Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1909-11-30
BALL|NCER out
WITH A REPORT 7
SECRETARY OF INTERIORS REC
oMMENDATIoNS AN ANSWER
TO CRITICISMS.

Washington, D. c., Nov. 29.-The an
nual report of Secretary of the Interior
Ballinger to President Taft was made
public yesterday. Although the report
deals in comprehensive manner with
all the great problems of administra-
ton of the public lands remaining to
the government, the chief interest
which attaches to it arises from its
bearing on the recent controversy be-
tween Secretary Ballinger and r. L..
CLAWS, discharged from the general
land office service some time ago.
CLAWS, following his dismissal, wrote
an open letter directly charging Secre-
tary Ballinger with having attempted
to undo the work of President Roose-
velt and Secretary Garfield in preserv-
| ing the Alaskan coal fields.
| Pinchot Charges Answered.
! Another feature of the report which
| is especially interesting is the light 1T
sheds on the implications made not
long ago by Chief Forester Clifford
Pinchot that a gigantic water power
trust was forming to grab all public
water power sites as fast as they might
be opened to entry.
! Secretary Ballinger's report mentions
neither of these charges against his
administration. It does advise Presi-
dent Taft however, of a method of ad-
ministering the remaining public do
main which, on the face of 1T, would
appear to be an effective answer to
the charges. The charges proposed ap-
| pear to have been devised with a view
to shutting off all possibilities of the
unjust seizure by large interests of the
rights of the people in general to the
public lands which may from time to
| time be opened for entry.
The secretary outlines the growth of
| the American practice of defrauding
| the government of land wherever pos
sble and says this began simultane-
ously with the gold rush to California
in 1S49 and practically was unchecked
until the Roosevelt administration.
| Credit to Roosevelt Regime.
OF this awakening the report says
''The principal awakening to our waste
full course came under your predecess-
ors administration. The bold and
vigorous prosecutions of land frauds
through Secretaries Hitchcock and
Garfield have restored a salutary re-
spect for the law, and the public mind
| has rapidly grasped the Importance of
safeguarding the further disposition of
our natural resources in the public
lands in the interest of the public good
as against private greed. Notwith-
standing this, it is necessary to con-
tinue with utmost vigor, through all
available sources, the securing of in
| formation of violations of the public
|
with rigid prosecutions
Deals With Coal Situation.
CLAWS accused Secretary Ballinger
of having been practically willing
assistant to the interests which he
charged planned to steal practically al
the coal land owned by the government
in Alaska and elsewhere. With regard
to this coal land the report says:
GAS regards new legislation the pres
o "a
states and territories. as well as
Alaska. should be supplanted by an act
fully meeting existing as we'll as future
conditions. The inducements for much
of the crime and fraud, both con-
structive and actual, committed under
the present system. can be prevented
by separating the right to mine from
the title to the soil. The surface would
thereby be open to entry under other
laws according to its character anC
subject to the right to extract the
coal.
\ "I believe the most advantageous
method will be found in a measure
authorizing the lease or sale of the
coal deposits in the lands, subject tt
forfeiture for failure to exercise the
rights granted, under such reasonable
reg ulations as may be imposed"
Rules for Power Sites. I,
The answer to the charge that the
water power trust would succeed, i
not checked, in gobbling power sites
which rightfully should go to the peo-
pie as a whole is found in the follow
!, ing recommendation:
/. That the title to such lands be re.
served in the federal government, ant
only an easement granted for the pur-
pose of developing and transmitting
electrical power for private and public
use, and for the storage of waters fol
power. irrigation and other uses;
9. That such easement be granted
, for limited period, with maximum
of at least thirty years and the op
ton of renewal for stated periods up
on greed terms;
l g. That entry shall be accompanies
by plans and specifications coverini