Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-20

prosecuting. L have pOSltlNe eNluehCe
of such action not in few isolated
instances, but in hundreds OF cases.
I believe that there are more of them
than we will ever be able to find and
more than we will ever be able to
trace to the doors of the guilty men.
The question of law as to whether this
is or is not illegal and criminal is, OF
course, the main issue, since the men
accused do not take the trouble to
deny the allegation of fact. On that
point I am convinced and have been
from the first. / am as certain that
these men will! be convicted as I ever
was of anything"
Knows Nothing of Skinner
Mr. Lawler was informed that Sigel
Skinner. who was alleged to have been
the informer who started the inVesti-
cation, is in bad repute in the Imperial
valley.
Il know nothing about that" he
returned. Mr.. skinner has never
spoken to me in my life. so far as
know, and he had nothing whatever
to do with the inception of these pros
ecutions. I do not believe he will be
called as a witness in these cases. The
very fact he is known to be whole
sale contestor of pieces on this very
ground in the valley would make him
an impossible witness, as the fact that
he is profting by the fraud we charge
would bias him.
1T is very important to know what
will become of the large number Of
prices of land, title to which will never
be given by the government until the
original fraudulent filing has been
cleared. The intent of the land office
Is in every case to do justice by the
man who has shown good faith on his
part. Every case will come UP and be
heard on its own merits. The inno-
cent purchaser will not be made to
suffer if he has made a bona f1de and
honest effort to fulfill all the require
ments made of him. Just what form
of procedure will be followed in clear
ing the titles in these cases where the
original filing was fraudulently made
I cannot now say. Honest men will
be protected, but believe me when l
say these conspirators, guilty of fraud
and of theft, will be punished.
Urges Damage Suits
'1 have told many of the innocent
purchasers the thing to do is to file
damage suits against the men who or
iginally sold them their land and l re-
iterate this. Wherever a rancher en-
counters difficulty traceable to the
dealings of such men as the Chaplins,
the Oakley brothers and others of their
stripe he should turn on them with a
suit to recover the money he has lost.
In the meantime the government is
doing everything possible to get the
tangle Strengthened and to see justice
done.
There is a great deal of trouble in
the valley now over numbers, much
confusion having arisen through made
uuate or imperfect surveys. This mat
ter is receiving the attention of large
force of experts and the land office
hopes to have all adjustments made at
an early date.
I'm a government as large as ours
and one growing as rapidly as is this
time is required to accomplish things.
Washington is a revelation to the i'm
patient In my own office 1 have work.
ing under me twenty-nine lawyers
and they are working hard, too. Every
new case Is submitted to one of these
twenty-nine. If it is a simple matter
he disposes of it. If he Is puzzled he
calls in one or two of the others. If 1t
Is big matter 1t comes over my desk
and sometimes there are questions that
go to Secretary Ballinger or even on
up to the president. But they all re-
ouire time, for each is different in
some respect from all the others and
in many there are no precedents.
Everything Done Well
"The department of the interior has
jurisdiction, for instance, over all pat
ent and pension matters, the reclama-
tion service and the general land office,
with all it's reserves and projects, over
the public parks such as Yellowstone
and the Big Trees, over the affairs OF
the territories, as well as of the Dis
trict of Columbia and over Indian af-
fairs. In every branch there are COM
plications and tangles occurring daily,
some of the most trivial nature and
some so complicated that it requires
months of work and frequently big
lawsuit to settle them. Every branch
of the government is the same. There
must be deliberation, caution, judg-
ment. No one can be rushed-for what
is worth doing in governmental sy5-
TENS is eminently worth doing we'll"
Mr.. Lawler was interrupted with a
question concerning the Pinchot-Ball-
niger controversy. He spoke quickly
and with determination.
THAT matter was never in my prov
ince to discuss in the first place. Presi-
dent Taft in his letter has disposed of
1t. AS far as 1 am concerned that set
ties 1t. l am associated with Mr.. Bal
linger constantly. 1t was on his re-
quest l was appointed and after being
twice urged by him I accepted my
present position. He is one of the most
able and competent men ever knew.
Throughout this so-called controversy
he has accomplished a difficult task
that of keeping quiet under fire, under
a most trying line of criticism. But
from the first he has not said a word
for publication, and that Is more than
most men could have refrained from
doing. l know 1 couldn't.
Praises Ballinger
personally, he is an aggressive,
square-toed man, with deep convic-
tions and firm purpose. When he be-
hevee a thing should be done he does
it promptly and in his own way, no
matter what others may say or do. His
methods are clean cut and business
like and he is conscientious and hon
est. He has an abrupt, direct method
of going about everything and he takes
a keen personal interest and gives per-
sonal attention to every matter of i'm
portance coming into the hands of the
department. What this means you can
see after what have said of the work.
Constantly there are coming up
matters in which two or more depart
ments work at cross purposes. This is
due to the comparative newness OF all
our laws and the complicated series of
events that occur in the great gov
ernmental system. When we find such