East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-09-13

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duced bill to allow the consol'da
tion of valid" coal locations The
bill contained an antitrust clause.
This bill would not have allowed the
consolidation Of the Cunningham
claims.
,Balllngcr as Combines Attorney.
Mr.. Balllnger resigned in March,
1903.
Action on the Cunningham group
of cases was suspended by orders to
TGlayis by the general land office in
the spring of 1908, and they contin-
ued to suspend until October, 1908.
Immediately after his resignation
as commissioner, Mr.. Ballinger be-
came attorney for the Cunningham
| group of claimants and for other
claimants in Alaska AS such attor-
ney he filed an affidavit by Cunning
ham dated September 4, 1908. which
attempted to explain certain evidence
contained in a private journal, copy
Of which Mr. CLAWS had secured from
Cunningham. This Journal showed
that the Cunningham group of claims
had been initiated by three men, one
Of whom was Clarence Cunningham,
who used the names of dummy en-
trymen'" from whom they had powers
of attorney to locate and select lands
located. The book showed the sub
sttutioh Of names of responsible peo-
pie for these dummies" later on. It
also showed that charges for exami-
nation Of the lands and other ex-
penses connected with the locations
were borne by the Guggenheim syn
dicate. CLAWS continued to examine
the Cunningham group of coal claims |
with others in Alaska aggregating 900 |
claims.
The Campaign fo- Consolidation.
On January 30. 1909, Secretary of |
the Interior Garfield, Commissioner of
the General Land Office bennett and |
Chief Of the Field Service Schwartz
appeared before a select committee
of the house of representatives for the
of frauds and depreda-
tions upon the public service, and
claims then pending before the gen.
eral land office.
Commissioner bennett referred 10
the coal claims in Alaska and to the
Bering river field. This field lnclud-
ed the Cunningham group He offer
ed to send to the chairman a map
covering the Bering river field.
Secretary Garfield said:
"Yes; and the entries, as soon as
We examined them, we fould were not
legal entries. Now those gentlemen
have recently been endavoring to
perfect their original entries but they
cannot, because they were clearly in
of the statute as construed
by Judge Hanford, in the Washington
district, and in the cases coming up
n the court of Colorado. They are
rying to find out some method by
which they can get control of the
entire field"
Schwartz Testified of Fraud.
Mr. Schwartz testified concerning
the entries:
I'm the first place with reference
TO the labor values up there, II must
De borne in mind that these coal
ands are along the coast. They are
not back beyond the range in the
mining countries. and normally the
abor is not as high there, and by wa
er It is not a great distance from Sc !
title, and the principal cost of ship |
ling this coal, or the principal trans
'ortation is the water transportation. {
o get to the Puget sound country. &
he people there are the people who t
iant coal. Further than that, these
oals are practically in the line of the S
rental trade. and their future val +
es VIII undoubtedly De greatly en-
and it undoubtedly will v
Nov, as to why this is included o
ere for further investigation. l may
ly that our Investigations as they t
ave progressed show that these peo- p
le who are endeavoring to acquire {
large amount of this coal land went
Ito the laboring camps of the Great
orthern and secured laborers to sign Il
|
$50 show that at places in Chicago a
nd at Terre Haute. Ind, and prob il
bly, Detroit, Mich. anc otner places, Il
and clerks, who knew a
othing about coal or coal lands. but u
no were employees of men who are e'
hind the railroads that are building la
there and in the prospect p'
building, signed those applications tr
large numbers ana those lands to
I'VE been located and their appica- III
Dns are pending; and our division
lief in the field force, VINO has had df
ese matters personally in his hands, &c
I'd who is one of our most conserva- u
'e and careful men, advises us as his
Union that among 1900 or 1900 en- ae
es at present pending on coal lands ed
Alaska, in his opinion 500 of them ac
G fraudulent; and it is also his opin- OF
n that probably with the exception er
that one group that has been re- ST.
rred to here, they are not such en-
es as congress contemplated could gu
gotten together and aggregated de
der this last coal rand act"
The division chief referred to in qu
Is quotation as being "one of our pr
,st conservative and careful men," Gl
IS L. r. CLAWS.
Coal Grabbcrs' Working Plan. RET
Mr.. Schwartz then submitted a tn
itten statement concerning the
lskan field which showed a valua- Sr'
n to tho povernpen+ of tho Nlos | ties
fields of $16,OOOOOO, based upon
per cent per ton royalty. The
tement outlined y plan by which Ac