mr..
hundred thousand acres instead of a million and
q half The form Of the new order OF with
oraNal was such that IL set aside All filings and
entries Of any kind which had been made urior
% its going into effect and as a matter of
rect not one single filing has been attempted
on any of the water power sites since the or
iginal order OF withdrawal in January. 1869
The story as to the fifteen thousand acres
n Montana, circulated by publication IN the
newspapers. when presented by Governor Par
dee yas reduced 10 l5S acres near the Missouri
River an Montana, or four tracts Of forty acres
eech; and II now turns out, from examination
of the records, that these filings were refJingg
q enifles male ten wears before: that the refill