Arizona republican., 1909-12-18
Secretary Ballinger.

'PN IT, Alit StS. dSlut rom lT- nuendo. amount to the assertion that Mir. Ballinger, before he became sec retary of the interior. was a cor poration lawyer; that among his sundry clients were railroad and other public service corporations; that some of these corporations. and some individual clients. from time to time. were known to seek such special ad- vantages as could be secured under the law; that among these were in dividuals and interests that tried to secure coal lands in Alaska contrary to the spirit of the law.
 Granting for the moment that all this is true, the pertinent question which suggests itself to every fair mind is: Does Secretary Ballinger permit these former employments to influence his official action-does he fail in any particular to be a faithful servant of the public interest?
 This is the question which interests the people of the United States. and the inquiry cannot be answered by manifestly hostile innuendo or by pointing to the secretary's former em- ployments as a lawyer It can be answered. and will be answered, by the record which MT. Ballinger shall make as secretary of the interior.
 To have corporations as clients, and 10 have clients who ask for all the advantages they can get. is the ex- perience of every lawyer of large practice. If the appointment of law yers to public office were restricted to the attorneys who have no corpOr- the selection of lawyers of small abil- ity, or lawyers who were demagogues. And it is not unusual for a corpora tion lawyer-that is to say. a lawyer of large practice-tO become, in office, a most devoted servant of the public. The rule. in fact, works about this way: The man who is faithful to private employment will be faithful to public employment. To cite nu- merous concrete illustrations of this fact from the public service would be easy, for all people of general in- formation are familiar with them.
 To mention a single case. locally familiar: President Harrison sent to the senate the nomination of Joseph H Kibbey of Arizona to be a justice of the supreme court. Confirmation was delayed, and Senator Hoar. chair man of the senate judiciary commit tee. wrote MT. Kibbey. in effect: There is opposition from Arizona to your confirmation, on the ground that you are a corporation lawyer: how about it?" Mir Kibbey replied, in substance: Tt is true that I have a considerable number of clients. and that among them are several corpora tions wish there were more. Per init me to say that if You are look ing for a lawyer who has no clients, you probably can find. one, even in Arizona" Confirmation promptly fol- lowed the receipt of that letter. Judge Kibbey was famous as one of the most upright, fearless and impartial judges that ever adorned the Arizona bench. Again, leaving the bench. Judge Kibbey succeeded to a wide practice. At the time he became governor. he was counsel to one of the largest copper companies of the territory Promptly upon taking of flee he undertook reforms in taxa tion, and the interests that were hit the hardest were the copper compa- nies. his former client among them. The copper company that he had rep resented was no doubt greatly dis gusted by the turn of affairs but its admiration for the governors integ- rity was only heightened, and he is again it's counsel. we understand.
 Every intelligent citizen will con- cede that it is possible for Secretary Ballinger to make similar record. And what is the secretary doing? The hue and cry against him is that he is disposed to give away to individu- als and corporations the coal and timber lands. and the water power sites on the public domain. Has he, as secretary of the interior, done a single thing that should warrant this hue and cry? The record fails to show it. On the contrary, he has made a notable record for the with drawal from entry of public land that embraces natural resources. Is he an enemy of the conservation policy inaugurated by President Roosevelt? TO get at his convictions on the sub ject We should not look to his bitter