The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-08-11
BIG WATER POWER TRUST
Newspaper Makes Allegations Against
Secretary of Interior

Spokane Wash, Aug 10.-Puttine
| squarely VI to Richard A. Ballinger
secretary of the interior. the respon
sibility for the SCATTERING of the
Roosevelt policy of conservation anC
| allowing to fall into tne hands of the
water power trust millions of dollars
worth OF power site lands, the Spo
kane Press yesterday carries an arti
Gle from Helena Mont, which has
thrown the members of the irrigation
congress now in session here, into the
greatest excitement.
The article reads
Helena, Mont, Aug. 10.-This is
the true story of how the birthrignt
of a great state has been taken to
round out the greatest American
trust The state is Montana The
trust is the water power monopoly
the youngest and destined to be the
greatest of all the broad Of American
monopoles.
There is proof at hand that one OF
the first official acts of President
Tafts secretary of the interior, Rich
ard A. Bilinger was to knowingly turn
over to the water power monopoly mil
lions of dollars worth OF power sites
along Montana rivers.
1T was in the closing days of his
administration that President Roose-
welt learned of the wholesale seizing
of water powers by the then forming
trust. The grab was at it's height.
Roosevelt had Secretary Garfield end
it by resuming government control
Of public lands containing power
sites
1T was generally believed that Gar
field was to remain in Taft's cabinet,
but on February Is he was asked by
Taft to resign on March 4. Not know
ing WAC the secretary would be, Pres
ident Roosevelt and Mr. Garfield de
cided to lock all the doors so that the
new administration would lnl every
thing snug, and the last thing Presl.
dent Roosevelt did at midnight on
March was to withdraw moro lard,
to the extent Of 1S6,000,000 acres,
from the reach of the land grabhers.
The first thing Ballinger did after
he was sworn into Taft's cabinet on
March was to begin to turn that
land over to the half entrenched
lands had progressed for a month
when a rising tide of popular profess
was heard at the White House and
the clamor increasing Taft called Bal
linger in TO explain. Ballinger secur-
ed delay, and meantime kept throwing
Land open to entry. and was again
called to the White House. ais time
the public was given to understand
that the public lands had again been
withdraw.
But it was too late, the trust had
had warning and had had time. The
power sites, scores of them, were
grabbed and 1t was after President
Taft had ordered Ballinger to with
draw certain Montana lands which he
had quietly reopened a few weeks be-
fore, that Amalgamated Copper COM
pany, owned by Senator Guggenheim
and brothers, together with the Gen
eral Electric company, had swallowed
thousands of acres of these important
Montana lands, holding power sites
of untold wealth.
1.-THE relation of the dates of vari-
GUS transactions in which the govern
ment and the trusts agents figure are
being urged as a proper matter for an
official investigation. Here in Hell
ena, in fact, wherever power sites and
grabs are talked of in this western
country, opinions differ about Secre-
tary Ballinger; one is that he has
been fooled.