Arizona republican., 1909-09-16
Cunningham Goal Land
 Charges Not Supported LETTER TO THE SECRETARY
Publicity Given a Statement Written by the President at Beverly that Fully Sustains the Actions of the Interior Chief.

Albany. N. Y, Sept. 15.-President Taft has exonerated Secretary Ballin- ger in the matter of the charges filed by l.. R. Glavis. chief of the field d. vision of the general land office in connection with the Cunningham coal land claims in Alaska.
 In a statement given out today the president decalres the Glavis case em- braced only '-shreds of suspicion with out circumstantial evidence. Taft also grants Ballinger's request for au- thority to dismiss Glavis from the service of the government for un- justly impeaching the official lnteg rity of his superior officer, and takes occasion to review the eNldehce in the so-called water power trust and other cases to refute the charges that the secretary of the interior IS out of sympathy with the policy of the administration in favor Of the conservation of natural resources The statement is in the form of letter to BaIlinger. written before Taft left his summer home at Beverly
 After the closing Of the Glavis incl dent the president says: T cannot close this letter without referring to certain other matters connected with your conduct of the interior depart ment, which has been unfairly used in the public press to support the gen. eral charge that you are out of sym pathy with the declared policy of this administration, following that of Roosevelt in favor of the conserva- ton of natural resources, especially in connection with the coal lands and with water and power sites, and with the system of reclamation of arid lands which are all within the jurisdiction Of the interior depart ment.
 Tn the first place, it was charged on the floor of the irrigation conven- ton at Spokane by former Governor Pardee of California that you had re- stored to the public domain for settle ment certain lands which had been withdrawn by the last administration for the purpose of conserving water power sites and that after the com plaint made thereof you had subse- quently withdrawn some of the lands again from settlement, but that in the meantime between one act and the other, opportunity had been given the sO-called water power trust to file entries and obtain vested rights in valuable water power sites in Mon tana
 At the same time the charge was made by Governor Pardee there ap- peared in the public press, in tele- gram which seems to have had the widest circulation, a statement quot cd from a Montana paper that a wa ter power company with capital Of $1OOOO, 900 had in the interval located and obtained vested rights in 15,OOO acres of Montana land, which absorbed for the water power company all valu- able water power sites in that state. and the statement was accompanied by detailed reference to the particu- lar land office and the particular agent through whom the result was accomplished The inference which jt was sought to have drawn. and was drawn. by newspapers hostile to you was that you brought about the res toratiOn to settlement of land for the purpose of enabling private water power companies to acquire vested interests and that after doing so you had withdrawn what remained, and that you took this course because you were out of sympathy with the policy Of conservation of natural resources and were in favor of corporate control of such water power.
 When the facts are examined IL will be found that persons responsi- ble for the circulation of these charg- es have done you a cruel injustice The fact was that in January. 1909, in the last administration, executive or ders were made withdrawing from public settlement 100000 acres of land at the instance of the reclamation service for the conservation of water power sites. Soon after you became secretary you brought this order to my attention and said it included a great deal of land that had no water power sites on it. running back many miles from the rivers, and that IL included much land which ought to be opened to public settlement; that you had applied to the reclamation bu- reau to know whether it was desired Tor reclamation purposes, and that they had recommended that 1t be re- turned to the public domain. You also advised me it was possible to procure from the geological survey an accurate statement of the available water power sites which might be subjected to private ownership, ana that you would direct the geological survey to make such statements ana